Control apparatus and control method for controlling forming apparatus which forms concavo-convex structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9469101-B2
Application number	US-201514754976-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2015
Priority date	Jul 3, 2014
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A control apparatus configured to control a forming apparatus which forms concavo-convex structure by ejecting ink obtains concavo-convex data indicating the concavo-convex to be formed and divide the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of data. The control apparatus controls a formation order, performed by the forming apparatus, of the concavo-convex portions each corresponding to the plurality of pieces of data divided by the dividing unit based on a feature amount of the concavo-convex indicated by the concavo-convex data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control apparatus configured to control a forming apparatus which forms a concavo-convex structure by stacking materials, comprising:
an obtaining unit configured to obtain concavo-convex data indicating the concavo-convex structure to be formed;
a dividing unit configured to divide the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of data for a plurality of scanning; and
a control unit configured to control the forming apparatus based on the plurality of pieces of data, wherein
wherein the control unit controls a formation order, performed by the forming apparatus, of concavo-convex portions each corresponding to the plurality of pieces of data divided by the dividing unit based on a feature amount of the concavo-convex structure indicated by the concavo-convex data.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit uses a degree of sharpness of the concavo-convex data as the feature amount.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the dividing unit generates pieces of slice data corresponding respectively to a plurality of layers by dividing the concavo-convex data indicating the concavo-convex structure to be formed, and
the control unit controls the forming apparatus in such a way that: a piece of the slice data for an uppermost layer in a region of a sharp portion of the concavo-convex structure is recorded in a last scanning operation for the region; and other pieces of the slice data in the region of the sharp portion are recorded in a reverse scanning order such that apiece of the slice data for a lower layer is recorded in a scanning operation in an earlier stage.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the control unit controls the forming apparatus in such a way that the forming apparatus sequentially records the pieces of slice data in a region other than the region of the sharp portion of the concavo-convex structure, from a piece of the slice data for a lower layer.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the forming apparatus forms the concavo-convex structure by ejecting curable ink.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining unit obtains data indicating a height of the concavo-convex structure to be formed in each of pixels as the concavo-convex data.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in the control unit, an operation condition for the forming apparatus in a region having a predetermined feature amount is different from that in a region having a feature amount other than the predetermined feature amount.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit uses a frequency component of the concavo-convex data as the feature amount.

9. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit uses a degree of importance of height accuracy or inclination angle accuracy as the feature amount.

10. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit uses a feature amount of an image to be formed on the concavo-convex structure formed by the forming apparatus as the feature amount.

11. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the concavo-convex data is data indicating a height of the concavo-convex structure to be formed in each of pixels,
the control apparatus further comprises a quantization unit configured to quantize the concavo-convex data to N-value (N is an integer of two or greater) data,
the quantization unit quantizes the concavo-convex data in such a way that an average value of a height in the concavo-convex data and an average value of a height indicated by the N-value data are substantially equal in any local region including a target pixel, and
the control unit controls the forming apparatus based on the N-value data obtained from the quantization unit.

12. The control apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising a binary division unit configured to divide the quantized N-value data into a plurality of pieces of binary division data.

13. The control apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the binary division unit divides the quantized N-value data into the plurality of pieces of binary division data in such a way that values of pixels corresponding to a scanning operation in a later stage are uniform.

14. The control apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein, in a case where the average value indicated by the N-value data in any local region is not an integer, the binary division unit divides the N-value data into the plurality of pieces of binary division data in such a way that an ink amount in any local region is substantially-equally divided between the plurality of pieces of binary division data.

15. A control method for controlling a forming apparatus which forms a concavo-convex structure by stacking materials, comprising:
obtaining concavo-convex data indicating the concavo-convex structure to be formed;
dividing the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of data for a plurality of scanning; and
controlling a formation order, performed by the forming apparatus, of concavo-convex portions each corresponding to the plurality of pieces of data based on a feature amount of the concavo-convex structure indicated by the concavo-convex data.

16. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program which performs a control method for controlling a forming apparatus which forms a concavo-convex structure by stacking materials, the control method comprising:
obtaining concavo-convex data indicating the concavo-convex structure to be formed;
dividing the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of data for a plurality of scanning; and
controlling a formation order, performed by the forming apparatus, of concavo-convex portions each corresponding to the plurality of pieces of data based on a feature amount of the concavo-convex structure indicated by the concavo-convex data.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kubo Hideki
• Kadoi Hideki

Classifications

• B41J2/2117

  Ejecting white liquids · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B41J2/04536 Primary

  using history data · CPC title

• B41J2/01

  Ink jet · CPC title