Decorative sheet manufacturing system

Abstract

To provide a decorative sheet manufacturing system which can manufacture a decorative sheet matching a smartphone of a user on demand.SOLUTION: A decorative sheet manufacturing system comprises: a storage unit which stores a plurality of design images; an image acquisition unit which acquires an image of a decorative surface of a smartphone; a dimension calculation unit which calculates a dimension of a decorative region from the image; a design selection unit which receives selection of the design image from the plurality of design images; a printer which forms the selected design image on an image receiving sheet; and a cutting unit which cuts the image receiving sheet formed with the design image along a cutline corresponding to the peripheral edge of the decorative region to cut out the decorative sheet.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a decorative sheet manufacturing system. [Background technology]

[0002] Smartphone cases are widely used to protect smartphones from external shocks such as drops. Smartphone cases can also be used to decorate smartphones, and there are many different designs available. However, the number of smartphone cases available is limited, making it difficult to find a design that suits your needs.

[0003] Smartphones vary in size and camera lens position depending on the manufacturer and model, so users need to purchase a smartphone case that matches their model. However, with new smartphone models being released one after another, it can be difficult to determine whether a smartphone case will fit if you don't know the model name of your smartphone.

[0004] Also, while there are a variety of smartphone cases available for popular models with high sales numbers, there are cases where smartphone cases are not available for models with low sales numbers. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-27669 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 5071950 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-121701 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a decorative sheet manufacturing system that can manufacture decorative sheets on demand that are tailored to a user's smartphone. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The decorative sheet manufacturing system according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of design images, an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the decorative surface of a smartphone, a dimension calculation unit that calculates the dimensions of a decorative area from the image, a design selection unit that accepts a selection of a design image from the plurality of design images, a printer that forms the selected design image on an image receiving sheet, and a cutting unit that cuts the image receiving sheet on which the design image has been formed along a cut line corresponding to the periphery of the decorative area to cut out a decorative sheet. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, a decorative sheet tailored to a user's smartphone can be manufactured on demand. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a decorative sheet manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the decorative sheet manufacturing system. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a control unit. [Figure 4] 4a to 4d are cross-sectional views of a sheet illustrating a method for manufacturing a decorative sheet. [Figure 5] FIG. [Figure 6] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating an example of how a decorative sheet is attached. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the scale of the drawings is for convenience of explanation and does not represent the actual dimensional relationship.

[0011] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a decorative sheet manufacturing system D according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit 1, a photographing unit 2, a printer 3, and a cutting unit 4, and manufactures a decorative sheet 5 that fits a user's smartphone S.

[0012] The photographing unit 2 is, for example, a digital camera, and may include a plurality of cameras.

[0013] 4a, the printer 3 is a conventionally known thermal transfer printer in which an image-receiving sheet 30 having a receiving layer 32 laminated on a substrate 31 and a thermal transfer sheet (not shown) on which a coloring material such as a dye or pigment is provided is set, and the printer 3 forms an image by heating the thermal transfer sheet to transfer the coloring material to the receiving layer 32. The printer 3 may be one that transfers special color pigments such as metallic luster pigments, pearlescent pigments, fluorescent pigments, and phosphorescent pigments, or may be one that transfers holograms.

[0014] The cutting section 4 cuts the image-receiving sheet 30 on which the image is formed to a desired size, and for example, a cutting plotter or a laser cutter can be used.

[0015] The control unit 1 is a computer equipped with a CPU, a memory unit, etc., and is communicably connected to the photographing unit 2, the printer 3, and the cutting unit 4. When the CPU of the control unit 1 executes the decorative sheet manufacturing program, the functions of an image acquisition unit 11, a dimension calculation unit 12, a design selection unit 13, an editing unit 14, a print control unit 15, and a cutting control unit 16 are realized, as shown in Fig. 3 .

[0016] A plurality of design images (template images) for the decorative sheet are stored in the storage unit 10 of the control unit 1. The design images are content images such as characters and game screens, patterns, etc. They may also include user images captured by a separate imaging means.

[0017] A method for manufacturing a decorative sheet using such a decorative sheet manufacturing system D will now be described. First, the user's (customer's) smartphone S is placed on the placement surface P of the decorative sheet manufacturing system D. When an operator (store clerk) operates the decorative sheet manufacturing system D and starts processing, the photographing unit 2 photographs the decorative surface of the smartphone S. The decorative surface is the back surface opposite the touch panel. The photographing unit 2 may use multiple cameras to photograph the smartphone S from multiple angles.

[0018] The image acquisition unit 11 acquires the captured image from the imaging unit 2 .

[0019] The dimension calculation unit 12 calculates the dimensions (shape) of the decorative area of the smartphone S from the captured image. Typically, the smartphone S has a structure with curved edges, and the dimension calculation unit 12 identifies the flat area excluding the curved portion as the decorative area and calculates the dimensions (shape). Also, a camera lens is often provided on the back of the smartphone S, and the dimension calculation unit 12 detects the camera lens and calculates the dimensions (shape) of the area excluding the camera lens as the decorative area.

[0020] The design selection unit 13 accepts the selection of a design image (template image). For example, a plurality of selectable design images are displayed on the touch panel of the decorative sheet manufacturing system D, and the user selects a design image that suits his or her taste.

[0021] The editing unit 14 edits the selected design image to fit the dimensions of the decorative area. For example, the editing unit 14 may enlarge, reduce, rotate, trim, etc. the design image based on the dimensions of the decorative area. Editing may be performed automatically or by an operator. An image for printing is generated through the editing process.

[0022] The print control unit 15 transmits the image to be printed to the printer 3 and controls the printer 3 to form the image on the image receiving sheet 30 .

[0023] If the thermal transfer sheet of the printer 3 has a surface protective layer in addition to the colorant layer, after an image is formed on the receiving layer 32, a protective layer 33 is transferred onto the receiving layer 32 as shown in FIG. 4b.

[0024] The cutting control unit 16 transmits cut line information corresponding to the periphery of the decorative area to the cutting unit 4, and controls the cutting unit 4 to cut the image-receiving sheet 30 on which the image has been formed based on the cut line information. The cutting unit 4 cuts the image-receiving sheet 30 based on the cut line information, and a decorative sheet 5 as shown in Figures 1 and 5 is cut out and discharged from the decorative sheet manufacturing system D.

[0025] As shown in Fig. 6, the manufactured decorative sheet 5 is aligned with the back surface of the smartphone S, and a rubber band 6 such as a silicone bumper is used to press and fix the decorative sheet 5 and smartphone S from the periphery. In this way, a decorative sheet 5 that matches the shape of the user's smartphone S, including the position of the camera lens, can be manufactured on demand. In addition, by removing the rubber band 6, the decorative sheet 5 can be easily replaced.

[0026] Multiple decorative sheets 5 with different designs may be stacked and secured with rubber bands 6. For example, a selected design image may be formed on one decorative sheet 5, and a user image may be formed on another decorative sheet 5. Alternatively, multiple design images may be selected and printed one by one on separate decorative sheets 5. In this case, the base material 31 of the image-receiving sheet 30 is preferably a transparent base material. By stacking multiple decorative sheets 5, a composite-like image can be obtained.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 4c, the image receiving sheet 30 may be formed by laminating an adhesive layer 34 and a release paper 35 in this order (a sticker paper) on the surface of the substrate 31 opposite the receiving layer 32. After producing the decorative sheet 5, the release paper 35 is peeled off and the adhesive layer 34 is attached to the back surface of the smartphone S, thereby fixing the image receiving sheet 30 to the smartphone S. In this case, the rubber band 6 does not need to be used. Furthermore, the cutting section 4 may form a half cut that reaches from the surface of the protective layer 33 to the surface of the release paper 35, rather than cutting out the decorative sheet 5.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 4d, the image-receiving sheet 30 may further have a receiving layer 36 on the surface of the substrate 31 opposite to the receiving layer 32. In this case, a transparent substrate is used as the substrate 31. An image may be formed on the receiving layer 36 in advance, or the printer 3 may form images on both sides of the receiving layer 36.

[0029] Next, each layer of the image-receiving sheet 30 will be described.

[0030] The material of the substrate 31 is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include stretched or unstretched plastic films such as highly heat-resistant polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate, polypropylene, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polyethylene derivatives, polyamide, and polymethylpentene. The thickness of the substrate 31 is not particularly limited, and is, for example, 0.5 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

[0031] The receiving layer 32 receives the sublimation dye transferred from the thermal transfer sheet of the thermal transfer printer and maintains the formed image. Resins for forming the receiving layer 32 include polycarbonate, polyester, polyamide, acrylic resin, cellulose resin, polysulfone, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinyl acetal, polyurethane, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and epoxy resin. The thickness of the receiving layer 32 is not particularly limited and is, for example, 0.5 μm to 10 μm.

[0032] Examples of resins used for the adhesive layer 34 include resins that are generally used as the main component of adhesives, such as acrylic resin, polyester, polyimide, and silicone resin.

[0033] The release paper 35 can be a conventionally known separator such as a release film, separation paper, separator film, peeling film, or release paper. Specific examples include polypropylene, polyethylene, and fluorine film. The separator may be a single layer having release properties, or a laminate in which a release layer is formed on one or both sides of a release paper substrate such as high-quality paper, coated paper, impregnated paper, or plastic film may be used.

[0034] An adhesive layer may be provided between the substrate 31 and the receiving layer 32 .

[0035] In the above embodiment, a configuration in which the photographing unit 2 photographs the decorative surface of the smartphone S has been described, but the decorative surface may also be scanned using a scanner.

[0036] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the dimensions (shape) of the decorative area are calculated from the captured image, but model-specific dimensional information that specifies the dimensions of the decorative area for each model may be stored in advance in the storage unit 10. Model data is transmitted from the smartphone S to the decorative sheet manufacturing system D, and the dimensions of the decorative area of the smartphone S are determined by referring to the model-specific dimensional information.

[0037] The camera function of the smartphone S may be used to take a picture of the smartphone S through a mirror and send the captured image to the server. The server has a database that associates various smartphone exterior images with model data, identifies the model of the smartphone S from the captured image received from the smartphone S, and notifies the smartphone S of the model data. The smartphone S then sends the model data notified by the server to the decorative sheet manufacturing system D.

[0038] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which a decorative sheet is produced by cutting an image-formed image-receiving sheet to a size that matches the shape of the smartphone S, but a decorative sheet may also be produced by adhering an image-receiving sheet to a transparent substrate and cutting the sheet to a size that matches the shape of the smartphone S. Alternatively, a decorative sheet may be produced by forming an image on a transfer layer of an intermediate transfer medium, transferring the transfer layer from the intermediate transfer medium to a transparent substrate, and cutting the transparent substrate to which the transfer layer has been transferred to a size that matches the shape of the smartphone S. The thickness of the transparent substrate is preferably approximately 0.5 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

[0039] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the components can be modified and embodied in practice without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, various inventions can be created by appropriately combining multiple components disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be omitted from all the components shown in the embodiments. Furthermore, components from different embodiments may be appropriately combined. [Explanation of symbols]

[0040] 1. Control section 2. Filming Department 3. Printer 4 Cut section 5 Decorative sheet

Claims

1. a storage unit that stores a plurality of design images; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the decorative surface of the smartphone; a dimension calculation unit that calculates dimensions of a decorative region from the image; a design selection unit that accepts a selection of a design image from the plurality of design images; a printer for forming the selected design image on an image receiving sheet; a cutting unit that cuts the image-receiving sheet on which the design image is formed along a cutting line corresponding to a periphery of the decorative area to cut out a decorative sheet; Equipped with the design selection unit accepts selection of a plurality of design images; The printer forms the selected plurality of design images on different image-receiving sheets.

2. Further provided is a photographing unit that photographs the decorative surface of the smartphone, The decorative sheet manufacturing system according to claim 1 , wherein the image acquisition unit acquires the photographed image from the photographing unit.

3. The decorative sheet manufacturing system according to claim 2 , wherein the photographing unit photographs the decorative surface of the smartphone from a plurality of angles.

4. The decorative sheet manufacturing system according to claim 1 , wherein the dimension calculation unit identifies a flat area of the decorative surface of the smartphone from the image as the decorative area and calculates the dimensions.

5. The image receiving sheet is A substrate; a receiving layer laminated on one surface of the substrate; An adhesive layer and a release paper laminated in this order on the other surface of the base material; The decorative sheet manufacturing system according to claim 1 , comprising:

Images