Base material processing apparatus and base material processing method

A base material processing method for calculating a transport displacement of a long band-like base material in a transport direction while transporting the base material in a longitudinal direction of the base material along a transport path formed by a plurality of rollers, the method comprising:

• at least one of:
• a) detecting tension on the base material that is being transported by the plurality of rollers;
• b) detecting amounts of rotational drive of the plurality of rollers;
• and
• c) continuously or intermittently detecting a position of an edge of the base material in a width direction at each of a first detection position and a second detection position that are spaced from each other in the transport direction in the transport path;
• d) ejecting ink to a surface of the base material while transporting the base material;
• e) generating image data of the base material by capturing an image of the surface of the base material on which the ink is ejected;
• and
• f) calculating a transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction,
• wherein learning model has been learned and generated through machine learning, before the operation f) to make it capable of outputting the transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction with high accuracy on the basis of input of at least one of either a result of detecting the tension on the base material in the operation a) or a result of calculating an amount of change in the tension, either a result of detecting the amounts of rotational drive of the plurality of rollers in the operation b) or a result of calculating an amount of change in the amounts of rotational drive, and a result of detecting the position of the edge of the base material in the width direction in the operation c), and
• wherein in the machine learning, an actual transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction, acquired by calculating through image analysis on the basis of the image data generated in the operation e) of the base material or by calculating through a visual check by an operator or other person on the basis of the image data, is used as teacher data, and a plurality of parameters included in the learning model are adjusted so as to minimize a difference between the teacher data and the calculated transport displacement in the operation f).

A base material processing apparatus comprising:

• a transport mechanism that transports a long band-like base material in a longitudinal direction of the base material along a transport path formed by a plurality of rollers;
• an image recording part that ejects ink to a surface of the base material at a processing position in the transport path to record an image;
• an image capturing part that generates image data of the base material by capturing an image of a surface of the base material on which the image recording part has ejected the ink;
• a transport displacement calculation part that calculates a transport displacement in a transport direction of the base material that is being transported;
• an image analyzer that calculates a transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction through image analysis on the basis of the image data,
• an information acquisition part that acquires information relating to a type or amount of the ink ejected from the image recording part, and
• at least one of:
• a) a tension detector connected directly or indirectly to at least one of the plurality of rollers and that detects tension on the base material that is being transported by the plurality of rollers;
• b) an encoder connected directly or indirectly to at least one of the plurality of rollers and that detects an amount of rotational drive of the at least one roller;
• and
• c) an edge position detector that continuously or intermittently detects a position of an edge of the base material in a width direction at each of a first detection position and a second detection position that are spaced from each other in the transport direction in the transport path,
• wherein the transport displacement calculation part includes an operation unit that has completed learning through machine learning and outputs a transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction on the basis of input of the information acquired by the information acquisition part and at least one of either a result of the tension detector detecting the tension on the base material or a result of calculating an amount of change in the tension, either a result of the encoder detecting the amount of rotational drive of the at least one roller or a result of calculating an amount of change in the amount of rotational drive, and a result of the edge position detector detecting the position of the edge of the base material in the width direction, and
• wherein the operation unit has completed the machine learning, using, as teacher data, a result of the image analyzer calculating the transport displacement of the base material in the transport direction.