JP2003226043A - Image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of incapability of judghing whether a pixel is originally a vector data object or a raster data object due to the fact that only gradation data are stored for raster data converted for a printer. <P>SOLUTION: At the time of image recording, printing image data of image data arrangement are produced using different color conversion information depending on the kind of the object of the original image data so that the kind of the object of the original image data are identified by the pixel values of the printing image data for executing a half tone process, a color conversion process and an edge smoothing process by different methods according to the kind of the object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When printing is performed from a host machine such as a PC, the types of objects that form an image to be printed by a printer are classified into vector data and raster data. In the vector data, the object shape is represented by a vector and is mainly used for expressing characters and figures. In raster data, an object is represented by an array of pixel data, and is mainly used to represent image data such as photographs. The printer controller receives the data, converts it to raster data for the printer, and transfers it to the printer engine.The printer engine either prints based on the sent data or converts it to raster data for the printer on the host machine. Convert and send to printer. The data conversion performed at this time is called rasterization processing, and mainly includes vector data, which is character / graphic data, and
Raster data, which is mainly image data of a photograph or the like, is converted into a print image corresponding to the print resolution printable by the printer and the color information printable by the printer. That is, the original vector data is converted to printer raster data according to the printer's print resolution, and the original raster data is scaled up and down according to the printer's print resolution to become printer raster data. To be converted. In the process of this rasterization, if necessary, the color information of the sent data is converted into the color information used inside the printer, and if the original data has continuous tone, the printer can Halftone processing is performed to obtain the printable gradation number.

[0003]

The color information of vector data, which is mainly character / graphic data, and raster data, which is mainly image data such as photographs, is vector data and raster data and is used inside the printer. It is converted into color information and rasterized into raster data. For each pixel of the rasterized rasterized data, only the gradation data is stored. When halftone processing is performed on this gradation data to convert it into the number of gradations that can be printed by the printer engine, the vector data and raster data data have the characteristics of the original data, such as characters, figures, and images. Since it is different, I want to perform optimal halftone processing according to each property of the original data in order to improve the image quality, but with only the gradation data of the raster data converted for the printer, a certain pixel Was it originally vector data,
It is impossible to determine whether it was raster data. Further, when the edge smoothing process is performed on the character / graphic data, the pixel is character / graphic data or image data such as a photograph based on the positional relationship between the data value of the pixel and the data of the surrounding pixels. It is necessary to make a judgment, but it does not always work out.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform image processing for each pixel according to the property of an object, and to optimize the image quality.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned object is for printing, which is composed of an array of pixel data by applying different color conversion information depending on the type of objects forming the original image data when recording an image. Image data is generated, and by the value of each pixel of the printing image data,
This is achieved by identifying the type of the object that constitutes the original image data and performing halftone processing, color conversion processing, and edge smoothing processing by different methods depending on the type of the object.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the printer. The printer 0100 includes a printer controller 0101 that controls the printer, a printer engine 0102 that is a printing mechanism unit, and an operation panel 0103, receives print data from a network or a host machine, and prints based on the data. I do.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the printer controller 0101. The printer controller 0101 is the CPU 0
201 and memory 0202 are the CPU bus 020.
9. Bus bridge 0203 via memory bus 0210
The bus bridge 0203 is connected to the general-purpose bus 021.
Connected to 1. The general-purpose bus 0211 has a network I / F 0204 connected to a network that is an interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F) with the outside, a local I / F 0205 directly connected to the host machine, a panel i / F 0206 connected to the operation panel, and data storage. Used for
The DD0207 and an engine I / F0208 that is an I / F with the printer engine are connected.

The printer controller 0101 receives print data from the outside via the network I / F 0204 and the local I / F 0205, and the CPU 0201 performs rasterization processing according to the contents of the print data to generate an internal image on the memory 0202. . Here, in the printer of this embodiment, the color information in the printer internal image is three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow (hereinafter, C,
8 bits for each of M and Y), and a memory 020
It is assumed that each pixel generated in 2 has data of 24 bits. The generated internal image is once H
Transferred / stored in DD0207 or engine I
/ F0208.

FIG. 5 shows a procedure for generating an internal image by rasterizing print data. The printer controller 0101 interprets the received print data, classifies each object into an object of vector data and an object of raster data, and uses the color conversion information dedicated to each to convert the color information of each object into the color information in the printer. Is converted to 8 bits each for CMY, and rasterization processing is performed. Here, in this embodiment, color conversion information is used such that the least significant bit of the converted Y 8-bit data is 0 for the vector data object, and the converted Y 8-bit data for the raster data object.
Color conversion information is used so that the least significant bit of the data becomes 1. As a result, it is possible to distinguish whether the pixel forms an object of vector data or an object of raster data by the least significant bit of Y of the converted color information.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the engine I / F 0208. The engine I / F is the memory 0202 or the HDD 0.
Upon receiving the internal image from 207, the engine I / F control device 0301 transfers the received data to the buffer memory device 0302 if the received data is the internal image. The buffer memory devices 0302, 303, 304, and 305 are F
It has a buffer memory of IFO structure and outputs data in synchronization with the printing speed of the printer engine 0102. The buffer memory device 0302 transfers the internal image to the image processing device 0306 and the buffer memory device 0303 at the same time.
07 and the buffer memory device 0304 simultaneously transfer the internal image, the buffer memory device 0304 simultaneously transfers the internal image to the image processing device 0308 and the buffer memory device 0305, and the buffer memory device 0305:
The internal image is transferred to the image processing device 0309.

FIG. 6 shows a procedure for converting an internal image into a print image. Image processing devices 0306, 307, 30
8 and 309 are 24 pixels of each pixel of the received internal image.
The number of gradations that can be reproduced by the image forming apparatus is generated by performing color conversion processing from the CMY data of bit to each color of Y, M, C, and K corresponding to the color formed by the image forming apparatus to generate 8-bit data. Halftone processing is performed in order to drop to. The color conversion processing / halftone processing is performed in real time in synchronization with the printing speed of the engine. The image processing devices 0306, 307, 308, and 309 have color conversion information and halftone information dedicated to the object of vector data and the object of raster data, respectively, and check the least significant bit of Y of CMY8bit data for each pixel. When the value is 0, color conversion processing is performed using the color conversion information for the vector data object, halftone processing is performed for the vector data object, and edge smoothing processing is performed to generate a print image. In the case of 1, the color conversion processing is performed using the color conversion information for the raster data object, the halftone processing is performed for the raster data object, and the print image is generated without the edge smoothing processing.
The image processing apparatuses 0306, 307, 308, and 309 respectively transfer the generated print images to the image forming apparatuses 0402, 0
Output to 403, 0404, and 0405 according to the print speed of the printer engine.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the printer engine 0102. Reference numeral 0401 is an engine control device that controls the operation of the printer engine. The printer engine 0102 uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (hereinafter C, M,
An image is formed using four color materials (Y, K).
Reference numeral 0406 denotes a medium storage device that stores print media.
The medium is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow using 08 and 0409, and the medium is conveyed on the conveyor belt 0412 supported and operated by the conveyor belt rollers 0410 and 0411. Reference numerals 0402, 0403, 0404, and 0405 in FIG. 4 denote Y, M, C, and K image forming apparatuses, and Y and M are based on print images output from the image processing apparatuses 0306, 307, 308, and 309, respectively. , C, and K images are formed on the medium conveyed by the conveyor belt 0412, the images on the medium are fixed to the medium by using the fixing devices 0413 and 0414, and the medium conveying rollers 0415 and 0416 are used.
To eject the medium.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when rasterizing is performed, the values that can be taken after conversion of color conversion are changed depending on the object of vector data and the object of raster data, so that the floor of each pixel of the rasterized image is changed. It is possible to determine the property of the original object from the key data, and it is possible to perform image processing according to the property of the object for each pixel, and it is possible to optimize the image quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printer.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a printer controller.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an engine I / F.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a printer engine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing conversion of print data into an internal image.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing conversion from an internal image to a print image.

[Explanation of symbols]

0100 ... Printer, 0101 ... Printer controller, 0102 ... Printer engine, 0103 ... Operation panel, 0201 ... CPU, 0202 ... Memory, 0203 ...
Bus bridge, 0204 ... Network I / F, 020
5 ... Local I / F, 0206 ... Panel I / F, 020
7 ... HDD, 0208 ... Engine I / F, 0209 ... C
PU bus, 0210 ... Memory bus, 0211 ... General-purpose bus, 0301 ... Engine I / F control device, 0302, 0
303, 0304, 0305 ... Buffer memory device, 0
306, 0307, 0308, 0309 ... Image processing device, 0401 ... Engine control device, 0402 ... Image forming device Y, 0403 ... Image forming device M, 0404 ... Image forming device C, 0405 ... Image forming device K, 0406 ... Medium storage Device, 0407, 0408, 0409, 0415,
0416 ... Medium transport roller, 0410, 0411 ... Transport belt roller, 0412 ... Transport belt, 0413, 04
14 ... Fixing device.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06T 5/20 H04N 1/40 F 5C079 H04N 1/40 D 1/46 1/46 Z 1/60 B41J 3 / 00 B (72) Inventor Keiji Kunimi 1060 Takeda, Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C087 AA15 AA16 AB05 BA02 BA12 BA14 BD24 2C262 AB11 AB13 AC01 AC11 BA01 BB01 BB02 BB03 DA03 EA06 EA10 EA13 GA01 5B021 AA01 LG07 LG08 5B057 CA01 CA08 CA17 CB01 CB07 CB16 CE05 CE13 CE17 CE18 DC16 5C077 MP07 MP08 NN02 PP02 PP27 PP28 PP33 PP37 RR06 TT02 5C079 HB03 HB11 LA06 LC01 PA03

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When performing image recording, different color conversion information is applied depending on the type of object forming the original image data to generate image data for printing including an array of pixel data, and the printing image data is generated. The type of the object forming the original image data is identified by the value of each pixel of the image data for use, and the halftone process, the color conversion process, and the edge smoothing process are performed by different methods according to the type of the object. An image processing device characterized by: 2. When different color conversion information is applied depending on the type of the object forming the original image data, the range of values indicating the color information after conversion is different depending on the type of the object, The type of the object that constitutes the original image data is identified by the value of each pixel of the generated raster image data for printing, and the halftone process, the color conversion process, and the edge are performed by different methods according to the type of the object. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a smoothing process is performed. 3. When different color conversion information is applied depending on the type of the object forming the original image data, the range of the value indicating the color information after conversion is partially different depending on the type of the object. The type of the object that constitutes the original image data is identified by the value of each pixel of the generated raster image data for printing, and the halftone process, the color conversion process, and the color conversion process are performed by different methods according to the type of the object. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image smoothing process is performed.