JP2006227293A - Image printing device, image printing method and its program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image printing device, an image printing method and its program by which a tracking pattern is surely printed regardless of the quality of a colorant. <P>SOLUTION: In the color laser printer 10, the tracking pattern is automatically printed by using yellow toner hardly visually confirmed at the white part (image non-forming area) of paper P by a printer mechanism 31. Then, quality information concerning the yellow toner stored in a toner cartridge 40Y (for example, information on the history of application of the toner cartridge 40Y) is acquired from an IC memory 50Y, and the developing condition of the yellow toner is set based on the acquired information. Even if the yellow toner is inferior-quality one, the developing condition can be set so as not to hinder the tracking pattern printed by using the yellow toner. Therefore, the tracking pattern is surely printed regardless of the quality of the yellow toner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image printing apparatus, an image printing method, and a program therefor, and more particularly, an image printing apparatus, an image printing method, and an image printing apparatus that automatically print a tracking pattern using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a printing medium by a printing mechanism. Regarding the program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image printing apparatus that takes measures against counterfeiting such as banknotes and securities. As an image printing apparatus with such counterfeiting measures, it is known that data such as banknotes and securities is registered in advance and printing is forcibly stopped when the print data matches these data. However, because the number of data that can be registered is limited, sufficient effects may not be obtained. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688, an image printing apparatus having another countermeasure against forgery is automatically applied to a white background area (non-image forming area) in which an image is not originally formed on printing paper with yellow which is difficult to visually recognize. In some cases, a tracking pattern indicating a printing device manufacturing number or the like is printed. When banknotes or securities are automatically printed on paper by this image printing apparatus, it is possible to specify which apparatus has been printed by checking the trace pattern printed on the paper later.
JP 2000-253229 A

  By the way, as a colorant cartridge used in the image printing apparatus, in addition to a new one, a refill product in which the colorant is simply refilled after the colorant is exhausted, or a cartridge main body after the colorant is exhausted There are recycled products that have been disassembled and cleaned, replaced with parts as needed, and then refilled with colorants. Here, the quality of the colorant in the cartridge differs depending on whether the colorant cartridge to be used is a new product, a refill product, or a recycled product. For this reason, depending on the quality, the trace pattern may be partially missing and printed or may not be printed clearly, and the original function of the trace pattern may not be exhibited.

  The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image printing apparatus, an image printing method, and a program thereof capable of reliably printing a tracking pattern regardless of the quality of the colorant. And

  The present invention adopts the following means in order to achieve the above-mentioned object.

That is, the image printing apparatus of the present invention is
An image printing apparatus that automatically prints a tracking pattern using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a print medium by a printing mechanism,
A colorant storage means for storing the colorant of the predetermined color;
Quality information acquisition means for acquiring quality information relating to the colorant of the predetermined color stored in the colorant storage means;
Image forming condition setting means for setting image forming conditions of the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring means;
It is equipped with.

  In this image printing apparatus, a tracking pattern is automatically printed by using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a printing medium by a printing mechanism. Further, quality information regarding the colorant of a predetermined color stored in the colorant storage unit is acquired, and image forming conditions for the colorant of the predetermined color are set based on the acquired quality information. For this reason, for example, even when the quality of the colorant is not good, it is possible to set the image forming conditions so as not to hinder the tracking pattern printed using the colorant. Therefore, the tracking pattern can be reliably printed regardless of the quality of the colorant.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the image forming condition setting unit forms the image of the colorant of the predetermined color so that the tracking pattern is clearly printed based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring unit. Conditions may be set. In this way, the tracking pattern can be printed surely and clearly regardless of the quality of the colorant.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the printing mechanism is an electrophotographic printing mechanism, and the image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color is an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor in the printing mechanism. It is also possible to include development conditions for attaching the colorant of the predetermined color. For example, if the amount of adhesion to the electrostatic latent image is insufficient under normal development conditions due to deterioration in the quality of the colorant of a predetermined color, the development conditions are set so that the amount of adhesion increases, and static development is performed under normal development conditions. When the amount of adhesion to the electrostatic latent image becomes excessive, the development conditions may be set so that the amount of adhesion decreases. In this way, even if the quality of the colorant of a predetermined color is deteriorated, it is possible to prevent the tracking pattern from being lost due to insufficient adhesion of the colorant to the electrostatic latent image and the tracking pattern from being excessively noticeable due to excessive adhesion of the colorant. be able to.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the printing mechanism is an electrophotographic printing mechanism, and the image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color is the color after development formed on the photoreceptor in the printing mechanism. Transfer conditions for transferring the agent image to the transfer body or the printing medium may be included. For example, if the transfer of the colorant of the predetermined color to the transfer body or the printing medium is insufficient under normal transfer conditions due to the quality deterioration of the colorant of the predetermined color, the transfer condition is set so that the transfer is sufficiently performed. You only have to set it. In this way, even if the quality of the colorant of a predetermined color is deteriorated, it is possible to prevent the tracking pattern from being obscured due to insufficient transfer.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the image forming condition setting unit determines an image forming condition corresponding to the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring unit based on a correspondence relationship between the predetermined quality information and the image forming condition. The derived image forming conditions may be set as the current image forming conditions. In this way, the image forming conditions can be set immediately from the acquired quality information.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the image forming condition setting unit sets the image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquisition unit, and the colorant of the remaining color The image forming conditions may also be set. In this way, it is easy to keep the color balance of the entire image better than when the image forming conditions are set based on the quality information for only the colorant of the predetermined color.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the tracking pattern may be a minute dot pattern. By so doing, it is possible to diversify the information obtained from the tracking pattern by determining in advance what the dots in which region of the dot pattern mean. At this time, the image forming condition of the predetermined colorant may include a dot number changing condition for changing the number of dots forming the tracking pattern. For example, if a defect such as missing dots occurs when a normal dot pattern is printed due to quality deterioration of a predetermined colorant, one dot is changed to several dots. In this way, since the original one dot is represented by several dots, the tracking pattern can be sufficiently fulfilled even if one of several dots is missing or unclear.

  The image printing apparatus of the present invention includes a quality information storage unit that is integrated with the colorant storage unit and stores quality information regarding the colorant of the predetermined color stored in the colorant storage unit, and the quality information acquisition unit May read out and obtain the quality information from the quality information storage means. In this way, the quality information is read from the quality information storage means integrated with the colorant storage means, so that the quality information of the colorant of the predetermined color stored in the colorant storage means after replacement can be reliably acquired. can do.

  In the image printing apparatus of the present invention, the quality information may include at least usage history information of the colorant storage means. Since the quality of the colorant is often determined depending on the use history of the colorant storage means (for example, the number of recycles and the number of refills), it is preferable to include at least the use history information of the colorant storage means in the quality information.

The image printing method of the present invention includes:
An image printing method by computer software that automatically prints a tracking pattern using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a print medium by a printing mechanism,
(A) obtaining quality information relating to the colorant of the predetermined color;
(B) setting image forming conditions for the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired in the step (a);
Is included.

  In this image printing method, a tracking pattern is automatically printed by using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a printing medium by a printing mechanism. Also, quality information regarding the colorant of a predetermined color is acquired, and image forming conditions for the colorant of the predetermined color are set based on the acquired quality information. For this reason, for example, even when the quality of the colorant is not good, it is possible to set the image forming conditions so as not to hinder the tracking pattern printed using the colorant. Therefore, the tracking pattern can be reliably printed regardless of the quality of the colorant. Note that a step of realizing the above-described function of the image printing apparatus may be added to the image printing method of the present invention.

  The image printing program of the present invention is a program for causing one or more computers to execute each step of the above-described image printing method. This program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (for example, hard disk, ROM, FD, CD, DVD, etc.), or from a computer via a transmission medium (communication network such as the Internet or LAN). It may be distributed to another computer, or may be exchanged in any other form. If this program is executed by a single computer or each step is shared and executed by a plurality of computers, the same effect as the above-described image printing method can be obtained.

  1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a color laser printer 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of a toner cartridge 40, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer mechanism 31 of the color laser printer 10. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the color laser printer 10 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 20 that controls the entire apparatus and computers 51 to 53 connected to a network (for example, a telecommunication network such as a local area network). A network board 27 that controls input / output of data, a printer unit 30 including an electrophotographic printer mechanism 31 and a printer ASIC 32 that controls the printer mechanism 31, an instruction input by the user, and display of various information An operation panel 44 to be performed, and an IC memory mounted on the toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K for each color of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) mounted on the developing device 61 50C, 50M, 50Y, and 50K and a detachable movable connecting portion 69 are provided. Note that “ASIC” is an abbreviation for Application Specific Integrated Circuit.

  In this embodiment, there are four types of toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K corresponding to the respective colors, and IC memories 50C, 50M, 50Y, and 50K are respectively attached. The IC memory 50 may be collectively called. As shown in FIG. 2, the toner cartridge 40 has an IC memory 50 attached to the inside of a storage portion 42 provided at the end thereof.

  The controller 20 is configured as a microprocessor centered on the CPU 21, and stores various processing programs, a ROM 22 that stores unique product information of the color laser printer 10, and temporarily stores data and data. A RAM 23 that stores data, a flash memory 24 that is electrically rewritable and retains data even when the power is turned off, a job memory 25 that stores a print job, and a timer 26 that measures time are provided. The controller 20 is electrically connected to the printer ASIC 32 and the operation panel 44 via the bus 29, outputs a print command signal to the printer ASIC 32 and a display command signal to the operation panel 44, and print operation signals from the printer ASIC 32. Various command signals from the operation panel 44 are input. Further, the controller 20 exchanges signals with a plurality of computers 51 to 53 connected to the network via the network board 27. In other words, the controller 20 inputs a print job from each of the computers 51 to 53 and outputs status information of the print job being processed to the computers 51 to 53 that are the transmission source of the print job. Further, the controller 20 connects the movable connecting portion 69 to the IC memory 50 of the toner cartridge 40 and exchanges data with the connected IC memory.

  The printer unit 30 includes a printer mechanism 31 and a printer ASIC 32. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer mechanism 31 is configured as a full-color electrophotographic printer mechanism that employs a single photoreceptor system and an intermediate transfer system, and has C, M, Y, K on the charged surface. The photosensitive member 63 in which an electrostatic latent image of each color image separated into four colors is formed by the exposure device 62 and the toner of each color supplied from the toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K for each color is exposed. A developing unit 61 that develops a toner image by adhering to the electrostatic latent image formed on the body 63; a transfer belt 64 as an intermediate transfer body that performs primary transfer so that the developed toner images of respective colors are superimposed; and a paper cassette. A secondary transfer unit 67 for secondary transfer of the four color toner images formed on the transfer belt 64 to the paper P conveyed by the conveyance unit 66 from 65; and the four colors transferred onto the paper P. And a fixing unit 68 for melting the toner image on the sheet P fixing. Among these, the developing device 61 is rotated so that the mounted toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K face the photoconductor 63, respectively. The exposure device 62 exposes the photoconductor 63 with a laser beam scanned by a polygon mirror that is rotationally driven by a motor to form an electrostatic latent image. As shown in FIG. 1, the printer mechanism 31 applies a developing bias power source 33 for applying a developing bias to the developing part of the developing device 61 and a primary transfer bias to a transferring part from the photoconductor 63 to the transfer belt 64. And a transfer bias power source 34 that applies a secondary transfer bias to a transfer portion from the transfer belt 64 to the paper P. The toner adhesion amount from the developing device 61 to the photosensitive member 63 can be adjusted by the voltage of the developing bias power supply 33, and the transfer efficiency from the photosensitive member 63 to the transfer belt 64 and the transfer efficiency from the transfer belt 64 to the paper P are adjusted. Can be adjusted by the voltage of the transfer bias power supply 34. On the other hand, the printer ASIC 32 is an IC chip having a function of controlling the printer mechanism 31, and development data obtained by developing a print job in the job memory 25 into a bitmap image for each page is printed on the paper P. The printer mechanism 31 is controlled.

  The operation panel 44 displays various input buttons 46 such as a numeric keypad and cursor keys capable of inputting an instruction from the user, characters and numbers associated with the key operation, and processing statuses in the controller 20 and the printer unit 30. And a liquid crystal screen 48.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the movable connecting portion 69 has IC memories 50C, 50M, 50Y, and 50K attached to the toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K attached to the developing unit 61 positioned on the lower right side in the drawing. At this time, it is installed at a position where it can be connected to the IC memory, and is electrically connected to the IC memory by extending, and separated from the IC memory by contracting. When the movable connection portion 69 is connected to the IC memory, the controller 20 can access the IC memory. In each IC memory 50C, 50M, 50Y, 50K, in addition to information indicating whether the toner cartridges 40C, 40M, 40Y, 40K are new, recycled or refilled as usage history information, the number of times of recycling is displayed for recycled products. Information about the replaced part, the number of refills when the product is refilled, and the time when toner runs out are stored. In this embodiment, the refill product refers to the cartridge body after the toner has run out, and the cartridge body is simply refilled with toner. The recycle product refers to the cartridge body after the toner has run out, disassembled and cleaned as necessary. This refers to toner that has been refilled after parts replacement. Note that the controller 20 calculates the remaining amount of each toner, and displays toner out information indicating which color of toner has run out on the liquid crystal screen 48 of the operation panel 44 when the remaining amount falls below a predetermined value. At the same time, the toner out time is written to the IC memory of the toner cartridge in which the toner has run out via the movable connecting portion 69.

  Next, functions of the color laser printer 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. Here, a procedure for printing a color image on the paper P will be described first. When the CPU 21 of the controller 20 receives a print job from any of the computers 51 to 53 connected via the network, the print job is stored in the job memory 25 and a print command is output to the printer ASIC 32 of the printer unit 30. To do. When this print command is input, the printer ASIC 32 executes a print processing routine shown in FIG.

When this print processing routine is started, the printer ASIC 32 first develops one page of the print job in the job memory 25 into a bitmap image (step S100). Subsequently, one page of pattern data in which tracking patterns are periodically and repeatedly arranged is developed into a bitmap image (step S110). Here, the tracking pattern will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the tracking pattern 70 is a dot pattern having three areas of 3 vertical dots × 8 horizontal dots in this embodiment, and the distance between the dots is 15 dots in terms of 600 dpi. In this tracking pattern 70, each area is composed of 24 dots, so that it is possible to display ²²⁴ information depending on the presence or absence of dots. Of the three areas, the first area 71 represents an apparatus manufacturing company code associated with the name of the company that manufactured the color laser printer 10, and the second area 72 corresponds to the model name of the color laser printer 10. The third area 73 represents an apparatus manufacturing number code associated with the manufacturing number (serial number) of the color laser printer 10. These codes are stored in advance as product information unique to the ROM 22. Now, after creating a bit map image for one page of the print job and a bit map image for one page of the pattern data, both bit map images are overlapped to overlap the image forming areas of both bit map images. Deletes the tracking pattern (step S120). As a result, an image image in which tracking patterns are embedded in a non-image forming region, that is, a white background region in a bitmap image for one page of a print job so as to be periodically repeated is completed. Note that the color of the tracking pattern is one yellow color, which is the most difficult to visually recognize among the four colors.

  Subsequently, this image is color-separated into four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black (step S130). Then, after charging the surface of the photoconductor 63, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 63 by the exposure device 62 based on the yellow image of the color-separated image, and the toner cartridge 40Y The supplied yellow toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 63 to form a toner image, and the developed yellow toner image is primarily transferred to the transfer belt 64 (step S140). Note that the development conditions (development bias, etc.) and transfer conditions (transfer bias, etc.) of each color are preset and stored in the flash memory 24, so that they are read out and used as appropriate. Thereafter, the developing device 61 is sequentially rotated, and charging, exposure, development, and primary transfer are similarly performed for magenta, cyan, and black (steps S150 to S170). When step S170 is completed, a four-color toner image is formed on the transfer belt 64 by sequentially superimposing the toner images of the respective colors. Subsequently, while transferring the paper P from the paper cassette 65 to the transport unit 66, the superposed toner image on the transfer belt 64 is secondarily transferred to the paper P, and the four-color toner images secondary transferred onto the paper P are fixed. Melting and fixing are performed by the unit 68 (step S180). As a result, a color image for one page is printed on the paper P. On this paper P, data for one page of the print job is printed, and the tracking pattern 70 is printed in yellow on the white area. Therefore, by enlarging the tracking pattern 70 of the paper P with a magnifying glass or the like later and checking the presence or absence of dots in the first area 71, the device manufacturer code can be specified, and the presence or absence of dots in the second area 72 is checked. Thus, the device model code can be specified, and the device manufacturing number code can be specified by examining the presence or absence of dots in the third region 73.

  After printing for one page in this way, it is determined whether or not there are pages to be printed (step S190). If there are pages to be printed, the processes in and after step S100 are repeated again to print. When there are no remaining pages, this print processing routine is terminated.

  Next, a yellow toner development condition setting process routine executed by the CPU 21 of the controller 20 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. This routine is executed when the yellow toner cartridge 40Y for printing the tracking pattern 70 is replaced in the color laser printer 10 of the present embodiment. When this routine is started, the CPU 21 of the controller 20 expands the movable connection portion 69 when the IC memory 50Y attached to the yellow toner cartridge 40Y is in a position where it can be connected to the movable connection portion 69. 50Y is electrically connected (step S210), and usage history information, which is a type of quality information, is read from the IC memory 50Y via the movable connecting portion 69 (step S220). The yellow toner corresponding to the read usage history information is read out. The development bias characteristic is derived from a development bias table stored in advance in the ROM 22 (step S230).

  Here, the development bias applied to the development site (that is, between the photoconductor 63 and a development roller not shown) by the development bias power source 33, and the yellow toner adheres to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 63. The relationship with the quantity is shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the developing bias and the yellow toner adhesion amount at a predetermined gradation (for example, a solid pattern). When the quality of the yellow toner is good as when the toner cartridge 40Y is new, the characteristic is as shown by a solid line curve in FIG. 7, and the quality of the yellow toner is as when the toner cartridge 40Y is a refilled product or a recycled product. It is empirically known that the characteristic becomes like the dotted or dashed line curve in FIG. Further, when the tracking pattern is automatically printed, it is preferable to lower the visibility of the tracking pattern in order to improve the image quality. Therefore, the yellow toner adhesion amount when printing the tracking pattern is a low value (for example, FIG. 7). The amount of adhesion A) is set. In order to attach yellow toner to the electrostatic latent image by the adhesion amount A, when the yellow toner has the development bias characteristic of the solid line in FIG. 7, the development bias is set to the voltage V0 and the development bias characteristic of the dotted line is provided. Sometimes the developing bias is set to the voltage V1, and when the developing bias characteristic has a one-dot chain line, the developing bias is set to the voltage V2. Table 1 below is a development bias table stored in the ROM 22, and the development bias characteristics for the usage history information of the toner cartridge 40Y are determined in consideration of the above points.

  Returning to FIG. 6, after the development bias characteristics of yellow toner are derived from the development bias table in step S230, the derived development bias characteristics are set in the flash memory 24 as one of the future development conditions of yellow toner ( After that, the movable connecting portion 69 is contracted and separated from the IC memory 50Y (step S250), and this routine is finished.

  As a result, when the printer ASIC 32 controls the printer mechanism 31 to print the tracking pattern in yellow, the printer ASIC 32 reads out the development bias characteristics that match the usage history information of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y mounted this time from the flash memory 24, and A yellow toner image is formed based on the development bias characteristics. For this reason, the printed trace pattern does not cause the toner adhesion amount of yellow to be excessive and become conspicuous, thereby degrading the image quality, or the toner adhesion quantity is insufficient and the dots of the trace pattern are not chipped.

  Here, the correspondence between the components of the present embodiment and the components of the present invention will be clarified. The yellow toner of this embodiment corresponds to the colorant of a predetermined color of the present invention, the yellow toner cartridge 40Y corresponds to the colorant storage unit, the IC memory 50Y corresponds to the quality information storage unit, and the CPU 21 of the controller 20 It corresponds to a quality information acquisition unit and an image formation condition setting unit. In this embodiment, an example of the image printing method of the present invention is also clarified by describing the operation of the color laser printer 10.

  According to the color laser printer 10 of the present embodiment described in detail above, even when the quality of the yellow toner is not good, the tracking pattern printed using the yellow toner is printed clearly without any trouble. Thus, it is possible to set the development conditions as described above, so that the tracking pattern can be printed reliably regardless of the quality of the yellow toner. Further, since the correspondence table of Table 1 is used, the developing bias characteristic can be immediately derived from the use history information (which can be regarded as yellow toner quality information) of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented in various modes as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the development condition is exemplified as the image formation condition of yellow toner. However, instead of or in addition to the development condition, the image is applied between the two when the primary transfer from the photoconductor 63 to the transfer belt 64 is performed. A primary transfer condition such as a primary transfer bias or a secondary transfer condition such as a secondary transfer bias applied between the transfer belt 64 after the primary transfer from the transfer belt 64 to the paper P may be employed. In this way, even if the quality of the yellow toner is deteriorated, it is possible to prevent the tracking pattern from being obscured due to insufficient transfer.

  In the above-described embodiment, the yellow toner development conditions are set based on the usage history information of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y. However, the development conditions for the remaining colors are also set in accordance with the yellow toner development conditions. Also good. In this way, the color balance of the entire image can be easily maintained better than when only the yellow toner development conditions are set.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the yellow toner development condition is set based on the usage history information of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y. Instead, the number of dots forming the tracking pattern may be changed. . For example, when a defect such as missing dots occurs when a normal dot pattern is printed due to deterioration of the quality of yellow toner, one dot is changed to several dots. In this way, since the original one dot is represented by several dots, the tracking pattern can be sufficiently fulfilled even if one of several dots is missing or unclear.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the usage history information of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y is acquired from the IC memory 50Y integrated with the toner cartridge 40Y. For example, the usage history information of the replaced toner cartridge 40Y is stored in the network. It may be input from any of the connected computers 51 to 53 or may be input from the operation panel 44 operated by the operator. However, it is preferable to acquire the usage history information from the IC memory 50Y integrated with the toner cartridge 40Y because the usage history information of the replaced toner cartridge 40Y is not mistaken for the usage history information of another toner cartridge.

  In the above-described embodiment, the usage history information of the yellow toner cartridge 40Y is used as the quality information of the yellow toner. However, the quality grade of the yellow toner stored in the yellow toner cartridge 40Y (for example, normal toner or high toner) Grade toner, etc.) is stored in the IC memory 50Y, the quality grade may be adopted.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the electrophotographic method is adopted as the printer mechanism 31. However, the present invention is not particularly limited to this, and for example, an ink jet method or a thermal transfer method is adopted. Also good.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a color laser printer 10. FIG. 2 is an external view of the toner cartridge 40. FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer mechanism 31 of the color laser printer 10. 6 is a flowchart of a print processing routine. Explanatory drawing of a tracking pattern. 7 is a flowchart of a yellow toner development condition setting routine. 6 is a graph showing a relationship between a developing bias and a toner adhesion amount.

Explanation of symbols

  10 color laser printer, 20 controller, 21 CPU, 22 ROM, 23 RAM, 24 flash memory, 25 job memory, 26 timer, 27 network board, 29 bus, 30 printer unit, 31 printer mechanism, 32 printer ASIC, 33 development bias Power supply, 34 transfer bias power supply, 40C, 40M, 40Y, 40K toner cartridge, 42 storage section, 44 operation panel, 46 input button, 48 liquid crystal screen, 50C, 50M, 50Y, 50K IC memory, 51, 52, 53 computer, 61 Developing Unit, 62 Exposure Unit, 63 Photosensitive Member, 64 Transfer Belt, 65 Paper Cassette, 66 Conveying Unit, 67 Secondary Transfer Unit, 68 Fixing Unit, 69 Movable Connection, 70 Tracking Pattern, 71 First Area, 2 the second region, 73 third region.

Claims (13)

An image printing apparatus that automatically prints a tracking pattern using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a print medium by a printing mechanism,
A colorant storage means for storing the colorant of the predetermined color;
Quality information acquisition means for acquiring quality information relating to the colorant of the predetermined color stored in the colorant storage means;
Image forming condition setting means for setting image forming conditions of the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring means;
An image printing apparatus comprising: The image forming condition setting means sets the image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color so that the tracking pattern is clearly printed based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring means;
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The printing mechanism is an electrophotographic printing mechanism,
The image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color includes a developing condition when the colorant of the predetermined color is attached to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor in the printing mechanism.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The printing mechanism is an electrophotographic printing mechanism,
The image forming conditions of the colorant of the predetermined color include transfer conditions when transferring the developed colorant image formed on the photoconductor in the printing mechanism to the transfer body or the printing medium.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The image forming condition setting unit derives an image forming condition corresponding to the quality information acquired by the quality information acquiring unit from a correspondence relationship between predetermined quality information and the image forming condition, and the derived image forming condition To the current image forming condition,
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The image forming condition setting unit sets the image forming condition of the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired by the quality information acquisition unit, and also sets the image forming condition of the colorant of the remaining color.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The tracking pattern is a minute dot pattern.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The predetermined colorant image forming conditions include a dot number changing condition for changing the number of dots forming the tracking pattern,
The image printing apparatus according to claim 7. Quality information storage means for storing quality information relating to the colorant of the predetermined color integrated in the colorant storage means and stored in the colorant storage means;
With
The quality information acquisition means reads and acquires the quality information from the quality information storage means;
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The quality information includes at least usage history information of the colorant storage means.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 1. The usage history information is the number of recycles or the number of refills.
The image printing apparatus according to claim 10. An image printing method by computer software that automatically prints a tracking pattern using a colorant of a predetermined color that is difficult to visually recognize on a print medium by a printing mechanism,
(A) obtaining quality information relating to the colorant of the predetermined color;
(B) setting image forming conditions for the colorant of the predetermined color based on the quality information acquired in the step (a);
An image printing method including:   An image printing program for causing one or more computers to execute each step of the image printing method according to claim 12.

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