JP2014121344A - Nail printing device and printing control method for nail printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a nail printing apparatus capable of accurately recognizing the shape of a nail or the like and performing high-definition printing with a simple configuration, and a printing control method therefor.
A print head that prints on a nail T of a printing finger U1 inserted in a finger insertion unit 31, and a front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and / or a printing finger U1 provided inside the finger insertion unit 31. Prism 35 for projecting the side surface of the finger nail T, the upper surface of the finger nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted in the finger insertion portion 31, the front surface of the finger nail T of the printing finger U1 projected via the prism 35, and / or the printing finger U1. A side surface of the nail T and a camera for photographing.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a nail printing apparatus and a printing control method thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a nail printing apparatus that is a printing apparatus that prints design images such as colors and patterns on the surface of a human fingernail has been known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In such a nail printing apparatus, it is necessary to detect the shape of a fingernail or the like to be printed in order to specify an area to be printed.
For this reason, an image pickup device (camera) for photographing the nail is provided in the nail print device above the nail, and the shape of the nail or the like is detected from the photographed nail image.

Special table 2003-534083 gazette

However, when the angle of view of the imaging device is wide, the size of the captured image changes greatly even if the shooting position moves slightly up and down. Can't figure out. Further, the nail has not only the shape of its upper surface but also the height of each nail. Furthermore, the nail | claw has the curved shape where both right-and-left both ends are low when it sees from the front end side, and the center part vicinity is high, and the curvature also changes for every nail | claw.
For this reason, unless printing is performed in consideration of the position in the height direction of the nail and the degree of curvature (that is, curvature), high-definition printing cannot be performed on the nail, but only by photographing the nail from above There is a problem that it is difficult to accurately detect the height and curvature of the nail.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and provides a nail printing apparatus that can accurately recognize the shape of a nail and perform high-definition printing with a simple configuration and a printing control method thereof. It is intended to provide.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the nail printing apparatus of the present invention provides:
A finger insertion part for inserting a finger;
A print head for printing on the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion portion;
A reflective optical unit that is provided inside the finger insertion unit and projects the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail;
An imaging device for photographing the upper surface of the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion unit, and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit;
It is characterized by having.

In addition, the printing control method of the nail printing apparatus of the present invention includes:
Reflecting the front or side of the fingernail inserted inside the finger insertion part by the reflective optical part,
Photographing the upper surface of the fingernail and the front and / or side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit by an imaging device;
The control unit controls the print head to print on the fingernail.

According to the present invention, the reflection optical unit that reflects the front surface of the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion unit and / or the side surface of the fingernail is provided, and the image of the finger inserted into the finger insertion unit by the imaging device is provided. The upper surface of the nail and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit are photographed.
Thereby, it is possible to accurately recognize the nail and perform high-definition printing with a simple configuration.

It is the perspective view which showed the nail print apparatus in 1st Embodiment notionally, and has shown the state which opened the cover body. It is the perspective view which showed notionally the apparatus main body of the nail print apparatus of FIG. It is a front view of the apparatus main body of the nail print apparatus of FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the IV-IV line in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the VV line in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the VI-VI line in FIG. It is a principal part block diagram which showed the control structure of the nail print apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a front view of the apparatus main body of the nail print apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which follows the IX-IX line in FIG. FIG. 9 is a top view of a finger receiving unit in the nail print apparatus of FIG. 8. It is a top view of the finger | toe receiving part in the modification of the nail print apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows one modification of a finger | toe receiving part. It is a top view of the finger receiving part of FIG. It is a top view which shows one modification of a finger | toe receiving part.

[First Embodiment]
A first embodiment of a nail print apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The embodiments described below are given various technically preferable limitations for carrying out the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a nail print apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an internal configuration of the nail print apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the nail printing apparatus 1 includes a case body 2 and a lid body 4. The lid 4 is rotatably connected to the case body 2 via a hinge 3 provided at the rear end of the upper surface (top plate) of the case body 2. The lid 4 is rotatable from a state where it is superimposed on the top plate of the case body 2 to a state where it is raised with respect to the top plate of the case body 2 (see FIG. 1), with the hinge 3 as a fulcrum.

The case body 2 is formed in an approximately oval shape when viewed from above. An opening / closing plate 5 is provided on the front side of the case body 2 so as to be able to rise and fall. The opening / closing plate 5 is connected to the case body 2 via a hinge (not shown) provided at the lower front end of the case body 2. The opening / closing plate 5 is for opening and closing the front surface of the case body 2.
Note that the shapes and configurations of the case body 2 and the lid body 4 are not limited to those illustrated here.

An operation unit 22 is installed on the upper surface (top plate) of the case body 2.
The operation unit 22 is an input unit on which a user performs various inputs.
The operation unit 22 includes, for example, a power switch button for turning on the power of the nail printing apparatus 1, a stop switch button for stopping the operation, a design selection button for selecting a design image to be printed on the nail T, and printing start for instructing printing start. Operation buttons 221 for performing various inputs such as buttons are arranged.

In addition, a display unit 23 is installed at a substantially central portion of the upper surface (top plate) of the case body 2.
The display unit 23 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence display, or other flat displays. In the present embodiment, the display unit 23 includes, for example, an image obtained by photographing the finger U1 (hereinafter referred to as “finger image”), a nail image (an image such as an outline of the nail T) included in the finger image, A design selection screen for selecting a design image to be printed on the nail T, a thumbnail image for design confirmation, an instruction screen for displaying various instructions, and the like are appropriately displayed.
A touch panel may be integrally formed on the surface of the display unit 23. In this case, for example, various stylus pens (not shown) that are pointed stick-shaped writing tools that are pressed against the surface of the touch panel or touch operations that touch the surface of the display unit 23 with a fingertip or the like can be used. Configured to allow input.

Further, the case main body 2 accommodates the apparatus main body 10 of the nail printing apparatus 1.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the apparatus main body in the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along line IV-IV shown in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the apparatus main body 10 is formed in a substantially box shape, and is provided with a lower machine casing 11 installed below the inside of the case main body 2, an upper part of the lower machine casing 11 and the case main body 2. And an upper machine casing 12 installed in the upper part of the interior. The lower machine casing 11 and the upper machine casing 12 are provided with a finger fixing unit 30, a printing unit 40, a photographing unit 50, a print maintenance unit 60, a cartridge mounting unit 70, a control device 80 (see FIG. 7), and the like. ing.

First, the lower machine casing 11 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower machine casing 11 includes a back plate 111, a bottom plate 112, a pair of left and right side plates 113, 114, a cartridge housing portion 115, and a partition wall 116.
The lower ends of the side plates 113 and 114 are respectively connected to the left and right end portions of the bottom plate 112, and the side plates 113 and 114 are provided in a state where they stand up against the bottom plate 112. The back plate 111 is connected to the rear portion of the bottom plate 112 and the side plates 113 and 114 so as to close the rear side of the region surrounded by the bottom plate 112 and the side plates 113 and 114. A lower portion of the back plate 111 is formed to be recessed forward, and a space formed on the back side of the recessed back plate 111 is a cartridge housing portion 115 (see FIG. 4). A cartridge mounting portion 70 in which the ink cartridge 71 is mounted is provided in the cartridge housing portion 115.
The partition wall 116 is provided inside the lower machine casing 11 so as to divide the space inside the lower machine casing 11 (the space surrounded by the back plate 111, the bottom plate 112, and the side plates 113, 114) vertically. The partition wall 116 is provided substantially horizontally, the left and right ends of the partition wall 116 are connected to the side plates 113 and 114, respectively, and the rear end portion of the partition wall 116 is connected to the back plate 111.

The lower machine casing 11 is integrally provided with a finger fixing unit 30.
The finger fixing unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the cross section taken along the line V-V shown in FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrow, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI shown in FIG. FIG.

The finger fixing unit 30 receives a finger corresponding to the nail T to be printed (hereinafter referred to as “printing finger U1”), and a finger other than the printing finger U1 (hereinafter referred to as “non-printing finger”). And a finger retracting section 32 that retracts the printing finger U2).
The finger receiving portion 31 is disposed on the upper side of the partition wall 116 and approximately in the middle of the width direction of the lower machine casing 11. In addition, a space partitioned by the partition wall 116 on the lower side of the lower machine casing 11 constitutes the finger retracting portion 32.
The finger receiving portion 31 is open to the front side (front side) of the lower machine casing 11, the lower side is a printing finger placement portion 116 a that constitutes a part of the partition wall 116, both sides are partitions 31 a and 31 b, and the rear side is a partition. It is partitioned by 31c.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the partition 31 c forms an inclined surface whose upper side is inclined to the back side by approximately 45 degrees with respect to the vertical.
Further, the upper side of the finger receiving portion 31 is partitioned by a ceiling portion 31d. A window 31e for exposing the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving part 31 is formed in the ceiling part 31d.

A prism 35 is provided inside the finger receiving unit 31 and on the tip side of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31. In the present embodiment, the prism 35 is a reflective optical unit that projects the front of the printing finger U1.
As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, for example, the prism 35 is fixed to the partition 31c. The prism 35 is exposed to the outside through a window 31e formed in the ceiling portion 31d.

Further, on both sides of the front surface side of the lower machine casing 11 on the upper surface of the partition wall 116, a front wall 31f that blocks the front side of the lower machine casing 11 is provided upright. Further, a pair of guide walls 31g that narrow toward the finger receiving portion 31 from the end near the center of the front wall 31f and guide the printing finger U1 into the finger receiving portion 31 are formed on the upper surface of the partition wall 116. It is erected.
The user can sandwich the partition wall 116 between the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 and the non-printing finger U2 inserted into the finger retracting unit 32. Therefore, the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving part 31 is stably fixed.
In the present embodiment, a protruding portion 116b projecting downward is formed at the front end portion of the partition wall 116. The protruding portion 116b may be a tapered portion that gradually decreases in thickness toward the near side and gradually increases toward the inner side, and the thickness of the protruding portion 116b is formed in a recess on the inner side of the partition wall 116. On the other hand, the whole structure may be thick. Since the protrusion 116b is formed at the front end portion of the partition wall 116, a space is secured between the printed fingernail T and the partition wall 116 when the non-printing finger U2 is inserted into the finger retracting portion 32. Further, it is possible to prevent the nail T from coming into contact with the lower surface of the partition wall 116 and ink adhering to the apparatus side, or the pattern printed on the nail T being rubbed and damaged.

The printing unit 40 includes a guide rod 41, a main carriage 42, a guide rod 44, a sub carriage 45, a print head 46, a moving mechanism 47, an ink cartridge 71, and the like. Is provided.
That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two guide rods 41 are installed in parallel on both side plates of the upper machine casing 12. A main carriage 42 is slidably installed on the guide rod 41. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, two guide rods 44 are installed in parallel on the front wall 42a and the rear wall 42b of the main carriage 42. A sub carriage 45 is slidably installed on the guide rod 44. A print head 46 is mounted at the center of the lower surface of the sub carriage 45.
In the present embodiment, the print head 46 is an ink jet type print head that performs printing by atomizing ink into fine droplets and spraying the ink directly on the printing surface to be printed. The recording method of the print head 46 is not limited to the ink jet method.

In the present embodiment, the print head 46 of the printing unit 40 prints an image (design image or the like) on the surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 that is the print target surface to be printed based on the print data.
In the printing unit 40 in the present embodiment, for example, a print head 46 corresponding to yellow (Y; YELLOW), magenta (M; MAGENTA), and cyan (C; CYAN) ink is provided. Each print head 46 includes a nozzle array composed of a plurality of nozzles that eject ink of each color. The print head 46 provided in the printing unit 40 is not limited to the one that ejects the three colors of ink. A print head 46 that discharges ink of other colors may be further provided.
An ink cartridge 71 corresponding to the ink ejected from the print head 46 is mounted on the cartridge mounting section 70 provided in the cartridge housing section 115, and the ink in the ink cartridge 71 is stored in the cartridge mounting section 70 and the illustrated drawing. The ink is supplied to the print head 46 through an ink supply pipe that is not used. Note that an ink cartridge may be mounted on the print head 46 itself.

The print head 46 of the present embodiment is moved in the X direction (X direction in FIG. 6) which is the width direction (left and right direction) of the nail printing apparatus 1 by a moving mechanism 47 configured by a main scanning motor 47a, a sub scanning motor 47b, and the like. And it can move in the Y direction (Y direction in FIG. 6) which is the depth direction (front-rear direction) of the nail printing apparatus 1.
That is, the main carriage 42 is connected to the main scanning motor 47a through a power transmission unit (not shown), and is configured to move in the left-right direction along the guide rod 41 by forward and reverse rotation of the main scanning motor 47a. ing. The sub-carriage 45 is connected to the sub-scanning motor 47b via a power transmission unit (not shown), and is configured to move in the front-rear direction along the guide rod 44 by forward and reverse rotation of the sub-scanning motor 47b. ing.
The window 31e of the above-described finger receiving unit 31 is within a movable range of the print head 46 by the moving mechanism 47 in plan view. Thereby, the print head 46 can move to the position facing the nail T of the printing finger U1 exposed from the window 31e, and can print on the nail T.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the photographing unit 50 is provided in the upper machine casing 12.
That is, a substrate 13 is installed on the upper machine casing 12, and a camera 51 as an imaging device is installed on the lower surface of the central portion of the substrate 13. The camera 51 preferably has, for example, about 2 million pixels or more.
The camera 51 captures an image of the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger insertion unit 31 and the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 35 as a reflection optical unit. It is. The shooting range of the camera 51 includes an image of the nail T projected through the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the prism 35 exposed from the window 31e of the ceiling 31d of the finger receiving unit 31 shown in FIG. That is, the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the image of the front surface of the fingernail projected through the prism 35 which is a reflection optical unit face the camera 51 side as an imaging device. Therefore, the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the image of the nail T projected through the prism 35 that is the reflection optical unit are simultaneously photographed by the camera 51 as the imaging device.
An illumination lamp (illumination device) 52 such as a white LED is installed on the substrate 13 so as to surround the camera 51. The illuminating lamp 52 illuminates the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the prism 35 when the camera 51 takes a picture. The photographing unit 50 includes the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52.
In the present embodiment, an image (a finger image including a nail image) of the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the prism 35 obtained by the camera 51 as the imaging device. Based on this, the nail information detection unit 812 described later detects at least one of the shape of the nail T, the position of the nail T, and the curvature of the nail T as nail information.
The imaging unit 50 is connected to an imaging control unit 811 (see FIG. 7) of the control device 80 described later, and is controlled by the imaging control unit 811.
Image data of an image photographed by the photographing unit 50 is stored in a nail image storage area 821 of the storage unit 82 described later.

The print maintenance unit 60 is disposed at the same height as the position where the finger receiving unit 31 is provided and at a position facing the finger retracting unit 32 with the partition wall 116 interposed between the print maintaining unit 60 and the finger retracting unit 32. ing. The print maintenance unit 60 is within a movable range of the print head 46 by the moving mechanism 47 in plan view.
The print maintenance unit 60 includes, for example, a head cleaning / cap mechanism 61, an ink disposal unit 62, or both of them. Here, the head cleaning and cap mechanism 61 is for cleaning the print head 46 or for covering the print head 46 with a cap in order to keep the print head 46 in a moist state, for example. Further, the ink discarding unit 62 receives extra ink ejected from the print head 46 in order to keep the nozzle state of the print head 46 optimal, for example. Although the head cleaning / cap mechanism 61 is described here, the head cleaning mechanism and the cap mechanism may be independent of each other.

Further, the control device 80 is installed on, for example, the substrate 13 disposed in the upper machine casing 12.
FIG. 7 is a principal block diagram showing a control configuration in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the control device 80 includes a control unit 81 configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like (both not shown). And a storage unit 82 constituted by the computer.

The storage unit 82 stores various programs and various data for operating the nail printing apparatus 1.
Specifically, the ROM of the storage unit 82 includes a nail information detection program for detecting the shape of the nail T, the height of the nail T, the curvature of the nail T, and the like, and printing for generating print data. Various programs such as a data generation program and a printing program for performing a printing process are stored. When these programs are executed by the control device 80, each unit of the nail printing apparatus 1 is controlled in an integrated manner. ing.
In the present embodiment, the RAM of the storage unit 82 is detected by the nail image storage area 821 for storing the nail image of the nail T of the user's printing finger U1 acquired by the photographing unit 50, and the nail information detection unit 812. A nail information storage area 822 for storing nail information and a nail design storage area 823 for storing nail design image data printed on the nail T are provided.
In addition, the storage unit 82 may store a correction value for curved surface correction according to the curvature of the nail T.

  When viewed functionally, the control unit 81 includes an imaging control unit 811, a nail information detection unit 812, a print data generation unit 813, a display control unit 814, a print control unit 815, and the like. The functions as the imaging control unit 811, the nail information detection unit 812, the print data generation unit 813, the display control unit 814, the print control unit 815, and the like are stored in the CPU of the control unit 81 and the program stored in the ROM of the storage unit 82. It is realized by the cooperation of.

The imaging control unit 811 controls the camera 51 and the illuminating lamp 52 of the imaging unit 50 so that the camera 51 projects the image on the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 and the prism 35. An image in front of the nail T of the printing finger U1 is taken.
In the present embodiment, the photographing control unit 811 controls the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 of the photographing unit 50 to photograph the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the prism 35 exposed from the window 31e in FIG. An image of the upper surface of the nail T and an image of the front surface of the nail T projected through the prism 35 are acquired by one shooting.

The nail information detection unit 812 is based on the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger insertion unit 31 photographed by the camera 51 and the front image of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 35. The nail information about the nail T of the printing finger U1 is detected.
Here, the nail information refers to the contour of the nail T (nail shape + horizontal position), the height of the nail T (vertical position of the nail T, hereinafter “vertical position of the nail T”) or simply “ The nail T is a curvature (nail curvature) of the nail T, and the nail information detection unit 812 uses at least one of the nail T shape, the nail T position, and the nail T curvature as a nail. Detect as information. In the present embodiment, the nail information detection unit 812 detects all the shape of the nail T, the position of the nail T, and the curvature of the nail T based on the nail image.

Specifically, the nail information detection unit 812 detects the contour (shape and size) of the nail T from the finger image including the nail image on the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and the front image of the nail T acquired by the camera 51. The position is detected, and this contour is acquired as information represented by x, y coordinates and the like. The method by which the nail information detection unit 812 detects the contour (shape) of the nail T is not particularly limited. For example, the nail information detection unit 812 has a finger including a nail image of the nail T of the printing finger U1 acquired by the camera 51. The contour (nail shape + horizontal position) of the nail T is detected from the image based on the color difference between the nail T and other finger portions. In addition, the method in which the nail information detection part 812 detects the outline (shape) of the nail | Tail T is not specifically limited, It is not restricted to what was mentioned here.
Further, the nail information detection unit 812 detects the nail height of the nail T based on the upper surface image of the nail T and the front image of the nail T taken by the camera 51. Here, the nail height is a position in the vertical direction of the nail T. Specifically, the nail height is from the printing finger placement unit 116a to the upper surface of the nail T (or from the bottom surface of the print head 46 to the upper surface of the nail T). Dimensions.
Further, the nail information detection unit 812 detects the nail curvature of the nail T based on the image of the upper surface of the nail T and the image of the front surface of the nail T taken by the camera 51. The nail curvature is a curvature in the width direction of the nail T. The nail curvature can be detected from, for example, an image in front of the nail T obtained by taking an image projected through the prism 35 with the camera 51. Note that the method by which the nail information detection unit 812 detects the nail height and nail curvature of the nail T is not particularly limited, and is not limited to those described here.

The print data generation unit 813 generates data for printing applied to the nail T of the print finger U1 by the print head 46 based on the nail information detected by the nail information detection unit 812.
Specifically, the print data generation unit 813 first performs a fitting process such as enlarging, reducing, or cutting out nail design image data based on the nail shape detected by the nail information detection unit 812. Further, the print data generation unit 813 performs curved surface correction on the image data of the nail design based on the nail height and nail curvature detected by the nail information detection unit 812, and generates print data.
In the curved surface correction, the data is adjusted so that the printing pitch at the time of printing by the print head 46 is finer in the region corresponding to both ends in the width direction than in the center portion in the width direction of the nail T. More pixel data is allocated to a region corresponding to both end portions in the width direction having a larger curvature than a region corresponding to the center portion in the width direction of T.
In this way, by printing the nail T of various shapes such as the nail T that is curved in the direction away from the print head 46 by reducing the print pitch of the area corresponding to the both ends of the nail T. However, it is possible to print a high-definition image in which the nail design is not distorted up to the end portion and the density at the end portion is not lowered.

  The display control unit 814 controls the display unit 23 to display various display screens on the display unit 23. In the present embodiment, the display control unit 814 causes the display unit 23 to display a nail design selection screen, a finger image obtained by photographing the printing finger U1, a nail image included in the finger image, various instruction screens, and the like. ing.

  The print control unit 815 outputs the print data generated by the print data generation unit 813 to the print head 46, and moves the print head 46 and the print head 46 so as to move the nail T according to the print data. The mechanism 47 (that is, the main scanning motor 47a and the sub scanning motor 47b) is controlled.

  Next, the operation and usage method of the nail print apparatus 1 in the present embodiment will be described.

When printing is performed by the nail printing apparatus 1, the user first turns on the power switch to activate the control apparatus 80.
The display control unit 814 causes the display unit 23 to display a design selection screen. The user operates the operation button 221 or the like of the operation unit 22 to select a desired nail design from among a plurality of nail designs displayed on the design selection screen, whereby a selection instruction signal is output from the operation unit 22. The nail design to be printed on the nail T is selected.
Next, the user inserts the printing finger U1 into the finger receiving unit 31, inserts the non-printing finger U2 into the finger retracting unit 32, fixes the printing finger U1, and then operates the print switch.
For example, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the ring finger of the left hand is inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 as the printing finger U1, and the other fingers are inserted into the finger retracting unit 32 as the non-printing finger U2.

When an instruction is input from the print switch, before the printing operation is started, the shooting control unit 811 first controls the shooting unit 50 and illuminates the print finger U1 with the illumination lamp 52, and then presses the print finger U1 with the camera 51. Let them shoot. As a result, the imaging control unit 811 captures an image of the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 and an image of the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 35 once. Get by.
Next, the nail information detection unit 812 detects the contour (nail shape and size) and position of the nail T based on the image on the top surface of the nail T and the image on the front surface of the nail T. Further, the nail information detection unit 812 calculates a nail height (a vertical position of the nail) based on an image on the upper surface of the nail T and an image on the front of the nail T, and detects (calculates) the nail curvature.

When the nail shape, nail height (nail vertical position), and nail curvature are detected by the nail information detection unit 812, the print data generation unit 813 uses the nail information of the nail design image data based on the nail information. Perform the process of adjusting to. The print data generation unit 813 performs curved surface correction on the image data of the nail design based on the nail information. As a result, print data is generated.
When the print data is generated, the print control unit 815 outputs the print data to the print head 46 and causes the nail T to print based on the print data.
When printing is performed on a plurality of fingernails T, after the printing process is completed for one fingernail T, the finger of the printed nail T is removed from the finger receiving unit 31 and then printed. The finger of the power nail T is inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 as the printing finger U1, the nail image of the nail T is acquired, and the above processing is repeated.

As described above, according to the nail printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 and the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 35 are displayed. Take a picture with the camera 51. Thereby, the image which looked at the nail | Tail T from the different direction can be easily acquired by one imaging | photography.
As described above, since the number of times of photographing for capturing the image of the nail T is only one, the number of images is small, the arithmetic processing is simple, the processing time is short, and the printing time is increased.
The nail information detection unit 812 then captures the image of the upper surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 photographed by the camera 51 and the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 35. Based on the image, at least one of the nail shape, the nail position, and the nail curvature is detected as nail information (in this embodiment, the nail shape and nail height are detected by the nail information detection unit 812. (Vertical position of the nail) and all the nail curvature are detected.) Only with an image obtained by photographing the nail T from above, the size of the photographed image changes even if the photographing position is slightly moved up and down, and the size of the nail cannot be accurately grasped. Further, it is difficult to accurately detect the nail height and the nail curvature only from the image of the upper surface of the nail T. In this regard, as in the present embodiment, when detecting nail information from the image on the top surface of the nail T and the image on the front surface of the nail T, the shape of the nail, the position of the nail, and the curvature of the nail are accurately detected. be able to.
Since print data is generated and printed based on the detected nail shape, nail position, and nail curvature, any nail T can be printed according to the shape. High-definition nail print with beautiful finish can be realized.
Further, since only the prism 35 is disposed to acquire an image of the front surface of the nail T, the above-described effects can be obtained with a relatively simple and inexpensive apparatus configuration.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the nail print apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that this embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in the configuration of the finger fixing unit of the nail printing apparatus, and therefore, in the following, differences from the first embodiment will be particularly described.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the main body of the nail print apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section along the line IX-IX in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the nail print apparatus according to the present embodiment is provided with a finger fixing portion 90 in the lower machine casing 11 as in the first embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the finger fixing unit 90 includes a finger receiving unit 91 into which the printing finger U1 is inserted, a finger retracting unit 92 into which the non-printing finger U2 is inserted, and a printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 91; The grip portion 93 is configured to be sandwiched between the non-printing finger U2 inserted into the finger retracting portion 92.

The grip portion 93 includes a partition that partitions the finger receiving portion 91 and the finger retracting portion 92, and the upper surface of the grip portion 93 constitutes a flat print finger placement surface.
In addition, when the printing finger U1 and the non-printing finger U2 are inserted deeply into the finger receiving unit 91 and the finger retracting unit 92, the gripping unit 93 is gripped by the printing finger U1 and the non-printing finger U2. The finger insertion side end of the portion 93 is preferably circular so that the cross section in the finger insertion direction bulges downward from the lower surface of the grip portion 93. The shape of the finger insertion side end of the grip portion 93 is not limited to a circular cross section, and may be a non-circular shape such as an elliptical cross section or a polygonal shape.

FIG. 10 is a top view of the finger receiving portion 91 in the present embodiment. A plurality of printing fingers U1 can be inserted into the finger receiving portion 91 of this embodiment at a time. FIG. 10 shows a case where four fingers (index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger) other than the thumb of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand are inserted into the finger receiving unit 91 as the print fingers U1.
As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, in the present embodiment, four fingers and fingers from the index finger to the little finger, which are printing fingers U <b> 1 inserted into the finger receiving portion 91, are located at the center in the width direction of the grip portion 93. The four fingers from the index finger to the little finger can be positioned by abutting the base of the other finger (that is, the thumb) that is the non-printing finger U2 inserted into the retracting unit 92 with the end. One finger positioning part 93a is arranged.
The length dimension in the width direction X of the first finger positioning portion 93a is not particularly limited as long as it can stably support four fingers (index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger) other than the thumb of one hand. .

Further, the grip portion 93 includes a thumb that is a printing finger U1 inserted into the finger receiving portion 91 and a non-printing finger U2 that is inserted into the finger retracting portion 92 on both the left and right sides of the first finger positioning portion 93a. The second finger positioning part 93b that can position the thumb inserted into the finger receiving part 91 by abutting the base of the finger (that is, four fingers from the index finger to the little finger) against the end part Is arranged.
The second finger positioning part 93b is arranged at a position where the end of the first finger positioning part 93a is shifted to the back side in the insertion direction Y of the printing finger from the end of the first finger positioning part 93a. There is no particular limitation on how much the end of the second finger positioning portion 93b is shifted with respect to the end of the first finger positioning portion 93a, but the nail T of the thumb and each of the other four fingers are not limited. It is preferable that the positions are approximately in the horizontal direction.
In this regard, the human hand has a shorter thumb than the other four fingers, and there are differences in how to grasp and individual differences, but there is a difference of 40 to 75 mm in length between the thumb and the other four fingers. is there. Therefore, in consideration of such a difference in finger length, the end portion of the second finger positioning portion 93b is about 40 to 75 mm longer than the end portion of the first finger positioning portion 93a, and the insertion direction of the printing finger U1. It is preferable that it is shifted to the back side of Y.
When the end of the part for positioning the four fingers and the end of the part for positioning the thumb are not shifted in the insertion direction Y of the printing finger U1, the position of the nail T of the thumb and the other four fingers The position of each nail T is greatly deviated in the insertion direction Y of the printing finger U1, and the photographing range that can be photographed by the photographing unit 50 and the printable range that can be printed by the printing unit 40 are described as the nail T of the thumb. It is necessary to expand to an area including all the other four fingernails T.
In this regard, as in the present embodiment, the end of the second finger positioning portion 93b for positioning the thumb is about 45 mm, and is further to the back in the insertion direction Y of the printing finger U1 than the end of the first finger positioning portion 93a. When shifted, the positions of the nail T of the thumb and each of the other four fingers in the insertion direction Y of the printing finger are almost aligned, so the shooting range of the shooting unit 50 and the printable range of the printing unit 40 are increased. It can be narrowed.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, in the nail print apparatus of the present embodiment, a prism 36 is arranged on the inner back side of the finger insertion portion 91 so as to extend in the width direction of the finger insertion portion 91. Yes.
The prism 36 is a reflection optical unit that projects the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and / or the side surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1. In the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the prism 36 projects the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inserted in the finger insertion portion 91.
The prism 36 may be a single long prism, or is configured by arranging a plurality of prisms having a width smaller than the length in the width direction of the finger insertion portion 91 in the width direction of the finger insertion portion 91. May be. In the case of a plurality of prisms, the position of the prisms in the finger insertion direction may be shifted according to the general finger length (for example, the middle finger is long and the little finger is short).

In the present embodiment, an imaging unit 50 is provided on the side of a carriage (main carriage 42 in the present embodiment) that supports the print head 46.
That is, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a substrate 53 is provided on the upper surface of the main carriage 42 of the printing unit 40 so that one end side projects to the side of the main carriage 42. A camera 51 and an illuminating lamp 52 serving as an imaging device constituting 50 are provided on the lower surface of the protruding portion of the substrate 53 so as to face the partition wall 116.
The size of the substrate 53 and the positions of the imaging device 51 and the illumination lamp 52 attached to the substrate 53 are not particularly limited. Further, the number of illumination lamps 52 is not limited to the illustrated example.
The camera (imaging device) 51 and the illuminating lamp 52 of the imaging unit 50 are inserted into the finger receiving unit 91 by moving in the front-rear and left-right directions by the moving mechanism 47 (that is, the main scanning motor 47a and the sub-scanning motor 47b). It is possible to photograph the upper surfaces of the nails T of all the printing fingers U1 from directly above.
For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when photographing the nail T of the middle finger of the left hand inserted in the finger receiving portion 91, first, the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 are moved while photographing by the moving mechanism 47. Then, the image in which the middle fingernail T enters the center is performed until the image is captured. In this case, for example, a range indicated by a thick solid line in FIG. Further, in the case of shooting the nail T of the ring finger of the left hand, shooting is performed with the camera 51 in the shooting range Ar2 indicated by the broken line in FIG. Further, in the case of photographing the thumb nail T of the right hand, for example, the camera 51 performs photographing on the photographing range Ar3 indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, when photographing the upper surface of the nail T of each printing finger U1, the front of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 36 is also included in the photographing range. The image of the upper surface of the nail T of U1 and the image of the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 36 can be acquired by one shooting.
In addition, since the other structure is the same as that of 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same member and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

Next, the operation and usage method of the nail print apparatus 1 in the present embodiment will be described.
First, as in the first embodiment, the user turns on the power switch to activate the control device 80, and selects a nail design to be printed on the nail T.
Then, the user inserts a plurality of printing fingers U1 into the finger receiving unit 91, inserts a non-printing finger U2 into the finger retracting unit 92, fixes the printing finger U1, and then operates the printing switch.
For example, in FIG. 10, four fingers other than the thumb of the left hand (forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger) and the thumb of the right hand are inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 as the print fingers U1, and the other fingers are set as the non-print fingers U2. The example inserted in the finger evacuation part 32 is shown.

When an instruction is input from the print switch, before the printing operation is started, the imaging control unit 811 first controls the imaging unit 50 and illuminates the printing finger U1 with the illumination lamp 52, and the camera 51 causes the printing finger U1 to move. The upper surface of the nail T and the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 projected through the prism 36 are photographed for each printing finger U1.
For example, when photographing the nail T of the middle finger of the left hand, the photographing control unit 811 moves the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 while photographing with the moving mechanism 47, and an image from right above the nail T of the ring finger, for example, The image in the shooting range Ar1 in FIG. 10 is captured. Thereby, the image of the upper surface of the nail | Tail T and the image of the front surface of the nail | Tail T are acquired about a ring finger.
Next, the nail information detection unit 812 is based on the image of the upper surface of the nail T and the image of the front surface of the nail T acquired by the camera. Is detected. Further, the nail information detection unit 812 estimates (calculates) the nail height (the vertical position of the nail) and the nail curvature based on the image on the top surface of the nail T and the image on the front surface of the nail T.

When the nail shape, nail height (nail vertical position), and nail curvature are detected by the nail information detection unit 812, the print data generation unit 813 uses the nail information of the nail design image data based on the nail information. The print data is generated by performing a fitting process on the image and further appropriately correcting the curved surface of the image data of the nail design.
When the print data is generated, the print control unit 815 outputs the print data to the print head 46 and causes the nail T to print based on the print data.
Note that the shooting and printing of the nails T of the plurality of printing fingers U1 inserted in the finger receiving unit 91 is performed by first shooting the nails T of all the printing fingers U1, and generating print data for each nail T. Alternatively, printing may be performed sequentially, or the nail T of one printing finger U1 is photographed, print data is generated for the nail T, printing is performed on the nail T, and printing is performed for one nail T. When the process is finished, the same nail T of the next printing finger U1 is photographed in the same manner, the print data is generated for the nail T, and the nail T is printed. Good.

  Since other points are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained in addition to the same effects as those of the first embodiment.
That is, in the present embodiment, for example, a plurality of fingers such as four fingers (for example, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger) of one hand and one finger (for example, thumb) of the other hand are connected to the finger receiving unit 91. Can be inserted at a time and printed sequentially. For this reason, there is no need for the user to change the finger each time printing is completed for the nail T of one printing finger U1, and the nail design can be printed on each finger of one hand or both hands simply and quickly.
Even in such a case, the image of the upper surface of the nail T and the image of the front surface of the nail T projected via the prism 36 can be easily acquired by one shooting. Since the nail information is detected based on the image of the upper surface of the nail T and the image of the front surface of the nail T, the shape, nail height (nail vertical position), nail curvature, etc. of the nail T are accurately recognized. can do.
In particular, in the type in which the finger is placed in the finger insertion portion 91, the position of the nail changes due to individual differences or finger differences. high.
In this embodiment, even if the finger is tilted to the left and right and an image from the front of the nail T cannot be projected on the prism 36, an image of the upper surface of the nail T (an image taken from directly above the nail T). Therefore, the curved surface shape of the nail T can be easily recognized.
In the present embodiment, since the camera 51 moves together with the print head 46, the upper surface of the nail T is also photographed from directly above the nail T of the printing finger U1 disposed at the end of the finger receiving unit 91 or the like. The nail shape can be detected with high accuracy based on high-definition images without distortion for all the nails T.
Further, the nail design image data can be adjusted to the user's nail T based on the nail shape, nail height, and nail curvature thus detected with high accuracy, and the curved surface correction can be performed on the image data. Thus, print data corresponding to various shapes of nails T can be generated, and high-definition printing with a beautiful finish can be performed.
Further, even when the nails T of the plurality of printing fingers U1 are arranged over a wide range of the finger receiving portion 91, the camera 51 is moved to a position corresponding to each nail T, so that the shooting range is always set. It is sufficient if one fingernail T can be photographed sufficiently. For this reason, it is not necessary to perform photographing with a wide-angle lens, so that there is no problem that the image is distorted at the end portion or the amount of light is reduced. As a result, the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 need only be provided with one set of small ones capable of performing normal photographing, and the problem of device complexity and size increase does not occur, and an increase in device cost can be suppressed. it can.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the second embodiment, the camera 51 and the illuminating lamp 52 are provided on the lower surface of the protruding portion of the substrate 53 disposed on the upper surface of the main carriage 42 of the printing unit 40. The camera 51 only needs to be configured to be movable together with the print head 46 by the moving mechanism 47, and the positions where the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 are provided are not particularly limited. For example, the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 may be fixed to the sub carriage 45 or directly to the print head 46.
Further, in the second embodiment, the case where the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 are fixedly arranged on the side of the carriage (in this embodiment, the main carriage 42) that supports the print head 46 is illustrated. The positions where the 51 and the illumination lamp 52 are provided are not limited to the side of the print head 46 or the carriage (the main carriage 42 or the sub-carriage 45) that supports the print head 46. For example, the print head 46 or the front side or the back of the carriage The side etc. may be sufficient.

  In the second embodiment, the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 are moved together with the print head 46 by the moving mechanism 47. However, the arrangement for moving the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 is not limited to this. For example, a moving mechanism that moves the camera 51 and the illumination lamp 52 may be provided separately from the moving mechanism 47 that moves the print head 46.

Further, as in the second embodiment, in the nail printing apparatus that performs printing for a plurality of printing fingers U1, it is not essential that the photographing unit 50 is configured to be movable. Like the imaging unit 50, a camera 51 and an illumination lamp 52 as an imaging device may be fixedly installed on the lower surface of the substantially central portion of the substrate 13.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, the upper surfaces of the nails T of all the printing fingers U1 inserted in the finger receiving portion 91 and the front surface of the nails T of the printing fingers U1 projected through the prism 36 can be photographed. The shooting range Ar10 is set so that In FIG. 11, four fingers other than the right hand thumb (forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger) and the left hand thumb are inserted into the finger receiving portion 91 as print fingers U1, and the other fingers are set as non-print fingers U2. An example in which the finger is retracted into the finger retracting unit 92 is shown.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which a prism is disposed as a reflection optical unit that is inside the finger receiving unit 31 and reflects the front or side surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 has been described. It is not limited to. The reflective optical unit can be accommodated in the finger receiving unit 31 and can project the front or side surface of the nail T within the imaging range of the imaging device (camera). For example, FIG. As shown in FIG. 13, a mirror 37 may be used. In this case, for example, the mirror 37 is stuck and fixed on the inclined surface of the partition 31c.
In addition, when using the mirror 37 as a reflection optical part, as shown in FIG.12 and FIG.13, as shown in FIG.12 and FIG.13, transparent plates, such as a transparent glass plate and a transparent acrylic board, are located in the near side of a finger insertion direction. It is preferable to arrange the member 38. Thereby, it can be prevented that the user inserts the printing finger U1 too far into the finger insertion portion 31, and the fingertip comes into contact with the mirror 37 to contaminate the surface of the mirror 37.
Further, the reflection optical unit is not limited to those exemplified here, and may be configured by, for example, various optical elements, an optical fiber array, or the like.

Further, in the present embodiment, an example in which the prisms 35 and 36 as the reflection optical unit that projects the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 inside the finger receiving unit 31 is shown, but the reflection optical unit is arranged. The position to be made is not limited to this.
The reflection optical unit is inside the finger receiving unit 31, for example, among the three directions around the nail T of the printing finger U <b> 1 inserted into the finger receiving unit 31 (that is, the tip side and both sides of the nail T). What is necessary is just to be provided in at least any one place and to project the front surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1 and / or the side surface of the nail T of the printing finger U1.
For example, as shown in FIG. 14, it may be provided at three places so as to surround the nail T (that is, the prism 39a disposed on the tip side of the nail T and the prism 39b disposed on the left and right of the nail T). , 39c) may be disposed on either the left or right side of the tip of the nail T (that is, the prism 39a disposed on the tip of the nail T in FIG. 14 and the prism disposed on the left or right of the nail T). Any one of 39b and 39c). Moreover, you may arrange | position only at either the right or left side part or both sides of the nail | Tail T (namely, any one or both of the prisms 39b and 39c arrange | positioned on the right and left of the nail | Tail T in FIG. 14). .
In order to accurately detect the curvature and the like of the nail T by the nail information detection unit 812, a reflection optical unit is provided on the tip side of the nail T, and an image of the front surface of the nail T is acquired. It is preferable to use the image of the upper surface, but the shape of the nail T and the position of the nail T (the height of the nail) are also detected by using the image of one side surface of the nail T and the image of the upper surface of the nail T. The curvature of the nail T can be estimated from these two images. Further, the reflection optical unit may be provided only on the side surface of the fingernail without being provided on the front surface of the fingernail.

  In each of the above embodiments, the print data generation unit 813 performs curved surface correction on nail design image data to generate print data. However, the print data generation unit 813 generates print data. Is not an essential component of the present invention. For example, without generating print data separately, the print control unit 815 outputs the nail design image data to the print head 46 while appropriately converting the image data by a LUT (Lookup Table) or the like to perform printing according to the nail shape. In addition, printing control may be performed.

  The imaging device is not limited to the camera 51 that captures a still image, and may be an apparatus that can capture a moving image. In this case, a moving image is photographed by the camera, and an image of the upper surface of the nail T and an image of the front surface of the nail T are appropriately cut out from the photographed moving image and used for detecting nail information.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof. .
The invention described in the scope of claims attached to the application of this application will be added below. The item numbers of the claims described in the appendix are as set forth in the claims attached to the application of this application.
[Appendix]
<Claim 1>
A finger insertion part for inserting a finger;
A print head for printing on the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion portion;
A reflective optical unit that is provided inside the finger insertion unit and projects the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail;
An imaging device for photographing the upper surface of the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion unit, and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit;
A nail printing apparatus comprising:
<Claim 2>
The nail print apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflection optical unit is provided on a front surface of the fingernail and / or a side surface of the fingernail.
<Claim 3>
An image of the upper surface of the fingernail inserted in the finger insertion unit and an image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit, which is photographed by the imaging device. 3. A nail information detecting unit for detecting at least one of nail shape, nail position, and nail curvature as nail information based on the nail information. The nail printing apparatus described in 1.
<Claim 4>
The nail print apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reflection optical unit is configured by a prism or a mirror.
<Claim 5>
The upper surface of the fingernail, the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the image of the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit face the imaging device side,
The upper surface of the fingernail and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit are simultaneously photographed by the imaging device. The nail printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
<Claim 6>
Reflecting the front or side of the fingernail inserted inside the finger insertion part by the reflective optical part,
Photographing the upper surface of the fingernail and the front and / or side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit by an imaging device;
A printing control method for a nail printing apparatus, wherein the printing head is controlled to print on the fingernail by a control unit.
<Claim 7>
The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the reflective optical unit is provided on a front surface of the fingernail and / or on a side surface of the fingernail.
<Claim 8>
Based on the image of the upper surface of the fingernail imaged by the imaging device and the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail imaged via the reflective optical unit, 8. The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the nail position and the nail curvature is detected by the nail information detection unit as nail information.
<Claim 9>
The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the reflection optical unit is configured by a prism or a mirror.
<Claim 10>
The upper surface of the fingernail, the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the image of the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit face the imaging device side,
The upper surface of the fingernail and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit are simultaneously photographed by the imaging device. The printing control method for a nail printing apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Nail print apparatus 2 Case main body 31 Finger receiving part 35 Prism 46 Print head 47 Moving mechanism 50 Image | photographing part 51 Camera 52 Illumination light 80 Control apparatus 81 Control part 82 Storage part 116 Bulkhead 811 Image | photographing control part 812 Nail information detection part 813 Print data Generation unit 814 Display control unit 815 Print control unit 821 Nail image storage area 822 Nail information storage area 823 Design image storage area T Nail U1 Print finger U2 Non-print finger

Claims (10)

A finger insertion part for inserting a finger;
A print head for printing on the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion portion;
A reflective optical unit that is provided inside the finger insertion unit and projects the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail;
An imaging device for photographing the upper surface of the fingernail inserted into the finger insertion unit, and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit;
A nail printing apparatus comprising:   The nail print apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflection optical unit is provided on a front surface of the fingernail and / or a side surface of the fingernail.   An image of the upper surface of the fingernail inserted in the finger insertion unit and an image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit, which is photographed by the imaging device. 3. A nail information detecting unit for detecting at least one of nail shape, nail position, and nail curvature as nail information based on the nail information. The nail printing apparatus described in 1.   The nail print apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reflection optical unit is configured by a prism or a mirror. The upper surface of the fingernail, the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the image of the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit face the imaging device side,
The upper surface of the fingernail and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit are simultaneously photographed by the imaging device. The nail printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Reflecting the front or side of the fingernail inserted inside the finger insertion part by the reflective optical part,
Photographing the upper surface of the fingernail and the front and / or side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit by an imaging device;
A printing control method for a nail printing apparatus, wherein the printing head is controlled to print on the fingernail by a control unit.   The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the reflective optical unit is provided on a front surface of the fingernail and / or on a side surface of the fingernail.   Based on the image of the upper surface of the fingernail imaged by the imaging device and the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail imaged via the reflective optical unit, 8. The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the nail position and the nail curvature is detected by the nail information detection unit as nail information.   The printing control method for a nail print apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the reflection optical unit is configured by a prism or a mirror. The upper surface of the fingernail, the image of the front surface of the fingernail and / or the image of the side surface of the fingernail imaged through the reflective optical unit face the imaging device side,
The upper surface of the fingernail and the front surface of the fingernail and / or the side surface of the fingernail projected through the reflective optical unit are simultaneously photographed by the imaging device. The printing control method for a nail printing apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9.

Images