JP2005182178A

JP2005182178A - Network simulation method

Info

Publication number: JP2005182178A
Application number: JP2003418392A
Authority: JP
Inventors: Shuichi Kumada; 周一熊田
Original assignee: Canon Inc; キヤノン株式会社
Priority date: 2003-12-16
Filing date: 2003-12-16
Publication date: 2005-07-07

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the simulation output of the color matching output of a color printer in a remote place through a network such as the Internet to a color printer on the same LAN. <P>SOLUTION: This network simulation method comprises: a means for selecting the profile of a color printer B in a remote place mainly through a network such as the Internet through the network; and a means for performing the simulation output of the color printer B to the color printer A on the same LAN using the profile. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a method for simulating the output of a color printer at a remote location via a network such as the Internet.

As explained in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-222009, the color management system is composed of a CMM (Color Management Module) and a device profile. To perform color conversion processing.

The former profile is called a source profile, and the latter profile is called a destination device profile.

For example, in FIG. 1, the conversion is from a monitor color space (monitor RGB) or a print color color space (print color CMYK) to a printer color space (printer CMYK).

In this case, the source device is a monitor or proof printer or standard printing color, the monitor or printing color profile is the source profile, the destination device is the printer, and the printer profile is the destination profile.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the device profile.

Here, the profile is divided into a header part for management and a data storage part. In the header part, device information indicating which device (eg, monitor) the profile belongs to, and which CMM the profile is for. CMM information or the like indicating whether it is used in the.

The data storage unit stores profile description information for identifying the profile and data necessary for color matching. For example, in the profile description information, information on a manufacturer name and a product name is stored, for example, “Canon IX-4015”.

As data necessary for color matching, monitor profile data for conversion from monitor RGB to CIE XYZ or CIE Lab, and print color profile for print color CMYK to CIE XYZ or CIE Lab. Data from the CIE XYZ or CIE Lab to the printer CMYK is stored in the data and printer profile.
JP 07-222009

Conventionally, a system using the above color management system has a drawback that it is difficult to simulate color matching output of a remote printer.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described drawbacks of the conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for simulating the output of a color printer at a remote location via a network such as the Internet. .

A selection means for selecting a color printer on the network to be subjected to the printing simulation, a selection means for selecting a color printer on the network for performing the simulation output of the target printer, and a color matching process required for the simulation output Selection means for selecting a profile through a network, means for performing color matching on image data using the profile selected by the selection means, development means for developing the image data into bitmap data, and the developed bitmap It has an output means which outputs data with the printer which performs said simulation output.

The simulation output of the color matching output of the remote color printer via the network can be performed by a nearby printer.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the network system according to the present embodiment is first composed of a remote network system called Site A and Site B connected by a large-scale network such as the Internet. Site A is connected on site A in client A (including PC and monitor A), network printer A (connected to the network with a printer controller), server A serving as an interface for connection to the Internet, etc. It consists of Profile DB A that stores profiles of devices and so on.

On the other hand, the site B stores a profile of a network printer B (connected to a network by a printer controller), a server B serving as an interface for connection to the Internet, a device connected to the site in the printer controller B, and the like. Consists of DB B. The client A has a CPU / VRAM and the like necessary for monitor display and image processing, and a communication function necessary for communication on the network.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a user interface for setting color matching output to the printer B on the monitor A when the printer B performs simulation output. The target printer is a color printer that is a target of color matching output simulation, and printer B is selected here. The output printer is a preview simulation output destination printer, and the printer A is selected here. In the Profile setting, a profile corresponding to the color characteristics of the input image data, a printer for simulation output, and a profile for the printer to be simulated are selected. In this example, when the input image data is CMYK input, the Japan Color print profile is selected. When the input image data is RGB input, the sRGB Monitor profile is selected. Further, the profile of the printer B to be simulated is selected as the simulation target profile, and the profile of the printer A that performs simulation output is selected as the printer profile. In the file setting, TIFF, JPEG, JFIF, etc., which are often used as image file formats, can be selected, and TIFF is selected here.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of processing when a color matching output result from the client A to the printer B at the site B is simulated and output to the printer A based on the setting of FIG.

In step S100, a color printer to be simulated for color matching output is selected using the user interface shown in FIG. 4, and the flow advances to step S101.

In step S101, a color printer that performs simulation output is selected using the user interface shown in FIG. 4, and the flow advances to step S102.

In step S102, a profile required at the time of preview is selected on the user interface of FIG. 4, and the process proceeds to step S103.

In step S103, it is checked whether there is an error in profile setting. Here, if there is an error, the process is terminated. If not, the process proceeds to step S104, a simulation output process to the printer A is executed, and the process ends.

In this way, it is possible to output the color matching output result from the client A to the printer B at the site B to the printer A by simulation.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the detailed processing in step S102.

In step S200, a color characteristic profile to be applied when the input image is CMYK data is selected, and the flow advances to step S201.

In step S201, a color characteristic profile to be applied when the input image is RGB data is selected, and the process proceeds to step S202.

In step S202, a profile of a printer to be a simulation target is selected, and the process proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, the printer profile for simulation output is selected and the process is terminated.

In this way, it is possible to select a profile necessary for simulation output processing.

FIG. 7 shows detailed processing when a profile is selected in steps S200, S201, and S202.

In step S300, Profile DB B is accessed to obtain Profile information (list) in the DB, and the process proceeds to step S301.

In step S301, it is checked whether the acquired profile information includes a desired profile. If there is, the process proceeds to step S302, the desired profile is downloaded to Profile DB A and selected, and the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S303, the Profile DB A is accessed, the profile information (list) in the DB is acquired, and the process proceeds to step S304.

In step S304, it is checked whether the acquired profile information includes a desired profile. Here, if there is, the process proceeds to step S305 to select the desired profile as the desired profile, and the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S304, an error is returned, and the process is terminated.

In this way, it is possible to access the profile storage DB on the network to acquire and select a required profile.

FIG. 8 shows the detailed processing when the printer A performs a color matching output of data from the client A to the printer B in step S104.

In step S400, the printer driver on the client A converts the data into PDL (Page Description Language) data corresponding to the printer B, and the process proceeds to step S401.

In step S401, the PDL data converted in step S400 is downloaded to the printer A, and the process proceeds to step S402.

In step S402, the PDL data is analyzed and the process proceeds to step S403.
In step S403, the analysis result of the PDL data is checked. If there is an error, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S404, the PDL data is expanded into bitmap data, and the process proceeds to step S405.
The bitmap data converted in step S405 is printed on the printer A, and the process ends.

In this way, when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B, the result can be simulated and output by the printer A.

FIG. 9 shows the detailed processing when the PDL data is analyzed in step S402.

In step S500, color data (CMYK or RGB) is extracted from the PDL data, and the process advances to step S501.

In step S501, color matching processing is performed on the extracted color data, and the process proceeds to step S502.

In step S502, it is checked whether there is an error when analyzing the PDL data.

If not, the process ends. If there is, the process proceeds to step S503, an error is returned, and the process is terminated.

In this way, it is possible to analyze the PDL data and perform color matching processing on the color data in the PDL data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing details of the color matching processing in steps S501 and S701.

Based on the profile of FIG. 4 selected in step S102, in the case of RGB data, a monitor profile (here, the profile of monitor A), and in the case of CMYK data, a print color profile (here, a profile of Japan Color) and a printer profile. The RGB data or CMYK data is converted into CMYK data of the color characteristics of the printer B according to (here, the profile of the printer B). Further, the converted data includes the printer profile (here, the profile of the printer B) and the printer profile (here, the In this case, the color characteristics of the printer A are converted into CMYK data according to the profile of the printer A.

(Other examples)
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of a network system according to another embodiment.

The difference from FIG. 3 is that Profile DB B exists not in printer B but in server B.

Further, as processing, FIG. 12 is replaced with FIG. 12 and FIG. 9 is replaced with FIG.

FIG. 12 shows detailed processing when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B in step S104, and the result is simulated by the printer A.

In step S600, the printer driver on the client A converts the data into PDL (Page Description Language) data corresponding to the printer B, and the process advances to step S601.

In step S601, the PDL data converted in step S600 is transmitted to server A, and the process proceeds to step S602.

In step S602, the PDL data is analyzed, and the process proceeds to step S603. In step S603, the analysis result of the PDL data is checked. If there is an error, the process ends. If NO in step S604, the flow advances to step S604 to download the PDL data to the printer A, and the flow advances to step S605.

In step S605, the data is expanded into bitmap data, and the process advances to step S606.

In step S606, the converted bitmap data is printed on the printer A, and the process ends.

FIG. 13 shows detailed processing when analyzing PDL data in step S602.

In step S700, color data (CMYK or RGB) is extracted from the PDL data, and the process advances to step S701.

In step S701, color matching processing is performed on the extracted color data, and the process advances to step S702.

In step S702, it is checked whether there is an error during PDL data analysis.

If not, the process proceeds to step S703, and the PDL data is reconstructed (returns to the PDL data in which only the color data is converted based on the color data converted in step S701), and the process is terminated. If there is, the process proceeds to step S704, an error is returned, and the process is terminated.

Conceptual diagram of color management system Example of profile structure The figure which shows the structure of the network system by one Example of this invention. Example of user interface for setting color matching output to printer B on monitor A when performing simulation output to printer A Flowchart of processing when a color matching output result from the client A to the printer B at the site B is output to the printer A by simulation Flowchart of detailed processing in step S102 Flowchart of detailed processing when selecting a profile in steps S200, S201, and S202 In step S104, when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B, a detailed flowchart in the case where the result of the simulation is output by the printer A. In step S104, when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B, a detailed flowchart when the result of the simulation is output by the printer A is shown. Flowchart of detailed processing diagram when analyzing PDL data in step S402 The figure which showed the detail of the color matching process of step S501 * S701 The figure which shows the structure of the network system by another Example. In step S104 in another embodiment, when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B, a detailed flowchart when the result of the simulation is output by the printer A is shown. In step S104 in another embodiment, when the data from the client A is color-matched and output to the printer B, a detailed flowchart when the result of the simulation is output by the printer A is shown. Flowchart of detailed processing when analyzing PDL data in step S602

Claims

A selection means for selecting a color printer on the network to be subjected to the printing simulation, a selection means for selecting a color printer on the network for performing the simulation output of the target printer, and a color matching process required for the simulation output Selection means for selecting a profile through a network, means for performing color matching on image data using the profile selected by the selection means, development means for developing the image data into bitmap data, and the developed bitmap A simulation method comprising output means for outputting data by a printer that performs the simulation output.
2. The simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the profile selection is performed from a profile storage DB on a network.
2. The simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the color matching is performed by a printer controller or a printer that performs simulation output.
The simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the color matching is performed by a server on a network.