Drawing data generating device, drawing system, and drawing data generating method

Abstract

To draw characters having desired format of font and desired a font size on a substrate.SOLUTION: A drawing data creation device 6 creates drawing data for a drawing device 1 that performs drawing on a substrate. A pattern data conversion unit 62 of the drawing data creation device 6 acquires pattern design data regarding the pattern from vector format design data including information regarding the patterns and characters to be drawn, and converts the pattern design data into raster format pattern drawing. A font preparation unit 64 prepares raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and desired font size based on the character design data included in the above-mentioned design data. The drawing data creation unit 66 creates raster-format drawing data using the above-described pattern drawing data and character drawing data. Thereby, characters having a desired font type and a desired font size can be drawn on the substrate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for generating drawing data for a drawing device that draws on a substrate. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, patterns are drawn by irradiating light onto a photosensitive material formed on a semiconductor substrate, a printed circuit board, or a glass substrate for an organic electroluminescence display device or a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter referred to as a "substrate"). A group of characters, such as an identification number of the drawing device used for drawing, may be drawn on the substrate together with the pattern.

[0003] In the drawing device of Patent Document 1, design data of a pattern written in vector format is converted into raster format, and then bitmap character data is combined with the converted pattern data to generate final drawing data. The drawing device pre-stores bitmap data of several sizes for candidate characters that may be used (e.g., 26 letters of the alphabet and 10 numbers from 0 to 9). The area where the characters are to be drawn is then divided by the maximum number of characters that may be drawn to obtain divided areas, and data of the characters to be drawn is extracted from the bitmap data of candidate characters that are smaller than the divided areas and embedded in the final drawing data. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-13042 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, when drawing on a board, it may be necessary to draw characters of a size different from the size pre-stored in the drawing device, or characters of a font type different from the characters pre-stored in the drawing device.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to draw characters having a desired font type and a desired font size on a substrate. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The invention described in claim 1 is a drawing data generation device that generates drawing data for a drawing device that draws on a substrate, and includes a pattern data conversion unit that acquires pattern design data regarding the pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data containing information about the pattern and characters, and converts the pattern design data into raster-format pattern drawing data, a font preparation unit that prepares raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data included in the design data, and a drawing data generation unit that generates raster-format drawing data using the pattern drawing data and the character drawing data. A character arrangement area surrounding a group of characters to be drawn on a board is set based on the design data. When the group of characters to be drawn is constituted by drawing elements to be drawn by a drawing device, the drawing data generation unit sets the drawing data so that an area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the group of characters to be drawn is constituted by non-drawing elements that are not drawn by the drawing device, and when the group of characters to be drawn is constituted by the non-drawing elements, the drawing data generation unit sets the drawing data so that an area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the group of characters to be drawn is constituted by the drawing elements.

[0008] The invention described in claim 2 is the drawing data generation device described in claim 1, wherein the font preparation unit includes a font extraction unit that reads the character drawing data from an existing character set data group stored in advance when the character drawing data to be prepared based on the character design data is included in the existing character set data group, and a font generation unit that generates the character drawing data based on the character design data when the character drawing data is not included in the existing character set data group.

[0009] The invention described in claim 3 is a drawing data generation device described in claim 1 or 2, further comprising a pattern correction unit that performs distortion correction processing on the pattern drawing data based on distortion of the substrate, and the drawing data generation unit generates the drawing data by combining the pattern drawing data after correction by the pattern correction unit with the character drawing data.

[0011] Claim 4 The invention described in claim Any one of 1 to 3 In the drawing data generation device described in the above, the character placement area is set to the same size and position as the occupied area on the substrate of the character group indicated by the character design data, and the font size of the character drawing data prepared by the font preparation unit is smaller by a predetermined amount than the font size specified by the design data.

[0012] Claim 5 The invention described in claim 1 is a drawing system for drawing on a substrate, 4 and a drawing device that performs drawing on a substrate based on the drawing data generated by the drawing data generating device.

[0013] Claim 6 The invention described in is a drawing data generation method for generating drawing data for a drawing device that draws on a substrate, and includes the steps of: a) acquiring pattern design data related to a pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data containing information about the pattern and characters, and converting the pattern design data into raster-format pattern drawing data; b) preparing raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data contained in the design data; and c) generating raster-format drawing data using the pattern drawing data and the character drawing data. A character placement area surrounding a group of characters to be drawn on a board is set based on the design data. In step c), if the group of characters to be drawn is composed of drawing elements drawn by a drawing device, the drawing data is set so that an area of ​​the character placement area other than the group of characters to be drawn is composed of non-drawing elements that are not drawn by the drawing device, and if the group of characters to be drawn is composed of the non-drawing elements, the drawing data is set so that an area of ​​the character placement area other than the group of characters to be drawn is composed of the drawing elements. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] In the present invention, characters having a desired font type and a desired font size can be drawn on a substrate. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a drawing device according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a drawing data generating device. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions of the drawing data generating device; [Figure 4A] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing examples of candidate characters. [Figure 4B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing examples of candidate characters. [Figure 4C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing examples of candidate characters. [Figure 4D] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing examples of candidate characters. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in the drawing data generating device. [Figure 6A] 10 is another flowchart showing the flow of processing in the drawing data generating device. [Figure 6B] 10 is another flowchart showing the flow of processing in the drawing data generating device. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is another block diagram showing the functions of the drawing data generating device. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a group of drawn characters and a character arrangement area. [Figure 9A] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a group of drawn characters and a character arrangement area. [Figure 9B] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a group of drawn characters and a character arrangement area. [Figure 10A] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a group of drawn characters and a character arrangement area. [Figure 10B] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a group of drawn characters and a character arrangement area. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a drawing system 7 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The drawing system 7 includes a drawing apparatus 1 and a drawing data generating apparatus 6. The drawing apparatus 1 is a direct drawing apparatus that draws a pattern by irradiating a photosensitive material on a substrate 9 with spatially modulated, substantially beam-like light and scanning the light irradiation area over the substrate 9. The drawing data generating apparatus 6 is a device that generates drawing data used for drawing in the drawing apparatus 1. In FIG. 1, three mutually orthogonal directions are indicated by arrows as the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the X direction and the Y direction are horizontal directions that are perpendicular to each other, and the Z direction is a vertical direction. This is also true in other figures.

[0017] The drawing data generating device 6 is, for example, a normal computer. In the following description, the drawing data generating device 6 is described as being a single computer, but is not limited to this. The drawing data generating device 6 may be, for example, a computer system in which multiple computers are connected by wire or wirelessly. In FIG. 1, the drawing data generating device 6 is conceptually depicted as a substantially rectangular parallelepiped.

[0018] The drawing apparatus 1 includes a stage 121, a stage moving mechanism 122, an imaging unit 13, a drawing unit 14, and a control unit 15. The stage 121 is a substantially flat substrate holding unit that holds a horizontally positioned substrate 9 from below, below the imaging unit 13 and the drawing unit 14 (i.e., on the (-Z) side). The substrate 9 is, for example, a plate-like member that is substantially rectangular in a plan view. The substrate 9 is, for example, a printed wiring board. The stage 121 is, for example, a vacuum chuck that adsorbs and holds the lower surface of the substrate 9. The stage 121 may have a structure other than a vacuum chuck. The upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 placed on the stage 121 is substantially perpendicular to the Z direction and substantially parallel to the X and Y directions.

[0019] The stage moving mechanism 122 is a moving mechanism that moves the stage 121 relatively to the imaging unit 13 and the drawing unit 14 in the horizontal direction (i.e., in a direction approximately parallel to the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9). The stage moving mechanism 122 includes a first moving mechanism 123 and a second moving mechanism 124. The second moving mechanism 124 moves the stage 121 linearly in the X direction along a guide rail. The first moving mechanism 123 moves the stage 121 linearly in the Y direction along the guide rail together with the second moving mechanism 124. The driving sources of the first moving mechanism 123 and the second moving mechanism 124 are, for example, linear servo motors or motors attached to ball screws. The structures of the first moving mechanism 123 and the second moving mechanism 124 may be modified in various ways.

[0020] The drawing apparatus 1 may be provided with a stage rotation mechanism that rotates the stage 121 around a rotation axis extending in the Z direction. The drawing apparatus 1 may also be provided with a stage lifting mechanism that moves the stage 121 in the Z direction. For example, a servo motor can be used as the stage rotation mechanism. For example, a linear servo motor can be used as the stage lifting mechanism. The structures of the stage rotation mechanism and the stage lifting mechanism may be modified in various ways.

[0021] The imaging unit 13 includes a plurality of imaging heads 131 (two in the example shown in FIG. 1) arranged in the X direction. Each imaging head 131 is supported above the stage 121 and the stage moving mechanism 122 by a head support unit 130 provided across the stage 121 and the stage moving mechanism 122. Each imaging head 131 is a camera equipped with an imaging sensor and an optical system (not shown). Each imaging head 131 acquires an image of a substantially rectangular imaging area on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9. The number of imaging heads 131 in the imaging unit 13 may be one, or may be three or more.

[0022] The drawing unit 14 has a plurality of drawing heads 141 (five in the example shown in FIG. 1) arranged in the X and Y directions. Each drawing head 141 has a light source, an optical system, and a spatial light modulation element, all of which are not shown. Each drawing head 141 is supported above the stage 121 and the stage movement mechanism 122 by a head support unit 140 that is provided across the stage 121 and the stage movement mechanism 122. The number of drawing heads 141 in the drawing unit 14 may be one or more.

[0023] In the drawing device 1, the plurality of drawing heads 141 of the drawing unit 14 irradiate modulated (i.e., spatially light modulated) light onto the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9, while the stage moving mechanism 122 moves the substrate 9 in the Y direction. As a result, the areas irradiated with light from the plurality of drawing heads 141 are scanned in the Y direction on the substrate 9, and a pattern is drawn on the substrate 9. In the following description, the Y direction is also referred to as the "scanning direction." The stage moving mechanism 122 is a scanning mechanism that moves the areas irradiated with light from each drawing head 141 on the substrate 9 in the scanning direction.

[0024] In the drawing apparatus 1, drawing on the substrate 9 is performed by a so-called single-pass method. Specifically, the stage moving mechanism 122 moves the stage 121 relative to the multiple drawing heads 141 in the Y direction, and the light irradiation areas from the multiple drawing heads 141 scan the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 in the Y direction (i.e., the scanning direction) only once. This completes drawing on the substrate 9. Note that in the drawing apparatus 1, drawing on the substrate 9 may be performed by a multi-pass method in which movement of the stage 121 in the Y direction and step movement in the X direction are repeated. Note that when drawing is performed by the multi-pass method in the drawing apparatus 1, the Y direction is the main scanning direction and the X direction is the sub-scanning direction. Note that the first moving mechanism 123 of the stage moving mechanism 122 is a main scanning mechanism that moves the stage 121 in the main scanning direction, and the second moving mechanism 124 is a sub-scanning mechanism that moves the stage 121 in the sub-scanning direction.

[0025] The control unit 15 controls the stage moving mechanism 122, the imaging unit 13, the drawing unit 14, etc. based on the drawing data generated by the drawing data generating device 6, and causes them to draw a pattern on the substrate 9. In the drawing system 7, for example, a normal computer is used as the control unit 15.

[0026] 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the drawing data generating device 6. The drawing data generating device 6 is a typical computer including a processor 601, a memory 602, an input / output unit 603, and a bus 604. The bus 604 is a signal circuit that connects the processor 601, the memory 602, and the input / output unit 603. The memory 602 stores various types of information. The memory 602 reads and stores a program 609 that is pre-stored in, for example, a storage medium 608. The storage medium 608 is, for example, a USB memory or a CD-ROM.

[0027] The processor 601 executes various processes (for example, numerical calculations and image processing) using the memory 602, etc., in accordance with a program 609, etc., stored in the memory 602. The input / output unit 603 includes a keyboard 605 and a mouse 606 that accept input from an operator, and a display 607 that displays output from the processor 601, etc.

[0028] 3 is a block diagram showing functions realized by the execution of the program 609 by the drawing data generating device 6. FIG. 3 also shows components other than the drawing data generating device 6. The drawing data generating device 6 includes a storage unit 61, a pattern data conversion unit 62, a pattern correction unit 63, a font preparation unit 64, and a drawing data generation unit 66. The font preparation unit 64 includes a font extraction unit 641 and a font generation unit 642.

[0029] The storage unit 61 is mainly realized by a memory 602 (see FIG. 2 ), and stores various information related to the generation of drawing data in advance. The storage unit 61 stores design data including information related to patterns and characters to be drawn on the substrate 9. The design data is vector data such as CAD data. The design data is, for example, created on a design terminal different from the drawing data generating device 6 and transmitted to the drawing data generating device 6.

[0030] The storage unit 61 also stores a group of existing character set data in advance. The group of existing character set data includes, for example, a plurality of character set data. Each character set data is raster format (for example, bitmap format) data that represents a plurality of candidate characters (for example, 26 alphabetic characters and 10 numerals from 0 to 9) that may be used in drawing by the drawing device 1 in a single font type and a single font size. The plurality of character set data have different font types and / or font sizes. The font type refers to the type of font used for characters, such as "Gothic" or "Times New Roman." The font size refers to the size of characters, such as "8pt" or "10pt."

[0031] Each character set data preferably includes, for example, four pieces of data for each of the 36 candidate characters, each with an orientation that differs by 90 degrees. For example, the four pieces of data for the candidate character "A" are data for a character with an orientation of 0 degrees as shown in Fig. 4A, a character rotated 90 degrees clockwise as shown in Fig. 4B, a character rotated 180 degrees clockwise as shown in Fig. 4C, and a character rotated 270 degrees clockwise as shown in Fig. 4D. Note that the candidate characters are not limited to the above examples and may be, for example, hiragana, katakana, or kanji, or may be characters used in official languages ​​other than Japanese.

[0032] The pattern data conversion unit 62, pattern correction unit 63, font preparation unit 64, and drawing data generation unit 66 shown in Fig. 3 are mainly realized by the processor 101 (see Fig. 2). The pattern data conversion unit 62 acquires data relating to a pattern (hereinafter also referred to as "pattern design data") from the design data in vector format stored in the storage unit 61, and converts the pattern design data into pattern drawing data in raster format. The pattern data conversion unit 62 can use a known rasterization technique to convert the pattern design data into pattern drawing data. The pattern drawing data is, for example, run-length data.

[0033] The pattern correction unit 63 performs distortion correction processing on the above-mentioned pattern drawing data based on the distortion of the substrate 9 on which drawing is to be performed. The distortion correction processing can be performed using a known distortion correction method. The distortion of the substrate 9 can be obtained by capturing an image of an alignment mark provided on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 using the imaging unit 13 (see FIG. 1) of the drawing device 1 and based on the deviation of the alignment mark from its designed position, etc.

[0034] The font preparation unit 64 prepares raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and a desired font size specified in the design data based on data representing characters included in the design data (hereinafter also referred to as "character design data"). The desired font type and desired font size are the font type and font size that the operator operating the drawing system 7 wishes to use to draw characters, and are not limited to the font type and font size pre-stored in the drawing data generation device 6. The character drawing data is, for example, data in a fixed-length RUN format or a bitmap format. Note that the character drawing data may also be data in a raster format other than the fixed-length RUN format or the bitmap format.

[0035] The character design data included in the design data indicates a specific character group in which each character is fixed, such as a company name or the model name of the drawing device 1. The character design data may also indicate a character group in which some or all of the characters change for each board 9 according to a preset rule, such as serial numbers assigned in order to multiple boards 9 on which drawing is performed by the drawing device 1. Alternatively, the content of the character group corresponding to the character design data is not determined at the time the design data is created, and the character design data may be an instruction to substitute a character group input by an operator into the drawing data generation device 6.

[0036] The font preparation unit 64 determines whether character drawing data to be prepared based on character design data included in the design data (hereinafter also referred to as "character drawing data to be prepared") is included in the existing character set data group in the storage unit 61. The character drawing data to be prepared has the same font type as the font type specified in the design data. In addition, the character drawing data to be prepared has the same font size as the font size specified in the design data.

[0037] The font preparation unit 64 determines that the character rendering data to be prepared is included in the existing character set data group if the existing character set data group contains character set data with the same font type and font size as the character rendering data to be prepared. In this case, the font extraction unit 641 extracts character set data corresponding to the character rendering data to be prepared from the existing character set data group. Then, character rendering data is created by selecting and arranging data for each character that constitutes the character group indicated by the character design data from the extracted character set data. In other words, if the character rendering data to be prepared is included in the existing character set data group, the font extraction unit 641 reads the character rendering data from the existing character set data group.

[0038] Specifically, for example, if the character design data indicates a character group "ABC" with a font type and font size of "Gothic" and "10pt," the font extraction unit 641 extracts character set data with a font type and font size of "Gothic" and "10pt" from the existing character set data group. Then, character data for the characters "A," "B," and "C" are selected from the extracted character set data and arranged in the order of "ABC," thereby creating character drawing data. The selection of the character data for the characters "A," "B," and "C" is performed by taking into consideration the orientation of drawing these characters in the drawing device 1, and selecting data for an appropriate orientation from the four orientations described above.

[0039] On the other hand, if the existing character set data group does not contain character set data with the same font type and font size as the character drawing data to be prepared, the font preparation unit 64 determines that the character drawing data to be prepared is not included in the existing character set data group. In this case, the font generation unit 642 generates new character set data with the same font type and font size as the character drawing data to be prepared based on the character design data. Then, character drawing data is generated by selecting and arranging data for each character that constitutes the character group indicated by the character design data from the new character set data. In other words, the font generation unit 642 generates character drawing data based on the character design data. The new character set data is sent to the storage unit 61 and included in the existing character set data group. Note that the new character set data has the same data structure as the other character set data included in the existing character set data group.

[0040] The drawing data generation unit 66 generates drawing data using the above-mentioned pattern drawing data and character drawing data. Specifically, the drawing data generation unit 66 generates raster-format drawing data by combining the raster-format pattern drawing data corrected by the pattern correction unit 63 with the raster-format character drawing data prepared by the font preparation unit 64. At this time, the position of the character drawing data to be combined with the pattern drawing data (i.e., the relative position of the character group indicated by the character drawing data with respect to the pattern indicated by the pattern drawing data) may be adjusted in accordance with the above-mentioned correction by the pattern correction unit 63.

[0041] The drawing data generated by the drawing data generation unit 66 is sent from the drawing data generation device 6 to the drawing device 1 via the input / output unit 603 (see FIG. 2 ) etc. In the drawing device 1 shown in FIG. 1 , the control unit 15 controls the stage moving mechanism 122, the imaging unit 13, the drawing unit 14 etc. based on the drawing data etc., and a pattern is drawn on the substrate 9.

[0042] 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the drawing data generating device 6. In the drawing data generating device 6, first, the pattern data converting unit 62 acquires pattern design data from vector-format design data stored in the storage unit 61 (see FIG. 3) and converts the data into raster-format pattern drawing data (step S11). Then, the pattern correcting unit 63 performs distortion correction processing on the pattern drawing data (step S12).

[0043] After step S12 is completed, the font preparation unit 64 (see FIG. 3) acquires character design data from the design data, and determines whether the character drawing data to be prepared is included in the existing character set data group based on the character design data (step S13). If it is determined that the character drawing data to be prepared is included in the existing character set data group, the font extraction unit 641 reads the character drawing data from the existing character set data group (step S14). This reduces the time required to prepare the character drawing data.

[0044] On the other hand, if it is determined that the character rendering data to be prepared is not included in the existing character set data group, the font generation unit 642 generates new character set data based on the character design data, and character rendering data is generated (step S15). The new character set data is then included in the existing character set data group (step S16). This can reduce the time required to prepare subsequent character rendering data. Note that steps S13 to S16 may be performed in parallel with steps S11 to S12, or may be performed before steps S11 to S12.

[0045] After steps S11 to S16 are completed, the drawing data generating unit 66 (see FIG. 3) combines the character drawing data and the corrected pattern drawing data to generate raster-format drawing data (step S17). The drawing data generating unit 6 then transmits the drawing data to the drawing device 1 (step S18). As described above, the drawing device 1 draws a pattern based on the drawing data.

[0046] It should be noted that the drawing data generating device 6 does not necessarily need to perform distortion correction processing on the pattern drawing data in step S12. In this case, in step S17, the pattern drawing data acquired by the conversion (i.e., rasterization) in step S11 and the above-mentioned character drawing data are combined to generate drawing data. That is, in step S17, drawing data is generated using the pattern drawing data acquired in step S11 and the above-mentioned character drawing data.

[0047] As described above, the drawing data generation device 6 generates drawing data for the drawing device 1 that performs drawing on the substrate 9. The drawing data generation device 6 includes a pattern data conversion unit 62, a font preparation unit 64, and a drawing data generation unit 66. The pattern data conversion unit 62 acquires pattern design data related to the pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data containing information about the pattern and characters, and converts the pattern design data into raster-format pattern drawing data. The font preparation unit 64 prepares raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data included in the design data. The drawing data generation unit 66 generates raster-format drawing data using the pattern drawing data and character drawing data. This allows the drawing device 1 to draw characters having a desired font type and a desired font size on the substrate 9.

[0048] The drawing system 7 includes the drawing data generating device 6 and a drawing device 1 that performs drawing on the substrate 9 based on the drawing data generated by the drawing data generating device 6. As described above, the drawing system 7 can draw characters having a desired font type and a desired font size on the substrate 9.

[0049] As described above, the font preparation unit 64 preferably includes a font extraction unit 641 and a font generation unit 642. When character drawing data to be prepared based on character design data is included in a pre-stored existing character set data group, the font extraction unit 641 reads the character drawing data from the pre-stored existing character set data group. When character drawing data is not included in the pre-stored character set data group, the font generation unit 642 generates character drawing data based on the character design data. This reduces the time required to generate drawing data when the character drawing data to be prepared is included in the existing character set data group. Furthermore, even when the character drawing data to be prepared is not included in the existing character set data group, the drawing device 1 can appropriately draw characters having a desired font type and a desired font size on the substrate 9.

[0050] As described above, it is preferable that the drawing data generation device 6 further includes a pattern correction unit 63 that performs distortion correction processing on the above-mentioned pattern drawing data based on the distortion of the substrate 9. Then, it is preferable that the drawing data generation unit 66 generates drawing data by combining the pattern drawing data corrected by the pattern correction unit 63 with the above-mentioned character drawing data. In this way, by combining the characters to be drawn on the substrate 9 with the pattern after the distortion correction processing, it is possible to prevent the characters from being deformed by the distortion correction processing. As a result, the drawing device 1 can suitably draw the characters on the substrate 9.

[0051] The above-mentioned drawing data generating method includes the steps of: acquiring pattern design data relating to a pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data including information on the pattern and characters, and converting the pattern design data into raster-format pattern drawing data (step S11); preparing raster-format character drawing data having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data included in the design data (steps S13 to S15); and generating raster-format drawing data using the pattern drawing data and character drawing data (step S17). As a result, characters having a desired font type and a desired font size can be drawn on substrate 9, as described above.

[0052] In addition to the above-described steps S11 to S18, other data processing may be performed in the drawing data generating device 6. For example, in the example shown in the flowcharts of Figures 6A and 6B, step S21 is performed between steps S12 and S13, and steps S31 to S33 are performed between steps S13 to S16 and step S17. In this case, as shown in Figure 7, the drawing data generating device 6 further includes a placement area setting unit 65 in addition to the components shown in Figure 3.

[0053] 6A and 6B, when steps S11 and S12 are completed, the placement area setting unit 65 acquires character design data from the design data and sets a character placement area based on the character design data (step S21). As shown in FIG. 8, the character placement area 82 is an area that surrounds the character group 81 (i.e., one or more characters, hereinafter also referred to as the "drawing character group 81") when the character group 81 is drawn on the substrate 9 based on the character design data. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the drawing character group 81 is the character group "ABC," and the character placement area 82 is the smallest rectangular area that circumscribes the drawing character group 81 and includes the entire drawing character group 81 within it. The size and position of the character placement area 82 set by the placement area setting unit 65 are sent to the drawing data generation unit 66.

[0054] In the drawing data generating unit 66, as described above, the font preparing unit 64 prepares character drawing data having the same font type and font size as the font type and font size specified in the design data (steps S13 to S16).

[0055] After steps S13 to S16 are completed, it is confirmed whether the character group indicated by the character drawing data is composed of drawing elements or non-drawing elements (step S31). Drawing elements refer to minute areas (i.e., exposed pixels) that are drawn by irradiating light onto the substrate 9 in the drawing device 1. Non-drawing elements refer to minute areas that constitute areas other than the drawing elements on the substrate 9, and refer to pixels that are not drawn (i.e., not exposed) by the drawing device 1.

[0056] If the character group indicated by the character drawing data is composed of drawing elements, the drawing data generation unit 66 sets the drawing data so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area 82 other than the drawing character group 81 is composed of non-drawing elements in the pattern drawing data after the distortion correction process, as shown in FIG. 9A (step S32). In FIG. 9A, the drawing elements are colored black or indicated with parallel diagonal lines, while the non-drawing elements are not colored or indicated with parallel diagonal lines (the same applies to FIGS. 9B, 10A, and 10B). This makes it possible to easily read the drawing character group 81 composed of drawing elements, even if the area surrounding the drawing character group 81 is composed of drawing elements. Note that in actual drawing on the substrate 9, the outline of the character arrangement area 82 is not drawn, and therefore the outline of the character arrangement area 82 is indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 9A (the same applies to FIGS. 9B, 10A, and 10B).

[0057] Furthermore, when the character group indicated by the character drawing data is composed of non-drawing elements, the drawing data generating unit 66 sets the drawing data so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area 82 other than the drawing character group 81 is composed of drawing elements in the pattern drawing data after the distortion correction process, as shown in Fig. 9B (step S33). This makes it possible to easily read the drawing character group 81 composed of non-drawing elements, even if the area around the drawing character group 81 is composed of non-drawing elements.

[0058] In the drawing data generating device 6, after the character placement area 82 is set in step S21, when character drawing data is prepared in steps S13 to S16, the font size of the character group indicated by the character drawing data does not necessarily have to be the same as the font size specified in the design data. For example, in step S21, the character placement area 82 is set to the same size and position as the area occupied on the substrate 9 by the character group indicated by the character design data (i.e., the smallest rectangular area that circumscribes the character group and includes the entire character group within it, having the same font size as the font size specified in the design data). Then, in steps S13 to S16, the font preparation unit 64 may prepare character drawing data with a font size that is smaller by a predetermined amount (e.g., 1 pt) than the font size specified in the design data.

[0059] As a result, the drawing character group 81a indicated by the character drawing data can be drawn within the character arrangement area 82, away from the outer edge of the character arrangement area 82, as shown in Figures 10A and 10B. This makes it easier to read the drawing character group 81a. Furthermore, since the character arrangement area 82 is prevented from protruding from the occupied area of ​​the character design data, drawing elements or non-drawing elements set around the drawing character group 81a in the character arrangement area 82 can be prevented from undesirably affecting the pattern. As a result, the drawing device 1 can preferably draw a pattern on the substrate 9.

[0060] As described above, the drawing data generating device 6 preferably sets the character arrangement area 82 surrounding the drawing character groups 81, 81a to be drawn on the board 9 based on the above-mentioned design data. When the drawing character groups 81, 81a are composed of drawing elements drawn by the drawing device 1, the drawing data generating unit 66 preferably sets the drawing data so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area 82 other than the drawing character groups 81, 81a is composed of non-drawing elements that are not drawn by the drawing device 1. When the drawing character groups 81, 81a are composed of non-drawing elements, the drawing data generating unit 66 preferably sets the drawing data so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area 82 other than the drawing character groups 81, 81a is composed of drawing elements. This makes it easier to read the drawing character groups 81, 81a, as described above.

[0061] Furthermore, it is preferable that the character arrangement area 82 be set to the same size and position as the area occupied on the substrate 9 by the character group indicated by the character design data. The font size of the character drawing data prepared by the font preparation unit 64 is preferably smaller than the font size specified by the design data by a predetermined amount. This makes it easier to read the drawing character group 81a, as described above. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the character arrangement area 82 from adversely affecting the pattern, and to perform the pattern drawing on the substrate 9 in an optimal manner.

[0062] The above-described drawing data generating device 6, drawing system 7, and drawing data generating method can be modified in various ways.

[0063] For example, the character set data included in the existing character set data group does not necessarily have to include data for characters in the four orientations shown in Figures 4A to 4D, but may include data for characters in other numbers of orientations (e.g., one or two).

[0064] The design data does not necessarily have to include information specifying the font type. For example, the desired font type may be specified by input via the input / output unit 603 separately.

[0065] In the drawing data generating device 6, the existing character set data group does not necessarily need to be stored in the storage unit 61, and character drawing data does not necessarily need to be read from the existing character set data group. For example, the font preparing unit 64 may generate character drawing data based on the character design data each time character design data is acquired from design data. In this case, generation of character set data based on the character design data may or may not be performed. Furthermore, the font extracting unit 641 and the font generating unit 642 may be omitted from the drawing data generating device 6.

[0066] In the drawing system 7, the control unit 15 does not necessarily have to be provided in the drawing device 1, and the drawing data generating device 6 may function as a control unit that controls each component of the drawing device 1.

[0067] As described above, the drawing data generating device 6 may be a computer system in which multiple computers are connected by wire or wirelessly. For example, the font preparation unit 64 may be provided in a computer (e.g., a design terminal that creates design data) different from the computer in which the pattern data conversion unit 62 and the drawing data generating unit 66 are provided.

[0068] The substrate 9 is not necessarily limited to a printed wiring board. The imaging device 1 may perform imaging on, for example, a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for a solar cell panel, or the like.

[0069] The configurations in the above-described embodiment and each modification may be combined as appropriate as long as they are not mutually contradictory. [Explanation of symbols]

[0070] 1 Drawing device 6. Drawing data generation device 7. Drawing System 9 Substrate 62 Pattern data conversion section 63 Pattern correction section 64 Font Preparation Unit 66 Drawing data generation unit 81,81a Drawing character group 82 Character placement area 641 Font Extraction Unit 642 Font Generation Unit S11~S18, S21, S31~S33 steps

Claims

1. A drawing data generation device that generates drawing data for a drawing device that performs drawing on a substrate, a pattern data conversion unit that acquires pattern design data relating to a pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data including information about the pattern and characters, and converts the pattern design data into pattern drawing data in a raster format; a font preparation unit that prepares character drawing data in a raster format having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data included in the design data; a drawing data generation unit that generates drawing data in a raster format using the pattern drawing data and the character drawing data; Equipped with A character arrangement area surrounding a group of characters to be drawn on a board is set based on the design data; The drawing data generation unit When the drawing character group is configured by drawing elements that are drawn by a drawing device, the drawing data is set so that an area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the drawing character group is configured by non-drawing elements that are not drawn by the drawing device; A drawing data generating device characterized in that, when the drawing character group is composed of the non-drawing elements, the drawing data is set so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the drawing character group is composed of the drawing elements.

2. 2. The drawing data generating device according to claim 1, The font preparation unit a font extraction unit that reads out the character drawing data from a pre-stored character set data group when the character drawing data to be prepared based on the character design data is included in the pre-stored character set data group; a font generation unit that generates the character drawing data based on the character design data when the character drawing data is not included in the existing character set data group; A drawing data generating device comprising:

3. 3. The drawing data generating device according to claim 1, a pattern correction unit that performs distortion correction processing on the pattern writing data based on distortion of the substrate; The drawing data generating device is characterized in that the drawing data generating unit generates the drawing data by combining the pattern drawing data corrected by the pattern correcting unit and the character drawing data.

4. 4. The drawing data generating device according to claim 1, the character arrangement area is set to the same size and position as the occupied area on the substrate of the character group indicated by the character design data; The drawing data generating device is characterized in that the font size of the character drawing data prepared by the font preparation unit is smaller by a predetermined amount than the font size specified by the design data.

5. A drawing system for drawing on a substrate, comprising: A drawing data generating device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, a drawing device that draws on a substrate based on the drawing data generated by the drawing data generating device; A drawing system comprising:

6. 1. A drawing data generation method for generating drawing data for a drawing device that performs drawing on a substrate, comprising: a) obtaining pattern design data relating to a pattern to be drawn from vector-format design data containing information about the pattern and characters, and converting the pattern design data into raster-format pattern drawing data; b) preparing character drawing data in a raster format having a desired font type and a desired font size based on character design data included in the design data; c) generating raster-format drawing data using the pattern drawing data and the character drawing data; Equipped with A character arrangement area surrounding a group of characters to be drawn on a board is set based on the design data; In the step c), When the drawing character group is configured by drawing elements that are drawn by a drawing device, the drawing data is set so that an area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the drawing character group is configured by non-drawing elements that are not drawn by the drawing device, A drawing data generation method characterized in that, when the drawing character group is composed of the non-drawing elements, the drawing data is set so that the area of ​​the character arrangement area other than the drawing character group is composed of the drawing elements.

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