WO2019168205A1

WO2019168205A1 - Information processing device, ink jet recording device, information processing method, and information processing program

Info

Publication number: WO2019168205A1
Application number: PCT/JP2019/008978
Authority: WO
Inventors: 周平山本
Original assignee: 株式会社デュプロ
Priority date: 2018-03-01
Filing date: 2019-02-28
Publication date: 2019-09-06
Also published as: JP7397486B2; JPWO2019168205A1; JP2024020526A

Abstract

This information processing device has: an information acquisition means that acquires coating thickness information regarding the thickness of coating printing set to each image area in coating image data used when coating printing is performed on a base material; an image generation means that, by using the coating image data, generates thickness display image data in which the difference in coating thickness in each image area is expressed by the difference in hue; and a display control means that causes the thickness display image data to be displayed on a display.

Description

Information processing apparatus, ink jet recording apparatus, information processing method, information processing program

The present invention relates to a printing system, an information processing apparatus, an inkjet recording apparatus, a printing control method, and a printing control program.

In the above technical field, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for emboss printing using an ultraviolet curable resin.

Japanese Patent No. 5824712

However, in the technique described in the above-mentioned document, it is difficult for an operator to confirm in advance a subtle difference in thickness because an image is not clearly displayed as to which part is thickly printed before printing.
The objective of this invention is providing the technique which solves the above-mentioned subject.

In order to achieve the above object, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention provides information on the coating thickness relating to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image area in the coating image data used when coating printing is performed on the substrate. Using the coating image data, an image generating means for generating thickness display image data expressing the difference in coating thickness for each image area by a difference in hue, and the thickness display image data Display control means for displaying on the display.
In order to achieve the above object, the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention provides information on the coating thickness related to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image area in the coating image data used when coating printing is performed on the substrate. Using the coating image data, an image generating means for generating thickness display image data expressing the difference in coating thickness for each image area by a difference in hue, and the thickness display image data Display control means for displaying on the display, and inkjet recording means for performing coating printing on the substrate based on the coating image data.
In order to achieve the above object, an information processing method according to the present invention obtains a coating thickness information related to a thickness when coating printing is performed on a base material, which is set for each region in image data; An image generation step of generating thickness display image data expressing the difference in coating thickness by a difference in hue using the image data; and a display control step of displaying the thickness display image data on a display.
In order to achieve the above object, an information processing program according to the present invention obtains a coating thickness information related to a thickness when coating printing is performed on a substrate, which is set for each region in image data; An image generation step for generating thickness display image data in which the difference in coating thickness is expressed by a difference in hue using the image data, and a display control step for displaying the thickness display image data on a display are executed by a computer. Let

According to the present invention, the operator can clearly confirm the degree of coating printing in the image.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing by the printing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the details of the main part of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base material on which a base image and a registration mark used in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention are printed.
FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing the details of the main part of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an electrical configuration centering on the electronic control unit of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printed matter printed using the inkjet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is an enlarged view showing an example of a printed matter printed using the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an appearance of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 24 is a color drawing of FIG.
FIG. 25 is a color drawing of FIG.
FIG. 26 shows a part of FIG. 12 in color.
FIG. 27 shows a part of FIG. 13 in color.
FIG. 28 shows a part of FIG. 15 in color.
FIG. 29 shows a part of FIG. 16 in color.
FIG. 30 shows a part of FIG. 17 in color.
FIG. 31 shows a part of FIG. 18 in color.
FIG. 32 shows a part of FIG. 19 in color.
FIG. 33 shows a part of FIG. 20 in color.
FIG. 34 shows a part of FIG. 21 in color.
FIG. 35 shows a part of FIG. 22 in color.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention only to them.
[First Embodiment]
An information processing apparatus 100 as a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing apparatus 100 is an apparatus that controls a printing apparatus 120 that performs coating printing on a base material.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 100 includes an information acquisition unit 101, an image generation unit 102, and a display control unit 103.
The information acquisition unit 101 acquires coating thickness information related to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image region in the coating image data used when coating printing is performed on the substrate.
The image generation unit 102 uses the coating image data to generate thickness display image data in which the difference in the coating thickness for each image region is expressed by the difference in hue.
The display control unit 103 causes the display 110 to display the thickness display image data.
According to the above configuration, the user (operator) can grasp the difference in coating thickness more clearly.
[Second Embodiment]
<Configuration of Printing System> Next, an information processing apparatus 201 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a printing system 200 that performs printing using the information processing apparatus 201. A printing system 200 is a system in which an information processing apparatus 201 and an inkjet recording apparatus 203 are connected via a network 202. The ink jet recording apparatus 203 has a mechanism capable of performing printing using an active energy ray-curable ink in addition to normal ink. The user 204 can control the ink jet recording apparatus 203 via the network 202 using the screen displayed on the display 205 by the information processing apparatus 201 and can perform desired image recording. The active energy ray curable ink according to the present embodiment contains, for example, an active energy ray curable monomer and / or an active energy ray curable oligomer, a photopolymerization initiator, and a surface tension adjusting agent, and includes ultraviolet rays and the like. It has the property of being cured by irradiation with active energy rays.
<Configuration of Printed Material> FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a printed material 300 printed using the active energy ray-curable ink. As shown in FIG. 3, a printed product 300 is obtained by applying a base image 302 and a coated print image 301 on a base material 303 such as paper.
A coated print image 301 (also called an overprint image) with an active energy ray-curable ink is formed on a base material 303 with a three-dimensional shape that rises in the vertical direction. Here, as an example, the coated print image 301 has a shape of alphabet D. As shown in FIG. 3, the coating print image 301 may be directly printed on the surface of the base material 303 on which nothing is printed (310), or the base image 302 previously applied to the base material 303. It may be printed on (320).
The coated print image 301 may be formed in the same shape at approximately the same position as the base image 302 when viewing the base material 303 from a plane (320), or it is intentionally different from the base image 302. It may be formed in a shape (330).
According to such a coating print, in addition to the effect of making the background image printed on the base material have a matte feeling or a glossy feeling to make it stand out in design, the three-dimensional design of the coating itself makes it possible to create a conventional flat surface. This has the effect of creating a different aesthetics than a simple print.
The base material 303 includes plain paper, art paper, photographic paper, business card paper, postcard, coated paper, matte coated paper, high-quality paper, special paper and other printing paper, polycarbonate, hard vinyl chloride, soft vinyl chloride, polystyrene. , Plastic base materials such as foamed polystyrene, PMMA, polypropylene, polyethylene, and PET, laminate films obtained by laminating these plastic base materials, materials obtained by mixing or modifying these plastic base materials, and metal base materials such as glass and stainless steel Wood can be exemplified, but is not limited thereto.
Further, as the active energy ray, ultraviolet rays, electron beams, or the like can be used.
<Configuration of Inkjet Recording Apparatus> FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the inside of the inkjet recording apparatus 203 of the present embodiment. For example, the ink jet recording apparatus 203 can execute a coating printing process for forming a coating with an active energy ray-curable ink on a base material on which a base image has been printed in advance so as to coat the base image. In addition, the inkjet recording apparatus 203 executes a process of forming a coating made of active energy ray-curable ink even on a substrate on which an image is not formed by printing.
The ink jet recording apparatus 203 includes a transport element 401, a coating image recording apparatus 402, and a stacker 403. The transport element 401 includes a substrate table 411 and a substrate supply mechanism 412. On the base material table 411, for example, a base material on which a base image is printed in advance by another electrophotographic recording apparatus is loaded. The base printing is not limited to the electrophotographic method, and any printing method such as an ink jet method or an offset method may be used.
The base material table 411 is configured to be movable up and down, and the base material positioned at the top of the stacked base materials is supplied by the base material supply mechanism 412. As described above, the transport element 401 is a transport element that transports a base material including the base material table 411 and the base material supply mechanism 412.
The base material transported by the transport element 401 is not particularly limited as long as it is a material capable of recording an image, but may be paper, paper such as surface-treated paper, a plastic plate, a metal thin film, or the like. That's fine.
The base material sent out by the base material supply mechanism 412 is transported along the transport path 413. A coating image recording device 402 is provided along the downstream portion of the conveyance path 413. The coating image recording apparatus 402 is provided with a belt transport mechanism 421 that transports the substrate transported along the transport path 413. The belt conveyance mechanism 421 conveys the substrate while adsorbing the substrate onto the conveyance surface by the suction force of air through the holes formed in the belt. Above the belt conveyance mechanism 421, an image reading device 422, an inkjet head unit 423, and an active energy ray irradiation device 424 are provided from the upstream side of the substrate conveyance direction.
A discharge path 426 is connected to the downstream side of the coating image recording apparatus 402. The base material transported from the belt transport mechanism 421 is fed into the discharge path 426. The base material fed into the discharge path 426 is carried out to the stacker 403. The stacker 403 includes a conveyance path 431 and a base material accumulation unit 432. The base material unloaded from the discharge path 426 passes through the transport path 431 and is discharged and stored in the base material storage unit 432.
Instead of the transport element 401, a printer for printing a base image may be directly connected to the coating image recording apparatus 402. Further, instead of the stacker 403, an apparatus for performing post-processing for cutting or binding the substrate to be sent out may be connected to the coating image recording apparatus 402.
The ink jet recording apparatus 203 also has an electronic control unit 404. The electronic control unit 404 includes a CPU that executes various arithmetic processes, a ROM that stores various control programs, and a RAM that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. The electronic control unit 404 controls the operation of an actuator provided in the ink jet recording apparatus 203. As a result, the active energy ray-curable ink is discharged from the inkjet head unit 423 toward the substrate, and the coating printing process is executed.
Similarly, the electronic control unit 404 performs a process of ejecting active energy ray-curable ink from the inkjet head unit 423 toward a base material on which no image is formed by printing, and forming a coating layer made of the ink. Run.
The inkjet recording apparatus 203 is provided with an operation panel 427, and the user can perform various settings for the coating printing process by an operation input via the operation panel 427. As a modification, the display, mouse, and keyboard of the information processing apparatus 201 may function as an operation panel, or the information processing apparatus 201 may function as the electronic control unit 404.
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the details of the coating image recording apparatus 402 which is the main part of the inkjet recording apparatus 203. FIG. 5 is a side view thereof. As shown in FIG. 5, the coating image recording apparatus 402 includes a plurality of conveyance rollers 521 that convey the base material 303 as a part of the belt conveyance mechanism 421. As shown in FIG. 6, the base material 303 is prepared by printing a base image 302 and a registration mark 601 serving as a reference for specifying the position of the base image. The registration marks 601 are arranged on a straight line at equal intervals along both long sides of the base material 303, and are arranged at symmetrical positions in the short side direction.
As shown in FIG. 5, an encoder 522 (rotary encoder) for calculating the conveyance amount of the base material 303 from the rotational speed is installed on the upstream side of the image reading device 422. Further, between the image reading device 422 and the encoder 522, an incoming base material sensor 523 for detecting the leading end of the base material 303 transported from the transport element 401 is disposed.
The electronic control unit 404 acquires the output pulse of the encoder 522 using the detection of the base material 303 by the incoming base material sensor 523 as a trigger, and calculates the transport position of the base material 303. Then, based on the position of the base material 303, the imaging timing of the image reading device 422, the ejection timing of the active energy ray-curable ink by the inkjet head unit 423, and the irradiation timing of the active energy ray by the active energy ray irradiation device 424 are set. .
As shown in FIG. 7, the image reading device 422 includes a pair of

image sensors

724 and 725 arranged above the belt conveyance mechanism 421 and spaced apart in the width direction of the base material. These

image sensors

724 and 725 are preferably CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensors, but may be composed of CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) sensors or other image sensors.
The image sensor 724 is fixed to one end side in the width direction (vertical direction in the drawing) of the base material 303, and the image sensor 725 is movable in the width direction of the base material 303 on the other end side in the width direction of the base material 303. Is provided. That is, by moving the image sensor 725 in the width direction of the base material, the interval between the image sensors can be adjusted according to the size of the base material 303. The

image sensors

724 and 725 capture images at a predetermined timing based on the position of the base material 303 calculated by the encoder 522. The predetermined timing is determined in advance based on the design position of the registration mark 601 stored in the storage unit 844. Based on the position (actual measurement position) of the registration mark 601 included in the captured image, it is possible to recognize “deviation” of the printing position of the base image 302 on the base material 303 from the design position. By correcting the ejection position of the active energy ray-curable ink by the inkjet head 526 in accordance with the recognized “deviation”, it is possible to correctly align the base image 302 and the coating print image. Note that the position of the base material 303 calculated by the encoder 522 and the design of the registration mark 601 from the captured images continuously captured by the

image sensors

724 and 725 while the base material 303 passes through the

image sensors

724 and 725. Based on the position, an image from which the actual position of the registration mark 601 is to be acquired may be selected.
In FIG. 6, the registration marks 601 are arranged on a straight line at equal intervals along both long sides of the base material. However, this arrangement is an example, and the alignment marks 601 may be arranged on a straight line even if they are not necessarily at equal intervals. It does not have to be. In short, it is only necessary to be able to read by the

image sensors

724 and 725 and to recognize the “deviation” as compared with the design position stored in advance.
The ink jet head unit 423 includes three ink jet heads 526 that discharge active energy ray-curable ink to the base material 303. These three inkjet heads 526 function as so-called “recording heads”. The active energy ray-curable ink discharged from the inkjet head 526 is cured by the active energy ray irradiated from the active energy ray irradiation device 424.
The ink jet head unit 423 includes a heater 527 for keeping the temperature constant. The arrangement of the heater 527 provided in the inkjet head unit 423 is not particularly limited as long as the temperature of the inkjet head unit 423 can be kept constant. That is, the heater 527 may be installed outside or inside the inkjet head unit 423, or may be installed both inside and outside.
The inkjet head unit 423 is disposed above the belt conveyance mechanism 421. In the inkjet head unit 423, inkjet heads 526 are arranged in a row so that the nozzles are evenly arranged in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance of the substrate to be conveyed by the belt conveyance mechanism 421. Furthermore, the inkjet head 526 is disposed so as to overlap with the adjacent inkjet head 526 so as not to generate a gap.
The number of inkjet heads 526 is not limited to three, and may be two, or four or more. On the other hand, the inkjet head 526 may be a single inkjet head that is long in the width direction of the base material 303. Further, the ejection holes of the ink jet head 526 may be disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to the width direction of the substrate. That is, the ejection holes of the inkjet head 526 may be arranged in a predetermined direction that is not parallel to the transport direction of the substrate. In addition, as the inkjet head 526, an inkjet head that has two or more lines and simultaneously discharges active energy ray-curable ink may be used.
The active energy ray irradiation device 424 irradiates the active energy ray-curable ink applied on the base material 303 conveyed from the upstream side with an active energy ray to cure the ink layer.
FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration centering on the electronic control unit 404 of the inkjet recording apparatus 203. These functions include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes various arithmetic processes, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores various control programs, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. ) Etc., and hardware and software cooperation. Therefore, these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software.
The electronic control unit 404 includes a data acquisition unit 841, a correction unit 842, a discharge control unit 843, and a storage unit 844.
The data acquisition unit 841 acquires coating image data (including information on color, position, shape, and thickness) from the information processing apparatus 201 via the communication unit 801.
The storage unit 844 stores the image data of the base image (so-called CMYK data) acquired by the data acquisition unit 841 and the image data of the coating print image (so-called varnish plate, special color plate). The storage unit 844 also stores information related to the printing positions and shapes of the registration marks 601 on the base material 303.
The discharge controller 843 refers to the coating image data stored in the storage unit 844 and controls the discharge amount of the ink so that the active energy ray-curable ink is coated on the base material 303 on which the base image is applied. To do.
The correction unit 842 compares the reading position and reading shape of the registration mark 601 by the

image sensors

724 and 725 with the printing position and shape stored in the storage unit 844 in advance, thereby printing the base image of the base material 303. Detect deviation. The correction unit 842 converts the coating image data based on the registration mark position information (design position) read from the storage unit 844 and the actual registration mark position information (measured position) read by the image reading device 422. to correct.
The correction unit 842 calculates a difference between the design value of the background image and the actual measurement value of the background image based on a change in the position of the registration mark, and executes a correction process for compensating the difference for the coating image data. To do.
The discharge controller 843 controls the discharge timing and discharge amount of the active energy ray-curable ink of the inkjet head unit 423 based on the coating image data corrected by the correction unit 842.
A signal acquired from the information processing apparatus 201 via the communication unit 801 and a signal from the operation panel 427 are input to the electronic control unit 404. The operation panel 427 includes various switches such as a start switch for starting the coating printing process and a stop switch for stopping the coating printing process.
The electronic control unit 404 also receives detection signals from the encoder 522, the base material sensor 523, the

image sensors

724, 725, and the like. Based on these switch and sensor inputs, the electronic control unit 404 executes predetermined arithmetic processing for feeding substrate control, transport control, active energy ray curable ink ejection control, active energy ray irradiation control, and the like. To do. Further, the electronic control unit 404 outputs a control command signal to the transport element 401, the belt transport mechanism 421, the inkjet head unit 423, the active energy ray irradiation device 424, and the like.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printed material 900 formed using the inkjet recording apparatus 203. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the printed material 900 has a coating print image 1001 having a three-dimensional shape raised in the vertical direction while maintaining substantially the same shape as the base image, and a coating formed in a shape and position different from the base image. Print image 1002.
<Configuration of Information Processing Device> FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information processing device 201. The information processing apparatus 201 includes a GUI (Graphic User Interface) display control unit 1101, an image data designation unit 1102, a preview image generation unit 1103, an image editing application call unit 1104, and a registration mark data generation unit 1105. The information processing apparatus 201 further includes a parameter input unit 1106, a thickness upper limit setting unit 1107, a thickness gradation determination unit 1108, a threshold value changing unit 1111, a thickness setting unit 1112, a display control unit 1113, and a job transmission unit 1114.
These functions include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes various arithmetic processes, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores various control programs, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. ) Etc., and hardware and software cooperation. Therefore, these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software.
The information processing apparatus 201 provides a graphic user interface for adjusting the correspondence between the area in the image data and the thickness of the coating printing (coating thickness) on the base material, using the above function, and an inkjet recording apparatus Adjust coating thickness at 203. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the graphic user interface 1200.
The GUI display control unit 1101 provides the display 205 with a user interface 1200 shown in FIG.
The image data designation unit 1102 designates image data for coating printing (coating image data) from the image data stored in the image database 1120 in accordance with a user input to the user interface 1200.
The preview image generation unit 1103 uses the designated coating image data to generate thickness display image data in which the difference in coating thickness for each image region is expressed by a difference in hue. The GUI display control unit 1101 causes the display 205 to display the thickness display image data generated by the preview image generation unit 1103.
The image editing application calling unit 1104 calls an application for editing the image data specified by the image data specifying unit 1102 in accordance with a user input to the user interface 1200.
A registration mark data generation unit 1105 generates registration mark data from designated image data in accordance with a user input to the user interface 1200.
The parameter input unit 1106 inputs various parameters via the user interface 1200.
A thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets an upper limit value (for example, 20 μm to 80 μm) of the thickness of coating printing input by the parameter input unit 1106.
The thickness gradation determination unit 1108 determines the gradation of the coating printing thickness according to the upper limit value of the coating thickness set by the thickness upper limit setting unit 1107. For example, if the upper limit value of the coating thickness is 20 μm, there are two gradations of no coating (0 μm) and 20 μm. For example, when the upper limit value of the coating thickness is 80 μm, there are eight gradations of no coating (0 μm), 20 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, and 80 μm. 10 μm is not set in this embodiment, but may be set to include 10 μm according to demand, or may be set to include a thicker 90 μm.
The threshold value changing unit 1111 changes the coating thickness adjustment threshold value (pixel value) according to the input from the parameter input unit 1106.
The thickness setting unit 1112 is different in the image data specified by the image data specifying unit 1102 between an image region having a pixel value equal to or larger than the threshold set by the threshold changing unit 1111 and an image region having a pixel value smaller than the threshold. Set the coating thickness. That is, the thickness setting unit 1112 acquires coating thickness information related to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image region in the coating image data used when coating printing is performed on the substrate.
The cost calculation unit 1113 calculates the cost when the coating printing corresponding to the image data is performed with the coating thickness set by the thickness setting unit 1112.
The job transmission unit 1114 controls the inkjet recording apparatus 203 to perform coating printing on the image area set by the thickness setting unit 1112 with the coating thickness set by the thickness setting unit 1112.
<Configuration of User Interface> FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user interface 1200. A paper size button 1201 is a button for starting up a paper size setting dialog box (not shown) and selecting a paper size from the paper size list or setting a custom size.
The image data button 1202 is a button for designating image data, and by selecting this button, the image data designating unit 1102 performs coating printing from the image data stored in the image database 1120 of the information processing apparatus 201. Specify image data.
When the registration mark data generation button 1203 is selected, the registration mark data generation unit 1105 launches a registration mark generation dialog box (not shown), and generates and stores a registration mark from the input coordinate information. To do. If registration mark data has already been stored in the image database 1120, the registration mark data can be designated by selecting a registration mark data button 1204.
The correction mode button 1205 is a button for designating a correction mode for correcting the position of coating printing using the registration mark. From the pull-down menu, “real time”, “back end”, “tip”, and “manual” can be selected. In the real-time correction, all registration marks printed on the conveyed substrate are read and collated with the registration mark data in the image data. In the front end / rear end correction, only the registration marks at the front end and the rear end of the substrate being conveyed are read and collated with the registration mark data in the image data. In the front end correction, only the registration mark at the front end of the substrate to be conveyed is read and collated with the registration mark data in the image data. “Manual” is used when a registration mark is not printed on the substrate to be conveyed.
The finished thickness setting slide bar 1206 is a slide bar for setting the upper limit of the coating thickness, and the upper limit of the coating thickness can be changed by moving the handle 1261 left and right. Depending on the position of the handle 1261, the thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets an upper limit value (for example, 20 μm to 80 μm) of the coating thickness, and the thickness gradation determining unit 1108 determines the gradation of the thickness of the coating printing. When the thickness gradation determination unit 1108 determines gradations from seven options from 2 gradations to 8 gradations, the result is displayed on the thickness gradation display unit 1209. In FIG. 12, the handle 1261 is at a position where the upper limit value is set to 50 μm, and coating printing is performed with thicknesses of 0 μm, 20 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, and 50 μm for five gradations. The thickness gradation display portion 1209 also shows the correspondence between thickness and color in the color preview screen. Specifically, a 50 μm thick region is coated with a red region 1209r, a 40 μm thick region is coated with a yellow region 1209y, a 30 μm thick region is coated with a green region 1209g, and a 20 μm thick region is coated with a blue region 1209b. This represents that a non-printing area is displayed as a white area 1209w (in FIG. 12, the colored area is indicated by hatching, the hatching type and hue are associated with each other, and the difference in hue is hatched. (The same applies to FIGS. 13 and 15-22). In addition, you may enable it to set the difference in the thickness of a coating, and the combination of a color freely.
A preview tab 1207 is for displaying the preview screen in color, and an image corresponding to the image data designated by the image data button 1202 is displayed in the display area 1208. At this time, an image 1230 corresponding to the thickness display image data generated by the preview image generation unit 1103 using the coating image data and expressing the difference in coating thickness for each image region by the difference in hue is displayed. Specifically, the preview image generation unit 1103 uses the coating image data to express the difference in coating thickness for each image area in at least one of red, green, yellow, and blue. Is generated. In particular, the preview image generation unit 1103 generates, as thickness display image data, image data that changes from blue to green, green to yellow, and yellow to red as the coating thickness increases, and causes the display 205 to display the image data. The thickness display image data may be data in which the difference in coating thickness is further expressed by a difference between an achromatic color and a chromatic color. For example, an area where coating printing is not performed (area where the coating thickness is 0) may be displayed in an achromatic color, for example, black or white. In order to more clearly represent a plurality of coating thickness regions, the contour of the coating region may be bordered with a different color or intensity from the coating region. In the example of FIG. 12, in the image 1230, an object 1230r to be coated and printed with a thickness of 50 μm is red, an object 1230y to be coated and printed with a thickness of 40 μm is yellow, an object 1230g to be coated and printed with a thickness of 30 μm is green, The object 1230b to be coated and printed with a thickness of 20 μm is displayed in blue, and the other portions are areas not subjected to coating printing, and thus are displayed in white. These hues are the same color for each coating thickness as the color displayed in each region in the thickness gradation display unit 1209. In the image 1230 in this embodiment, a predetermined coating thickness is specified for each object. However, it may be specified that there are regions having different coating thicknesses in the same object. Needless to say, the image is displayed in a hue corresponding to.
Although only the image corresponding to the image data for coating printing is displayed here, the image data for base printing may be read and the base image may be displayed simultaneously with the coating image. For example, the coating image may be displayed in a transparent manner so as to be superimposed on the ground image, or the coating image and the ground image may be displayed in parallel. Further, the base image and the coating image may be switched and displayed at regular intervals.
The preview tab 1229 is for displaying the preview screen in gray scale, and an image 1330 corresponding to the image data designated by the image data button 1202 is displayed in the display area 1208 as shown in FIG.
The thickness threshold tab 1212 is a tab for displaying in the display area 1208 a screen for changing the coating thickness adjustment threshold (pixel value).
A list button 1213 is a button for displaying a job history and a job list. The open button 1214 is a button for opening a saved job and displaying it in the job window. A save button 1215 is a button for saving the created job. A new button 1216 is a button for creating a new job. A send button 1217 is a button for sending the job displayed in the job window to the inkjet recording apparatus 203.
A function button 1218 is a button for performing power on / off of the inkjet recording apparatus 203, setting of an irradiation time of the active energy ray irradiation apparatus 424, setting of energy saving, setting of the number of paper feed tests, and the like.
The monitor button 1219 is a button for monitoring the state of the ink jet recording apparatus 203. By selecting this button, the presence / absence of an error, the location where an error has occurred, an error code, the remaining amount of ink, and the like are displayed.
When the transmission of the job to the inkjet recording apparatus 203 is successful by the transmission button 1217, the action buttons 1221 to 1228 are displayed in color and can be selected. Here, the paper feed test button 1221 is a button for feeding a set number of sheets without printing. The test button 1222 is a button for performing all processes for only one sheet. The start button 1223 is a button for starting print processing. A stop button 1224 is a button for stopping the printing process. The numerical value input button 1225 is a button for displaying a numerical value input screen and inputting the number of sheets. The count clear button 1226 is a button for clearing the number of printed sheets or the number of sheets. The count method switching button 1227 is a button for switching the display format of the number of printed sheets between addition and subtraction. The count repeat setting button 1228 is a button for setting ON / OFF of the count repeat. When ON, the inkjet recording apparatus 203 is automatically stopped when the printing process for the set number of copies is completed. In the case of OFF, when the printing process is completed, the number of processed copies of the inkjet recording apparatus 203 is cleared and the waiting mode is entered.
<Process Flow> The process flow of the information processing apparatus 201 using the user interface 1200 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, in step S1401, a control application for the inkjet recording apparatus 203 is launched. As a result, the user interface 1200 is displayed. In step S1403, a paper size, coating printing image data, and registration mark data are designated based on input to the user interface 1200. In step S1405, the thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets the upper limit value of the thickness in accordance with the position of the handle 1261 on the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206.
In step S1407, the thickness threshold tab 1212 is selected, and a screen for changing the coating thickness adjustment threshold (pixel value) is displayed in the display area 1208. 15 to 20 are diagrams showing examples of coating thickness adjustment screens. FIG. 15 shows a coating thickness adjusting screen 1501 when the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206 is used and the upper limit thickness is set to 20 μm. When the thickness upper limit value is 20 μm, the coating printing has two gradations of no coating (0 μm) and 20 μm (the color display of the thickness gradation display portion 1209 is a 20 μm thick region in a red region 1209r, The area where coating printing is not performed is indicated by a white area 1209w). Therefore, if one pixel value is determined as a threshold value, coating printing with a thickness of 20 μm is performed only on an image area having a pixel value larger than the threshold value in the image data designated by the image data button 1202. In this figure, the pixel value 127 (density 50%) is displayed in the threshold value display field 1502, but by changing the position of the handle 1504 on the slide bar 1503, the pixel value as the threshold value is 0 (density 100). %) To 255 (concentration 0%). Furthermore, the background density of the threshold value display unit 1502 changes according to the threshold value. When the background density of the threshold value display unit 1502 is high, the thick-coated region is small. When the background density of the threshold value display unit 1502 is low, the thick-coated region is large.
Although the minimum thickness is 20 μm here, it may be set to include 10 μm according to demand. In the present embodiment, the coating thickness is set to be 10 μm apart, but it may be finer (for example, every 5 μm) or coarser (for example, every 20 μm), or not necessarily at regular intervals. Moreover, you may enable it for a user to set arbitrarily the coating thickness for every step.
If the handle 1504 is moved to the left in the figure and the threshold value is set to 0, there is no image area below the threshold value 0, so that coating printing is not performed. On the other hand, if the handle 1504 is moved to the right in the figure and the threshold value is set to 254, the entire image excluding the image area set as a blank (pixel value 255) is the luminance value 254 or less (density 0% or more). The coating printing of 20 μm is performed on a portion excluding the image area set as a blank on the entire surface of the substrate. The coating image usually has pixels set as a blank portion that “prints nothing”, and the blank portion is set to a pixel value 255, while the threshold value can only be set up to 254. That is, no matter how the threshold value is set (maximum), the blank portion is not coated. Therefore, even if it is 254, it is not usually a full surface coating.
As shown in the figure, when the handle 1504 is in the middle and the threshold value is 127, only the image area having a pixel value of 127 or less is coated and printed with a thickness of 20 μm. Above the slide bar 1503, a gradation display portion 1507, a coating thickness display portion 1508, a coating thickness switching position display portion 1509, and a hue display portion 1510 are displayed. The coating thickness switching position display unit 1509 is always located immediately above the position of the handle 1504 and moves to the left and right as the handle 1504 moves. In other words, when the handle 1504 is moved to the left, the coating thickness display area 1508 has an area with a coating thickness of 20 μm (left side) that is smaller and an area with a coating thickness of 0 μm (right side) that is larger. On the other hand, even if the position of the handle 1504 is changed, the background of the gradation display portion 1507 does not change, but the hue display portion 1510 displays, from the left, red representing a coating thickness of 20 μm and white representing a coating thickness of 0 μm ( That is, the same color as the thickness gradation display portion 1209 is displayed in the same order), and the size of the area of each color (here, red and white) changes. As a result, the user can intuitively recognize which coating value switching position corresponds to which pixel value in the preview screen and which coating thickness is applied to which dark area. .
The GUI display control unit 1101 and the preview image generation unit 1103 may reflect the image region in which the coating thickness is determined in this way on the preview display. For example, it is preferable to reflect the difference in coating thickness on the preview display as a difference in color.
By selecting the plus button 1505 or the minus button 1506, the handle 1504 moves to the right or left, and the threshold value in the threshold value display column 1502 increases or decreases by one. The threshold value display field 1502 may be used as a threshold value input field, and the threshold value may be directly input as a numerical value.
FIG. 16 shows a coating thickness adjustment screen 1601 when the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206 is used and the upper limit thickness is 30 μm. When the upper limit thickness is set to 30 μm, the maximum in coating printing is three gradations of no coating (0 μm), 20 μm, and 30 μm. In the area 1209r, a 20 μm thick area is displayed as a blue area 1209b, and an area where coating printing is not performed is displayed as a white area 1209w. The hue display portion 1510 has the same color as the thickness gradation display portion 1209. Displayed in order). Therefore, two pixel values can be determined as threshold values. As shown in FIG. 16, when the threshold value defined by the handle 1504 is the pixel value 85 and the threshold value defined by the handle 1604 is the pixel value 170, the image area having the pixel value of 85 or less in the image data is 30 μm thick. Coating printing is performed, and an image area larger than the pixel value 85 and smaller than 170 is coated and printed with a thickness of 20 μm, and an image area having a pixel value larger than 170 is not printed. In this way, it is possible to adjust in which area and how thick the coating printing is performed in the coating image indicated by the image data. In this case, on the color preview screen, an image area having a pixel value of 85 or less is displayed in “red”, and an image area greater than the pixel value 85 and less than 170 is displayed in “blue”. An image area in which the coating printing with a pixel value larger than 170 is not performed is displayed in “white”. The correspondence between the coating thickness and the color on the color preview screen matches that of the thickness gradation display unit 1209.
FIGS. 17 to 21 show coating thickness adjustment screens 1701 to 2101 when the thickness upper limit value is set to 40 μm to 80 μm using the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206. As can be seen from these figures, as the number of gradations in the finished thickness increases, the threshold value increases in accordance with the number of gradation levels, so the number of slide bars and handles for determining the threshold value also increase. Specifically, the number of slide bars and handles obtained by subtracting 1 from the number of gradations are displayed. Further, the thickness gradation display portion 1209 displays the same number of colors as the number of gradations and displays in different colors for each gradation. In FIGS. 17 to 21, 1209r is red, 1209m is magenta, 1209or is orange, and 1209y is Yellow, 1209g is green, 12091b is light blue, 1209b is blue, and 1209w is white. Further, the same color as that of the thickness gradation display unit 1209 is also displayed in the same order on the hue display unit 1510 of each screen. Also, when switching from each screen to a color preview screen, a different hue is displayed for each region to be coated with each coating thickness, and the correspondence between the coating thickness and the color is that of the thickness gradation display portion 1209. Matches.
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a change in the display screen 2201 when the handle 1604 is moved to the left of the handle 1504 in FIG. When the handle 1604 is moved to the left of the handle 1504, the threshold value defined by the handle 1604 becomes equal to or less than the threshold value defined by the handle 1504. As a result, there is no pixel value that is greater than the threshold defined by the handle 1504 and less than or equal to the threshold defined by the handle 1604. As a result, an image region having a thickness of 70 μm (the portion displayed in magenta in the hue display portion 1510) disappears, and the gradation of the coating thickness is substantially 0 μm, 20 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 50 μm, and 60 μm. And 7 gradations of 80 μm. When the color preview screen is switched in this state, the hues are displayed in different hues for the areas to be coated with coating thicknesses corresponding to the seven gradations. Similarly, it is possible to easily realize a very diverse coating thickness distribution, for example, four gradations of 0 μm, 30 μm, 50 μm, and 80 μm while setting the upper limit value to 80 μm, and depending on the number of gradations. The preview can be displayed in the number of colors selected.
In step S1409, the thickness data set in step S1407 is integrated with the coating image data specified in step S1403 to generate thickness display image data in which the difference in coating thickness for each image region is expressed by the difference in hue. .
In step S1411, the GUI display control unit 1101 displays a preview screen on the display 205 using the thickness display image data.
In step S1413, the image editing application calling unit 1104 calls an application for editing image data, and edits the image displayed on the preview screen as necessary. For example, editing such as increasing or decreasing the coating area or shifting the position can be performed.
In step S1415, the job is transmitted to the printing apparatus according to the instruction.
In the present embodiment, the thickness of each gradation divided by the threshold is automatically determined with respect to the set maximum thickness. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form, and an arbitrary thickness may be set for each gradation divided by the threshold value. Specifically, arbitrary numerical values may be sequentially set so that the thickness increases as the pixel value decreases from a state in which the thickness setting is not cleared, for example. Further, as shown in FIG. 21, each preset thickness may be selected and changed to an arbitrary numerical value (in this case, the numerical value setting range is limited so that the thickness increases as the pixel value decreases). Also good). According to this modification, as the pixel value is smaller, the thickness is increased and beautiful gradation is obtained, and each thickness can be freely set, and the degree of freedom of expression is improved.
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user can easily grasp and recognize the coating thickness for each region in the image, and can easily and intuitively confirm the coating thickness.
In the present embodiment, the configuration in which the network 202 is interposed between the information processing apparatus 201 and the inkjet recording apparatus 203 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the information processing apparatus 201 may be directly connected to the inkjet recording apparatus 203. That is, it can be employed regardless of whether or not the recording apparatus is controlled via a network.
[Third Embodiment]
Next, an inkjet recording apparatus 2300 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of the ink jet recording apparatus 2300 according to the present embodiment. The inkjet recording apparatus 2300 according to the present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the inkjet recording apparatus 2300 includes a display 2301 that displays the user interface 1200 illustrated in FIG. Since other configurations and operations are the same as those of the second embodiment, the same configurations and operations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
According to the present embodiment, the user 2350 can recognize various coating thicknesses simply and intuitively by directly operating the inkjet recording apparatus 2200.
[Other Embodiments] Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention. In addition, a system or an apparatus in which different features included in each embodiment are combined in any way is also included in the scope of the present invention.
In addition, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to a single device. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a case where an information processing program that implements the functions of the embodiments is supplied directly or remotely to a system or apparatus. Therefore, in order to realize the functions of the present invention on a computer, a program installed in the computer, a medium storing the program, and a WWW (World Wide Web) server that downloads the program are also included in the scope of the present invention. . In particular, at least a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a program that causes a computer to execute the processing steps included in the above-described embodiments is included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Information acquisition means for acquiring coating thickness information related to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image area in the coating image data used when performing coating printing on the substrate, and using the coating image data, An information processing apparatus comprising: an image generation unit that generates thickness display image data that expresses a difference in coating thickness for each image region by a difference in hue; and a display control unit that displays the thickness display image data on a display.
The image generation means generates thickness display image data in which the difference in the coating thickness for each image region is expressed by at least one of red, green, yellow, and blue using the coating image data. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thickness display image data is image data that changes from blue to green, from green to yellow, and from yellow to red as the coating thickness increases.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thickness display image data is data representing the difference in the coating thickness by a difference between an achromatic color and a chromatic color.
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thickness display image data is data representing an area in which the coating thickness is 0 by an achromatic color.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a color corresponding to the coating thickness can be freely set in order to generate the thickness display image data.
A graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence relationship between a region in image data and the coating thickness, and a changing unit that changes a pixel value to be a threshold based on a user input to the graphic user interface; In the image data, the image acquisition unit further includes a setting unit that sets different coating thicknesses in an image region having a pixel value larger than the threshold value and an image region having a pixel value equal to or less than the threshold value, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information on the coating thickness is acquired from the setting unit.
The print control unit according to claim 7, further comprising: a print control unit configured to control the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set by the setting unit with respect to the image region set by the setting unit. Information processing device.
Information acquisition means for acquiring coating thickness information related to the thickness of the coating printing set for each image area in the coating image data used when performing coating printing on the substrate, and using the coating image data, Based on the coating image data, image generation means for generating thickness display image data expressing the difference in coating thickness for each image area by a difference in hue, display control means for displaying the thickness display image data on a display, and And an inkjet recording device that performs coating printing on the substrate.
An acquisition step of acquiring coating thickness information related to a thickness when coating printing is performed on a substrate, set for each region in the image data, and using the image data, the difference in the coating thickness is determined as a difference in hue. An information processing method comprising: an image generation step of generating thickness display image data expressed in the above, and a display control step of displaying the thickness display image data on a display.
An acquisition step of acquiring coating thickness information related to a thickness when coating printing is performed on a substrate, set for each region in the image data, and using the image data, the difference in the coating thickness is determined as a difference in hue. An information processing program for causing a computer to execute an image generation step for generating thickness display image data expressed by the above and a display control step for displaying the thickness display image data on a display.