JP7559390B2 - Printing device, printing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing device, a printing method, and a program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing devices (nail printing devices) that print nail designs on fingernails or the like are known.
For example, when printing using an inkjet method, printing is performed by ejecting ink while a print head moves above the nail.
In this case, if the distance between the print head and the nail is too great, the ink will not land in the correct position, making it impossible to perform high-resolution printing.
For this reason, in such printing devices, printing is performed with the nail (and the finger corresponding to that nail) to be printed set (fixed) in a position where the distance between the print head and the surface of the nail during printing is about a few mm.

In this way, in printing devices that print on nails, the print head is close to the surface of the nail, so even if the finger is lifted slightly, the print head may come into contact with the nail or finger during printing, which may cause injury or equipment failure.

In this regard, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-233663 discloses a technique for halting printing operations when the movement speed of the print head decreases due to collision with a nail or a finger.
This makes it possible to minimize the impact and avoid injury or damage to the print head, even if the print head collides with a nail or finger.

JP 2020-58780 A

However, if the printing operation is stopped, the partially printed nails must be wiped off and the printing operation must be started over again, which is time-consuming.
When multiple types of print heads are provided and printing is performed on nails in multiple steps, depending on the situation, even if the print head comes into contact with the nail or finger, it may not have a significant effect on the subsequent printing. In such cases, it is preferable to continue printing, which places less of a burden on the user.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has the advantage of providing a printing device, printing method, and program that can respond according to the situation when the print head comes into contact with a nail.

In order to solve the above problems, the printing device of the present invention comprises:
1. A printing device, comprising:
a first head for printing a design;
a second head for printing something other than the design;
a speed detection unit that detects a moving speed of the first head and the second head;
Equipped with
The control means
determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition in which the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is equal to or greater than a first threshold value ;
When it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition, a first determination is made to determine whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head;
when it is determined in the first determination that the printing operation is to be performed by the second head, a second determination is made to determine whether the first head or the second head is disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head;
when it is determined in the second determination that it is the second head that is disposed at a position corresponding to the target to be printed by the second head, a third determination is made to determine whether the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is in a first state in which the moving speed is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value, or in a second state in which the moving speed is smaller than the second threshold value;
When it is determined in the third determination that the printing apparatus is in the first state, the printing operation is stopped as a process different from the printing operation, and a process of notifying a user is performed, and then a process of preparing to resume the printing operation is performed;
The method is characterized in that, in the case where it is determined in the first judgment that the printing operation is being performed by the first head, in the case where it is determined in the second judgment that the first head is located at a position corresponding to the second head, and in the case where it is determined in the third judgment that the state is the second state, a process of canceling the printing operation is performed.

The present invention has the advantage that if the print head comes into contact with the nail, appropriate measures can be taken.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of a printing device and a terminal device linked thereto in the present embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic arrangement of each part on a partition plate of the printing device. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between a printing finger and nail placed on a finger holding portion and a print head. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between a printing finger and nail placed on a finger holding portion and a print head. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an encoder according to the present embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing a printing process according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overview of feedback control in the present embodiment. 11 is a graph showing speed characteristics when a print head is driven. 8 is a flowchart showing the abnormal state response process shown in FIG. 7; 11A and 11B are a flow chart showing an example of the specific contents of the maintenance process.

An embodiment of a printing apparatus, a printing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11(a) and 11(b).
In addition, the embodiments described below are subject to various limitations that are technically preferable for implementing the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.
In addition, in the following embodiment, a nail printing device will be described as an example in which the printing device prints on the printing target of a fingernail, however, the printing target of the printing device in this invention is not limited to fingernails, and the printing target may be, for example, the nails of toes.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the exterior of a printing device (nail print device) in this embodiment. This embodiment also illustrates a case in which the printing device works in conjunction with a terminal device to print on nails. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the main control configuration of the printing device and the terminal device that works in conjunction with it.

In this embodiment, the printing device 1 has a housing 11 formed in a substantially box shape, as shown in FIG.
An operation unit 12 is provided on the top surface (top plate) of the housing 11 .
The operation unit 12 is an operation unit through which the user performs various inputs.
The operation unit 12 is composed of operation buttons for performing various inputs, such as a power switch button for turning on the power of the printing device 1, a stop switch button for stopping operation, and a print start button for instructing the start of printing.
When the operation unit 12 is operated, an operation signal corresponding to the operation is output to the control device 30 , and the control device 30 performs control according to the operation signal, and operates each part of the printing device 1 .
Instead of the operation unit 12, each unit of the printing device 1 may be operated in accordance with an operation signal input from an operation unit 71 of a terminal device 7 described later.

In addition, a display unit 13 is provided on the top surface (top plate) of the housing 11 .
The display unit 13 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence display (OLED), or another flat display.
A touch panel for performing various inputs may be integrally configured on the surface of the display unit 13. In this case, the touch panel functions as the operation unit 12.

In this embodiment, the display unit 13 functions as a notification unit that notifies the user of the operating status of each unit.
The display unit 13, which serves as a notification means, notifies the user when it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set conditions, for example when the speed of the print head 41 of the printing device 1 falls below a predetermined threshold, or displays a message urging the user to resolve the condition (abnormal condition).
The display unit 13 may also appropriately display nail designs input/selected by the user via the operation unit 12, etc., various guidance screens, warning display screens, etc.

The printing device 1 also includes a communication unit 14 (see FIG. 2). The communication unit 14 is configured to be able to transmit and receive information to and from the terminal device 7.
The communication between the printing device 1 and the terminal device 7 is performed, for example, by a wireless LAN or the like. However, the communication between the printing device 1 and the terminal device 7 is not limited to this and may be performed by any method. The communication unit 14 is equipped with an antenna chip or the like that corresponds to the communication method of the terminal device 7.
The communication unit 14 is connected to a communication control unit 311 (see FIG. 2 ) of the control device 30 , which will be described later, and is controlled by the communication control unit 311 .

A finger insertion opening 15 is formed on the front side of the housing 11 of the printing device 1 (the front side in the Y direction in FIG. 1) as an opening into which a finger is inserted when printing with the printing device 1.
The inside of the finger insertion opening 15 is a finger holding section 2 for placing and holding a printing finger U inserted during printing. The printing finger U here is a finger corresponding to a nail T that is to be printed by the printing section 40.
The inside of the housing 11 is divided into upper and lower sections by a partition plate 16 , and the finger holding portion 2 is provided on the upper side of the partition plate 16 at a position corresponding to the finger insertion opening 15 .

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the upper side surface of a partition plate inside the housing as viewed from above.
As shown in FIG. 3, finger holding portion 2 is disposed on partition plate 16 at the front side in the front-to-back direction of the device (Y direction in FIGS. 1 and 3) and approximately in the center in the left-to-right direction of the device (X direction in FIGS. 1 and 3).

4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of the main part, seen from the side, showing a state in which a printing finger U is inserted into the finger insertion opening 15 and held by the finger holding section 2. FIG.
A finger support member 21 for receiving the pad of a held printing finger U is provided below the finger holding portion 2, i.e., above the partition plate 16.
The finger support member 21 is configured to push up and support the printing finger U from below, and is formed of, for example, a flexible resin. The finger support member 21 may be configured to support the printing finger U from below, and the configuration is not particularly limited. For example, the finger support member 21 may be biased from below by an elastic member such as a spring. Also, for example, the finger support member 21 may be configured to be expandable and contractable by changing the internal pressure, and may be configured to push up the printing finger U in an expanded state and fix the position.

The innermost portion of the top surface of the finger holding portion 2 is provided with a window portion 23 that opens upward. From the window portion 23, the surface of the nail T of the printing finger U inserted into the finger holding portion 2 is exposed.
The top front side of the finger holding section 2 is provided with a finger presser 24 for restricting the upward position of the printing finger U.
Furthermore, inside the finger holding unit 2, at the rear side in the printing finger insertion direction, a nail placing unit 25 for placing the nail T of the printing finger U is provided. Note that the nail placing unit 25 may be any unit capable of placing the tip of the nail T thereon, and its shape, arrangement, etc. are not limited to those shown in the drawings.
As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the printing finger U and its nail T are supported from below by a finger support member 21 with the tip of the nail T placed on the nail placement section 25, and the upper side of the printing finger U is pressed down by a finger presser 24, thereby positioning it in a predetermined position.

3, a capping mechanism 6 is provided above the partition plate 16 and on one side of the finger holding part 2 (the right side in the X direction of the device in FIG. 3), which covers an ink ejection surface 411 (see FIGS. 4 to 6) on the underside of the print head 41, which will be described later, when not printing. By capping the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41 with the capping mechanism 6, the ink ejection surface 411 (and the nozzles) can be protected from drying out, etc., and a state suitable for printing can be maintained.
As described later in this embodiment, a base head 41a and a design head 41b are provided as the print heads 41. Therefore, two capping mechanisms 6 are also provided corresponding to each print head 41. By providing the capping mechanism 6 for each print head 41 in this manner, even if ink adheres to the ink ejection surface 411, it is possible to prevent color ink from adhering to the ink ejection surface 411 of the base head 41a and to prevent base ink such as white ink from adhering to the ink ejection surface 411 of the design head 41b.

In addition, a maintenance section 9 for maintaining the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41 is provided on one side of the finger holding section 2 above the partition plate 16 and opposite the capping mechanism 6 (the left side in the X direction of the device in Figure 3).
In this embodiment, the maintenance unit 9 includes a spit unit 91 that performs a spit process, and a wipe unit 92 that performs a wipe process to wipe the ink ejection surface 411. The maintenance process performed by the maintenance unit 9 in this embodiment is a spit process, a wipe process, or a combination of these. The specific content of the process to be performed as the maintenance process is appropriately selected by the control unit 31 of the control device 30.
The arrangement of each part constituting the maintenance unit 9 is not limited to the illustrated example.
Furthermore, the components included in the maintenance unit 9 are not limited to the spit unit 91 and the wipe unit 92. Other components for maintaining the ink ejection surface 411 may be provided.

The spit section 91 receives ink that is forcibly ejected from the ink ejection surface 411 during a so-called spit process in which ink is forcibly ejected from the nozzle ejection openings (not shown) formed on the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41, and air, impurities, and viscous ink within the ink flow path, such as the nozzle, are expelled to the outside along with the ink.
By carrying out the spit process, clogging or the like that has occurred within the nozzles of the print head 41 can be eliminated, and a good ejection state can be restored.

The wiping unit 92 performs maintenance by wiping the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41, and is made up of a plurality of upright wiping members 921 (see FIG. 3 ). Note that the arrangement, size, number, etc. of the wiping members 921 are not limited to those shown in the illustration.
The wiping member 921 is a maintenance blade that wipes off ink and the like adhering to the ink ejection surface 411, and is made of an elastic material such as rubber.
When the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41 is wiped, ink adheres to the tip, etc., of the wiping member 921. For this reason, the maintenance unit 9 of this embodiment is provided with a scraping unit 93 equipped with a scraping member 931 that scrapes off ink adhered to the wiping member 921, as shown in FIG.

Inside the housing 11, there is provided a printing unit 40 that applies printing to the nail T (surface of the nail T) of the printing finger U, and an imaging unit 50 that captures an image of the printing finger U including the nail T.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the photographing section 50 includes a photographing device 51 and an illumination device 52 .
The photographing device 51 is, for example, a small camera equipped with a solid-state photographing element having about 2 million pixels or more, a lens, etc. The lighting device 52 is, for example, an illumination lamp such as a white LED.
The photographing unit 50 illuminates the nail T of the print finger U placed on the finger holding unit 2 with the lighting device 52. Then, the photographing device 51 photographs the print finger U to obtain a nail image (an image of the finger including the nail image), which is an image of the nail T of the print finger U.
The photographing section 50 is connected to a photographing control section 312 (see FIG. 2 ) of the control device 30 , which will be described later, and is controlled by the photographing control section 312 .
The image data of the image captured by the imaging unit 50 may be stored in a storage unit 32, which will be described later. The nail image acquired by the imaging unit 50 may be sent to the terminal device 7 via the communication unit 14.

The photographing unit 50 is not particularly limited in its specific arrangement as long as it is provided at a position where it can photograph the printing finger U held in the finger holding unit 2. In this embodiment, the photographing device 51 and the lighting device 52 are fixedly arranged on the inside of the top surface of the housing 11 at positions where they can face the nail T (surface of the nail T) of the printing finger U held in the finger holding unit 2.
The photographing unit 50 may be configured to be movable in the X and Y directions by a head moving mechanism 49 that moves the print head 41 .

The printing unit 40 includes a print head 41 that prints on the nail surface while moving over the nail T (i.e., above the nail surface), and a head moving mechanism 49 (see FIG. 2) for moving the print head 41 in the X direction (the X direction in FIG. 1 etc., the left-right direction of the printing device 1) and the Y direction (the Y direction in FIG. 1 etc., the front-rear direction of the printing device 1).
The print head 41 (carriage 42 on which the print head 41 is mounted (see Figure 6)) is supported by an X-direction movement stage for moving the print head 41 in the X direction, and a Y-direction movement stage for moving the print head 41 in the Y direction, and the head movement mechanism 49 is equipped with an X-direction movement motor 46 and a Y-direction movement motor 48 etc. as drive units for appropriately moving the print head 41 in the X and Y directions.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the schematic configuration of a print head and its periphery in this embodiment.
6, the carriage 42 of this embodiment is equipped with a base head 41a (a second head that prints things other than the design) that prints the base and a design head 41b (a first head that prints the design) that prints the design as print heads 41. Note that the positional relationship between the base head 41a and the design head 41b is not limited to the illustrated example, but as will be described later, in this embodiment, the positional relationship between the print heads 41 mounted on the carriage 42 is always constant in order to determine which print head 41 has interfered with the nail T based on the position of the carriage 42.

The base head 41a prints a liquid agent (hereinafter referred to as "base ink") that will serve as a base before printing a design. The base ink printed by the base head 41a is preferably white or a color close to white so that the ink will have good color when the design is printed. By forming the base in white or a similar color, it becomes easier to distinguish it from the color of the skin (skin color, etc.) around the nail T, and the area of the nail T can be easily recognized from the nail image.
The design head 41b prints a design after the base printing by the base head 41a, and is capable of ejecting ink of various colors (hereinafter referred to as "color ink") such as cyan (C; CYAN), magenta (M; MAGENTA), yellow (Y; YELLOW), etc. Note that the types of color ink that the design head 41b can eject are not limited to these, and it may be capable of ejecting ink of other colors.

In this embodiment, the base head 41a and the design head 41b each have an ink ejection surface 411 that faces the nail surface and is equipped with a plurality of nozzle openings (not shown) that eject ink. The inkjet head is an inkjet type inkjet head that prints by dispersing ink into fine droplets and spraying the ink from the ink ejection surface directly onto the nail surface, which is the printing surface of the printing target (nail T).
In addition, since the ink ejected from the print head 41 is in the form of fine droplets, if the distance between the print head 41 and the surface of the nail T is too great, the ink will not land in the correct position and high-definition printing will not be possible. For this reason, printing with the print head 41 is preferably performed with the ink ejection surface facing the nail surface positioned approximately a few mm above the nail surface.

Furthermore, the printing unit 40 of this embodiment is provided with an encoder 401 (see Figures 2 and 6) as a detection unit that detects the position of the print head 41 (base head 41a and design head 41b) and the carriage 42 on which it is mounted.
The encoder 401 is, for example, a sensor composed of a photointerrupter or the like having opposing light-emitting and light-receiving parts (neither shown), and determining the position, etc. of an object by detecting with the light-receiving part that the object blocks the light from the light-emitting part.
In this embodiment, a slit plate 401a having a plurality of slits formed at equal intervals is attached to the carriage 42 on which the print head 41 is mounted, as shown in Fig. 6. The slit plate 401a is formed by printing or the like on a transparent material, so that transmissive portions that transmit light and non-transmissive portions that do not transmit light are alternately formed in the extension direction of the slit plate 401a.
6 illustrates an example of an X-direction encoder 401 for detecting the position in the X direction of the print head 41. The print head 41 mounted on the carriage 42 moves in the X direction along a guide 461 provided on an X-direction moving stage, and the slit plate 401a is provided to extend along the guide 461.

The encoder 401 reads the slits in the slit plate 401a and outputs the detection result to a control unit 31 (described later) functioning as a print control unit 315. The print control unit 315 detects the movement amount (movement distance) of the print head 41 and the like based on the detection result by the encoder 401.
That is, the encoder 401 counts the number of times the slits (transmissive and non-transmissive portions) formed in the slit plate 401a pass by. From this count result, the print control unit 315 can grasp the position of each print head 41 (the base head 41a and the design head 41b). In this way, the encoder 401 of this embodiment functions as a position detection unit.

In addition, since the slit width of the slit plate 401a is uniform (almost uniform), the movement speed of the print head 41 (the driving speed of the drive motor, i.e., how fast the print head 41 is moving) can be determined by measuring the time from when it passed the previous slit (transmissive or non-transmissive portion) to when it passes the current slit (i.e., the time required to move the distance (unit distance) between SPs, which is one line of slits in Figure 6), since the slit width of the slit plate 401a is uniform (almost uniform). In this way, the encoder 401 of this embodiment also functions as a speed detection unit.

It should be noted that the "speed" here may be the amount of movement per unit time (the distance traveled by the print head 41) or the movement time per unit distance (here, for example, the distance of one line of the slit of the encoder 401).
6 is a simplified, enlarged representation of the distance between the slits of the encoder 401 to clearly explain that the speed is measured from the distance between the slits of the encoder 401 and the time it takes for the print head 41 to pass through that distance, as described below. Also, the line segment below it with the symbol DP superimposed is a diagram used to explain the feedback control interval of the drive motor, as described below.

The print heads 41 (base head 41a and design head 41b) in the printing unit 40, the X-direction movement motor 46 and the Y-direction movement motor 48 as drive units for driving the print heads 41, and the encoder 401 are connected to a print control unit 315 (see FIG. 2) of the control device 30 described later, and are controlled by the print control unit 315.

The control device 30 installed in the printing device 1 is a computer that includes a control unit 31 (see FIG. 2) that is configured with a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and a storage unit 32 (see FIG. 2) that is configured with a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory) (neither of which are shown).

The storage unit 32 stores various programs and various data for operating the printing device 1 .
Specifically, the storage unit 32 includes a program storage area 321 in which various programs such as a printing program for performing printing processing are stored, a nail information storage area 322 in which various information related to the nail T is stored, and the like.
The programs stored in the program storage area 321 are executed by the control device 30 to centrally control each part of the printing device 1 .

From a functional perspective, the control unit 31 includes a communication control unit 311, an image capture control unit 312, a nail information detection unit 313, a print data generation unit 314, a print control unit 315, a display control unit 316, etc. The functions of the communication control unit 311, the image capture control unit 312, the nail information detection unit 313, the print data generation unit 314, the print control unit 315, the display control unit 316, etc. are realized by cooperation between the CPU of the control unit 31 and a program stored in the program memory area 321 of the memory unit 32.

The communication control unit 311 controls the operation of the communication unit 14. In this embodiment, the communication control unit 311 controls communication with the terminal device 7, and receives nail design data and the like when the data is transmitted from the terminal device 7.
In addition, when the nail image is acquired by the photographing unit 50 , the nail image data may be transmitted to the terminal device 7 .

The photographing control unit 312 controls the photographing device 51 and the lighting device 52 of the photographing unit 50 to cause the photographing device 51 to photograph an image of a finger (hereinafter referred to as a “nail image”) including an image of the nail T of the printing finger U held in the finger holding unit 2.
The image data of the nail image acquired by the photographing unit 50 is transmitted to the terminal device 7 via the communication unit 14. The image data may be stored in the storage unit 32.

The nail information detection unit 313 detects nail information about the nail T of the printing finger U based on an image of the nail T of the printing finger U placed on the finger holding unit 2 captured by the imaging device 51 .
Here, the nail information is, for example, the outline of the nail T (nail shape, XY coordinates of the horizontal position of the nail T, etc.), the inclination angle of the surface of the nail T with respect to the XY plane (inclination angle of the nail T, nail curvature), etc. In addition, when the height of the nail T (vertical position of the nail T, hereinafter also referred to as "vertical position of the nail T" or simply "position of the nail T") can be obtained from an image captured by the imaging device 51, the height of the nail T is also included in the nail information.

The print data generating section 314 sets a print area to be printed by the printing section 40 based on the detection result by the nail information detecting section 313, and generates print data.
In this embodiment, the photographing unit 50 photographs the nail T to be printed, and the nail information detection unit 313 detects nail information such as the outline of the nail T from the nail image. The print data generation unit 314 sets a print area (nail area) to be printed by the printing unit 40 based on the detection result, and generates print data.
Specifically, the print data generation unit 314 cuts out the image data of the nail design selected by the user to be printed to match the shape of the nail area (the outline shape of the nail T), and performs appropriate enlargement/reduction, etc. to generate print data.
When the nail information detection unit 313 detects the curvature, etc. of the nail T, the print data generation unit 314 may perform curved surface correction on the print data based on the curvature, etc. of the nail T. When curved surface correction is performed, print data that is more suited to the shape of the nail T can be generated.

The print control unit 315 is a control means for controlling each head (the base head 41a and the design head 41b). Specifically, the print control unit 315 outputs a control signal to the print unit 40 based on the print data generated by the print data generation unit 314, and controls the X-direction movement motor 46, the Y-direction movement motor 48, the print head 41, and the like of the print unit 40 so as to perform printing on the nail T according to the print data.
The print control unit 315 receives position information of the print head 41 (base head 41a and design head 41b) from the encoder 401, and based on this position information, the print control unit 315 controls the X-direction movement motor 46, the Y-direction movement motor 48, the print head 41, etc., to perform printing on the nail T.

In addition, in this embodiment, the print control unit 315 determines whether the printing operation by the print head 41 satisfies the set conditions, and if it determines that the printing operation does not satisfy the set conditions, it determines whether the printing operation is an operation in the base printing stage in which a base is printed on the nail surface, or an operation in the design printing stage in which a design is printed, and if it is an operation in the base printing stage, it further determines whether the base head 41a or the design head 41b is positioned at a position corresponding to the nail surface, and performs processing different from the printing operation depending on the determination result.
Here, processing other than the printing operation includes the stopping or interruption of the printing operation, maintenance operations for the print head 41, and the like.
The specific control contents by the print control unit 315 will be described later.

The display control unit 316 controls the display unit 13 to cause the display unit 13 to display various display screens.
In this embodiment, when the display control unit 316 determines that the printing operation does not satisfy the set conditions, for example, it notifies the user by displaying the fact on the display screen of the display unit 13, or displays a message urging the user to resolve the state in which the specified conditions are not satisfied.
The specific contents of the display will be described later.
Additionally, the display control unit 316 may cause the display unit 13 to display messages and various instructions for the user.

As described above, in this embodiment, the printing device 1 operates in cooperation with the terminal device 7 .
The terminal device 7 is, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone. Note that the terminal device 7 is not limited to a smartphone. For example, the terminal device 7 may be a tablet personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a "PC"), a notebook PC, a stationary PC, a terminal device for games, or the like.
As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 7 includes an operation unit 71, a display unit 72, a communication unit 73, a control device 80, and the like.

The operation unit 71 is capable of performing various inputs, settings, etc. in response to user operations, and is, for example, a touch panel integrally provided on the surface of the display unit 72. When the operation unit 71 is operated, an input signal corresponding to the operation is transmitted to the control unit 81.
Various operation screens are displayed on the touch panel configured in the display unit 72 under the control of a display control unit 812 described later, and the user can perform various input and setting operations by touching the touch panel.
The operation unit 71 for performing various input and setting operations is not limited to a touch panel, and various operation buttons, a keyboard, etc. may be provided as the operation unit 71, for example.

In this embodiment, when the user operates the operation unit 71, various instructions such as starting printing are output from the terminal device 7 to the printing device 1, and the terminal device 7 also functions as an operation unit for the printing device 1.
In addition, the user can operate the operation unit 71 to select a nail design to be printed on the nail T, for example.

The display unit 72 is configured, for example, by a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic ELD, or other flat display.
As described above, a touch panel for performing various inputs may be integrally configured on the surface of the display unit 72. In this case, the touch panel functions as the operation unit 71.
In this embodiment, the display unit 72 can display a nail design input/selected by the user via the operation unit 71, various guide screens, warning display screens, and the like.

The communication unit 73 is configured to be able to communicate with the communication unit 13 of the printing device 1 .
As described above, the communication between the printing device 1 and the terminal device 7 may be either a wireless connection method or a wired connection method, and there is no specific limitation on the method. The communication unit 73 may be any device that can communicate with the printing device 1, and a communication standard that matches the communication standard of the communication unit 13 of the printing device 1 is applied.
The communication unit 13 is connected to a communication control unit 811 (see FIG. 2) of the control device 80 (described later) and is controlled by the communication control unit 811 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 80 of the terminal device 7 of this embodiment is a computer including a control unit 81 configured with a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and a storage unit 82 configured with a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory) (not shown).

The storage unit 82 stores various programs and various data for operating each unit of the terminal device 7.
Specifically, the ROM etc. of this embodiment stores various programs such as an operating program 821a for controlling each part of the terminal device 7 as well as a nail print application program 821b (hereinafter referred to as "nail print AP") for performing nail printing using the printing device 1, and the control unit 81 expands these programs, for example, into a working area of RAM, and the programs are executed in the control unit 81, thereby controlling each part of the terminal device 7.

The storage unit 82 of this embodiment is also provided with a design storage area 822 for storing nail design (design) data.
The nail design (designs) stored in the design storage area 822 may be existing designs prepared in advance or designs created by the user. In addition, if the terminal device 7 is connectable to various networks, it may be possible to import a nail design (designs) stored in a network-connectable server device (not shown) or the like.

From a functional perspective, the control unit 81 of the terminal device 7 includes a communication control unit 811, a display control unit 812, etc. The functions of the communication control unit 811, the display control unit 812, etc. are realized by cooperation between the CPU of the control unit 81 and a program stored in the ROM of the storage unit 82. Note that the functions of the control unit 81 of the terminal device 7 are not limited to these, and the control unit 81 may include various other functional units.
The communication control unit 811 controls the operation of the communication unit 73. In this embodiment, the communication control unit 811 controls communication with the printing device 1 and transmits nail design data and the like to the printing device 1.
Furthermore, the display control unit 812 controls the display unit 72 to cause the display unit 72 to display various display screens.

Next, a printing method using the printing device 1 of this embodiment will be described.
When performing nail printing using the printing device 1 of this embodiment, a user operates the operation unit 12 of the printing device 1 to turn on the power and start it up.
The terminal device 7 is also turned on and the execution of nail print processing is selected from the operation unit 71 of the terminal device 7. This starts up the nail print AP 821b.
When the nail print AP 821b is started, the display control unit 812 of the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 72 to display a list of nail designs and a message instructing the user to select a desired design. Next, the user operates the touch panel or other operation unit 71 to select a nail design to be printed on the nail T. As a result, an operation signal is sent to the control device 80, and the desired nail design is selected as the design to be printed on the nail T. Note that information on the selected nail design is also sent from the terminal device 7 to the control device 30 of the printing device 1.

Next, the display control unit 812 of the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 72 to display an instruction screen for instructing the user to place the nail T (and the corresponding printing finger U) to be printed on the finger holding unit 2 of the printing device 1 .
When the printing finger U is placed on the finger holding unit 2, the printing finger U is photographed by the photographing unit 50, and a nail image is acquired. Then, the nail information detection unit 313 performs image processing on the nail image acquired by the photographing unit 50 to detect nail information such as the outline of the nail T.
When the nail information is detected by the nail information detection unit 313, the print data generation unit 314 fits the nail design data to the nail area, which is the printing range, based on the nail information, and performs appropriate corrections, etc. to generate print data.

When the print data generating unit 314 generates print data, the print control unit 315 outputs the print data to the printing unit 40 (step S1), and starts a print operation in cooperation with a print processing program, etc. (step S2).
At this time, the print control unit 315 first controls the movement of the print head 41 by the X-direction movement motor 46 and the Y-direction movement motor 48 to move the print head 41 from a predetermined standby position (for example, the position where the capping mechanism 6 is provided) to the print start position. Then, when the print head 41 reaches the print start position, printing is performed while appropriately ejecting ink from the print head 41.
Specifically, first, base ink such as white is ejected from base head 41a to form a base in the area of the nail where the design is to be printed (this is called "operation in the base printing stage"). Then, once the formation of the base is complete, each color ink such as CMY is ejected from design head 41b to print the design on the base (this is called "operation in the design printing stage").

When the printing operation starts, the print control unit 315 receives position information of the print head 41 from the encoder 401 at all times, and the print control unit 315 measures the pulses of the encoder 401 at regular intervals (step S3) and calculates the input duty to be input to the motor (in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46) (step S4). Then, feedback control is performed to drive the motor (in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46) with the calculated input duty (step S5). The measurement period is set appropriately, but for example, the print control unit 315 calculates the speed at a 1 ms period.

Here, the feedback control will be described with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an outline of the feedback control in this embodiment.
In order to make the ink ejected from the print head 41 land at a targeted position, it is important to drive the print head 41 at a constant speed. For this reason, in this embodiment, the drive motor is controlled using feedback control that determines an input value (here, the duty ratio of the voltage applied to the drive motor) based on output information (here, information on the drive speed of the drive motor that moves the print head 41 (in the example shown in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46)).

Specifically, the duty ratio (input duty) of the voltage applied to the drive motor is calculated based on the difference between the target drive speed and the current drive speed.
FIG. 8 illustrates a case where a proportional-integral-differential controller (PID) is used as feedback control, which controls an input value (here, the duty ratio of the voltage applied to the drive motor (X-direction movement motor 46)) using three elements: the deviation between an output value (here, the drive speed of the drive motor) and a target value, its integral, and its derivative.
In the figure, "p" represents a proportional element (P gain, P = Proportional), "i" represents an integral element (I gain, I = Integral), and "d" represents a differential element (D gain, D = Derivative). Note that the feedback control shown here is an example, and the method for obtaining the duty ratio (input duty) of the voltage applied to the drive motor (X-direction movement motor 46) is not limited to PID control.

When the timing for calculating the drive speed of the drive motor (X-direction movement motor 46) is designated as "DP", the feedback calculation interval for calculating the duty ratio (input duty) of the voltage to be next input to the drive motor (X-direction movement motor 46) (the interval for calculating the drive speed and then calculating the duty ratio of the voltage to be next input to the drive motor, the interval between DPs in FIG. 6) is not particularly limited and is, for example, an interval of 1 ms.
This feedback control is processed independently of the timing of passing through the slit plate 401a of the encoder 401 ("SP" in FIG. 6).

7, the print control unit 315 constantly judges whether 1 ms has elapsed since the start of measurement by the encoder 401 (step S6). If 1 ms has not elapsed (step S6; NO), the print control unit 315 repeats the judgment process of step S6.
On the other hand, if 1 ms has elapsed since the start of measurement by the encoder 401 (step S6; YES), the print control unit 315 determines whether the speed of the print head 41 is within the normal driving range based on the information sent from the encoder 401 (step S7).

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the speed characteristics when the print head is driven.
In the example shown in Figure 9, the area from coordinate 700 onwards is the printing area, the target drive speed of the print head 41 is 7000 mips (minch/second), and drive of the print head 41 (movement for printing operation) begins from coordinate 600.
In the example shown in FIG. 9, the drive speed of the print head 41 stops varying from about coordinate 650, and stabilizes at the target speed of 7000 mips (minch/second) in the print area from coordinate 700 onwards.
In the graph shown in FIG. 9, even in the area beyond coordinate 700, the speed characteristic fluctuates finely up and down with an amplitude of about 700 mips. However, this speed fluctuation width α is caused by the characteristics of the drive motor (brush DC motor), and is a speed change that is within the error range that occurs even when the motor is operating normally.
For this reason, in this embodiment, if the speed of the print head 41 is within this speed fluctuation range α, it is determined to be within the range of normal driving.

When the nail T is positioned at the correct height in the finger holding portion 2, as shown in FIG. 4, a gap is maintained between the surface of the nail T and the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41, and the print head 41 can move without interference with the nail T and without resistance.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, if the height of the nail T is raised on the finger holding portion 2, the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41 will come into contact with the surface of the nail T and will rub against it.
When the print head 41 comes into contact with the nail T in this way, it creates resistance in the movement of the print head 41, and the drive speed of the print head 41 drops sharply, for example, as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 9. For this reason, it is preferable to set a threshold value for the speed at which it can be determined that some kind of abnormal state (i.e., a state that does not satisfy a predetermined condition) has clearly occurred, even when taking into account the speed fluctuation width α, which is the above-mentioned error range, and to determine that an error (abnormal state) such as the print head 41 coming into contact with the nail T has occurred when it is determined that the speed has fallen below this threshold (for example, the points indicated by β and γ in Fig. 9).

The threshold value to be set in this case can be determined as appropriate, but in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a first threshold value (shown as "th1" in the figure) is set at 60% of the target speed, and a second threshold value (shown as "th2" in the figure) is set at a slower value, that is, 40% of the target speed.
In this manner, in this embodiment, the threshold value of the movement speed at which it is determined that the second condition is not satisfied (i.e., the second threshold value th2) is set to be smaller (i.e., slower) than the threshold value of the movement speed at which it is determined that the first condition is not satisfied (i.e., the first threshold value th1).
Not falling below the first threshold th1 is the "first condition", and not satisfying this first condition is the "first state". Not falling below the second threshold th2 is the "second condition", and not satisfying this second condition is the "second state" which is a higher level of abnormality than the "first state". In this embodiment, two different levels of states, the "first state" and the "second state", are assumed as the "state not satisfying a predetermined condition", and a corresponding response is set for each state as described below.
9 shows an example in which the target speed is 7000 mips (minch/second) and the threshold value is also set based on this, but the target speed is the movement speed of the print head 41 that is set as an appropriate speed according to the print mode, etc., and is not limited to 7000 mips (minch/second). The first threshold value th1 and the second threshold value th2 are also set appropriately according to the target speed, etc.

If it is within the range of normal driving, that is, if the speed of the print head 41 is within the speed fluctuation width α (step S7; YES), the process returns to step S3 and is repeated.
On the other hand, if it is not within the range of normal driving, i.e., if the speed is slower than the speed fluctuation range α (step S7; NO), the print control unit 315 further determines whether the speed of the print head 41 has fallen below the first threshold value th1 (step S8).
If the speed is not below the first threshold th1 (step S8; NO), it is determined that the speed decrease is at an allowable level, and the process returns to step S3 and is repeated.

On the other hand, if it falls below the first threshold th1 (step S8; YES), the print control unit 315 further determines whether or not the stop is at a predetermined stop position (step S9).
In the printing device 1 of this embodiment, multiple reciprocating scans are performed to print one nail T. For this reason, the print head 41 is adapted to pause when it moves a predetermined distance in either direction in the X direction (e.g., leftward), then turn around in the opposite direction (e.g., rightward) to continue printing, and the slowdown in speed due to the stop in this case is a normal printing operation. Therefore, if the print head 41 stops at a predetermined stop position set in advance (step S9; YES), it is not determined that there is an abnormality, and it is further determined whether printing has ended (step S10), and if printing has not ended, the process returns to step S3 and is repeated. Also, if printing has ended (step S10; YES), the entire printing process ends.
Whether printing is complete or not can be determined from the print data, the print sequence, and the like.
On the other hand, if it falls below the first threshold value th1 and the stop is not at the specified stop position (step S9; NO), the process proceeds to a response process (step S10) for a state that does not satisfy the specified conditions (referred to as an "abnormal state" in Figures 7 and 10).

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing details of the response process in an abnormal state (step S11 in FIG. 7).
As shown in Figure 10, if the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1 (in the case of the first state) even though it is not stopped at the specified stopping position, the print control unit 315 determines whether the point at which it fell below the first threshold th1 (i.e., the point indicated by β in Figure 9) is the time of printing operation in the base printing stage (step S21).
Whether or not the point in time when the first threshold value th1 is exceeded is during the printing operation in the base printing stage can be determined from the print data, the print sequence, and the like.
If the time when the first threshold value th1 is fallen below is during printing operation in the base printing stage (step S21; YES), it is further determined whether or not the base head 41a among the printing heads 41 is located at the nail surface position at that time (i.e., the time indicated by β in Figure 9) (step S22).

Whether the base head 41a or the design head 41b is at a position corresponding to the nail surface can be determined based on information from the encoder 401, for example. In this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the base head 41a and the design head 41b are mounted closely on the same carriage 42. For this reason, even during the printing operation in the base printing stage, the design head 41b may come into contact with the nail surface. In this case, it is difficult to determine which print head 41 has come into contact with the nail surface from the printing sequence, but it is possible to determine this by referring to the position information of the print head 41 from the encoder 401.
9, the ink ejection surface 411 of the base head 41a (the width in the X direction of the ink ejection surface 411 of the base head 41a is shown as width WAr in FIG. 9) is at a position corresponding to the nail surface between coordinates 700 and 780, and the ink ejection surface 411 of the design head 41b (the width in the X direction of the ink ejection surface 411 of the design head 41b is shown as width CAr in FIG. 9) is at a position corresponding to the nail surface between coordinates 790 and 870. Therefore, the print control unit 315 determines, based on information from the encoder 401, which print head 41 is at a position corresponding to the nail surface when the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1.
FIG. 9 illustrates a case where the base head 41a falls below the first threshold value th1 within a range of width WAr at a position corresponding to the nail surface.

As shown in Figure 9, when it is determined that the base head 41a is located at a position corresponding to the nail surface at the time indicated by β (step S22; YES), the print control unit 315 determines whether the speed of the print head 41 has also fallen below a second threshold value th2 (step S23).
Then, if the speed of the print head 41 is not below the second threshold th2 (step S23; NO), that is, the speed of the print head 41 is below the first threshold th1 but is faster than the second threshold th2, and the point at which it fell below the first threshold th1 (i.e., the point indicated by γ in Figure 9) is during the printing operation of the base printing stage, and it is the base head 41a that has come into contact with the nail surface, then the print head 41 (base head 41a) that prints the base has only lightly come into contact with the surface of the nail T while the base is being printed.

In such a case, even if the already printed base has some scratches, the scratches will be hidden by the same base color when the entire base is printed, so the final nail print will not be affected. In this case, it is more beneficial for the user to correct the position of the nail T and continue printing to the end, rather than canceling the printing and starting over from the beginning. Therefore, the print control unit 315 stops driving the motor (in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46) (step S24) and prepares to resume the printing operation. Specifically, a message is displayed on the display unit 13 urging the user to lower the height of the nail T and instruct reprinting, urging the user to correct the position of the nail T (step S25).
Specifically, for example, a message such as "Please correct the position of the nail and press the restart button" is displayed on the display unit 13.
The print control unit 315 determines whether a reprint instruction has been input, i.e., whether the user has operated a print restart button or the like (step S26), and returns to step S25 to repeat the process until a reprint instruction is input.

On the other hand, if a command to reprint is input (step S26; YES), the print control unit 315 resumes driving the motor (in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46) and resumes and continues the printing operation (step S27).
Then, it is determined whether or not the planned printing has been completed in accordance with the print data, print sequence, etc. (step S28). If the printing has not been completed (step S28; NO), the determination process of step 28 is repeated. If the printing has been completed (step S28; YES), the process is terminated.

On the other hand, if the time when the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1 (i.e., the time shown by β in Figure 9) is not during printing operation in the base printing stage, i.e., during printing operation in the design printing stage (step S21; NO), the design that has already been printed will be destroyed regardless of whether it is the base head 41a or the design head 41b that comes into contact with the nail surface, and there is also a possibility that colored ink for design printing will be attached to the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41, so that continuing printing as is will not achieve high-quality nail printing. Therefore, in this case, printing is stopped.

Furthermore, even if the printing operation is in the base printing stage when the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1 (i.e., the point indicated by β in FIG. 9), if the design head 41b comes into contact with the nail surface (step S22; NO), the colored ink for design printing may adhere to the part where the base, such as white, is printed, and even if the base is applied over again, it may not be possible to completely hide the stains caused by the contact. In addition, the base ink may adhere to the ink ejection surface 411 of the design head 41b, and if this continues, the design may not be printed cleanly. Therefore, printing is stopped in this case as well.

Furthermore, if the speed of the print head 41 also falls below the second threshold th2 (step S23; YES, in the case of the second state), the time when the speed of the print head 41 falls below the second threshold th2 (i.e., the time shown by γ in FIG. 9) is during the printing operation of the base printing stage, and even if it is the base head 41a that contacts the nail surface, it is highly likely that the print head 41 will collide violently with the nail surface and cause significant damage. That is, before printing the base, a layer of transparent or other liquid agent (ink receiving layer) for receiving the ink ejected by the print head 41 is formed on the surface of the nail T by hand application or the like. If a violent collision occurs that causes the speed of the print head 41 to fall below the second threshold th2, it is highly likely that this ink receiving layer will be damaged by the ink ejection surface 411 of the print head 41. For this reason, printing is also stopped in this case.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, if "Step S21; NO", "Step S22; NO", or "Step S23; YES", the print control unit 315 stops driving the motor (in this embodiment, the X-direction movement motor 46) (step S29), and stops printing by displaying an error message indicating that printing will be stopped, such as "Printing will be stopped," on the display unit 13 (step S30).
Then, the print head 41 is moved to the maintenance section 9 as appropriate, and a maintenance process is performed on the ink ejection surface 411 (step S31), after which the printing process is terminated.

11A and 11B are flow charts showing an example of the specific contents of the maintenance process.
Sequence A shown in FIG. 11A is an example of a maintenance process that is executed when thorough maintenance is desired, and sequence B shown in FIG. 11B is an example of a maintenance process that is normally executed when printing is completed, etc.
In the case of sequence A, as shown in FIG. 11A, when an instruction to start printing is input from the operation unit 71 of the terminal device 7 or the like (step S41), the control unit 31 first moves the print head 41 to the spit portion 91 and causes the nozzles to eject 500 shots (step S42). Next, the control unit 31 moves the print head 41 to the wiper portion 92 and wipes the nozzle surface 411 of the print head 41 with the wiper member 921 (step S43). Furthermore, the control unit 31 again moves the print head 41 to the spit portion 91 and causes the nozzles to eject 1000 shots (step S44). Thereafter, the control unit 31 moves the print head 41 to a predetermined print start position and performs printing processing (step S45). When printing is completed, the control unit 31 again moves the print head 41 to the spit portion 91 and causes the nozzles to eject 300 shots (step S46), and then moves the print head 41 to the capping mechanism to cap the nozzle surface of the print head 41 (step S47). This completes the series of processes from printing to maintenance processing.
By repeatedly and thoroughly performing the spit process as in sequence A, even if the print head 41 hits the nail T and ink adheres to the ink ejection surface 411, the ink ejection surface 411 and each nozzle can be restored to a state suitable for printing.

On the other hand, in the case of sequence B, as shown in FIG. 11B, when an instruction to start printing is input from the operation unit 71 of the terminal device 7 or the like (step S51), the control unit 31 first moves the print head 41 to the spit portion 91 and causes the nozzles to eject 300 shots (step S52). Then, the print head 41 is moved to a predetermined print start position, and printing processing is performed (step S53). When printing is completed, the print head 41 is again moved to the spit portion 91, and 300 shots are ejected from the nozzles (step S54), and then moved to the capping mechanism to cap the nozzle surface of the print head 41 (step S55). This completes a series of processes from printing to maintenance processing.
As in sequence B, by performing the printing process simply by performing the spit process once before and once after printing, the ink ejection surface 411 and each nozzle can be restored to a state suitable for printing and the printing process can be performed quickly.

Carrying out the maintenance process carefully ensures that the ink ejection surface 411 is maintained. However, on the other hand, the maintenance process takes time, and performing spit processes frequently results in a corresponding increase in ink consumption outside of printing.
For this reason, for example, when printing is temporarily stopped and then restarted in response to a restart instruction (step S27 in FIG. 10), it is preferable to select sequence B for the maintenance processing to be performed before restarting printing, since only base ink has adhered to the ink ejection surface 411 of the base head 41a and the degree of contamination of the ink ejection surface 411 is considered to be low.

In contrast, in the case of maintenance processing performed after printing is stopped (in the case of step S31 in FIG. 10), or when printing is performed for the first time after contact that causes printing to be stopped occurs, it is preferable for the control unit 31 to select careful maintenance processing using sequence A. Furthermore, before the first printing is performed after contact that causes printing to be stopped occurs, more careful maintenance processing may be performed by increasing the number of ink ejections in the spit processing or increasing the number of wipes in the wipe processing, compared to sequence A.
In this way, by performing maintenance in response to a state (abnormal state) that does not satisfy the specified conditions, if the ink ejection surface 411 is heavily soiled, the dirt can be carefully removed to restore it to a state suitable for printing, and if the ink ejection surface 411 is not so dirty, unnecessary maintenance processing can be prevented and printing operation can be quickly started. In other words, appropriate maintenance processing can be performed according to the degree of dirt on the ink ejection surface 411.

By doing this, even if the printing finger U or nail T is not positioned appropriately and the surface of the nail T comes into contact with the print head 41, appropriate measures can be taken according to the printing conditions, minimizing the user's effort and achieving high-quality nail printing.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the printing device 1 is equipped with a base head 41a that prints the base, a design head 41b that prints the design, and a control unit 31 that controls each unit. The control unit 31 judges whether the printing operation satisfies the set conditions, and if it judges that the printing operation does not satisfy the specified conditions, it judges whether the printing operation is an operation in the base printing stage in which the base is printed on the nail surface, or an operation in the design printing stage in which the design is printed, and if it is an operation in the base printing stage, it further judges whether the base head 41a or the design head 41b is located at a position corresponding to the nail surface, and performs processing different from the printing operation depending on the judgment result.
Unlike normal printing, when printing on nails T, if the user wants to redo the printing, he or she must remove the ink that has already been applied to the nails T and reapply the ink receiving layer, which is time-consuming. In this regard, when there are various steps in the printing process such as nail printing and printing operations are performed using various print heads 41, there may be cases where a beautiful finish cannot be achieved unless the printing is stopped and redone, and cases where the final finish is hardly affected.
In this embodiment, the subsequent processing is changed taking into consideration the printing stage and the type of print head 41 that comes into contact with the nail T, so that errors can be dealt with appropriately while minimizing the effort required by the user, thereby achieving high-quality nail printing.

In this embodiment, two thresholds are provided as criteria for determining whether or not a specified condition is not satisfied, and a first state in which the first condition is not satisfied (a state in which the speed of the print head 41 is slower than the first threshold th1) and a second state in which the second condition is not satisfied and the level of abnormality is greater than the first state (a state in which the speed of the print head 41 is slower than the second threshold th2) are set. When the control unit 31 determines that the first state is being satisfied during printing operation in the base printing stage and the base head 41a is positioned at a position corresponding to the nail surface, the control unit 31 stops the printing operation as a process different from the printing operation, and prepares to resume the printing operation after performing a notification process to prompt the user to resolve the state in which the specified condition is not satisfied (abnormal state), and when the control unit 31 determines that the second state is being satisfied, the control unit 31 stops the printing operation as a process different from the printing operation.
When the base head 41a comes into contact with the nail surface during base printing, if it is only scratched slightly, it can be finally filled in with base ink and does not affect the finish of the nail print.
In this embodiment, in such a case, the printing operation is resumed with a request to correct the height position of the nail T, thereby preventing the user from having to do more work than necessary and allowing nail printing to be performed smoothly.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the printing operation is performed in the base printing stage and it is the design head 41b that is positioned at a position corresponding to the nail surface, if it is determined that the specified conditions are not satisfied, the control unit 31 stops the printing operation as a process separate from the printing operation.
When the design head 41b comes into contact with the nail surface, whether it is with the base or with the design, it is difficult to hide the damage caused by the contact in the subsequent printing process. Therefore, in such a case, the printing is stopped and restarted, aiming for high quality nail printing.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the specified conditions are not met during the printing operation in the design printing stage, the control unit 31 stops the printing operation as a process separate from the printing operation, regardless of the type of print head 41 positioned at a position corresponding to the nail surface.
If the print head 41 comes into contact with the nail surface while printing the design, whether it is the base head 41a or the design head 41b, the nail design will be damaged and it will be difficult to correct it other than repainting. Therefore, in such a case, the printing is stopped and redone, aiming for high quality nail printing.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the control unit 31 determines whether the printing operation is a printing operation in the base printing stage or a printing operation in the design printing stage based on the printing sequence.
This makes it possible to easily determine the state of the nail T when the print head 41 comes into contact with it, even if position information, etc., cannot be obtained from the encoder 401, and to take appropriate action.

In addition, this embodiment further includes an encoder 401 as a speed detection unit that detects the movement speed of the base head 41a and the design head 41b, and the control unit 31 determines that the printing operation does not satisfy the set conditions when the movement speed detected by the encoder 401 falls below a set threshold value.
Therefore, it is possible to easily determine whether a predetermined condition is not satisfied and to take appropriate measures.

Although the above describes an embodiment of the present invention, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in this embodiment, a case is described in which if the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1 or the second threshold th2, it is immediately determined that the specified condition is not satisfied (an abnormal state). However, it may also be determined that the specified condition is not satisfied (an abnormal state) if the speed of the print head 41 falls below the first threshold th1 or the second threshold th2 and this state continues for a specified period of time.
In this case, if a temporary slowdown occurs due to some kind of disturbance, etc., the nail print process can be continued without interrupting the printing, reducing the number of cases where the printing needs to be restarted and reducing the hassle for the user.

In addition, in this embodiment, an example is given of the case where the "second head" that prints something other than the design is the base head 41a that prints the base, but the "second head" may be any head that prints something other than the design, and is not limited to one that prints the base.
For example, the "second head" may be a head for forming an ink receiving layer that receives ink, or a head for printing an overcoat material.
That is, the ink receiving layer and the overcoat are formed of a white or transparent liquid, just like the base. In this case, just as in the case where the "second head" is the base head 41a that prints the base, even if the head comes into contact with the surface of the nail T and causes some scratches on the already printed part, the scratches will be hidden when the ink receiving layer and the overcoat are all printed, and will not affect the final finish of the nail print.
For this reason, as in the case of the base head 41a shown in this embodiment, if the head only makes light contact, it is more beneficial for the user to correct the position of the nail T and continue printing to the end, rather than stopping printing and starting over from the beginning. For this reason, it is preferable to perform the process of stopping printing and restarting it after the abnormal state is resolved.

In addition, in this embodiment, an example is given of determining whether or not there is interference between the nail T and the print head 41 based on the change in speed of the print head 41 detected by the encoder 401, but the determination of whether or not there is interference between the nail T and the print head 41 is not limited to being based on the detection results of the encoder 401.
For example, the photographing unit 50 of the printing device 1 may be operated even during the printing operation to capture an image of the surface of the nail T (nail surface), and if there is an abnormality in the captured image, the printing control unit 315 may determine that the state does not satisfy the specified conditions (abnormal state) and perform processing other than the printing operation, such as canceling printing.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the display unit 13 is provided in the printing device 1 as a notification means, but the notification means is not limited to this.
For example, the display unit 72 of the terminal device 7 may function as the notification means, and various messages, warning screens, etc. may be displayed on the display unit 72. In this case, the printing device 1 does not need to be provided with a display unit 13. Also, as the notification means, the printing device 1 or the terminal device 7 may be provided with audio output means such as a speaker, and the user may be notified by voice, buzzer, etc. Also, the printing device 1 or the terminal device 7 may be provided with a lamp, indicator, etc., and used as the notification means.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the printing device 1 is configured to include inkjet print heads 41 as the print heads 41 (base head 41a, design head 41b), but the configuration of the print heads 41 is not limited to this.
Either or both of the base head 41a and the design head 41b may be of a type other than the inkjet type, such as a pen plotter type.

In addition, in this embodiment, the print heads 41 (base head 41a, design head 41b) are both mounted on one carriage 42 and moved by the same head movement mechanism 49, but the configuration of the print head 41 is not limited to this. For example, the base head 41a and the design head 41b may be configured to perform printing operations while moving separately. In this case, a means (encoder, etc.) for obtaining position information and speed information of the print head 41 is provided for each print head 41. Even in this case, by applying the present invention, appropriate measures can be taken in consideration of the printing stage and type of print head 41 when a state (abnormal state) that does not satisfy the specified conditions is encountered.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.
The inventions described in the claims originally attached to this application are set forth below. The claim numbers in the appended claims are the same as those in the claims originally attached to this application.
[Additional Notes]
<Claim 1>
1. A printing device, comprising:
a first head for printing a design;
a second head for printing something other than the design;
A control unit for controlling the printing operation of each of the heads;
Equipped with
The control means
determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition;
When it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition, it is determined whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head;
In the case of a printing operation using the second head, it is determined whether the first head or the second head is disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head,
A printing apparatus characterized in that a process different from the printing operation is performed depending on the results of the plurality of determinations.
<Claim 2>
The control means
discriminating between a first state not satisfying a first condition and a second state not satisfying a second condition as the state not satisfying the set condition;
The printing device according to claim 1, characterized in that when a printing operation is performed by the second head and it is the second head that is positioned at a position corresponding to the printing target, if it is determined that the first state is present, the printing operation is stopped as a process separate from the printing operation, a notification process is performed to a user, and then the printing operation is prepared to be resumed, if it is determined that the second state is present, the printing operation is stopped as a process separate from the printing operation.
<Claim 3>
When the second head is performing a printing operation and the first head is disposed at a position corresponding to the printing target, if it is determined that the condition is not satisfied,
3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stops the printing operation as a process separate from the printing operation.
<Claim 4>
When it is determined that the condition is not satisfied during the printing operation by the first head,
4. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stops the printing operation as a process different from the printing operation, regardless of the type of head arranged at the position corresponding to the printing target.
<Claim 5>
5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the control means determines whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the second head or a printing operation in a design printing stage based on a printing sequence.
<Claim 6>
a speed detection unit that detects a moving speed of the second head and the first head,
6. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the control means determines that the printing operation does not satisfy the set conditions when the movement speed detected by the speed detection unit becomes equal to or lower than a set threshold value.
<Claim 7>
7. The printing device according to claim 6, wherein the threshold value of the movement speed at which it is determined that the second condition is not satisfied is smaller than the threshold value of the movement speed at which it is determined that the first condition is not satisfied.
<Claim 8>
A printing method for a printing device that performs a printing operation, comprising:
The printing device includes a first head for printing a design and a second head for printing something other than the design;
a condition determination step of determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition;
an operation determination step of determining whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head when it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition;
a head type determination step of determining, in the case of a printing operation using the second head, whether a head disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head is the first head or the second head;
a corresponding step of performing a process different from the printing operation depending on the result of the determination;
A printing method comprising:
<Claim 9>
A printing device includes a first head for printing a design and a second head for printing something other than the design, and the printing device performs a printing operation.
a condition determination function for determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition;
an operation determination function that, when it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition, determines whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head;
a head type determination function that, in the case of a printing operation using the second head, determines whether a head disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head is the first head or the second head;
A corresponding function of performing a process different from the printing operation depending on the result of the determination;
A program characterized by realizing the above.

Reference Signs List 1 Printing device 7 Terminal device 13 Display unit 31 Control unit 32 Memory unit 40 Printing unit 41 Print head 41a Base head 41b Design head 42 Carriage 313 Nail information detection unit 315 Printing control unit 401 Encoder T Nail U Print finger

Claims (3)

1. A printing device, comprising:
a first head for printing a design;
a second head for printing something other than the design;
A control unit for controlling the printing operation of each of the heads;
a speed detection unit that detects a moving speed of the first head and the second head;
Equipped with
The control means
determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition in which the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is equal to or greater than a first threshold value ;
When it is determined that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition, a first determination is made to determine whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head;
when it is determined in the first determination that the printing operation is to be performed by the second head, a second determination is made to determine whether the first head or the second head is disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head;
when it is determined in the second determination that it is the second head that is disposed at a position corresponding to the target to be printed by the second head, a third determination is made to determine whether the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is in a first state in which the moving speed is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value, or in a second state in which the moving speed is smaller than the second threshold value;
When it is determined in the third determination that the printing apparatus is in the first state, the printing operation is stopped as a process different from the printing operation, and a process of notifying a user is performed, and then the printing operation is prepared to be resumed.
A printing device characterized by performing a process to stop the printing operation when the first judgment determines that the printing operation is being performed by the first head, when the second judgment determines that the first head is located at a position corresponding to the second head, and when the third judgment determines that the state is the second state . A printing method for a printing device that performs a printing operation, comprising:
The printing device includes a first head that prints a design, a second head that prints something other than the design, and a speed detection unit that detects the movement speeds of the first head and the second head ,
a condition determination step of determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition , that is, the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is equal to or greater than a first threshold value ;
an operation determination step of determining whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head when it is determined in the condition determination step that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition;
a head type determination step of determining whether a head disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head is the first head or the second head when the printing operation is determined to be a printing operation by the second head in the operation determination step;
a speed determination step of determining whether the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is in a first state in which the moving speed is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value, or in a second state in which the moving speed is smaller than the second threshold value, when the head type determination step determines that the second head is located at a position corresponding to a target to be printed by the second head;
When it is determined in the speed determination step that the printer is in the first state, the printer stops the printing operation as a process different from the printing operation, notifies a user, and then performs a process of preparing to resume the printing operation;
a corresponding step of performing a process of stopping the printing operation when it is determined in the operation determination step that the printing operation is performed by the first head, when it is determined in the head type determination step that the first head is disposed at a position corresponding to the second head, and when it is determined in the speed determination step that the printing operation is performed in the second state ;
A printing method comprising: A printing device includes a first head for printing a design, a second head for printing something other than the design, and a speed detection unit for detecting the moving speeds of the first head and the second head, and the computer of the printing device performs a printing operation.
a condition determination function for determining whether the printing operation satisfies a set condition , that is, the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is equal to or greater than a first threshold value ;
an operation determination function that determines whether the printing operation is a printing operation using the first head or a printing operation using the second head when the condition determination function determines that the printing operation does not satisfy the set condition;
a head type determination function that, when the operation determination function determines that a printing operation is to be performed by the second head, determines whether a head disposed at a position corresponding to a printing target to be printed by the second head is the first head or the second head;
a speed determination function that, when the head type determination function determines that the head disposed at the position corresponding to the target to be printed by the second head is the second head, determines whether the moving speed detected by the speed detection unit is in a first state in which the moving speed is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value, or in a second state in which the moving speed is smaller than the second threshold value;
When the speed determination function determines that the printer is in the first state, the printer stops the printing operation as a process different from the printing operation, notifies the user, and then performs a process of preparing to resume the printing operation.
a response function for executing a process to stop the printing operation when the operation determination function determines that the printing operation is performed by the first head, when the head type determination function determines that the first head is located at a position corresponding to the second head, and when the speed determination function determines that the printing operation is performed in the second state;
A program characterized by realizing the above.

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