JP2000318140A - Printing method for ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain printing results of three-dimensional effects because of a thickness of overlapped ink by printing to overlap figure layers of ink. SOLUTION: A host computer 1 divides printing image data of one page to a plurality of faces of bit map images 4 and transmits the images to a printer controller part 2. In the printer controller part 2, data received by a data receiving circuit is read out by a CPU and stored in a receiving buffer. The CPU reads out the stored data and executes a plotting process thereby plotting to an image memory. When receiving the image data, an ink jet printing mechanism part moves by a raster scan method a printing head for jetting ink to repeatedly print images of one face for the number of times of a plurality of faces. When printing one page is finished, an ink solid content is printed to overlap on an equal medium, with uneven stereoscopic printing results obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a pigment ink,
The present invention relates to a printing method of a monochrome or color ink jet printer that performs printing by spraying onto a medium to be printed such as paper, a metal plate, and a wood block, and a storage medium thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following is an example of a conventional overprinting method using a printer or an ink jet printer.

(1) Method of synthesizing image data on image memory For example, a fixed print pattern called “form over valley” and character data to be superimposed on it are synthesized in the image memory, and the synthesized memory contents are used. There is a method for executing printing. This application includes book printing.

(2) Method of printing on printed paper Prepare a paper on which a fixed print pattern is printed,
There is a method of printing characters on the paper.

(3) Ink-jet printer using water-based ink An ink-jet printer that executes moncro or color printing using a water-based ink is commercially available.

(4) Inkjet printer using oil-based ink An ink-jet printer that executes moncro or color printing using oil-based ink is commercially available.

(5) Laser beam printer A laser beam printer capable of fixing C, M, Y, and K toners on the same sheet to perform color printing is provided by electrostatically adhering toners of respective colors on a photosensitive drum. Print.
In this method, overprinting is performed on the same medium.

(6) Embossed printing There is a printing machine that can print characters as thick ink.

[0009]

The prior art has the following problems. In any of (1) to (6), a color image with the thickness of the ink cannot be printed, and a three-dimensional effect cannot be expressed by unevenness.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the following means are provided to solve the above-mentioned problems.

(1) One page of print image data is generated as image data of a plurality of pages, and P is sent to the printer controller.
Software that performs the function of transmitting as CL.

(2) A host computer that executes the software of (1).

(3) Software for receiving image data consisting of a plurality of surfaces from a host computer and controlling a printer mechanism so that overlapping printing is performed.

(4) A printer controller for executing the software of (3).

(5) A printer mechanism for printing with pigment ink in accordance with a command from the printer controller.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the present invention. The host computer 1 divides the print image data for one page into bitmap images 4 on a plurality of surfaces and transmits the bitmap images 4 to the printer controller 2. The printer controller unit 2
The CPU reads the data received by the data receiving circuit and stores the data in the reception buffer. The CPU reads out the data stored in the reception buffer, executes the drawing process, and executes the drawing in the image memory. From this data reception, every time image data for one surface transmitted by the host is created, the image data is transferred to the ink jet printing mechanism unit via the engine control unit.

The ink jet printing mechanism section moves the print head for ejecting ink by a raster scan method, and repeatedly prints an image for one surface for a plurality of surfaces. Each time one page of printing is performed, the printing mechanism waits for the time specified by the host computer to dry the ink, then moves the print head to the upper left print start position and adjusts the distance between the media and the head Thereafter, printing of the next side is started. When the overprinting of a plurality of surface images constituting one page is performed in this manner, a print result of one page is formed on the medium. Here, the ink may be a dye ink or a pigment ink. However, with a conventional dye and pigment plus oil ink, a sufficient thickness cannot be obtained after the solvent is removed, so that an ink containing a resin component is preferable. The heat-soluble ink is effective because most of the ink remains as a solid.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a simplified example of the case where the present invention is carried out, in which surface image data of No. 1 to No. 4 are sequentially overprinted to obtain a print result of one page. It is a thing. In FIG. 2, a map including a mountain and a river is represented by a cross-sectional view in which the mountain is printed like a mountain in a raised state.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the outline of the operation of the software of the printer controller for realizing the present invention. For the sake of explanation, it is assumed that the medium to be printed (paper, metal plate, woodcut, etc.) is attached to the printing mechanism before printing.

The printer controller transmits a control command to move the print head to the print start position to the printer mechanism before the printer enters an online state where data can be received from the host (step 010). An appropriate adjustment value d is given in advance to the distance between the print head nozzle and the medium (step 020). A control command is sent to the printer mechanism to adjust the head distance based on the value d (step 030). After transmitting the control command for head distance adjustment, the controller starts receiving a command from the host computer (step 040).

If the received command is a command indicating print image data, the controller forms a bitmap image specified by the received command on the image memory (step 060).

When the reception of the print image data command is repeated and the transfer of the image data for one side is completed, the host computer transmits a command indicating the end of the transfer of the print image for one side. When the controller receives this, it transmits a print image for one side formed on the image memory to the engine mechanism (step 090). The controller unit transmits a control command to move the print head to the printing start position (upper left point of the medium) to the printing mechanism unit (step 12).
0), the head distance adjustment command is transmitted to the print mechanism unit with the print head distance being a value d in consideration of the thickness of the ink to be printed (step 130), and the process returns to receiving the command from the host (step 040).

Before the end of the command of the image data for one surface, the host computer can designate a new head distance in consideration of the thickness of the pigment ink for executing the printing of the next surface. . When receiving the head distance designation command, the controller stores the designated value in the program variable d (step 080), and transmits it to the printing mechanism as a head distance adjustment command when printing of one side is completed. The adjustment is performed (step 130).

When printing of one page is completed, the host computer designates a waiting time with a command to the controller unit in consideration of the time when the printed ink is sufficiently dried, and the controller waits for the designated time. (Step 150). When the designated waiting time has elapsed, the process returns to the next command reception (step 040). In this way, printing of one image is executed.

Further, a print image command,
When the processing of the one-page end command and the time waiting command is repeatedly executed for a plurality of pages, the overprinting is executed, and the host computer transmits the page end command as the end of the one-page plane data.

After receiving the page end command, the controller sends a command to the printing mechanism to retract the print head to an appropriate position so that the printed medium can be removed from the printing mechanism (step 17).
0), the printing mechanism processes this.

In the PDL transmitted from the host computer to the controller, commands other than the print image command, the one-side end command, the time wait command, and the page end command execute necessary processing in the "command processing" in the flowchart. .

When the printing of one page is completed in this way, the ink solids (dye, pigment and resin) are superimposed and printed on the same medium, and a printing result with unevenness and a three-dimensional appearance can be obtained. .

[0030]

According to the present invention, a printing result having a three-dimensional effect due to the thickness of the ink overlap can be obtained by printing by overlapping the ink. For example, if a plurality of surface image data separated by contour lines is created from the numerical map data and the overprinting is executed, a print result in which mountains and valleys are well represented three-dimensionally is obtained. Also, by preparing an application program for drawing a picture on the host computer side and programming the drawn image object as data of a plurality of surfaces, it is possible to electronically copy any number of pictures with irregularities.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a simplified result of overprinting.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a controller unit of the printer device that implements the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: host computer, 2: printer controller, 3: inkjet printing mechanism (engine), 4:
Image data of a plurality of surfaces, 5: print head, 6: print result.

Claims (5)

[Claims] An ink jet printer which receives a page image divided into a plurality of planes from a host computer, and prints each plane image by superimposing a solid layer of ink on the same medium one by one. Printing method. 2. During printing of an image on a plurality of sides, in order to wait for the ink to dry, the host computer suspends printing for a time designated by the PDL, and after the pause, prints the next side. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is started. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the print head and the medium of the ink jet printer can be designated by PCL, and printing is performed at an appropriate distance between the head and the medium when each surface image is printed. The printing method of the printer. 4. A printing method for an ink jet printer, comprising: converting image data of one page into PDL representing a plurality of image data for each side for overprinting. 5. A storage medium storing the printing method of an ink-jet printer according to claim 1 as a program.