JP2006007707A - Background image printer and background image printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer and method for printing a background image without disturbing the readability and recognizability of the main detail of printing. <P>SOLUTION: The background image is outputted by the processes comprising a process of registering in advance the background image to a non-volatile storage section inside the printer, a process of receiving the main detail of printing from a host, a process of processing the background image and making the color pail, a process of forming a mask image from the detail of printing, a process of masking the background image with the formed mask image and a process of making the main content of printing and the masked background image overlapped, without disturbing the readability and recognizability of the main content of printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a function of overlaying and printing a background image registered in advance on the background of a main print image.

  The main purpose of receipts (receipts) issued at POS (point-of-sale management system) terminal devices is to provide customers with an accurate record of detailed information such as details and amount of goods purchased. Therefore, it is considered that the need for color printing is low in the POS printer, and the existence of the potential needs for color printing has not been recognized much.

  However, the receipt issued by the POS printer is handed to the customer at the end of the clearing process, and the customer confirms that there is no error in the clearing by reading the contents of the receipt. In addition, it is considered that many customers return their receipts to their homes and record them in their household accounts while checking the contents of these receipts. In this way, receipts are individually handed to customers and are important records for the customers, and therefore are handled as being essentially different from flyers and advertisements.

  In recent years, paying attention to the fact that receipts play an important role in announcements or sales promotions, color printing is also being performed on POS terminal devices. However, for the purpose of full-color printing, a general printer is configured to have at least four colors of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black), and can print with colors close to natural colors. However, with POS terminal devices, it is necessary to print receipts at the time of product settlement, and in addition to high speed that does not make customers wait, reliability and economic efficiency are required for business use. Therefore, full-color printing is not necessarily required, and printers that can use only a limited number of colors (for example, two colors of red and black) have become mainstream.

  With the colorization of POS printers, image information called logos that represent stores and companies that were conventionally printed in black and white, coupon information, announcement information, image information that expresses receipts, etc., have been printed in color. It was.

  In this way, the opportunities for color printing are increasing, but the printed contents are top logo (image information printed at the beginning of the receipt), bottom logo (image information printed at the end of the receipt), and so on. The area for color printing was limited.

  Therefore, it is considered that the background image is used for such a purpose because it is desired to provide notification information and sales information in a wider area (whole receipt).

  However, in a conventional POS terminal device, when an image in which a background image and main print information are superimposed is created by the host and the entire image data is transmitted to the POS terminal device and printing is selected, the data to be transmitted is There is a problem that even if the print data is compressed and sent, the speed required for the POS application cannot be secured.

  In addition, since the main purpose of the receipt is to confirm the details and price of the purchased product, when the background image and the main print information are superimposed, the readability of the character information and image information included in the main print information is not impaired. In addition, it is desired that the background of barcode information printed on a receipt is not printed on the background so as not to hinder the barcode recognition rate.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus having a function of processing a background image registered in advance on the background of main print information and superimposing and printing.

  The present invention includes a step of receiving main print contents from a host, a step of previously registering a background image in a nonvolatile storage unit inside the printer, a step of processing the background image to lighten it, and a mask from the print contents. Readability and recognizability of the main print content by the step of generating the image, the step of masking the background image with the generated mask image, and the step of superimposing the main print content and the masked background image A background image is output so as not to be disturbed.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to print a background image superimposed on the checkout information without causing the customer to wait at the checkout of the product.

  Furthermore, since the background image is selected when the clearing information is printed, individual information can be provided to individuals, which cannot be realized with conventional preprinted paper (paper on which the background image has been printed in advance). Expected to have a positive or promotional effect.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment assumes a two-color printer.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a background printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention. The configuration will be described. 1 includes a data reception unit 11, a command analysis unit 12, a background image registration unit 13, a nonvolatile storage area 14, a print image development unit 15, a mask image generation unit 16, a background image development unit 17, A background image lightening unit 18, a mask processing unit 19, an image composition unit 20, and a print control unit 21 are included.

  Data sent from the host is processed by the data receiver 11 and sent to the command analyzer 12.

  The command analysis unit 12 performs a process of decomposing the control command, a parameter added to the control command, a print character string, and an image data string.

  When the command analysis unit 12 finds a control command for background image registration, it sends background image data following the control command to the background image registration unit 13.

  The background image registration unit 13 stores the background image data in the nonvolatile storage area 14 so that the image data can be held even when the power is shut off. This eliminates the need for sending and registering the background image to the printer each time the printer is turned on.

  The data processed by the command interpreter 12 includes a command for controlling a print layout, a command for controlling character modification, and the like. (1) Character string printed on receipt, (2) Graphic data printed on receipt, (3) Barcode print data printed on receipt. These readable data are sent to the print image expansion unit 15 where they are converted into an image data format that is easy to handle inside the printer and stored.

  The mask image generation unit 16 generates a mask image based on the image data output from the print image development unit 15 so that the background image does not overlap the print data. The purpose of mask image generation is to secure a certain area around the printed image so that it does not overlap with the background image, and to improve readability so that it does not overlap the image of the readable data. Processing is not simple. In order to read the barcode correctly, the background image is not printed in the background area of the barcode, and the background image is not printed in a certain area around the barcode depending on the barcode type. A character area is required. For this reason, the mask image generation unit 16 sets a mask range according to the type of barcode to be printed. Further, the mask range can be adjusted using the parameters processed by the command interpreter 12.

  Printing of the background image is instructed by a control command. The background image development unit 17 develops a background image according to the parameters of the control command processed by the command interpretation unit 12. It is possible to simply expand the background image at a specified position, enlarge or reduce the background image to fill the paper width, or place the background image on the paper on the tile.

  The processing performed by the lightening processing unit 18 is processing performed aiming at an effect in which the contrast between the background image and the main print content is ensured and the main print content appears to float on the background image. Therefore, the process of thinning the background image is performed in anticipation of the effect that the background image looks light by including many paper colors per unit area. According to the control command parameters processed by the command interpreter 12, the background image is thinned with a stripe pattern or thinned with a checkered pattern to lighten the background image.

  The mask processing unit 19 performs a process of cutting the lightened background image with the mask image.

  Further, the image composition unit 20 performs a process of superimposing the print image and the masked background image, and sends the result to the print control unit 21.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the printer may be a printer for ATM transaction details, a ticket issuing device for a parking ticket, or a receipt number issuing device such as a bank. The present invention is applicable to a printer having a function of registering at least one background image data therein and superimposing and printing a background image registered in advance and a main print image in accordance with a predetermined print command.

1 is a functional block diagram of a background image printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. Print result using the conventional method. The printing result using one Example of this invention (a background image is lightened with a stripe pattern). Print result using one embodiment of the present invention (background image lightened with checkered pattern).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Background image printing apparatus 11 Data receiving part 12 Command analysis part 13 Print image expansion part 14 Mask image generation part 15 Background image registration part 16 Background image expansion part 17 Background image lightening part 18 Mask processing part 19 Image composition part 20 Print control Part

Claims (9)

  A data receiving unit that receives data from the host, a command analysis unit that extracts control commands and control data from the data string received by the receiving unit, and character information and image information processed by the command analysis unit are handled inside the printing apparatus. A print image development unit for converting to an easy-to-use image format, a background image registration unit for registering a background image extracted by the command analysis unit in a nonvolatile storage area, and a background registered in advance by a control command from the command analysis unit A background image development unit that takes out the image and converts the background image into an easily manageable image format, and a method specified by a control command from the command analysis unit to lighten the background image and ensure a relatively high contrast with the character information A background image lightening unit that makes it easy to see, and the image data and background generated by the print image development unit A mask image generation unit that generates a mask image that prevents images from overlapping, a mask processing unit that masks a background image with the generated mask image, and a masked background image and an image generated by a print content development unit A background image printing apparatus comprising: an overlay processing unit that generates data and image data to be transmitted to the overlay print control unit; and a print control unit that prints the image data on a predetermined sheet.   The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the background image development unit can instruct to develop a background image at a specified position by a control command.   2. The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first-stage background image expansion unit can specify that the background image can be expanded or contracted so as to fit within a sheet width by a control command.   2. The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first-stage background image development unit can designate a background image so that the background image can be printed on a tile on a sheet by a control command.   2. The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lightening processing unit can select several lightening methods such as a stripe pattern and a checkered pattern by a control command.   2. The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first lightening processing unit can designate a color used for the background image by a control command.   2. The background image printing according to claim 1, wherein the mask image generation unit appropriately sets a mask range of a background image in accordance with a print image printed on a background image including characters and barcodes. apparatus.   The background image printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mask image generation unit can adjust a range for masking the background image by a control command. A step of registering a background image in a nonvolatile storage unit in the printer in advance, a step of receiving main print contents from the host, a step of processing and lightening the background image, and generating a mask image from the print contents A background image printing method comprising: a step; a step of masking a background image with a generated mask image; and a step of superimposing a main print content and the masked background image.

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