# US 10,321,016 B2 · Control apparatus, control method, and storage medium for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus that forms a concavo-convex layer on a printing medium

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- Number: US 10,321,016 B2
- Document ID: US10321016B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/510,376
- Filed: 2015-09-24
- Published: 2017-10-12
- Granted: 2019-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2014-10-07
- Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Hideki Kubo
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10321016B2

## CPC

- B41J 2/2054: {by the variation of dot disposition or characteristics, e.g. dot number density, dot shape}
- B33Y 50/00: Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
- B33Y 50/02: for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
- B41J 2/2132: {Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding (methods for local corrections by dot omission, image edge enhancement, or multi-pass mask selection G06K15/102; colour conversion H04N1/40)}
- G06K 15/021: {Adaptations for printing on specific media}
- G06K 15/105: {Multipass or interlaced printing}
- G06K 15/1872: {Image enhancement}
- G06V 10/52: Scale-space analysis, e.g. wavelet analysis (multi-scale boundary representations G06V10/42)
- H04N 1/4092: {Edge or detail enhancement}
- B29C 64/112: using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads
- B29C 64/386: Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
- B29C 64/393: for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
- B41J 2/2121: {characterised by dot size, e.g. combinations of printed dots of different diameter}
- B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B33Y: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
- G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00)

## Abstract

A control apparatus for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, includes at least one memory that stores instructions, and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, and configured to execute the instructions to cause the control apparatus to function as an input unit configured to input concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object, and a correction unit configured to perform correction on the input concavo-convex data in accordance with at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data and a filter having an intensity that is made higher for the input concavo-convex data having a greater amplitude on the input concavo-convex data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A control apparatus for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, the control apparatus comprising:
(A) at least one memory that stores instructions; and
(B) at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, and configured to execute the instructions to cause the control apparatus to function as:
(a) an input unit configured to input concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object; and
(b) a correction unit configured to perform correction on the input concavo-convex data in accordance with at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data and a filter having an intensity that is made higher for the input concavo-convex data having a greater amplitude on the input concavo-convex data, wherein the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus forms at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on the corrected concavo-convex data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit performs nonlinear correction on the input concavo-convex data based on an amplitude for each frequency band of the at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit performs nonlinear correction on the input concavo-convex data based on a lookup table obtained by measuring frequency response characteristics of the input concavo-convex data in advance.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the control apparatus to function as:
(c) a wavelet transformation concavo-convex data generating unit configured to generate wavelet transformed concavo-convex data for each frequency band, of the at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data, by carrying out wavelet transformation on the input concavo-convex data;
(d) a wavelet inverse transformation concavo-convex data generating unit configured to generate wavelet inverse transformed concavo-convex data, having integrated each frequency band, by carrying out wavelet inverse transformation on the concavo-convex data on which the correction has been performed; and
(e) a color data generating unit configured to generate data specifying an amount of color material that is to be used for forming at least one concavo-convex layer based on the concavo-convex data, having integrated each frequency band.

### Claim 5

A control apparatus for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus having a concavo-convex layer forming unit configured to form at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on concavo-convex data, the control apparatus comprising:
(A) at least one memory that stores instructions; and
(B) at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, and configured to execute the instructions to cause the control apparatus to function as:
(a) a dividing unit configured to divide the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of slice data that specify an amount of color material for each scan, of a plurality of scans to be performed by the concavo-convex layer forming unit; and
(b) a correcting unit configured to correct each piece of slice data based on a formation condition that affects frequency response characteristics of the concavo-convex layer forming unit,
wherein the concavo-convex layer forming unit forms the at least one concavo-convex layer on the printing medium by performing the plurality of scans based on the plurality of corrected pieces of slice data.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the formation condition is a distance between a printing head of the concavo-convex layer forming unit and an impact surface of a color material.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the correcting unit increases an intensity of the filter used in the correction with an increase in a difference between (i) the distance between the printing head and the impact surface of the color material and (ii) a predetermined appropriate distance.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the formation condition includes at least one of an operation condition, an environmental condition, a color material condition, and a printing medium condition of the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the operation condition includes at least one of a drive frequency of a printing head of the concavo-convex layer forming unit, a moving speed of the printing head, an operation timing of a hardening unit of the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, and an operation intensity of the hardening unit.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus is an inkjet printer.

### Claim 11

A control method for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, which is configured to form at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on concavo-convex data, using a control apparatus, the control method comprising:
inputting the concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object;
performing correction on the input concavo-convex data in accordance with at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data and a filter having an intensity that is made higher for the input concavo-convex data having a greater amplitude; and
forming, using the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, the at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on the corrected concavo-convex data.

### Claim 12

A control method for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus having a concavo-convex layer forming unit configured to form at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on concavo-convex data, the control method comprising:
dividing the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of slice data that specify an amount of color material for each scan, of a plurality of scans to be performed by the concavo-convex layer forming unit, the concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object;
correcting each piece of slice data based on a formation condition that affects frequency response characteristics of the concavo-convex layer forming unit; and
forming the at least one concavo-convex layer on the printing medium by performing the plurality of scans based on the plurality of corrected pieces of slice data.

### Claim 13

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a control method for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus having a concavo-convex layer forming unit configured to form at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on concavo-convex data, the control method comprising:
dividing the concavo-convex data into a plurality of pieces of slice data that specify an amount of color material for each scan, of a plurality of scans to be performed by the concavo-convex layer forming unit, the concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object;
correcting each piece of slice data based on a formation condition that affects frequency response characteristics of the concavo-convex layer forming unit; and
forming the at least one concavo-convex layer on the printing medium by performing the plurality of scans based on the plurality of corrected pieces of slice data.

### Claim 14

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a control method for controlling a concavo-convex layer forming apparatus by a control apparatus connected to the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, the control method comprising:
inputting concavo-convex data representing a three-dimensional object into the control apparatus;
performing correction on the input concavo-convex data in accordance with at least one frequency band of the input concavo-convex data and a filter having an intensity that is made higher for a greater amplitude of the input concavo-convex data; and
forming, using the concavo-convex layer forming apparatus, at least one concavo-convex layer on a printing medium based on the corrected concavo-convex data.