Drawing apparatus and operation control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9808068-B2
Application number	US-201615369295-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2016
Priority date	Dec 28, 2015
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A drawing apparatus includes an object insertion portion into which an object is inserted, the object being at least one finger or toe having a nail, a plurality of pressing units which apply pressing forces to the object inserted in the object insertion portion to hold the object in the object insertion portion and a processor which controls the pressing forces applied by the plurality of pressing units respectively to adjust an inclination in a width direction of the nail of the object inserted in the object insertion portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drawing apparatus comprising:
an object insertion portion into which an object is inserted, the object being at least one finger or toe having a nail;
a plurality of first pressing units which apply pressing forces to the object inserted in the object insertion portion to hold the object in the object insertion portion; and
a processor which controls the pressing forces applied by the plurality of first pressing units respectively to adjust an inclination in a width direction of the nail of the object inserted in the object insertion portion.

2. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first pressing units is provided side by side in a direction intersecting a direction in which the object is inserted into the object insertion portion.

3. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a placing surface whose surface direction is set to a constant direction and the object insertion portion provided on the placing surface, wherein the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively so that the degree of inclination on one side in the width direct of the nail with respect to the surface direction of the placing surface comes close to the degree of inclination on the other side in the width direction of the nail with respect to the surface direction of the placing surface.

4. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a drawing unit which performs a drawing on the nail, wherein the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively so as to bring the inclined state in the width direction of the nail close to the state in which the drawing unit is able to perform the drawing normally on both end sides in the width direction of the nail when the inclined state in the width direction of the nail is a state where the drawing unit is not able to perform the drawing normally on either one of the both end sides in the width direction of the nail.

5. The drawing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein:
the inclined state detection unit detects a first degree of inclination on one end side in the width direction of the nail and a second degree of inclination on the other end side in the width direction of the nail; and
the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively in directions that cause the first degree of inclination and the second degree of inclination to be equal to each other in the case where the first degree of inclination and the second degree of inclination are not equal to each other.

6. The drawing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively in directions that cause the first degree of inclination and the second degree of inclination to be equal to each other after performing an operation of temporarily reducing the pressing forces applied to a surface on the side opposite to the nail of the object by all of the plurality of first pressing units in the case where the first degree of inclination and the second degree of inclination are not equal to each other.

7. The drawing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein:
the processor acquires the nearest curved surface level among the plurality of curved surface levels different from each other in a preset degree of curve corresponding to each of the first degree of inclination and the second degree of inclination; and
the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively so that any one of the plurality of curved surface levels corresponding to the first degree of inclination is equal to any one of the plurality of curved surface levels corresponding to the second degree of inclination in the case where any one of the plurality of curved surface levels corresponding to the first degree of inclination is not equal to any one of the plurality of curved surface levels corresponding to the second degree of inclination.

8. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a placing surface whose surface direction is set to a constant direction and the object insertion portion provided on the placing surface, wherein:
the processor includes an inclined state detection unit which detects an inclined state of the nail in the width direction thereof with respect to the surface direction of the placing surface, based on an image obtained by imaging the object inserted into the object insertion portion; and
the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively, based on a detection result of the inclined state obtained by the inclined state detection unit.

9. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a pair of second pressing units applying pressing forces to the right and left sides of the object,
wherein the processor controls the pressing forces applied to the right and left sides of the object by the second pressing units when holding the object in the object insertion portion.

10. The drawing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein, in the case of pushing up one of the right and left sides of the object by using at least one first pressing unit corresponding to one of the right and left sides of the object in the plurality of first pressing units, the processor controls the second pressing unit to reduce the pressing force applied to the object by one second pressing unit, which is located on the other of the right and left sides of the object, in the pair of second pressing units so as to be smaller than the pressing force applied to the object by the other second pressing unit of the pair of second pressing units.

11. An operation control method of a drawing apparatus, wherein:
the drawing apparatus includes an object insertion portion into which an object is inserted, the object being at least one finger or toe having a nail and a plurality of first pressing units which apply pressing forces to the object inserted in the object insertion portion to hold the object in the object insertion portion;
the operation control method comprises a first pressing unit control step of controlling the pressing forces applied by the plurality of first pressing units respectively to adjust an inclination in a width direction of the nail of the object inserted in the object insertion portion.

12. The operation control method of the drawing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:
the drawing apparatus includes a placing surface whose surface direction is set to a constant direction and the object insertion portion provided on the placing surface; and
the first pressing unit control step includes controlling the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively so that the degree of inclination on one side in the width direction of the nail with respect to the surface direction of the placing surface comes close to the degree of inclination on the other side in the width direction of the nail with respect to the surface direction of the placing surface.

13. The operation control method of the drawing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:
the drawing apparatus includes a drawing unit which forms a drawing on the nail; and
the first pressing unit control step includes controlling the pressing forces applied to the object by the plurality of first pressing units respectively so as to bring the inclined st

Assignees

• Casio Computer Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamasaki Shuichi

Classifications

• A45D29/22 Primary

  Finger-supports · CPC title

• A45D34/04

  Appliances specially adapted for applying liquid, e.g. using roller or ball · CPC title

• A45D2029/005

  Printing or stamping devices for applying images or ornaments to nails · CPC title

• A45D2034/005

  with a cartridge · CPC title

• A45D29/00 Primary

  Manicuring or pedicuring implements · CPC title