JP2006110915A - Printing apparatus and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing technique which can readily employ a printing apparatus having a color/monochrome print switching function by providing the color/monochrome print switching function or the like on the side of the printing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: In the printing apparatus capable of switching color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages, a data processing unit 23 extracts color information indicating whether the print data of the page contains color data or not when the printing apparatus 2 receives print data, and decide whether the page is printed in color or not based on the color information. Alternatively, the printing apparatus 2 is constituted so that the data process unit 23 recognizes the kind of appointed object and a system control unit 21 prints only the page containing the kind of object in color, when an information process device sends a print request appointing the kind of a drawing object to be printed in color. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a printer or a digital copying machine capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages or drawing objects, and a printing system including the printing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in color copiers, an image on an original is separated into red (Red), green (Green, green), and blue (Blue, blue) (hereinafter referred to as RGB), and is read and separated. The decomposed input image data is converted into components of each color of cyan, magenta, and yellow (hereinafter referred to as CMY), which are printing toner colors, and the converted image data of each color Based on the above, a desired color image is printed by superimposing C, M, and Y toners. Theoretically, all colors can be reproduced by a combination of C, M, and Y colors. Achromatic colors such as black and gray can be reproduced by superimposing C, M, and Y with corresponding toner densities.
However, in reality, the spectral density of each color toner for printing C, M, and Y deviates from the theoretical characteristics, and the theoretical characteristics of the colors obtained by superposition of C, M, and Y Since there is a deviation from the actual characteristics, the expected color is often not obtained by using only C, M, and Y. For example, even if the same amount of C, M, and Y toners are superimposed and printed in order to obtain gray, a colored component is often included in the print color. For this reason, in recent years, color copying machines using four basic colors by adding K (black) to C, M, and Y are increasing.

On the other hand, in recent years, there are monochrome copiers with color scanners, and in color copiers, a scanner function is used from a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) via an external interface (I / F). Usage is also increasing. There are various types of images required by the PC, such as RGB full-color images, RGB binary images, monochrome multi-value images, monochrome binary images, and single-color images.
In addition, the information processing device that uses a printing device such as a printer has a function for switching between color printing and monochrome printing for each page, and a function for identifying the type of drawing object such as an image area, graphic area, and text area in image data. There is also provided the conventional technology that has been possessed. For example, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, an information processing apparatus such as a PC that causes a printer to perform printing has a function of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages, and a print request is issued from an application in the information processing apparatus. First, the first preprocessing module in the printer driver installed in the information processing apparatus converts the document data into intermediate print data and passes it to the second preprocessing module. The second preprocessing module retrieves a page start code from the intermediate print data, and whether the page includes color information other than black and white, includes a drawing object specified by the user, and includes color information other than black and white, Alternatively, it is checked whether or not a predetermined condition such as a page specified by the user is met. When the predetermined condition is not met, the second preprocessing module determines that the page is only black and white. When the predetermined condition is met, a color print code is inserted at the start of the page and the printer is inserted. hand over.
JP 2002-211048 A

However, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the color / monochrome print switching function has to be implemented in the printer driver on the information processing apparatus side, the burden on the information processing apparatus side increases accordingly, and so on. There is a problem in that printing cannot be performed with a printer driver that does not have such a function.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem of the prior art. Specifically, a color / monochrome is provided by having an object type identification function and a color / monochrome print switching function on the printing apparatus side. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing technique that can easily use a printing apparatus having a print switching function.

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when print data is received in a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages, color data is included in the print data of the page. Is provided with print color determination means for extracting color information indicating whether or not a page is included, and determining whether or not to perform color printing on the page according to the color information.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing for each page, the printing apparatus further comprises object designating means for designating the type of drawing object to be printed in color. Configured to perform color printing only on pages that include the specified object type.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing on a page-by-page basis, the printing apparatus further comprises page designating means for designating a page for color printing or monochrome printing. Configured to print only specified pages in color or monochrome.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of drawing objects, the printing apparatus further comprises an object designating unit for designating a drawing object for performing color printing or monochrome printing. Only the drawing object designated by the means is configured to perform color printing or monochrome printing.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second or fourth aspect of the present invention, the drawing object includes an image object, a graphic object, or a text object.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in a printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages, color data is included in the print data of the page on the information processing apparatus side that sends a print request. A print request in which color information indicating whether or not the image information is added to the image data of each page is transmitted to the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus that receives the print request extracts the color information from the print data of the page, According to the color information, it is determined whether to print the page in color.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing on a page basis, the information processing apparatus that sends the print request specifies the type of drawing object to be printed in color as the print request. The printing apparatus that has been designated and received the print request is configured to perform color printing only on pages that include the designated object type.
According to the present invention, in the printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing on a page basis, the information processing apparatus that sends the print request prints a page for color printing or monochrome printing. The printing apparatus specified in the printing apparatus which receives the print request is configured to perform color printing or monochrome printing only on the designated page.
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, in a printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of drawing objects, an information processing apparatus that sends a print request includes a drawing object for performing color printing or monochrome printing. The printing apparatus specified in the print request and receiving the print request is configured to perform color printing or monochrome printing only on the designated drawing object.

According to the present invention, in the first and sixth aspects of the invention, when print data is received, the printing apparatus extracts color information indicating whether or not color data is included in the print data of the page. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the page is to be printed in color according to the color information. Therefore, the information processing apparatus can perform color / monochrome print switching in units of pages by simply adding the color information to the print data of each page. Therefore, a printing apparatus having a color / monochrome print switching function can be easily used.
According to the second and seventh aspects of the invention, when an object type is designated on the information processing apparatus side, color printing is performed only on a page including the object type on the printing apparatus side. A printing apparatus having a function capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing can be easily used.
According to the third and eighth aspects of the present invention, when a page is specified on the information processing apparatus side, color printing or monochrome printing is performed only on the page on the printing apparatus side. A printing apparatus having a function capable of switching between monochrome printing can be easily used.
In the inventions according to claims 4 and 9, when a drawing object is designated on the information processing apparatus side, color printing or monochrome printing is performed only on the drawing object on the printing apparatus side. A printing apparatus having a function of switching between color printing and monochrome printing can be easily used.
Further, in the invention described in claim 5, in the invention described in claim 2 or claim 4, an image object, a graphic object, or a text object can be included as a drawing object. 2 or the effect of the invention of Claim 4 can be acquired.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components, types, combinations, shapes, relative positions, and the like described in this embodiment are not merely intended to limit the scope of this description unless otherwise specified, but are merely illustrative examples. .
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system showing an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the printing system of this embodiment is configured such that a plurality of information processing apparatuses (for example, PCs) 1 share a printing apparatus 2 such as a printer via a LAN 3.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration block diagram of the information processing apparatus 1. As illustrated, the information processing apparatus 1 includes an OS, a hard disk storage device, and the like, and includes a system control unit 11 that controls and manages the entire information processing apparatus 1, a keyboard, and a display device. An operation unit 12 for performing data input and operation, an application unit 13 for executing various applications in accordance with an application program, and a printer for performing application level communication with the printing apparatus 2 in order to perform printing using the printing apparatus 2 such as a printer The driver 14 includes a communication control unit 15 that controls a lower layer level of communication via the LAN 3. The system control unit 11, the application unit 13, the printer driver 14, and the communication control unit 15 each have a unique or shared CPU and memory (for example, RAM).
FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of the printing apparatus 2. As shown in the figure, the printing apparatus 2 includes an OS, a hard disk storage device, etc., and controls and manages the entire printing apparatus 2 and performs application level communication control by a LAN 3. A communication control unit 22 that controls a lower layer level of communication, a data processing unit 23 that performs a switching process of color printing / monochrome printing according to the present invention, and a printing paper having, for example, an electrophotographic image forming process And a printing unit 24 for performing printing on the printer. The system control unit 21, the communication control unit 22, and the data processing unit 23 have a unique or shared CPU and memory (for example, RAM).
Examples of the present invention using the printing system according to the above-described embodiment will be described below.

In the printing system of this embodiment, when the printing apparatus 2 receives print data from the information processing apparatus 1, the printing apparatus 2 uses the color indicating whether or not color data is included in the print data of the page for each page. Information is extracted from the received print data, and it is determined whether to print the page in color or monochrome according to the color information. In this embodiment, the print color determination means described in claim 1 is realized by the data processing unit 23. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described in accordance with the operation flow shown in FIG.
First, the system control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 2 acquires the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus 1 via the communication control unit 22. Then, the system control unit 21 passes the print data to the data processing unit 23. As a result, the data processing unit 23 searches the print data of the page and extracts color information indicating whether or not color data is included in the print data of the page (S1). If the color information indicates that color data is included (Yes in S2), color printing is performed with reference to the preset settings, or the color data is converted into monochrome data. It is determined whether or not monochrome printing is performed (S3).
As a result, if it is determined to print in color (No in S3), the system control unit 21 instructs the printing unit 24 to print the page in color (S4). If the determination is to print in monochrome (Yes in S3), the data processing unit 23 converts the color data into monochrome data and passes the converted data to the system control unit 21 (S5). The system control unit 21 The monochrome data is transferred to the printing unit 24 and the page is printed in monochrome (S6).

On the other hand, if the color information indicates that no color data is included (No in S2), the system control unit 21 passes the print data to the printing unit 24 to print the page in monochrome (S6).
When printing of the page is completed, the system control unit 21 determines whether printing of print data for all pages has been completed (S7). If not completed (No in S7), the step for the next page is performed. Repeat from S1. Then, when printing for all pages is completed (Yes in S7), this operation flow is ended.
In the above description, when the print data sent from the information processing apparatus 1 is RGB data, the data processing unit 23 converts the print data into CMYK data.
Thus, since the printing system of this embodiment has a color / monochrome printing switching function on the printing apparatus side, the user uses a printing apparatus having such a function without being aware of the color / monochrome printing switching. Thus, color printing or monochrome printing can be easily performed.

The printing system of this embodiment includes an object designating unit that designates the type of drawing object to be printed in color, and performs color printing only on pages that include the object type designated by the object designating unit. In this embodiment, the object specifying means is a print request issued from the information processing apparatus 1 to the printing apparatus 2, and prints a page including the type of the drawing object specified in the print request in color. As the types of drawing objects, there are image objects, graphic objects, text objects, and the like. For example, the image object is designated to be color printed during a print request. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described in accordance with the operation flow shown in FIG.
First, the system control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 2 acquires a print request including print data sent from the information processing apparatus 1 via the communication control unit 22. Then, the system control unit 21 passes the print request to the data processing unit 23. As a result, the data processing unit 23 searches the header part of the print request and extracts the type of drawing object to be color printed (S11). Subsequently, the data processing unit 23 searches for the start code of the first page from the print data. When the start code is found, the data processing unit 23 searches the subsequent print data for a code indicating the type of the drawing object that has been extracted ( S12).
This search is continued as long as the end code position of the page is not reached (No in S13 → S12), and the code indicating the type of the drawing object is not found (No in S12) and reaches the position of the end code of the page. (Yes in S13), the system control unit 21 instructs the printing unit 24 to print the page in monochrome (S14). In contrast, when a code indicating the type of drawing object is found (Yes in S12), the search is continued to the end of the page (S16), and then the system control unit 21 instructs the printing unit 24 to color the page. (S17).
When printing of the page is completed, the system control unit 21 determines whether printing of print data for all pages has been completed (S15). If not completed (No in S15), the step is performed for the next page. Repeat from S12. When the printing for all pages is completed (Yes in S15), this operation flow is terminated.
Thus, according to this embodiment, even if it is not desired to perform color printing for all pages, but only when a page including a specific drawing object such as an image or a graphic portion is to be printed in color, the printing apparatus side performs color / color printing. Monochrome printing switching can be performed, and such switching printing can be performed without considering such color / monochrome printing switching on the information processing apparatus side.

The printing system of this embodiment includes a page designating unit that designates a page to be printed in color, and performs color printing only on the page designated by the page designating unit. In this embodiment, the page designation means is a print request issued from the information processing apparatus 1 to the printing apparatus 2 and prints the page designated in the print request in color. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described in accordance with the operation flow shown in FIG.
First, the system control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 2 acquires a print request including print data sent from the information processing apparatus 1 via the communication control unit 22. Then, the system control unit 21 passes the print request to the data processing unit 23. As a result, the data processing unit 23 searches the header part of the print request and extracts the page number for color printing (S21). Then, the data processing unit 23 retrieves the start code of the first page from the print data, and when the start code is found, obtains the page number from the immediately following image data and determines whether the page number is a page to be color printed. It is determined whether or not (S22).
As a result, if the page number is not a page to be printed in color (No in S22), the system control unit 21 instructs the printing unit 24 to print the page in monochrome (S23). On the other hand, if the page number is a page to be printed in color (Yes in S22), the system control unit 21 instructs the printing unit 24 to print the page in color (S24).
Thereafter, when printing of the page is completed, the system control unit 21 determines whether printing of print data for all pages has been completed (S25). If not completed (No in S25), the next page is determined. Is repeated from step S21. Then, when printing for all pages is completed (Yes in S25), this operation flow is ended.
In the above description, the designated page is set to color printing, and the other pages are set to monochrome printing. For example, a page consisting only of text objects is designated as a page to be printed in monochrome, and other pages are printed in color.
Thus, according to this embodiment, color printing is not performed on all pages, but color / monochrome printing switching is performed on the printing apparatus side even when, for example, it is desired to perform color printing only on pages including images and graphics. Therefore, such switching printing can be performed without considering such color / monochrome printing switching on the information processing apparatus side.

In the printing system of this embodiment, the printing apparatus 2 can switch between color printing and monochrome printing in units of drawing objects. Also provided is an object designating unit for designating a drawing object for performing color printing or monochrome printing. Then, only the drawing object designated by the object designation means performs color printing or monochrome printing. In this embodiment, the object specifying means is a print request issued from the information processing apparatus 1 to the printing apparatus 2, and prints the object specified in the print request in color or monochrome. Further, the printing apparatus 2 has an image forming process in which each of C, M, Y, and K (black) is independently developed with toner.
Specifically, first, when creating page print data for forming a latent image, for C, M, and Y, each of C, M, and Y of print data of each drawing object of the page designated as color printing is designated. The data is created by overwriting, and the K data is created by overwriting the K data of each monochrome print object and each color print object in the same page. Then, each electrostatic latent image is created using the created print data of C, M, Y, and K, and each of C, M, Y, and K is independently developed with toner. , M, Y, and K are superimposed on the same printing paper.
Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to perform color / monochrome print switching on a drawing object basis on the printing apparatus side, even if such a color / monochrome printing switching function is not provided on the information processing apparatus side. Switching printing can be performed.

1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an operation flow diagram of a printing apparatus showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 2 Printing apparatus 21 System control part 22 Communication control part 23 Data processing part 24 Printing part

Claims (9)

  In a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of pages, when print data is received, color information indicating whether color data is included in the print data of the page is extracted, and the color A printing apparatus comprising: a printing color determination unit that determines whether or not to perform color printing on the page according to information.   In a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in page units, a page including an object designating unit for designating a type of a drawing object to be printed in color and including an object type designated by the object designating unit A printing apparatus characterized in that only color printing is performed.   A printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing on a page-by-page basis is provided with a page designating unit for designating a page for color printing or monochrome printing, and color printing or monochrome only for the page designated by the page designating unit. A printing apparatus characterized by being configured to perform printing.   In a printing apparatus capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of drawing objects, an object designating unit for designating a drawing object for performing color printing or monochrome printing is provided, and only the drawing object designated by the object designating unit is colored. A printing apparatus configured to perform printing or monochrome printing.   The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the drawing object includes an image object, a graphic object, or a text object.   In a printing system that can switch between color printing and monochrome printing on a page basis, the information processing device that sends a print request includes color information indicating whether or not color data is included in the print data of the page. The print request added to the image data of the page is transmitted to the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus that has received the print request extracts the color information from the print data of the page and performs color printing of the page according to the color information. A printing system, characterized in that it is configured to determine whether or not to perform.   In a printing system that can switch between color printing and monochrome printing in page units, the information processing apparatus that sends a print request specifies the type of drawing object to be printed in color in the print request, A printing system, wherein the received printing apparatus is configured to perform color printing only on a page including a specified object type.   In a printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing on a page-by-page basis, an information processing apparatus that sends a print request designates a page for color printing or monochrome printing in the print request, and sends the print request. A printing system in which the received printing apparatus is configured to perform color printing or monochrome printing only on a specified page. In a printing system capable of switching between color printing and monochrome printing in units of drawing objects, an information processing apparatus that sends a print request designates a drawing object for performing color printing or monochrome printing in the print request, and performs the printing. A printing system in which a printing apparatus that receives a request is configured to perform color printing or monochrome printing only on a designated drawing object.

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