JP2019077065A - Information processor, information processing method, information processing program and inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

To easily and intuitively adjust a thickness of a coating.SOLUTION: An information processor that provides a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between a region in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of coating printing to a base material, and adjusts the coating thickness in a printer includes: change means which changes a pixel value to be a threshold based on input of a user to the graphic user interface; setting means which sets different coating thicknesses between an image area having a pixel value larger than the threshold and an image area having a pixel value equal to or lower than the threshold, in the image data; and print control means which controls the printer so that the image area set by the setting means is coating printed with the coating thickness set by the setting means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

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

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

Patent 5824712

  However, the techniques described in the above-mentioned documents can not easily adjust the thickness of the ink in different regions.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for solving the above-mentioned problems.

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention
An information processing apparatus for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of coating printing on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in the printing apparatus,
Changing means for changing a pixel value to be a threshold based on a user input to the graphic user interface;
Setting means for setting different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value in the image data;
Print control means for controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set by the setting means on the image area set by the setting means;
Equipped.

In order to achieve the above object, the method according to the present invention is
An information processing method for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of coating printing on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in a printing apparatus,
Changing the threshold and the pixel value to be changed based on the user's input to the graphic user interface;
Setting, in the image data, different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value;
A print control step of controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set in the setting step on the image area set in the setting step;
including.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to the present invention is
A print control program for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of a coating print on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in a printing apparatus,
Changing the threshold and the pixel value to be changed based on the user's input to the graphic user interface;
Setting, in the image data, different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value;
A print control step of controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set in the setting step on the image area set in the setting step;
On a computer.

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention
An inkjet recording apparatus that provides a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness of coating printing,
A transport mechanism that transports a sheet on which a base image is printed;
An inkjet head which discharges ink for coating printing toward a substrate on which the base image is printed, of a sheet transported by a transport mechanism;
Changing means for changing a pixel value to be a threshold based on a user input to the graphic user interface;
Setting means for setting different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value in the image data;
Control means for controlling the ink jet head to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set by the setting means on the image area set by the setting means;
Equipped.

  According to the present invention, the thickness of the coating can be easily adjusted.

It is a block diagram showing composition of an information processor concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing composition of a printing system concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of printing by the printing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the inkjet recording device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the detail of the principal part of the inkjet recording device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the base material by which the base image and registration mark which were used with the inkjet recording device concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention were printed. It is a figure which shows typically the detail of the principal part of the inkjet recording device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the electrical constitution centering on the electronic control part of the inkjet recording device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing an example of a printed matter printed using an ink jet recording device concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is the enlarged view which showed an example of the printed matter printed using the inkjet recording device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing functional composition of an information processor concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of processing of the information processor concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface displayed by the information processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the inkjet recording device which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the component described in the following embodiment is an illustration to the last, and it is not a thing of the meaning which limits the technical scope of this invention only to them.

First Embodiment
An information processing apparatus 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing apparatus 100 provides a graphic user interface 110 for adjusting the correspondence between the area in the image data and the coating thickness of the coating print, and for easily adjusting the thickness of the coating print on the printing apparatus 120. It is an apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 100 includes a threshold value changing unit 101, a thickness setting unit 102, and a print control unit 103.

  The change unit 101 changes the pixel value to be the threshold based on the user's input to the graphic user interface.

  The setting unit 102 sets different coating thicknesses for an image area having pixel values equal to or greater than a threshold value and an image area having pixel values less than the threshold value in the image data.

  The print control unit 103 controls the printing apparatus 120 to perform coating printing on the image area set by the thickness setting unit 102 with the coating thickness set by the setting unit 102.

  With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, the coating thickness in a desired region of the image can be easily adjusted.

Second Embodiment
<Configuration of printing system>
Next, an information processing apparatus 201 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIG. First, FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a printing system 200 that performs printing using the information processing apparatus 201. The 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 inkjet recording apparatus 203 has a mechanism capable of performing printing using an active energy ray curable ink in addition to a normal ink. The user 204 can control the inkjet recording apparatus 203 via the network 202 using the screen displayed on the display 205 by the information processing apparatus 201 and perform desired image recording. The active energy ray-curable ink according to the present embodiment contains an active energy ray-curable monomer and / or an active energy ray-curable oligomer, a photopolymerization initiator, and a surface tension regulator, and an active energy such as ultraviolet light. It has the property of being cured by irradiation of a line.

<Composition of printed matter>
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a printed matter 300 printed using an active energy ray curable ink. As shown in FIG. 3, the printed matter 300 is obtained by applying a base image 302 and a coating print image 301 on a substrate 303 such as paper.

  A coating print image 301 (also known as an overprint image) using an active energy ray curable ink is formed on a substrate 303 with a three-dimensional shape raised in the vertical direction using an inkjet recording device or the like. Here, as an example, the coating print image 301 has the shape of an alphabet D. As shown in FIG. 3, the coating print image 301 may be printed directly on the surface of the substrate 303 where nothing is printed (310), or the base image 302 previously applied to the substrate 303. It may be printed on (320).

  The coating print image 301 may be formed in the same shape at substantially the same position as the base image 302 when the substrate 303 is viewed from above (320), or is intentionally different from the base image 302 in a different position. It may be formed in shape (330).

  According to such a coating print, in addition to the effect of adding a matte feeling or gloss to the base image printed on the substrate to make the design stand out, the three-dimensional design of the coating itself makes it possible to obtain a conventional flat surface. It has the effect of causing a different aesthetic appearance than the ordinary print.

  As the substrate 303, plain paper, art paper, photographic paper, business card paper, postcard, coated paper, matte coated paper, high quality paper, special paper, etc. printing paper, polycarbonate, hard salt vinyl, soft salt vinyl, polystyrene , Plastic substrates such as polystyrene, PMMA, polypropylene, polyethylene, PET, etc., laminated films obtained by laminating these plastic substrates, materials obtained by mixing or modifying these plastic substrates, metal substrates such as glass, stainless steel, etc. Although wood can be exemplified, it is not limited thereto.

  Further, as the active energy ray, an ultraviolet ray, an electron beam or the like can be used.

<Configuration of Inkjet Recording Apparatus>
FIG. 4 is a view schematically showing the inside of the ink jet recording apparatus 203 of the present embodiment. The inkjet recording apparatus 203 can execute, for example, a coating printing process for forming a coating with an active energy ray curable ink so as to coat a substrate image on which a substrate image is printed in advance so as to coat the substrate image. The inkjet recording apparatus 203 also performs a process of forming a coating made of an active energy ray curable ink on a substrate on which an image is not formed by printing.

  The inkjet recording device 203 includes a transport element 401, a coating image recording device 402 and a stacker 403. The transport element 401 has a substrate table 411 and a substrate supply mechanism 412. On the base material table 411, 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 may be any printing method such as an inkjet method, an offset method, and the like.

  The substrate table 411 is configured to be vertically movable, and the substrate located at the top of the loaded substrates is supplied by the substrate supply mechanism 412. As described above, the transport element 401 is a transport element that transports the base material provided with 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 paper, paper such as surface-treated paper, plastic plate, metal thin film, etc. It can be illustrated.

  The substrate delivered by the substrate supply mechanism 412 is transported along the transport path 413. A coating image recording device 402 is provided along the downstream portion of the transport path 413. The coating image recording apparatus 402 is provided with a belt conveyance mechanism 421 for conveying the base material conveyed along the conveyance path 413. The belt conveyance mechanism 421 conveys the substrate while adsorbing the substrate by the suction force of the air passing 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 in the conveyance direction of the base material.

  A discharge path 426 is connected to the downstream side of the coating image recording device 402. The substrate conveyed from the belt conveyance mechanism 421 is fed to the discharge path 426. The substrate fed to the discharge path 426 is carried out to the stacker 403. The stacker 403 has a conveyance path 431 and a base material accumulation unit 432. The substrate carried out of the discharge passage 426 passes through the conveyance passage 431 and is discharged and accumulated in the substrate accumulation portion 432.

  In the modification, 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 base material to be fed may be connected to the coating image recording apparatus 402.

  The inkjet recording apparatus 203 also has an electronic control unit 404. The electronic control unit 404 has a CPU that executes various arithmetic processing, a ROM that stores various control programs, and a RAM that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. An electronic control unit 404 controls the operation of an actuator provided in the inkjet recording apparatus 203. Thus, the active energy ray curable ink is discharged from the ink jet head unit 423 toward the substrate, and the coating printing process is performed.

  Similarly, the electronic control unit 404 discharges the active energy ray curable ink from the ink jet head unit 423 toward the substrate on which the image formation by printing is not performed, and forms the coating layer made of the ink. Run.

  The ink jet recording apparatus 203 is provided with an operation panel 427, and the user can perform various settings of the coating printing process by the operation input via the operation panel 427. In the modification, the display, the mouse, and the keyboard of the information processing apparatus 201 may function as an operation panel, and the information processing apparatus 201 may function as the electronic control unit 404.

  FIG. 5 is a view schematically showing details of a coating image recording apparatus 402 which is a main part of the inkjet recording apparatus 203. As shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view thereof. As shown in FIG. 5, the coating image recording apparatus 402 includes, as a part of the belt conveyance mechanism 421, a plurality of conveyance rollers 521 that convey the substrate 303. As shown in FIG. 6, as this base material 303, a base image on which a base image 302 and a registration mark 601 as a reference for specifying the position of the base image are printed is prepared. The registration marks 601 are arranged at equal intervals along a straight line 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, on the upstream side of the image reading device 422, an encoder 522 (rotary encoder) for calculating the transport amount of the base material 303 from the rotational speed is installed. Further, an input substrate sensor 523 for detecting the leading end of the substrate 303 transported from the transport element 401 is disposed between the image reader 422 and the encoder 522.

  The electronic control unit 404 uses the detection of the substrate 303 by the incoming substrate sensor 523 as a trigger, acquires an output pulse of the encoder 522, and calculates the transport position of the substrate 303. Then, based on the position of the substrate 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 irradiating device 424 are set. .

  As shown in FIG. 7, the image reading device 422 includes a pair of image sensors 724 and 725 spaced above the belt conveyance mechanism 421 in the width direction of the substrate. The image sensors 724 and 725 are preferably CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensors, but may be Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) 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 It is provided. That is, by moving the image sensor 725 in the width direction of the substrate, the distance between the image sensors can be adjusted according to the size of the substrate 303. The image sensors 724 and 725 capture images at predetermined timings based on the position of the substrate 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 (measured position) of the registration mark 601 included in the captured image, it is possible to recognize the “deviation” of the printing position of the base image 302 on the substrate 303 from the design position. By correcting the discharge position of the active energy ray curable ink by the ink jet head 526 according to the recognized “misalignment”, it is possible to correctly align the base image 302 and the coating print image. Note that the position of the substrate 303 calculated by the encoder 522 and the design of the registration mark 601 from the captured images continuously captured by the image sensor 724 and 725 while the substrate 303 passes through the image sensor 724 and 725 Based on the position, the image to be acquired of the actual measurement position of the registration mark 601 may be selected.

  Although the registration marks 601 are arranged at equal intervals along a straight line along both long sides of the base in FIG. 6, this arrangement is an example, and the alignment marks 601 may be aligned along a straight line even if they are not always at equal intervals. It does not have to be. In short, it may be read by the image sensors 724 and 725, and it may be possible to recognize "misalignment" as compared with the design position stored in advance.

  The inkjet head unit 423 includes three inkjet heads 526 that eject active energy ray curable ink to the substrate 303. These three inkjet heads 526 function as so-called "recording heads". The active energy ray curable ink discharged from the ink jet head 526 is cured by the active energy ray irradiated from the active energy ray irradiation device 424.

  The inkjet head unit 423 is provided with 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 the inkjet head unit 423 or inside the inkjet head unit 423 or may be installed both inside and outside.

  The inkjet head unit 423 is disposed on the belt conveyance mechanism 421. In the ink jet head unit 423, ink jet heads 526 are arrayed by the belt conveyance mechanism 421 so that the nozzles are equally arranged in the conveyance orthogonal direction of the conveyed substrate. Furthermore, the inkjet head 526 is disposed so as to overlap with the adjacent inkjet head 526 so that no gap is generated.

  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 long in the width direction of the substrate 303. Further, the discharge holes of the ink jet head 526 may be arranged to be inclined at a predetermined angle with the width direction of the base material. That is, the ejection holes of the inkjet head 526 may be arranged in a predetermined direction that is not parallel to the conveyance direction of the substrate. Further, as the ink jet head 526, an ink jet head having two or more lines and simultaneously discharging an active energy ray curable ink may be used.

  The active energy ray irradiation device 424 cures the ink layer by irradiating the active energy ray curable ink applied to the substrate 303 transported from the upstream side with the active energy ray.

  FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration centering on the electronic control unit 404 of the inkjet recording apparatus 203. As shown in FIG. These functions include a central processing unit (CPU) that executes various arithmetic processing, a read only memory (ROM) that stores various control programs, and a random access memory (RAM) that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. Etc.) realized by cooperation of hardware and software. 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 (so-called CMYK data) of the base image acquired by the data acquisition unit 841 and the image data (so-called varnish plate, spot color plate) of the coating print image. The storage unit 844 also stores information on the printing positions of the plurality of registration marks 601 on the substrate 303 and the shape thereof.

  The discharge control unit 843 refers to the coating image data stored in the storage unit 844 to control the discharge amount of the ink so as to coat the active energy ray curable ink on the substrate 303 on which the base image is applied. Do.

  The correction unit 842 prints the ground image of the substrate 303 by comparing 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. Detect deviations. The correction unit 842 is based on the position information (design position) of the registration mark read from the storage unit 844 and the position information (actually measured position) of the actual registration mark read by the image reader 422. to correct.

  The correction unit 842 calculates the difference between the design value of the base image and the actual measurement value of the base image based on the change in position of the registration mark, and executes correction processing for compensating for the difference with respect to the coating image data. Do.

  The discharge control unit 843 executes control of the 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.

  The electronic control unit 404 receives the signal acquired from the information processing apparatus 201 via the communication unit 801 and the signal from the operation panel 427. 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 incoming substrate sensor 523, the image sensors 724 and 725, and the like. The electronic control unit 404 executes predetermined arithmetic processing for substrate supply control, transport control, discharge control of active energy ray curable ink, irradiation control of active energy ray, and the like based on the switch and sensor inputs. 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 view showing an example of a printed matter 900 formed using the inkjet recording device 203. As shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the printed matter 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. And a printed image 1002.

<Configuration of Information Processing Device>
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information processing apparatus 201. As shown in FIG. The information processing apparatus 201 includes a GUI (Graphic User Interface) display control unit 1101, an image data specification unit 1102, a preview image generation unit 1103, an image editing application calling 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 change unit 1111, a thickness setting unit 1112, a cost calculation unit 1113, and a job transmission unit 1114.

  These functions include a central processing unit (CPU) that executes various arithmetic processing, a read only memory (ROM) that stores various control programs, and a random access memory (RAM) that is used as a work area for data storage and program execution. Etc.) realized by cooperation of hardware and software. 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 print (coating thickness) on the substrate using the above functions, and an inkjet recording apparatus Adjust the 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 the user interface 1200 shown in FIG.

  The image data designation unit 1102 designates image data for coating printing from the image data stored in the image database 1120 according to the user's input to the user interface 1200. The preview image generation unit 1103 generates a preview image using the image data designated by the image data designation unit 1102.

  The image editing application calling unit 1104 calls an application for editing the image data designated by the image data designation unit 1102 in accordance with the user's input to the user interface 1200.

  Registration mark data generation unit 1105 generates registration mark data from designated image data in accordance with the user's input to user interface 1200.

  The parameter input unit 1106 inputs various parameters via the user interface 1200.

  The thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets the upper limit (for example, 20 μm to 80 μm) of the thickness of the coating print input by the parameter input unit 1106.

  The thickness gradation determination unit 1108 determines the gradation of the thickness of coating printing in accordance with 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, two gradations of no coating (0 μm) and 20 μm are obtained. For example, if the upper limit of the coating thickness is 80 μm, eight gradations of no coating (0 μm), 20 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, 80 μm are obtained. Although 10 μm is not set in the present embodiment, it may be set to include 10 μm according to demand.

  The threshold changing unit 1111 changes the threshold (pixel value) for coating thickness adjustment in accordance with the input of the parameter input unit 1106.

  In the image data specified by the image data specification unit 1102, the thickness setting unit 1112 differs between an image area having a pixel value equal to or greater than the threshold set by the threshold changing unit 1111 and an image area having a pixel value smaller than the threshold. Set the coating thickness.

  The cost calculation unit 1113 calculates the cost when coating printing corresponding to 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 launching a paper size setting dialog box (not shown), selecting a paper size from the paper size list, or setting a custom size.

  An image data button 1202 is a button for designating image data. When the button is selected, the image data designation unit 1102 uses the image data stored in the image database 1120 of the information processing apparatus 201 for coating printing. 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. Do. When registration mark data is already stored in the image database 1120, registration mark data can be designated by selecting the registration mark data button 1204.

  The correction mode button 1205 is a button for designating a correction mode when correcting the position of coating printing using the registration mark. The pull-down menu allows you to select "Real Time", "Tip Back", "Tip", or "Manual". In real-time correction, all the registration marks printed on the transported 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 on the front end and the rear end of the base material being conveyed are read and collated with the registration mark data in the image data. In the tip correction, only the registration mark on the tip of the base material to be conveyed is read and compared with the registration mark data in the image data. "Manual" is used when the registration mark is not printed on the transported substrate.

  The finish thickness setting slide bar 1206 is a slide bar for setting the upper limit of the coating thickness, and can move the handle 1261 to the left and right. The thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets the upper limit (for example, 20 μm to 80 μm) of the coating thickness according to the position of the handle 1261, and the thickness gradation determination unit 1108 sets the gradation of the thickness of the coating printing (here, the second floor). Determine the eight gradations from the key.

  A preview tab 1207 is for displaying a preview screen, and an image corresponding to the image data designated by the image data button 1202 is displayed in the display area 1208. Here, only the image corresponding to the image data for coating printing is displayed, but 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 transparently displayed and may be superimposed on the base image, or the coating image and the base image may be displayed in parallel.

  An image editing button 1209 is a button for calling an application for editing a preview-displayed image, and in response to selection of the button, the image editing application calling unit 1104 calls an application for editing image data.

  The image reloading button 1210 is a button for reloading the previewed image. The printing cost confirmation button 1211 is a button for displaying a printing cost confirmation dialog box (not shown). In the printing cost confirmation dialog box, it is possible to enter the price and the number of printing inks, and the printing cost in the case of coating printing with the set coating thickness is calculated and displayed according to the entered numerical value.

  The thickness threshold tab 1212 is a tab for displaying a screen for changing the threshold (pixel value) for coating thickness adjustment in the display area 1208.

  The list button 1213 is a button for displaying the job history and the job list. An open button 1214 is a button for opening the stored job and displaying it in the job window. A save button 1215 is a button for saving the created job. The new button 1216 is a button for creating a new job. The send button 1217 is a button for sending the job displayed in the job window to the inkjet recording apparatus 203.

  The function button 1218 is a button for performing power on / off of the ink jet recording apparatus 203, setting of irradiation time of the active energy ray irradiating apparatus 424, setting of energy saving, setting of the number of sheet feeding test, and the like.

  The monitor button 1219 is a button for monitoring the state of the ink jet printing apparatus 203, and when this button is selected, the presence or absence of an error occurrence, an error occurrence location, an error code, the remaining amount of ink, and the like are displayed.

  When 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 feed test button 1221 is a button for feeding a set number of sheets without printing. The test button 1222 is a button that performs all the processes on one sheet. The start button 1223 is a button for starting print processing. The 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. A count clear button 1226 is a button for clearing the number of print processed sheets or the number of sheets. The counting method switching button 1227 is a button for switching the display format of the number of print processed sheets between addition and subtraction. The count repeat setting button 1228 is a button for setting count repeat on / off. When the count repeat setting button 1228 is on, the ink jet printing apparatus 203 automatically stops when the printing process for the number of sets has been completed. If it is 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.

<Flow of processing>
The flow of processing of the information processing apparatus 201 using the user interface 1200 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S1301, a control application for the inkjet recording apparatus 203 is launched. Thus, the user interface 1200 is displayed. In step S1303, the sheet size, the image data for coating printing, and the registration mark data are designated based on the input to the user interface 1200. Further, in step S1305, the thickness upper limit setting unit 1107 sets the upper limit of the thickness in accordance with the position of the handle 1261 in the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206.

  In step S1307, the thickness threshold tab 1212 is selected, and a screen for changing the threshold (pixel value) for coating thickness adjustment is displayed on the display area 1208. 14 to 20 are diagrams showing examples of the coating thickness adjustment screen. FIG. 14 shows a coating thickness adjustment screen 1401 when the thickness upper limit value is set to 20 μm by using the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206. When the thickness upper limit value is 20 μm, in coating printing, two gradations of no coating (0 μm) and 20 μm are obtained. Therefore, if one pixel value is determined as a threshold value, in the image data designated by the image data button 1202, 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 this figure, the pixel value 127 (50% density) is displayed in the threshold value display column 1402, but the pixel value as the threshold value is 0 (density 100%) by changing the position of the handle 1404 on the slide bar 1403. %) Varying between 255 and 0 (concentration 0%). Furthermore, the background density of the threshold value display unit 1402 changes according to the value of the threshold value. When the background density of the threshold display portion 1402 is high, the area where the coating is thick is small, and when the background density of the threshold display portion 1402 is low, the area where the coating is thick is large.

  If the handle 1404 is moved to the left in the figure and the threshold value is set to 0, coating printing will not be performed because there is no image area below the threshold value 0. On the other hand, when the handle 1404 is moved to the left in the figure and the threshold value is 254, the entire image is 254 (density 100%) or less, so 20 μm coating printing is performed on the entire surface of the substrate. As shown, when the handle 1404 is at the center 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 1403, a gradation display unit 1407, a coating thickness display unit 1408, and a coating thickness switching position display unit 1409 are displayed. The coating thickness switching position display unit 1409 is always located directly above the position of the handle 1404, and moves left and right in accordance with the movement of the handle 1404. That is, when the handle 1404 is moved to the left, the area (left side) with a coating thickness of 20 μm in the coating thickness display portion 1408 becomes smaller and the area (right side) with a coating thickness of 0 μm becomes larger. On the other hand, the gradation display unit 1407 does not change. This makes it possible to intuitively recognize which pixel value in the preview screen corresponds to the switching position of the coating thickness and which coating thickness is applied to the area of which density.

  The GUI display control unit 1101 and the preview image generation unit 1103 may reflect the image area whose coating thickness is determined in this manner on the preview display. For example, it is preferable to reflect the difference in coating thickness on the preview display as the difference in color.

  By selecting the plus button 1405 or the minus button 1406, the handle 1404 moves to the right or left, and the threshold of the threshold display field 1402 is increased or decreased by one. Alternatively, the threshold display column 1402 may be used as a threshold input column to allow direct numerical input of the threshold.

  FIG. 15 shows a coating thickness adjusting screen 1501 when the thickness upper limit value is set to 30 μm using the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206. When the thickness upper limit is set to 30 μm, in coating printing, three gradations of no coating (0 μm), 20 μm and 30 μm are obtained at the maximum. Therefore, two pixel values can be determined as the threshold. As shown in the figure, when the threshold defined by the handle 1404 is the pixel value 85 and the threshold defined by the handle 1504 is the pixel value 170, the image area of pixel value 85 or less in the image data is coated with 30 μm thickness The printing is performed, and the image area larger than the pixel value 85 and smaller than 170 is coated and printed at a thickness of 20 μm, and the image area larger than the pixel value 170 is not coated. In this way, it is possible to adjust which region and how thick the coating printing is to be performed in the coating image indicated by the image data.

  FIGS. 16 to 20 show coating thickness adjusting screens 1601 to 2001 when the thickness upper limit value is set to 40 μm to 80 μm by using the finished thickness setting slide bar 1206. As can be seen from these figures, when the number of gradations in the finished thickness increases, the threshold increases in accordance with the number of gradations, so the slide bar and the handle for determining the threshold also increase. Specifically, slide bars and handles are displayed by subtracting one from the number of gradations.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a change in display screen 2101 when handle 1504 is moved to the right relative to handle 1404 in FIG. When the handle 1504 is moved to the left relative to the handle 1404, the threshold defined by the handle 1504 is less than or equal to the threshold defined by the handle 1404. As a result, there is no pixel value larger than the threshold defined by the handle 1404 and smaller than or equal to the threshold defined by the handle 1504. As a result, the 70 μm thick image area disappears, and the gradation of the coating thickness is substantially reduced to 7 gradations of 0 μm, 20 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm and 80 μm. Similarly, a wide variety of coating thickness distributions can be easily realized, for example, with four gradations of 0 μm, 30 μm, 50 μm, and 80 μm while setting the upper limit value to 80 μm.

  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 classified by the threshold. Specifically, from a state where there is no setting by clearing the setting of thickness, etc., an arbitrary numerical value may be set sequentially so that the thickness becomes larger as the pixel value is smaller. Also, each thickness set in advance may be selected as shown in FIG. 20 and may be changed to any numerical value (at this time, the numerical value settable range is restricted so that the thickness increases as the pixel value decreases. Also good). According to this modification, as the pixel value decreases, the thickness is increased to obtain a beautiful gradation, while the thickness of each can be freely set, and the freedom of expression is improved.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the coating thickness in a desired region of the image can be easily adjusted, and various coating thicknesses can be realized by a simple and intuitive operation.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration in which the network 202 intervenes 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 adopted regardless of whether or not the control of the recording apparatus is via a network.

Third Embodiment
Next, an inkjet recording apparatus 2200 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 22 is a view showing the appearance of the ink jet recording apparatus 2200 according to the present embodiment. The inkjet recording apparatus 2200 according to the present embodiment differs from the second embodiment in that it has a display 2201 for displaying the user interface 1200 shown in FIG. The other configurations and operations are similar to those of the second embodiment, and therefore the same configurations and operations are denoted by the same reference numerals and the detailed description thereof is omitted.

  According to this embodiment, the user 2250 can operate the inkjet recording apparatus 2200 directly to realize various coating thicknesses simply and intuitively.

[Other embodiments]
Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The configurations and details of the present invention can be modified in various ways that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention. Also included within the scope of the present invention are systems or devices that combine the different features included in each embodiment.

  Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to a system configured of a plurality of devices or to a single device. Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable to the case where the printing control program for realizing the functions of the embodiment is supplied to the system or apparatus directly or remotely. Therefore, in order to realize the functions of the present invention on a computer, a program installed on the computer, a medium storing the program, and a WWW (World Wide Web) server for downloading the program are also included in the scope of the present invention. . In particular, a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute at least the processing steps included in the above-described embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (16)

An information processing apparatus for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of coating printing on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in the printing apparatus,
Changing means for changing a pixel value to be a threshold based on a user input to the graphic user interface;
Setting means for setting different coating thicknesses in an image area having a pixel value larger than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value smaller than the threshold value in the image data;
Print control means for controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set by the setting means on the image area set by the setting means;
An information processing apparatus provided with The graphic user interface includes a slide bar,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit changes the threshold according to a position of a handle sliding on the slide bar.   The said setting means sets the coating thickness thicker than the image area which has a pixel value larger than the said threshold value with respect to the image area which has the pixel value below the said threshold value in the said image data. Information processing device.   The said setting means sets the coating thickness thicker than the image area which has a density value smaller than the said threshold value with respect to the image area which has a density value more than the said threshold value in the said image data. Information processing device.   The setting unit performs coating printing on an image area having a pixel value equal to or less than the threshold value in the image data, and does not perform coating printing on an image area having a pixel value larger than the threshold value. The information processing apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   In the image data, the setting unit performs coating printing on an image area having a density value equal to or more than the threshold value, and does not perform coating printing on an image area having a density value smaller than the threshold value. The information processing apparatus according to any one of Items 1, 2 and 4.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the setting means can set an arbitrary coating thickness for each image area divided by the threshold value. The apparatus further comprises display control means for acquiring the image data and displaying a preview.
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the display control means reflects the coating thickness set by the setting means on the preview display.   9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display control means reflects the difference in coating thickness set by the setting means on the preview display as a difference in color.   10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display control means displays both image data for coating printing and image data for base printing. The graphic user interface includes an entry field for the threshold,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the changing unit changes the threshold according to a numerical value input to the input field.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising cost calculation means for calculating a cost when coating printing corresponding to the image data is performed with the coating thickness set by the setting means.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising a calling unit which calls an editing application for editing the image data. An information processing method for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of coating printing on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in a printing apparatus,
Changing the threshold and the pixel value to be changed based on the user's input to the graphic user interface;
Setting, in the image data, different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value;
A print control step of controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set in the setting step on the image area set in the setting step;
Information processing method including: A print control program for providing a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness as a thickness of a coating print on a substrate, and adjusting the coating thickness in a printing apparatus,
Changing the threshold and the pixel value to be changed based on the user's input to the graphic user interface;
Setting, in the image data, different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value;
A print control step of controlling the printing apparatus to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set in the setting step on the image area set in the setting step;
Print control program that causes a computer to execute. An inkjet recording apparatus that provides a graphic user interface for adjusting a correspondence between an area in image data and a coating thickness of coating printing,
A transport mechanism that transports a sheet on which a base image is printed;
An inkjet head which discharges ink for coating printing toward a substrate on which the base image is printed, of a sheet transported by a transport mechanism;
Changing means for changing a pixel value to be a threshold based on a user input to the graphic user interface;
Setting means for setting different coating thicknesses for an image area having a pixel value equal to or more than the threshold value and an image area having a pixel value less than the threshold value in the image data;
Control means for controlling the ink jet head to perform coating printing with the coating thickness set by the setting means on the image area set by the setting means;
Inkjet recording apparatus equipped with