JP2001213028A - Print control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control device capable of executing a toner saving operation without degrading the quality even when using a toner save mode and outputting images having the same color hue when executing the toner saving operation. SOLUTION: This print control device comprises a toner save pattern forming means that forms a toner save pattern corresponding to a resolution set by a host device or a resolution used at a time when an original document is read and a toner saving operation means that applies the toner save pattern formed by the toner save pattern forming means to print output data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control device, and more particularly to a binary or multi-valued full-color printing control device that realizes toner saving without deteriorating image quality even when printing resolution is changed. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus saves toner by reducing a pseudo density by a method of obtaining a logical product of an image signal and a halftone dot pattern or by circulating several patterns for each line. Function was realized.
However, when this is performed by a color printing apparatus, an image having a completely different color may be obtained. In addition, simply taking a logical product also depending on the resolution may cause a case different from the intended toner save.

As a conventional example for solving these problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-243216 (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 1)
Discloses an image processing apparatus that converts the image data to a higher resolution than the resolution of the image data and masks the converted image data with a white data pattern. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-297025 (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 2)
Discloses an image forming apparatus including a thinning circuit for forcibly converting pixels in the main scanning direction and / or sub-scanning direction into white pixels at a rate corresponding to the pixel density in the sub-scanning direction. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-151833 (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 3) discloses that an optimum toner saving process is performed on input image data depending on whether the image data is a character, a line drawing, or a photographic image. An image forming apparatus is disclosed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example 1, when the toner is saved, especially in the case of multi-value, the image quality is deteriorated. Further, Conventional Example 2 merely considers resolution conversion in the main scanning direction and is insufficient. Further, in the third conventional example, only the multi-value is limited, and the case of the resolution conversion cannot be dealt with, and the logic becomes large to have versatility for selecting from a plurality of toner save processing routines. . Further, since the resolution is changed, if a low-resolution toner save pattern is directly applied to a high-resolution toner save method, the high-resolution capability cannot be fully utilized.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and it is possible to perform a toner save process without deteriorating the quality even if toner save is used.
An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device capable of outputting an image having the same hue when performing toner save.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a printing method according to the present invention is provided, in which toner saving is performed to reduce toner consumption for full-color printing output based on binary or multi-valued image data. The control device includes a toner save pattern creating unit that creates a toner save pattern corresponding to the resolution set by the host or the resolution when the document is read, and prints out the toner save pattern created by the toner save pattern creating unit. It is characterized by having a toner save processing means for adding to data. According to another aspect, a toner save pattern storage unit that stores a toner save pattern corresponding to a resolution set by a host or a resolution when a document is read, and a toner save pattern stored in the toner save pattern storage unit And a toner save pattern selecting means for selecting a toner save pattern corresponding to the toner save amount, and a toner save processing means for applying the toner save pattern selected by the toner save pattern selecting means to the print output data. Therefore, even if the toner save is used, the toner save process can be performed without deteriorating the quality as much as possible, and an image having the same hue can be output when the toner save is performed. Further, by selecting the nurse save pattern in accordance with the toner save amount, a finer toner save selection can be realized.

Further, the toner save pattern creating means is constituted by a subtraction register or a shift register.
Further, since the toner save processing means is an OR circuit, it can be configured with a simple configuration.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Toner save pattern setting means for creating a toner save pattern corresponding to a resolution set by a host or a resolution at the time of reading an original,
A toner save processing unit for adding the toner save pattern created by the toner save pattern creating unit to the print output data.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print control apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a print control apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a CPU that controls the entire system.
11, a program RAM 12 in which software for controlling the CPU 11 is stored, and a RAM 13 which is a storage location for temporary variables for programs and a storage location for storing images. For example, printer devices 14-1 to 14-1
4-n, and device interfaces (hereinafter abbreviated as device I / F) 15- of the devices 14-1 to 14-n.
1 through 15-n, a bus control unit 16 for performing bus control, an engine 17, and an engine interface (hereinafter, abbreviated as engine I / F) 18 for transmitting generated image data to the engine 17, via the bus 10. Connected and configured. Further, the bus control unit 16 is a bus arbiter 1 that controls arbitration when the bus 10 competes.
6-1, RAM control 16-2 for controlling reading and writing of RAM 13, RAM 1 according to toner save pattern
3 that includes a video controller 16-3 for processing the developed image data to satisfy the engine interface protocol and transmit the processed image data, and an I / O controller 16-4 for controlling input / output on the bus. Have been.

Next, FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of the configuration in the case where the print control apparatus having the configuration as shown in FIG. 1 performs toner save.
Shown in 4 and 5 show examples of processed toner save patterns. The configuration example shown in FIG. 2 is a case where the concept of resolution is not considered, and the image data itself read from the image memory 21 is logically ORed with the toner save pattern (01) previously stored in the toner save pattern memory 22. When the output is output from the video output control unit 24 by multiplication by the circuit 23, a toner save pattern as shown in FIG. 4 is added regardless of the resolution. That is, in the case of Ndpi, (1, 1) is (0, 1)
In the case of N × 2 dpi, (1, 1, 1, 1) is (0,
1,0,1), N × 4 dpi (1,1,1,1)
1,1,1,1,1) is (0,1,0,1,0,1,1)
0, 1). As a result, in any case, the image is different from the original image.

On the other hand, when the configuration shown in FIG. 3 is used, the resolution of the image data read out from the image memory 21 is set in the video output control unit 24, and the data is stored in the toner save turn memory 22 as shown in FIG. The toner save pattern can be multiplied by the OR circuit 23. Originally, the same output result must be obtained even if the resolution is different. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the video output control unit 24 of FIG. 3 performs a control mechanism for multiplying the toner save pattern as shown in FIG. Saving can be realized, and the same image to which the same toner save pattern is added can be obtained.
In other words, the toner save pattern (01) is logically ORed for the resolution Ndpi, the toner save pattern (0011) for the resolution N × dpi, and the toner save pattern (00001111) for the resolution N × 4 dpi.

In addition to not only one save pattern in accordance with the resolution as in the above-described embodiment but also, for example, when the resolution is quadrupled as shown in FIG.
In the case of (1), a function is provided in which a toner save pattern for obtaining the same image can be selected in advance so as to become thinner in the order of (0111), (0011), and (0001), so that a finer toner save can be selected. To do. That is, the toner save pattern is selected according to the desired toner save amount without deteriorating the image quality.
Alternatively, if the resolution is N times, an internal register capable of setting a 2Nth toner save pattern is prepared, and a function is provided in the video output control unit 24 of FIG. 3 so that more detailed settings can be made. If the image quality deteriorates regardless of which toner save pattern is selected, print output is performed without performing toner save processing.

Next, the basic principle of the multi-value is the same as that of the binary. In the case of multi-value, the pixel has m bits (2
Since the value is 1 bit), it must be handled in units handled in m bits. In this case, by causing the video output control unit 24 in FIG. 3 to perform a control mechanism for multiplying the toner save pattern as shown in FIG. 7, the toner save can be realized and the same save pattern is added to the same image having a different resolution. The same image is obtained. That is, in the case of the resolution N, the toner save pattern (0011) is used, and in the case of the resolution N × 2 dpi, the toner save pattern (00) is used.
001111), the toner save pattern (00000000011111111) when the resolution is N × 4 dpi
Is ORed. Further, even in the case of multi-valued, not only one save pattern is used in accordance with the resolution, but also if the resolution is quadrupled as shown in FIG. Save the (0
0111111), (000011111), (0000)
0011), a function is provided that allows the toner to be selected in advance so as to become thinner in order, so that a desired toner saving amount can be obtained, and a finer toner saving can be selected. Alternatively, if the resolution is N times, an internal register capable of setting a toner save pattern corresponding to the power of 2 N is prepared, and a function is provided in the video output control unit 24 in FIG. 3 so that more detailed settings can be made.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a toner save pattern is created and multiplied by using a subtraction register as a density register. That is, (00000101) is subtracted, where the subtraction value of the subtraction register, which is the density register, is set to 5. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the toner save is realized by using a shift register or a mask control which is easy to make in hardware without using the subtraction register of FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, if the shift amount of the density register is 3, a toner save pattern (00011111) is obtained and multiplied by the multi-value image data. As shown in FIG. 10B, if the shift amount of the density register is 5, a toner save pattern (00111111) is obtained and multiplied by the multivalued image data.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and needless to say, various modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope of the claims.

[0016]

As described above, the print control apparatus according to the present invention, which performs toner saving to save toner consumption for full-color print output based on binary or multi-value image data, is set by the host. And a toner save pattern creating means for creating a toner save pattern corresponding to the set resolution or the resolution at which the original was read, and a toner save process for applying the toner save pattern created by the toner save pattern creating means to the print output data Means. According to another aspect, a toner save pattern storage unit that stores a toner save pattern corresponding to a resolution set by a host or a resolution when a document is read, and a toner save pattern stored in the toner save pattern storage unit And a toner save pattern selecting means for selecting a toner save pattern corresponding to the toner save amount, and a toner save processing means for applying the toner save pattern selected by the toner save pattern selecting means to the print output data. Therefore, even if the toner save is used, the toner save process can be performed without deteriorating the quality as much as possible, and an image having the same hue can be output when the toner save is performed. Further, by selecting the nurse save pattern in accordance with the toner save amount, a finer toner save selection can be realized.

Furthermore, the toner save pattern creating means is constituted by a subtraction register or a shift register,
Further, since the toner save processing means is an OR circuit, it can be configured with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus to which a print control device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control device that performs a normal toner save function.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state of toner save by the print control device of FIG. 2;

5 is a diagram illustrating a state of toner save by the print control device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a toner save state when a plurality of toner save patterns are selected.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state of toner save for multi-valued image data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state of toner save when a plurality of toner save patterns in multi-valued image data are selected.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state of toner save using a subtraction register as a density register.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a toner save state using a shift register as a density register.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: bus, 12: CPU, 13: program ROM,
14: RAM, 15-1 to 15-n: device, 16-
1 to 16-n: device I / F, 17: bus control unit, 17-1: bus arbiter, 17-2: RA
M, 17-3: video controller, 17-4: I / O
Controller, 18: Engine, 19: Engine I /
F, 21: image memory, 22: toner save pattern memory, 23: OR circuit, 24: video output control unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) 9A001 F term (reference) 2C061 AR01 HH13 HM07 HN20 2C262 AB17 BB21 EA06 FA18 2H027 FA07 FA28 FB15 FB19 2H030 AD07 5B021 AA01 AA02 BB CC05 DD15 EE01 LG07 9A001 BB03 BB06 HH31 HH34 JJ35 JJ48 KK31

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A print control apparatus for performing toner save for saving toner consumption for full-color print output based on binary or multi-valued image data, comprising: A toner save pattern creating means for creating a toner save pattern corresponding to the resolution; and a toner save processing means for giving the toner save pattern created by the toner save pattern creating means to print output data. Printing control device. 2. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said toner save pattern creating means comprises a subtraction register. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said toner save pattern creating means comprises a shift register. 4. A print control apparatus for performing toner save for saving toner consumption for full-color print output based on binary or multi-level image data. Toner save pattern storage means for storing a toner save pattern corresponding to the resolution; toner save pattern selection means for selecting a toner save pattern corresponding to the toner save amount from the toner save patterns stored in the toner save pattern storage means; And a toner save processing unit for applying the toner save pattern selected by the toner save pattern selection unit to print output data. 5. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the toner save pattern is not added to the print output data if the print output is hindered when the toner save processing is performed. 6. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said toner save processing means comprises an OR circuit.