NAIL PRINT DEVICE, PROGRAM, AND CONTROL METHOD

Abstract

To adjust the height of a nail being a printing object in accordance with the nail being the printing object.SOLUTION: A nail print device comprises: a print head which prints an image on a nail of a printing object person; a finger placement table which is the table on which the fingers of the printing object person are placed and which can move in the height direction being the direction opposite to the print head when printing is performed on the nail; a sensor which is arranged at a position on the upper side of the finger placement table in the height direction and on the lower side of the print head, can move in the movement direction intersecting the height direction and detect the nail within a detection range; and control means which performs control of height adjustment that moves the finger placement table to the upper side until the sensor detects the nail after the sensor moves in the movement direction such that the first position of the nail region detected on the basis of a photographed image of the fingers placed on the finger placement table is included in the detection range of the sensor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a nail printing device, a program, and a control method. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a method for printing nail art on the nails of a recipient using a printer. Hereinafter, a printer that prints nail art on nails is referred to as a nail printing device. In the nail printing device, the height of the nail to be printed may be adjusted so that the position of the nail to be printed on is appropriate relative to the print head.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a method of adjusting the height of a holder on which a user places his / her finger by using a sensor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. WO 01 / 091598 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] A possible configuration is one in which a sensor detects the nails of the person to be printed on and adjusts the height of the holder based on the results. However, the position of the nails on the holder varies depending on the person to be printed on. If the position of the nails on the holder is not known before adjusting the height, the sensor may not be able to properly detect the nails of the person to be printed on. As a result, there is a risk that the height of the nails to be printed on may not be properly adjusted. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The nail printing device disclosed herein has a print head that prints an image on the nail of a person to be printed on, a finger rest that is a platform for placing the finger of the person to be printed on and is movable in a height direction that is the direction facing the print head when printing is performed on the nail, and a sensor that is arranged above the finger rest in the height direction and below the print head, is movable in a movement direction that intersects with the height direction and is capable of detecting a nail within its detection range, and is characterized in that the nail printing device has a control means that controls a height adjustment by moving the finger rest upward until the sensor detects it after the sensor moves in the movement direction so that a first position of the nail area detected based on a captured image of the finger placed on the finger rest is included in the detection range of the sensor. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the technology of the present disclosure, the height of the nail to be printed can be adjusted depending on the nail to be printed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a top view showing the configuration of the nail printing apparatus. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of a nail printing device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the nail printing device. [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow performed in the printing system. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a design selection screen displayed on a display. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow performed in the printing system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] The embodiments of the technology of the present disclosure will be described in detail below. Note that the following embodiments are examples for explaining the technology of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the technology of the present disclosure to only the embodiments. Furthermore, the technology of the present disclosure can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the technology. Note that the same configurations are described with the same reference numerals. Furthermore, the relative arrangement and shapes of the components described in the following embodiments are merely examples.

[0010] <First embodiment> [System Configuration] 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to this embodiment. The printing system includes a host 100 and a nail print device 110. The nail print device 110 is a device that has a function of drawing an image directly on the fingernails of a person to be printed on. Note that, although this embodiment shows an example in which fingernails are the printing target, the printing target is not limited to fingernails, and toenails may also be used.

[0011] The host 100 is, for example, an information processing device such as a personal computer (PC). The host 100 may also be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone. The host 100 is configured to be able to communicate with the nail print device 110. The host 100 and the nail print device 110 are connected via a predetermined network, or directly connected without a network, and are capable of exchanging information with each other. Note that, although the host 100 and the nail print device 110 are described as separate devices in this embodiment, a device that includes the functions of both devices may also be used.

[0012] The host 100 includes a CPU 101 , a RAM 102 , a HDD 103 , a data transfer I / F 104 , a keyboard and mouse I / F 105 , a display I / F 106 , and a camera I / F 108 .

[0013] The CPU 101 executes the process described below according to the program stored in the HDD 103 or the RAM 102. The program includes an application program for printing a design image such as nail art on a nail by the nail print device 110. For example, the program includes an application program for transmitting a print job for printing a print image to the nail print device 110 in response to an operation from a user. An application having such a function is hereinafter referred to as a nail app or simply an app. Note that the app may have other functions in addition to the print function. For example, the app in this embodiment may have a function for starting the camera 240. That is, the app may have a function for sending a camera start job in addition to the print job. In addition, the application stored in the HDD 103 or the RAM 102 is not limited to a nail app, and may be an application program having a function other than printing. Hereinafter, a design image such as nail art is also referred to as a nail image.

[0014] The RAM 102 is a volatile storage device that temporarily stores programs and data, and the HDD 103 is a non-volatile storage device that stores programs and data.

[0015] The data transfer I / F (interface) 104 controls the transmission and reception of data with the nail printing device 110. As a connection method for this data transmission and reception, wired connections such as USB, IEEE1394, and LAN, and wireless connections such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and WiFi (registered trademark) can be used. The data transmitted and received with the nail printing device 110 includes various control data. The data transmitted and received with the nail printing device 110 also includes image data of a print image output from the host 100 to the nail printing device 110.

[0016] The keyboard / mouse I / F (interface) 105 is an I / F that controls HIDs (Human Interface Devices) such as a keyboard and a mouse (not shown). A user can input various information via this I / F. The CPU 101 is configured to be able to receive instructions from the user via the keyboard / mouse I / F 105.

[0017] The display I / F (display interface) 106 controls the display on the display 107. The display 107 is, for example, a liquid crystal or organic EL display. The display 107 may be included in the configuration of the host 100. The CPU 101 can control the display of the display 107 via the display I / F 106. The display 107 may also serve as an input unit as a touch panel display. The camera I / F 106 is an I / F for connecting to the camera 240.

[0018] The nail printing apparatus 110 has a CPU 111 , a RAM 112 , a ROM 113 , a data transfer I / F 114 , a head controller 115 , a laser controller 116 , an image processing accelerator 117 , a motor controller 118 , and a camera I / F 119 .

[0019] The CPU 111 executes processes described below according to programs stored in the ROM 113 or the RAM 112. The RAM 112 is a volatile storage and temporarily stores programs and data. The ROM 113 is a non-volatile storage and can store various table data and programs.

[0020] A data transfer I / F (interface) 114 controls the transmission and reception of data to and from the host 100 .

[0021] The head controller 115 controls the heating operation of a heater board 231 (see FIG. 2) mounted on a print head 230 (see FIG. 2) based on the recording data, thereby causing ink to be ejected from the nozzles of the print head 230. Specifically, the head controller 115 can be configured to read control parameters and recording data from a predetermined address in the RAM 102. Then, when the CPU 111 writes the control parameters and recording data to the above-mentioned predetermined address in the RAM 112, processing is started by the head controller 115, and the heating operation of the heater board 231 mounted on the print head 230 is performed.

[0022] The laser controller 116 controls the laser sensor emitter 221 (see FIG. 2) to emit a laser. The laser sensor emitter 221 is a sensor used to adjust the height of finger placement tables 251-254 (see FIG. 2) on which the fingers of the person to be printed are placed. Details will be described later.

[0023] The image processing accelerator 117 is configured by hardware and executes image processing faster than the CPU 111. Specifically, the image processing accelerator 117 can be configured to read parameters and data required for image processing from a predetermined address in the RAM 112. When the CPU 111 writes the parameters and data to the predetermined address in the RAM 112, the image processing accelerator 117 is started and the predetermined image processing is performed. The image processing accelerator 117 can be configured in any manner. Depending on the specifications of the nail printing device 110, the above table parameter creation process and image processing may be executed only by the processing of the CPU 111.

[0024] The motor controller 118 is a control unit that controls the motor operation of a plurality of motor units (not shown). In this embodiment, the motor unit is used to move the print head 230 two-dimensionally relative to the nail to be printed. The finger rests 251-254 are configured to be movable in the upward and downward directions, and the motor unit is also used as a mechanism for raising or lowering the finger rests 251-254. That is, the motor controller 118 can control the height of the finger rests 251-254 by controlling the motor unit. The finger rests may be raised or lowered by a method other than the method using the motor unit. Depending on the type of printer, a motor for maintenance of the print head may be provided.

[0025] The camera I / F 119 is an I / F that is connected to the camera 240 and is used to acquire image data captured by the camera 240. The camera 240 may be connected to the host 100 via the camera I / F 108. In this case, image data of an image captured by the camera 240 may be received from the host 100 via, for example, the data transfer I / F 114. The camera 240 may be included in the configuration of the nail print device 110.

[0026] For example, an inkjet printer using an inkjet head that ejects ink droplets to record an image as a print head can be applied to the nail print device 110. The nail print device of this embodiment may also be a multifunction machine equipped with multiple functions such as a copy function, a FAX function, and a print function.

[0027] [Configuration of the nail print device] Fig. 2 is a top view showing the configuration of the nail printing device 110 in this embodiment. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic top view inside the housing of the nail printing device 110. In this specification, the direction along the X axis is the left-right direction, the direction along the Y axis is the front-rear direction, and the direction along the Z axis perpendicular to the X and Y axes is the up-down direction. In addition, the positive Y direction is the front side, the negative Y direction is the back side, the positive Z direction is the downward direction, and the negative Z direction is the upward direction.

[0028] The nail printing device 110 has Y-direction rail guides 211, 212 for moving the print head 230 in the front-rear direction, and an X-direction rail guide 220 for moving the print head 230 in the left-right direction that intersects with the front-rear direction.

[0029] A heater board 231 is attached below the print head 230. The following ink ejection nozzles are arranged on the heater board 231. Cyan ink nozzle 232 Magenta ink nozzle 233 Yellow ink nozzle 234

[0030] In this embodiment, the print head 230 can move not only left-right but also front-back. For example, if the scanning direction is left-right, the print head 230 moves left-right while ejecting ink from the ink ejection nozzles 232-234 for each color to perform one recording scan. Next, the print head 230 is moved forward-backward before performing the next recording scan, thereby printing an image on the nail. For this reason, in this embodiment, an image can be printed on the nail to be printed while the nail to be printed is fixed.

[0031] A laser sensor emitter 221 is provided at one end of the X-direction rail guide 220, and a laser sensor receiver 222 is provided at the other end of the X-direction rail guide 220. Therefore, the laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 are configured to move in the front-rear direction in synchronization with the front-rear movement of the print head 230. The laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 are provided at a position spaced downward from the ink ejection nozzles 232 to 234. The laser sensor emitter 221 emits a laser toward the laser sensor receiver 222 in the X-direction. The laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 may be collectively referred to as a laser sensor 206.

[0032] A camera 240 for photographing fingers is installed inside the ceiling of the nail print device 110. A lens 241 is disposed on the lower side of the camera 240.

[0033] On the floor side of the nail printing device 110, there are arranged a hand rest 250 for placing the palm of the hand, and finger rests 251-254 for fixing the finger positions. The nail printing device 110 is capable of controlling the adjustment of the Z-axis direction positions (heights) of the finger rests 251-254 independently. In other words, the finger rests 251-254 are configured to be independently movable in the direction facing the print head 230 that is printing on the nails.

[0034] 2, the back 260 of the hand of the person to be printed on and fingers 261-264 are shown in schematic form. The fingers of the person to be printed on are placed on finger rests 251-254 so that they extend in the front-to-back direction. In the example of FIG. 2, the hand of the person to be printed on is a right hand. The back 260 of the right hand is placed on hand rest 250. It is assumed that the index finger 261 of the right hand is placed on finger rest 251, the middle finger 262 on finger rest 252, the ring finger 263 on finger rest 253, and the little finger 264 on finger rest 254.

[0035] Fig. 3 is a front view showing the configuration of the nail printing device 110 of this embodiment. Fig. 4 is a side view showing the configuration of the nail printing device 110 of this embodiment. Like Fig. 2, Figs. 3 and 4 are also diagrams showing the inside of the housing of the nail printing device 110. The reference symbols in Figs. 3 and 4 indicate the same configuration as in Fig. 2.

[0036] [Adjusting the height of the finger rest] 2 to 4, a description will now be given of adjusting the height of the finger rests 251 to 254. By adjusting the height of the finger rests 251 to 254, the position of the nail in the Z direction relative to each of the ink ejection nozzles 232 to 234 of the print head 230 during printing can be adjusted.

[0037] To print a higher quality image on the nail, it is desirable that the nail, which is the printing target, is positioned at a position where the ink ejected from each of the ink ejection nozzles 232-234 can land appropriately. For this reason, the relative distance in the Z direction between the nail and the ink ejection nozzles 232-234 is adjusted by adjusting the height of the finger placement tables 251-254.

[0038] Each of the finger rests 251 to 254 is configured to be independently movable up or down, and the motor controller 118 can control the adjustment of the height (position in the Z-axis direction) of each of the finger rests 251 to 254 independently. In this embodiment, one of the finger rests 251 to 254 is selected, and the height adjustment is performed for each selected finger rest. For example, when the index finger 261, the middle finger 262, the ring finger 263, and the little finger 264 of the right hand are placed on the finger rests 251 to 254, respectively, the height adjustment is performed in order starting from the finger rest 251 on which the index finger 261 is placed. When the height adjustment of the finger rest 251 on which the index finger 261 is placed is completed, the finger rest 252 is selected next, and the same height adjustment is performed. This order is an example of the order of the finger rests to be adjusted in height, and the height adjustment may be performed starting from any finger rest.

[0039] A movable laser sensor 206 (laser sensor emitter 221 and laser sensor receiver 222) mounted on the nail print device 110 is used to adjust the height of each of the finger placement platforms 251-254. When the person to be printed places his / her finger on the finger placement platforms 251-254, the finger placement platforms 251-254 are in a position after being lowered to the initial position. In this case, when a laser is emitted from the laser sensor emitter 221, the emitted laser is not blocked and is received by the laser sensor receiver 222. Therefore, at the start of height adjustment, the laser emitted from the laser sensor emitter 221 is not blocked and is received by the laser sensor receiver 222.

[0040] As the finger rests 251-254 continue to rise, the laser emitted from the laser sensor emitter 221 is blocked by parts of the fingers of the person to be printed placed on the finger rests 251-254. When the laser is blocked and it is determined that the laser sensor receiver 222 is not receiving the laser, the motor controller 118 performs control to stop the lifting of the finger rests. In this way, the heights of the finger rests 251-254 can be adjusted.

[0041] The laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 are located below the nozzles of the print head 230, and the position in the Z direction of the laser emitted from the laser sensor emitter 221 is a position where the print head 230 can land ink appropriately. Therefore, if the rise of the finger rests 251-254 can be stopped in response to the laser being blocked by the nail of a finger placed on the finger rests 251-254, the height of the finger rests 251-254 can be adjusted so that the nail is appropriately positioned at the ink landing position. Therefore, the positions in the Y direction of the laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 when adjusting the height are preferably positions where the nail area of ​​the finger placed on the finger rest to be adjusted is located.

[0042] Therefore, in this embodiment, before adjusting the height of the finger rests 251-254, the nail area is detected from the captured image of the finger placed on the finger rests 251-254. By appropriately converting the coordinates (X coordinate, Y coordinate) of the nail area in the captured image into a coordinate position in the Y direction in the nail print device 110, the laser sensor 206 can be moved to a position in the Y direction corresponding to the nail area. For this reason, for example, if the finger rest to be adjusted in height is the finger rest 251, the laser sensor emitter 221 and the laser sensor receiver 222 can be moved in the Y direction to a position where the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 is located before the finger rest 251 is raised. After that, when the finger rest 251 is raised, the laser is blocked by the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest 251. By raising the finger rest 251 until the laser is blocked, the height of the finger rest 251 can be adjusted so that the height of the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 is at an appropriate position. The finger rests 252 to 254 that are not subject to height adjustment are controlled to be lowered so as not to block the laser.

[0043] [Processing flow] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a process flow for printing an image on the nails of fingers placed on the finger rests 251-254, which is performed in the printing system of this embodiment. The application 500 is a process executed by the host 100 in FIG. 1. That is, it is a process by a nail application started by the host 100. The camera 240 takes a picture of the finger and sends image data of the taken image to the application 500. The nail print device 110 obtains a print image used for printing on the nail from the application 500, and the print head 230 is controlled by the motor controller 118 and the head controller 115, etc., to print on the nail part on the actual finger of the print recipient. The motor controller 118 further controls the movement of the laser sensor 206 and controls the raising and lowering of the finger rests 251-254. Note that the user (print recipient) whose nails have an image printed by the nail print device 110 and the user who operates the application are described as being the same person, but they may be different users.

[0044] The processing of the application 500 in Fig. 5 is performed by the CPU 101 of the host 100 by loading the program code stored in the HDD 103 into the RAM 102 and executing it. Alternatively, some or all of the functions of the steps in Fig. 5 may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC or an electronic circuit. Note that the symbol "S" in the explanation of each process indicates a step in the sequence.

[0045] In S510, the application 500 starts processing. For example, the processing of S510 starts in response to a user of the application 500 starting a nail application. In addition, start processing of the camera 240, the head controller 115, and the motor controller 118 is also performed as necessary.

[0046] Next, finger placement processing is performed in S520 to S523. First, in S520, the application 500 displays on the display 107 a screen instructing the person to place their hands on the hand placement table 250 and the finger placement table 251. The person to be printed places their fingers on the finger placement tables 251 to 254 as described in FIG. 2. Next, the application 500 outputs a whole image capture message M520 to the camera 240. Note that, although an example in which four fingers are placed on the finger placement tables 251 to 254 is shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, at least one finger from among the index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger may be placed. Also, when printing on the nail of the thumb, only the thumb is placed.

[0047] In S521, camera 240 captures an image of the entire fingers placed on finger rests 251-254, and sends an entire image capturing information message M521 to application 500. The entire image capturing information message M521 includes image data of the entire image captured in this step. For example, when four fingers are placed on finger rests 251-254, camera 240 captures an image of the four fingers.

[0048] In S522, the application 500 acquires the entire image captured in S521, and displays the acquired entire image on the display 107. The application 500 also displays on the display 107 a "finger placement complete button" that the print recipient should press when the placement of the finger is completed.

[0049] In S523, the application 500 determines whether or not the "finger placement complete button" has been pressed. If the person to be printed checks the entire image and presses the "finger placement complete button," the process proceeds to S530. If the "finger placement complete button" has not been pressed, the process returns to S520, and the finger placement process of S520 to S523 is executed again.

[0050] Next, the nail region detection process of S530 to S531 is performed. First, in S530, the application 500 analyzes the image data of the entire image of the finger acquired as a result of shooting in S521. Then, the number of nails included in the entire image, and information indicating the X position, Y position, X direction width, Y direction width, and shape of each nail region are detected. The position and shape information obtained here is the position and shape of the nail region in the entire image (i.e., a two-dimensional plane). The X direction is the direction along the longitudinal direction of the X-direction rail guide 220 in FIG. 2, and the Y direction is the direction along the longitudinal direction of the Y-direction rail guides 211 and 212 in FIG. 2.

[0051] The position and shape of the actual nail area of ​​the printing recipient are determined from the captured image because the position and shape of the nails of the printing recipient vary from person to person, and the image is printed according to the actual position and shape of the nails.

[0052] One method of detecting the nail region is to detect the white color of the base coat applied to the nail by image processing. Specifically, pixels exceeding a predetermined threshold (for example, R>200, G>200, B>200) are detected from the RGB values ​​of the captured image, and the detected region is determined as the nail region. When detecting the nail, it is preferable to make the finger rests 251-254 black or other colors other than white so that the finger rests 251-254 under the fingers are not erroneously detected as nails. It is also preferable to configure the finger rests 251-254 with a material that diffuses light so that the whitened parts of the captured image due to the reflection of light are not erroneously detected. Alternatively, edge detection processing may be performed on the captured image, and the nail region may be detected using the information obtained as a result. Alternatively, since detection by image processing is difficult when the base coat is translucent, machine learning may be used as another detection method. By using nail images with a white or translucent base coat applied as images to be learned by machine learning, it becomes possible to detect the nail region not only when the base coat is white but also when it is translucent. In machine learning, a learning model is constructed by having the system learn where the nails are in prepared learning images. The constructed learning model is incorporated into the app 500, processed by the CPU 101, and used to detect the nail area from the captured image. Since skin color and nail shape vary from person to person, it is advisable to prepare many hand patterns in the learning images and have the system learn them. There are many frameworks for machine learning, and machine learning can be realized by utilizing existing frameworks.

[0053] In S531, the application 500 determines whether or not the nail region has been correctly detected. If it is determined that the nail region has been correctly detected, the process proceeds to S540, and if it is determined that the nail region has not been correctly detected, the process returns to S520 and the finger placement process and the nail region detection process are repeated.

[0054] The method of determining whether the nail region has been detected correctly is, for example, when the following conditions are satisfied, it is determined that the detection has been performed correctly. If the number of detected nail regions is four, they are approximately evenly spaced in the X coordinate, and the position of the middle finger nail is on the back side in the Y direction and the position of the little finger nail is on the front side in the Y direction, it is determined that the detection of the position and shape of the nail region has been performed correctly. Conversely, if the number of acquired nail regions is zero or five or more, or if multiple nails are detected in approximately the same X position, it is determined that the detection of the nail region has not been performed correctly. In other cases, for example, if the number of acquired nail regions is one to three, the nails of undetected fingers may be excluded from printing, or the position and shape of a standard nail region may be registered as the nail of an undetected finger, and the process may proceed to S540.

[0055] Next, the application 500 performs a nail image setting process in S540 to S541. First, in S540, the application 500 displays on the display 107 a message to the person to whom printing is to be performed that the nail image setting process will be performed. The application 500 also displays a "nail image setting completion button" to be pressed when the nail image setting is completed.

[0056] As a result of S540, the person to be printed selects at least the “image design to be printed on the nails.” In other words, the person to be printed selects the design to be printed on the nails through the display I / F 106.

[0057] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a design selection screen 601 displayed on the display 107. Fig. 6(a) is an example of the screen when no design has been set, and Fig. 6(b) is an example of the screen when a design has been set. A finger model 602 and a nail model 603 are displayed on the selection screen 601 in Fig. 6(a). On the selection screen 601, the person to be printed selects which design to select for which finger nail. Note that, in this embodiment, an example will be described in which the person who selects the design is the same as the person to be printed, but the two may be different when used in, for example, a nail salon.

[0058] The person to be printed selects a design to be used for printing on the nail from a design list 604 displayed on the selection screen 601. The design list 604 includes individual design images 605. Each design image 605 included in the design list 604 may be stored in advance in the HDD 103 in the host 100, or may be acquired from a network using the data transfer I / F 104. When the person to be printed selects a design, first, he or she presses any one of the nail models 603. The pressed nail model 603 is placed in a selected state, and a frame 607 indicating that it is selected is displayed, as shown in FIG. 6(b). In this state, by pressing an individual design image 605 included in the design list 604, the pressed design image 605 is set to the selected nail model 603.

[0059] The nail image setting completion button 606 is a button for moving to the next step. After selecting a design, pressing the nail image setting completion button 606 proceeds to the next step. Note that if no design image is selected, the nail image setting completion button 606 is grayed out and disabled as shown in FIG. 6(a). The nail image setting completion button 606 does not become enabled as shown in FIG. 6(b) until at least one design image is set.

[0060] In S541, the application 500 determines whether the person to be printed has pressed the nail image setting completion button 606. If the determination result is No, the application 500 returns to S540 to continue the nail image setting process, and if the determination result is Yes, the application 500 proceeds to S550. By repeating the series of processing flows from S540 to S541 in real time, the person to be printed can easily set the image in the nail area.

[0061] Next, in S550 to S555, printing processing is performed on the nails of the person to be printed. The next steps S550 to S554 are performed for each nail to be printed, and the processing of S550 to S554 is repeated for the number of nails to be printed with nail images. For example, when the four nails from the index finger to the little finger of the right hand are to be printed, the height is adjusted for each finger, the image is printed on the nail, and when the printing processing is completed, the processing is repeated for the next nail. In the following explanation, the processing of S550 to S554 will be explained using as an example a case where, as a result of S520, the four fingers from the index finger to the little finger of the right hand of the person to be printed are placed on the finger rests 251 to 254, and the index finger placed on the finger rest 251 is selected as the finger to be printed.

[0062] In S550, the application 500 detects the position of the tip of the nail area of ​​the finger on the back side (fingertip side) in the Y direction of the nail area of ​​the finger to be printed from the position and shape of the nail area detected in S530. The application 500 determines the detected position as the "adjustment position" of the finger to be printed. Then, the application 500 outputs a height adjustment message M550 including position information of the determined adjustment position to the nail print device 110.

[0063] In S551, the motor controller 118 moves the laser sensor emitter 221 so that the Y-direction position of the laser sensor emitter 221 becomes the Y-direction position of the adjustment position included in the height adjustment message M550. In other words, the laser sensor emitter 221 is moved so that the optical axis of the laser, which is the detection range of the laser sensor emitter 221, is included in the adjustment position on the XY plane. The laser sensor receiver 222 also moves in accordance with the movement of the laser sensor emitter 221.

[0064] In S552, the motor controller 118 performs a process of raising the finger rest 251 on which the finger to be printed is placed. When the finger rest 251 rises, the laser emitted from the laser sensor emitter 221 is blocked by the nail of the finger to be printed. When it is determined that the laser sensor receiver 222 has changed from a state in which it receives the laser to a state in which it does not receive the laser, the rising of the finger rest 251 is stopped, and the height adjustment of the finger rest 251 on which the finger to be printed is placed is completed. When the height adjustment is completed, the nail print device 110 sends a height adjustment completion message M551 to the application 500. The finger rests 252 to 254 of the fingers not to be printed are controlled to remain in the state after being lowered, since there is a risk that the laser will be blocked by the fingers placed on the finger rests 252 to 254.

[0065] In the present embodiment, the tip of the nail is described as the adjustment position, but the adjustment position may be determined according to the configuration of the finger rests 251-254, the configuration of the laser sensor 206, the shape of the finger, and the like. That is, the adjustment position does not have to be the tip of the nail. Also, the adjustment position has been described as one point at the tip of the nail, but the adjustment position may not be one point, and multiple positions within the nail region may be specified, and height adjustment may be performed based on the specified positions. For example, when multiple positions within the nail region are specified, the laser sensor light emitting unit 221 may be moved to each of the specified positions in the Y direction, and the average of the heights of the finger rests 251 when the laser is blocked may be set as the height of the finger rests 251 after adjustment.

[0066] In S553, the application 500 performs a process of generating a print image used in printing on the nail. The print image is an image including an image area (print area) for landing a recording material on the nail area of ​​the finger to be printed, and an image to which a desired nail image is assigned. For example, based on the nail area detected from the entire image, an image area for printing the nail image is set, and the nail image data set in S540 is reflected in the image area to generate a print image. Then, the application 500 displays a message "printing will start" on the display 107, and outputs a print message M552 including image data of the generated print image to the nail print device 110. In this manner, in this embodiment, the print image is generated based on the entire image captured and acquired in S521.

[0067] For convenience of explanation, the step of S553 has been described as a step after the determination of the height adjustment position in S550, but it may be performed in parallel with other processes after the setting of the nail image is completed in S541. In that case, in S553, the generated print image of the nail of the finger to be printed may be obtained, and a print message M552 including image data of the obtained print image may be output to the nail print device 110.

[0068] In S554, the print head 230 is controlled to print on the nail of the finger to be printed using the image data of the print image output from the application 500 as recording data. The finger rest 251 on which the finger to be printed is placed is in a position after height adjustment, and is controlled to be at a position higher than the height of the hand rest 250. When printing is completed, the nail print device 110 sends a message M553 including printing completion information to the application 500.

[0069] In S555, the application 500 determines whether printing on the nails for the number of nails detected in S530 has been completed. If printing on all nails has been completed, the process proceeds to S560. If printing on all nails has not been completed, the next finger to be printed is selected, and the processes of S550 to S554 are repeated until printing on the nails of all fingers is completed. Note that while the nail print device 110 is performing height adjustment in S552 and printing processing in S554 for the finger to be printed, the application 500 may determine height adjustment positions for the fingers other than the one to be printed that have not yet been printed.

[0070] In S560, the application 500 displays a message to the effect that "printing is completed" on the display 107. Finally, in S570, the application 500 performs a termination process and ends the process. If necessary, the application 500 also performs termination processes for the camera 240, the head controller 115, and the motor controller 118. This concludes the description of the series of processes performed by the application 500 and the nail print device 110.

[0071] As described above, according to this embodiment, the height of the nail can be adjusted according to the finger of the nail to be printed. In addition, in order to adjust the position of the nail to be printed so that it is in a position suitable for printing, a form that can accommodate the nails of various recipients by using multiple sensors is also conceivable. On the other hand, in this embodiment, it is possible to adjust the height of the nail to be printed without using multiple sensors. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to suppress an increase in cost compared to a form using multiple sensors. Also, a configuration in which the height adjustment is performed by repeating the movement of the sensor and the movement of the finger placement table multiple times is also conceivable. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the position of the sensor for performing the height adjustment can be determined from an image of the finger acquired by a camera provided in the printing device. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the time required for the height adjustment can be shortened.

[0072] The adjustment position does not have to be determined from the nail area detected based on the captured image. Alternatively, for example, the adjustment position for each finger may be determined in advance, and the adjustment position determined according to the type of finger to be printed may be acquired. Alternatively, the adjustment position may be determined based on past print information.

[0073] <Second embodiment> In the first embodiment, a method for adjusting the height of the finger rest once was described. In this embodiment, a method for photographing a nail placed on the finger rest after adjusting the height and adjusting the height again based on the photographed image is described. In addition, in this embodiment, a method for generating a print image based on a photographed image of a finger placed on the finger rest after adjusting the height is described. In this embodiment, differences from the first embodiment are mainly described. Portions not specifically described have the same configuration and processing as the first embodiment.

[0074] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a process flow for printing an image on the nails of the fingers placed on the finger rests 251 to 254, which is performed in the printing system in this embodiment.

[0075] S710 is the same process as S510, and the application 500 starts the process. In addition, as necessary, start processes for the camera 240, the head controller 115, and the motor controller 118 are also performed. S720 to S722 are finger placement processes. S720 to S722 are the same processes as S520 to S522, and M720 to M721 are the same messages as M520 to M521, so their explanations are omitted. S730 to S731 are nail area detection processes, and their explanations are omitted because they are the same processes as S530 to S531. S740 to S741 are nail image setting processes, and their explanations are omitted because they are the same processes as S540 to S541.

[0076] S750 to S753 are processes for selecting one finger rest and adjusting its height. The height adjustment process of S750 to S753 is performed for each finger rest to be adjusted selected from finger rests 251 to 254, and the processes of S750 to S753 are repeated the same number of times as the number of finger rests on which fingers are placed. In the following explanation, it is assumed that the finger rest to be adjusted is finger rest 251.

[0077] S750 to S752 are the same processes as S550 to S552. That is, in S750, the application 500 determines a "first adjustment position" of the finger rest 251 to be adjusted from the position and shape of the nail area detected based on the entire image obtained by shooting in S721. Then, a first height adjustment message M750 including position information of the determined first adjustment position is output to the nail print device 110. The "first adjustment position" is, for example, the position of the tip of the nail area on the inner side (fingertip side) in the Y direction of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 to be adjusted, but like the adjustment position in the first embodiment, the first adjustment position is not limited to the tip of the nail area.

[0078] In S751, the motor controller 118 moves the laser sensor emitter 221 so that the position of the laser sensor emitter 221 in the Y direction coincides with the position of the received first adjustment position in the Y direction.

[0079] In S752, motor controller 118 adjusts the height of finger rest 251 to be adjusted. The height adjustment in this step is called a first height adjustment. Finger rest 251 to be adjusted is raised, and when it is determined that laser sensor light receiving unit 222 has changed from a state in which it receives laser light to a state in which it does not receive laser light, the raising of finger rest 251 to be adjusted is stopped. When the height adjustment is completed, a first height adjustment completion message M751 is output to application 500. Finger rests 252-254 that are not to be adjusted are kept in a lowered state because there is a risk that the laser will be blocked by fingers placed on finger rests 252-254.

[0080] When the application 500 receives the first height adjustment completion message M751, it outputs a finger image capturing message M752 to the camera 240 to instruct the camera 240 to capture an image of the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 after the first height adjustment.

[0081] In S753, camera 240 captures an image of the fingernail placed on finger rest 251 to be adjusted, which is at the position where the first height adjustment has been performed, and after the image capture is completed, outputs finger image capture information message M753 including the captured image data to application 500.

[0082] Next, in S760 to S766, an image printing process is performed on the nails. Steps S760 to S765 are performed for each nail placed on finger rests 251 to 254, and the process of S760 to S765 is repeated the number of times corresponding to the number of nails on which nail images are to be printed. In this embodiment, the finger rest to be adjusted selected for the processes of S750 to S753 is selected as the printing target of S760 to S765. Alternatively, the process of S750 to S753 may be performed for all finger rests 251 to 254 before proceeding to S760, and a new finger rest to be printed may be selected in S760. In the following description, an example is given in which finger rest 251 is selected as the finger rest to be printed.

[0083] In S760, the application 500 detects the nail area based on the captured image obtained as a result of capturing the image in S753. That is, in this step, the application 500 detects the nail area of ​​the finger to be printed from the image obtained by capturing an image of the finger placed on the finger placement table 251 in the position after the first height adjustment. The detection method is the same as in S730.

[0084] In S761, the application 500 determines the "second adjustment position" of the finger to be printed based on the nail area detected in S760. Then, a second height adjustment message M760 including position information of the determined second adjustment position is output to the nail print device 110. The method of determining the "second adjustment position" is the same as the method of determining the "first adjustment position". For example, it may be the position of the tip of the nail area detected in S760 in the Y direction.

[0085] In S762, the motor controller 118 moves the laser sensor emitter 221 to the received second adjustment position. If the Y-direction position of the second adjustment position notified in the second height adjustment message M760 is the same as the Y-direction position of the first height adjustment position notified in the first height adjustment message M750, it is not necessary to move the laser sensor emitter 221 in S762. In this case, this step is skipped.

[0086] In S763, the motor controller 118 adjusts the height of the finger rest 251 of the printing target. The height adjustment in this step is called a second height adjustment. The motor controller 118 raises the finger rest 251 of the printing target, and when it is determined that the laser sensor light receiving unit 222 has changed from a state in which it is receiving laser light to a state in which it is not receiving laser light, the motor controller 118 stops raising the finger rest 251 of the printing target.

[0087] The nail of the finger placed on finger rest 251 after the first height adjustment is placed closer to camera 240 than the position of the nail when photographed in S721. The accuracy of nail detection is higher when the nail is detected based on a photographed image obtained by photographing the nail in a position closer to camera 240. For this reason, the nail area detected in S760 is detected with higher accuracy than the nail area detected in S730. For this reason, it is possible to perform more accurate height adjustment of finger rest 251 before printing based on the second adjustment position determined based on the more accurate nail area.

[0088] The finger rests 252-254 that are not the printing target are kept in the lowered state because there is a risk that the laser will be blocked by the fingers placed on the finger rests 252-254. When the second height adjustment is completed, a second height adjustment completion message M761 is output to the application 500.

[0089] In S764, the app 500 generates a print image for printing on the nail. In this embodiment, the app 500 determines an image area based on the nail area of ​​the captured image of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 after the first height adjustment. Then, the print image is generated by setting the nail image in the image area. The position of the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest 251 after the first height adjustment is close to the height after the second height adjustment, which is the height when printing is actually performed. Therefore, in this embodiment, the print image can be generated from the captured image obtained by capturing the nail placed at a position close to the height when printing is actually performed, so that the print image for performing printing with higher accuracy can be generated.

[0090] Then, the application 500 displays a message "printing will start" on the display 107, and outputs to the nail print apparatus 110 a print message M762 including the image data of the generated print image.

[0091] In S765, the print head 230 is controlled to print on the nail of the finger as the printing target using the received image data of the print image as recording data. When the printing is completed, the nail print device 110 sends a message M763 including printing completion information to the application 500.

[0092] In S766, the application 500 determines whether printing has been completed for the number of nails detected in S730. If printing has been completed for all nails, the application 500 proceeds to S770. If printing has not been completed for all nails, the application 500 selects the next finger rest to be adjusted, and repeats the processing of S750 to S765 until printing has been completed for all nails. Since S770 to S780 are the same as S560 to S570, a description thereof will be omitted.

[0093] In the present embodiment, one finger rest to be adjusted is selected from finger rests 251-254, and the height of the selected finger rest is adjusted, and then an image of the finger placed on the finger rest at the height-adjusted position is taken in S753. Alternatively, all finger rests 251-254 may be placed in the height-adjusted position, and all fingers placed on finger rests 251-254 after height adjustment may be taken in S753. For example, in S752, the height adjustment of all finger rests 251-254 is performed first. At that time, the height of each finger rest when the finger rests 251-254 are raised and the laser is blocked is held. Then, before taking the image in S753, the heights of finger rests 251-254 may be raised to the heights after height adjustment that are held, and then the camera 240 may take an image of the entire finger.

[0094] As described above, according to this embodiment, the height adjustment position of each finger can be calculated from a captured image of the finger placed on the finger rest after height adjustment, thereby making it possible to print on the nails with greater accuracy.

[0095] <Other embodiments> The present disclosure can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. It can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more functions. [Explanation of symbols]

[0096] 110 Nail print device 230 Print Head 251~254 Finger rest

Claims

1. A print head for printing an image on the nail of a print recipient; a finger rest on which the finger of the person to be printed is placed, the finger rest being movable in a height direction that faces the print head when printing is performed on the nail; a sensor that is disposed above the finger placement platform in the height direction and below the print head, the sensor being movable in a movement direction intersecting the height direction and capable of detecting a nail within a detection range, a control means for controlling a height adjustment such that the sensor moves in the movement direction so that a first position of a nail area detected based on a photographed image of a finger placed on the finger rest is included in a detection range of the sensor, and then the finger rest is moved upward until the sensor detects the first position of the nail area. A nail printing device characterized by the above.

2. A print head for printing an image on the nail of a print recipient; A nail printing device having a plurality of finger placement tables on which the fingers of the person to be printed are placed, the finger placement tables being movable in a height direction that faces the print head when printing is performed on the nails, The plurality of finger rests are each independently movable in the height direction to adjust the height of each finger rest, an imaging means for imaging a finger placed on the finger rest before the height adjustment; a sensor that is disposed above the finger placement platforms in the height direction and below the print head in the height direction, the sensor being movable in a movement direction intersecting with the height direction, the sensor being capable of detecting a nail within a detection range; A nail printing device comprising:

3. The present invention further includes a control means for controlling the height adjustment by moving the finger rest upward until the sensor detects the first position of the nail area detected based on the photographed image of the finger placed on the finger rest after the sensor moves in the moving direction so that the first position of the nail area detected based on the photographed image of the finger placed on the finger rest is included in the detection range of the sensor.

3. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 2.

4. The control means After the sensor is moved so that a second position of a nail area detected based on a photographed image of a finger placed on the finger rest after the height adjustment is included in a detection range of the sensor, the finger rest is controlled to be moved upward until the sensor detects the nail of the finger placed on the finger rest.

4. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nail printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus.

5. The first position is a position of a tip of the nail region.

5. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, 3 or 4.

6. the movement direction of the sensor is a direction in which a finger placed on the finger rest extends, The detection range of the sensor is an area extending from the sensor in a direction perpendicular to the extension direction and the height direction.

6. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nail printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus having a printing function.

7. The finger rests are provided in a plurality of locations, and each of the finger rests is configured to be independently movable in the height direction.

2. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1,

8. The control means When the height adjustment is performed on one of the plurality of finger rests, the finger rests that are not the subject of the height adjustment are moved downward.

8. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 3 or 7.

9. The control means After performing control of height adjustment of a first finger rest among the plurality of finger rests based on the captured image, control of height adjustment of a second finger rest different from the first finger rest among the plurality of finger rests is performed based on the captured image.

9. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 3, 7 or 8.

10. The print head comprises: Printing is performed on the nails of the person to be printed based on a print image generated based on a photographed image of the finger placed on the finger placement table after adjusting the height.

10. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nail printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus.

11. The print head is an inkjet head.

11. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1,

12. The finger rest has a mechanism for moving in the height direction.

12. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nail printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus.

13. The printing apparatus further includes a hand rest on which the palm of the print recipient is placed, The height of the finger placement table on which the finger to be printed by the print head is placed is higher than the height of the hand placement table.

13. The nail printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nail printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus.

14. A print head for printing an image on the nail of a print recipient; a finger rest on which the finger of the person to be printed is placed, the finger rest being movable in a height direction that faces the print head when printing is performed on the nail; a nail print device having a sensor that is disposed above the finger placement platform in the height direction and below the print head, the sensor being movable in a movement direction intersecting with the height direction and capable of detecting a nail within a detection range; An image capturing device that captures an image of a finger placed on the finger rest; and an information processing device that can be connected to the image capturing device. an acquisition means for acquiring a photographed image obtained by the photographing device photographing a finger placed on the finger placement platform; A detection means for detecting a nail region based on the acquired photographed image; a determining means for determining a first position within the nail region; an output means for outputting the first position to the nail print device as a position to which the sensor is to move in the moving direction; A program characterized by causing the program to be executed as follows.

15. A print head for printing an image on the nail of a print recipient; a finger rest on which the finger of the person to be printed is placed, the finger rest being movable in a height direction that faces the print head when printing is performed on the nail; A method for controlling a nail printing device having a sensor that is disposed above the finger placement platform in the height direction and below the print head, the sensor being movable in a movement direction intersecting the height direction and capable of detecting a nail within a detection range, comprising: a control step of performing height adjustment control for moving the finger rest upward until the sensor detects a first position of a nail area detected based on a photographed image of a finger placed on the finger rest, after the sensor moves in the movement direction so as to be included in a detection range of the sensor; A control method comprising:

16. A print head for printing an image on the nail of a print recipient; a plurality of finger rests on which the fingers of the person to be printed are placed, the finger rests being movable in a height direction that faces the print head when printing is performed on the nails; a sensor that is disposed above the finger placement platforms in the height direction and below the print head in the height direction, the sensor being movable in a movement direction intersecting with the height direction, the sensor being capable of detecting a nail within a detection range; and a control method for a nail printing device, the control method comprising: and a photographing step of photographing a finger placed on the finger rest before the height adjustment. A control method comprising:

Images