JP2004167782A - Printer, printing method, computer system, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To widen the degree of freedom in print representation of N up print system. <P>SOLUTION: In a printer where image data corresponding to a plurality of pages are acquired, respectively, and the images of the plurality of pages are printed, side by side, at specified positions on a single print medium based on the image data, a different print mode can be set for each page when the image of that page is printed on the print medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing device, a printing method, a computer system, and a computer program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus that includes a scanner unit for reading an image from a document and a printing unit that prints the image read by the scanner unit on a printing medium such as paper has been used. I have. Until now, most of such printing apparatuses perform monochrome printing on paper, but recently, the printing mode for printing on paper is switched to a color printing mode or a monochrome printing mode for each paper and set. Possible printing devices have become mainstream. That is, a print mode can be designated for each sheet by pressing one of a color copy button and a monochrome copy button on the operation panel unit (for example, see Patent Document 1).
On the other hand, among such printing apparatuses, one of the convenient functions is so-called layout printing (hereinafter referred to as N-up printing) in which images of N pages of originals read from N originals are arranged and printed on one sheet of paper. Some of them have a function.
[0003]
The N-up printing will be described by taking two-up printing as an example. First, the user selects “2 up printing” from a printing method setting menu screen prepared on the operation panel unit of the printing apparatus. Next, the user sets the first document on the platen glass and presses either the color copy button or the monochrome copy button on the operation panel unit. Then, the scanner unit reads the image corresponding to the first page from the document on the platen glass, and prints this image on the left half area of the sheet. Next, the user replaces the original on the platen glass with the second original, sets the original, and presses either the color copy button or the monochrome copy button again. Then, the scanner unit reads the image corresponding to the second page from the second document on the platen glass and prints this image on the remaining right half area of the paper.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-247382 (page 2)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in this N-up printing, the print mode for all the pages to be printed on the paper is determined by the copy button operation on the first document described above, so that color printing is performed only in paper units. Alternatively, the print mode of monochrome printing cannot be changed, and the print mode of each page in the paper cannot be changed.
[0006]
That is, the above-described copy button operation for the second document only instructs the scanner unit to start an image reading operation from the second document, and sets the print mode for the second page. Was not. For example, if the first document is a monochrome document document and the second is a color photo document, and the monochrome copy button is pressed as the first copy button operation, the color copy button is pressed at the second page. However, the print mode is fixed to monochrome printing over the entire surface of the sheet, and the image of the second page, which should be a color photograph, is also printed in monochrome. As a result, the degree of freedom in print expression on paper has been extremely narrowly limited.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus, a printing method, a computer system, and a computer program that can increase the degree of freedom of N-up printing printing expression. It is to realize.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, a main aspect of the present invention is to acquire image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and, based on these image data, at a predetermined position on a single print-receiving medium, image of the plurality of pages. In which the print mode for printing the image of the page on the printing medium can be set differently for each page.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
At least the following matters will be made clear by the description in this specification and the accompanying drawings.
In a printing apparatus that obtains image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and based on these image data, at a predetermined position on a single print target medium, a printing apparatus that prints the images of the plurality of pages side by side, for each page, A printing apparatus, wherein a printing mode for printing the image of the page on a printing medium can be set differently.
[0010]
According to such a printing apparatus, the print mode of each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on the print medium can be made different for each page, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of print expression on the print medium. be able to.
[0011]
In the printing apparatus, the print mode is selected and set from a monochrome print mode in which a single basic color is printed in a single color and a color print mode in which a plurality of different basic colors are combined to perform a multi-color print. Is desirable.
According to such a printing apparatus, each page to be printed side by side at a predetermined position on one printing medium can be set to either single-color printing or multi-color printing for each page, thereby printing on the printing medium. The freedom of expression can be expanded.
[0012]
Further, in such a printing apparatus, image data corresponding to the page is obtained as RGB data, and for a page set in the color print mode, the RGB data corresponding to the page is converted into CMYK data and printed. On the other hand, for a page set in the monochrome print mode, it is desirable to convert RGB data corresponding to the page into K data and print it.
According to such a printing apparatus, as long as the image data corresponding to each page is obtained in the form of RGB data, the printing apparatus converts the data into data corresponding to the set print mode and prints the data. Excellent compatibility of obtainable data.
[0013]
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the print mode is set by selecting from a plurality of quality modes having different print resolutions.
According to such a printing apparatus, each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on the print medium can be printed with the print resolution changed for each page, and the printing expression on the print medium can be freely changed. The degree can be expanded.
[0014]
Further, in such a printing apparatus, it is desirable to perform an operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to acquire image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively.
According to such a printing apparatus, it is possible to perform printing in different print modes for each of a plurality of pages of images obtained by reading images from a document.
[0015]
Preferably, the printing apparatus further includes a print mode setting unit for setting the print mode, and the print mode setting unit receives a print mode setting input every time the reading operation is performed.
According to such a printing apparatus, a print mode can be set for each of a plurality of pages of images obtained by reading an image from a document.
[0016]
Further, in a printing apparatus for acquiring image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, and arranging and printing the images of the plurality of pages at predetermined positions of a single print medium based on these image data, A print mode setting unit for setting a print mode when an image is printed on a printing medium, performing an operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to obtain image data corresponding to a plurality of pages as RGB data, Each time the reading operation is performed, the print mode setting means receives a print mode setting input for the image data acquired thereby, and the print mode includes a monochrome print mode for performing single color printing with one basic color, and a plurality of different print modes. Color print mode for multi-color printing by combining the basic colors of For a printed page, the image data corresponding to the page is converted to CMYK data and printed, while for a page set in the monochrome print mode, the image data corresponding to the page is converted to K data. It is desirable to convert and print.
According to such a printing apparatus, all the effects described above are exhibited, and thus the object of the present invention is most effectively achieved.
[0017]
Further, in a printing method of acquiring image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and arranging and printing the images of the plurality of pages at predetermined positions of a single print medium based on the image data, A printing method, wherein a printing mode for printing the image of the page on a printing medium can be set differently.
According to such a printing method, the print mode of each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on the print medium can be made different for each page, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of print expression on the print medium. be able to.
[0018]
A computer system including a computer main body and a printing device communicably connected to the computer main body, wherein image data corresponding to a plurality of pages is acquired from the computer main body, and the image data is acquired. The images of the plurality of pages are arranged and printed at predetermined positions of a single print medium based on the print mode, and the print mode for printing the images of the pages on the print medium can be set differently for each of the pages. A computer system characterized by:
According to such a computer system, the print mode of each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on the print medium can be made different for each page, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of print expression on the print medium. be able to.
[0019]
Further, for a printing apparatus that acquires image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and based on these image data, a predetermined position of a single print target medium, and prints the images of the plurality of pages side by side, A computer program for realizing a function of setting a print mode for printing an image of a page on a print medium differently for each page.
According to such a computer program, the print mode of each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on the print medium can be made different for each page, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of print expression on the print medium. be able to.
[0020]
=== Schematic Configuration of Printing Apparatus ===
The schematic configuration of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cover of a scanner unit 10 is opened, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an internal configuration of the printing apparatus, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the inside of the printer unit is exposed, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the operation panel unit. The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a scanner function for inputting a document image, a printer function for printing an image on a print medium such as paper based on image data, and a local function for printing an image input by a scanner function on paper or the like. This is a scanner / printer / copy multifunction apparatus having a copy function (hereinafter, referred to as an SPC multifunction apparatus).
[0021]
The SPC multifunction device 1 includes a scanner unit 10 for reading an image of a document 5 and inputting the image data as image data, a printer unit 30 for printing an image on a print medium such as paper based on the image data, and an SPC multifunction device 1. It has a control circuit 50 that controls the entire system and an operation panel 70 that serves as input means. Under the control of the control circuit 50, a scanner function, a printer function, and a local copy function of printing data input from the scanner unit 10 by the printer unit 30 are realized.
[0022]
The scanner unit 10 is disposed on the printer unit 30, and has a platen glass 12 on which the original 5 to be read is placed, and a platen when reading the sheet-shaped original 5 or when not in use. An original table cover 14 that covers the glass 12 is provided. The platen cover 14 is formed so as to be openable and closable, and also has a function of pressing a document placed on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12 when closed. A paper supply unit 32 for supplying the paper 7 to the printer unit 30 is provided on the back side of the SPC multifunction device 1, and the printed paper 7 is discharged on the lower side on the front side. An operation panel unit 70 as an input unit is provided on the upper side of the unit 34, and a control circuit 50 is built in the printer unit 30.
[0023]
The paper discharge unit 34 is provided with a paper discharge tray 341 capable of closing a paper discharge opening when not in use, and the paper supply unit 32 is provided with a paper feed tray 321 holding cut paper (not shown). ing. The printing medium to be used for printing may be not only cut-sheet printing paper such as cut paper, but also continuous printing paper such as roll paper, and a paper feeding structure that enables the SPC multifunction apparatus 1 to print on roll paper. May be provided.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 4, the printer unit 30 and the scanner unit 10 are connected by a hinge mechanism 41 on the back side, and the scanner unit 10 unitized around the pivoting part of the hinge mechanism 41 is located on the front side. Lifted from. When the scanner unit 10 is lifted, the inside of the printer unit 30 is exposed from an opening 301 provided on an upper portion of a cover that covers the printer unit 30. By exposing the inside of the printer unit 30 in this manner, the ink cartridge and the like can be exchanged, and a paper jam can be easily handled.
[0025]
A power supply unit for the SPC multifunction device 1 is provided on the printer unit 30 side, and a power supply cable 43 for supplying power to the scanner unit 10 is provided near the hinge mechanism 41. Further, the SPC multifunction apparatus 1 is provided with a USB interface 52 for capturing an image into the host computer 3 by a scanner function and outputting image data transmitted from the host computer 3 by a printer function. .
[0026]
=== Configuration of Operation Panel Unit 70 ===
As shown in FIG. 5, the operation panel unit 70 is provided with a liquid crystal display 72 and a notification lamp 74 at substantially the center thereof. The liquid crystal display 72 can display 32 characters of 2 lines and 16 digits, and can display setting items, setting states, operating states, and the like by characters. The notification lamp 74 provided beside the liquid crystal display 72 is a red LED, and is lit when an error occurs to notify the user of the occurrence of the error.
[0027]
On the left side of the liquid crystal display 72, a power button 76, a scan start button 78, a setting display button 80, and a clear button 82 are provided. The power button 76 is a button for turning on and off the power of the SPC multifunction peripheral 1. The scan start button 78 is a button for starting reading of the original 5 by the scanner unit 10 in a state where the SPC multifunction peripheral 1 is connected to the host computer 3. The setting display button 80 is a button for displaying on the liquid crystal display 72 the setting state for the copy function set by the user. The clear button 82 is a button for clearing the setting for the copy function and changing each setting item to a default value.
On the right side of the liquid crystal display 72, a color copy button 84, a monochrome copy button 86, a stop button 88, and a copy number setting button 90 are provided.
[0028]
The color copy button 84 is a button for starting a color copy, and the monochrome copy button 86 is a button for starting a monochrome copy. Therefore, the copy buttons 84 and 86 also serve as a copy operation start instruction and a selection unit for selecting whether a print image to be output is color or monochrome. More specifically, by pressing one of the copy buttons 84 and 86, print mode information that specifies which print mode is to be used for color printing or monochrome printing is generated, and an input signal including this information is generated. Sent to CPU 54. Note that this print mode information is used for N-up print processing, which is a characteristic feature of the present invention described later. The stop button 88 is a button for stopping the started copy operation.
[0029]
The number-of-copies setting button 90 is composed of two buttons 901 and 902 with “+” or “−” written on the front side. When the “+” button 901 is pressed, the set number is increased, and the “−” button 902 is set. By pressing, the set number of sheets is reduced.
[0030]
On the front side of the liquid crystal display 72, a menu button 92 for switching setting items displayed on the liquid crystal display 72 is provided. The menu button 92 is composed of two buttons arranged on the left and right, and a leftward arrow or a rightward arrow is described, respectively. Each time one of the left and right menu buttons 92 is pressed, the displayed setting items are sequentially switched in a predetermined order, and when the display is completed, the first setting item is displayed. The left and right arrows are used to change the order in which the setting items are displayed, and the two buttons 92 display the setting items in the reverse order of the display order when the other buttons are pressed.
[0031]
With the menu button 92, a quality mode can be set for each type of paper. The quality mode relates to the image quality of the image printed on the paper, that is, the printing resolution for printing by the printer unit 30 is mainly determined by the selection of the quality mode.
[0032]
FIG. 7 exemplifies quality modes prepared in the SPC multifunction apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. For example, three types of quality modes of “economy, fast, and beautiful” can be selected for plain paper. For super fine paper, two types of "fast and beautiful" can be selected. For glossy paper, PM photo paper, and PM matte paper, which generally require higher image quality than plain paper or the like, a "clean" quality mode is prepared for each. The user operates the menu button 92 as appropriate while viewing the liquid crystal display 72 to input this quality mode. Then, the quality mode information generated based on this input is transmitted to the CPU 54 together with the input signal by the copy button operation.
[0033]
=== Configuration of Scanner Unit 10 ===
The scanner unit 10 includes a platen glass 12 on which the document 5 is placed, a platen cover 14 for pressing the reading surface of the document 5 placed on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12, A reading carriage 16 that faces the document 5 and scans along the document 5 while maintaining a constant space therebetween, a driving unit 18 for scanning the reading carriage 16, and the reading carriage 16 in a stable state. And a regulation guide 20 for scanning.
[0034]
The reading carriage 16 includes an exposure lamp 22 as a light source for irradiating the original 5 with light through the original table glass 12, a lens 24 for condensing light reflected by the original 5, and a lens 24 for reflecting light reflected by the original 5. , A CCD sensor 28 that receives the reflected light transmitted through the lens, and a guide receiving portion 29 that engages with the regulation guide 20.
[0035]
The CCD sensor 28 includes three linear sensors in which photodiodes for converting an optical signal into an electric signal are arranged in a row, and these three linear sensors are arranged in parallel. The CCD sensor 28 includes three filters (not shown) of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), and filters of different colors are provided for each linear sensor. Each linear sensor detects light of a component corresponding to the color of the filter. For example, a linear sensor having an R filter detects the intensity of red component light. The three linear sensors are arranged along a direction (hereinafter, referred to as a main scanning direction) substantially orthogonal to a moving direction of the reading carriage 16 (hereinafter, referred to as a sub-scanning direction).
[0036]
Since the length of the CCD sensor 28 is sufficiently shorter than the width (length in the main scanning direction) of the readable original 5, the image of the original 5 due to the reflected light is reduced by the lens 24 and formed on the CCD sensor 28. Will be imaged. That is, the lens 24 interposed between the document 5 and the CCD sensor 28 needs to be arranged close to the CCD sensor 28 side, and the distance between the document 5 and the lens 24 needs to be set long. Is done. Therefore, in order to secure the distance between the original 5 and the lens 24 in the limited space of the scanning carriage 16 for scanning, the light is reflected by the four mirrors 26 to secure a long optical path length.
[0037]
The light reflected by the original 5 is reflected by the four mirrors 26, passes through the lens 24, and reaches the CCD sensor 28. However, since the three linear sensors are arranged in parallel, they are simultaneously connected to each linear sensor. The reflection position of the reflected light to be imaged with respect to the document is shifted in the sub-scanning direction by an interval of the linear sensor. Therefore, in the scanner control unit 58 (FIG. 11) of the control circuit 50, a line-to-line correction process for correcting the deviation is performed. The line-to-line correction processing will be described later.
[0038]
The regulation guide 20 is provided along the sub-scanning direction, and is formed of a stainless steel cylindrical material. The restriction guide 20 is provided on the reading carriage 16 and penetrates two guide receiving portions 29 formed of thrust bearings. By widening the interval in the sub-scanning direction between the two guide receiving portions 29 provided on the reading carriage 16, it is possible to stably scan the reading carriage 16.
[0039]
The driving unit 18 includes an annular timing belt 181 fixed to the reading carriage 16, and a pulley 182 that meshes with the timing belt 181, and a pulse motor 183 disposed at one end in the sub-scanning direction, and And an idler pulley 184 that is disposed at an end of the pulley and applies tension to the timing belt 181. The pulse motor 183 is driven by the scanner control unit 58 (FIG. 11) of the control circuit 50. The pulse motor 183 scans the read image in the sub-scanning direction with the scanning speed of the reading carriage 16 changed according to the speed of the pulse motor 183. Can be enlarged and reduced.
[0040]
Then, the scanner unit 10 irradiates the original 5 with the light of the exposure lamp 22 and moves the reading carriage 16 along the original 5 while forming the reflected light on the CCD sensor 28. At this time, a voltage value indicating the amount of light received by the CCD sensor 28 is read at a predetermined cycle, so that an image corresponding to the distance the reading carriage 16 has moved during one cycle is converted into data for one line of the output image. I will take in. At this time, three data of an R component, a G component, and a B component are taken in as data for one line.
[0041]
=== Configuration of Printer Unit 30 ===
The printer unit 30 employs an ink jet system. The four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are used as basic colors, and dots are formed by discharging these color inks on a printing medium such as printing paper. To form a color image. The printer unit 30 is also capable of performing monochrome printing for outputting a monochrome image using only black (K) color ink. Whether to output the color image or the monochrome image is based on the binary data after the binarization processing, and the binary data will be described later.
[0042]
Next, the printer unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 7, and 8. FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement around the print head, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a driving unit of the printing paper transport mechanism.
[0043]
As shown in the drawing, the printer unit 30 drives a print head 38 mounted on a writing carriage 36 to eject ink and form dots, and transports the writing carriage 36 to the paper 7 by a carriage motor 40. A mechanism for reciprocating in a direction perpendicular to the direction, and a mechanism for transporting the paper 7 supplied from the paper feed tray 321 (see FIG. 1) by a paper feed motor (hereinafter also referred to as a PF motor) 42. .
[0044]
The mechanism for discharging ink and forming dots includes a print head 38 having a plurality of nozzles as ink discharge units, and discharges ink from predetermined nozzles based on a print command signal. On the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, a plurality of nozzles form a row along the transport direction of the paper 7, and a plurality of nozzles are provided in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the paper 7. Details of the print head 38 and the nozzle arrangement will be described later. The print head 38 is provided with a 16-bit memory corresponding to each nozzle, and data is transferred to each nozzle in 16-bit units from a head control unit 68 (FIG. 11) described later.
[0045]
A mechanism for reciprocating the writing carriage 36 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the paper 7 is conveyed by a carriage motor (hereinafter, also referred to as a CR motor) 40 for driving the writing carriage 36. A sliding shaft 44 movably held, a linear encoder 46 fixed to the writing carriage 36, a linear encoder code plate 461 having slits formed at predetermined intervals, and a rotating shaft of the carriage motor 40. It comprises a pulley 48 attached and a timing belt 49 driven by the pulley 48.
[0046]
A print head 38 and a cartridge mounting portion provided integrally with the print head 38 are fixed to the write carriage 36. The cartridge mounting portion includes black (K), cyan (C), and magenta (M). An ink cartridge containing ink such as yellow (Y) is mounted.
[0047]
A mechanism for transporting the paper 7 supplied from the paper feed tray 321 is disposed to face the print head 38 and serves as a guide member for guiding the paper 7 so that the paper 7 and the print head 38 are at an appropriate distance. And a transport roller 37 provided upstream of the platen 35 in the transport direction of the paper 7 to transport the supplied paper 7 so as to contact the platen 35 at a predetermined angle. On the other hand, a paper discharge roller 39 provided downstream of the paper 7 in the transport direction for transporting and discharging the paper 7 detached from the transport roller 37, and a PF for driving the transport roller 37 and the paper discharge roller 39 It has a motor 42, a rotary encoder 47 for detecting the transport amount of the paper 7, and a paper detection sensor 45 for detecting the presence or absence of the paper 7 and the leading and trailing edges of the paper 7.
[0048]
The transport roller 37 is provided below the transport path of the paper 7, and a driven roller 371 for holding the paper 7 is provided above the transport roller 37 so as to face the transport roller 37. The paper discharge roller 39 is also provided below the conveyance path of the paper 7, and a driven roller 391 for holding the paper 7 is provided above the paper discharge roller 39 so as to face the paper discharge roller 39. The opposing driven roller 391 is a roller made of a thin plate and provided with fine teeth on an outer peripheral portion thereof, and is configured so that ink does not rub even when it comes into contact with the surface of the paper 7 after printing.
[0049]
The contact position between the transport roller 37 and the sheet 7 is higher than the contact position between the platen 35 and the sheet 7. That is, the sheet 7 transported from the transport rollers 37 contacts the platen 35 at a predetermined angle, and is further transported. Thus, the sheet 7 is conveyed along the guide surface 351 of the platen 35 to be described later. For this reason, it is possible to obtain a good image by maintaining the sheet 7 at an appropriate position from the nozzle by the platen 35.
[0050]
The transport roller 37 and the paper discharge roller 39 are connected by the gear train 31, and the rotation of the PF motor 42 is transmitted and rotated, so that the transport speed of the paper 7 by the two rollers 37 and 39 is equal.
[0051]
The platen 35 has a guide surface 351 that faces the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, that is, the surface on which the nozzles are provided, and guides the paper 7 in contact therewith. The guide surface 351 is formed to be narrower than the area of the lower surface 381 of the print head 38 where the nozzles are provided, and some of the nozzles located on the most upstream side and the most downstream side in the transport direction of the paper 7 face the platen 35. Not. This prevents the ink ejected to the outside of the paper 7 from adhering to the platen 35 when printing the leading and trailing edges of the paper 7, and prevents the back surface of the paper 7 that is subsequently conveyed from becoming dirty. I have. That is, a space is provided without providing the platen 35 at a position facing the nozzles at the upstream end and the downstream end. In this space, an ink receiver is provided at a position lower than the guide surface 351 of the platen 35, and unnecessary ink is collected so that the inside of the printer is not stained.
[0052]
The paper detection sensor 45 is provided on the upstream side of the transport roller 37 in the transport direction, has a lever 451 having a rotation center at a position higher than the transport path of the paper 7, and is provided above the lever 451, and has a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. And a transmission type optical sensor 452. The lever 451 is disposed so as to hang down on the transport path by its own weight, and is an operation part 453 which is rotated by the sheet 7 supplied from the paper supply tray 321, and is located on the opposite side of the operation part 453 with respect to the center of rotation. , And a light shielding unit 454 provided so as to pass between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit. When the lever 451 is pushed by the supplied paper 7 and the paper 7 reaches a predetermined position, the light-shielding unit 454 blocks light emitted by the light emitting unit, so that the paper 7 reaches the predetermined position. Is detected. Thereafter, when the sheet 7 is conveyed by the conveying roller 7 and the rear end of the sheet 7 passes, the lever 451 hangs down by its own weight, the light shielding unit 454 comes off from between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, and the light of the light emitting unit is received. The light receiving unit detects that the rear end of the sheet 7 reaches a predetermined position. Therefore, while the light blocking unit 454 blocks the light from the light emitting unit, it is detected that the sheet 7 exists at least in the transport path.
[0053]
=== Nozzle Configuration ===
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of nozzles on the lower surface 381 of the print head 38. On the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, a black ink nozzle row 33 (K), a cyan ink nozzle row 33 (C), a magenta ink nozzle row 33 (M), and a yellow ink nozzle row 33 (Y) are formed. ing. Each nozzle row 33 includes a plurality of nozzles (10 nozzles in the present embodiment) which are ejection ports for ejecting ink of each color.
[0054]
The plurality of nozzles of each nozzle row 33 are aligned at a constant interval (nozzle pitch: kD) along the paper transport direction. Here, D is the minimum dot pitch in the paper transport direction (that is, the interval of the dots formed on the paper 32 at the highest resolution). For example, if the resolution is 720 dpi, 1/720 inch (about 35. 3 μm). K is an integer of 1 or more.
[0055]
In addition, the nozzles of each nozzle row 33 are assigned smaller numbers toward the downstream nozzles, and are referred to as a first nozzle N1 to a tenth nozzle N10, respectively. Each nozzle is provided with a piezo element (not shown) as a drive element for driving each nozzle to eject ink droplets.
[0056]
At the time of printing, the paper 7 is intermittently conveyed by a predetermined conveyance amount F by the conveyance rollers 37 and the discharge rollers 39, and during the intermittent conveyance, the writing carriage 36 moves in the scanning direction and Ink droplets are ejected from.
[0057]
=== Print head drive ===
Next, the driving of the print head 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive signal generating unit provided in head control unit 68 (FIG. 11).
[0058]
In FIG. 10, the drive signal generator includes a plurality of mask circuits 204, an original drive signal generator 206, and a drive signal corrector 230. The mask circuit 204 is provided corresponding to a plurality of piezo elements for driving the nozzles N1 to N10 of the print head 38, respectively. In FIG. 10, the number in parentheses added to the end of each signal name indicates the number of the nozzle to which the signal is supplied. The original drive signal generator 206 generates an original drive signal ODRV commonly used for the nozzles N1 to N10. The original drive signal ODRV is a signal including two pulses of the first pulse W1 and the second pulse W2 within the main scanning period for one pixel. The drive signal correction unit 230 performs correction by shifting the timing of the drive signal waveform shaped by the mask circuit 204 back and forth over the entire return path. By the correction of the timing of the drive signal waveform, the deviation of the landing position of the ink droplet between the forward path and the return path is corrected, that is, the deviation of the dot formation position between the forward path and the return path is corrected.
[0059]
As shown in FIG. 10, the input serial print signal PRT (i) is input to the mask circuit 204 together with the original drive signal ODRV output from the original drive signal generator 206. This serial print signal PRT (i) is a 2-bit serial signal per pixel, and each bit corresponds to the first pulse W1 and the second pulse W2, respectively.
[0060]
The mask circuit 204 is a gate for masking the original drive signal ODRV according to the level of the serial print signal PRT (i). That is, when the serial print signal PRT (i) is at the 1 level, the mask circuit 204 passes the corresponding pulse of the original drive signal ODRV as it is and supplies it to the piezo element as the drive signal DRV, while the serial print signal PRT (i) ) Is at the 0 level, the corresponding pulse of the original drive signal ODRV is cut off.
[0061]
=== Internal Structure of Control Circuit 50 ===
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the control circuit 50.
The control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction device 1 includes a CPU 54 that controls the entire SPC multifunction device 1, a ROM 55 that stores a control program, and a control ASIC 51 that controls each of the scanner function, print function, and local copy function. The SDRAM 56, which can directly read and write data from the CPU 54, and an operation panel unit 70 as input means are connected by a bus. The control ASIC 51 is connected to the scanner unit 10, the print head 38, an ASIC SDRAM 69 capable of directly reading and writing data from the control ASIC 51, and the like.
[0062]
The control ASIC 51 includes a scanner control unit 58, a binarization processing unit 60, an interlace processing unit 62, an image buffer unit 64, a CPU interface unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPUIF unit) 66, a head control unit 68, A USB interface (hereinafter, referred to as a USBIF) 52 as an input / output unit with the host computer 3 and drivers such as motors and lamps included in the scanner unit 10 and the printer unit 30 are provided. The control ASIC SDRAM 69 is assigned a line buffer 691, an interlace buffer 692, and an image buffer 693. A so-called burst transfer in which the data transfer unit is 64 bits is performed between the control ASIC 51 and the ASIC SDRAM 69 in order to speed up the data transfer.
[0063]
The scanner control unit 58 controls each of the exposure lamp 22, the CCD sensor 28, the pulse motor 183 as a reading carriage drive motor and the like provided in the scanner unit 10, and transmits data read via the CCD sensor 28 via a line buffer 691. And has a function of sending out to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0064]
The binarization processing unit 60 has a function of converting the transmitted multi-gradation RGB data into either binary data for each color of CMYK or binary data of only K, and transmitting the converted data to the interlace processing unit 62. Have. Whether to convert the RGB data into binary data for each color of CMYK or binary data of only K is determined based on the print mode information input by operating the copy button on the operation panel unit 70. I do. That is, the RGB data is accompanied by print mode information input by operating the copy button. When the print mode information is the color print mode, the RGB data is converted into binary data of CMKY, and when the print mode information is the monochrome print mode, it is converted into binary data of K.
[0065]
The interlace processing unit 62 performs the so-called overlap printing in which one raster line (one line in the main scanning direction in the print image) is printed by scanning the writing carriage 36 a plurality of times, so that the CMYK data of one raster line is printed. Is divided into data to be printed for each scan of the writing carriage 36 to generate overlap printing corresponding data (hereinafter referred to as OL corresponding data). The generated OL-compatible data is stored in the interlace buffer 692 of the ASIC SDRAM 69.
[0066]
In the interlace processing unit 62, the data stored in the interlace buffer 692 is read into the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62 for each predetermined size, and is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle array. 64 is provided.
The image buffer unit 64 has a function of generating head drive data for causing the nozzles for each scan of the writing carriage 36 to eject ink from the data sent from the interlace processing unit 62.
[0067]
The CPU IF unit 66 has a function of enabling the CPU 54 to access the control ASIC SDRAM 69 connected to the control ASIC 51. The control circuit 50 is used to drive the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data generated by the image buffer unit 64.
The head control unit 68 has a function of driving the print head 38 based on head drive data under the control of the CPU 54 to eject ink from nozzles.
[0068]
=== Flow of Data in Control Circuit 50 ===
<About the scanner function>
From the host computer 3 connected to the USB IF 52 of the control ASIC 51, an image reading command signal from the scanner unit 10 and reading information data such as reading resolution and reading area are transmitted to the control circuit 50. In the control circuit 50, the scanner control unit 58 is controlled by the CPU 54 based on the image reading command signal and the read information data, and the reading of the document 5 by the scanner unit 10 is started.
At this time, in the scanner control unit 58, a lamp driving unit, a CCD driving unit, a reading carriage scanning driving unit, and the like are driven, and RGB data is read from the CCD sensor 28 at a predetermined cycle. The read RGB data is temporarily stored in a line buffer 691 allocated to the ASIC SDRAM 69, subjected to a line-to-line correction process for R, G, and B data, and sent to the host computer 3 via the USBIF 52. . The line-to-line correction process is a process for correcting the deviation of the reading position between the R, G, and B linear sensors that occurs due to the structure of the scanner unit 10.
[0069]
More specifically, the CCD sensor 28 included in the scanner unit 10 is a color sensor, and has a linear sensor of one line for each color for three colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). I have. Since these three linear sensors are arranged in parallel to the scanning direction of the reading carriage 16, the three linear sensors cannot simultaneously receive the reflected light applied to the same line of the document 5. That is, when the reflected light applied to the same line of the document 5 is received by each linear sensor, a time shift occurs. For this reason, this is a process for synchronizing data sent with a delay of the delay time associated with the linear sensor arrangement.
[0070]
<About the printer function>
At the time of the printer function, image data to be printed is converted into head drive data that can be printed by the printer unit 30 of the SPC multifunction device 1 by a printer driver of the host computer 3 connected to the USB IF 52 of the control ASIC 51. It is input from the USBIF 52. For example, in the case of performing interlaced printing, the head drive data extracts raster data corresponding to the print resolution and the pitch and number of nozzles of the nozzle array 33 of the writing carriage 36, and outputs the raster data. The data is rearranged in the order of printing for each scan, and serves as a signal for driving the print head 38. In the interlaced printing, the nozzle pitch (the interval between nozzles) is wider than the interval between dots formed on the paper.
[0071]
The head drive data is stored in an image buffer 57 allocated to an SDRAM 56 which can be directly read by the CPU 54. The image buffer 57 has two memory areas each having a capacity capable of storing head drive data for printing by one scan of the writing carriage 36. When data for one scan is written to one image buffer 571, the data is transferred to the head control unit 68. At this time, when the image data of one image buffer 571 is transferred to the head control unit 68, the other image buffer 572 stores head drive data for printing at the next scan. When the data for one scan is written to the other image buffer 572, the data is transferred to the head control unit 68, and the image data is written to the one image buffer 571. As described above, the print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 to perform printing while alternately writing and reading head drive data using the two image buffers 571 and 572.
[0072]
<About copy function>
Next, the flow of data during the copy function will be described. Here, only the flow of data during a normal copy operation will be described, and the two-up printing method of the present embodiment will be described later.
[0073]
The data read by the scanner unit 10 is taken into the line buffer 691 via the scanner control unit 58. The RGB data captured by the line buffer 691 is sequentially subjected to the above-described RGB inter-line correction processing, and the RGB data for the same line is sent from the scanner control unit 58 to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0074]
The RGB data sent to the binarization processing unit 60 is subjected to halftone processing. Then, the lookup table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69 is referred to, and based on the print mode information accompanied by the RGB data, binary data for each color of CMYK or K The data is converted into one of only binary data and sent to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0075]
The binary data sent to the interlace processing unit 62 is sorted from all data of each raster line to data to be printed each time the writing carriage 36 is scanned, based on the specified interlace method. For example, when one raster line is formed by two scans of the writing carriage 36, the data is divided into data for forming odd-numbered dots from the end of the raster line and data for forming even-numbered dots. OL-compatible data is generated. The OL-compatible data is burst-transferred and stored in the interlace buffer 692 in 64-bit units.
[0076]
Further, the interlace processing unit 62 reads out the data stored in the interlace buffer 692 for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62.
At this time, OL corresponding data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in correspondence with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the print resolution and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the print resolution is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, data spaced at intervals of three raster lines from the OL corresponding data is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
[0077]
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store. Here, the image buffer 693, 694 is assigned a memory area for storing head drive data for two scans of the writing carriage 36, and every time head drive data for one scan is accumulated, The data is sent to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54, and the writing of the head drive data corresponding to the next scan is started in the memory area for the remaining one scan. This process is similar to the image buffer process described above in the description of the printer function.
[0078]
The head drive data for each scan stored in the image buffers 693 and 694 is read by the CPU 54 via the CPUIF unit 66 under the control of the CPU 54, and is transferred to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. The print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data, and an image is printed.
[0079]
=== N-up printing method of this embodiment ===
In the following, this N-up printing will be described by taking two-up printing as an example.
FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the two-up printing method (copy method) of the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 5A denotes a first document, on which an image "A" is shown. Reference numeral 5B denotes a second document, on which the image "B" is displayed. Reference numeral 7 denotes one sheet printed by the SPC multifunction apparatus 1. The image “A” and the image “B” are respectively printed on the paper 7 by two-up printing in each print area obtained by bisecting the paper surface of the paper 7. That is, the image “A” read from the first document 5A is read in the print area of the first page on the left side of the sheet 7, and the image “A” is read from the second document 5B in the print area of the second page on the right side. Image "B" is printed. The above-mentioned page refers to each print area obtained by equally dividing the paper surface of one sheet. For example, in the case of a two-up printing method, the print area on the left is the first page, and the print area on the right is the first page. Say the second page. In the case of the four-up printing method, each printing area is obtained by dividing the paper surface of the paper 7 into four equal parts, and is called the first to fourth pages, respectively.
[0080]
According to the present embodiment, when printing on this one sheet of paper 7, the print modes of the image “A” on the first page and the image “B” on the second page next to it are independent of each other. Thus, one of the image “A” and the image “B” can be printed in monochrome and the other can be printed in color. In other words, the image of each page printed side by side at a predetermined position on one sheet of paper 7 can be set to either monochrome printing or color printing for each page, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of printing expression on a printing medium. You can do it.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, a margin is provided between the end of the sheet 7 and the image. Further, a margin is provided between images.
[0081]
<Processing operation of 2-up printing>
FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the processing operation of the two-up printing of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 shows a flow of operations of the scanner unit 10, the control circuit 50 (or the operation panel 70), and the printer unit 30 of the SPC multifunction peripheral 1.
Hereinafter, the two-up printing method of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that a program relating to the processing operation procedure of the two-up printing is stored in the ROM 55.
[0082]
First, the user sets the paper 7 on the paper feed tray of the SPC multifunction device 1 (S121). In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of A4 size cut sheet printing papers are set. Note that the user may operate various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 to input information on the paper 7.
[0083]
Next, the user operates various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 and selects “2-up printing” of the present embodiment from a plurality of printing methods (S111). That is, first, the user sequentially switches the setting items displayed by the menu button 92 to bring up the display screen of the setting item “copy mode”. Next, the user sets the set value to “2-up printing” by pressing the two buttons 901 and 902. As a result, the printing method of the SPC multifunction peripheral 1 is selected as the two-up printing method. Similarly, the user operates various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 to set the size of the margin width t, whereby the SPC multifunction device 1 acquires information on margins (margin information). However, if the margin width t is not set by the operation panel unit 70, a predetermined default value is used as the margin width setting value. In the present embodiment, the margin information indicates that the width is t (mm).
[0084]
Next, the user sets the first document 5A as the first document on the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction device 1 (S101). The setting of the first original 5A will be described with reference to FIG. 14A. First, the user opens the platen cover 14 and places the first document 5 </ b> A on the platen glass 12. When the user places the first original 5A on the original glass 12, the side on which the image “A” is displayed faces downward, and the corner of the first original 5A is aligned with the origin mark at the corner of the original glass 12. . Then, the user closes the platen cover 14 and presses the first document 5 </ b> A on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12 with the platen cover 14. Thus, the first document 5A is set on the scanner unit 10.
[0085]
Next, the user instructs the start of the reading operation of the first original 5A. Since the two-up printing has already been set (S111), the reading operation is started when the user presses the color copy button 84 or the monochrome copy button 86 on the operation panel unit 70 (S112).
[0086]
As described above, the print mode for printing the image of the first page read from the first original 5A on the paper 7 is determined by the copy button operation. That is, when the monochrome copy button 86 is pressed, the subsequent read data (RGB data) read from the first original 5A is accompanied by the monochrome print mode information input by the copy button operation, and conversely, the color copy button When the button 84 is pressed, the color print mode information input by the copy button operation is added. Here, for simplicity of explanation, it is assumed that the monochrome copy button 86 has been pressed on the first original 5A for the purpose of monochrome printing.
[0087]
Next, the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction peripheral starts reading the image “A” of the first original 5A (S102). While the scanner unit 10 is reading the image “A” of the document 5A, read data (RGB data) is output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle. In the present embodiment, the linear sensors of the CCD sensor are arranged in parallel with the horizontal direction of the image “A”, and the reading carriage 16 scans and moves in parallel with the vertical direction of the image “A” (that is, in the present embodiment). Then, the image “A” of the first original 5A in FIG. 12 is read by the scanner unit 10 from top to bottom.) Therefore, the read data output from the scanner unit is data obtained by sequentially outputting the horizontal line data of the image “A”.
[0088]
Next, the control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction peripheral creates head drive data based on the read data sequentially sent from the scanner unit 10 (S113a, S113b, S113c, S114a). The head drive data created at this time is data for printing the portion of the image “A” of the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 of FIG. This head drive data is created based on the monochrome print mode information attached to the read data of the image “A” of the first document 5A, and as a result, this head drive data uses only K (black) nozzle The portion of the image “A” on the sheet 7 composed of the driving data is printed in monochrome. The process of creating the head drive data based on the read data will be described later. The created head drive data is sequentially sent to the head control unit 68.
[0089]
In the present embodiment, the writing carriage 36 scans in parallel with the short side direction of the sheet 7, conveys the sheet 7 in the long side direction of the sheet 7, and prints the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 (that is, the print image “AB”). In the present embodiment, the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 in FIG. 12 is printed from left to right). Therefore, the head drive data is data that sequentially outputs the vertical line data of the image “A”. As a result, the printer unit 30 can start printing the image “A” even before the head drive data of the image “B” is created. Therefore, in the present embodiment, before the reading of the image “B” of the second document is completed, the printing of the image “A” already read from the first document 5A is started.
[0090]
The printer unit 30 starts printing based on the head drive data sequentially sent to the head control unit 68 (S122). When the creation of the head drive data for the image "A" is completed (S114b), the head drive data is not sent to the head control unit 68, so that the printer unit 30 stops the printing operation and waits for printing (step 114). A standby state for various operations such as a transport operation of the sheet 7 and a printing operation for discharging ink (S123).
[0091]
After the end of the reading operation of the first original 5A, the liquid crystal display 72 of the SPC multifunction device 1 displays a message urging the user to exchange the original. The user confirms the message and replaces the first original 5A set on the scanner unit 10 with the second original 5B. The state of document exchange will be described with reference to FIG. 14B. First, the user opens the platen cover 14 and takes out the first document 5 </ b> A placed on the platen glass 12. Then, the user sets the second original 5B as the second original. The procedure for setting the second document 5B is the same as the procedure for setting the first document 5A, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0092]
In the present embodiment, printing of the image “A” of the print image “AB” is started before reading of the image “B” of the second document 5B is started. Therefore, in the present embodiment, at the time of the document replacement operation, a part of the print image has already been discharged from the paper discharge unit 34 (see FIG. 14B).
[0093]
After exchanging the original, the user instructs the start of the reading operation of the second original 5B. The reading operation of the second document 5B is also started when the user presses the color copy button 84 or the monochrome copy button 86 on the operation panel unit 70 (S115). As in the case of the first document 5A, the print mode for printing the image of the second page read from the second document 5B on the paper 7 is determined by operating the copy button on the second document 5B. I do. That is, the print mode of the image of the second page as the second original 5B can be set independently of the first original 5A. Here, for the sake of simplicity, the color copy button 84 is pressed on the second original 5B, and the color data read from the second original 5B (RGB data) contains color print mode information. Shall be attached.
[0094]
Next, the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction apparatus 1 starts an operation of reading the image “B” of the second document 5B (S105). While the scanner unit 10 is reading the image “B” of the original 5B, read data (RGB data) is output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle.
[0095]
Next, the control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction peripheral creates head drive data based on the read data sequentially sent from the scanner unit 10 (S116a, S116b, S116c, S117a). The head drive data created at this time is data for printing the portion of the image “B” on the sheet 7 of FIG. The head drive data is created based on the color print mode information attached to the read data of the image "B" of the second document 5B. As a result, the head drive data drives the four color nozzles of CMYK. The portion of the image “B” on the paper 7 is printed in color. The process of creating the head drive data based on the read data will be described later. The created head drive data is sequentially sent to the head control unit 68.
[0096]
The printer unit 30 restarts printing based on the head drive data sequentially sent to the head control unit 68 (S124). That is, after the reading operation of the image “B” is started, the printer unit 30 restarts the conveyance operation for intermittent conveyance of the paper 7 and the printing operation for discharging ink from the nozzles moving in the scanning direction. .
[0097]
When the printing is completed (S117b, S125), the paper 7 is discharged from the paper discharge unit 34. The print image “AB” is printed on the discharged sheet 7 as shown in the sheet 7 of FIG. In addition, while the portion of the image “A” in the print image “AB” is printed in monochrome, the portion of the image “B” is printed in color.
[0098]
After the operation of reading the second document is completed, the liquid crystal display 72 of the SPC multifunction peripheral displays a message urging the user to take out the second document. The user confirms the message and takes out the second document 5B set on the scanner unit 10.
[0099]
<Data flow in control circuit 50 during 2-up printing>
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the control circuit 50 at the time of 2-up printing. In FIG. 11 described above, two buffers are drawn as the image buffers 571 and 572 (or the image buffers 693 and 694) in order to perform writing and reading alternately. However, in FIG. Two buffers for alternately reading and reading are not shown.
[0100]
Although the hardware configuration is the same as that of the control circuit 50 of FIG. 11 described above, the allocation of a memory area in the SDRAM 56 that can be directly read by the CPU 54 differs. In FIG. 11, the CPU 54 accesses only the image buffer 694, but in FIG. 15, the CPU 54 also accesses the line buffer 691 and the interlace buffer 692. The interlace buffer 692 is divided into two memory areas, and is logically two buffers.
[0101]
Hereinafter, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 during 2-up printing will be described with reference to FIG. Note that a program for controlling the flow of data in the control circuit 50 during the two-up printing is stored in the ROM 55. In the above description, one raster line is formed by two scans of the writing carriage 36. However, for simplification of description, one raster line is formed by one scan of the writing carriage 36. (That is, a case where the dot data of the raster line is not allocated to the odd-numbered and even-numbered raster lines, which will be described below).
[0102]
(1) First, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 until the image "A" is read from the first document (first document 5A) (S102) and printing is started (S122). ,explain.
[0103]
The CPU 54 receives the input signal of the color copy button 84 or the monochrome copy button 86 after setting “2-up printing” from the operation panel unit 70, and transmits a control signal to the scanner control unit 58. The control signal includes print mode information based on the copy button operation. In this example, since the monochrome copy button 86 has been pressed, monochrome control mode information is included. Incidentally, the monochrome print mode information is valid until the copy button operation to be performed next, that is, the RGB data generated by the scanner unit 10 during this time is accompanied by the monochrome print mode information. I have.
[0104]
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 based on the control signal from the CPU 54, and starts the operation of reading the image “A” from the first document 5A.
[0105]
Since the image “A” of the first original 5A is reduced and printed on the sheet 7, the scanner control unit 58 thins out the data in comparison with the case where the image “A” is read at the same magnification. The image “A” is read from the first original 5A. That is, the horizontal data of the image “A” is reduced by thinning out the data from the line sensor of the CCD sensor. This thinning-out process is performed by the scanner control unit 58 thinning out the output data from the line sensor. The vertical data of the image “A” is reduced by increasing the scanning speed of the reading carriage. This process is performed by controlling the scanner control unit 58 to increase the scanning speed of the reading carriage. In this manner, by thinning out the data of the vertical and horizontal image “A”, the image “A” is substantially reduced and read.
[0106]
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 and takes in the RGB data output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle into the line buffer 691. Then, the scanner control unit 58 performs an RGB line-to-line correction process (described above) on the RGB data once taken into the line buffer 691 and sends the RGB data for the same line to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0107]
The binarization processing unit 60 performs halftone processing on the sent RGB data. Then, the binarization processing unit 60 refers to the look-up table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69, and converts the halftone-processed data into binary data for each CMYK color or K data. (Black) is converted to any of binary data. The conversion into binary data is performed based on the print mode information. For example, in this example, since the RGB data is accompanied by monochrome print mode information, the binary data of only K (black) is used. Converted to data. The binarizing unit 60 sends this K-only binary data to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0108]
The interlace processing unit 62 takes in the binary data of only K sent from the binarization processing unit 60 into one of two divided interlace buffers (referred to as a first interlace buffer 692A). Then, the binary data captured by the first interlace buffer 692A is sent via the CPU interface unit 66 to the layout buffer 573 in the SDRAM 56 that can be directly read by the CPU 54.
[0109]
The layout buffer 573 is a buffer allocated in the SDRAM and is logically divided into two areas. One layout buffer (first layout buffer) 573A of the two areas receives the binary data sent from the first interlace buffer 692A. The other layout buffer (second layout buffer (also referred to as an intermediate buffer)) 573B stores layout image data created based on the binary data of the first layout buffer 573A, as described below.
[0110]
FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the binary data sent to the first layout buffer 573A. Although the binary data is stored in a continuous memory area, if it is folded back and arranged according to the width of the image, it becomes image information as shown in FIG. Since the raster line is formed by one scan of the writing carriage 36, the number of image information becomes one.)
[0111]
The CPU 54 creates layout image data based on the binary data taken into the first layout buffer 573A. However, the second layout buffer 573B that stores the created layout image data is assigned only an area that can store only a few lines of line data for the width of the sheet. Therefore, the CPU 54 creates line-shaped layout image data, and sends the created layout image data to the second layout buffer 573B. Then, the layout image data for several lines sent to the second layout buffer 573B is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69.
[0112]
In the present embodiment, the read data output from the scanner unit is data obtained by sequentially outputting horizontal line data of the image “A”. Therefore, the binary data in the horizontal direction of the image “A” is sequentially sent to the first layout buffer. On the other hand, the head drive data needs to be data that sequentially outputs the vertical line data of the image “A”. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the first layout buffer 573A once takes in all the data of the image “A”, and when the CPU 54 creates the layout image data in the second layout buffer, the data of the image “A” is rotated. , Vertical line data (rotated data) of the image “A” is sequentially created. As a result, the data sequentially sent from the second layout buffer 573B to the second interlace buffer 692B becomes the vertical line data of the image “A”. Based on this data, the vertical head driving of the image “A” is performed. Data can be created sequentially.
[0113]
17A to 17G are conceptual diagrams of layout image data sent to the second layout buffer 573B. The layout image data is stored in a continuous memory area. However, if the layout image data is folded back at the width of the paper and arranged, as shown in FIG. .
[0114]
Creation of layout image data is performed as follows. First, the CPU 54 creates null data corresponding to the margin in order to create image data corresponding to the margin between the upper edge of the paper and the image (the margin on the left side of the image “A”) (FIGS. 17A and 17B). . After the Null data corresponding to the margin width is created, the CPU 54 creates a layout image in which the vertical line data (binary data) of the image “A” taken into the first layout buffer 573A is sequentially arranged (FIG. 17B). However, when arranging the vertical line data of the image “A”, the CPU 54 inserts Null data corresponding to the margin width from the side edge of the sheet to the image. As a result, horizontal margins (upper and lower margins of the image “A”) are created in the layout image. Creation of the vertical line data of the image “A” is performed only for the horizontal region of the image “A” (FIGS. 17B to 17F). After the creation of the layout image for the area of the image “A” is completed, the CPU 54 creates Null data for the margin again in order to create image data for the margin between the images (FIG. 17F, FIG. 17F). 17G). Thereby, a vertical margin (the right margin of the image “A”) is created in the layout image. The layout image data created as needed as described above is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69. The layout image data sent to the second interlace buffer 692B is the above-described binary data of only K.
[0115]
The processing after the binary data (layout image data) is sent from the second layout buffer 573B to the second interlace buffer 692B is almost the same as the processing at the time of the above-described copy function. That is, the following processing is performed (however, for simplification of description, description of processing for alternately performing writing and reading is omitted).
[0116]
The interlace processing unit 62 reads the data stored in the second interlace buffer 692B for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62.
At this time, binary data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in accordance with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the print resolution and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the print resolution is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, from the binary data, data spaced by three raster lines is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
[0117]
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store.
[0118]
The head drive data for each scan stored in the image buffers 693 and 694 is read by the CPU 54 via the CPUIF unit 66 under the control of the CPU 54, and is transferred to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. The print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data, and an image is printed. Here, since the head drive data is formed from binary data of only K, only the K (black) nozzle of the print head 38 is driven, so that the black ink droplet is discharged only from the K nozzle. Discharged. As a result, in the present embodiment, the image “A” can be printed in monochrome while the image “A” is placed on the sheet 7 as shown in FIG.
[0119]
(2) Next, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 from the start of printing (S122) to the print standby state (S123) will be described.
[0120]
FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of a printing state before reading the image “B” of the second document (second document). As described above, the head drive data of the image “A” (and surrounding margins) is sequentially accumulated in the image buffer. When the head drive data for one scan is stored, the CPU 54 sends out the head drive data stored in the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. Then, when the head moves in the scanning direction, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles of the head according to the head drive data. Therefore, in FIG. 5, the head drive data required from pass 1 (first scanning movement) to pass 8 is obtained by reading the image “A” of the first document (first document) and then sequentially reading the image “A”. It can be sent to the head control unit 68.
[0121]
On the other hand, the head drive data required in pass 9 (the ninth scanning movement) requires the head drive data of the image “B” of the second document. That is, if the image “B” of the second document is not read, the necessary head drive data (data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles) during pass 9 is not stored in the image buffer 693 (the head drive data is Therefore, the head cannot be driven in pass 9. As a result, before the head drive data of the image “B” of the second document is created, the printer unit cannot print the image at the position of pass 9.
[0122]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the printing of the pass 8 (eighth scanning movement) is completed, the scanning movement of the writing carriage 36 is stopped, and the printing carriage 36 is in a printing standby state. In other words, the portion to be printed after pass 9 has not been printed yet. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a part of the image “A” of the first document printed on the paper (the right side of the image “A”) is in a standby state while printing is being performed.
[0123]
In the present embodiment, when the clear button 82 is pressed in the standby state and a command to stop printing is issued, the SPC multifunction device 1 completes printing of the image “A” of the first document, and 7 is discharged and printing is stopped. This is because if the sheet 7 is discharged as it is in the standby state, the image "A" is interrupted.
[0124]
(3) Finally, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 from when the second document (second document) is set until printing is completed will be described.
After the reading operation of the first original 5A is completed, the CPU 54 causes the liquid crystal display 72 to display an original exchange message. After the document is exchanged, the CPU 54 receives an input signal of the color copy button 84 or the monochrome copy button 86 and transmits a control signal to the scanner control unit 58. This control signal also includes print mode information based on the copy button operation. That is, in this example, since the color copy button 84 has been pressed as described above, color print mode information is included. Incidentally, the color print mode information is valid until the copy button operation to be performed next, that is, the RGB data generated by the scanner unit 10 during this time is accompanied by the color print mode information. I have.
[0125]
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 based on the control signal from the CPU 54, and starts the operation of reading the image “B” from the second document 5B.
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 and takes in the RGB data output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle into the line buffer 691. Then, the scanner control unit 58 performs an RGB line-to-line correction process (described above) on the RGB data once taken into the line buffer 691 and sends the RGB data for the same line to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0126]
The binarization processing unit 60 performs halftone processing on the sent RGB data. Then, the binarization processing unit 60 refers to the look-up table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69, and converts the halftone-processed data into binary data for each CMYK color or K data. (Black) is converted to any of binary data. The conversion into the binary data is performed based on the print mode information. For example, in this example, since the RGB data is accompanied by the color print mode information, the binary data for each CMYK color is used. Is converted to The binarization unit 60 sends the binary data for each CMYK color to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0127]
The interlace processing unit 62 takes in the binary data for each CMYK color sent from the binarization processing unit 60 into the first interlace buffer 692A. Then, the binary data fetched into the first interlace buffer 692A is sent via the CPU interface unit 66 to the first layout buffer 573A in the SDRAM 56 which can be directly read by the CPU 54.
[0128]
The CPU 54 creates line-shaped layout image data based on the binary data taken into the first layout buffer 573A. The CPU 54 sends the created layout image data to the second layout buffer 573B. Then, the layout image data for several lines sent to the second layout buffer 573B is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69. The layout image data sent to the second interlace buffer 692B is the above-described binary data for each CMYK color.
[0129]
The interlace processing unit 62 reads the data stored in the second interlace buffer 692B for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62.
At this time, binary data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in accordance with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the print resolution and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the print resolution is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, from the binary data, data spaced by three raster lines is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
[0130]
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store.
[0131]
Then, in the image buffer, the head drive data of the image “B” (and surrounding margins) is sequentially accumulated. When the head drive data for one scan is stored, the CPU 54 sends out the head drive data stored in the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. Then, when the head moves in the scanning direction, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles of the head according to the head drive data. Here, since the head drive data is formed from binary data for each color of CMYK, each of the CMYK nozzles of the print head 38 is driven, whereby ink droplets are ejected from each of the CMYK nozzles. . As a result, in the present embodiment, it is possible to color print the portion of the image “B” while arranging the image “B” on the sheet 7 as shown in FIG.
[0132]
In the present embodiment, the head drive data of the image “A” in the pass 9 (see FIG. 18) (the head drive data of the right portion of the image “A”) is generated as the head drive data of the image “B”. Until they are accumulated (not aligned), they are not sent to the head control unit 68. Therefore, the head drive data of the image “A” in pass 9 remains in the image buffer until the head drive data of the image “B” is created (that is, until the reading operation of the image “B” is started). are doing. Then, after the reading operation of the image “B” is started, the head driving data of the left portion of the image “B” is accumulated in the image buffer in which the head driving data of the image “A” remains. When the head drive data for the scan of the pass 9 is stored in the image buffer, the drive data stored in the head control unit 68 is sent out by the CPU 54, and printing is resumed (that is, the printer unit 30 outputs the image “B”). After the head drive data is generated, the transport operation for intermittently transporting the paper 7 and the printing operation for discharging ink from the nozzles moving in the scanning direction are restarted). Therefore, the head drive data in pass 9 is head drive data created based on the image “A” and the image “B”. Therefore, in pass 9, a part of the right side of the image "A" and a part of the left side of the image "B" are printed at the same time.
[0133]
When the head drive data of the pass 9 is viewed from the point of the print mode, the head drive data is composed of a portion composed of binary data of only K and binary data of each color of CMYK. It is composed of That is, the part of the head drive data corresponding to a part on the right side of the image “A” is data for driving only the K nozzles formed from the binary data of only K, while the image “B” is used. The part of the head drive data corresponding to a part on the left side of "" is data for driving each nozzle of CMYK formed from binary data for each color of CMYK. Thus, in this pass 9, the right part of the image “A” is ejected with ink droplets only from the K nozzle, and the left part of the image “B” is ejected with ink droplets from the CMYK nozzles. Is ejected, so that printing can be performed in different print modes even within a scanning pass over the images “A” and “B”.
[0134]
Through the processing described above, in the present embodiment, while the print image “AB” is arranged on the sheet 7 as shown in FIG. The part "B" can be printed in color.
[0135]
=== Configuration of computer system etc. ===
Next, an embodiment of a computer system will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing the external configuration of the computer system.
The computer system 1000 includes a computer main body 1102, a display device 1104, an SPC multifunction device 1106, an input device 1108, and a reading device 1110. The SPC multifunction device 1106 described above is used. In the present embodiment, the SPC multifunction device 1106 functions as a simple inkjet printer having a printer function, and is hereinafter referred to as a printer 1106. As the display device 1104, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube: cathode ray tube), a plasma display, a liquid crystal display device, or the like is generally used, but the display device 1104 is not limited to this. In the present embodiment, the input device 1108 uses the keyboard 1108A and the mouse 1108B, but is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the reading device 1110 uses the flexible disk drive device 1110A and the CD-ROM drive device 1110B, but is not limited thereto. For example, an MO (Magnet Optical) disk drive device or a DVD (Digital Versatile) is used. Disk).
[0136]
FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the computer system shown in FIG. An internal memory 1202 such as a RAM and an external memory such as a hard disk drive unit 1204 are further provided in a housing in which the computer main body 1102 is stored.
[0137]
According to the configuration of the computer system, N-up printing can be performed based on the RGB image data stored in the hard disk drive unit 1204 without reading a document with a scanner. That is, a computer driver 1102 has a printer driver program installed therein, and the printer driver converts the RGB image data acquired from the hard disk drive unit 1204 into head drive data that can be printed by the printer 1106. The data can be converted and output to the printer 1106. The printer driver is provided with N-up printing as one of the utility items so that the user can execute the N-up printing while viewing the printer driver operation screen displayed on the display screen. N-up printing as described above can be performed. For example, the user operates the mouse or the like to select “2-up printing” while looking at the operation screen, and also displays image data to be printed on each page (print area) of the paper on the operation screen. Set them one by one. Then, the printer driver sequentially performs halftone processing, binarization processing, and the like on these two image data to generate one head drive data. Then, the head drive data is transmitted to the printer 1106 via the USBIF 52, and the printer 1106 drives the print head based on the head drive data. As a result, each page is obtained by bisecting the paper surface. , The two images are printed respectively.
[0138]
The functions of the printer driver described above are performed by a normal printer driver.
Here, in the printer driver according to the present embodiment, when setting each image data on each page on the operation screen, a command for designating a print mode for each image data is prepared. When the designation is made, the printer driver performs the binarization processing based on the print mode of each image data at the time of the binarization processing. That is, when the monochrome print mode is designated for the image data, the RGB image data is converted into binary data of only K, and when the color print mode is designated, the binary data of CMYK is converted. Convert to Then, the above-described one head drive data is generated based on the binary data, and thereby, it is possible to perform printing in a different print mode of the image of each page in 2-up printing.
[0139]
In the above description, an example in which the SPC multifunction device 1106 is connected to the computer main body 1102, the display device 1104, the input device 1108, and the reading device 1110 to form a computer system has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. Not something. For example, the computer system may include the computer main body 1102 and the SPC multifunction peripheral 1106, and the computer system may not include any of the display device 1104, the input device 1108, and the reading device 1110.
The computer system implemented in this way is a system superior to the conventional system as a whole.
[0140]
=== Other Embodiments ===
Although the above embodiment mainly describes an SPC multifunction peripheral or the like, it goes without saying that the disclosure includes a printing apparatus, a printing method, a computer system, and a computer program.
[0141]
Also, the SPC multifunction apparatus and the like as one embodiment have been described, but the above embodiment is for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and is not for limiting and interpreting the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and it goes without saying that the present invention includes its equivalents. In particular, the embodiments described below are also included in the present invention.
[0142]
<About the number of manuscripts and pages>
According to the above-described embodiment, two pages of images are read from two originals, and the printing modes of the images of these pages are set independently of each other and printed on one sheet of paper. However, the number of originals and the number of pages set on one sheet are not limited to two. For example, the present invention can be applied to the case of 4-up printing as shown in the explanatory diagram of FIG. That is, in FIG. 21, an image for one page is obtained from each of the four documents by a total of four reading operations, and each image is printed on each page of the paper 7. In this four-up printing, similarly to the above-described two-up printing, each time the reading operation of each document is performed, the above-described copy button operation is performed to print each of the read image of each page. The mode is set.
[0143]
However, the two-up printing is different from the two-up printing in that the printing start timing is different and the image rotation processing is not required. That is, in the 4-up printing, after reading the image “A” of the first document (first document), the binary data is sent to the first layout image buffer 573A on the CPU 54 side. Thereafter, the image “B” of the second document (second document) is read without immediately starting printing. The binary data of the image “B” is sent to the first layout image buffer 573A on the CPU 54 side.
It should be noted that the first layout image buffer 573A can store both data of the image “A” and the image “B” since each image is reduced and the data amount is small as compared with the above-described embodiment. it can. Then, the CPU creates linear layout image data in the second layout image buffer 573B based on the data of the two images in the first layout image buffer 573A. In the present embodiment, it is not necessary to rotate an image when creating layout image data, as compared with the above-described embodiment. The subsequent data flow is almost the same as in the above-described embodiment.
Further, in this embodiment, the printing standby state is set before the printing of the lower part of the image “A” and the lower part of the image “B” are completed. Then, when the reading operation of the image “C” of the third document and the image “D” of the fourth document are completed, printing is resumed.
[0144]
<About print mode>
The print mode according to the above-described embodiment is defined as defining whether to print an image of each page printed side by side on one sheet in monochrome or color, but this print mode is The parameter is not limited to this as long as it is a parameter that specifies the printing specifications of an image. For example, as the print mode, the above-described quality mode that defines the print resolution of an image may be used. That is, each time a reading operation is performed on each document, the image quality mode of the page corresponding to the document is input from the operation panel unit 70, so that the printing resolution can be set differently for each page. You may do it.
According to this configuration, the printing resolution of the image of each page can be changed for each page and printing can be performed, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of printing expression on paper.
[0145]
<About print media>
Although the printing medium according to the above-described embodiment is a single sheet of paper, the printing medium is not limited to this as long as it is a single printing medium in which images of the plurality of pages can be arranged and printed at predetermined positions. For example, it may be a single piece of cloth or film, or a three-dimensional shape such as a single can.
[0146]
<About image data corresponding to one page>
According to the above-described embodiment, the image data corresponding to one page is read data of one document read by the scanner unit 10. However, this image data is obtained by equally dividing the paper surface of one sheet. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as a predetermined image can be printed on each of the print areas. For example, the concept of the image data includes text data (document data including only character information) that can print a document of one page.
[0147]
<About acquisition method of image data>
In the above-described embodiment, a document is read from the scanner unit 10 to obtain RGB image data (read data). However, the method of obtaining image data is not limited to this. For example, the SPC multifunction device 1 may be provided with a data reading unit for reading image data from a recording medium such as a memory card, and perform N-up printing based on the read N pieces of image data. .
[0148]
<About the nozzle>
In the above-described embodiment, the ink is ejected using the piezoelectric element, but the method of ejecting the liquid is not limited to this. For example, another method such as a method of generating bubbles in a nozzle by heat may be used.
[0149]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing apparatus, a printing method, a computer system, and a computer program that can increase the degree of freedom in print expression of the N-up printing method.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where a cover of a scanner unit is opened.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the printing apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the inside of the printer unit is exposed.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation panel unit.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a quality mode.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement around a print head.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for describing a driving unit of the printing paper transport mechanism.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement of nozzles.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a drive signal generation unit.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control circuit.
FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a two-up printing method of the embodiment.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of two-up printing according to the present embodiment.
14A and 14B are explanatory diagrams of a document set.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control circuit at the time of 2-up printing.
FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of binary data in a first layout buffer.
17A to 17G are conceptual diagrams of layout image data of a second layout buffer.
FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of a state during printing before reading an image “B”.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of a computer system.
FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system.
FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of 4-up printing.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 SPC multifunction device, 3 host computer, 5 manuscript,
7 paper, 10 scanner unit, 12 platen glass,
14 platen cover, 16 reading carriage, 18 driving means,
181 timing belt, 182 pulley, 183 pulse motor,
184 idler pulley, 20 regulation guide, 22 exposure lamp,
24 lenses, 26 mirrors, 28 CCD sensors,
29 guide receiving part, 30 printer part, 301 opening,
31 gear train, 32 paper feeder, 33 nozzle train,
34 paper output unit, 341 paper output tray, 35 platen,
36 writing carriage, 37 transport roller, 38 print head,
39 discharge rollers, 391 driven rollers, 40 carriage motors,
41 hinge mechanism, 42 paper feed motor (PF motor),
45 paper detection sensor, 451 lever, 452 transmission optical sensor,
453 action part, 454 light shielding part, 46 linear encoder,
461 code plate for linear encoder, 47 rotary encoder,
48 pulley, 49 timing belt, 50 control circuit,
51 control ASIC, 54 CPU, 55 ROM,
56 SDRAM, 58 scanner control unit,
60 binarization processing unit, 62 interlace processing unit,
64 image buffer units,
66 CPU interface unit (CPUIF unit),
68 head control unit, 69 ASIC SDRAM,
691 line buffer, 692 interlace buffer,
693 image buffer, 70 operation panel,
72 liquid crystal display, 74 information lamp,
76 power button, 78 scan start button,
80 setting display button, 82 clear button,
84 color copy button, 86 monochrome copy button,
88 stop button, 90 copy number setting button,
92 Menu button

Claims (10)

In a printing apparatus that acquires image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and based on these image data, at a predetermined position on a single print target medium, the images of the plurality of pages are printed side by side.
A printing apparatus characterized in that a print mode for printing an image of the page on a print medium can be set differently for each page. The printing device according to claim 1,
The printing apparatus is characterized in that the print mode is selected and set from a monochrome print mode in which a single basic color is printed in a single color and a color print mode in which a plurality of different basic colors are combined to perform a multi-color print. The printing device according to claim 2,
Acquiring image data corresponding to the page as RGB data,
For a page set to the color print mode, the RGB data corresponding to the page is converted to CMYK data and printed, while for a page set to the monochrome print mode, the page corresponds to the page. A printing apparatus for converting RGB data into K data and printing the converted data. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein
The printing apparatus, wherein the print mode is selected and set from a plurality of quality modes having different print resolutions. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A printing apparatus, wherein an operation of reading an image from a document is performed a plurality of times to acquire image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively. The printing device according to claim 5,
A print mode setting means for setting the print mode,
The printing apparatus, wherein the print mode setting means receives a print mode setting input every time the reading operation is performed. In a printing apparatus that acquires image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and based on these image data, at a predetermined position on a single print target medium, the images of the plurality of pages are printed side by side.
A print mode setting unit that sets a print mode when an image of each page is printed on a print medium,
An image reading operation is performed a plurality of times to obtain image data corresponding to a plurality of pages as RGB data, and the print mode setting unit prints the image data obtained by the reading operation each time the reading operation is performed. Accepts mode setting input,
The print mode is selected and set from a monochrome print mode for printing a single color with one basic color and a color print mode for multicolor printing by combining a plurality of different basic colors,
For a page set to the color print mode, the image data corresponding to the page is converted into CMYK data and printed, while for a page set to the monochrome print mode, the image data corresponding to the page is set. A printing apparatus, wherein image data is converted into K data and printed. A printing method for acquiring image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, and based on these image data, at a predetermined position of a single print target medium, printing the images of the plurality of pages side by side,
A printing method, wherein a printing mode for printing an image of the page on a printing medium can be set differently for each page. A computer system comprising a computer body and a printing device communicably connected to the computer body,
Acquiring image data corresponding to a plurality of pages respectively from the computer main body, based on these image data, at a predetermined position of a single print-receiving medium, printing the images of the plurality of pages side by side,
A computer system, wherein a print mode for printing an image of the page on a print medium can be set differently for each page. Acquiring image data corresponding to a plurality of pages, respectively, based on these image data, at a predetermined position of a single print medium, for a printing device that prints the images of the plurality of pages side by side,
A computer program for realizing a function of setting a different print mode for printing an image of a page on a print medium for each page.

Images