JPH0625679B2 - Method of manufacturing illumination adjustment film for indicating instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention is formed by printing on a dial for equalizing the brightness of the display portion on the front of the dial when the indicating instrument is illuminated. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an illumination adjustment film.

(Prior Art) As a conventional one of this kind, a white paint is uniformly applied on the front surface, and a black paint is graduated, numbers,
In an indicating instrument with an internal lighting device, which has a translucent substrate coated with the shape of a display indicator such as a symbol and a light source installed behind the substrate, a transmitted light adjusting film for uniform illuminance on the back surface of the substrate. Printed and formed is Japanese Patent Publication Sho 53-2065
It has been proposed in the publication. The method for manufacturing the transmitted light adjusting film uses a negative film and a contact screen in which the imbalance of the illumination is photographed as it is at the position of the dial, and a large spot is formed where the illuminance is bright and a small spot is formed where the illuminance is dark. Illuminance is made uniform.

However, in the above manufacturing method, the concentration of the transmitted light adjustment film is calculated from the non-uniform illuminance range and the target illuminance to be uniformed,
Further, the required halftone dot% is obtained from the relationship between this density and the original halftone dot%, and the required halftone dot is changed by changing the photosensitizing conditions when the original plate is made from a negative film or a contact screen by trial and error. %, It is necessary to make the printing master plate in multiple steps to increase the cost, and it is difficult to make the illuminance uniform because the printing density is easily affected by the characteristics of the negative film and contact screen. Had.

In order to solve such a problem, instead of getting it by trial and error depending on the photosensitivity when the printing original plate is made from the negative film and the contact screen, the negative film is photographed and developed at a predetermined density, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-123728 proposes a method capable of predicting a desired print density and setting shooting conditions. Further, a color scanner corrects an intermediate region defined by each characteristic. This is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-122947.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, since the unbalance of the brightness is replaced by the continuous tone imaging by the negative film, the multi-steps such as photographing, development, fixing and drying by the negative film are performed. In addition to the requirement, the quality is likely to change depending on the conditions during the process such as the sensitivity of the negative film. Further, in the so-called dot generator method using a color scanner, it is necessary to access the memory element and read the contact screen data each time the scanning light beam reaches the halftone dot to be formed, and the time required for the memory access is increased. Is the rate-determining factor, and high-speed scanning exposure is not possible, and the contact screen is divided into a checkerboard pattern and contact screen data is determined for each checkerboard. The problem is that the resolution is poor because it corresponds to squares, and therefore the sharpness of the output image is low, a large memory and complicated peripheral circuits are required to increase the sharpness, and an expensive device must be provided. Had.

On the other hand, the inventor formed a continuous printing image and a dot image divided into a plurality of levels from a video signal obtained by photographing the imbalance of lightness on the front face of the dial as it is, thereby making the printing original plate more than the conventional art. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-61117 proposes a method that can be easily and quickly obtained by printing dot image data accurately converted from video data using a hard copy. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately reproduce the dot image data on the printing original plate due to the difference in characteristics between the fluorescent substance of the color display and the ink of the hard copy.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an illumination adjusting film for an indicating instrument, which is not affected by the characteristics of a negative film and a hard copy and can print an illumination adjusting film having a good sharpness by a simple process. And

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to create a printing original plate used for printing an illumination adjustment film, the present invention uses a digital signal from a video signal obtained by directly imaging the imbalance of the brightness of the display portion on the front surface of the dial. A certain density gradation is obtained, a light shielding rate is calculated from this density gradation, a dot pattern corresponding to this light shielding rate is obtained, and numerical control data is obtained based on this dot pattern.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus implemented in one embodiment of the present invention, in which a translucent dial plate 3 is fixed to an internal unit 2 attached to a case 1, and the surface of the dial plate 3 is colored white or the like. In a state where the light-transmitting ink 4 is uniformly printed and the illumination lamp 5 is mounted in the case 1, the front surface of the dial 3 when the illumination lamp 5 is turned on is imaged by the video camera 6, and the video camera 6 The image pickup tube surface is scanned with an electron beam, and the obtained electric signal is converted into a video signal by the video signal processing unit 7 and is monitored by the display device 8 and the brightness of the front surface of the dial 3 is determined from the image displayed by the control of the microcomputer 9. Is formed, a numerical control data is processed and outputted to the drawing device 10, and the drawing device 10 is numerically controlled to prepare a printing original plate for obtaining an illumination adjustment film.

The microcomputer 9 includes a converter 11 for A / D converting the video signal output by the voltage from the video signal processing unit 7, and a read value memory 12 for storing the density gradation which is a digital signal read by the converter 11. , CPU for control and operation
13 and R storing the control program and various data
An OM (read only memory) 14, a table memory 15 that stores the relationship between the density gradation and the light blocking rate, a dot pattern memory 16 that stores various dot patterns, and dots that are obtained corresponding to the light blocking rate. A dot pattern data memory 17 for storing pattern data, and a numerical control and numerical control data read value memory 19 for storing numerical control data for performing numerical control according to the dot pattern are provided.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described.

While the video camera 6 moves above the dial 6, the pixel P (FIG. 3 (a)), which is the measurement unit area of the dial 3, is displayed, for example.
A video signal whose brightness is measured for each of 0.333 mm × 0.333 mm≈0.111 mm ² is sent to the microcomputer 9 through the video signal processing unit 7, and the microcomputer 9 digitally converts the video signal of each pixel P by the converter 11. A signal, for example, a level gradation 0 to level 255, corresponding to any of a total of 256 8-bit data is converted into density gradation (FIG. 4) and stored in the read value memory 12 for density gradation reading processing (second). Figure step 1).

Next, the light blocking rate calculation process is performed according to the density gradation of each pixel P. This is because a plurality of adjacent pixels, for example, 16 pixels P ₂
P ₁₆ is used as a unit area S (FIG. 3 (b)), each density gradation of this unit area S is added, and then divided by the number of pixels to obtain an average density gradation of this unit area S. Then, the light-shielding rate for each unit area S is obtained based on the relationship between the density gradation and the light-shielding rate (FIG. 4) which is preset and stored in the table memory 15 (step 2 in FIG. 2).

Next, the dot pattern assigned to each unit area S is obtained according to the calculated light blocking rate. In the dot pattern memory 16, a dot pattern assigned to the unit area S, that is, a pattern for providing one black dot B for the light blocking rate used when the light blocking rate is small, for example, when the light blocking rate is 50% or less, a pattern for providing two black points B, and a pattern for providing three Each pattern of four provided patterns (FIGS. 5 (a) to (d)) and a pattern provided with one transparent point W for light transmission used when the light blocking rate is large, for example, when the light blocking rate exceeds 50%, 2 Pattern to be provided individually, 3
The patterns of individual provision and four patterns of provision (FIGS. 5 (e) to (h)) are stored, and the microcomputer 9 determines the light-shielding rate determined corresponding to the average density gradation of the unit area S. The dot pattern is assigned according to. For example, when the light blocking rate is 40%, the unit area S = 1.332mm
It is calculated that the diameter of one black dot is 0.476 mm in the pattern in which four black dots B are provided for x 1.332 mm ≈ 1.774 mm ² (Fig. 3 (c)). When the light blocking rate is 80%, it is calculated and calculated that the diameter of one transparent point W is 0.336 mm in the pattern in which four transparent points W are provided for the unit area S = 1.774 mm ² (see FIG. 3). (d)). In this way, the dot pattern is assigned to each unit area S, and this dot pattern is stored in the dot pattern data memory 17 as dot pattern data which is a digital signal (step 3 in FIG. 2). Although the larger the number of dots, that is, the black points B or the transparent points W, is dispersed in the unit area S and becomes less conspicuous, this dot diameter is
Since the minimum dot diameter is determined according to the ability of the printing machine that prints and forms the illumination adjustment film on the back surface of the dial 3 using the printing original plate created by By decreasing the number of dots one by one and increasing the diameter of one dot when it falls below
It is programmed to obtain the desired shading rate.

Finally, in order to output the numerical control data for controlling the operation of the drawing device 10 such as a laser photo plotter for creating the printing original plate, the dot pattern data is stored in the numerical control data memory 18
Numerical control data creation processing is performed using the data stored in (1) and the result is sent to the numerical control data read value memory 19 (step 4 in FIG. 2).

As described above, in the above embodiment, the microcomputer 9 is controlled while the front surface of the dial 3 is monitored by the display device 8, the dot pattern corresponding to the brightness of the front of the dial 3 is obtained, and is output as numerical control data. Therefore, it is possible to easily and quickly create a printing original plate as compared with the conventional method in which the unbalance of lightness is replaced by continuous tone imaging by a negative film, and numerical control data based on dot pattern data is used. Since the drawing device 10 is controlled by using the above, a printing original plate having a high sharpness for the illumination adjusting film can be obtained without interposing a medium such as a hard copy.

Another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, one light transmittance (for example, 2%) is set for each range (for example, from level 55 to level 59) of the density gradation, and the density gradation is set. Although the light-shielding rate is set to increase linearly as the value of increases, the light-shielding rate is not taken into consideration because, for example, from level 0 to level 54 of the density gradation, the light-shielding rate is not considered. The relationship between the density gradation and the light-shielding rate, which was experimentally determined so as to match over 55 with the brightness of the level 55 of the density gradation.
The table data of the microcomputer 9
It is also possible to store in 15 and set to obtain the shading rate from this data.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, the dot pattern is assigned to each unit area S, but it may be assigned to each pixel P.

〔The invention's effect〕

The present invention obtains the light-shielding rate of each pixel from a video signal obtained by directly capturing the imbalance of lightness of the entire face of the dial, and assigns a dot pattern corresponding to this light-shielding rate to obtain a dot pattern. By providing the numerical control data as a numerical control data, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing an illumination adjusting film of an indicating instrument capable of printing an illumination adjusting film having a good sharpness by a simple process without being affected by the characteristics of a negative film and a hard copy. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus to which the method of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart, FIG. 3 (a) is a monitor image taken by a video camera, FIG. 3 (b) is a unit area explanatory view, and FIG.
(c) and (d) are schematic explanatory views showing a state in which a dot pattern is assigned to a unit area, FIG. 4 is a comparison table showing the relationship between density gradation and light blocking rate, and FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (h). Is an explanatory view showing an example of a dot pattern, and FIG. 6 is a comparison table showing another relationship between the density gradation and the light blocking rate. 3 ... Dial 6 ... Video camera 9 ... Microcomputer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing an illumination adjusting film formed by printing on a dial for equalizing the brightness of a display portion on the front face of the dial when the indicating instrument is illuminated, a printing original plate for obtaining the illumination adjusting film. In order to create, the video signal obtained by directly imaging the imbalance of the brightness for each measurement unit area on the front face of the dial is converted into a digital signal which is a density gradation, and the light blocking rate corresponding to the digital signal is set. Obtained, obtain a dot pattern corresponding to this light-shielding rate, based on this dot pattern to obtain numerical control data for creating the printing original plate in the drawing device of the illumination adjustment film of the indicating instrument Production method.