Printer, and printer control method

Abstract

To solve the problem that printing on a deformed pattern is deviated.SOLUTION: A printer includes: a conveyance part for conveying a medium having a pattern; an imaging part for imaging the medium; a printing part for performing printing on the medium; and a control part for performing printing processing, after printing pretreatment, wherein the control part acquires pattern data related to a pattern possessed by the medium, expands printing data to be printed by the printing part and generates expanded data, as the printing pretreatment, and acquires photographic pattern data related to the pattern possessed by the medium by the imaging part, generates conversion data on the basis of the expanded data, on the basis of the photographic pattern data, and prints the conversion data on the medium by the printing part, as printing processing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 12

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a control method thereof.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, there is known an apparatus that acquires surface information regarding the surface of a medium by an imaging device, adjusts the ink amount, and performs printing on the medium.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] When the medium has a pattern, the pattern may be deformed as the medium is deformed, such as when the conveyed medium stretches. In the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, there is a risk that printing may be misaligned with respect to the deformed pattern.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The printing apparatus includes a conveyance unit that conveys a medium having a pattern, an imaging unit that images the medium, a printing unit that performs printing on the medium, and a control unit that performs printing processing after performing pre-printing processing. The control unit, as the pre-printing processing, acquires pattern data related to the pattern of the medium, expands the printing data to be printed by the printing unit to generate expansion data, and as the printing processing, acquires photographed pattern data related to the pattern of the medium by the imaging unit, generates conversion data based on the expansion data based on the photographed pattern data, and prints the conversion data on the medium by the printing unit.

[0006] A control method for a printing apparatus, comprising a conveyance unit that conveys a medium having a pattern, an imaging unit that images the medium, and a printing unit that performs printing on the medium. After performing pre-printing processing, printing processing is carried out. As the pre-printing processing, pattern data related to the pattern of the medium is acquired, printing data to be printed by the printing unit is expanded to generate expanded data. As the printing processing, the imaging unit acquires photographed pattern data related to the pattern of the medium, generates conversion data based on the expanded data based on the photographed pattern data, and the printing unit prints the conversion data on the medium.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. The directions in the drawings will be described using a three-dimensional coordinate system. For convenience of explanation, the positive direction of the Z-axis is referred to as the upward direction, the upper direction, or simply up, the negative direction is referred to as the downward direction, the lower direction, or simply down, the positive direction of the X-axis is referred to as the right direction, the right side, or simply right, the negative direction is referred to as the left direction, the left side, or simply left, the positive direction of the Y-axis is referred to as the rear direction, the rear side, or simply rear, and the negative direction is referred to as the front direction, the front side, or simply front for explanation.

[0009] 1. Configuration of the printing device As shown in FIG. 1, the printing device 1 includes a control unit 10, a storage unit 11, a printing unit 12, a conveyance unit 13, an imaging unit 14, and an input / output unit 15. The configuration of the printing device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 3 as well.

[0010] The control unit 10 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that comprehensively controls each part of the printing apparatus 1, a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) that manages input / output, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) which is a logic circuit, a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and the like. The CPU is also referred to as a processor. The storage unit 11 is composed of a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) which is a rewritable non-volatile memory, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a RAM (Random Access Memory) which is a volatile memory, and the like. The CPU of the control unit 10 reads programs such as firmware stored in the non-volatile memory of the storage unit 11 and executes them using the RAM of the storage unit 11 as a work area. Note that the control unit 10 and the storage unit 11 are mounted on a circuit board (not shown).

[0011] The medium M shown in FIGS. 2 to 3 is, for example, a long fabric made of natural fiber or synthetic fiber. The long fabric is also called a roll. The printing apparatus 1 performs printing on the medium M. Printing on the fabric is also called vat dyeing, and the medium M is also called a material to be vat-dyed. Note that the medium M may be any of plain paper, synthetic paper, film, and the like.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 2, the medium M has a pattern P. In FIG. 2, for the sake of convenience, one pattern P is shown on the medium M, but there may be a plurality of patterns P each arranged at a predetermined position. Examples of the medium M having the pattern P include a pre-dyed fabric woven so that a fabric dyed at the stage of fiber or yarn becomes the pattern P, a shagard fabric woven with fibers or yarns so as to have a concavo-convex pattern, and the like. Note that the medium M may be one on which the pattern P is printed in advance. Also, in FIG. 2, the imaging medium data MS and the imaging pattern data PS obtained by photographing the medium M and the pattern P by the imaging unit 14 are also imaginarily shown corresponding to the medium M and the pattern P.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 2, the conveyance unit 13 is configured to include an endless conveyance belt 13a. The conveyance unit 13 circulates the conveyance belt 13a by a conveyance motor and rollers (both not shown) and conveys the medium M rearward in the conveyance direction. Hereinafter, the upstream and downstream in the conveyance direction by the conveyance unit 13 are simply referred to as upstream and downstream.

[0014] The printing unit 12 is configured to include an inkjet head 12a having a plurality of nozzles, a carriage 12b, and a guide shaft 12c. The head 12a is located above the conveyance belt 13a and opposite to the conveyance belt 13a. The printing apparatus 1 is capable of mounting an ink tank or an ink cartridge that stores inks of each color, for example, CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), which are ink colors. The printing unit 12 is provided with a supply mechanism (not shown) that supplies ink from an ink tank or the like to the head 12a. The supply mechanism supplies inks of each color from an ink tank or the like to the corresponding nozzles of the head 12a.

[0015] The carriage 12b includes a carriage motor (not shown). The head 12a is mounted on the carriage 12b. The head 12a can reciprocate in the left-right direction on the medium M placed on the conveyance belt 13a together with the carriage 12b by the carriage motor. The head 12a ejects ink droplets from the nozzles onto the medium M while moving on the medium M under the control based on the print data by the control unit 10 for printing. The print data is stored in the storage unit 11. The print data may be acquired from an external device such as a computer connectable to the printing apparatus 1.

[0016] Note that the ink colors can be any combination of four or more colors, for example, including light and dark colors of CMYK. Further, the head 12a may be configured to include a nozzle that discharges the penetrant into the medium M. The penetrant is a liquid that promotes the penetration of the ink droplets adhering to the surface of the medium M to the back surface.

[0017] The imaging unit 14 is configured by a camera having a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor, for example. Further, the imaging unit 14 may be provided with an illumination device. The imaging unit 14 is located above the conveyor belt 13a and faces the conveyor belt 13a. The imaging unit 14 can image the medium M placed on the conveyor belt 13a. As shown in FIG. 3, the imaging unit 14 can image at least across the entire left - right width of the medium M. Also, as shown in FIG. 2, the imaging unit 14 is located upstream of the printing unit 12. The imaging unit 14 can image the pattern P of the medium M before being printed by the printing unit 12.

[0018] The input / output unit 15 is, for example, a touch panel display. The input / output unit 15 includes a display panel that is an output unit for displaying various information and a detection panel that is an input unit. The detection panel is configured to be overlaid on the display panel. The detection panel can detect operations such as the user's finger by methods such as the capacitance method, the resistive film method, the optical method, etc. Note that in the input / output unit 15, the input unit may be a keyboard, a mouse, buttons, etc., and the output unit may be a stand - type liquid crystal display, etc.

[0019] 2. Control method of a printing apparatus for performing pre - printing processing As shown in FIG. 4, before the printing unit 12 attempts to print the print data D0, the control unit 10 of the printing apparatus 1 performs a predetermined process on the print data D0. With reference also to FIGS. 5 to 11, the control for performing the pre - printing process executed by the control unit 10 will be described.

[0020] In addition, in FIGS. 5 to 11, the pattern data P, the print data D0, the data in the process of processing the print data D0, etc. are shown as conceptual diagrams when corresponding to the medium M. Further, the control unit 10 can write and read each data corresponding to the conceptual diagrams of FIGS. 5 to 11 with respect to the addresses on the memory of the storage unit 11. In the following description, the description of the control unit 10 writing and reading each data from the storage unit 11 will be omitted.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 10 acquires the pattern data P (S100). The pattern data P is information related to the pattern P of the medium M. The pattern data P is, for example, CAD data including information indicating the position and shape of the pattern P on the medium M. The pattern data P shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the pattern P of the medium M shown in FIG. 2, and for the sake of convenience of explanation corresponding to the pattern P of the medium M, the same reference numerals are attached and shown.

[0022] The control unit 10 can acquire the pattern data P as CAD data from another device such as a loom that weaves the medium M to form the pattern P. The acquired pattern data P is stored in the storage unit 11. The pattern data P may be stored in the storage unit 11 in advance. The control unit 10 can acquire the pattern data P from the storage unit 11.

[0023] Here, the control unit 10 performs binarization processing on the acquired pattern data P and sets first feature points related to the edges of the binarized pattern data P. At this time, the control unit 10 may perform smoothing processing on the binarized pattern data P. The control unit 10 can display the binarized pattern data P by the input / output unit 15, detect the operation of the user, and set the first feature points. The storage unit 11 may store an algorithm for setting the first feature points. The control unit 10 can read and execute the algorithm from the storage unit 11 to set the first feature points. Also, the control unit 10 may set the first feature points by an external device.

[0024] The control unit 10 or the user extracts characteristic points from the binarized pattern data P and sets the first characteristic points. For example, the control unit 10 or the user may extract corners that are the corners of the edges from the binarized pattern data P and set them as the first characteristic points. The set first characteristic points are used when the control unit 10 performs the printing process described later.

[0025] The control unit 10 acquires print data D0 to be printed by the printing unit 12 (S101). As shown in FIG. 6, the print data D0 includes information indicating, for example, the position, shape, and print color on the medium M. The control unit 10 may acquire the print data D0 from an external device, or may acquire it from the storage unit 11 stored in advance.

[0026] In the example of FIG. 6, the print data D0 has first print data D10 located within the pattern data P. Further, the print data D0 also has second print data D20 which is blank data located within the pattern data P and within the first print data D10. In FIG. 6, the print data D0 is shown superimposed on the pattern data P shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 6, the outer periphery of the pattern data P and the outer periphery of the first print data D10 are made to have the same position and shape. Furthermore, the print data D0 also has third print data D30 located outside the pattern data P. The third print data D30 includes third A print data D30a located on the left and third B print data D30b located on the right.

[0027] The control unit 10 separates the print data D0 (S102). Specifically, the control unit 10 separates the third print data D30 outside the pattern data P from the print data D0 as shown in FIG. 7. The third print data D30 is located outside the pattern data P and does not overlap with the pattern data P. Also, the control unit 10 separates the first print data D10 within the pattern data P from the print data D0 as shown in FIG. 9. The first print data D10 is located within the pattern data P and overlaps with the pattern data P. When the print data D0 has the second print data D20 located within the first print data D10, the control unit 10 separates the second print data D20 together with the first print data D10. In this case, the second print data D20 is also located within the pattern data P and will overlap with the pattern data P.

[0028] The control unit 10 expands the print data D0 to generate respective expanded data (S103). Here, expanding means that the control unit 10 increases and enlarges the print data D0 in the front, back, left, and right directions. Specifically, the control unit 10 expands the third print data D30 outside the separated pattern data P as shown in FIG. 8 to generate the third expanded data D31. The third expanded data D31 includes the third A expanded data D31a obtained by expanding the third A print data D30a and the third B expanded data D31b obtained by expanding the third B print data D30b.

[0029] Also, the control unit 10 expands the first print data D10 within the separated pattern data as shown in FIG. 10 to generate the first expanded data D11. The control unit 10 corrects the first expanded data D11 (S104). That is, the control unit 10 corrects the first expanded data D11 as follows according to a predetermined rule.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 10, when the control unit 10 expands the first print data D10 to generate the first expanded data D11, the second print data D20 within the pattern data P becomes smaller and shrinks to become the second shrunk data D21. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the control unit 10 corrects the shrunk second shrunk data D21 to replace it with the original second print data D20. In this way, when generating the first expanded data D11, the control unit 10 corrects the first expanded data D11 so that the second print data D20 is located within the first expanded data D11.

[0031] Hereinafter, the third expanded data D31, the first expanded data D11, and the replaced second print data D20 described above are collectively referred to as expanded data. Based on the generated expansion data, the control unit 10 can perform conversion as described below so as to cover the deformed pattern P. The control unit 10 may, based on the expansion data, display, via the input / output unit 15, the expanded portion from the original print data D0 in an emphasized manner.

[0032] 3. Control method for a printing apparatus that performs printing processing As shown in FIG. 12, after the above-described pre-printing processing, the control unit 10 of the printing apparatus 1 performs printing processing. With reference also to FIGS. 13 to 18, control for the printing processing executed by the control unit 10 will be described. The control unit 10 can start the printing processing based on the operation of the input / output unit 15 by the user. The control unit 10 can perform the above-described pre-printing processing in advance using the time before the operation of the input / output unit 15 by the user.

[0033] Note that, similar to the above-described pre-printing processing, in FIGS. 13 to 18, data in the process of being processed by the control unit 10 and the like are shown as conceptual diagrams when corresponding to the captured medium data MS obtained by photographing the medium M. Also, similar to the above-described pre-printing processing, the control unit 10 can write and read each data so as to correspond to the conceptual diagrams in FIGS. 13 to 18 with respect to the addresses on the memory of the storage unit 11. In the following description, the description of the control unit 10 writing and reading each data from the storage unit 11 will be omitted.

[0034] As shown in FIG. 12, the control unit 10 acquires captured pattern data PS by the imaging unit 14 (S200). Specifically, the control unit 10 conveys the medium M in the conveyance direction by the conveyance unit 13, and the imaging unit 14 photographs the pattern P that the medium M has, thereby acquiring the captured medium data MS and the captured pattern data PS as shown in FIG. 13. Based on the acquired captured pattern data PS and based on the expansion data generated by the above-described pre-printing processing, the control unit 10 generates conversion data (S201). More specifically, the control unit 10 performs an Affine transformation on the expansion data to generate conversion data. An affine transformation is to perform transformations such as rotation, translation, deformation, enlargement, and reduction on the data to be processed. Hereinafter, the affine transformation processed by the control unit 10 will be specifically described.

[0035] When the medium M and the pattern P are conveyed by the conveying unit 13, they may be stretched, bent, etc., and may be deformed such as rotated, translated, deformed, enlarged, and reduced. Accordingly, the captured medium data MS and the captured pattern data PS captured by the imaging unit 14 also become values reflecting the deformation. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the captured pattern data PS actually captured by the imaging unit 14 may be deformed such as rotated, translated, enlarged, and reduced with respect to the pattern data P which is the CAD data used when weaving the medium M. The captured pattern data PS shown in FIG. 13 shows, as an example of deformation, a case where it is stretched and enlarged in the conveying direction with respect to the pattern data P.

[0036] Here, the control unit 10 performs binarization processing on the acquired captured pattern data PS. The control unit 10 extracts second feature points corresponding to the above-described first feature points set in the pre-printing process from the binarized captured pattern data PS. At this time, the control unit 10 may perform smoothing processing on the binarized captured pattern data PS. Based on the result of comparing the first feature points and the second feature points, the control unit 10 can calculate a correction amount for an affine transformation that performs transformations such as rotation, translation, deformation, enlargement, and reduction.

[0037] As described above, in the example of the captured pattern data PS shown in FIG. 13, it is stretched and enlarged in the conveying direction with respect to the pattern data P shown in FIG. 5. The correction amount for the affine transformation here is a correction amount that stretches and enlarges in the conveying direction. Based on the calculated correction amount for the affine transformation, the control unit 10 performs an affine transformation on the dilation data to generate transformed data (S201). That is, the control unit 10 performs an affine transformation on the dilation data so as to correspond to the deformed captured pattern data PS, and generates transformed data. Further, the control unit 10 corrects the generated transformed data (S202).

[0038] Based on the inflated data generated in the pre-print processing, the control unit 10 can perform an affine transformation on a range that covers the deformed photographed pattern data PS. Hereinafter, the affine transformation for the third inflated data D31 and the first inflated data D11, which are the inflated data, will be described in order. Also, the correction of the generated conversion data will be described.

[0039] First, the control unit 10 performs an affine transformation on the third inflated data D31 to generate the third inflated conversion data DS31 shown in FIG. 14 (S201). The third inflated conversion data DS31 includes the third A inflated conversion data DS31a obtained by affine-transforming the third A inflated data D31a and the third B inflated conversion data DS31b obtained by affine-transforming the third B inflated data D31b.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 14, the control unit 10 virtually overlays the photographed pattern data PS on the third inflated conversion data DS31. The control unit 10 corrects the third inflated conversion data DS31 so as to remove the third removal data DS32, which is the overlapping portion that overlaps with the photographed pattern data PS (S202), and obtains the third conversion data DS30 shown in FIG. 15. As shown in FIG. 14, the third removal data DS32 includes the third A removal data DS32a and the third B removal data DS32b. The control unit 10 corrects the third A inflated conversion data DS31a so as to remove the third A removal data DS32a, and obtains the third A conversion data DS30a as shown in FIG. 15. Also, the control unit 10 corrects the third B inflated conversion data DS31b so as to remove the third B removal data DS32b, and obtains the third B conversion data DS30b as shown in FIG. 15.

[0041] Next, as shown in FIG. 16, the control unit 10 performs an affine transformation on the first inflated data D11 to generate the first inflated conversion data DS11 (S201). The first inflated conversion data DS11 indicates the inside of the outermost ellipse in FIG. 16. The control unit 10 virtually overlays the shooting pattern data PS on the first expansion conversion data DS11. The control unit 10 corrects the first expansion conversion data DS11 so as to remove the first removal data DS13 which is the portion protruding outward from the shooting pattern data PS (S202).

[0042] The first removal data DS13 is an annular portion between the outer periphery of the first expansion conversion data DS11 and the outer periphery of the shooting pattern data PS. In FIG. 16, for the sake of convenience in explaining the first removal data DS13 protruding outward from the shooting pattern data PS, the second conversion data DS20 described later is covered and hidden by the shooting pattern data PS.

[0043] FIG. 17 shows the first conversion data DS10 obtained by removing the first removal data DS13 from the first expansion conversion data DS11. The outer periphery and size of the shooting pattern data PS are the same as those of the first conversion data DS10. The control unit 10 arranges the second conversion data DS20 obtained by performing an affine transformation on the second printing data D20 replaced in the pre-printing process within the first conversion data DS10.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 18, the control unit 10 combines the first conversion data DS10, the second conversion data DS20 within the shooting pattern data PS, and the third conversion data DS30 outside the shooting pattern data PS (S203) to obtain the conversion data DS. That is, in the pre-printing process, the control unit 10 performs expansion processing and then correction on the printing data D0 separated inside and outside the pattern data P respectively. In the printing process, after performing affine transformation and correction, they are combined to obtain the conversion data DS. In FIG. 18, the control unit 10 virtually overlays the conversion data DS on the shooting pattern data PS. For this reason, the shooting pattern data PS appears on the second conversion data DS20 which is blank data.

[0045] The control unit 10 causes the printing unit 12 to print the conversion data DS on the medium M (S204). Specifically, the control unit 10 causes the conveyance unit 13 to convey the medium M in the conveyance direction, and causes the printing unit 12 to print the conversion data DS on the medium M. Also, as described above, at this time, the control unit 10 causes the imaging unit 14 to capture an image of the pattern P on the medium M. In the printing process, the control unit 10 can sequentially acquire the captured pattern data PS upstream in the conveyance direction to generate and print the conversion data DS.

[0046] The control unit 10 may cause the printing unit 12 to print the conversion data DS on the medium M while causing the conveyance unit 13 to convey the medium M in the conveyance direction. The control unit 10 may cause the imaging unit 14 to capture an image of the pattern P on the medium M while causing the conveyance unit 13 to convey the medium M in the conveyance direction. In this case, the control unit 10 will simultaneously execute conveyance by the conveyance unit 13, printing by the printing unit 12, and imaging by the imaging unit 14 on the medium M. Also, the control unit 10 may repeat causing the printing unit 12 to print after causing the conveyance unit 13 to convey the medium M a predetermined length in the conveyance direction, so as to print the conversion data DS on the medium M. The imaging unit 14 can capture an image of the pattern P on the medium M whose conveyance has stopped while the printing unit 12 is printing. Or, the imaging unit 14 can capture an image of the pattern P on the medium M that is being conveyed while the printing unit 12 is not printing.

[0047] FIG. 18 can also be shown as corresponding to the result of the control unit 10 actually printing the conversion data DS on the medium M by the printing unit 12. In this case, in FIG. 18, the captured medium data MS and the captured pattern data PS can be shown as corresponding to the deformed medium M and the pattern P. Also, in FIG. 18, the conversion data DS including the first conversion data DS10, the second conversion data DS20, and the third conversion data DS30 can be shown as corresponding to the printing result. In this way, the control unit 10 can generate and print the conversion data DS in accordance with the pattern P of the deformed medium M.

[0048] The printing apparatus 1 according to the above embodiment includes a conveyance unit 13 that conveys a medium M having a pattern P, an imaging unit 14 that images the medium M by the conveyance unit 13, a printing unit 12 that performs printing on the medium M, and a control unit 10 that performs printing processing after performing pre-printing processing. As pre-printing processing, the control unit 10 acquires pattern data P related to the pattern P of the medium M, and expands the printing data D0 to be printed by the printing unit 12 to generate expanded data. As printing processing, the control unit 10 acquires photographed pattern data PS related to the pattern P of the medium M by the imaging unit 14, generates conversion data DS based on the expanded data based on the photographed pattern data PS, and causes the printing unit 12 to print the conversion data DS on the medium M.

[0049] There may be a case where the printing apparatus 1 attempts to print the printing data D0 in accordance with the pattern P of the medium M or at a position corresponding to the position of the pattern P. If the control unit 10 prints the printing data D0 as it is on the deformed medium M, the printing position of the printing data D0 may deviate from the intended position with respect to the deformed pattern P. However, according to the printing apparatus 1 according to the above embodiment, it is possible to generate and print the conversion data DS in accordance with the pattern P of the deformed medium M, and it is possible to suppress deviation from the intended position with respect to the deformed pattern P.

[0050] As described above, the embodiments have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the embodiments, and may be changed, replaced, deleted, etc. without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the pattern P of the medium M may be pre-printed on the opposite surface of the surface of the medium M to be printed. In the pre-printing process, the control unit 10 may first process the first printing data D10 in the separated pattern data and then process the third printing data D30 outside the separated pattern data P. Also, in the pre-print processing, the control unit 10 may first process the first expansion data D11 in the separated pattern data and then process the third expansion data D31 outside the separated pattern data P. Also, in generating the conversion data DS based on the expansion data, methods other than the affine transformation may be used. For example, non-linear transformations such as projective transformation, B-spline method, and Thin-plate spline method may be used.

Explanation of Signs

[0051] 1... printing device, 10... control unit, 11... storage unit, 12... printing unit, 13... conveyance unit, 14... imaging unit, 15... input / output unit, D0... print data, D10... first print data, D20... second print data, D30... third print data, D11... first expansion data, D21... second reduction data, D31... third expansion data, DS... conversion data, DS10... first conversion data, DS20... second conversion data, DS30... third conversion data, M... medium, MS... photographed medium data, P... pattern, pattern data, PS... photographed pattern data.

Claims

1. A conveyance unit that conveys a medium having a pattern, An imaging unit that images the medium, A printing unit that performs printing on the medium, A control unit that performs printing processing after performing pre-printing processing, and is provided with: The control unit, As the pre-printing processing, Obtain pattern data related to the pattern of the medium, Expand the print data to be printed by the printing unit to generate expansion data, As the printing process, The imaging unit obtains photographed pattern data related to the pattern of the medium, Based on the photographed pattern data, generate conversion data based on the expansion data, A printing apparatus that prints the conversion data on the medium by the printing unit.

2. The control unit, as the pre-printing processing, Separate the print data into first print data located within the pattern data and overlapping the pattern data, and third print data located outside the pattern data and not overlapping the pattern data, and generate first expansion data and third expansion data respectively. The printing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The control unit, as the pre-printing processing, When the print data has second print data located within the first print data, separate the second print data together with the first print data, When generating the first expansion data, correct so that the second print data is located within the first expansion data. The printing apparatus according to claim 2.

4. The control unit, as the printing process, Generate first conversion data based on the first expansion data, Generate third conversion data based on the third expansion data, Combine the first conversion data and the third conversion data to obtain the conversion data to be printed by the printing unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 2.

5. The control unit, as the printing process, Remove the overlapping part from the first conversion data with the photographed pattern data, correct the third conversion data to remove the part protruding from the photographed pattern data, and then combine them. The printing apparatus according to claim 4.

6. The control unit, As the pre-printing processing, perform binarization processing on the obtained pattern data to set first feature points related to the edge of the pattern data. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein as the printing process, the binarization process is performed on the acquired captured pattern data to extract second feature points corresponding to the first feature points, and the conversion data is generated based on the result of comparing the first feature points and the second feature points.

7. A control method for a printing apparatus, comprising: a conveyance unit that conveys a medium having a pattern, an imaging unit that images the medium, and a printing unit that performs printing on the medium, and performing a printing process after performing a pre-printing process, wherein as the pre-printing process, acquire pattern data related to the pattern of the medium; inflate the print data to be printed by the printing unit to generate inflated data; as the printing process, acquire captured pattern data related to the pattern of the medium by the imaging unit; generate conversion data based on the inflated data based on the captured pattern data; print the conversion data on the medium by the printing unit.

Images