JP2005242828A - Information processing system, control method of same, image forming device, and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print by automatically switching between black-and-white printing and color printing in a form intended by a user depending on a type of data to be printed. <P>SOLUTION: Determination criteria in determining whether text data, graphic data, image data are respectively the monochrome data or the color data, data of light's three primary colors and data of paint's three primary colors are set, and determination is made by a variation degree of data values of multivalued data of the three primary colors as the data to be printed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for automatically switching between monochrome printing and color printing for printing.

  Conventionally, the data to be printed is either color data or monochrome data in order to achieve optimal running cost and printing speed without the user being aware of the printer driver settings or whether the printed material is color or monochrome. A color printing / monochrome printing automatic switching function for automatically performing monochrome printing is realized when only monochrome data exists in the page.

  However, there are many problems with this automatic switching between color printing / monochrome printing. For example, even if the electronic data is color data, the monochrome data depends on the visual characteristics when the color data is determined by humans. Can only be judged.

In order to solve this problem, a technique has been realized in which a user manually designates color printing or monochrome printing for each page manually (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-084245 A

  However, the above-described prior art has a problem that the user has to set the color processing mode individually for each page, and the burden on the user is large.

  In order to solve this problem, data that is judged to be achromatic by human visual characteristics, such as when there are minute chromatic colors in the page or chromatic data that is very close to achromatic, A technique called fuzzy automatic discrimination, in which fuzzy judgment is made as monochrome data, can be considered. However, when the automatic fuzzy automatic determination process is always performed, for example, there is a possibility that graphics data created as color data by intentionally performing gradation or the like is determined as monochrome data.

  In other words, image data that is often created by a scanner or digital camera, and graphics data or text data created by a user on an application program are determined to be color data or monochrome data with the same logic. In this case, as a result, there is a possibility that monochrome printing and color printing may be executed in a form not intended by the user.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an information processing system capable of automatically switching between monochrome printing and color printing in a form intended by a user according to the type of data to be printed, a control method therefor, an image forming apparatus, and control The purpose is to provide a program.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing system according to the present invention includes a setting unit that sets a criterion for determining whether the data is monochrome data or color data according to the type of data to be printed. The determination unit for determining the type of data to be printed, and the determination target corresponding to the type of data determined by the determination unit among the determination criteria set by the setting unit are monochrome data. Determination means for determining whether there is color data or not.

  According to the present invention, an information processing system capable of automatically switching between monochrome printing and color printing in a form intended by a user according to the type of data to be printed, a control method therefor, an image forming apparatus, and control A program can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. A central processing unit 1, a main storage unit 2, an auxiliary storage unit 3, an input unit 4, an output unit 5, a medium reading unit 6, and a printing unit 7 are shown. And ROM8.

  The auxiliary storage device 3 includes a hard disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, and the like, and stores an application program 10 such as a system program (OS) 9 and a printer driver 11 (see FIG. 2). Application programs 10 such as a system program (OS) 9 and a printer driver 11 are loaded into the main storage device 2 and executed by the central processing unit 1. Note that the application program 10 such as the printer driver 11 and related data are initially stored in a storage medium such as an FD, CD-ROM, or IC memory card, and read from the storage medium by the medium reader 6. It is stored in the auxiliary storage device 3.

  The input device 4 includes a keyboard, a pointing device, and the like, and the output device 5 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The ROM 8 stores a boot program for loading a system program (OS) 9 into the main storage device 2, font data, and the like. The central processing unit 1 processes information and commands input from the input device 4 through cooperative processing between the OS 9 and the application program 10, and outputs the processing results to the output device 5 and the printer 7.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the host device (the central processing unit 1 and the main storage device 2) and the printing device 7 are connected via a Centronics interface. However, infrared communication, wireless communication, USB, IEEE 1394, etc. It is also possible to connect with interfaces according to other standards, or via various networks. The printing apparatus 7 as an image forming apparatus only needs to have a color printing function, and the printing method is arbitrary such as an ink jet method or an electrophotographic method. Further, the printing apparatus 7 as an image forming apparatus may be a multi-function printing apparatus having functions such as a copying function and a network communication function in addition to the printing function.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the printer driver 11 unique to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer driver 11 operates on the OS 9 and includes a user interface unit 12, a print data control unit 13, and a print command control unit 19. The print data control unit 13 includes an object-specific determination reference setting unit 14, an object attribute determination unit 15, a color / monochrome determination unit 16, a drawing data storage unit 17, and a print data generation unit 18.

  The user interface unit 12 is an interface unit for a user to input information related to various print settings, such as color settings for the printing device 7, color / monochrome automatic switching, and color / monochrome determination criteria, and to issue a print start instruction. And has a function of displaying the UI screen shown in FIG.

  The print data control unit 13 generally controls a process of creating data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 7 based on the drawing data specified by the application program 10. An object-specific determination criterion setting unit 14 of the print data control unit 13 sets a color / monochrome determination criterion for each type of data to be printed such as text data, graphics data, and image data (by object attribute). It is.

  In the initial state, the object-specific determination criterion setting unit 14 sets a predetermined default value as a color / monochrome determination criterion for each object attribute. This default value is set by the user's setting operation. It can be changed via the interface unit 12. In the present embodiment, the degree of variation of multi-value data values for each color of RGB is assumed as the determination criterion, but the ratio of chromatic color data in the drawing data can also be used as the determination criterion.

  The object attribute determination unit 15 is a determination unit that determines an attribute (object attribute, type) of drawing data (data to be printed: object) related to a drawing command delivered from the OS 9 or the application program 10. The color / monochrome determination unit 16 obtains a determination criterion corresponding to the object attribute determined by the object attribute determination unit 15 from the object-specific determination criterion setting unit 14, and whether the color of the drawing data falls within the determination criterion. It is a judgment part which judges whether or not.

  The drawing data storage unit 17 is a storage unit that stores the drawing command determined by the color / monochrome determination unit 16. The data stored in the drawing data storage unit 17 may be any of the drawing command itself passed from the OS 9, the intermediate language format, the PDL command format, or the rendered bitmap format data. The print data generation unit 18 generates color print data for one page if there is at least one color drawing data in the page among the drawing data determined by the color / monochrome determination unit 16. If the drawing data is monochrome, this is a generation unit that generates monochrome print data for one page.

  The print command control unit 19 converts the print data (R, G, B data) created by the print data generation unit 18 into C, M, Y, K data, etc. Conversion is performed, a print command for the printing device 7 is generated based on the converted data, and the printing operation of the printing device 7 is controlled. The data transmission / reception unit 20 is a function of the OS 9 and transmits / receives a print command or the like generated by the print command control unit 19 to / from the printing apparatus 7.

  Next, color / monochrome determination processing by the color / monochrome determination unit 16 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When a drawing command (including drawing data) is issued from the OS 9 to the printer driver 11 (print data control unit 13), the color / monochrome determining unit 16 determines the color (multi-value R, R, etc.) of the drawing data related to the drawing command. An average value K of G, B data: three primary color data of light is calculated (step S41). For example, when the R data value is 100, the G data value is 101, and the B data value is 102, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 calculates “101” as the average value K of R, G, and B. .

  Next, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 acquires the variation value (variation degree) α set by the object-specific determination reference setting unit 14 (step S42). The variation value α corresponds to the type (attribute) of the drawing data, details of which will be described later. Then, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 determines that all the R, G, and B data values of the drawing data related to the drawing command are within the range of the variation value α (between the average value K−α and the average value K + α). ) Is determined (step S43). As a result, if all the R, G, and B data values of the drawing data related to the drawing command are within the range of the variation value α, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 draws the drawing data related to the drawing command. If it is determined that the data is monochrome data (step S45) and one of the R, G, and B data values of the drawing data related to the drawing command is not within the range of the variation value α, It is determined that the drawing data related to the drawing command is color data (step S45).

  For example, when “101” is calculated as the average value as described above, if the variation value α is “1”, the R data value “100”, the G data value “101”, and the B data value Since “102” is all within the range of the average value “101” −variation value “1” = 100 to the average value “101” + variation value “1” = 102, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 It is determined that the data is monochrome data. If the object (drawing data) is bitmap data, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 performs the above-described monochrome / color determination processing for all pixels.

  Next, the monochrome / color determination criterion setting process will be described with reference to FIG.

  The user interface unit 12 of the printer driver 11 has a function of displaying a UI screen related to a slide bar as shown in FIG. The slide bar is displayed for each text data, graphics data, and image data, that is, for each object. When each slide bar is slid to the right end, the strictest criterion, that is, the variation value “0” is set. Further, as each slide bar is slid leftward from the right end, a more gradual determination criterion, that is, a larger variation value is set. As is clear from the description of FIG. 4 above, when “0” is set as the variation value α, the color / monochrome determination is performed most strictly, and monochrome data is obtained only when R = G = B. It will be determined that.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the variation value “0”, which is the strictest criterion, is set for text data and graphics data, and a gradual criterion is set for image data. In this case, text data and graphics data can be determined to be monochrome data only if they are strictly composed only of achromatic colors, and image data is not composed of only achromatic colors. Even when chromatic colors of a certain ratio or less are mixed, it can be determined that the data is monochrome data. In addition, for example, when the user intentionally applies the graphics data, by appropriately adjusting the setting of the variation value related to the graphics data, the gradation-applied portion is color. Can be determined.

  In this embodiment, the monochrome / color determination standard is set for each object using a slide bar. However, it is also possible to set the determination standard by numerical input. Further, instead of the variation value, for example, an area ratio of chromatic color data in the drawing data may be set.

  Next, the color / monochrome automatic switching process will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

  When a print command is input from the input device 4, the OS 9 on the main storage device 2 receives the print command and transfers it to the currently active application program 10. The application program 10 converts the print command into a command that can be recognized by the OS 9 and sends it to the OS 9 together with data to be printed. The OS 9 converts the print command from the application program 10 into a command that can be recognized by the printer driver 11 and sends the command to the printer driver 11.

  When the print data control unit 13 of the printer driver 11 receives a print command from the OS 9, the color / monochrome determination reference values (the above-described variation values) for image data, graphics data, and text data set by the user interface unit 12 are set. ) Or a default value is set in the object-specific determination reference unit 14 (step S601).

  Next, the print data control unit 13 of the printer driver 11 initializes a color flag indicating whether the drawing data related to the drawing command in the page is color data or monochrome data (step S602). The print data control unit 13 of the printer driver 11 receives the drawing command (including drawing data) sent from the OS 9, stores the drawing command in the drawing data storage unit 17 (step S603), and sets the color flag. It is determined whether or not the user is standing (step S603a). If the color flag is not set, the print data control unit 13 requests the object attribute determination unit 15 to perform the processing in steps S604 and S606. If the color flag is set, the print data control unit 13 performs the processing in steps S604 and S606. Without requesting 15, the process returns to step S603 to receive the next drawing command.

  The object attribute determination unit 15 determines whether the drawing data related to the drawing command is image data, graphics data, or text data (object attribute, data type), and the determination result is sent to the color / monochrome determination unit 16. Notification is made (steps S604 and S606). The color / monochrome determination unit 16 acquires the color / monochrome determination reference value corresponding to the data type notified from the object attribute determination unit 15 from the object-specific determination reference setting unit 14 (steps S605, S607, and S608).

  Next, the color / monochrome determination unit 16 determines whether the drawing data acquired in step S603 is color data using the color / monochrome determination reference value corresponding to the acquired data type (step S606). . The details of this determination processing are as described in FIG.

  If the color / monochrome determination unit 16 determines that the data is color data, the print data control unit 13 sets a color flag (step S610). If the print data control unit 13 determines that the data is monochrome data, the print data control unit 13 sets the color flag. Do not operate. The print data control unit 13 performs control so that the above-described processing is executed for all drawing commands in one page (step S611).

  The print data control unit 13 determines whether or not a color flag is set when the above processing is completed for all drawing commands in one page (step S612). If the color flag is set, drawing is performed. The print data generation unit 18 is instructed to generate bitmap data by rendering the drawing data for one page stored in the data storage unit 17 in color (step S614). On the other hand, if the color flag is not set, the print data control unit 13 renders the drawing data for one page stored in the drawing data storage unit 17 in monochrome to generate bitmap data so as to generate bitmap data. 18 is instructed (step S613).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the monochrome / color determination criteria can be arbitrarily switched for each type of data to be printed, so that monochrome printing and color printing intended by the user are automatically executed. It becomes possible.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and is based on, for example, C, M, Y data (three primary color data of paint), not R, G, B data (three primary color data of light). It is also possible to perform monochrome / color determination. In addition, the color / monochrome automatic switching processing can be performed by the printing device 7 instead of the printer driver installed in the host device.

  Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, this is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowcharts described above (shown in FIGS. 4 and 6).

1 is a system configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a host apparatus. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a printer driver. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of monochrome / color determination processing. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of a setting of a monochrome / color determination reference | standard. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of monochrome / color automatic switching processing.

Explanation of symbols

1: Central processing unit 2: Main storage device 3: Auxiliary storage device 4: Input device 5: Output device (display device)
6: Medium reader 7: Printer 8: ROM
9: OS
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Application program 11: Printer driver 12: User interface part 13: Print data control part 14: Judgment criteria setting part 15 for each object 15: Object attribute judgment part 16: Color / monochrome judgment part 17: Drawing data storage part 18: Print data Generation unit 19: Print command control unit 20: Data transmission / reception unit (host device side)

Claims (9)

Setting means for setting a criterion for determining whether the data is monochrome data or color data for each type of data to be printed;
A discriminating means for discriminating the type of data to be printed;
A determination unit that determines whether the data to be printed is monochrome data or color data by using a determination criterion corresponding to the type of data determined by the determination unit among the determination criteria set by the setting unit; ,
An information processing system comprising:   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets the determination criterion for each of text data, graphics data, and image data.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit includes a UI screen.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets a variation degree of data values of multi-valued three primary color data as the data to be printed.   5. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether the three primary color data of light to be printed is monochrome data or color data.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether the three primary color data of the paint to be printed is monochrome data or color data. A setting step for setting a criterion for determining whether the data is monochrome data or color data for each type of data to be printed;
A discriminating step for discriminating the type of data to be printed;
A determination step of determining whether data to be printed is monochrome data or color data using a determination criterion corresponding to the type of data determined in the determination step among the determination criteria set in the setting step; ,
An information processing system control method comprising: Setting means for setting a criterion for determining whether the data is monochrome data or color data for each type of data to be printed;
A discriminating means for discriminating the type of data to be printed;
A determination unit that determines whether the data to be printed is monochrome data or color data by using a determination criterion corresponding to the type of data determined by the determination unit among the determination criteria set by the setting unit; ,
An image forming apparatus comprising: A setting process for setting a criterion for determining whether the data is monochrome data or color data for each type of data to be printed;
A discrimination process for discriminating the type of data to be printed;
A determination process for determining whether data to be printed is monochrome data or color data using a determination standard corresponding to the type of data determined by the determination process among the determination standards set by the setting process; ,
The control program characterized by performing.

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