Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a printing control method, apparatus, printer and storage medium, which can print out a 3D effect image with clear layers and fine texture efficiently and quickly.
In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a printing control method, including:
setting an ink jet unit of a printer into a first ink jet unit comprising one spray head and a second ink jet unit comprising at least one spray head;
sending first data channel information to the first ink jet unit, controlling the first ink jet unit to print white ink for a substrate on a substrate area of a printing stock and controlling the first ink jet unit to print white ink for an embossment on an embossment area of the printing stock;
sending second data channel information to the second ink jet unit, and controlling the second ink jet unit to print white ink for embossing in the embossing area of the printing stock; wherein the first data channel information is obtained by computing the total white ink density data of the substrate region and the partial white ink density data of the relief region according to the OR operation of phases.
Preferably, the first data channel information and the second data channel information are received data information that is directly imported by a user through RIP software, or generated after processing an image to be printed by the RIP software.
Preferably, the first data channel information includes substrate region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing on the substrate region, and the second data channel information includes relief region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing on the relief region.
Preferably, the first data channel information includes substrate region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing in the substrate region, and relief region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing in the relief region, and the second data channel information includes relief region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing in the relief region.
Preferably, the method further comprises the step of: and respectively setting a plurality of color ink jet units comprising at least one nozzle for the ink jet units of the printer, wherein the color ink jet units print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after printing white ink.
Preferably, the step of printing the corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after the color ink jet unit prints the white ink specifically includes: and sending data channel information corresponding to the color ink jet unit, and controlling the color ink jet unit to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after printing white ink.
Preferably, the color ink jet unit includes at least one of a cyan ink jet unit, a magenta ink jet unit, a yellow ink jet unit, and a black ink jet unit.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a print control apparatus including: the printing control method comprises a memory, a processor and a printing control program which is stored on the memory and can run on the processor, wherein the steps of the printing control method are realized when the printing control program is executed by the processor.
In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a printer, including: a spray head; and a print control device for controlling the nozzle to perform inkjet printing, wherein the print control device is the print control device according to the second aspect.
In a fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present invention further provide a computer-readable storage medium, on which a print control program is stored, the print control program, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the print control method.
Compared with the prior art, the printing control method, the printing control device, the printer and the storage medium provided by the invention can be used for controlling the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit to print white ink for a substrate on the substrate area of a printing stock and print the white ink for an embossment on the relief area of the printing stock by respectively setting the first ink jet unit for printing the substrate area and the second ink jet unit for printing the embossment area, and then receiving the first data channel information and the second data channel information corresponding to the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit. Therefore, the 3D effect image with clear layers and fine texture can be printed efficiently and quickly.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
It should be noted that the description relating to "first", "second", etc. in the present invention is for descriptive purposes only and is not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In addition, technical solutions between various embodiments may be combined with each other, but must be realized by a person skilled in the art, and when the technical solutions are contradictory or cannot be realized, such a combination should not be considered to exist, and is not within the protection scope of the present invention.
The invention provides a printing control device.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an alternative hardware architecture of the printing control apparatus according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, the print control apparatus 2 may include, but is not limited to, a memory 20, a processor 30, and a data interface 13, which may be connected via a system bus or other connection means to communicate with each other. The print control apparatus 2 may be an independent electronic apparatus that realizes a specific function together by being connected to another electronic apparatus, or may be a component or unit that realizes a specific function as another electronic apparatus.
The memory 20 includes at least one type of readable storage medium, which includes a flash memory, a hard disk, a multimedia card, a card type memory (e.g., SD or DX memory, etc.), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.
In this embodiment, the memory 20 is generally used for storing an operating system installed in the print control apparatus 2 and various types of application software, such as program codes of the print control program 10. In addition, the memory 20 may also be used to temporarily store various types of data that have been output or are to be output.
The processor 30 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, or other data Processing chip in some embodiments. The processor 30 is generally used to control the overall operation of the print control apparatus 2, such as performing data interaction or communication-related control and processing. In this embodiment, the processor 30 is configured to execute the program code stored in the memory 20 or process data, for example, execute the print control program 10.
The data interface 13 may include a wireless data interface or a wired data interface, and the data interface 13 is generally used to establish a communication connection between the print control apparatus 2 and other electronic devices. In this embodiment, the printing control apparatus 2 is connected to a printing device or a network printing device (not shown in fig. 1) through the data interface 13 to exchange information, and can perform corresponding control on the printing device or the network printing device through the data interface 13.
Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a printing control program 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the printing control program 10 may be divided into one or more modules, and the one or more modules are stored in the memory 20 and executed by one or more processors (the processor 30 in this embodiment) to complete the present invention. For example, in fig. 2, the print control program 10 may be divided into a setting module 100, a receiving module 200, and a control module 300. The program module referred to in the present invention means a series of computer program instruction segments capable of performing a specific function, and is more suitable than a program for describing the execution process of the printing control program 10 in the printing control apparatus 2. The functions of the program modules will be described in detail below.
The setting module 100 is used for setting an ink jet unit of a printer into a first ink jet unit including one nozzle and a second ink jet unit including at least one nozzle.
In particular, since the ink ejecting unit of the printing apparatus generally includes a plurality of heads each including a plurality of orifices, each head can perform an independent ink ejecting operation. Therefore, the setting module 100 firstly sets the ink jet unit of the printer to be a first ink jet unit including one nozzle and a second ink jet unit including at least one nozzle, and the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit are independent of each other and can respectively execute different ink jet tasks.
In this embodiment, when a 3D effect image having a substrate area and an embossment area needs to be printed on a printing material, since the white ink density to be printed on the substrate area is low, the density of ink dots is relatively low, if a mode of printing simultaneously by using a plurality of nozzles is used, the density of ink dots printed by each nozzle is lower, and each nozzle prints ink dots with the same density, the positions of the ink dots printed by each nozzle on a medium are approximately the same, which causes the ink dots to gather, and a large blank appears in the vicinity, the macro effect is that the granular feeling is relatively heavy and looks relatively rough. Therefore, when the first ink jet unit comprising one nozzle is used for independently printing the white ink of the substrate, the white ink substrate with the same concentration and uniformly distributed can be effectively printed. For the high-concentration white ink superposed embossment region, the second ink jet unit comprising a plurality of nozzles is adopted for printing, so that the high-concentration white ink superposed embossment region can be printed efficiently and quickly, and the printing effect cannot be influenced. Specifically, in this embodiment, the number of the nozzles is 4: jet0, Jet1, Jet2 and Jet3, the white ink concentration to be printed in the substrate area is 20%, the white ink concentration to be printed in the relief area is 100%, the RIP software processes the image to be printed to generate two data channel information, namely first data channel information and second data channel information, the Jet0 prints the first data channel information, the jets 1, Jet2 and Jet3 print the second data channel information, and the first data channel information includes the 20% white ink concentration in the substrate area and the 25% white ink concentration in the relief area, the second data channel information includes only the 25% white ink concentration in the relief area, that is, the Jet0 is used for printing the whole substrate area and part of the relief area, and the jets 1, Jet2 and Jet3 are only used for printing the relief area, and the specific printing effect is as shown in fig. 4. Wherein the first data channel information is calculated by OR operation of phase between 20% white ink density data of the substrate region and 25% white ink density data of the relief region.
The receiving module 200 is configured to receive first data channel information and second data channel information that are directly imported by a user through RIP software or generated after processing an image to be printed by the RIP software.
Specifically, the printing control device 2 sends control information including data channel information to the printer through the data interface 13 so as to control the printer to perform an ink ejection task. After the setting module 100 sets the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit of the printer, the printing control apparatus 2 needs to send the first data channel information and the second data channel information for controlling the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit to execute the ink jet task to the printer. Since the first data channel information and the second data channel information are generated according to a specific print job, the receiving module 200 needs to receive the first data channel information and the second data channel information, which are directly imported by a user through RIP software or generated after processing an image to be printed by the RIP software.
In this embodiment, for example, when the first ink ejection unit is required to print white ink of the substrate region and the second ink ejection unit is required to print white ink of the relief region, then the first data channel information includes substrate region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing in the substrate region, and the second data channel information includes relief region information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing in the relief region. The substrate area and the relief area of the image to be printed, the white ink concentration of the substrate area and the white ink concentration of the relief area are all received by the receiving module 200, and are directly imported by a user through RIP software, or are generated after the image to be printed is processed by the RIP software.
It is noted that the first data channel information and the second data channel information are set according to a print job and thus are not constant. In other embodiments, for example, when a print job requires printing a low density white ink for the substrate in the substrate area and the relief area first, and then printing a high density white ink for the relief in the relief area, then the first data channel information includes the substrate area and relief area information in the image to be printed and the white ink density information for printing in the substrate area. For another example, since the head of the first ink jet unit has the same number of orifices as the head of the second ink jet unit, when the first ink jet unit prints the white ink for the substrate with low density, most of the orifices are inevitably unused, that is, when all the orifices of the head of the first ink jet unit are put into use, the white ink for the relief with high density can be printed. Therefore, when the printing efficiency of the relief area needs to be improved, the first data channel information includes substrate area information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing on the substrate area, and also includes relief area information in the image to be printed and white ink density information for printing on the relief area. Of course, in this case, when the first ink jet unit detects that the first ink jet unit is positioned above the substrate area of the printing stock, the printing is triggered to be executed according to the substrate area information in the image to be printed in the first data channel information and the white ink concentration information for printing on the substrate area; and when the first ink jet unit detects that the first ink jet unit is positioned above the relief area of the printing stock, triggering to print according to the relief area information in the image to be printed in the first data channel information and the white ink concentration information for printing in the relief area.
In addition, when the print control apparatus 2 itself stores information including the first data channel information and the second data channel information, the print control apparatus 2 may perform print control on the first ink ejection unit and the second ink ejection unit by directly using the stored first data channel information and the stored second data channel information after the first ink ejection unit and the second ink ejection unit are set. Therefore, in other embodiments, the receiving module 200 is not necessary.
The control module 300 is configured to send the first data channel information to the first inkjet unit and control the first inkjet unit to print white ink for a substrate on a substrate area of a substrate; and sending the second data channel information to the second ink jet unit and controlling the second ink jet unit to print white ink for embossing in the embossing area of the printing stock.
In this embodiment, the control module 300 sends the first data channel information including the substrate area information in the image to be printed and the white ink density information for printing on the substrate area to the first inkjet unit, and controls the first inkjet unit to print the white ink for the substrate with low density on the substrate area of the printing material. Meanwhile, the control module 300 sends the second data channel information including the information of the relief area in the image to be printed and the information of the white ink density for printing in the relief area to the second inkjet unit, and controls the second inkjet unit to print the high-density white ink for relief in the relief area of the printing stock.
As can be seen from the above, the printing control program 10 sets the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit through the setting unit 100, and sends the first data channel information and the second data channel information corresponding to the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit, which are received by the receiving module 200, to the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit through the control module 300, respectively, to print the white ink for the substrate on the substrate area of the printing material, and print the white ink for the relief on the relief area of the printing material. Therefore, the 3D effect image with clear layers and fine texture can be printed efficiently and quickly. Of course, the 3D effect image is a white relief image.
In another embodiment, when the color relief image with a well-defined and fine 3D effect needs to be printed efficiently and quickly, the setting module 100, the receiving module 200, and the control module 300 also need to realize the following functions.
The setting module 100 is further configured to set a plurality of color ink jet units including at least one nozzle for the ink jet unit of the printer.
Specifically, the plurality of color ink jet units include at least one of a cyan ink jet unit, a magenta ink jet unit, a yellow ink jet unit, and a black ink jet unit. The type of the color ink jet unit is determined according to the type of the color included in the actual image to be printed, and when the type of the color of the image to be printed needs to use black and cyan, the setting module 100 needs to set the ink jet unit of the printer to be a cyan ink jet unit and a black ink jet unit including at least one nozzle.
The receiving module 200 is configured to receive data channel information corresponding to each color ink unit, which is directly imported by a user through RIP software or generated after processing an image to be printed by the RIP software.
Specifically, any one of the color ink jet units corresponds to one data channel information, and the data channel information corresponding to the color ink jet unit includes information of an area where the color ink jet unit needs to jet ink and information of the density of color ink. Also, in this embodiment, the data channel information of each color ink jet unit is received by the receiving module 200, and the data information is directly imported by the user through RIP software, or is generated after processing the image to be printed by RIP software. In other embodiments, when the print control apparatus 2 stores the data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit, the receiving module 200 is not necessary at this time.
The control module 300 is further configured to send data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit to the corresponding color ink jet unit, and control each color ink jet unit to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after printing white ink.
Specifically, when the color ink jet units include a plurality of color ink jet units, the control module 300 needs to send the data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit to the corresponding color ink jet unit, and control each color ink jet unit to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after printing white ink. And each color ink jet unit determines whether to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area according to corresponding data channel information, and the data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit is determined according to the distribution of colors in an actual image. In this embodiment, when the substrate area in the image to be printed is a black embossed area in cyan, the plurality of color ink ejection units includes a cyan ink ejection unit and a black ink ejection unit. The data channel information corresponding to the black ink unit comprises the substrate area information and the black ink concentration information. The control module 300 controls the cyan ink jet unit to print cyan ink on the white ink relief of the relief area and controls the black ink jet unit to print black ink on the white ink substrate of the substrate area, thereby obtaining a printed color image.
In addition, the invention also provides a printing control method. The print control method is applied to the print control apparatus 2, and is implemented by the processor 30 executing the print control program 10 stored in the memory 20.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the steps of the first embodiment of the printing control method according to the present invention.
Step S402 sets the ink ejection units of the printer as a first ink ejection unit including one head and a second ink ejection unit including at least one head.
In particular, since the ink ejecting unit of the printing apparatus generally includes a plurality of heads each including a plurality of orifices, each head can perform an independent ink ejecting operation. Therefore, the ink jet unit of the printer is provided with a first ink jet unit comprising one nozzle and a second ink jet unit comprising at least one nozzle, and the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit are independent from each other and can respectively execute different ink jet tasks.
And step S404, receiving first data channel information and second data channel information which are directly imported by a user through RIP software or generated after the RIP software processes an image to be printed.
Specifically, after the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit are set by the inkjet unit of the printer, first data channel information and second data channel information for controlling the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit to execute an inkjet task need to be sent to the first inkjet unit and the second inkjet unit. The first data channel information and the second data channel information are generated according to a print job input by a user, so that the first data channel information and the second data channel information which are directly imported by the user through RIP software or generated after the image to be printed is processed by the RIP software, namely the data channel information associated with the print job, need to be received.
It should be noted that, when the printing control apparatus 2 itself stores information including the first data channel and the second data channel, after the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit are set, the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit can be directly controlled to jet ink by using the stored information of the first data channel and the stored information of the second data channel. Therefore, in other embodiments, step S404 is not necessary.
Step S406, sending the first data channel information to the first ink jet unit and controlling the first ink jet unit to print white ink for a substrate on a substrate area of a printed material; and sending the second data channel information to the second ink jet unit and controlling the second ink jet unit to print white ink for embossing in the embossing area of the printing stock.
In this embodiment, when the first data channel information includes substrate area information in the image to be printed and white ink concentration information for printing on the substrate area, and the second data channel information includes relief area information in the image to be printed and white ink concentration information for printing on the relief area, step S406 sends the first data channel information to the first inkjet unit, and controls the first inkjet unit to print white ink for the substrate on the substrate area of the printing material according to the white ink concentration information of the substrate area; and sending the second data channel information to the second ink jet unit, and controlling the second ink jet unit to print the white ink for embossing in the embossing area of the printing stock according to the white ink concentration information of the embossing area.
In another specific embodiment, when the first data channel information includes substrate area information in the image to be printed and white ink concentration information for printing in the substrate area and relief area information in the image to be printed and white ink concentration information for printing in the relief area, and the second data channel information includes relief area information in the image to be printed and white ink concentration information for printing in the relief area, step S406 sends the first data channel information to the first inkjet unit, controls the first inkjet unit to print white ink for the substrate in the substrate area of the printing material according to the white ink concentration information of the substrate area and print white ink for relief in the relief area of the printing material according to the white ink concentration information of the relief area; and sending the second data channel information to the second ink jet unit, and controlling the second ink jet unit to print the white ink for embossing in the embossing area of the printing stock according to the white ink concentration information of the embossing area.
As can be seen from the above steps, the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit are set, and the first data channel information and the second data channel information corresponding to the first ink jet unit and the second ink jet unit are respectively used to print the white ink for the substrate on the substrate area of the printing material and print the white ink for the relief on the relief area of the printing material. Therefore, the 3D effect image with clear layers and fine texture can be printed efficiently and quickly. Of course, the 3D effect image is a white relief image.
Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing steps of a print control method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Step S502, a first ink jet unit comprising a nozzle and a second ink jet unit comprising at least one nozzle are set for the ink jet unit of the printer, and a plurality of color ink jet units comprising at least one nozzle are respectively set.
Step S502 is the same as the principle of setting the ink ejection units in step S402, except that step S502 also needs to set a plurality of color ink ejection units for subsequent printing of color ink. The color ink jet unit includes at least one of a cyan ink jet unit, a magenta ink jet unit, a yellow ink jet unit, and a black ink jet unit. The first ink jet unit, the second ink jet unit and the plurality of color ink jet units are independent from each other and can respectively execute different ink jet tasks.
Step S504, receiving first data channel information and second data channel information generated by a user directly importing the image to be printed through RIP software or processing the image to be printed by the RIP software, and data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit.
This step is opposite to step S404, and also needs to receive data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit for subsequently controlling the plurality of color ink jet units to perform color ink printing. The data channel information corresponding to the color ink jet unit comprises substrate area information and/or relief area information in an image to be printed and color ink concentration information printed in the substrate area and/or the relief area. Of course, if the first data channel information, the second data channel information and the data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit are stored in the printing control device 2, this step is not necessary.
Step S506, sending the first data channel information to the first inkjet unit, controlling the first inkjet unit to print white ink for a substrate in a substrate area of a printed material, sending the second data channel information to the second inkjet unit, controlling the second inkjet unit to print white ink for a relief in a relief area of the printed material, sending data channel information corresponding to each color inkjet unit, and controlling each color inkjet unit to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after printing white ink.
The step actually includes step S406, except that after step S406 is executed, data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit needs to be sent to each color ink jet unit, and each color ink jet unit is controlled to print corresponding color ink in the substrate area and/or the relief area after white ink is printed. In this embodiment, after step S406, the substrate region and the relief region are printed with the white ink relief. And then, the step continues to send the data channel information corresponding to each color ink jet unit, and each color ink jet unit is controlled to print corresponding color ink according to the corresponding data channel information in the substrate area and/or the relief area information in the image to be printed.
Through the implementation of steps S502-S506, the first inkjet unit, the second inkjet unit and the color inkjet unit are set, and the first data channel information, the second data channel information and the data channel information of the color inkjet unit corresponding to the first inkjet unit, the second inkjet unit and the color inkjet unit are sent to the first inkjet unit, the second inkjet unit and each color inkjet unit, so that the white ink for the substrate is printed in the substrate area of the printing stock, the white ink for the relief is printed in the relief area of the printing stock, and then the color ink is printed in the substrate area and/or the relief area. Therefore, the 3D effect image with clear layers and fine texture can be printed efficiently and quickly. At this time, the 3D effect image is a color relief image. Fig. 7 is a diagram of the effect obtained by printing with the printing control method of the present invention, and compared with the substrate area of fig. 1, the diagram has denser dots, finer and better image effect, and the embossed area and the substrate area also have obvious density contrast.
In addition, the invention also provides a printer. The printer includes an ink cartridge; and the nozzle printing control device is used for controlling the nozzle to perform ink-jet printing, and the printing control device is the printing control device 2.
Finally, the invention also provides a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium has the printing control program 10 stored thereon, and the printing control program 10 can be executed by a processor to realize the functions of the setting module 100, the receiving module 200, and the control module 300.
Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.