Fabric Printing Alignment via Pattern Position Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printing technologies face challenges in accurately aligning and maintaining the positional relationships of patterns on fabrics due to distortion and expansion, making it difficult to achieve proper printing alignment.
Innovation Solution
A printing apparatus and method that utilizes a control unit with imaging and transport units to register and extract pattern regions, correct image data to match pattern shapes, and generate printing image data, ensuring accurate alignment and printing on fabrics despite distortion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If pattern extraction is performed on captured fabric images, then printing can be performed on the fabric, but distortion and expansion in the transported fabric cause misalignment of patterns making it difficult to accurately grasp positional relationships
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary extraction of pattern positions from the captured image before printing. By identifying and recording the positions of multiple patterns in advance, the system creates a reference map that accounts for fabric distortion. This preliminary action allows the printing system to compensate for distortion by using the extracted pattern positions to guide accurate print placement, rather than attempting to prevent distortion during transport.
2Productivity
If fabric transport speed is increased to improve productivity, then more fabric can be processed per unit time, but distortion and expansion during transport increase making pattern alignment more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures images of the fabric during transport to detect the actual positions of patterns. By comparing the detected pattern positions with the desired positions, the system generates feedback information about the distortion and expansion that occurred during transport. This feedback is then used to adjust the printing parameters and compensate for the distortion, allowing high-speed transport without sacrificing print alignment accuracy.
Data Source
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Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
A printing apparatus includes a pattern extracting unit for, based on a comparison between first image data representing a pattern and second image data generated by imaging a fabric transported, extracting a pattern region from the second image data, a printing image generation unit for arranging third image data representing an image to be printed overlaid on the pattern in accordance with a positional relationship between the pattern regions to generate printing image data, and a printing control unit for causing a printing unit to print the printing image data on the fabric transported, wherein the pattern extracting unit performs positional relationship identification processing for setting one of the pattern regions as a search source, setting, as a search destination, a pattern region successfully found in a certain range set at a position separated in a predetermined search direction from the search source pattern region by a predetermined distance, and storing information that a position of the search destination pattern region is adjacent in the search direction to the search source pattern region, and newly sets the search destination pattern region as the search source pattern region to perform the positional relationship identification processing.