JPH05293955A - Curved surface printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inexpensively obtain various shoes by changing a pattern or a color by processing the pattern inputted from a pattern input device by an image processor and applying printing to an object to be printed while three- dimensionally moving the object to be printed corresponding to the data from the processor by a robot. CONSTITUTION:The design read by a scanner 1 is stored in an image processor 2. A printer controller and a robot controller 4 are respectively processed by the computer 7 in the image processor 2 and an ink jet printer 5 or a robot 6 is controlled corresponding to the data obtained through an interface 9. That is, a pattern original drawing A is read by the scanner 1 to be stored in the computer 7. Next, a shoe S is set and the ink jet printer 5 and the robot 6 are driven by the computer 7. By this constitution, the predetermined position of the shoe S is turned toward the ink jet printer 5 by the arm 12 of the robot 6 and ink is injected from respective nozzles 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Object of the Invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for printing a desired pattern on a curved surface such as the surface of shoes.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, when designing a product such as a shoe having a complicated curved surface, a pattern is printed on a flat synthetic leather or the like as a raw material by a roll or the like, cut out and assembled to design a shoe. There has been adopted a method in which the design is made by sewn the leather of an appropriate shape separately prepared on the surface of the shoe.

However, since printing on synthetic leather or the like is performed by printing on a plate, it is possible to produce a large number of products of the same design, but for the production of many kinds in small quantities as seen in the recent trend of new product development. Not suitable. In addition, the method of sewing leather has a large tendency to depend on human hands, resulting in a high unit price.

Therefore, in recent years, a so-called hydraulic transfer method has been developed as a curved surface printing method, and is being used in a wide range of fields centering on plastic products. That is, in this hydraulic transfer method, a part or all of the transfer target held by the transfer target holding device is immersed in a transfer tank in which the transfer film is floated on the liquid surface, and the pattern of the transfer film is hydraulically applied. Is a method of transferring the However, this hydraulic transfer method is difficult to apply to leather or the like which is weak in water, because a part or the whole of the transferred material is immersed in water.

[0005]

[Technical Items Attempted to Develop] The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and it is possible to print directly on a curved surface, and it is simple and economical even when printing a large amount of various kinds. This is an attempt to develop a curved surface printing method that can be performed effectively.

[0006]

[Constitution of the invention]

That is, the curved surface printing method according to the first invention of the present application is a robot capable of universal driving while holding a pattern input device, an image processing device, a printer controller, a robot controller, an inkjet printer. Using the printing device group including the above, the pattern input from the pattern input device is image-processed by the image processing device, and the robot moves the object to be printed three-dimensionally through the robot controller according to the information. However, at the same time, ink is ejected from an inkjet printer onto a printing object in accordance with the information to perform printing.

The curved surface printing method according to the second invention of the present application is characterized in that, in addition to the above requirements, the pattern input device is a scanner for reading a pattern original drawing.

Further, in the curved surface printing method according to the third invention of the present application, in addition to the above requirements, the pattern input device is a color image scanner for reading the pattern and color of the surface of the sample, It is characterized in that the pattern and color of the sample are read by the color image scanner while the sample is moved three-dimensionally by a robot. The above objects are achieved by these inventions.

[0009]

According to the present invention, since the inks of the respective colors are ejected as droplets from the nozzles of the ink jet printer onto the object to be printed, it is possible to perform multicolor printing by using two or more inks of different colors. In addition, the image input from the pattern input device by the image processing device can be easily subjected to image processing such as enlargement, partial enlargement, partial reduction, repetition, and inversion, and a pattern or color can be applied to each product. The design can be diversified by changing it.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows an apparatus group for carrying out the method of the present invention, which is a kind of pattern input apparatus, namely a scanner 1, an image processing apparatus 2, a printer controller 3, a robot controller 4, an inkjet printer. It comprises 5 and a robot 6.

The scanner 1 is for reading an original of a design, and the read design is stored in the image processing apparatus 2. In addition, the image processing device 2
Is composed of a computer 7, a keyboard 8 and an interface 9. The computer 7 enlarges, partially enlarges, partially reduces, repeats the design read by the scanner 1.
It can be processed into a desired design by performing processing such as inversion.

Incidentally, by using the computer 7, so-called C
A design for printing may be created by operating the keyboard 8 using AD software. In this case, the scanner 1 is not necessary, and the pattern input device substantially serves as the image processing device. In addition, the design stored in a storage device such as a floppy disk is used by the computer 7
Even in the case of reading in, the pattern input device also serves as the image processing device.

Next, the printer controller 3 and the robot controller 4 are devices that control the ink jet printer 5 or the robot 6 according to the information processed by the computer 7 and obtained through the interface 9.

The ink jet printer 5 has a plurality of nozzles 10 so that ink of a predetermined color can be ejected from each nozzle 10 in response to a command from the printer controller 3. This is a device in which a piezoelectric element forming the wall of the ink chamber is vibrated to eject ink droplets from a nozzle that is an opening of the ink chamber, and various types such as a pressure pulse system and a charge control system are used. There is something. Further, the robot 6 is connected so that the arm 12 can be universally driven, and a holding tool 13 for an object to be printed is provided at the tip thereof. In the present invention, the nozzle 1 is used instead of the ink.
Including the case of spraying paint from 0.

Next, a method of printing a curved surface on a printing material by the above device group will be described. A shoe S, which was difficult to print by the conventional method, was used as the material to be printed. First, the original pattern pattern A in which a desired design is described is read by the scanner 1 and stored in the computer 7.

The read pattern is subjected to appropriate processing by operating the keyboard 8 as necessary to determine the final design. In image processing of such a design, a plurality of designs read by the scanner 1 may be combined, or designs stored in advance in a storage device such as a floppy disk may be combined. In addition, in image processing, the color of the design component is also specified.

An example of the image-processed design is shown on the display as follows. That is, first, FIG. 2 (a) shows only the development view peculiar to the shoe, which can be printed on the shoe in advance in accordance with the correspondence formula of the coordinates of the points. See also FIG.
2B is a view in which a side view, a bottom view and the like are added to the one shown in FIG. Further, in FIG. 2C, the image modeling itself is made into a stereoscopic display so that the accuracy of the data transmission to the inkjet printer 5 is improved and the design work on the screen can be easily visualized.

On the other hand, the shoe S is held by the holder 13 of the robot 6, and the shoe S is set in a predetermined state by operating the arm 12. When the shoes S are set, the computer 7 issues an execution command to drive the inkjet printer 5 and the robot 6. As a result, the arm 12 of the robot 6 makes a universal movement to change the direction of the shoe S so that a predetermined position faces the inkjet printer 5 side. In this state, the nozzles 10 of the inkjet printer 5 perform predetermined operations. The ink of the color is ejected to print a design with a predetermined color on the shoe S.

Since the shoe S, which is the material to be printed, is almost always formed by curved surface printing, the desired design is not always printed on the shoe with the image that one would expect from the beginning. In such a case, the finish condition should be examined. Then, the computer 7 may partially enlarge or reduce the pattern to change the pattern. It suffices that the desired printing can be finally performed by repeating such a pattern change by trial and error.

When desired printing is completed, the image-processed pattern at that time is stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk, and thereafter, if necessary, the pattern is read out and printed. It is also possible to develop patterns that are similar to registered patterns one after another according to changes in fashion. Therefore, by applying such a method, it is possible to immediately deal with shoes having slightly different shapes and sizes by enlarging or reducing the accumulated pattern group.

Further, as a development of the above method, when a large number of the same shoes are given the same design, after determining the optimum pattern by the above method, a printing plate is prepared based on this.
This printing plate may be used to print directly on the raw material or on a film for hydraulic transfer.

Next, another embodiment in which the pattern input device is different will be described. This embodiment does not read the pattern original drawing A, but the sample shoes S ₀ as shown in FIG.
And a color image scanner 14 and a robot 15 having a structure similar to that of the robot 6 in the above-described embodiment via an interface 9 to a computer 7 as a device therefor. Are connected. The rest of the configuration is the same as in the above embodiment.

When printing on the shoes S with such an apparatus group, the sample shoes S ₀ are attached to the holder 13 of the robot 15 and the sample shoes S ₀ are three-dimensionally operated by operating the arm 12. While moving, the color image scanner 14 reads the design of the sample shoe S ₀ and its color. The read image data may be displayed as a developed view on the display as shown in FIG. 2A, or may be displayed as a stereoscopic view on the display as shown in FIG. 2C. In any case, the shoe S is printed on the basis of the read image data as in the above-described embodiment.

In the above embodiments, shoes have been described as an example of the material to be printed, but the present invention can also be applied to other sports goods such as bats and rackets, figurines, personal items and the like having various curved surfaces. ..

[0025]

According to the present invention, the pattern read by the pattern input device is printed as it is or after being subjected to a certain process to be directly printed on the shoe which is an object to be printed by the ink jet printer. A wide variety of shoes can be provided at low cost by changing the color.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a layout of a system for implementing a curved surface printing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing various examples of display modes of image-processed designs.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a layout of another system for implementing the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Scanner 2 Image Processing Device 3 Printer Controller 4 Robot Controller 5 Inkjet Printer 6 Robot 7 Computer 8 Keyboard 9 Interface 10 Nozzle 11 Ink 12 Arm 13 Holder 14 Color Image Scanner 15 Robot S Shoe S ₀ Sample Shoe A Pattern Original Diagram

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing device group comprising a pattern input device, an image processing device, a printer controller, a robot controller, an inkjet printer, and a robot capable of universally holding a material to be printed. The inputted pattern is image-processed by the image processing device, and while the object to be printed is three-dimensionally moved by the robot through the robot controller according to the information, at the same time, the ink is applied from the inkjet printer to the object to be printed according to the information. A curved surface printing method characterized by jetting and printing. 2. The curved surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein the pattern input device is a scanner for reading a pattern original drawing. 3. The pattern input device is a color image scanner for reading the pattern and color of the surface of the sample, and the pattern image is sampled by the color image scanner while the sample robot moves the sample three-dimensionally. 2. The curved surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein the color and the color are read.