JP2003291327A - Printing controller, printing control method, printing system, printing control program, and medium with printing control program recorded - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a color is sensed not to be fully reproduced as desired at a density region where a printed image is present. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of color adjustment IDs (error information) which express errors of an ink amount of ink and correspond to a reference gradation value of a plurality of steps (gradation data of the plurality of steps) are obtained. On the basis of the color adjustment IDs, a correspondence between gradation data before corrected and gradation data after corrected to compensate the error of the ink amount is determined for each of the plurality of color adjustment IDs. Printing data is generated from image data on the basis of the determined correspondence, thereby controlling printing to a printer (printing device). Since the error of the ink amount is carefully and finely compensated on the basis of the printing data having the plurality of color adjustment IDs reflected thereon, a color reproducibility can be improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

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 for performing print control on a print device which forms ink dots on a print medium in correspondence with a large number of pixel gradation data constituting print data. The present invention relates to a print control method, a print system, a print control program, and a medium recording the print control program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a print controller of this type generates print data composed of a large number of gradation data for each pixel for a color printer which ejects several colors of ink from a print head onto a printing paper. By doing so, print control is performed. Here, in order to obtain good color accuracy and high image quality,
It has been proposed to compensate for the error in the ink ejection amount due to manufacturing variations of the print head for each print head. At this time, a color adjustment ID, which is error information classified by ink type, is stored in the printer, the color adjustment ID is received from the printer, and gradation data is multiplied by a coefficient corresponding to the color adjustment ID. , Compensate the error of ink amount for each color of ink.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional technique, it was sometimes felt that the desired color was not sufficiently reproduced in a certain density area of the printed image. Therefore, there was a desire to improve the color accuracy and print as desired. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and improves color accuracy,
An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device, a print control method, a print system, a print control program, and a medium having the print control program recorded thereon, which are capable of improving the image quality of a printed matter.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 forms an ink dot on a print medium corresponding to a large number of pixel gradation data constituting print data. A printing control device for performing printing control to a printing device that performs printing, and an error acquisition unit that represents an error in the ink amount of the ink and that acquires a plurality of error information corresponding to gradation data in a plurality of steps; Inputting image data to be expressed, generating the print data for compensating the error of the ink amount from the image data based on the plurality of error information acquired by the error acquisition unit, and performing the print control. And a means.

That is, the plurality of pieces of error information obtained by the error obtaining means are information representing the error in the ink amount of the ink and corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of stages. The print data generated by the print control unit is data generated so as to compensate the error of the ink amount from the image data based on the plurality of error information corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of stages. As a result, the printing apparatus performs fine error compensation for the ink amount error based on the print data in which a plurality of error information corresponding to a plurality of gradation data is reflected, and Form dots. Therefore, it is possible to improve the color accuracy that appears on the print medium, and the printed matter has higher image quality. There may be a plurality of ink colors or one ink color. Also,
Based on the plurality of error information acquired by the error acquisition means, the correspondence relationship between the gradation data before correction and the corrected gradation data for compensating the error of the ink amount is determined by each of the plurality of error information. Corresponding to each of the plurality of determined error information, the print control unit generates the print data from the image data and performs the print control. It may be configured. That is, the correspondence relationship determining means determines the correspondence relationship between the gradation data before correction and the corrected gradation data for compensating the error of the ink amount for each of the plurality of error information based on the plurality of error information. decide. Then, the print data generated by the print control unit becomes data based on the correspondence relationship determined for each of the plurality of error information corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of stages. As a result, the printing apparatus performs fine error compensation for the ink amount error based on the print data in which a plurality of error information corresponding to a plurality of gradation data is reflected, and Form dots.

When the printing device stores a plurality of error information, the error acquisition means may acquire a plurality of error information from the printing device. Since the error information is integrated with the printing apparatus, the user of the print control apparatus does not need to input the error information separately because the error information is acquired from the printing apparatus even if the printing apparatus is changed. Further, when a plurality of pieces of error information are information corresponding to a plurality of levels of reference gradation values which are different values within the gradation area that the gradation data can take,
The error acquisition unit causes the printing apparatus to print a plurality of reference images corresponding to a plurality of tone values that are different from each other with respect to any of the reference tone values, and corresponds to any of the plurality of printed reference images. You may acquire as error information corresponding to the reference gradation value centering on the gradation value. That is, the plurality of pieces of error information are gradation values corresponding to any of the plurality of reference images corresponding to the plurality of gradation values that are different from each other with respect to any of the reference gradation values. As described above, various concrete examples of the configuration for acquiring the error information are conceivable.
For example, the print control apparatus may store the error information, or the error information may be obtained from another computer.

When a plurality of pieces of error information correspond to the reference gradation values of a plurality of stages, the correspondence determining means determines the gradation other than the reference gradation value in the gradation data before correction. The correspondence relationship regarding the values may be determined by performing a linear interpolation calculation from the reference gradation value and the plurality of error information. That is, the correspondence between the gradation data before and after the correction is determined by a simple calculation from the reference gradation value and the plurality of error information.

When the print control means refers to the color conversion table and converts the same image data into the same print data, the correspondence determining means corrects the color conversion table based on the correspondence for each of the plurality of error information. You may. By using the color conversion table in which a plurality of error information is reflected, the image data is converted all at once up to the corrected print data.

When the printing device stores identification data capable of identifying the printing device, the correspondence determining means can obtain the identification data from the printing device and store the identification data in association with the corrected color conversion table. When the acquired identification data is different from the stored identification data, the error acquisition unit is caused to acquire a plurality of error information, and the correspondence relationship between the gradation data before and after the correction is based on the acquired error information. May be determined, and the color conversion table may be modified based on the correspondence relationship for each of the plurality of error information. That is, the color conversion table is modified only when the identification data acquired from the printing device is different from the stored identification data.

The print data is composed of gradation data that collectively represents the formation of a plurality of types of dots having different ink amounts, and the printing device has a plurality of different ink amounts corresponding to the dot data that represents the type of dots for each pixel. When the dots of the types can be formed on the print medium, the print control unit converts the image data into the print data, and also defines the correspondence between the print data and the dot data for each of a plurality of types of dots. The same print data may be converted to the same dot data by referring to. In this case, the correspondence relationship determining means may correct the dot formation table based on the correspondence relationship for each of the plurality of error information. That is, by using the dot formation table in which a plurality of pieces of error information are reflected, the print data is converted all at once up to the corrected dot data. As described above, there are various conceivable configurations of the correspondence determining means, but in addition to these configurations, for example, gradation data is divided into bands corresponding to each of a plurality of pieces of error information, and the image data is corrected. After the conversion to the previous print data, the correction data for each band based on a plurality of error information for each band may be multiplied and converted to the corrected print data.

The plurality of pieces of error information are information corresponding to a plurality of levels of reference gradation values which are different values within the gradation area that the gradation data can take, and the reference gradation values are The configuration may be such that it is reduced by approximately one-half when changing from a large value to a small value.
The drive frequency of the print head gradually decreases by one-half from the high gradation region to the low gradation region, and the error amount of the ink amount tends to be the error amount corresponding to the same drive frequency.
Therefore, it is possible to further improve the color accuracy by gradually reducing the reference gradation value by half.

By the way, the print control apparatus described above may be implemented independently, or may be implemented together with another method in a state of being incorporated in a certain device. Including, where appropriate
It can be changed. In addition, it is natural that the method for performing the print control described above has an invention in the procedure at the base of the process in order to proceed the processing in accordance with a predetermined procedure. Therefore, the present invention can be applied as a method, and the invention according to claim 10 has basically the same operation. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied as a printing system including a printing unit that generates print data and performs printing, and the invention according to claim 11 basically has the same operation.

In implementing the present invention, the print control device may execute a predetermined program. Further, it is conceivable that a medium in which the program is recorded is distributed and the program is read from the recording medium into a computer as appropriate. Therefore, the program and the computer-readable recording medium recording the program can be applied, and the inventions according to claims 12 and 13 basically have the same operation. Of course, it goes without saying that the configurations described in claims 2 to 9 can be applied to the method, the printing system, the program, and the medium in which the program is recorded. here,
The recording medium is a magnetic recording medium or a magneto-optical recording medium,
Any recording medium developed in the future may be used. Further, even when a part is software and a part is realized by hardware, the idea of the present invention does not differ at all, and a part of the software is recorded on a recording medium and is appropriately changed as necessary. It also includes a read form. Furthermore, the duplication stage of the primary duplication product, the secondary duplication product, and the like is absolutely the same.

[0014]

As described above, according to the inventions of claim 1, claim 2, and claim 10 to claim 13, it is possible to improve the color accuracy and to improve the image quality of the printed matter. Become. According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to acquire a plurality of error information with a simple configuration in which the information stored in the printing apparatus is acquired as it is, and the error information is input separately even if the printing apparatus is changed. There is no need and convenience is improved. According to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to acquire a plurality of error information by using a plurality of reference images to be printed. According to the invention of claim 5, the correspondence between the gradation data before and after the correction can be determined with a simple configuration.

According to the invention of claim 6, it is possible to speed up the conversion process from image data to print data. According to the invention of claim 7, the frequency of correction of the color conversion table is reduced, so that the speed of the print control process can be increased. According to the invention of claim 8, the conversion process from print data to dot data can be speeded up. According to the invention of claim 9, it is possible to further improve the color accuracy and improve the image quality of the printed matter.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in the following order. (1) Configuration of printing system: (2) Schematic configuration of printing control device: (3) Processing performed by printing control device: (4) Second embodiment: (5) Third embodiment: (6) Second Fourth embodiment:

(1) Configuration of Printing System: FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a printing system including a print control device and peripheral devices according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The printing system includes a personal computer (PC) 10 which is a printing control device according to the present invention, an inkjet printer 20 which is a printing device capable of color printing, and the like. The PC 10 is provided with a CPU 11 which is the center of the arithmetic processing, and this CPU 11 controls the entire PC 10 via the system bus 10a. RO on the same bus 10a
M12, RAM13, CD-ROM drive 15, flexible disk (FD) drive 16, various interfaces (I / F) 17a-e, etc. are connected. A hard disk (HD) 14 is also connected via a hard disk drive. Although the desktop PC is adopted as the computer of this embodiment, a computer having a general configuration can be adopted as the computer.

The HD 14 stores, as software, an operating system (OS), an application program (APL) capable of creating image information and the like, and these software are appropriately transferred to the RAM 13 by the CPU 11 at the time of execution. And CPU1
1 executes various programs while appropriately accessing the RAM 13 as a temporary work area. USBI
A color calorimeter 30, a color scanner, a digital camera, etc. (not shown) are connected to / F17a. The color measurement device 30 directs the color detection unit 30a to the target of color measurement so that the color measurement value based on the Lab color system, that is, the L value indicating the lightness, and the a values and b indicating the hue and the saturation. The value can be measured. The Lab value measured by the colorimeter 30 can be read via the USB I / F 17a. Of course, for the connection between the colorimeter and the PC 10, other connection modes such as RS-232C connection can be adopted. A display 18a for displaying an image based on color image data is connected to the CRTI / F17b, and a keyboard 18b and a mouse 1 are connected to the input I / F17c.
8c is connected as an operation input device. The printer 20 is connected to the printer I / F 17e via a parallel I / F cable. Of course, serial I / F, SCSI, USB
Various connection modes such as connection can be adopted.

The printer 20 uses C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), K (black), Lc (light cyan), and Lm (light magenta) inks to print paper (print medium). On the other hand, the ink is ejected so that the ink amount corresponds to the gradation data forming the print data, and the image is printed. Of course, a printer using inks other than 6 colors may be adopted. Further, various printing devices such as a bubble printer that generates bubbles in the ink passage to eject ink, a laser printer, and the like can be adopted. As shown in FIG. 2, in the printer 20, the CP
U21, ROM22, RAM23, communication I / O24, A
The SIC 26, the I / F 27, etc. are connected via the bus 20a.

The communication I / O 24 is the printer I / O of the PC 10.
The printer 20 is connected to the F17e and the communication I / O
CMYKLcLm transmitted from PC 10 via 24
A print job composed of the image data converted into, the page description language, and the like is received. CMYKLcLm ink cartridges 25b are mounted on the cartridge holder 25a, and each color ink in the ink cartridges 25b is supplied to the print head 25 for each color.
The ASIC 26 outputs applied voltage data based on the CMYKLcLm data to the head drive unit 26a while transmitting / receiving a predetermined signal to / from the CPU 21. The head drive unit 2
6a generates an applied voltage pattern to the piezo element built in the print head 25 based on the applied voltage data,
The print head 25 is made to eject ink of 6 colors in dot units. On the ink ejection surface of the print head 25, 6 sets of nozzle rows for ejecting 6 colors of ink are formed so as to be aligned in the main scanning direction of the print head, and each of the nozzle rows has a plurality of nozzles fixed in the sub scanning direction. They are arranged linearly at intervals of.

Here, the ASIC 26 is CMYKLcL.
When the m data is in a high gradation region, that is, in a region where a large amount of ink is used and dots are formed in most of the pixels, a high drive frequency (frequency is f) is applied so that it is supplied to the print head 25. Generate voltage data. When the CMYKLcLm data is in an intermediate gradation region (medium ink amount is used) which is one step lower than the high gradation region, the applied voltage data is supplied so that the driving frequency f / 2 having a lower frequency is supplied to the print head 25. To generate. When the CMYKLcLm data is in a low gradation region which is one step lower (the amount of ink used is smaller), the applied voltage data is generated so that the drive frequency of f / 4 is supplied to the print head 25. Therefore, the head drive unit 26a is
As the CMYKLcLm data is changed from the high gradation region to the low gradation region, the applied voltage pattern of the driving frequency is gradually reduced by ½. The carriage mechanism 27a and the paper feed mechanism 27b connected to the I / F 27 cause the print head 25 to perform main scanning, or sequentially send out print paper while performing page break operation as appropriate to perform sub scanning. Then, the CPU 21 controls each unit according to the program written in the ROM 22 while using the RAM 23 as a work area.

A piezo element, which is one of the electrostrictive elements and has excellent responsiveness, is arranged for each nozzle provided in the print head 25. FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the structure of the piezo element PE and the nozzle Nz. As shown in the upper part of the figure, the piezo element PE is installed at a position in contact with the ink passage 25c that guides the ink to the nozzle Nz. The ink passage 25c is hatched to indicate that it is filled with ink. The piezo element PE is
The crystal structure is distorted by the application of voltage, and the
It is an element that converts mechanical energy. In this embodiment, by applying a voltage of a predetermined time width between the electrodes provided at both ends of the piezo element PE, the piezo element PE expands for the voltage application time as shown in the lower part of the figure, and the ink passage One side wall of 25c is deformed. As a result, the volume of the ink passage 25c contracts in accordance with the expansion of the piezo element PE, and the ink corresponding to this contraction becomes an ink droplet Ip and is ejected at high speed from the tip of the nozzle Nz. Printing is performed when the ink droplet Ip permeates the printing paper.

Here, the size of the ink droplet Ip also changes due to manufacturing error of the ink passage 25c and individual difference of the piezo element PE. This variation amount is stored in a predetermined area of the ROM 22 as a plurality of color adjustment IDs 22a that are error information. Of course, a non-volatile memory may be provided in the print head unit having the print head 25, and the color adjustment ID may be stored in this non-volatile memory. As schematically shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of color adjustment IDs 22a
Are provided for each color of ink and for each of three gradation levels (gray level data of a plurality of levels) that are different values in the gradation area that can be included in the gradation data that constitutes the print data. . The color adjustment ID 22a shown in FIG.
27 and 255 corresponding to ID1 (for low gradation), ID2
It is composed of (for medium gradation) and ID3 (for high gradation). The color adjustment ID 22a is determined as follows and is written in the ROM 22.

That is, the weight of the ink actually used at each reference gradation value is measured for each color, and the relative value when the weight (specification value) of the ink used in the printer standard machine is set to 50 is color adjusted. ID. The lower part of the figure shows the relative value of the measured ink weight as a bar graph based on the specification value. For example, when the specification value of the ink weight when the reference gradation value is 63 is 1890 ng and the ink weight actually used is 2190 ng, the value stored as the color adjustment ID is 2190/1890 × 50 = 58.
(Rounded to the nearest whole number). Since the printer 20 uses six colors of ink and has three levels of reference gradation values, the color adjustment ID of 6 × 3 = 18 is written in the ROM 22. Then, the variation amount of the ink represented by the color adjustment ID is compensated for each color and for each gradation step, and accurate color reproduction is performed.

As described above, the drive frequency of the print head 25 is decreased by one half as the CMYKLcLm data changes from the high gradation region to the low gradation region, so the error amount of the ink amount is CMYKLcLm data. There is a tendency to change stepwise within the possible gradation range. Therefore, the reference gradation value is set to 25 in order from the largest value to the smallest value.
The color accuracy is further improved by making the values smaller by 5, 1/2, and 63, respectively. Also, R
The OM 22 also stores a serial number (serial No) 22b that is identification data that is different data for each printer 20 so that the printer 20 can be individually identified. When the printer 20 receives the acquisition request for the color adjustment ID and the serial number from the PC 10 via the communication I / O 24, the printer 20 reads the color adjustment ID and the serial number from the ROM 22 and transmits them to the PC 10. There is.

In the PC 10, the BIOS is executed on the basis of the above hardware, and the OS and APL are provided in the upper layer.
And are executed. The OS incorporates various drivers such as a printer driver for controlling the printer I / F 17e, and becomes a part of the OS to control the hardware. The printer driver is capable of bidirectionally communicating with the printer 20 via the printer I / F 17e, receives image data from the APL via an OS incorporating a GDI (Graphics Device Interface), etc., and performs a print job. Is created and sent to the printer 20. The print control program of the present invention is composed of the printer driver. Of course, it can be configured by APL. The HD 14 is a medium in which the program is recorded. The medium is, for example, a CD-ROM or an F.
It may be a D16a, a magneto-optical disk, a non-volatile memory, a punched card, a print medium on which a code such as a bar code is printed, or the like. Of course, it is also possible to connect the communication I / F 17d such as a modem to the Internet and access a predetermined server to download and execute the print control program.

The HD 14 has R (red) and G before conversion.
RGB that expresses an image from the three element colors of (green) and B (blue)
CMYKLcL consisting of 6 gradations of CMYKLcLm after conversion and gradation data that constitutes data (image data)
Stored is an LUT (color conversion table) called a lookup table that defines a correspondence relationship between gradation data forming m data (print data) and a plurality of reference points. The LUT is a table corresponding to the ink amount of the standard printer. The printer driver is L
The UT is referenced to convert the RGB data into print data, and print control is performed on the printer 20.

(2) Schematic configuration of the print control device: FIG.
The structure of the print control apparatus which the said hardware and the said print control program cooperate and are constructed | assembled is shown typically.
The print control program is composed of a plurality of modules, and this module causes the PC 10 to realize an error acquisition function, a correspondence relationship determination function, and a print control function. Then, various means U1 to U3 are configured corresponding to these functions.

The error acquisition means U1 has a simple structure in which a plurality of color adjustment IDs are directly acquired from the printer 20. The correspondence determining unit U2 determines the correspondence between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error in the ink amount based on the acquired plurality of color adjustment IDs for each color of ink. In addition, each color adjustment ID corresponding to the reference gradation value that has been set to a plurality of levels is determined. In the present embodiment, the value of the color adjustment ID is I
D, the gradation value before correction is represented by X, and the gradation value after correction is represented by Y, for the reference gradation value of the gradation data before correction,
The corrected gradation value is determined by the following formula. Y = X × 50 / ID (1) An example of the correspondence relationship of the reference gradation values thus determined is shown in the upper part of FIG. The figure shows a correspondence table T1 in which data of the correspondence before and after the correction of the reference tone value corresponding to any of the six color inks (cyan in the figure) is stored. That is, the correspondence table T1 is created for each color of CMYKLcLm. It should be noted that the gradation value 0 before correction corresponds to the gradation value 0 after correction.

Further, as shown in the lower part of the figure, the corrected gradation value of the gradation data other than the reference gradation value in the gradation data before correction is calculated from the reference gradation value and the color adjustment ID. It is determined by performing a linear interpolation calculation. The figure shows, in a graph format, the correspondence before and after the correction of the gradation data corresponding to any of the six color inks, where the horizontal axis represents the gradation value before correction and the vertical axis represents the gradation value after correction. It is a gradation value. Here, the two uncorrected reference gradation values or gradation values 0 used for the interpolation calculation are set to X1 and X2 (X1 <X2), and the two uncorrected gradation values X1 and X2 used for the interpolation calculation are set. Assuming that the corresponding corrected gradation values are Y1 and Y2 (Y1 <Y2), the corrected gradation value Y corresponding to the uncorrected gradation value X is calculated by the following formula.

[Equation 1] When Y exceeds 255 as a result of the calculation by the above calculation formula, the corrected gradation is set to 255. In this way, the linear interpolation calculation can determine the correspondence relationship between all the gradation regions of the gradation data before and after the correction by a simple and high-speed process, but it is curved according to the usage environment. The correspondence between the gradation data before and after the correction may be finely determined by performing the interpolation calculation.

In the present embodiment, the LUT modified from the LUT for the printer standard machine based on the determined correspondence relationship.
Is to be generated. The print control unit U3 inputs the image data and refers to the LUT in which the correspondence relationship determined for each of the color adjustment IDs corresponding to the plurality of reference gradation values is reflected to convert the image data into the print data. It is converted and print control is performed for the printer 20. In this way, by using the LUT in which the plurality of color adjustment IDs are reflected, the image data can be converted all the way to the corrected print data, so that the conversion process can be speeded up. Then, the generated print data is data corrected based on the correspondence relationship determined for each of the plurality of error information corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of stages, so that the color adjustment ID is set to one for each ink type. The printer 20 forms ink dots on the print medium while performing more precise error compensation for the error in the ink amount, as compared with the conventional printer in which only one is prepared.

The print control unit U3 includes a resolution conversion unit, a color conversion unit, a halftone processing unit, and a rasterization processing unit (not shown). In the resolution converter, input the image data,
The resolution of the image data is converted according to the resolution of the printer 20. The image data to be input is data in which an image is expressed in gradation by a large number of pixels in a dot matrix, and there are various types. For example, image data composed of RGB defined in the sRGB color space, image data composed of luminance (Y component), B color difference (U component), and R color difference (V component) in the YUV color system. Etc. Also,
Each component of the image data also has various gradation levels, for example, 256 gradations and 1024 gradations. So sR
According to the definition of GB or YUV color system, the image data is converted into RGB data of 256 gradations of RGB (integer value of 0 to 255) in the wide RGB color space.

In the color conversion section, the gradation data of each pixel forming the RGB data is converted and the target pixel is sequentially moved, while referring to the corrected LUT, the RGB data is set to the respective usage amounts of the CMYKLcLm ink. Color conversion is performed to CMYKLcLm data composed of corresponding gradation data. CMYKLcLm data is 2 for each CMYKLcLm
It is data of 56 gradations (integer value of 0 to 255). As shown in FIG. 5, the LUT stores gradation data for each CMYKLcLm and is stored in the HD 14, and, for example, 17 for each RGB, that is, 17 for each RGB based on the interpolation calculation.
It is equipped with a large amount of data corresponding to the 3rd power grid points of. In the figure, RG is set in the LUT for easy understanding.
Although the B data is shown, the CMYKLc is actually read from the address corresponding to each gradation data forming the RGB data.
By referring to Lm 48-bit data, RG
The B data is converted into CMYKLcLm data. A CM that matches the input RGB data
When the YKLcLm data is not stored in the LUT, the CMYKLcLm data corresponding to the plurality of RGB data close to the input RGB data is acquired, and the CMYKLcLm data is calculated by interpolation calculation such as volume interpolation.

The halftone processing section performs halftone processing by an error diffusion method or the like, and CMYKL of 256 gradations.
cLm data corresponding to the print dots of the printer 20 2
Convert to gradation. Then, the rasterization processing unit performs a rasterization process for rearranging the bit data of the CMYKLcLm data having two gradations based on the scanning width of the print head 25 of the printer, and the processed CMYKLcLm is processed.
The data is output to the printer 20. CMYKLc
The Lm data is the ink usage amount data of CMYKLcLm, and the printer 20 is CMYKL which is print data.
When the cLm data is obtained and the corresponding ink is ejected on the medium, an image based on the print data can be printed. In this way, print control can be performed for the printer 20. Then, the printing control unit U3 and the printer 20 constitute a printing unit. When outputting CMYKLcLm data to a printer that can execute halftone processing and rasterization processing, CMYKLcLm data can be output to the printer without performing these processing.

(3) Processes performed by the print control device: FIG.
The flowchart shows the modified LUT creation process performed by the print control apparatus. This flow is performed when the printer driver for the printer 20 is installed. First, the error acquisition unit creates a request for obtaining a color adjustment ID and sends it to the printer 20 (step S1).
05. Hereinafter, the description of “step” is omitted). Then, the printer 20 receives the acquisition request, reads all the color adjustment IDs ID1 to ID3 from the ROM 22, and sends them to the PC 10. Therefore, in the PC 10, the same color adjustment I
The IDs 1 to 3 of D are acquired and stored in a predetermined area of the HD 14 (S110). As described above, since the color adjustment ID is integrated with the printer, the user of the printing system does not need to input the color adjustment ID separately when changing the printer, and the present print control apparatus is convenient.

Next, the correspondence relationship determining means determines the correspondence relationship between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error of the ink amount for each ink color and for each reference gradation value. It is determined (S115). Here, the correspondence data before and after the correction of the reference gradation value for each color is determined by using the arithmetic expression (1), and the correspondence table T1 as shown in the upper part of FIG. 6 is created. Then, the LUT for the printer standard machine is read from the HD (S120). Since the gradation value of CMYKLcLm before being corrected is stored in the same LUT, the gradation value of CMYKLcLm is corrected using the arithmetic expression (2) for the linear interpolation calculation by referring to the correspondence table T1. (S125). When the calculation result of the calculation formula (2) is larger than 255, it is replaced with the gradation value 255. Then, the corrected gradation value can be determined for all the gradation regions of the gradation data so as to have the correspondence shown in the lower part of FIG.

Then, each gradation value corrected by the interpolation calculation is stored in a predetermined area of HD as the correction LUT shown in FIG. 5 (S130), and this flow ends. Here, since the gradation values of CMYKLcLm stored in the correction LUT reflect a plurality of color adjustment IDs corresponding to a plurality of reference gradation values, the correction LUT displays the image with gradation data for each pixel. The table is a table that defines, for a plurality of reference points, the correspondence relationship between the image data configured by (1) and the print data configured by the corrected gradation data that finely compensates the error of the ink amount.

When the modified LUT is created, this modified LU is created.
T can be used to control the printer 20 to print. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the print control process performed by the print control means. APL is A
It has a PL print function, and when the print execution menu displayed on the display 18a is selected by this APL print function, this flow is started. First, image data representing an image to be printed is input (S205). The input image data includes image data captured by a digital camera, a scanner or the like (not shown), image data recorded in the FD 16a or the like. Note that it is not necessary to read the entire data in a batch, it may be read partially, or only the passing of a pointer representing a buffer area used for passing the data may be passed.

Since there are various kinds of input image data, the image data is converted into RGB data of 256 gradations in the wide area RGB color space, and the resolution of the image data is converted according to the resolution of the printer 20 (S210). . here,
If the image data is lower than the print resolution, generate new data between adjacent image data by linear interpolation,
When the image data is higher than the print resolution, the data is thinned out at a constant rate. Then, referring to the created modified LUT, the gradation data consisting of RGB of each pixel forming the image data is converted into the gradation data consisting of CMYKLcLm (S215). C generated as described above
The MYKLcLm data is a gradation value modified according to the correspondence relationship determined for each of the plurality of color adjustment IDs corresponding to the three-step reference gradation values.

Then, the 256-gradation CMYKLcLm data is binarized by halftone processing (S22).
0). Halftone processing is multi-gradation CMYKLcLm
This means reducing the gradation value of data to a gradation value that the printer 20 can express for each pixel (reducing the number of gradations that express a color). In the present embodiment, the gradation value is reduced to 2 gradations. To do. In addition, two gradations of CMYKL by rasterization processing
The cLm data is rearranged (S225). Finally, CM
The YKLcLm data is output to the printer 20 (S
230), the flow ends.

Then, the printer 20 uses the CMYKLcL
m data is obtained, the print head 25 is driven so that the ink amount corresponds to each gradation data, the ink is ejected onto the printing paper, and printing is performed based on the CMYKLcLm data. Here, since the CMYKLcLm data reflects the color adjustment ID corresponding to the three-step reference gradation values, the printer 20 performs fine error compensation for the error in the ink amount according to the gradation data. Form dots of ink on printing paper. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, the desired color is not sufficiently reproduced in a certain density area of the image printed on the printing paper, and it is possible to improve the color accuracy and further improve the quality of the printed matter. Further, the reference gradation values of the three stages are decreased by approximately ½ when the values are increased from the highest value to the lowest value, so that the reference gradation values gradually decrease by ½ according to the drive frequency of the print head. You can properly compensate the error amount,
The color accuracy can be improved more accurately.

(4) Second Embodiment: The print control device and peripheral devices capable of executing the print control program of the present invention can have various configurations. For example, the printer may be integrated with a computer or may be a dedicated product that prints only a single color image. In addition to being executed in the PC, part or all of the above-described flow may be executed by a printer or a dedicated image output device. In addition to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to acquire a plurality of pieces of error information corresponding to gradation data of a plurality of stages by various configurations. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a modified LUT creation process performed by the print control apparatus according to the second embodiment. The hardware configuration is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, but the printer 20 stores only the color adjustment ID corresponding to one predetermined reference gradation value (for example, 127) as in the conventional case. To do.

First, a request for obtaining a color adjustment ID is created and transmitted to the printer 20 (S305), a color adjustment ID corresponding to only a predetermined reference gradation value is acquired and stored in a predetermined area of the HD 14 (S310). ). At this time, the printer 20 receives the request for obtaining the color adjustment ID, and stores it in the ROM.
The color adjustment ID is read from 22 and transmitted to the PC 10. Next, patch print data for causing the printer 20 to print patches (reference images) of a plurality of darkness values corresponding to a plurality of tone values that are different from each other with one of different reference tone values (for example, 63) as a center. Is created (S315).
At this time, in order to identify each patch, data for printing information such as a number corresponding to the difference in gradation value, that is, the patch density is also created. Then, the patch print data is output to the printer 20 (S320). Then,
The printer 20 obtains the patch print data, drives the print head 25, etc., and forms ink dots on the print paper corresponding to a plurality of gradation values for each ink type, as shown in FIG. , A plurality of patches PA and information such as numbers are printed.

Thereafter, the color PA 30 is used for patch PA.
Display a message that prompts you to measure each color
Colorimetric results consisting of each Lab value in the ab space are sequentially obtained in correspondence with the color and darkness information (S325). Therefore, the operator of the PC sequentially performs the work of pressing the color detection section of the colorimeter 30 against the plurality of patches PA. When the colorimetric result is obtained, the tone value corresponding to any of the plurality of printed patches PA is acquired as error information corresponding to the reference tone value based on the colorimetric result (S33).
0). For example, the standard gradation value and the target L are previously stored in the HD 14.
A table in which ab values are associated with each other is stored, and the gradation corresponding to the colorimetric result closest to each target Lab value (the colorimetric result with the smallest color difference in the Lab space) is referred to by referring to this table. Get the value. Instead of performing the processes of S325 to S330, selection input of the patch number for each color may be accepted and the gradation value corresponding to the patch of the input number may be acquired.

Then, the value of the color adjustment ID corresponding to the reference gradation value used as the reference for obtaining the error information is calculated (S).
335). Here, in the present embodiment, when the reference gradation value used as the reference for acquiring the error information is X and the gradation value acquired as the error information corresponding to the reference gradation value is Y, it corresponds to the reference gradation value. The value ID of the color adjustment ID is calculated by the following formula. ID = 50 × X / Y (3) After that, the same modified LUT creation process as S115 to S130 shown in FIG. 7 is performed. That is, the correspondence between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error of the ink amount is determined for each ink color and for each reference gradation value (S340). Next, the LUT for the standard printer
Is read from the HD (S345), and the correspondence table T
Referring to No. 1, the gradation value of CMYKLcLm is corrected using the arithmetic expression (2) for linear interpolation calculation (S350). Then, each corrected gradation value is stored as a corrected LUT in a predetermined area of the HD (S355), and this flow ends.

As described above, even if the printer does not store a plurality of error information corresponding to a plurality of gradation data,
The correspondence between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error of the ink amount is shown by the difference of a plurality of error information corresponding to the reference gradation value which is classified into a plurality of levels for each ink type. You can make decisions about each. Then, the created modified LUT shows the correspondence between the image data in which the image is composed of gradation data for each pixel and the print data composed of the modified gradation data for finely compensating the ink amount error. It is a table that defines a plurality of reference points.

(5) Third Embodiment: Further, when the image data is input and the printing control is started, the serial number (identification data) is obtained from the printing device, and it is determined that the printing device is not changed. The print control may be continued as it is, while the print control may be performed by correcting the LUT for the printer standard machine when it is determined that the printing apparatus is changed. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the print control process performed by the print control apparatus according to the third embodiment. The hardware configuration is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, and it is assumed that the serial No. 22b stored in the ROM 22 of the printer is acquired from the printer 20 and stored in the HD 14 in association with the modified LUT.

First, the print control means inputs image data representing an image to be printed (S405). In this embodiment, at this stage, the correspondence determination unit creates a serial number acquisition request and sends it to the printer 20 (S410). Then, the printer 20 receives the acquisition request, reads the serial No. 22b from the ROM 22, and transmits it to the PC 10. Therefore, the PC 10 acquires the serial number 22b (S415) and determines whether the serial number 22b is the same as the serial number stored in the HD 14 (S).
420). If the condition is satisfied, there is no need to create a modified LUT, so the flow proceeds to S435.

If the condition is not satisfied, the modified LU shown in FIG.
T creation processing is performed (S425). That is, the error acquisition means causes the printer 20 to output the color adjustment IDs ID1 to ID1.
Get 3. Next, the correspondence determining means determines the correspondence between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error in the ink amount for each ink color and for each reference gradation value. In addition, a LUT for standard printers
From the HD, refer to the correspondence table T1, and use CMYKL using the arithmetic expression (2) for linear interpolation calculation.
Correct the gradation value of cLm and modify each corrected gradation value LU
It is stored in a predetermined area of HD as T. When the modified LUT is created, the serial No. 22b acquired in S415 is stored in the HD 14 in association with the modified LUT (S43).
0).

Thereafter, the print control means performs the same processing as S210 to S230 shown in FIG. That is,
The resolution of the image data is converted (S435), and the RGB data is converted into CMYKLcLm by referring to the created modified LUT.
Color conversion is performed on the data (S440). Then, the 256-gradation CMYKLcLm data is binarized by halftone processing (S445), and the CMYKLcLm data binarized by rasterization processing is rearranged (S450), C
The MYKLcLm data is output to the printer 20 (S455), and this flow ends. That is, the serial number N stored in the serial number acquired from the printer 20
The modified LUT is created only when it is different from o, and the frequency of creating the modified LUT from the LUT for the printer standard machine is reduced, so that the print control process can be sped up.

(6) Fourth Embodiment: The present invention is also applicable to an apparatus for performing print control on a printer capable of changing the size of ink dots. To describe with reference to FIG. 3, in such a printer, the ink droplet Ip is changed by changing the voltage application pattern to the piezo element PE.
Change the size of. As a result, dots of three sizes, for example, large, medium and small, are formed. When the print data is composed of gradation data that collectively expresses the formation of three types of dots with different ink amounts, and the print data is converted into dot data that expresses the type of dot for each pixel, the printer corresponds to the dot data. Then, three types of dots having different ink amounts are formed on the printing paper.

FIG. 12 schematically shows color adjustment IDs stored in a printer that forms large, medium and small dots. The plurality of color adjustment IDs are provided for each color of ink, each type of dot, and three standard gradation values that are different values in the gradation area that can be included in the gradation data that constitutes the print data. ing. The color adjustment IDs in the figure correspond to the reference gradation values 63, 127, and 255, and are IDsml1, IDmid1, and IDlarg for small dots, medium dots, and large dots in this order.
e1 (for low gradation), IDsml2, IDmid2, IDlarge2 (for medium gradation), IDsml3, IDmid3, IDlarge3 (for high gradation). The color adjustment ID is determined in the same manner as in the first embodiment and is written in the ROM of the printer. That is, the weight of the ink actually used at each reference gradation value for each color and dot type is measured, and the relative value when the weight (specification value) of the ink used in the printer standard machine is set to 50 Adjustment ID
And When 6 types of ink are used to form 3 types of dots, large, medium, and small, 3 levels of reference gradation values are provided, so 6 × 3 × 3 = 54 color adjustment IDs are written in the ROM. Then, the variation amount of the ink represented by the color adjustment ID is compensated for each color, for each dot type, and for each gradation step, and accurate color reproduction is performed.

When performing print control on the printer, the halftone processing of S220 shown in FIG.
CMYKLcLm data of 56 gradations is “without dot formation” (for example, gradation value 0), “small dot formation” (gradation value 1), “medium dot formation” (gradation value 2), “large dot formation”. (Gradation value 3) is converted into dot data of 4 gradations.
At that time, as shown in the parentheses in FIG. 5, the corrected dot formation table is referred to and converted into dot data. In S215 before halftone processing, the resolution-converted RG
The B data is converted into CMYKLcLm data composed of gradation data that collectively represents the formation of all types of dots. FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the flow of halftone processing in this embodiment. It should be noted that this flow is performed for each of CMYKLcLm.

Since the CMYKLcLm data generated by the color conversion processing in S215 described above expresses an image in multiple gradations with a large number of pixels in a dot matrix, first, the position of the target pixel for halftone is set (S505). ).
Next, the gradation value of the target pixel is acquired, and the dot formation table T2 shown in FIG.
Read L (S510). The horizontal axis of FIG. 14 represents the input gradation value (0 to 0) when collectively expressing the formation of all types of dots.
255), the vertical axis on the left is the dot recording rate (%), and the vertical axis on the right is the level data (0 to 255). The dot recording rate means a ratio of pixels in which dots are formed among pixels in the area when a uniform area is reproduced according to a constant gradation value. The level data is data obtained by converting the dot recording rate into 256 levels of values 0 to 255. For example, if the input gradation value is gr, the large dot level data is calculated as LL using the large dot curve. Actually, as shown in the upper left of the drawing, the input gradation value and the level data of each of the large, medium, and small dots are stored in the HD as a dot formation table T2, and the dot formation table T2 is referred to. Find level data. The dot formation table T2 can also be said to be a table in which the correspondence between the CMYKLcLm data that collectively expresses the formation of all types of dots and the dot data is defined for large, medium, and small dots.

After that, it is judged whether or not the large dot level data LL is larger than a predetermined threshold value TL (S515).
For example, when the dot on / off determination is performed by the dither method, the threshold value TL is set to a different value for each pixel by a dither matrix such as 16 × 16. Level data L
When L is larger than the threshold value TL, the converted gradation value is set to the gradation value 3 which means large dot formation (S520), and S56.
Go to 0. On the other hand, when the level data LL is less than or equal to the threshold value TL, the level data LM for medium dots is read from the acquired gradation value of the target pixel by referring to the dot formation table T2 (S525). Then, it is determined whether the medium dot level data LM is larger than a predetermined threshold TM (S53).
0). When the dot on / off determination is performed by the dither method, the threshold value TM is also set to a different value for each pixel by a dither matrix different from that for the large dot.

When the level data LM is larger than the threshold value TM, the converted gradation value is set to the gradation value 2 which means formation of a medium dot (S535), and the process proceeds to S560. On the other hand, when the level data LM is less than or equal to the threshold value TM, the small dot level data LS is read from the acquired gradation value of the target pixel by referring to the dot formation table T2 (S540). Then, it is determined whether the small dot level data LS is larger than a predetermined threshold value TS (S545). When the dot on / off determination is performed by the dither method, the threshold value TS is also set to a different value for each pixel by a dither matrix different from that for large and medium dots.

When the level data LS is larger than the threshold value TS, the converted gradation value is set to the gradation value 1 which means small dot formation (S550), and the process proceeds to S560. On the other hand, when the level data LS is less than or equal to the threshold value TS, the converted gradation value is set to a gradation value 0 which means that no dot is formed (S555), and S5
Proceed to 60. In S560, it is determined whether the processing has been completed for all pixels. When the processing has not been completed for all pixels, the processing of S505 to S560 is repeated, and when the processing has been completed for all pixels, this flow ends. After that, the rasterizing process is performed in S225 to S230 of FIG. 8, and the CMYKLcLm data is output to the printer 20.

In the present embodiment, by correcting the level data of the dot formation table T2, the ink amount error is compensated for each color, each dot type, and each reference tone value. The process of modifying the dot formation table can be performed in a manner substantially similar to the modified LUT creation process shown in FIG. 7, and will be described with reference to FIG. 7. First, the error acquisition unit creates a request for acquiring a color adjustment ID and sends it to the printer, acquires all the color adjustment IDs shown in FIG. 12, and stores them in a predetermined area of the HD (corresponding to S105 to S110). . At this time, the printer receives the request for obtaining the color adjustment ID, reads the color adjustment ID for each color, each dot type, and each reference gradation value from the ROM, and transmits the color adjustment ID to the PC 10.

Next, the correspondence relationship determining means determines the correspondence relationship between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error in the ink amount, by ink color, by dot type, and by It is determined for each reference gradation value (corresponding to S115). Here, the correspondence data before and after the correction of the reference gradation value for each color is determined by using the arithmetic expression (1), and FIG.
The correspondence table T3 as shown in the upper part of FIG.
The correspondence table T3 is a table storing the correspondence data before and after the correction of the reference gradation value corresponding to any of the combinations of the inks of 6 colors and the types of dots (the large dot of cyan in the figure). Is.

Then, the dot formation table for the standard printer is read from the HD (corresponding to S120). Since the gradation value of CMYKLcLm before the correction is stored in the dot formation table, the correspondence table T3 described above is stored.
CM using the calculation formula (2) for linear interpolation calculation
The gradation value of YKLcLm is corrected (corresponding to S125).
When the calculation result of the calculation formula (2) is larger than 255, it is replaced with the gradation value 255. Then, the corrected gradation value can be determined for all the gradation regions of the gradation data so as to have the correspondence shown in the lower part of FIG. In addition,
The lower part of the figure shows, in the form of a graph, the correspondence before and after the correction of the gradation data corresponding to any one of the combinations of the inks of 6 colors and the types of dots.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 16, the dot formation table is a table in which the level data is corrected for the same input gradation value. In the example of FIG. 16, when the correspondence before and after the correction for the dot formation table for the large cyan dot is represented as the data shown in FIG. 15, the level data L before and after the correction of the same dot formation table are shown.
3 is a graph showing L. In the example of FIG. 15, when the pre-correction level data has the reference gradation value 63, the post-correction data stored in the correspondence table T3 is 66. Therefore, in FIG. 16, the pre-correction level data 63 is the level data 66. It is corrected to be (point P1). Points P2 and P3 also indicate the positions of the level data corrected in the same correspondence relationship, and the other level data are data corrected by the linear interpolation calculation.

Then, each corrected gradation value is stored in a predetermined area of the HD as a corrected dot formation table (S130).
This is the end of this flow. Here, since the gradation values of CMYKLcLm stored in the correction dot formation table reflect a plurality of color adjustment IDs corresponding to a plurality of reference gradation values, the correction dot formation table is set to 2
This is a table that defines the correspondence between the 56-gradation CMYKLcLm data and the corrected dot data that finely compensates for the ink amount error, for a plurality of gradation values for a plurality of types of dots. Then, when the above-described print control processing is performed, image data is input and CMYK of 256 gradations is input.
After converting to LcLm data, CMY of 256 gradations is obtained by referring to the corrected dot formation table by halftone processing.
The KLcLm data is converted into dot data for each color and each dot type. That is, by using the dot formation table in which the color adjustment IDs corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of stages are used, 256 gradations of CMYKLcLm
Even the dot data after correction can be converted at once, and the conversion process can be speeded up. Then, the dot data that has been rasterized and rearranged is output to the printer.

Then, the printer determines the dot data for each CMYKLcLm and each dot type (CMYKL for four gradations).
cLm data) and obtain 256 levels of CMYKLcL
Printing is performed by driving the print head so that the ink amount corresponds to each gradation data when the m data is used as a reference and ejecting the ink onto the printing paper. Here, since the dot data reflects the color adjustment ID corresponding to the three-step reference gradation values, the printer performs fine error compensation according to the gradation data for the ink amount error for each dot type. Forming dots of ink on the printing paper.
Therefore, it is possible to improve the color accuracy of printing by the printing apparatus capable of printing by changing the size of the ink dots and to further improve the quality of the printed matter.

In the present embodiment, the dot formation table corresponding to all the large, medium and small dots is corrected by using a plurality of color adjustment IDs respectively corresponding to gradation data of a plurality of stages. You may make it correct only the dot formation table corresponding to any kind of dot. For example, in the dot formation table for standard printers, the large dot table stores 0 to 255 as the gradation area that level data can take, and the dot formation table for medium and small dots stores the gradation area. When the gradation values in a narrower range are stored, only the dot formation table for large dots may be modified to simplify the process. Even in such a case, by using a plurality of color adjustment IDs corresponding to each of the gradation data of a plurality of stages, the ink amount error is finely compensated for the dot type corresponding to the corrected dot formation table. It is possible to improve the color accuracy.

As shown in the first to fourth embodiments, the LUT or the dot formation table is corrected based on the correspondence between the gradation data before and after the correction, which is determined for a plurality of error information. A configuration other than the above may be used to compensate the error in the ink amount. For example, referring to the LUT for the standard printer, 256 from the RGB data
After color conversion into CMYKLcLm data of gradation, the correspondence table T1 is referred to for each pixel of interest according to the correspondence shown in FIG. 6, and linear interpolation calculation is performed as necessary to correct the CMYKLcLm data. Good. According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a print control device, a print system, a print control program, and a medium thereof that can improve color accuracy and improve the quality of a printed matter according to various aspects. It can also be applied as a print control method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system including a print control device and peripheral devices.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a printer together with a PC.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a structure of a piezo element PE and a nozzle Nz in a sectional view.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a plurality of color adjustment IDs.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a print control device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a correspondence relationship between gradation data of a plurality of stages and gradation data of all gradations after interpolation calculation.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a modified LUT creation process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a print control process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a modified LUT creation process in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a plurality of patches printed on printing paper.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating print control processing according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing color adjustment IDs stored in a printer that forms large, medium, and small dots in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing halftone processing according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the value of level data with respect to the input gradation value in the dot formation table in a graph format.

FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing a correspondence relationship between gradation data of a plurality of stages and gradation data of all gradations after interpolation calculation.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing, in a graph format, values of level data before and after correction with respect to an input gradation value.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Personal computer 11 ... CPU 12 ... ROM 13 ... RAM 14 ... Hard disk 15 ... CD-ROM drive 17a-e ... Interface 18a ... Display 18b ... keyboard 18c ... mouse 20 ... Inkjet printer 22 ... ROM 22a ... Color adjustment ID 22b ... Serial number 25 ... Print head 26 ... ASIC 26a ... Head drive unit 30 ... Color colorimeter U1 ... Error acquisition means U2 ... Correspondence determining means U3 ... Printing control means T1, T3 ... Correspondence table T2 ... Dot formation table PA ... patch

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C056 EA04 EA11 EB58 EB59 EC76                       EC79 ED01 ED07 EE01 EE08                       FA04                 2C057 AF21 AG14 AL31 AL40 AM28                       CA01 CA07                 2C262 AA02 AA24 AB07 BB03 BB30                       BB36 BC01 BC05 EA04

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A print control device for performing print control on a print device that forms ink dots on a print medium corresponding to a plurality of pixel-by-pixel gradation data that form print data. Error acquisition means that represents the error in the ink amount and that acquires a plurality of error information corresponding to gradation data of a plurality of stages, and image data that represents an image are input, and the plurality of error information acquired by the error acquisition means are input. A print control device comprising: print control means for generating the print data for compensating the error of the ink amount from the image data based on the error information and performing the print control. 2. A plurality of correspondences between the gradation data before correction and the gradation data after correction for compensating the error of the ink amount based on a plurality of error information acquired by the error acquiring means. Correspondence determining means for determining each of the error information of, the print control means, the print data from the image data based on the correspondence for each of the plurality of determined error information, to generate the print data, The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control is performed. 3. The error information is stored in the printing device, and the error acquisition unit acquires the error information from the printing device. Print control device. 4. The plurality of pieces of error information are information corresponding to a plurality of levels of reference grayscale values which are different values within a grayscale area that the grayscale data can take, and the error acquisition means is configured to A plurality of reference images corresponding to a plurality of tone values that are different centered on any of the reference tone values are printed on the printing apparatus, and a tone value corresponding to any of the plurality of printed reference images is displayed. The print control device according to claim 2, wherein the print control device is acquired as error information corresponding to a reference gradation value with the same center. 5. The plurality of pieces of error information are information corresponding to a plurality of levels of reference grayscale values that are different values within a grayscale area that can be taken by the grayscale data, and the correspondence relationship determining means includes: In the gradation data before the correction, the correspondence relationship for gradation values other than the reference gradation value is determined by performing linear interpolation calculation from the reference gradation value and the plurality of error information. The print control device according to claim 4. 6. The print control unit refers to a color conversion table that defines a plurality of reference points for the correspondence between the image data in which the image is composed of gradation data for each pixel and the print data, and the same image is referenced. 6. The data is converted into the same print data, and the correspondence relation determining means corrects the color conversion table based on the correspondence relation for each of the plurality of error information. The print control device according to any one of claims. 7. The printing device stores identification data capable of identifying the printing device, and the correspondence relationship determining means acquires the identification data from the printing device and corrects the color conversion table. When the identification data obtained is different from the identification data stored therein, the error obtaining means obtains the plurality of error information, and based on the obtained plurality of error information. 7. The print control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the correspondence relationship is determined, and the color conversion table is modified based on the correspondence relationship for each of the plurality of pieces of error information. 8. The print data is composed of gradation data that collectively represents formation of a plurality of types of dots with different ink amounts, and the printing device corresponds to dot data that represents a type of dot for each pixel. Then, it is possible to form a plurality of types of dots having different ink amounts on the print medium, and the print control means converts the image data into the print data, and the correspondence between the print data and the dot data. The same print data is converted into the same dot data by referring to the dot formation table that defines the relationship for each of the plurality of types of dots, and the correspondence relationship determining unit is configured to perform the above-mentioned conversion based on the correspondence relationship for each of the plurality of error information. The print control device according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the dot formation table is corrected. 9. The plurality of pieces of error information are information corresponding to a plurality of levels of reference gradation values that are different values within a gradation area that the gradation data can take, and the same reference gradation value. 9. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control apparatus is configured to be reduced by approximately ½ when the value is changed from a high value to a low value. 10. A print control method for performing print control on a printing apparatus that forms ink dots on a print medium corresponding to a plurality of pixel-by-pixel gradation data forming print data, the ink comprising: Error acquisition step of acquiring the error information of the ink amount and acquiring a plurality of error information corresponding to the gradation data of a plurality of steps, and the image data expressing the image are input, and the plurality of error information acquired in the error acquisition step are input. And a print control step of generating the print data for compensating the error of the ink amount from the image data based on the error information and performing the print control. 11. A printing system for performing printing by forming dots of ink on a print medium corresponding to a large number of pixel-by-pixel gradation data making up the print data, the error of the ink amount of the ink. And an error acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of error information corresponding to gradation data of a plurality of stages and image data that represents an image are input, and based on the plurality of error information acquired by the error acquisition unit. A printing system comprising: a printing unit configured to generate the print data for compensating the error of the ink amount from the image data and perform printing. 12. A print control program for causing a computer to realize a function of performing print control for a printing apparatus that forms ink dots on a print medium in correspondence with a large number of gradation data for each pixel forming print data. That is, the error acquisition function that represents the error of the ink amount of the ink and acquires a plurality of error information corresponding to a plurality of gradation data, and the image data that represents the image are input to the error acquisition function. A print control program for generating the print data for compensating the error of the ink amount from the same image data based on a plurality of error information acquired by the above, and realizing a print control function for performing the print control. . 13. A medium on which the print control program according to claim 12 is recorded.