JPH09272248A - Printing control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically regulate set density from the printing result on the way of printing of data. SOLUTION: When data are printed by predetermined printing density, a color image sensor 7 reads the printing result thereof. A CPU 1 detects the density of the image data read by the color image sensor 7 and also compares the density of the image data with the above-mentioned printing density. When both sides difer, printing density is automatically adjusted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device used in a word processor, a personal computer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a print control device provided in a printer such as a word processor, document data or the like is printed at a print density preset by a print density volume. Here, the print density is checked by trial printing, and the set density is adjusted by the volume operation. Also, in the thermal printer, the ink ribbon cassette is not installed,
If the release lever is released, the thermal paper is set inside out, or the paper is jammed, normal printing will not start even if the printing operation is started. I was trying to redo the operation.

[0003]

However, it is a great burden on the operator to confirm the print density by trial printing every time printing is performed, and the confirmation is delayed,
If, after printing many pages, an abnormal print density is noticed, the printing up to that point is wasted. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to automatically adjust the set density from the printing result during the printing of data. In addition, it is often noticed that the ribbon cassette is not attached or the release lever is released after the actual printing is started. In such a case, it is a great burden for the operator to restart the printing operation from the beginning. Further, when the document data for a plurality of pages is continuously printed by the automatic paper feeding, there is a drawback that time is wasted if the discovery is overlooked for a long time. An object of the present invention is to be able to notify an abnormality such as when an ink ribbon is not mounted, a release lever is released, or a paper jam or the like immediately after or during a printing operation.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The means of the first invention (the invention according to claim (1)) is as follows. (1) The image reading means is an image sensor that reads the print result when data is printed at a predetermined print density. (2) The density detecting means detects the density of the image data read by the image reading means. (3) The density adjusting means adjusts the print density when the density of the image data detected by the detecting means is compared with the print density and the density is different. The image reading means may be attached near the print head and read the print result following the print head. Now, when the printing operation is started, the image reading means reads the printing result. Then, the density of the image data is detected, and the density adjusting means compares the detected density with the set density, and if the two densities are different, adjusts the set density. Therefore, during the printing of data, the set density can be automatically adjusted from the printing result. Means of the second invention (the invention according to claim (2)) is as follows. (1) The image reading means is an image sensor that reads the print result when print data is output. (2) The comparing means compares the form of the image data read by the image reading means with the form of the output print data. (3) The notifying means is a buzzer device, a display device, or the like, which notifies the user when the two forms are different as a result of comparing the data by the comparing means. The image reading means may be attached near the print head and read the print result following the print head. Now, when the printing operation is started, the image reading means reads the printing result. Then, the comparison means compares the image data with the print data, and if the forms of the two are different, the notification means notifies that effect.
Therefore, if the ink ribbon is not installed,
When the release lever is released, an abnormality such as a paper jam can be notified immediately after or during the printing operation.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a word processor capable of color printing. C
The PU 1 is a central processing unit that controls the overall operation of the word processor according to various programs. As an input / output peripheral device, the CPU 1 includes an input unit 2, a storage device 3, a storage medium 4, a display unit 5, and a color printing unit 6. , A color image sensor 7 and an alarm unit 8 are connected to control input / output operations of them.

The storage device 3 is a hard disk device, an optical disk device or the like for storing various programs and character font data. The storage medium 4 is a card-type or cassette-type storage medium composed of a magnetic / optical storage medium or a semiconductor memory, and is detachably mounted. The programs, data, and the like stored in the storage medium 4 are read by the storage medium control unit 9, temporarily stored in the storage device 3, and then expanded in the RAM 10. The program, data, and the like stored in the storage medium may be configured to be received and stored from another device connected via a communication line or the like, and further, may be connected via a communication line or the like. A storage device including the storage medium may be provided on the device side, and the programs and data stored in the storage medium may be used via a communication line.

The color printing unit 6 is a thermal transfer type color printer and has a print head, a multi-ink ribbon cassette, and the like. Here, the printer can be classified into a melting type printer and a sublimation type printer depending on the difference in ink, but any of them may be used.
The print head is mounted on a carriage and movable in the digit direction, and a color image sensor 7 is attached near the print head. That is, the print head prints according to the movement of the carriage, and the color image sensor 7 fixed to the printer carriage is attached near the print head. The color image sensor 7 follows the print head to read the print result, and the CPU 1 sets the image data read by the CPU 1 in the 1-line image buffer 10-1 in the RAM 10. The color printing unit 6 is 360 DPI and the color image sensor 7 is 400 DPI.
I'm using the PI one.

The alarm unit 8 is a sound generating device such as a buzzer for notifying an error. When the CPU 1 outputs print data, it compares the image data read by the color image sensor 7 with the print data output this time, If the two forms (bitmap data) are different, the alarm unit 8 is driven.

The RAM 10 includes a program memory and the like, 1
Line image buffer 10-1, document memory 10-
2, the print buffer 10-3, the three-color register 10-4, and the dot counter 10-5, and the one-line image buffer 10-1 temporarily stores the image data for one line read by the color image sensor 7. To do. The document memory 10-2 stores document data, and this document data also includes color information. The print buffer 10-3 stores print pattern data for one page. The print pattern data is Y (yellow),
It is stored as color data of M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). The three-color register 10-4 and the dot counter 10-5 will be described in detail later, but the three-color register 10-4 stores the data in the 1-line image buffer 10-1 read by the color image sensor 7 as R.
When separated into three primary colors (red), G (green), and B (blue), the number of on-dots for each separated color is stored. The dot counter 10-5 is a counter that counts the number of ON dots of data. Here, the CPU 1 compares the density of the image data read by the color image sensor 7 with the print density when the data in the print buffer 10-3 is printed with a predetermined print density (color tone), Print density is automatically adjusted when the
Print buffer 1 when detecting the density of image data
The 0-3 and 3-color registers 10-4 are used. Also, RAM
10 is provided with a print line counter N, an inspected flag F, and a print density automatic adjustment flag P, which will be described later.

Next, the printing operation will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. It should be noted that the programs that implement the functions described in this flowchart are stored in the storage medium in the form of program codes that can be read by the CPU. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a printing operation which is started in response to a print command. First,
The color data to be printed is converted into YMCK color data for printing (step A1), and the print row counter N, the inspected flag F, and the print density automatic adjustment flag P in the RAM 10 are cleared (step A).
2). As a result, one page of YMCK color data is stored in the print buffer 10-3, and the data of the first line is taken out according to the value of the print line counter N (step A3). If there is data to print,
In other words, it is checked whether it is a blank line (step A
4) If the first line is a blank line, step A19
In step A20, the print line counter N is incremented by "1" to update the print line, and at the same time, one line of recording paper is fed (step A20). As a result, the value of the print line counter N becomes "1", and as a result of accessing the print buffer 10-3 with this value, the data of the next line is taken out (step A).
3).

If it is not a blank line, the process advances to step A6 to check whether the print density automatic adjustment flag P is "0". The print density automatic adjustment flag P is a flag for instructing whether or not it is possible to automatically adjust the set density from the print result during the printing of data, and it is initially set to "0". A7 (density correction processing) is skipped. Then, the process proceeds to step A9 to check whether the inspected flag F is "0". The inspected flag F indicates whether or not the inspection for generating the alarm sound has already been executed by automatically adjusting the print density by the density comparison as described above or by comparing the data forms. Is done for the first line only.
Since the inspected flag F is now set to "0", following the printing operation, the image data read by the color image sensor 7 is captured (step A10), and the presence or absence of image data is detected (step A10). A11). Here, for example, when the ink ribbon cassette is not attached or the release lever is released, it is detected that the image data has not been read and the process proceeds to step A22 to generate an alarm sound for a certain period of time, and then print. Force the operation to end.

On the other hand, when it is detected that the image data has been read, the color image data is decomposed into RGB and quantized (step A12). FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the quantization processing in this case.
Here, the start of reading the image data is assumed to be read from the background color of the paper. First, the CPU 1 fetches the first 1 dot of the 1-line image buffer 10-1 (step B1), and saves and stores the color as a ground color (step B2). Then, the next one dot is fetched (step B3), and it is checked whether the color is the ground color (step B4). Here, if it is the ground color, the process returns to step B3 to fetch the next one dot, but if it is not the ground color, the data of the dot is separated into three primary colors (step B5), and the result is stored in the three-color register 10-. Add to 4 (Step B
6). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the three-color register 10-4 and the dot counter 10-5, which is data separated into three primary colors,
That is, the gradation value “0 to 255” is added to the corresponding RGB register. Then, "1" is added to the value of the dot counter 10-5 (step B7). Such processing (steps B3 to B7) is repeated until the end of the same color (the end of brown in the case of FIG. 5) is detected. The end of the same color can be detected by the color change point on the text. Now, when the end is detected,
An average value is obtained by dividing the values of the RGB registers of the three-color register 10-4 by the values of the dot counter 10-5 (step B9).

When such a quantization process is completed, the process proceeds to step A13, and the read color data is compared with the printing color data. In this case, the quantized R
The GB data are compared and it is checked whether they are approximately coincident with each other. If a discrepancy is detected, the print density automatic adjustment flag P is set to "1" (step A).
21), "1" is set to the inspected flag F (step A18). Then, "1" is added to the value of the print line counter N (step A19), and the paper for one line is fed (step A20). As a result, the data of the next Nth row is read (step A3). here,
When the print density automatic adjustment flag P = "1" is detected in step A6, the density correction process is performed (step A
7).

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the density correction processing. Now, when the set density is brown, red + black = red + red-blue-yellow, that is, a mixture of 100% red, 50% blue, and 50% yellow. It becomes a ratio. At this time, if brown is read by the color image sensor 7, R = 120/255, G = 40/25
5, B = 40/253. In addition, this R
The value of GB is obtained when the standard ground color of brown is read experimentally, and is fixedly set in advance. Here, since the background color is reddish, R = 120/255, G = 3
Assuming that 0/255 and B = 25/255, ΔR = ± 0, ΔG = −10, and ΔB = −15 are deviated. In this case, the negative value indicates that the value is darker than it actually is. In this case, the value of ΔRGB is used as an index to search the illustrated color conversion table, and the corresponding correction data (−20, 0, 0) is searched.
Is read. It should be noted that, for example, indexes are set in the conversion table at intervals of "5". A correction process is executed based on the correction data read by this. That is, the set densities are corrected to 80% red, 50% blue, and 50% yellow.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step A14 that the color data approximately match each other, the process proceeds to step A15, and the read color data are respectively RG.
B or addition is performed, and thereby, it is converted into monochrome bitmap data. Then, the converted bitmap data are compared with each other (step A16), and it is checked whether or not the two match approximately (step A17). If a mismatch is detected, the process proceeds to step A22, where an alarm sound is generated for a certain period of time to forcibly terminate the printing operation. On the other hand, if an approximate match is detected, the checked flag F is set to "1" (step A1).
8) Then, "1" is added to the value of the print line counter N to update it (step A19). And step A20
After feeding the paper for one line, the process returns to step A3. Here, if "1" is set in the inspected flag F, the process proceeds to step A19 as usual, and the operation of printing line by line while updating the value of the print line counter N is repeated.

As described above, while the color data is being printed, the printing result is read by the color image sensor 7 and the set density can be automatically adjusted by comparing the color image data with the printing color data. . Further, when the print result is read while printing the data, by comparing the form of this image data with the color data for printing, for example, the ink ribbon is not attached or the release lever is released. At this time, an abnormality such as a paper jam can be immediately notified. The color image sensor 7 is attached in the vicinity of the print head on the carriage forming the color printing unit 6, and the print result is read following the print head. Therefore, the printer drive mechanism is also used as the moving mechanism of the image sensor. be able to.

In the above-described embodiment, color printing is taken as an example, but monochrome printing is also applicable. Further, for example, when the print on the first line is light, the data on the first line may be reprinted on the first line to increase the density in order to approach the same density as on the second line. Further, when the first line is dark, the print density may be automatically adjusted so that the second and subsequent lines are gradually lightened.

[0018]

According to the present invention, since the set density can be automatically adjusted from the printing result during the printing of data, test printing, volume adjustment, etc. are not required. Also, if the ink ribbon is not installed,
Abnormalities such as paper jams can be notified when the release lever is released, or immediately after or during the printing operation, so wasteful printing can be prevented and the operator's burden can be greatly reduced. Becomes

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a word processor capable of color printing.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a color printing operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing step A12 of FIG. 2 (a process of decomposing color image data into RGB and quantizing it).

4 is a diagram showing a three-color register 10-4 and a dot counter 10-5 for explaining the quantization processing of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying color data for one line.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining step A7 (density correction processing) in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Input Section 3 Storage Device 6 Color Printing Section 7 Color Image Sensor 8 Alarm Section 10-1 1 Line Image Buffer 10-3 Print Buffer 10-4 3 Color Register 10-5 Dot Counter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading a print result when data is printed at a predetermined print density, and a density detecting means for detecting a density of image data read by the image reading means. A print control apparatus comprising: a density adjusting unit that adjusts the print density when the density of the image data detected by the detecting unit is different from the print density when the print density is different. 2. An image reading means for reading the print result when the print data is output, and a comparing means for comparing the form of the image data read by the image read means with the form of the output print data. And a notifying unit for notifying that the two forms are different from each other as a result of comparing the data by the comparing unit. 3. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the image reading means is mounted in the vicinity of the print head, and the print result is read following the print head. .