JP7571382B2 - PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, AND CONTROL PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing device, a control method for a printing device, and a control program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a printing device that prints a nail design on a nail tip (artificial nail) to be attached to a nail (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In this type of printing device, in order to achieve high quality printing, it is necessary to manually set shape data such as the roundness (degree of curvature) of the nail tip.

Special Publication No. 2006-519030

The purpose of the present invention is to easily achieve high-quality printing on nail tips.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a printing device including a printing means for printing on a surface of a nail tip that is made of a light-transmitting material and colored milky white, the printing device comprising:
a nail chip holder that is detachable from a printing device body and that fixes the nail chip, the nail chip holder having a lighting means for lighting the nail chip from the back side and making the information code on the back side of the nail chip visible from the front side, and is configured to be attached to and detached from a printing device body;
an image capturing means provided in the printing device body for capturing an image of the nail tip illuminated by the illumination means from the front side;
a shape data acquiring means for acquiring shape data of the nail tip corresponding to the information code based on the image captured by the photographing means;
a print control means for controlling an operation of the printing means based on the shape data acquired by the shape data acquisition means;
The present invention is characterized by comprising:

The present invention makes it possible to easily achieve high-quality printing on nail tips.

1 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of a main part of a nail printing device according to an embodiment; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a nail tip holder according to an embodiment. 1A is a diagram showing a nail tip printed by a nail printing device in an embodiment, in which (a) is a view from the front side, (b) is a view from the back side, and (c) is a view showing a state illuminated from the back side. FIG. 2 is a control block diagram showing a schematic control configuration of the nail printing device according to the embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of a printing process of the nail printing device in the embodiment.

An embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.
In addition, the embodiments described below are subject to various limitations that are technically preferable for implementing the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.
In addition, in the following embodiments, the printing device is described as an example of a nail printing device that prints on fingernails and nail tips, but the printing device of the present invention may be any device that prints on at least nail tips.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing the internal configuration of a nail printing device 1 according to the present embodiment.
In the following embodiments, up/down, left/right, and front/rear refer to the directions shown in Fig. 1. The X direction refers to the left/right direction, and the Y direction refers to the front/rear direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, a nail printing device 1 includes a base 3 in which various internal structures are incorporated.
A substantially flat base upper plate 30 is disposed on the upper side of the base 3. The base upper plate 30 is disposed at a height that is substantially flush with the surface of the nail (surface to be printed) when the printing finger is fixed to the finger fixing portion 6 described below.

A finger holding section 6 is disposed in the front (near side) of the base upper plate 30, approximately in the center in the left-right direction. The finger holding section 6 is a box-shaped member having an opening 61 that opens to the front side of the device, and a nail to be printed (printing finger) is inserted into the device through the opening 61, and printing is performed on this nail.
A finger fixing member 62 for fixing the printing finger is disposed in the finger fixing section 6. The finger fixing member 62 supports the printing finger by pushing it up from below, and is formed of, for example, a flexible resin.
The inner side (rear side) of the top surface of the finger holding part 6 is an open window part 63. From the window part 63, the nail of a finger inserted into the finger holding part 6 is exposed.
The top front side (front side) of the finger fixing unit 6 is a finger pressing unit 64 that prevents the printing finger from floating up and regulates the upward position of the printing finger. The printing finger is supported from below by the finger fixing member 62 and the upper side of the printing finger is pressed by the finger pressing unit 64, so that the height direction position of the nail surface of the printing finger (surface to be printed) is positioned at a predetermined position suitable for printing by the printing unit 40.
Additionally, above the window 63 of the finger support portion 6, there is provided an imaging portion 50 (described later) that captures an image of the nail exposed through the window 63 to obtain a nail image.

Inside the device, there is also provided a printing unit 40 that performs printing on a surface to be printed. Here, the surface to be printed is the surface of a print target, which in this embodiment is the surface of a fingernail.
The printing unit 40 is composed of a cartridge 7 that functions as a print head, a cartridge holder 8 that supports the cartridge 7, an X-direction movement stage 45 for moving the cartridge 7 in the X direction along the left-right direction, an X-direction movement motor 46 (see Figure 4), a Y-direction movement stage 47 for moving the cartridge 7 in the Y direction along the front-rear direction, and a Y-direction movement motor 48 (see Figure 4).

The Y-direction moving stage 47 has support members 471 provided on both left and right sides of the base upper plate 30, extending in the front-rear direction (Y direction).
Pulleys 477 are attached to both ends in the extending direction of the pair of support members 471. Drive belts 474 extending in the front-rear direction are wound around the pulleys 477 on the left and right sides of the device, respectively.
Pulleys 477 provided on the rear side of the device are attached to both ends of a drive shaft 476. A Y-direction movement motor 48 (see FIG. 4) is connected to this drive shaft 476, and when this Y-direction movement motor 48 is driven, the drive shaft 476 and the pulley 477 attached thereto rotate in the forward and reverse directions as appropriate.
Rotation of the pulley 477 also rotates the drive belt 474 wound around the pulley 477, thereby enabling the X-direction moving stage 45 (and the cartridge 7 mounted on the X-direction moving stage 45) to move in the Y direction.
In addition, a guide shaft 475 is provided on the support member 471 so as to extend in the front-rear direction in parallel with the drive belt 474 .

The X-direction moving stage 45 is formed in a rectangular box shape extending in the left-right direction (X-direction), and is provided at the rear end of the base upper plate 30 .
A guide shaft 475 is inserted into both the left and right ends of the X-direction moving stage 45, and when the Y-direction moving motor 48 (see Figure 4) is driven to rotate the drive belt 474, the X-direction moving stage 45 can be moved in the Y direction along the guide shaft 475.

A pulley (not shown) is provided inside the X-direction moving stage 45, and a drive belt 454 extending in the left-right direction is wound around the pulley. A guide shaft 455 extending in the left-right direction and approximately parallel to the drive belt 454 is provided inside the X-direction moving stage 45.
A cartridge holder 8 that detachably holds a cartridge 7 is mounted on the X-direction moving stage 45 .
A holder support member (not shown) through which a guide shaft 455 is inserted is provided on the rear side (rear side in FIG. 1) of the cartridge holder 8 .
The cartridge holder 8 is movable in the X direction along a guide shaft 455 within the X direction movement stage 45 as the X direction movement motor 46 (see FIG. 4) is driven to rotate a drive belt 454 .

In this embodiment, a head movement mechanism 49 (see FIG. 4) that can move the cartridge 7 as a print head in the X and Y directions is configured by an X-direction movement motor 46 and a Y-direction movement motor 48, etc., and its operation is controlled by a control device 80 described later.

The cartridge 7 of this embodiment functions as a print head as described above, and is an inkjet head of an inkjet type that prints by spraying minute droplets of ink from an ink ejection section on the underside of the cartridge 7 onto the printing surface of the print target (nail). The cartridge 7 is capable of ejecting, for example, yellow (Y; YELLOW), magenta (M; MAGENTA), and cyan (C; CYAN) ink.
The cartridge 7 is configured to move in an area above the base top plate 30 .

The right rear portion of the base top plate 30 is a home position Ar1, which is a waiting area where a cartridge 7 (cartridge holder 8) (described later) waits when not printing. A cap portion (not shown) that covers the ink ejection surface on the bottom of the cartridge 7 is provided at the home position Ar1. The cap portion protects the ink ejection surface from drying out when not printing, and is made of, for example, a flexible resin.
The left rear portion of the base top plate 30 is a maintenance area Ar2 where maintenance such as cleaning of the cartridge 7 is performed when printing is not being performed. The maintenance area Ar2 is provided with a purge unit 72 that performs a purge (spit) process, a wipe unit 73 that wipes the ink ejection surface, and a scrape unit 74 that removes ink adhering to the wipe unit 73.
The finger support portion 6 is disposed at approximately the center in the left-right direction of the front portion of the base upper plate 30. In this embodiment, the area corresponding to the window portion 63 of the finger support portion 6 is the printing area Ar3 where the cartridge 7 performs the printing operation during printing.

The nail printing device 1 is configured so that the finger fixing part 6 is detachable, and a nail tip holder 9 for printing the nail tip T can be attached in place of the finger fixing part 6. In other words, the nail printing device 1 is configured so that either the finger fixing part 6 for placing the printing target or the nail tip holder 9 can be attached to the nail printing device main body 10 (see FIG. 4) excluding the finger fixing part 6 and the nail tip holder 9.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the nail tip holder 9. As shown in FIG.
As shown in this figure, the nail tip holder 9 is a box-shaped member having the same size as the finger holding part 6 .
A tip fixing base 91 for fixing the nail tip T is provided on the upper surface of the nail tip holder 9. By attaching the nail tip T to the tip fixing base 91 with its front surface facing upward, when the nail tip holder 9 is attached to the nail print device main body 10, the front surface of the nail tip T is disposed at a position corresponding to the printing position of the nail on the finger fixing part 6.
A reading LED 92 for reading a two-dimensional code C, which will be described later, on the back surface of the nail tip T is provided on the upper surface of the tip fixing base 91. The reading LED 92 is an illumination means provided to emit light upward, and illuminates the nail tip T attached to the tip fixing base 91 from the back surface side.

3(a) and (b) are views of the front and back sides of a nail tip T to be printed by the nail printing device 1, and FIG. 3(c) is a view showing the nail tip T illuminated from the back side.
As shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), a two-dimensional code C corresponding to the shape data of the nail tip T is attached or printed on the back surface of the nail tip T.
The shape data is curvature data of the nail tip T (information representing the degree of curvature) and information on the type of finger on which the nail tip T is attached. However, the two-dimensional code C may be an information code that contains at least information corresponding to the curvature data of the nail tip T as shape data, and may be, for example, a one-dimensional barcode. The curvature data may also be information representing the height or inclination of the nail, which corresponds to the degree of curvature.
The nail tip T is made of a light-transmitting material and is colored milky white, so that the two-dimensional code C on the back side cannot be seen from the front side as it is (before printing). However, because the nail tip T is made of a light-transmitting material, the two-dimensional code C can be seen from the front side by illuminating the back side, as shown in FIG. 3(c).

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram showing a schematic control configuration of the nail printing device 1.
As shown in this figure, the nail printing device 1 includes an operation section 21, a display section 22, an image capturing section 50, and a control device 80 in addition to the printing section 40 described above.

The operation unit 21 is capable of performing various inputs, settings, etc. in response to user operations, and when the operation unit 21 is operated, an input signal corresponding to the operation is transmitted to the control device 80. The operation unit 21 may include various operation buttons, a keyboard, a pointing device, etc., or may be a touch panel integrally provided on the surface of the display unit 22.

The display unit 22 is a display that displays various information according to the control of the control device 80. In this embodiment, the display unit 22 displays nail designs and various images that the user inputs and selects from the operation unit 21.

The photographing section 50 includes a photographing device 51 and a lighting device 52 .
When the finger fixing part 6 is attached to the nail print device main body 10, the photographing part 50 photographs the printing finger placed on the finger fixing part 6 with the photographing device 51 while illuminating it with the lighting device 52, and obtains the image, which is a nail image. When the nail tip holder 9 is attached to the nail print device main body 10, the photographing part 50 not only obtains an image of the two-dimensional code C of the nail tip T, but also, as described below, photographs the nail tip T fixed to the tip fixing base 91 with the photographing device 51 while illuminating it with the lighting device 52, and obtains the image, which is a nail tip image.
The photographing device 51 is, for example, a small camera equipped with a solid-state photographing element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) type or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) type having 2 million or more pixels, a lens, etc. The lighting device 52 is, for example, an illumination lamp such as a white LED.
The photographing unit 50 may be configured to be movable in the X and Y directions by a head moving mechanism 49 that moves the cartridge 7 .

The control device 80 is a computer that includes a control unit 81 that is configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and a storage unit 82 that includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 821 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 822, etc.

The storage unit 82 stores various programs and various data for operating the nail print device 1 .
Specifically, the ROM 821 of the memory unit 82 stores various programs such as a printing program for performing printing processing, and the nail printing device 1 is controlled by the control device 80 expanding these programs, for example, into a working area of RAM and executing them.
Further, the memory unit 82 in this embodiment stores data on nail designs, images and shape data of nail tips T, and the like.

The control unit 81 has functional units such as a shooting control unit 811 and a printing control unit 812. The functions of these functional units are realized by cooperation between the CPU of the control unit 81 and a program stored in the ROM 821 of the storage unit 82.

The photographing control unit 811 controls the photographing device 51 and the lighting device 52 of the photographing unit 50, and causes the photographing device 51 to photograph an image of the printing finger, the nail tip T, or the like.
Image data of nail images, nail tip images, etc. acquired by the photographing unit 50 are stored in the storage unit 82.

The print control unit 812 outputs a control signal to the print unit 40 based on the print data, and controls the X-direction movement motor 46, Y-direction movement motor 48, cartridge 7, etc. of the print unit 40 so as to print on the nail or nail tip T according to the print data.

The control device 80 also includes a print target recognition unit 85 .
The printing target recognizing unit 85 is connected to a connector 851 of the nail print device main body 10. The connector 851 is connected to the connector 65 of the finger fixing unit 6 or the connector 93 of the nail tip holder 9. The printing target recognizing unit 85 can identify whether the finger fixing unit 6 or the nail tip holder 9 is connected to the connector 851 and attached, and outputs this identification result to the control unit 81. Based on this identification result, the control unit 81 recognizes a nail as a printing target when the finger fixing unit 6 is attached, and recognizes a nail tip T when the nail tip holder 9 is attached. Furthermore, the control unit 81 can control the turning on/off of the reading LED 92 when the nail tip holder 9 is attached.

Next, the operation of the nail printing device 1 when printing the nail tip T will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of printing processing in the nail printing device 1 according to this embodiment.
It should be noted that a pre-print coat for fixing the ink is applied in advance to the nail tip T to be printed, as necessary. This application may be done manually by the user or by the nail printing device 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the printing process is executed, the control unit 81 first selects the nail tip T as a printing target based on a user operation (step S1).
Next, the control unit 81 selects a design to be printed based on a user operation (step S2). In this embodiment, designs for ten fingers on both hands are selected.

Next, the control unit 81 fixes the nail tip T to the nail tip holder 9 and attaches the nail tip holder 9 to the nail printing device main body 10 (step S3).

Then, when the printing target recognition unit 85 recognizes that the nail tip holder 9 is attached, the control unit 81 turns on the reading LED 92 of the nail tip holder 9 (step S4).
This allows the nail tip T to be illuminated from the back side, making the two-dimensional code C on the back side visible from the front side.

In this state, the control unit 81 photographs the nail tip T from the front side using the photographing unit 50 and reads the two-dimensional code C (step S5). Here, the control unit 81 decodes the two-dimensional code C by image processing and obtains shape data of the nail tip T.

Next, the control unit 81 determines whether the code reading (scanning) in step S5 was successful (step S6). Here, the success or failure of the code reading is determined based on, for example, whether or not the specified shape data was acquired.

If it is determined in step S6 that the code reading in step S5 has failed (step S6; No), the control unit 81 displays in a dialog box on the display unit 22 that acquisition of shape data has failed (step S7), and then inputs the type of nail (finger) to which the nail tip T is to be attached and its degree of curvature through user operation (manual input) on the operation unit 21 (steps S8, S9).
Then, the process proceeds to step S12, which will be described later.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S6 that the code reading in step S5 was successful (step S6; Yes), the control unit 81 turns off the reading LED 92 of the nail tip holder 9 (step S10) and sets the curvature data of the nail tip T from the acquired shape data (step S11).

Next, the control unit 81 obtains information on the type of finger on which the nail tip T is to be attached from the obtained shape data, and obtains image data of the design of the corresponding finger (step S12).

Next, the control unit 81 recognizes the shape of the nail tip T by the photographing unit 50 (step S13). Then, the control unit 81 synthesizes design data according to the recognized shape. Note that by including the planar shape of the nail tip T in the shape data that can be acquired from the two-dimensional code C, the shape recognition of the nail tip T in this step may be omitted.
Then, the control unit 81 displays a preview of the combined design on the display unit 22 (step S14).

Next, the control unit 81 creates print data that has been subjected to curved surface correction that takes the curvature into consideration, based on the curvature data set in step S11 (step S15).
Then, the control unit 81 causes the printing unit 40 to print the nail tip T based on the created print data (step S16).

Next, the control unit 81 determines whether or not to print another nail tip T based on user operation, etc. (step S17), and if it determines to print (step S17; Yes), it transitions to the above-mentioned step S3 and repeats the attachment process of the other nail tip T again.
Furthermore, when it is determined that no other nail tips T will be printed, for example because printing of ten nail tips T for both hands has been completed (step S17; No), the control unit 81 ends the printing process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the shape data of the nail tip T is obtained by reading the two-dimensional code C printed on the nail tip T, and the operation of the printing unit 40 is controlled based on this shape data.
As a result, unlike the conventional method in which the shape data of the nail tip was manually set, the shape data of the nail tip T can be automatically read and printing can be performed taking this into consideration. Therefore, when printing the nail tip T, high-quality printing can be easily achieved.
In addition, since printing is automatically performed to match the attached nail tip T, it is possible to set an individual degree of curvature for each nail tip T. Furthermore, when printing a plurality of nail tips T in sequence, there is no need to set the nail tips T in a predetermined order.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the nail tip T is illuminated from the back side by the reading LED 92, making the two-dimensional code C printed on the back side of the nail tip T visible from the front side, while the nail tip T in this state is photographed from the front side by the photographing unit 50 to read the two-dimensional code C.
This allows the two-dimensional code C on the back surface of the nail tip T to be suitably read by the imaging unit 50 on the front surface side.
Furthermore, since the reading LED 92 is provided in the nail tip holder 9 and the photographing unit 50 is provided in the nail printing device main body 10, the photographing unit 50 of the nail printing device main body 10, which is normally used for printing nails, can be used to read the two-dimensional code C.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the nail tip T is colored and the two-dimensional code C cannot be seen from the front side, so even if there is a part on the front side of the nail tip T that is not printed, the two-dimensional code C on the back side cannot be seen through this part.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the shape data of the two-dimensional code C includes curvature data representing the degree of curvature of the nail tip T, and printing data taking into account the degree of curvature of the nail tip T is created based on this curvature data, and printing is performed based on the printing data.
This makes it possible to realize high-quality printing that takes into account the curvature of the nail tip T.

Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the shape data of the two-dimensional code C includes information on the type of finger on which the nail tip T is attached, so there is no need to manually input the information on the type of finger.
This allows smooth processing according to the type of finger on which the nail tip T is to be attached, such as applying shape data of the nail tip T when the manufacturer of the nail tip T has distributed that shape data, or obtaining a design according to the corresponding finger type.

In addition, in this embodiment, the two-dimensional code C includes curvature data representing the degree of curvature of the nail tip T, which is shape data, as code information, but the two-dimensional code may also have code information associated with the shape data in addition to the shape data itself.
In other words, shape data of the nail tip T corresponding to the code information may be prepared in advance in the ROM 821 of the memory unit 82 of the printing device, shape data corresponding to the code information contained in the read two-dimensional code may be read from the memory unit 82, and printing data taking into account the degree of curvature of the nail tip T may be created based on this shape data, and printing may be performed based on the printing data.
This makes it possible to reduce the amount of information contained in the two-dimensional code on the nail tip T and increase the success rate of reading, thereby achieving high-quality printing that takes into account curvature, similar to this embodiment.

Although the above describes an embodiment of the present invention, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in this embodiment, the two-dimensional code C is placed on the back side of the nail tip T, and is illuminated from the back side while being photographed and read from the front side. However, the position and reading method of the two-dimensional code C are not particularly limited as long as it is placed on the nail tip T and can be read. For example, the two-dimensional code C may be placed on the surface of the nail tip T and read by the photographing unit 50 (illumination device 52 and photographing device 51) of the nail print device main body 10.

In addition, in this embodiment, the two-dimensional code C on the nail tip T is read by the photographing unit 50 of the nail print device 1, but a dedicated camera (photographing means) for reading may be provided in the nail tip holder 9. In this case, the reading camera may be placed on the tip fixing base 91 alongside the reading LED 92.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the nail printing device 1 is configured to perform printing using an inkjet method, but the method by which the nail printing device 1 performs printing is not limited to the inkjet method.
For example, a pen holder may be provided to hold a printing pen that prints by contacting the tip of the pen with the surface of the nail, and printing may be performed using the pen. Also, a configuration may be provided in which both an inkjet printing means as in this embodiment and a pen holder that holds a printing pen are provided, and printing is performed using multiple printing means.

In addition, in this embodiment, the user inputs various instructions through the operation unit 21 and display unit 22 of the nail printing device 1, and the control device 80 of the nail printing device 1 performs these processes, so that the nail printing device 1 is configured to complete the printing operation by itself.
However, the nail printing device 1 is not limited to this configuration, and may be configured to configure a printing system in cooperation with a communication-capable terminal device such as a smartphone or tablet terminal, with various instructions being input on the terminal device side, and the printing operation being executed on the nail printing device 1 side.
In this case, various data such as the nail design and the captured image data may be stored in a storage unit of the terminal device, or may be stored in a storage unit of the nail printing device 1. Also, various data may be stored in a server device or the like that can be connected via a network line, etc., and the terminal device or the nail printing device 1 may be configured to access the server device, etc. and refer to this data. In this way, it becomes possible to select a design to be printed from a larger number of nail designs.

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 its equivalents.
The inventions described in the claims originally attached to this application are set forth below. The claim numbers in the appended claims are the same as those in the claims originally attached to this application.
[Additional Notes]
<Claim 1>
A printing device including a printing means for printing on nail tips,
A shape data acquisition means for acquiring the shape data corresponding to the information code of the nail tip having an information code associated with the shape data of the nail tip;
a print control means for controlling an operation of the printing means based on the shape data acquired by the shape data acquisition means;
A printing device comprising:
<Claim 2>
The nail tip is made of a light-transmitting material and has the information code on a back surface thereof,
The shape data acquisition means
The nail tip is provided with a lighting means for lighting the nail tip from a back side thereof, and a photographing means for photographing the nail tip illuminated by the lighting means from a front side thereof,
2. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the information code is obtained based on an image captured by the image capturing means.
<Claim 3>
3. The printing device according to claim 2, wherein the nail tip is colored, and the information code is not visible from the front side.
<Claim 4>
A printing device body including the printing means;
a nail tip holder configured to be detachable from the printing device body and configured to fix the nail tip;
Equipped with
4. The printing device according to claim 2, wherein the lighting means is provided in the nail tip holder, and the photographing means is provided in the main body of the printing device.
<Claim 5>
The shape data includes curvature data representing a degree of curvature of the nail tip,
The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the printing control means creates printing data taking into account the degree of curvature of the nail tip based on the curvature data, and controls the operation of the printing means based on the printing data.
<Claim 6>
The printing device according to claim 1 , wherein the shape data includes information on the type of finger on which the nail tip is to be attached.
<Claim 7>
7. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the information code includes the shape data.
<Claim 8>
Further, a storage unit is provided in which the shape data corresponding to the information code is stored,
7. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the shape data acquisition unit acquires the shape data from the storage unit based on the information code.
<Claim 9>
9. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the information code is a two-dimensional code.
<Claim 10>
A method for controlling a printing device having a printing means for printing on nail tips, comprising:
The control means
A reading step of reading an information code of the nail tip having an information code associated with shape data of the nail tip to obtain the shape data;
a print control step of controlling an operation of the printing means based on the shape data acquired in the reading step;
2. A method for controlling a printing device, comprising:
<Claim 11>
A control program for a printing device having a printing means for printing on nail tips,
Computer,
a reading means for reading the information code of the nail tip having an information code associated with the shape data of the nail tip to obtain the shape data;
a print control means for controlling an operation of the print means based on the shape data acquired by the reading means;
4. A control program for a printing device, comprising:

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Nail print device 9 Nail tip holder 10 Nail print device main body 21 Operation unit 22 Display unit 40 Print unit 50 Photography unit 51 Photography device 52 Illumination device 80 Control device 81 Control unit 82 Memory unit 85 Print target recognition unit 91 Tip fixing base 92 Reading LED
93 Connector 851 Connector T Nail tip C Two-dimensional code

Claims (8)

A printing device including a printing means for printing on a surface of a nail tip that is made of a light-transmitting material and is colored milky white,
a nail chip holder that is detachable from a printing device body and that fixes the nail chip, the nail chip holder having an illumination means for illuminating the nail chip from the back side and making the information code on the back side of the nail chip visible from the front side, and is configured to be attached to and detached from a printing device body;
an image capturing means provided in the printing device body for capturing an image of the nail tip illuminated by the illumination means from the front side;
a shape data acquiring means for acquiring shape data of the nail tip corresponding to the information code based on the image captured by the photographing means;
a print control means for controlling an operation of the printing means based on the shape data acquired by the shape data acquisition means;
A printing device comprising: The printing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the information code is not visible from the front side of the nail tip when the back side is not illuminated by the lighting means, and when the back side is illuminated by the lighting means, the information code is transmitted from the back side and is visible from the front side. The shape data includes curvature data representing a degree of curvature of the nail tip,
The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the printing control means creates printing data taking into account the degree of curvature of the nail tip based on the curvature data, and controls the operation of the printing means based on the printing data. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the shape data includes information on the type of finger on which the nail tip is to be attached. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the information code includes the shape data. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the information code is a two-dimensional code. A method for controlling a printing device having a printing means for printing on a surface of a nail tip that is made of a light-transmitting material and colored milky white, comprising:
The control means
a lighting step of illuminating the nail chip from a back side thereof by a lighting means provided in a nail chip holder that is detachable from a printing device body and that fixes the nail chip, thereby making it possible to visually recognize an information code on the back side of the nail chip from a front side thereof;
a photographing step of photographing the front surface side of the nail tip illuminated in the illumination step by a photographing means provided in the printing device body;
a reading step of acquiring shape data of the nail tip corresponding to the information code based on the image captured in the photographing step;
a print control step of controlling an operation of the printing means based on the shape data acquired in the reading step;
2. A method for controlling a printing device, comprising: A control program for a printing device including a printing means for printing on a surface of a nail tip that is made of a light-transmitting material and colored milky white, comprising:
Computer,
a lighting control means configured to be detachable from a printing device body and provided in a nail tip holder for fixing the nail tip, for lighting the nail tip from the back side thereof, thereby making it possible to visually recognize an information code on the back side of the nail tip from the front side;
an image capturing control means for causing an image capturing means provided in the printing device body to capture an image of the nail tip illuminated by the illumination means from the front side;
a reading means for acquiring shape data of the nail tip corresponding to the information code based on the image captured by the photographing means;
a print control means for controlling an operation of the print means based on the shape data acquired by the reading means;
4. A control program for a printing device, comprising:

Images