JPH0453953Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention relates to a photo plotting device, and in particular, it uses a rotating polygon mirror to direct a light beam as a point light source based on a command value of vector data consisting of two-dimensional coordinate values. In the plane scanning process using scanning and sub-scanning by uniaxial feeding of the photosensitive medium, vector data and barcode generator data are binarized and converted into bit data, and then figures are drawn and formed by exposing and blocking light beams. The present invention relates to a photo plotting device.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of device is called a vector scan method, and as shown in Fig. 2, light is emitted from a light source 61 such as an iodine lamp or a halogen lamp, and is placed and fixed on a flat plate using a lens system 62 such as a convex lens or a reflecting mirror. The optical system 67 has an aperture 64 formed in the shape of a slit and a shutter 65 on an optical path arranged to focus onto a photosensitive material 63 such as a film. In the process of plane-scanning the photosensitive material 63 by the optical system 67 based on the command data in which the drawn figure is converted into vector data, one of the apertures 64 is selected from the aperture group 66 in which a plurality of apertures 64 are mounted on a disk according to the command data. The shutter 65 is operated to perform exposure, light blocking, and flashing operations according to command data, and the photosensitive material 63 is
A desired pattern is exposed thereon.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Such a conventional photo plotting device uses a vector drive system that plots a plot by a combination of a mechanism that moves vectorially to direct the exposure point on the photosensitive material 63 toward a target coordinate value, and a mechanism that defines its operating state. Because the exposure focus is on the photosensitive material 63, the drawing time is
Increases in proportion to the distance traveled. Therefore, when the number of figures increases and the figure density improves, or when drawing large-sized figures, a long time is required. Furthermore, when performing plane scanning with an optical system 67 equipped with an aperture 64 group, a light source 61, etc., a mechanical mechanism consisting of a drive motor, a ball screw, etc. is mainstream, so acceleration from a static state such as when drawing a line segment is used. When accelerating and decelerating a series of drawing operations, such as moving to a constant high speed and then decelerating and stopping, the amount of light at the exposure focus that passes through each drawing point is changed in an analog manner to calculate the exposure energy required for drawing. It becomes necessary to control the

Furthermore, when drawing is performed by continuous operation of short line segments at the same time, the drawing time cannot be shortened simply by increasing the maximum speed unless the acceleration/deceleration is increased. Therefore, there is a drawback that it takes an extremely long time when the density of minute figures becomes high.

In addition, since the additive drawing method is basically used in which a drawn figure is formed as a collection of exposed parts by individual flashing operation and continuous exposure operation of the original picture elements formed by the aperture 64, the figure to be drawn is formed by the exposed part. In some cases, a large amount of fill data is generally required. Furthermore, when the figure to be drawn includes exposed parts and exposed parts, the data structure becomes complicated and it is practically impossible to draw the figure. Moreover, when exposure is repeated multiple times at the same location, excessive light intensity occurs locally, resulting in deterioration of sharpness at the edges of drawn figures, deterioration of figure accuracy, etc.

An object of the present invention is to provide a drawing device that solves the above-mentioned problems.

[Differences between the invention and the conventional technology]

In contrast to the conventional photo plotting apparatus described above, the present invention drives the plotting light spot by the main scanning and the straight line of the object or photosensitive material perpendicular to the main scanning, which is generated by changing the reflection angle due to the rotation of the mirror surface of a rotating polygon mirror. It realizes a raster scan method in combination with sub-scanning by motion, which is fundamentally different from the vector scan method.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention includes a vector data input section that inputs a pattern to be drawn in the form of vector data, a barcode generator that generates a barcode, and a coordinate conversion section that converts the barcode data into vector data in a two-dimensional coordinate system. an optical modulator that modulates light from an argon ion laser light source using a signal that synthesizes data from the vector data input section and the coordinate conversion section and binarizes it in a switching section; a beam diameter expanding optical system that converts the parallel light into light; a rotating polygon mirror that polarizes the parallel light and scans it horizontally; a scanning lens that receives the polarized parallel light and focuses it on the surface of the photosensitive material; This is a photo plotting device characterized by having a uniaxial feeding mechanism that fixes a photosensitive material and linearly moves in a vertical sub-scanning direction.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the mechanism of the raster scan system of the present invention.

First, the data conversion section 10 is divided into a drawing pattern processing system and a barcode data processing system. The drawing pattern system defines a vector data input unit 11 that inputs two-dimensional coordinate data in which a drawing figure is composed of a surface and a center locus of a band having a constant width, and a movement process to reach the value of this two-dimensional coordinate data. a two-dimensional development section 13 that selects a drawing picture element from the sticker table 12 and converts a one-dimensional trajectory into two dimensions, and a basic figure decomposition section that divides the two-dimensional figure obtained at that time into basic figures based on the main scanning. 14, and a pixel row data creation section 15 that divides the area where the main scanning line crosses each basic figure to form one scanning line segment. The barcode processing system includes a barcode generator 16 that generates barcode data by incrementing it for each drawing operation or for each set if the object to be drawn is a set of multiple sheets, and a barcode generator 16 that generates barcode data by incrementing it for each drawing operation or for each set of objects to be drawn, and a barcode generator 16 that generates barcode data in two-dimensional form. It has a coordinate conversion unit 17 that converts the coordinate values into vector data and moves the origin of the coordinate values to the drawing position of the barcode. The coordinate conversion unit 17 decomposes the code into center locus data and band width data, assembles it into the same format as vector data of the drawing pattern, and outputs it to the two-dimensional development unit 13.

The light source section 20 includes an argon ion laser light source 21
and a polarization plane adjuster 22. The polarization plane adjuster 22 is used to adjust the long-term light intensity attenuation of the light source to a constant light, and for small amplitude amplitude, the light source voltage adjuster 23 is used, and the optical axis detector is used to adjust the optical axis when converting the light source. An example using 24 is shown below.

The optical system 30 basically includes an optical modulator 31, a beam diameter expanding optical diameter 32,
It is composed of a rotating polygon mirror 33 and a focusing lens 34. The optical modulator 31 converts an E-O modulator (electrical modulator) placed on the optical path from the light source section 20 into pixel row data that is divided into an exposed section and an exposed section on a scanning line by a data conversion section 10. Based on this, the switching section 36 is operated to control the passage of light. The light that has passed through the optical modulator 31 is sent to the drawing table 4 by the beam expander constituting the beam diameter expanding optical system 32 and by the focusing lens 34 at the subsequent stage.
The beam is focused on the photosensitive material 50 fixed on the photosensitive material 1, and is transformed into parallel light with an enlarged diameter so that a light spot with the minimum beam diameter at that time is formed. The main scanning operation of the light spot is performed by a rotating polygon mirror 3 placed on the optical path between the beam diameter expanding optical system 32 and the focusing lens 34.
This occurs by continuously changing the angle between the mirror surface and the incident light through the rotational movement of step 3, thereby changing the direction of the reflected light. An f-theta lens is used as the focusing lens 34 in order to minimize the amount of change in scanning speed and spot beam diameter that occurs on the scanning line. Rotating polygon mirror 33
Since the flatness of the mirror surface constituting the mirror surface and its inclination with respect to the rotation axis cause an error in the position of the light spot, an example in which the surface tilt correction unit 35 is interposed after the optical modulator 31 and the optical path position is corrected in accordance with the inclination of the mirror surface. shows.

The moving speed of the light spot beam in main scanning depends on the rotational speed of the rotating polygon mirror 33, and the change in speed should theoretically be eliminated by the focusing lens 34, but the theoretical f-theta lens cannot be manufactured. Because it is impossible
A mechanism (not shown) is provided that constantly detects the position of the light spot and controls the timing when switching the optical modulator 31. To detect the light spot position, the light is separated by bypassing the optical modulator 31, and thereafter, the beam diameter expanding optical diameter 32, the rotating polygon mirror 33, and the focusing lens 34 are used as the optical axis of the auxiliary light that passes through it in the same way as the main optical axis. is provided offset from the main optical axis. Since the light spot on the sub-optical axis moves in exactly the same way as the light spot on the main optical axis, a strip-shaped light receiving element is placed on the scanning line of the sub-optical axis light spot, and its scanning position is detected. The light receiving element is realized by a CCD sensor or a slit-shaped glass scale and a bundle of glass fibers.

The drawing section 40 includes a drawing table 41 and a constant speed drive system 42 thereof. Drawing table 41
has a mechanism that holds the photosensitive material 50, moves the light spot linearly at a constant speed in the main scanning direction, and further allows fine adjustment in the optical axis direction to keep the focus of the light spot on the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material 50. Be equipped.

According to this invention, the scanning speed of the light spot is 100m/
In order to achieve a speed of sec and to satisfy the principle of high-intensity reciprocity law failure of photosensitive materials, the light source must be an argon ion laser that has a light intensity of at least 2.6 W and has a photosensitive characteristic of a wavelength of 4000 to 4500 Å. There is a need.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, in the photo plotting device of the present invention, a light spot with high energy is placed on a photosensitive material.
Because the drawing operation is completed by raster scanning once, the drawing time increases in proportion to the number of figures to be drawn using the conventional vector scanning method. It can be shortened to minutes. Furthermore, since the barcode can be drawn at the same time as the desired pattern or figure during the drawing operation, it is possible to mechanize management by directly inputting the barcode portion from a created object such as a film and converting it into data.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a photo plotting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the concept of the main structure of a conventional photo plotting device. 10...Data conversion unit, 11...Vector data input unit, 12...Tool table, 13...2
Dimension expansion part, 14...Basic figure decomposition part, 15...
Image device array data creation unit, 16... Barcode generator, 17... Coordinate conversion unit, 20... Light source unit, 21, 61... Light source, 22... Polarization plane adjuster, 23... Voltage regulator, 24...optical axis detector,
30, 67...Optical system, 31...Light modulator, 32
... Beam diameter expansion optical system, 33 ... Rotating polygon mirror,
34... Focusing lens, 35... Side tilt correction section, 3
6...Switching department, 40...Drawing department, 41...
...Drawing table, 42...Constant speed drive system, 50,6
3...Photosensitive material, 62...Lens system, 64...Aperture, 65...Shutter, 66...Aperture group.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] a vector data input section that inputs a pattern to be drawn in the form of vector data; a barcode generator that generates a barcode; a coordinate conversion section that converts the barcode data into vector data in a two-dimensional coordinate system; and the vector data. The data from the input section and the coordinate transformation section are combined and the switching section converts the data into 2
an optical modulator that modulates light from an argon ion laser light source using the converted signal; a beam diameter expansion optical system that expands the diameter of the light to make it parallel light;
A rotating polygon mirror polarizes the parallel light and scans it horizontally; a scanning lens receives the polarized parallel light and focuses it on the surface of the photosensitive material; and a scanning lens fixes the photosensitive material and performs sub-scanning in the vertical direction. A photo plotting device characterized by having a uniaxial feed mechanism that moves linearly in a direction.