JP2007280484A - Label copying device and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label copying device for disk media capable of obtaining a copy image close to an original CD label without causing a non-print portion in the CD label having a metallic gloss to be copied dark. <P>SOLUTION: In the label copying device for disk media, an image of a data recording surface of a CD is scanned, the image of the scanned data recording surface is compared with an image of the label surface, and it is determined that portions having colors close to each other are determined as the non-print portions. The label copying device for disk media performs a processing for replacing the read data with respect to the portions determined as the non-print portions in the image of the label surface with null data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a function of copying to a label such as a CD or a DVD.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an inkjet multifunction printer having a scanner mounted on an inkjet printer has become widespread. This inkjet multifunction peripheral is equipped with a scanner function, a copy function, and the like in addition to a function of printing in accordance with a command from the PC.

  Among inkjet multifunction devices, products that can print on the CD-R label surface have also appeared. In addition, a product that can copy the label side of a CD read by a scanner onto the label side of a printable CD-R has appeared.

An apparatus for copying the label surface of a CD-R is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-001873 A

  However, when trying to copy the label of the CD, there are the following problems.

  That is, if the CD label is not printed, the metallic luster of the aluminum on the back side of the pit surface can be seen. This metallic luster is actively used in the design to create a non-printing part (hereinafter referred to as “non-printing part”). Although this non-printed portion looks shining to the human eye, it is read as a blackish image when scanned with a scanner. That is, the scanner acquires the irregular reflection component of the original surface, and the non-printing portion has a small amount of irregular reflection component, so the non-printing portion is read as a low-luminance original, that is, the non-printing portion is recognized as a blackish image.

  In the non-printing portion, most of the light emitted from the illumination light source of the scanner is reflected in the regular reflection direction on the plastic surface, and the light that has entered the plastic also reflects in the regular reflection direction on the aluminum surface. Many. That is, in the light emitted from the illumination light source, there are few components that are diffusely reflected on the reading surface, so there are few components that reach the light receiving element of the scanner, and therefore, the light is read black.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a case where after reading a CD that has not been printed at all, the read data is printed without any special processing.

  As a result, if a CD that has not been printed at all is read, as shown in FIG. 8, it is read, and it is recognized that there is a darker portion on the whole and a darker portion. The reason for this recognition is that the amount of irregular reflection components varies depending on the relative relationship between the illumination light source of the scanner and the pits of the CD, so that it is recognized that there are dark portions and darker portions. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the density is shown as having four levels, but actually there is a gradation.

  In other words, when the image of the CD label read by the scanner is printed on some kind of print medium, the non-printed portion of the CD label feels as if it is a brilliant image if one sees it. There is a problem of printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a disc media label copying apparatus capable of obtaining a copy image close to an original CD label without copying a non-printed portion having a metallic luster on a CD label blackish, and a control method therefor. To do.

The present invention scans the image on the data recording surface of the CD, compares the scanned image on the data recording surface with the image on the label surface, and determines that the portions whose colors are close to each other are non-printing portions. The present invention is a label copy device for a disk medium that performs processing such as replacing read data of a portion determined to be a non-printed portion in the image on the label surface with null data.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a copy image close to the original CD label without copying the non-printed portion having metallic luster on the CD label in black.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention is the following embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 is an example of a disk media label copying apparatus, and includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1, a ROM 2, a storage unit (DRAM) 3, and a display unit 5. The inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 includes an operation unit 6, a recording unit 7, a color reading unit 8, a card slot 9, a USB interface 10, and a system bus 11.

  A central processing unit (CPU) 1 controls the entire inkjet multifunction peripheral 100. The ROM 2 stores programs and data. The storage unit (DRAM) 3 stores CPU work data, display data, image data, and the like.

  The display unit 5 is configured by an LCD or the like for displaying the status of the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 and displaying operation guidance. The operation unit 6 includes cursor keys and the like. The recording unit 7 is a printer or the like.

  The color reading unit 8 is configured by a color CCD or the like. The card slot 9 reads a memory card such as a digital camera. The USB interface 10 is an interface for connecting to the PC when the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 is used as a scanner, a printer, or a memory card reader. The system bus 11 is a bus that connects the processing units.

  FIG. 2 is an external configuration diagram showing the operation unit 6 in the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100.

  The operation unit 6 includes a display unit 5, a menu key 22 for displaying various setting modes, a start key 23 for starting various jobs such as copying and scanning, and a cancel key 24 used for canceling jobs and resetting settings. Have The operation unit 6 also includes a determination key 25 that is a setting input key, up / down / left / right keys 26 used for moving setting values and changing values, and a mode key 27 for designating an operation mode of the MFP.

  Next, operations related to the CD label copy function in the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 will be described.

  The copy key in the mode key 27 is pressed, and then the menu key 22 is pressed. The CD label copy function is selected from the various copy functions displayed on the display unit 5 using the up / down / left / right keys 26, and the enter key 25 is pressed. By this operation, CD label copying is started.

  Next, the CD label copy operation will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the CD label copy operation.

  When the CD label copy operation is started, a message with a content such as “Place the back side (data recording side) on the document table and press the start key” is displayed on the display unit 5 in S501. Thereafter, in S502 and S503, the process waits for the start key 23 or the cancel key 24 to be pressed.

  When the user presses the cancel key 24 in S503, the process proceeds from S503 to the end. When the user places the back surface (data recording surface) of the CD on the document table and presses the start key 23 according to the message, the process proceeds from S502 to S504.

  In step S504, scanning is performed at a resolution lower than that at the time of copying of about 150 to 75 dpi. Then, the position where the CD is placed is detected based on the scanned image. When detecting the position of the CD, an algorithm for extracting a contour is used to detect the position of the CD (position detection disclosed in FIG. 10 on page 15 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-237537). When the position of the CD is detected, for example, a 12 cm square CD portion is cut out from the scanned image of A4, and the process proceeds to the next.

  In step S506, the scanned data recording surface image is expanded.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a cut image of the data recording surface.

  The image is scanned as an image very similar to the case where the label surface is not printed at all (FIG. 8). That is, since the aluminum surface with pits is an image as seen from the front and the back, the read data is very similar. Therefore, the non-printed portion of the label surface can be detected by comparing and referring to the read image on the data recording surface. A method for determining the non-printed portion of the label surface with reference to the data recording surface will be described later.

  However, as can be seen by comparing the scanned image of the data recording surface shown in FIG. 4 with the label surface image shown in FIG. 8, the data recording surface image shown in FIG. That is, the aluminum pit surface is present in a portion close to the label surface in the cross section of the CD. That is, since the distance from the plastic surface to the aluminum pit surface is different between the data recording surface and the label surface, a difference in scan images occurs.

  Here, as the reference image, it is desirable that this difference (difference between the scanned image of the data recording surface shown in FIG. 4 and the label surface image shown in FIG. 8) is small. Make it smaller.

  Specifically, in the image of the data recording surface shown in FIG. 4, the magnification is changed in the direction of arrow A (rotation direction) shown in FIG. 4 with reference to the x axis passing through the center. As a result, an image close to that shown in FIG. 8 can be obtained based on the image shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a scanned image obtained by scanning the data recording surface of the CD is expanded.

  Also, the pixels are copied in the radial direction (B direction, C direction) to create the image shown in FIG.

  As a result, if the position detection accuracy in S504 is somewhat poor, in the image processing of the label surface, which will be described later, for example, the label surface should have been scanned, but the inconvenience that the data recording surface image was a colorless and transparent outer peripheral portion. Can be prevented.

  In S507, the image processed as shown in FIG. 5 (S506) is stored in the DRAM 3 so that it can be referred to in later processing.

  In step S508, a message indicating that “Please place the label side on the platen and press the start key” is displayed.

  Thereafter, in S509 and S510, the process waits for the start key 23 or the cancel key 24 to be pressed. If the user presses the cancel key 24, the process proceeds from S510 to the end. When the user places the CD label side on the platen according to the message and presses the start key 23, the process proceeds from S509 to S511.

  In S511, for the purpose of analyzing the label surface image, pre-scanning is performed at a low resolution as in S504. In step S512, the position where the CD is placed is detected based on the scanned image.

  Next, in S513, the prescan image is analyzed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation for analyzing a pre-scan image.

  First, in S701, a color histogram of the label surface is created. Since the scanned image is 24 bits (about 16.77 million colors), it is impossible to create a histogram for all colors with the memory capacity of a device such as the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100. Therefore, each RGB color is divided into 16 stages, that is, the RGB color space is divided into 16 * 16 * 16 = 4096 small spaces, and the appearance frequency of the colors belonging to each space is counted.

  Then, it is determined that the color belonging to the small space where the appearance frequency of the color belonging to each space exceeds a specific number is the print color. The non-printing portion has a color that is halfway between dark brown and gray, but since it has a gradation, the color of the non-printing portion is at most a dozen percent with one color at most. Therefore, when the frequency of a certain small space exceeds the tens percent, it can be regarded as a print color.

  Next, returning to FIG. In S514, an image indicating the printing result is created so that the finished state of the printed CD label can be confirmed. Here, the prescan image is subjected to image processing in order for each pixel.

  Next, image processing for one pixel will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the image processing operation for one pixel.

  First, in step S801, it is determined whether the area is a copy area. When determining whether it is a copy area, it determines based on the distance from the center of a process target pixel. If it is not a copy area, do nothing.

  If it is a copy area, in step S802, based on the pre-scan image acquired in step S511 and the data recording surface image stored in step S507, specific pixels are read out at the same position on the disc and compared. As described above, the data recording surface and the non-printed portion of the label surface are similar to each other because they are images of the aluminum surface with pits as viewed from the front and the back. Therefore, if the color of the label surface is close to the color of the data recording surface, there is a high possibility that the label surface is a non-printed portion, and the process proceeds to S804.

  When determining whether the colors are close, a method of comparing the color difference between the two colors in the Lab space or the YCbCr space with the specific value th may be used, and each of the luminance and the color difference is separately compared with a different specific value th. It is also possible to do it. When determining whether colors are close or not, a method of comparing the distance between two colors in the RGB space with a specific value th may be used, and differences between R, G, and B are all equal to or less than the specific value th. In some cases, it may be determined that the colors are close to each other, and there are several determination methods. If the colors are not close, the process proceeds to S803, and the pixel of the pre-scan image is adopted as the print result image as the print portion.

  In S804, it is determined whether or not it belongs to the small space determined to be the print color in S702. If it belongs to the small space, even if it is a color similar to the data recording surface image, it is actually a printing color, so the processing of the printing portion is performed in S803 and the process is terminated. If it is not a printing color, it is a non-printing portion, so the process proceeds to S806.

  In step S806, processing as a non-printing portion is performed. The non-printed portion appears to shine with metallic luster on the CD label, but it is difficult to express the metallic luster by drawing with an ink jet on a white printable CD-R. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the non-printing portion outputs the background color of the printable CD-R. For this reason, the pixel determined to be a non-printing portion is displayed by replacing it with white to indicate the background color of the printable CD-R.

  The process ends for the pixel that has undergone the replacement process in S806.

  Next, returning to FIG. 3, the continuation will be described. In S515, the print result is displayed, but two types of images are displayed. One is the image of the print result created in S514, and the other is the pre-scan image itself.

  That is, when the image processing of S514 is performed with actual printable CD-R label printing or not, the user is displayed when the image processing is performed and when it is not.

  In the image processing shown in FIG. 7, it is difficult to completely determine the printed portion of various CD labels and the non-printed portion, and image processing is performed in order to avoid printing in a state where frequent misjudgments occur. It is necessary for the user to determine whether or not to do so. In particular, even if printing is performed, erroneous determination is likely to occur when the print color is close to the color of the data recording surface or when the surface of the print surface has high glossiness.

  Next, in S516-S518, it waits for a user's input. When the cancel key 24 is pressed, the CD label copy operation is stopped from S518 and the operation is terminated. When the user selects a copy that does not perform image processing of the non-printed portion, the process proceeds from S516 to S519.

  In S519, based on the CD position detected in S512, the CD label is scanned at a high resolution such as 600 dpi, converted into print data of the printer, and printed.

  It is determined in S517 whether or not the user has selected a copy for performing image processing of the non-printed part during the standby in S516 to 518. If YES, in S520, the label surface of the CD is again scanned at a high resolution of 600 dpi and the same processing as the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. Convert to and print.

  At this time, the position of the corresponding data recording surface image (image stored in S507) is calculated for each pixel of the high-resolution scanned image, and the comparison process in S802 is performed. When calculating the position of the data recording surface image, the position of the data recording surface image can be calculated based on the resolution of the high resolution image, the x coordinate, the y coordinate, and the resolution of the data recording surface image.

  Next, the reason why the data recording surface image is expanded in the B direction, the C direction (radiation direction) in S506 will be described again.

  When processing a data recording surface image corresponding to a high resolution image, for example, when processing near the outer peripheral edge of a label, the cutout position of the data recording surface image in S505 may be slightly shifted. In this case, the data recording surface image to be compared may be a colorless and transparent portion that is out of the aluminum portion. At this time, there is a possibility that a pixel to be determined to be a non-printing portion is erroneously determined to be a printing portion. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the data recording surface image is spread outward, and in this way, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination as a print portion and to provide a highly stable device.

  As described above, when copying the CD label surface, the image on the CD data recording surface is compared with the image on the CD label surface, and it is determined that the portions that are close to each other in color are non-printed portions. Appropriate processing such as replacement with By doing so, it is possible to prevent a portion that is shining on the copy source disk from being blackishly copied, and as a result, it is possible to obtain a copy with an impression closer to the original than before.

  In S504, the data recording surface is scanned and stored in the DRAM 3 in S507. Since the data recording surface image has little difference between individual CDs, an average data recording surface image is stored in the ROM 2, Thus, the steps S501 to S507 are not necessary. In this way, erroneous determination increases, but operability is improved.

  At this time, if the data recording surface image is compressed with JPEG or the like, stored in the ROM 2, developed in the DRAM 3 by the software processing of the CPU 1, and then executed in step S 508, the apparatus capacity increases due to the increase in the ROM capacity. Cost increase can be suppressed.

  The basic concept of the present invention is to detect a non-printed portion of the label surface and perform appropriate processing, and the detection method is close to the color of the opposite surface (data recording surface) of the CD label surface. The part is basically regarded as a non-printing part. Of the label surface, the non-printed part and the data recording surface are the aluminum surface with pits seen from the front and back, and the color is similar, so the part that is close in color to the data recording surface, It is determined that it is a non-printing part.

  Further, depending on the location, the color of the non-printed portion of the label surface is read with a different color (density) as shown in FIG. 8, but the data recording surface has the same tendency, and the data recording It is possible to determine that a portion close to the surface and color is a non-printing portion.

  The first embodiment has a scanner and a CD label copy function for printing a label of a disc medium such as a CD read by the scanner on the printable disc medium. The first embodiment includes means for storing the recording surface scan image, and means for processing the label surface scan image according to the result of calculating the label surface scan image and the recording surface scan image. In addition, the first exemplary embodiment includes a unit that prints a label surface scan image to which this processing has been applied on a printable disc medium.

  The “recording surface scan image” is an image obtained by reading the data recording surface of the disk medium by the scanner.

  In the first embodiment, a ROM is provided as a storage unit for the recording surface scan image, and the image data on the data recording surface of the disk medium can be stored in advance. In this case, it is not necessary to perform a reading operation on the data recording surface side. Alternatively, it has means for scanning and storing the image on the recording surface.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the pixels of the label surface scan image at a position corresponding to the specific pixels of the recording surface scan image are compared, and if the color similarity is equal to or greater than a specific amount, the label surface scan image Means for performing color conversion on the pixel.

  The first embodiment includes means for calculating a recording surface scan image and a label surface scan image after performing a scaling process on the label surface scan image in the rotation direction.

  Further, the first embodiment includes a unit that scans and stores the label surface, and a unit that measures the frequency of the appearing color for each region obtained by dividing the color space of the label surface scan image into small regions. In addition, the first exemplary embodiment includes a unit that does not perform processing on the pixel of the label surface scan image when the appearance frequency in the small region to which the specific pixel of the label surface scan image belongs is equal to or higher than a specific value. .

  In other words, in the above embodiment, the image on the data recording surface of the CD is scanned, and the scanned image on the data recording surface is compared with the scanned image on the label surface. Judge that there is. Then, a process of replacing a portion determined to be a non-printed portion in the scanned image of the label surface with white or the like is performed.

  According to the above embodiment, a non-printed portion of the CD label is not copied blackish, and a copy image close to the original CD label can be obtained.

  Further, according to the embodiment, since the label surface scan image is stored in the ROM, it is not necessary to scan the label surface and the operability is excellent.

  Furthermore, according to the embodiment, since the label surface is scanned, the determination accuracy of the non-printed portion is high.

  And according to the said Example, when the non-printing surface in CD label is scanned, the determination precision of the non-printing part in the part scanned as a gradation is high.

Further, according to the embodiment, even if the printing color of the label surface is close to the color of the recording surface, it is less likely that the printed portion is erroneously determined as a non-printing portion.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external configuration diagram showing an operation unit 6 in the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows CD label copy operation | movement. It is a figure which shows the image of the cut-out data recording surface. It is a figure which shows the state which expanded the scanned image which scanned the data recording surface of CD. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which analyzes a prescan image. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the image process for 1 pixel. It is the figure which showed typically the case where after reading CD which has not been printed at all, this read data was printed without performing a special process.

Explanation of symbols

100: Inkjet MFP,
1 ... Central processing unit (CPU),
2 ... ROM,
5 ... display part,
6 ... operation part,
7 ... Recording part,
8: Color reading unit,
9 ... card slot,
10 ... USB interface,
11: System bus.

Claims (8)

In a label copying apparatus comprising a scanner for optically reading the surface of a disk medium and a function for printing image data read by the scanner on the disk medium,
Means for storing image data read by the scanner on a data recording surface of a disk medium;
Image processing means for processing the label surface image data according to a result of calculating the read image data and a label surface image obtained by reading the label surface of the disc medium;
Means for printing the image-processed label surface scan image data on the disc medium;
A label copying apparatus comprising: In a label copying apparatus comprising a scanner for optically reading the surface of a disk medium and a function for printing image data read by the scanner on the disk medium,
Means for preliminarily storing image data on the data recording surface of the disk medium;
Image processing means for processing the label surface image data according to a result of calculating the read image data and a label surface image obtained by reading the label surface of the disc medium;
Means for printing the image-processed label surface scan image data on the disc medium;
A label copying apparatus comprising: In claim 2,
The label copying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for preliminarily storing the image data on the data recording surface of the disk medium is a ROM. In claim 1,
The label copy apparatus for a disk medium, wherein the recording surface scan image storage means is a means for scanning and storing the recording surface scan image. In any one of Claims 1-4,
The pixel of the label surface scan image existing at a position corresponding to the specific pixel of the recording surface scan image is compared with the specific pixel of the recording surface scan image, and the color similarity is equal to or greater than a specific amount. For example, a label copying apparatus that performs color conversion on the pixel of the label surface scan image. In any one of Claims 1-5,
A label copying apparatus that calculates the recording surface scan image and the label surface scan image after scaling the scan image of the data recording surface in the rotation direction. In any one of Claims 1-6,
Means for storing a scanned image of the label surface;
Means for measuring the appearance frequency of a specific color for each area obtained by dividing the color space into small areas for the label surface scan image;
A label copying apparatus, wherein in a small region in the label surface scan image, if the frequency of appearance of a specific color is equal to or greater than a specific value, no processing is applied to the pixel of the label surface scan image. In a control method of a label copying apparatus comprising: a scanner; and a CD label copy function for copying a label of a disk medium read by the scanner to a printable disk medium.
Storing image data of a data recording surface of the disk medium;
A label surface scan image processing step for processing the label surface scan image according to a result of calculating the recording surface scan image and a label surface scan image which is an image obtained by reading an image of the label surface;
Printing the processed image on the label surface scanned image on the printable disc medium;
A control method for a label copying apparatus, comprising:

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