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WO2004015980A2 - Systeme et appareils d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images avec procedes de positionnement, de traitement et de commande - Google Patents

Systeme et appareils d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images avec procedes de positionnement, de traitement et de commande Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2004015980A2
WO2004015980A2 PCT/US2003/025111 US0325111W WO2004015980A2 WO 2004015980 A2 WO2004015980 A2 WO 2004015980A2 US 0325111 W US0325111 W US 0325111W WO 2004015980 A2 WO2004015980 A2 WO 2004015980A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
head
phase
computer
image
positioning
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/US2003/025111
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English (en)
Other versions
WO2004015980A3 (fr
Inventor
Laurence L. Chen
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Individual
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Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to AU2003269957A priority Critical patent/AU2003269957A1/en
Priority to CA002530977A priority patent/CA2530977A1/fr
Publication of WO2004015980A2 publication Critical patent/WO2004015980A2/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Publication of WO2004015980A3 publication Critical patent/WO2004015980A3/fr
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/0083—Arrangements for transferring signals between different components of the apparatus, e.g. arrangements of signal lines or cables
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B12/00—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B12/00—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area
    • B05B12/08—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material to be discharged, of ambient medium or of target ; responsive to condition of spray devices or of supply means, e.g. pipes, pumps or their drive means
    • B05B12/12—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material to be discharged, of ambient medium or of target ; responsive to condition of spray devices or of supply means, e.g. pipes, pumps or their drive means responsive to conditions of ambient medium or target, e.g. humidity, temperature position or movement of the target relative to the spray apparatus
    • B05B12/124—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material to be discharged, of ambient medium or of target ; responsive to condition of spray devices or of supply means, e.g. pipes, pumps or their drive means responsive to conditions of ambient medium or target, e.g. humidity, temperature position or movement of the target relative to the spray apparatus responsive to distance between spray apparatus and target
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B13/00—Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00
    • B05B13/005—Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00 mounted on vehicles or designed to apply a liquid on a very large surface, e.g. on the road, on the surface of large containers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
    • H04N1/10—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using flat picture-bearing surfaces
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B12/00—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area
    • B05B12/14—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area for supplying a selected one of a plurality of liquids or other fluent materials or several in selected proportions to a spray apparatus, e.g. to a single spray outlet
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B12/00—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area
    • B05B12/14—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area for supplying a selected one of a plurality of liquids or other fluent materials or several in selected proportions to a spray apparatus, e.g. to a single spray outlet
    • B05B12/1409—Arrangements for controlling delivery; Arrangements for controlling the spray area for supplying a selected one of a plurality of liquids or other fluent materials or several in selected proportions to a spray apparatus, e.g. to a single spray outlet the selection means being part of the discharge apparatus, e.g. part of the spray gun
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B13/00—Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00
    • B05B13/02—Means for supporting work; Arrangement or mounting of spray heads; Adaptation or arrangement of means for feeding work
    • B05B13/04—Means for supporting work; Arrangement or mounting of spray heads; Adaptation or arrangement of means for feeding work the spray heads being moved during spraying operation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
    • H04N2201/04—Scanning arrangements
    • H04N2201/0402—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207
    • H04N2201/0438—Scanning displays; Scanning large surfaces, e.g. projection screens, writing boards
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
    • H04N2201/04—Scanning arrangements
    • H04N2201/0402—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207
    • H04N2201/0464—Self-propelled scanners, e.g. robotic scanners, means for propulsion integrated in the scanner carriage

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an image reproduction and recording system with a flexible operation (hand, robot, vehicle) of head carrier, and the corresponding apparatuses and methods for positioning, processing, and controlling.
  • the motivation is to build a flexible operation (i.e. without precise mechanical-apparatus for positioning) for image reproduction and recording system, instead of present conventional image reproduction and recording systems in plurality of uses.
  • the conventional mechanical-apparatiis based systems are complex, costly, and not flexible, especially for very large printing area. Due to the flexibility of this invention in operation, the size of image that will be reproduced or will be recorded can be as large as the wall of a building and golf course, or can be as small as any size as long as it still makes sense.
  • the invention includes the constitutions and designs of the system and its apparatus, including the motion detectors, operation modules, communication units, head carrier, operation unit, sprayer / sprayer-array and image reader /reader-array.
  • the invention also relates to the concepts, ideas, theories, and methods for positioning, processing, and controlling of the image reproduction and recording system, and relates to hardware signal processing and software data processing.
  • 5968271, 5273059, 5203923, 4839666, 5707689, 6369906, 5642948, 5272543 I1_8] etc are based on the track-guided posMoning systems.
  • the spraying head or reading (recording) head is driven by electric motors and is limited on two tracks in two directions through the precise mechanical- apparatus for positioning. Therefore, they have limitation in size and service objectives, and they have no flexibility for plurality of applications, such as image on hardboards, on the walls, with huge size or on a curved surfece, etc.
  • the conventional system is mechanical-apparatus based and so is complex and costly.
  • the motivation of this invention is to build the flexible ° hand-operated, or robot-operated or vehicle carried systems for image reproduction and recording, instead of present conventional image reproduction and recording systems. Due to the flexibility of operation, the image that will be reproduced or will be recorded can be as large as the wall of a high building, or can be as small as any size as long as it still makes sense. Therefore, it can be used for plurality of applications mentioned above. It can be used for either 5 any flat surface, or any curved surface.
  • the invention includes the constitutions and designs of the system and its apparatus: motion detectors, communication units, head carrier, operation unit, operation modules, sprayer / sprayer-array and image reader /reader-array.
  • the key spirits of present invention is the image reproduction and recording system with a flexible hand-operated or robot-operated or vehicle carried head carrier, and the corresponding apparatuses and methods for positioning, processing, and controlling.
  • the system is flexible, (hand-operational, or robot-operational or vehicle carried), easy and very convenient to use for a plurality of users from industries, offices and home, home decorations, entertainment and arts, 5 etc., instead of the complex and costly precise mechanical-apparatus based systems in present conventional image reproduction systems.
  • a further object of the present invention is to provide system constitutions and apparatuses for head posMoning, data processing, and head controlling.
  • the image reproduction 0 (sub)system reproduces the image on any surfece based on image data stored in computer, by causally moving the flexible-operation (hand, robot, vehicle) apparatus, i.e. head carrier, on the surfece.
  • the methods for image reproduction systems are classified into two catalogs: the wave-based method and relative-motion-based method. Both systems comprise these apparatuses: head carrier, sprayer / sprayer array, and a computer.
  • the relative-motion-based method includes two relative motion detectors (MD) and an operation module (OM).
  • the wave-based method includes the communication units (CU) and an operation unit (OU).
  • the system operation procedures include: OM executes the commands from computer to read the motion information of head from MD, and organizes this information as time-sequences. Then OM sends these time-sequences to computer by multi paths (in parallel). Computer processes the information for locator positioning and determining the coordinates of the head in the head array. The OM executes the commander from computer to control the action (spraying or reading) of the head in head array. For recording system, the OM takes the image information at each image pixel on sensor array, and organizes this information as time-sequences and sends them to computer. Also, as the alternates, any computer-mouse techniques can be employed as MD.
  • the system operation procedures include: operation unit (OU) produces and sends the signal current to the transmitting CU.
  • the transmitting CU radiates and the receiving CU receives the radio frequency (RF), electromagnetic wave, light or ultrasonic signals that carry the info ⁇ nation of the phase differences or the time differences.
  • the information is sent back to the OU from the receivmg CU.
  • the OU processes and converts the information into the data of phase differences or time differences, and sends the data to computer.
  • Another alternate uses Doppler effect to detect the velocity of the receiving CU, and computer calculates the moving distance by integrating the velocity.
  • Computer processes these data and inverses the position coordinates of the sprayer/sprayer array by using the claimed positioning methods in this invention.
  • computer searches for the nearest pixel to this position in the image data file stored in disk of the computer and takes the color data of this pixel, and sends the data to OU or OM.
  • OU or OM sends commands and power to the spray head to execute the jobs.
  • Computer then records the history of the image-reproducing process. Any pixel on the computer screen, of which the corresr-wriding image has been reproduced on the image surface, will be marked by the computer and will not be reproduced again if the sprayer moves back to the same position later.
  • the CU in the wave-based system or MD in relative-motioned-based system is also called head locator. Usually there are two of them. With the first one, the second CU or MD is used for detera-tining the sprayer array direction, so that the position of each sprayer/reader in the sprayer/reader array is determined.
  • the image recording (subsystem) takes the image digital data from any image surface to computer for storing and reproducing, and also by causally moving the hand-operation or robot-operation or vehicle carried apparatus, on the surfece. All apparatuses and procedures in the systems are same as that in the image reproduction systems, but use image reader/reader array instead of sprayer/sprayer array.
  • the coordinate Mormation and color data are taken from the image surfece at the triggered moment and are sent back to the computer.
  • the computer processes the information and data promptly or stores them into a file for processing lately.
  • the computer inverses the coordinate information into coordinates.
  • the coordinates at the triggered moment may not be just at a pixel on the pre-formatted pixel grids. So then the computer calculates the color values at all pixels on the pre-formatted pixel grids based on the obtained coordinates and color data, by using interpolation method.
  • the apparatuses i.e. motion detectors (called head locators) and operation module (OM), determine the relative position and direction of head array for the relative-motion-based system.
  • the apparatuses i.e. communication units (CU) send and receive the signal needed for determining the distance between transmitting CU and receiving CU for the wave-based system.
  • the CU's installed on head carrier are called head locators.
  • the apparatuses i.e. operation unit (OU) process the signals from CU, convert the signal into distance-related data and provide the data to computer, and send the color data and action commands to the head, and also provides power supply for the head.
  • the apparatus such as the head carrier or a hand hold brush like body, provides a flexible operation to move the head with a guaranteed constant fly- height.
  • the computer software de -.-. -.nines the position of head or heads in head array according to the information from OU or OM, and sends back to OU or OM the commands and color data of the pixels co-responding to this position.
  • the final aspect of the invention provides the theories, concepts, ideas, and methods corresponding to each structure, embodiment, apparatus, and procedure, for positioning, processing and controlling the image reproduction and recording, including hardware signal processing and software data processing.
  • FIG. 1 is a view showing the constitution of one of the preferred embodiments for the image reproduction and recording system according to the invention, with the CU (communication unit) on the corners, and the color material tanks on the head carrier or in the cartridge that are build together with the head.
  • CU communication unit
  • FIG. 2 is a view showing the constitution of other preferred embodiments for the system according to the invention: (a) the color material tanks on the ground, (b) three CU on the corners, (c) four CU on the middle edges, (d) two CU on the bottom corners.
  • FIG. 3 is the schematic chart of one of the preferred embodiments for the head carrier with single head according to the invention.
  • FIG. 4 is the schematic chart of one of the preferred embodiments for the head carrier with head array according to the invention.
  • FIG. 5 is the schematic chart of one of the preferred embodiments for the head carrier with sprayer array on ink-jet cartridge according to the invention.
  • FIG. 6 is the schematic chart of the preferred embodiments for the transmitting CU's: (a)
  • Radio frequency (RF) antenna (b) single-light-source transmitter, (c) four-light-source transmitter, (d) ultrasonic transmitter.
  • FIG. 7 is the schematic chart of the preferred embodiments for receiving CU's: (a) RF antenna, (b) single-photo-detector receiver, (c) two-photo-detector receiver, (d) four-photo- detector receiver, (e) corner single-photo-detector, (f) corner single-photo-detector with curved substrate, (g) ultrasonic receiver.
  • FIG. 8 is tne schematic chart of one of the preferred embodiments for relation motion detector (MD).
  • FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing for one of the preferred RF-based systems according to the inventio ⁇
  • FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of another of the preferred RF-based system according to the invention.
  • FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of phase processing for the RF-based systems.
  • FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of one of the preferred modulation-based systems according to the invention, with FOUR wavelengths/frequencies.
  • FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of another of the preferred modulation-based systems, with TWO wavelengths/frequencies.
  • FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of another of the preferred modulation-based systems, with four wavelengths/frequencies.
  • FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of another of the preferred modulation-based systems, with two wavelengths frequencies.
  • FIG, 16 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of one of the preferred time-based systems with an ultrasonic approach.
  • FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of one of the preferred time-based systems with another ultrasonic approach.
  • FIG. 18 is a schematic chart of the contour curves for constant phase differences (hyperbola), and constant phase sum (ellipse).
  • FIG. 19 is a flow chart of the position data processing and control for a single head.
  • FIG. 20 is a flow chart of the position data processing and control for the head array.
  • FIG. 21 is a schematic chart of the wrapping of current-phase-relation of in a digital phase detector (DPD) and the wrapped region in the 2-D phase space.
  • DPD digital phase detector
  • FIG. 22 is a schematic chart of data correlation processing for relative-motion-based system: image correlation conception and simple motion.
  • FIG. 23 is a schematic chart of data correlation processing for relative-motion-based system: complex motion.
  • the present invention is to provide the image reproduction and recording systerr- with the flexibility, easiness, and convenience to use for a plurality of users from industries, offices and homes, and home decorations.
  • the systems are flexible and consist of an easy hand- operation or robot-operation or vehicle carried apparatus, instead of the complex and costly mechanical apparatus-based systems in present conventional image reproduction and recording systems in plurality of uses.
  • hand-operation means operation by hand of a human being
  • robot-operation such as the 'spiderman'-like
  • vehicle carried operation means the powered-apparatus-aided operation, but without precise mechanical-apparatus (such as track guide for guiding the printing head or -panning head in the conventional printer, or scanner) for positioning, if the operation needs a power that exceeds the power of the human being, or if the environment of operation is not accessible for human being;
  • image generation means reproducing (printing, painting, spraying, and deposition) or recording (scanning, and reading) image or pattern on or/and from any surfece.
  • image in phases “image reproduction or image recording” has dual meanings: (a) any predetermined pattern or deposition to be reproduced, or any pattern or deposition to be recorded, which has already existed and was resulted from human's arts or natural's arts; (b) the image stored in computer, which could be recorded by scanner, or taken by digital camera, digital camcorder, etc.
  • head in this invention means either sprayer for image reproduction or reader for image recording. Some time the “head” also means the part on which the head is installed;
  • the term “sprayer” in this invention means the ink-jet, paint sprayer, or any other devices for material deposition.
  • “Spray” or “spraying” means any action for material deposition;
  • the term "reader” in this invention means any device that takes the image information from a predetermined pattern or deposition, such as the image sensor in an image scanner or in a camera, "read” or “reading” means any action of the reader;
  • the "element” of an array is a general term referring to an element in one-dimensional array in positioning method description and claims. However, in image reproduction or recording system, it refers to a head in head array.
  • the CU or MD built on head carrier is called head “locator” in claims “image reproduction and recording system”
  • positioning locator in the cl- ⁇ ns of positioning methods is a general term and is not necessary only for "image reproduction or recording system”;
  • Electromagnetic waves means all “Light” waves and all electromagnetic radiations from 530 kHz to 1 THz;
  • Information carrier means RF wave or ultrasonic wave on which the information is ridding; while “carrier wave” means the light wave or millimeter microwave on which the RF is ridding (Le. RF modulation);
  • the term "computer” means a programmable device (i.e. a generalized computer) for system and embodiment controlling.
  • (16) 'phase detector' means a mixer or a digital phase detector
  • hand stick means a device which provides the power to head-carrier for making head- carrier moving, it could be either hand-hold apparatus or powered-apparatus,
  • FIG. 1 is used here to show the constitution of one of the preferred embodiments for the wave-based image reproduction and recording systems according to the invention.
  • the system reproduces the image on the image area 10 of a surfece based on image data stored in computer 900, or record the image data from image area 10 into computer 900, by causally pushing and pulling the "hand stick" 102 of head carrier 100 (or any hand hold brush like body) , on the surfece.
  • the surface can be any surfece, such as curved surfece, sphere surfece, etc.
  • the head carrier can be a hand-operational apparatus with a "hand stick" 102, or can be a powered-apparatus-aided apparatus for huge applications, or can be robot operation, or vehicle carried operation , if the environment of operation is not accessible for human being.
  • the information carrier can be either radio frequency (RF), or light from T-ray to X- ray, or ultrasonic wave.
  • RF radio frequency
  • the CU must be set at corners or edges and must be feirly far away from the boundaries of image area 10, due to the nonlinearity of phase dependence of the near-field.
  • the operation unit (OU) 400 produces signals and sends signal to CU 201 ⁇ 204, through cables 51,52, 61,62.
  • the cables 51 and 52 are split from one source, and have the same length from the splitter 50 to Al 201 and A2202, so that they have the same time delay.
  • the same is applied for cables 61, and 62; they have the same length from the splitter 60 to Bl 203 and B2 204.
  • the CU 201 ⁇ 204 transmits the waves out.
  • the receivers receive the waves with phase or time information and send the message back to the OU 400 through cable 20.
  • the hardware in operation unit 400 processes the message and converts the message into phase difference or time difference, and sends these data to computer 900 through cable 40.
  • computer 900 inverses the coordinates of the position of the head locator (details in FIGS. 3,4,5) on head holder 300 by using positioning theories and formulas of this invention.
  • computer 900 searches the nearest pixel to this position in image data file and takes the color data of this pixel, and sends the data to OU 400 through cable 40.
  • OU 400 sends action commands and power to spray head on head holder 300 through cable 30.
  • an image reader or reader array is installed on the head holder 300. The positioning procedures are the same as that for image reproduction, described above. Triggered by the trigger clock, the coordinate information and color data are taken from the image area 10 at the triggered moment and are sent back to computer 900 through OU 400.
  • Computer 900 processes the information and data promptly or stores them into a file for overall processing lately.
  • Computer 900 inverses the signal that carries the coordinate information into coordinates.
  • the coordinates at the triggered moment may not be just at a pixel in the pre- formatted pixel grids.
  • So computer 900 then calculates the color values at all pixels in pre- formatted pixel grids from the obtained coordinates and color data, by using interpolation method.
  • the transmitter and receiver can be swapped.
  • the CU 201 ⁇ 204, Al, A2, Bl, B2 can also be used as receivers (serve as receiving CU), while the CU on the head holder 300 can be used as transmitters (serve as frai-tsmitting CU).
  • the details will be described in sections below.
  • [paragraph 7] The procedures described above are applicable for the all preferred and alternative constitutions described below.
  • FIG. 2 shows the another preferred constitutions for 2-dimensional (2-D) applications according to the invention.
  • the color material tanks are necessary for large images and are placed on the head carrier 100 (details in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5). However, for huge images, the color tanks 140,142 and 144 are placed on the ground.
  • the color materials are transported to sprayers on the head holder 300, through tubes 130,132 and 134, as shown in FIG. 2 (a).
  • FIG. 2 (b) is shown an option to use only three CU at three comers, with CU Al 201 and Bl 203 merged together.
  • FIG. 2 (c) is an option to use four CU 201 ⁇ 204 on the middle edges, which provides the simplest positioning theories and formulas.
  • the embodiment shown in FIG. 2(d) is used, here only two CU Al 201 and A2202 on bottom comers are used.
  • Computer processes the information for locator positioning and deterr- ⁇ iing the coordinates of the head in the head array.
  • the OM executes the commander from computer to control the action (spraying or reading) of the head in head array.
  • One of the preferred MD's comprises a two-dimensional array of camera-image sensors (M by N pixels), two lenses, and one laser.
  • OM reads out the image information at each image pixel on sensor array, and organizes this information as time-sequences and sends them to computer 900, then computer stores this image information on disk.
  • any computer- mouse techniques can be employed as MD.
  • FIG. 3 shows one of the preferred embodiments for the head carrier with single head according to this invention.
  • the head carrier 100 is composed of a frame 110 (main body of head carrier, any shape), one front wheel 112, two rear wheels 114, "hand stick” 102, head arm 106, and head holder 300.
  • the wheels (112, 114) enable the carrier 100 moving on the image area 10 freely, and guarantee a constant fly height 301 for the head 382 (sprayer or image reader) over surfece 10.
  • the "hand stick" 102 is connected with the head carrier 100 by a joint 104, and the stick 102 can freely rotate about joint 104.
  • the head arm 106 is connected with the head carrier 100 and can rotate about the axle 105 by hand-operation, for flexible application in different situations.
  • the CU 381 and the head 382 are installed on the head holder 300.
  • Head holder 300 is supported by head arm 106 at one end of the arm.
  • the color materials are stored in the container built-in with the sprayer or color cartridges.
  • three (or four if an additional black tank is needed for color quality) color tanks 120 (cyan), 122 (magenta), and 124 (yellow) are installed on the head carrier 100, moving together with the head carrier.
  • the color materials are provided to the head from the tanks (120,122,124) through color tubes 130,132 and 134.
  • the color materials are provided to the head from ground tanks 140,142,144 (FIG. 2 (a)) through color tubes 130,132 and 134.
  • FIG. 4 is used to show one of the preferred embodiments for the head carrier with head array according to this inventioa
  • the differences of this head carrier from the one described in FIG. 3 are in the head holder 300 and head cartridge 385 (instead of single head).
  • a number of heads are built on the head cartridge 385 and form a head (sprayer or reader) array 386.
  • the image resolution (IR) is determined by head density in head array, which is determined by the number of heads in the array and the array length LI (391).
  • Two CU (383, 384) (Le. two head locators) are installed on the head holder 300.
  • the holder extension 303 is needed to hold one of the CU, 384, so as to extend the distance L2 (392) between two locators, 383 and 384.
  • the purpose of this extension is to increase the accuracy in position determination of each head in the head array 386.
  • the extension 303 can be added to either side of the head holder 300, depends on the convenience.
  • the head holder 300 can rotate about the axle 302 by hand-operation, by 360°, for different situations of application.
  • FIG. 5 is used to show another preferred embodiment for the head carrier with sprayer array built-in an ink-jet cartridge according to the invention. The only (lifference from the one described in FIG. 4 is that a color ink-jet cartridge 389 with sprayer array 390 is now used.
  • FIG. 6 The preferred options for transmitting CU (trar-- --.-itters) according to this invention are shown in FIG. 6, including (a) Radio frequency (RF) antenna 610, (b) single light source (Laser or LED) 630, (c) four light source 640, and (d) ultrasonic tranamitter 620.
  • RF Radio frequency
  • the RF antenna 610 is used as the transmitter for RF-based system design.
  • the wavelength of RF that it radiates equals the dimension of image area 10.
  • ⁇ unensions 100 meters, 30 meters, 3 meters, 10 centimeters and 1 centimeter are corresponding to RF frequency 3 MHz, 10 MHz, lOOMHz, 3 GHz, and 30 GHz, respectively. If the technique for current-phase wrapping processing is used, the frequency can be higher.
  • the RF can be carried on (i.e. modulates) some extremely high frequencies — ntiillimeter microwave, where the frequency allocation is empty and the use of frequency is unlicensed (such as those at peak absorption of atmosphere), so as to avoid to be interrupted with public communication and military frequencies.
  • the same procedures as that used in light-based system described below are applicable, except the generator, transmitter, and receiver of carrier wave.
  • the RF is carried on the light wave by amplitude modulation or frequency modulation.
  • the light is emitted from the emitter 632, called single-light transmitter.
  • the emitter 632 called single-light transmitter.
  • the light is uniformly divergent to the region with an angle 636 (any angle between 90° and 150° is applicable, but 110° is preferred).
  • the design of lens and light direction makes the light divergent as less as possible in the direction vertical to the paper plan.
  • the single-light transmitter 636 is used for the system of which the transmitters are installed at the comers of the image plan.
  • Four-light transmitter 640 is built by four of single emitter 630, and is used for the systems of which the transmitter is installed on the head holder 300.
  • the ultrasonic transmitter 620 is employed for the time-based systems.
  • the lens is spherical and the six-light transmitter is used.
  • FIG. 7 is used here to show the preferred embodiments for receiving CU (receivers) according to this invention: (a) RF antenna 710, (b) single-photo-detector 720, (c) two-photo-detector receivers 730, (d) four-photo-detector receiver 740, (e) corner single-photo- detector 750, (e) comer single-photo-detector with a curved substrate 760, and (g) ultrasonic receiver 770. Due to the reciprocal principle of electromagnetic theory, those described in RF traiismitters a ve are applied for RF receivers 710. The RF that carried on an extremely high frequency (mil-t ⁇ neter microwave) is demodulated by heterodyne or homodyne techniques.
  • mil-t ⁇ neter microwave extremely high frequency
  • the two- photo-detector receiver 730 (three-photo-detector for 3D), or the four-photo-detector receiver 740 (and six-photo-detector for 3D), is used. They are built from a single-photo-detector 720. The latter is made up of photo sensor (photo detecting material) 728, light wavelength-selection filter 726, and cone mirror 724. The cone mirror 724 reflects the light 722 from all directions to the filter 726 and photo sensor 728. The current signal is generated from the sensor and is sent to the operation unit 400. Inside the sensor, a pre-ainplifier may already be built in.
  • the single comer photo-detector 750 or the one with a curved substrate 760 is used.
  • the light 752 from different directions is focused on the photo-sensing material 728 by the lens 754, so as to increase the sensitivity, as shown in FIG. 7 (e) and (f).
  • the ultrasonic receiver 770 is employed if the ultrasonic transniitter 620 is used in the system.
  • the head includes a motion detector (MD), an operation module (OM), and a sprayer or/and a reader.
  • the preferred apparatus for the MD is the detector of optical image motion (340), as shown in FIG. 8,
  • the MD is built together with the sprayer head 350 or/and recording head (not shown in the figures).
  • the container 359 in sprayer head 350 is a buffer for ink or paint material, which provides the ink or paint material for the sprayers in sprayer array 352.
  • the optical image motion detector 340 comprises laser 341, lenses 342, 344, and camera pixel sensor array 346.
  • the laser 341 is installed at a focus of the lens 342, so the light is converted into parallel light beams and projects onto the surfece of the path of head locator on image area 10.
  • lens 344 the optical image of the object (a 'micro' texture) 343 (any patterns, roughness distribution on the surfece) appears on the surfece 345 of the camera pixel sensor array 346.
  • the light paths 348 for the image system are shown on the right side.
  • the distance between the object 343 and the center of lens 344 is beyond two focus length of lens 344, while image 345 of the object is in between one and two of the focus length.
  • the OM wit a small volume (not shown in the figures) is installed together wii- ⁇ the sprayer/reader and MD.
  • OM executes the commands from the computer to read the motion information from MD, and organizes this information into time-sequences. Then OM sends these time-sequences data to the computer by multi-paths in parallel. OM also executes the commands from the computer, after the computer finishes the processing, to control the action of the head.
  • FIG. 9 The procedures of controlling and processing for one of the RF-based system according to the invention is shown in FIG. 9.
  • the RF is directly used as the information carrier.
  • the functions of operation unit (OU) 400, of computer 900, and of head 300 are shown in the frames of the left dish-line 401, the right dish-line, and the top dish-line, respectively.
  • the distributing signal and noise detector 411 searches the low noise RF channels. According to the channel selection 412, the frequency ⁇ (higher) and A ⁇ (lower) is determined (using these two frequencies, the frequencies _»-, ⁇ 2 , ⁇ 3 , ⁇ for four
  • RF channels are generated).
  • the oscillators 413 and 414 are tuned to these two frequencies, and amplified by amplifiers 415 and 416.
  • the higher frequency is split into three by splitter 417. Two of them are sent to mixers 419 and 420 and one of them is sent to frequency doubler 422 and then to a switch 423 (optional).
  • the lower frequency is also split into three by splitter 418. One of them is sent to mixer 420 directly and the second is sent to mixer 419 after frequency doubler 421. The third one is sent to a switch 423, which is connected to phase processor 430.
  • the two mixers provide the sum and differences of the two inputted frequencies. With filters
  • phase processor 430 decodes the phase differences between Al and A2, and the phase differences between Bl and B2, if the switch is turned to down side. Or, phase processor 430 decodes the phase sums of Al and A2, and the phase sums of Bl and B2, if the switch is turned to up side. More details about the phase processor are described later with FIG. 11.
  • Phase calibration can be done by either the software in computer 900, or by the phase calibrator
  • Computer 900 receives two groups of the phase messages for the positions of the two head locators (i.e. the antenna receivers), (432,433) and (444,445).
  • Computer 900 processes the phase data by inverting the coordinates of the positions of the two locators from the phase data, which is based on the positioning theories and formulas of this invention. According to the coordinates of the two locators, computer 900 calculates the coordinates of each of the head in head array (386, in FIG. 4) by using interpolation method. According to the position of each head, the computer 900 searches the nearest pixel in the image data file to this position and takes the color data of this pixeL and sends the data to control unit 429. Then the control unit 429 sends the action commands and power to head 308 through color cables 306 and power cable 307.
  • FIG. 10 shows the procedures of controlling and processing for another RF- based system according to the invention.
  • the difference here is that the transmitter and receiver are swapped from the system described in FIG. 9.
  • the four RF channels are combined together by combiner, 434, before being sent to the transmitting antenna 321.
  • the four receiving antennas receive the signals and send the signals to four band-pass filters, 435, which allow only one frequency to pass through each one of them.
  • the four channels are then sent to phase processor 430 after being amplified by amplifiers, 436.
  • FIG. 11 (a) One procedures of phase processing for the RF-based systems are shown in FIG. 11 (a), the first two frequencies are conducted to mixer 4301, which produce another two frequencies, the sum and difference of inputted frequencies.
  • the band pass filters 4303 filter out the sum frequency.
  • the signal with the difference frequency carries the phase difference between Al and A2.
  • the digital phase detector (DPD) or mixer 4305 decodes the phase difference by homodyning with the signal from 423.
  • the phase difference 4315 (A2-A1) is sent to the computer. The same is applied for the other two frequencies.
  • the output phase difference 4314 (B2-B1) is sent to the computer.
  • FIG. 11 (b) Another phase processing procedure for the RF-based systems is shown in FIG. 11 (b).
  • the largest and the smallest frequencies are conducted to mixer 4307, which also produces two frequencies, the sum and difference. But the band pass filters 4309 filter out the difference frequency, rather than sum frequency. At this point, the signal with the sum frequency carries the phase sum of Al and A2.
  • the digital phase detector (DPD) or mixer 4311 decodes the phase sum by homodyning with the signal from 423. Then the phase sum 4317 (A2- Al) is sent to the computer. The same is applied for the two middle frequencies.
  • the phase sum 4316 (B2-B1) is sent to the computer.
  • FIG. 12 shows the procedures of control and processing for one of the modulation-based systems according to this invention.
  • RF is used as modulation.
  • the carrier wave of this RF wave is light or inillimeter microwave.
  • the frequency with peak absorption 60-70 GHz, 120 ⁇ 130GHz, and 170-180 GHz, for example
  • the laser as carrier-wave, is used for illustrations.
  • the laser driver 437 provides four currents to four lasers (231-234) to emit four wavelengths or frequencies ⁇ ,, ⁇ 2 , ⁇ 3 , ⁇ 4 .
  • the lights from all lasers are modulated by the same RF signal with frequency ⁇ .
  • This RF signal is generated by the RF oscillator 413 and amplified by amplifier 415.
  • the RF splitter 438 splits the RF signal into four paths and sends the RF to each laser (231- 234), so that the light power or light frequency is modulated.
  • the four-detector receiver 331 converts the light power into RF currents (either coherent or non-coherent detection is used, but here using noncoherent as example).
  • Each of the detectors has a different optical filer (726 in FIG. 7) to allow only one of the four frequencies ⁇ , , ⁇ 2 , ⁇ 3 , ⁇ 4 to pass through.
  • the currents are sent back to the four RF band pass filters 439 to pass RF frequency ⁇ .
  • the phase differences of first two signals and the last two signals, 433 and 432, are recovered by DPD 441 and 442, respectively, and are sent to computer 900. If the mixer is used at 441 and 442, the filters 443 are needed, before the signals are sent to computer 900, for filtering out high frequency if the phase difference is used, or for filtering out the low frequency if the phase sum is used.
  • the output from the mixer 452, after a low pass filter 458, is a sinusoidal fimction of the phase difference, which is sent to computer 900.
  • the other receiver, 342 filters out the first frequency and the sends the two detected RF signals (from Bl and B2, and carried by the second frequency ⁇ 2 ) to a RF band pass filter 449.
  • the dish-line- framed part (446, 454, 455, 456, 457) is an option for using the phase sum.
  • FIG. 14 The control and processing of another light-based system, with four wavelengths, is shown in FIG. 14. The difference from the system described in FIG. 12 is that the transmitters and receivers are swapped.
  • the four-light-source tra ⁇ --smitter 341 is installed on the head holder 300.
  • Four corner receivers 241 ⁇ 244 are used.
  • FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of the control and processing of another light-based system. All the procedures for this system are the same as that in the system described in FIG. 14, except that only two wavelengths or frequencies are used.
  • phase-based system The system with its alternatives described in FIGS. 9 to 15 is based on the phase measurement approaches, called phase-based system.
  • the system can be also based on the time measurement approaches, called time-based system.
  • the information carrier for the time- based system is, usually, ultrasonic wave, but it can be also any kind electromagnetic wave (light, or inillimeter microwave) as long as we have fast-enough clocks in the future or for huge applications.
  • the system is illustrated by an ultrasonic-based approach as shown in FIG. 16 and FIG. 17.
  • the clock 475 sends periodic commands (triggers) for the pulse generator 476, which generates a pulse-modulated current with an ultrasonic frequency. After the current power is amplified at amplifier 477, the current is sent to transmitter 371.
  • the ultrasonic pulse is tra ⁇ --smitted out from transmitter 371 and is received by receivers 271 and 272.
  • the power amplifier 477 has also an output signal for the start trigger 478 to trigger the time counters 480 and 481, so as to start time- counting at the moment the ultrasonic wave is sent out.
  • the signal is immediately (speed of electrical is far greater than the speed of sonic) a ⁇ -plified by the amplifiers 482, and is sent to triggers 484 and 485 to stop the time-counting.
  • the time counters 480, 481 send the time differences to computer 900.
  • the ultrasonic frequency filters 483 are used to distinguish the pulse from the other transmitters (384 in FIG. 4, or 388 in FIG. 5) on head holder extension 303 in FIG. 4, because the two tran-nnitters are driven by different ultrasonic frequencies.
  • FIG. 17 is used to show the control and processing of the time-based system with another ultrasonic-based approach.
  • the difference from the system described in FIG. 16 is that the transmitter and receiver are swapped. More clearly, the receiving CU 381 is on the head holder 300 rather than the trarismitting CU on the head holder.
  • Two ultrasonic pulse generators 488 and 489 are used to produce two driving currents with different frequencies. Therefore, the two ultrasonic pulses with different frequencies are transmitted from the trai-ismitters 281 and 281.
  • the mixed signal from receiver 381 after amplified by amplifier 498 is split into two paths by splitter 495. Each of the filters, 496, or 947, blocks out the other frequency and sends the pulse to triggers 484 and 485 to stop the time-counting.
  • the Doppler effect is an alternative used for relative motion detection. Only two transmitting CU (transmitters) at the bottom comers (such as Al, A2 in FIG. 2(d)) and two receiving CU (receivers on the head holder) as two locators are used. Instead of producing pulse- modulated PULSES ultrasonic wave or electromagnetic wave, the generators 488, 489 in FIG. 17 generate an oscillation current with two frequencies a fair away from each other, and the transmitters 281, 282 in FIG. 17 radiate CONTINUOS ultrasonic waves or electromagnetic wave. Receiver, 381 in FIG.17, is replaced by a Doppler-Frequency-Detector.
  • the Doppler frequencies which carries the information of two velocity components along two directions, are detected.
  • One direction is from one transmitter Al (281) to the receiver 381 ; the other direction is from the other transmitter A2 (282) to the receiver 381. So the angles of two directions are timely changing while receiver 381 is moving.
  • the Doppler frequencies are sent to computer 900.
  • Computer 900 converts the two Doppler frequencies into velocity components and calculates the two displacement components of the receiver (i.e. locator) by integrating the velocity components. Then from the displacement components, the relative position of the locator is determined.
  • the other alternative of image reproduction and image recording system is to use any mou- «-technique-based positioning method for determining the relative position of the locator.
  • phase dependence on the coordinates is linear; while for the RF-based
  • the dependence is nonlinear due to phase nonlinearity of the near-field and the distortion from the boundary conditions.
  • the contour curves for constant phase differences are a class of hyperbola curves, as show in FIG. 18(a). While, for the case of linear phase dependence and using phase sum, the contour curves for constant phase sum are a class of ellipse curves, as show in FIG.
  • the zero-PD calibration at (0,0) can be achieved either by hardware (phase shifter) adjustments, or by computer processing.
  • FIG. 9 shows an example of phase shifter 431. By adjusting the phase shifter, the PD at (0,0) can be reduced to zero. If by computer processing, these two non-zero PD's will be stored for later use - 913.
  • Procedure 915 calculates the PD changes and distance differences (DD) when the locator moves from the center to the corner.
  • the DD are defined as the difference of the two distances: the distance between Al (or Bl) and the head locator, Le.r ⁇ (or r m ), and the distance between A2 (or B2) and the head locator, i.e. r A2 (or r B2 ), - 915.
  • the calibration coefficient is dete ⁇ nined by the ratio of DD over PD change — 916, which is the proportional coefficients between DD and PD change, and is used for converting the PD change to DD during the operation.
  • the final step of initialization is to initialize image status by setting all P(i) ⁇ 0 ( denotes the -th pixel) — 917.
  • the computer also figures out the scale transformation between the image area 10 and the image source stored in computer. According to the size of the image area 10, the computer will produce a frame on the computer screen according to the scale, and the operator can move the frame on the screen to the source area that he will most likely to reproduce.
  • the status of any pixel outside the frame is initially set to 1. However, it is initially set to 0 if the pixel is inside the frame. For any pixel of which the corresponding image has been reproduced on the image area 10, the status P(i) will be changed to 1 from 0. If the status of a pixel is 1, the image of this pixel will not be reproduced again during the head causally moving. However, multiple reading from same pixel and overwriting the old reading doesn't matter.
  • Procedure 922 and hereafter are the common procedures for different cases: linear or nonlinear phase dependencies, using phase difference, or phase sum, or time difference.
  • Procedure 922 is to solve the roots of an equation that includes the DD data, and gives the locator position (x, y). The equations are different for the different cases listed at the begir-_--ing of this paragraph.
  • Procedure 923 takes all the stored image data 924. Then checks the status of each pixel — 925. If the pixel has been sprayed (P (i) -1), the next pixel is checked. If all the pixels have been sprayed
  • procedure 928 takes the color data of this pixel from the image file 924, and then sends the con-imands for spraying - 929. Meanwhile, procedure 928 sets the status to 0 for this pixel. If the distance is greater than the criteria, then check the next pixel with status 0. If there is no such pixel that satisfies this condition at all, then it will wait for the next trigger for the next chance —930 of meeting a pixel that is spray-able, during head causally moving.
  • Procedure 951 in the dish-line frame is an alternate for improving the efficiency, if there is no such pixel at all, or if there is only one such pixel.
  • three fast-response micro-motors are used to slightly adjust the sprayer array position and direction, so that each sprayer on the array can aim at a corresponding pixel.
  • Two motors are installed at the end of the array [at the side of locator 383(FIG. 4) or 387(FIG.5)], and the third motor is installed at the other end of the array [at the side of tocator 384 (FIG.
  • the third motor drives the head array rotates about axle at the first sprayer. Similar to procedure 933 in FIG. 19, the computer find out the pixel in image source which is the nearest to the position (x (l) , y* 1 ) of locator 1 at that moment (this is also the position of the first sprayer — this is just a corresponding relation, not necessarily physically the same).
  • the computer predicts how much the array should be moved to aim at that pixel, by taking in the account the velocity of head motion and the response time of micromotors-driven spray head, and then move the array so that the first sprayer aims at that pixel Meanwhile, the computer predicts how much the array should be rotated to make each of the sprayers aim at a corresr>onding pixel by taking in the account the moving trend and inertia. Then the micro-motor rotates the array to the predicted angle and computer commands the sprayers to spray.
  • phase has a linear dependence on the distance ( r) between the receiver and the transmitter.
  • a ⁇ A phase of A2 - phase of Al
  • ⁇ B phase of B2 - phase of Bl
  • phase sum ⁇ ⁇ and ⁇ B
  • phase difference approach is a pure real number, and the contour curves for constant phase differences are a class of hyperbola curves, and the right root-pair (x, y) is uniquely distinguished from the four pairs of the roots by checking the signs of the two phase-differences.
  • A1-A2 is vertical to B1-B2, as the cases shown in FIG. 2(b) and (c).
  • phase information (A ⁇ A ⁇ 0 and A ⁇ B ⁇ 0) corresponding to the solution with (x > 0, y > 0); (A ⁇ A ⁇ 0 and A ⁇ B > 0) « ⁇ * (x > 0, y ⁇ 0); (A ⁇ A > 0 and A ⁇ B ⁇ 0) ⁇ €• ⁇ * (x ⁇ 0, y > 0); and (A ⁇ A > 0 and A ⁇ B > 0) ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ (x ⁇ 0, y ⁇ 0).
  • the operator inputs the locator region ID from a keyboard when the locator begins to move.
  • the computer then changes the region ID whenever the locator moves across the region boundaries. Therefore, the right root-pair (x, y) is distinguished from the region ID and the moving trend.
  • the above procedures for modulation-based method are characterized by the linear dependencies of the phase.
  • radio frequency (RF) is directly (Le. not used as modulation) used as the information carrier.
  • ( ⁇ and A ⁇ B ), or ⁇ A and ⁇ B ), are the detected phase differences, or phase sums, respectively.
  • the first rm mization starts at the initial point that is defined by the roots of the linear equations from the linear limit (the larger r) of the phase dependence, and the later n-ini-mization starts at the previous position of the locator.
  • the boundary condition of the electromagnetic filed may introduce a discrepancy of the phase dependence from the formula above, which is determined by the environment and cannot be predicted ahead. If the discrepancy is significant, a calibration method is employed. The calibration method is to mesh the image area 10. Move the locator at each node on the mesh.
  • the computer then records the phase difference and the coordinates of the node. Then the computer uses the surfece functions to fit the coordinates versus the phase difference by using numerical methods (such as finite element method). By using these surfece functions, the computer dete ⁇ nines the coordinates from the phase difference when the locator moves to any position on the image area 10.
  • PHASE-CURRENT PROCESSING (1) For both cases of using digital phase detector (DPD) or mixer, the phase shifters built in the operation units are so adjusted that, for the zero phase (i.e. phase difference between two inputs of the DPD, or mixer), the output current is zero.
  • the DPD outputs a linear current that is proportional to the phase (Le. phase difference between the two inputs of the DPD) in the region (-2 ⁇ ,2 ⁇ ).
  • the curve is wrapped out of this region for every 2 ⁇ of increase or decrease in phase, as shown in bottom of FIG. 21,
  • the mixer outputs a current that is proportional to the sine function of the phase. So the monotonous region is ( ⁇ /2, ⁇ /2).
  • the wavelength of the RF modulation or RF-carrier should be the n-aximum dimension of the image area 10 if DPD is used; while it should be 4 times of the maximum dimension of the image area 10 if mixer is used. So using the DPD will result in 4 times better signal to noise ratio (SNR) than using mixer if the noise level is same, that is, the resolution is 4 times better by using DPD than by using mixer.
  • SNR signal to noise ratio
  • ID identification
  • the tocator moves to the region 51 through a path, and the computer follows the locator and finally changes the ID number to 51 starting from 33.
  • the button for active spraying is switched on and the sprayers start to work.
  • the detected-phase-current is the output of the DPD (the solid lines in bottom of FIG. 21).
  • the phase-current is the processed current without wrapping and is scaled to phase (the dish lines in bottom of FIG. 21), and the phase is the phase-difference used in the next computer processing as described above.
  • the phase-current should jump a value from the detected-phase-current. As shown in FIG.
  • the phase-current for phase difference of A2-A1 should shift to 959 and 960, respectively, from the detected-phase-current (955 and 956). Or, in other words, in the regions 34 and 35, the phase which is directly (i.e. without shift) determined from the detected-phase-current should add 2 ⁇ an ⁇ 4 ⁇ , respectively. If using a very large M, this method can also serve as an alternate for relative-motion-based system that will be described below,
  • the head includes a motion detector (MD) and operation module (OM).
  • MD motion detector
  • OM operation module
  • the preferred apparatus for the MD is the optical image-motion-detector (340), as shown in FIG. 8.
  • the camera pixel sensor array 346 converts the optical image into electrical signals, which are sent to the computer's memory for
  • the head starts moving at the center of the image area 10 after the initial setting of the reference point of the relative motion at this point.
  • a picture is taken — the middle panel that are shown in FIG. 22 (a) represents the windows of image 964.
  • the position of the image 965 is defined as the left bottom comer of the window.
  • the image position is at 964.
  • the head is moving to the position
  • the picture-taken frequency should be high enough so that between the two neighboring pictures, the position just changes a distance of a few pixels, even if with the fastest moving. Especially, if the head starts from static state, the position just changes a distance within one pixel.
  • the computer starts the analysis by detern ining the image-correlation at assumed positions, one of the positions is at 967 for example.
  • the image-correlation is defined
  • frame represents the quadrilateral frame, of which the four comers are at the four outer points with the center at the
  • the -nirfece-fitting center for five-point fitting.
  • it represents the pentagonal frame, of which the five comers are at the five outer points with the center at the -nirfece-fitting center, for six-point fitting below. It would be lucky if the maximum correlation point is inside the frame (as shown in (c)). If the maximum point is inside the frame but too close to the boundary, one more point 973 on the lower side of the surface is needed, and computer redoes the surfece fitting by six points, for better accuracy. For each new position at a new trigger moment, the first surface fitting is made by always using five points. The second-and-after surfece fitting are made by always using six points.
  • HEAD SIMPLE MOTION If the head is moving, the computer stores the history data of the head positions. From these data, the head movement trend (the velocity and acceleration) can be determined. Therefore, the position of next picture at the next triggered moment can be predicted at 974 (by extrapolation), as shown in FIG. 22(d), although the actual position is at 975. Then the computer finds the nearest pixel to the predicted position 974, and uses this pixel as the surfece-fitting center, and repeats the procedures described in the above section (with FIG. 22(c)). If the prediction is accurate enough (Le. head motion is not complex), the actual position (that is the maximum point) of the picture at this moment should be inside the frame. So the same later procedures described in the above section (with FIG. 22(c)) are applied.
  • the center 977 is the closest pixel to the predicted position 976. This means that there is no maximum point in the frame center at 977. Therefore need RE-SETTING SURFACE-FITTING CENTER: the computer needs to compare the values of the correlation at the four corners, and picks out the point with lowest correlation value, V c (i.e. the point 980 for the case shown in FIG. 23(a)), and picks up the values of the two neighbored comers, V for 979 and 2 for 981.
  • V c i.e. the point 980 for the case shown in FIG. 23(a)
  • the computer defines the two variables: R x and R 2 - -V 2 ⁇ /V C , and sets the two criteria's CRi (say 0.5) and CR 2 (say 0.2) which need optimization.
  • min ⁇ ⁇ means taking the minimum value in the list. If _R, > -RC, , R 2 > RC 2 and V 1 ⁇ V 2 , then use 983 (in FIG. 23 (a)) as the next surfece-fitting center. If R x > RC X ,
  • R x > RC X , R 2 ⁇ RC 2 then use 987 (in FIG. 23 (d)) as the next surface-fitting center. If R x ⁇ RC X and V x ⁇ V 2 , then use 988 (in FIG. 23 (c)) as the next surfece-fitting center. If R ⁇ RC X and V X > V 2 , then use 989 (in FIG. 23 (c)) as the next surface-fitting center. This time, we don't need four points, but three or two points (thin open circles) around the new surface-fitting center will be added. The surfece-fitting is carried out by six (rather than five) points, the center and the newly added points plus some old points.
  • the point 984 in (a) or 986 in (b) is not necessary. If a maximum point is found in the new frame, the actual position of the head at the present moment is obtained. Otherwise, the computer repeats the procedures until the actual position is found.
  • DOPPLER EFFECT METHOD The Doppler effect of ultrasonic or elecfromagnetic wave is used for positioning.
  • ultrasonic wave As an example.
  • the generators 488, 489 in FIG. 17 generate the oscillation current with two frequencies a feir ways from each other, and the transmitters 281, 282 in FIG. 17 radiate continuous ultrasonic waves.
  • Receiver 381 is replaced by a Doppler frequency detector. When the receiver 381 is moving around in the two ultrasonic fields, the Doppler frequencies are detected.
  • AT is the time spacing of the two neighboring triggers. If the head positions relative to the two sources at the moment of last trigger are F 10 and r ⁇ ,, respectively, the head

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  • Spray Control Apparatus (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images qui présente une pluralité exclusive d'utilisations au moyen de procédés de positionnement, de traitement et de commande et d'opérations flexibles (manuelles, robotisées, véhiculées) d'un support de tête, et qui fonctionne à partir d'un système de positionnement exempt d'appareil de guidage mécanique. Les appareils communs englobent un support de tête, un pulvérisateur/un lecteur ou un jeu de pulvérisateur/lecteur, et un ordinateur. Des appareils supplémentaires utilisés dans un procédé basé sur un mouvement relatif ou un procédé basé sur des ondes comprennent, respectivement, un module de fonctionnement (OM ) et des détecteurs de mouvements (MD) ou une unité de fonctionnement (OU) et des unités de communication (CU). Le détecteur de mouvements et le module de fonctionnement engendrent les informations du positionnement destinées à un ordinateur, de façon à déterminer la position et la direction relatives du jeu de tête sur le support de tête. Les unités de communication font rayonner et reçoivent le signal requis pour la détermination des informations sur la distance. L'unité de fonctionnement permet de traiter et de convertir le signal reçu en données relatives à la distance et de les acheminer jusqu'à l'ordinateur. Ce dernier permet de déterminer les coordonnées d'une tête dans le jeu de tête à partir de ces données et de les envoyer en retour à l'unité de fonctionnement ou au module de fonctionnement. Puis, l'unité de fonctionnement ou le module de fonctionnement permet d'envoyer les données sur les couleurs et les commandes de pulvérisation au jeu de tête et d'alimenter la tête ou d'envoyer des commandes de lecture au jeu de lecteur afin de lire les données sur les couleurs.
PCT/US2003/025111 2002-08-12 2003-08-11 Systeme et appareils d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images avec procedes de positionnement, de traitement et de commande Ceased WO2004015980A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2003269957A AU2003269957A1 (en) 2002-08-12 2003-08-11 System and its apparatuses for image reproduction and recording with the methods for positioning, processing and controlling
CA002530977A CA2530977A1 (fr) 2002-08-12 2003-08-11 Systeme et appareils d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images avec procedes de positionnement, de traitement et de commande

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US40223302P 2002-08-12 2002-08-12
US60/402,233 2002-08-12

Publications (2)

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WO2004015980A2 true WO2004015980A2 (fr) 2004-02-19
WO2004015980A3 WO2004015980A3 (fr) 2007-04-05

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PCT/US2003/025111 Ceased WO2004015980A2 (fr) 2002-08-12 2003-08-11 Systeme et appareils d'enregistrement et de reproduction d'images avec procedes de positionnement, de traitement et de commande

Country Status (4)

Country Link
CN (1) CN101001756A (fr)
AU (1) AU2003269957A1 (fr)
CA (1) CA2530977A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2004015980A2 (fr)

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WO2006079321A1 (fr) * 2005-01-25 2006-08-03 Buestgens Burkhard Procede d'application de peinture sur des surfaces, a regulation en fonction de la position
FR2952450A1 (fr) * 2009-11-12 2011-05-13 Commissariat Energie Atomique Dispositif portable et procede d’impression d'une image, support d'enregistrement, stylo et borne pour ce dispositif
CN102264127A (zh) * 2009-12-10 2011-11-30 浙江工业大学 基于共面度的无线传感网络的三维定位方法
AU2015218531B2 (en) * 2013-02-25 2017-03-09 John Grimes Automated paint application system and related method
FR3051126A1 (fr) * 2016-05-10 2017-11-17 Christophe Verna Pistolet a peinture permettant de reproduire par pulverisation de peinture une image envoyee par un projecteur sur un support a peindre
CN107583812A (zh) * 2017-08-31 2018-01-16 新疆金风科技股份有限公司 自动滚涂设备
CN111307182A (zh) * 2020-03-06 2020-06-19 宁波飞芯电子科技有限公司 数据处理方法及阵列型传感器

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CN103309356B (zh) * 2013-06-24 2016-02-17 深圳市科松电子有限公司 车载机器人
GB2537334A (en) * 2014-01-24 2016-10-12 Zuta Labs Ltd Self-propelled printer and self-propelled imprinter
CN104865896A (zh) * 2015-03-18 2015-08-26 贵州翰凯斯智能技术有限公司 一种工业机器人个性化作图方法
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CN106476444B (zh) * 2016-12-15 2018-12-11 深圳爱易瑞科技有限公司 一种轮式打印装置
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US5311208A (en) * 1991-10-03 1994-05-10 Xerox Corporation Mouse that prints
JPH08295096A (ja) * 1995-04-27 1996-11-12 Brother Ind Ltd 電子ペン
JPH1039997A (ja) * 1996-07-18 1998-02-13 Saifasha:Yugen 三次元画像データ・指令入力システム
GB9825024D0 (en) * 1998-11-13 1999-01-13 Esselte Nv A printer with failsafe features

Cited By (11)

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WO2006079321A1 (fr) * 2005-01-25 2006-08-03 Buestgens Burkhard Procede d'application de peinture sur des surfaces, a regulation en fonction de la position
FR2952450A1 (fr) * 2009-11-12 2011-05-13 Commissariat Energie Atomique Dispositif portable et procede d’impression d'une image, support d'enregistrement, stylo et borne pour ce dispositif
WO2011058061A1 (fr) 2009-11-12 2011-05-19 Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives Dispositif portable et procede d'impression d'une image, support d'enregistrement, stylo et borne pour ce dispositif
JP2013510738A (ja) * 2009-11-12 2013-03-28 コミサリア ア レネルジ アトミク エ オウ エネルジ アルタナティヴ 画像印刷用の携帯装置および方法、並びに同装置用の記録媒体、ペンおよびベンチマーク
US8657397B2 (en) 2009-11-12 2014-02-25 Commissariat A L'energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives Portable device and method for printing an image, recording medium, pen and benchmark for said device
CN102264127A (zh) * 2009-12-10 2011-11-30 浙江工业大学 基于共面度的无线传感网络的三维定位方法
CN102264127B (zh) * 2009-12-10 2014-08-06 浙江工业大学 基于共面度的无线传感网络的三维定位方法
AU2015218531B2 (en) * 2013-02-25 2017-03-09 John Grimes Automated paint application system and related method
FR3051126A1 (fr) * 2016-05-10 2017-11-17 Christophe Verna Pistolet a peinture permettant de reproduire par pulverisation de peinture une image envoyee par un projecteur sur un support a peindre
CN107583812A (zh) * 2017-08-31 2018-01-16 新疆金风科技股份有限公司 自动滚涂设备
CN111307182A (zh) * 2020-03-06 2020-06-19 宁波飞芯电子科技有限公司 数据处理方法及阵列型传感器

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CN101001756A (zh) 2007-07-18
CA2530977A1 (fr) 2004-02-19
AU2003269957A1 (en) 2004-02-25
AU2003269957A8 (en) 2004-02-25
WO2004015980A3 (fr) 2007-04-05

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