JP2010052226A - Printing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new printing method which contributes to the securement of a texture in the case of using a unique ink such as a metallic ink and a plurality of kinds of color inks together. <P>SOLUTION: In carrying out color developing printing by a mold-ink superposing on a printed metallic region passing through the ejection of the metallic ink, ejection of the color inks itself is prohibited at printing regions which overlap with ejection prohibition regions TK1-TKi of a color printing prohibition mask. Therefore, color developing printing is carried out only at printing regions other than the ejection prohibition regions TK1-TKi in the metallic region, and the metallic region is exposed at the printing regions which overlap with the ejection prohibition regions TK1-TKi. The metallic exposed points are dispersed in the metallic region by a dispersion pattern of the ejection prohibition regions, thus contributing to the manifestation of a metallic texture. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method for printing an image using a special gloss ink having a special gloss and a plurality of types of color inks.

  In recent years, not only high-quality color printing using color inks but also various printing methods that provide metallic luster by using metallic inks in combination with color inks have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-50347 A JP 2006-50339 A

  In these patent gazettes, color-converted image data is subjected to screen processing in a printing region using only color ink and a so-called special color region in which a printing region using color ink is superimposed on a printing region using metallic ink. In the screen processing in the spot color area, a metallic feeling in the spot color area is expressed by a technique such as using a screen with a high line number.

  By the way, in the above-described special color area, the metallic ink is expressed by the printing area by the metallic ink being the lower layer side of the printing area by the color ink. Therefore, when printing by ink ejection in a special color area using a combination of metallic ink, it is not necessarily that the above-described screen processing is applied to the image data before output to the printing apparatus to contribute to the appearance of metallic feeling. The current situation is that it cannot be determined.

  In light of the above-described problems, the present invention provides a new printing method that contributes to securing a texture such as a metallic feeling in a printed image using a combination of a unique ink such as a metallic ink and a plurality of types of color inks. Objective.

  In order to achieve at least a part of the above object, the present invention adopts the following configuration.

[Application 1: Printing device]
A printing apparatus that prints an image using a special gloss ink having a special gloss and a plurality of types of color inks,
Special gloss printing means for discharging the special gloss ink and performing special gloss printing;
Color printing means for performing color printing by discharging the plurality of types of color ink for each color;
When the color printing is performed by controlling the color printing unit and the special gloss printing unit so as to overlap the printed special gloss ink, the discharge of the color ink at the time of the color printing to be performed is printed. The gist of the present invention is to include a printing control means for limiting the position according to the position.

  The special glossy ink exhibiting special gloss referred to in the present application is an ink exhibiting special gloss on the surface of the print medium that has undergone printing, and can be a texture-expressing ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture. A metallic ink, which is an example of such a special gloss ink, contains a metallic pigment that develops a metallic feeling after fixing on the surface of a printing medium. In addition to this, a special glossy ink is a pearly luster ink containing a pigment that expresses a pearly luster after fixing on the medium surface, for example, a pigment in which a plurality of thin film layers having a pearl color like natural pearls are stacked, Also included are lamainques and plain inks containing pigments with minute irregularities so as to cause irregular reflection after fixing on the medium surface and express a so-called lame or plain feeling. The metallic ink, which is one of the special glossy inks referred to in the present application, is an ink having a metallic gloss, and the metallic gloss is expressed by a metal pigment contained in the metallic ink. As such a metallic ink, an oil-based ink composition containing a metal pigment, an organic solvent, and a resin can be used. In order to effectively produce a metallic luster, the above-mentioned metal pigment is preferably a tabular grain, and the major axis on the plane of the tabular grain is X, the minor axis is Y, and the thickness is In the case of Z, the 50% average particle diameter R50 of the equivalent circle diameter obtained from the area of the XY plane of the tabular grains is 0.5 to 3 μm, and the condition of R50 / Z> 5 is satisfied. preferable. Such a metal pigment can be formed of, for example, aluminum or an aluminum alloy, or can be formed by crushing a metal vapor-deposited film. The concentration of the metal pigment contained in the metallic ink can be, for example, 0.1 to 10.0% by weight. Of course, the metallic ink is not limited to such a composition, and any other composition can be appropriately employed as long as the metallic gloss is generated.

  In addition, the special glossy ink can be an ink in which the optical characteristics of the ink printed on the surface of the medium have a reflection angle dependency, and the metallic feeling of the metallic ink which is an example of these special glossy inks From a viewpoint, it is as follows. Since the metallic sensation is a sensation of looking at the reflected light, various indexes indicating the metallic sensation have been proposed that have reflection angle dependency in optical characteristics. Therefore, it is possible to define a metallic ink that expresses a metallic feeling with this index. For example, a known metallic feeling index value In1 represented by the following formula (1) may be used. This metallic sensation index value In1 measures the brightness of reflected light at three different locations defined in the formula (1) when the measured object (metallic sensation printed matter) is irradiated from an angle of -45 degrees. It can be determined from the relationship of brightness obtained at three locations. Therefore, the metallic ink can be defined by the metallic index value In1 in the same manner as the metallic pigment for expressing the metallic feeling.

  In addition, the metallic feeling index value In2 represented by the following expression (2) using the lightness at three locations for defining the metallic feeling index value In1, and the metallic feeling index value represented by the following expression (3): In3 or the like may be used as an index of metallic feeling.

  Since any index value expressed by the above formula is determined as a numerical value depending on the reflection angle, the special gloss ink can be defined by these index values.

  In the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration using the special gloss ink such as the metallic ink, first, the special gloss ink is ejected to print the special gloss area. Then, when performing color printing using color ink over the printed special gloss region, the color ink ejection itself when ejecting the plurality of types of color ink for each color is restricted according to the printing position. To do. Therefore, color printing that is printed with ink ejection limited according to the printing position overlaps with the special glossy area that has already been printed. Reduction of special gloss in the glossy area can be suppressed. For example, if the ink discharge is restricted to be prohibited, a special glossy area is exposed at the prohibited printing part, and the special gloss appears without being blocked by the color ink, and the reduction of the special gloss is not only suppressed. It is possible to emphasize special gloss. As a result, according to the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration, a special gloss such as a texture obtained through the printing of the special gloss ink is secured, and color development with the special gloss is realized in the special gloss area. Can provide a simple printing method.

  The printing apparatus described above can be configured as follows. For example, the color ink discharge restriction in the printed special glossy area can be performed using a mask in which prohibited areas for prohibiting ink discharge are dispersed. In this way, it is possible to easily realize color development with the special gloss while securing and enhancing the special gloss obtained through the printing of the special gloss ink by a simple method of using a mask.

  Such a mask can be a mask that sets a prohibited area with a noise mask pattern such as a blue noise mask, a green noise mask, or a white noise mask, and in this way, with the characteristics of each noise mask pattern, Special gloss can be emphasized. For example, if color ink ejection is restricted (prohibition of ejection) in a special glossy area that has been printed with a mask in which prohibited areas are dispersed with a blue noise mask pattern, ink ejection is performed as if high-frequency components are emphasized at the spatial frequency. The prohibited areas are evenly distributed. In the green noise mask pattern, the ink ejection prohibited area is dispersed as if the intermediate frequency component is emphasized, and in the white noise mask pattern, the ink ejection prohibited area is dispersed as though the frequency components in the entire area are uniform. Note that the dispersion pattern of the prohibited area is not limited to the noise mask pattern described above, and may be a regular dispersion pattern or a random dispersion pattern. In this way, it is possible to emphasize different textures corresponding to various requests of the user according to the state of dispersion of the ink discharge prohibited area.

  In addition, at least one of the size and the degree of dispersion of the prohibited area in the mask can be variably set. In this way, various aspects of special gloss enhancement can be adjusted. In this case, special gloss enhancement according to the user's preference can be achieved by changing the size and degree of dispersion of the prohibited area by a switch operated by the user.

  Further, the mask may be used corresponding to the plurality of types of color inks, and the discharge of the color inks may be limited for each color ink. In this way, special gloss enhancement can be diversified.

  Then, the special gloss printing means is used as the special gloss ink, a texture expression ink containing a pigment that expresses a predetermined texture, or an ink whose optical properties of the ink printed on the medium surface have a reflection angle dependency, Alternatively, a metallic ink containing a pigment that develops a metallic feeling can be ejected. By doing so, it is possible to easily provide a color printed matter having a predetermined texture, reflection angle-dependent optical characteristics or metallic feeling, with a special gloss such as metallic feeling emphasized.

[Application 2: Printing method]
A printing method for printing an image using a special gloss ink having a special gloss and a plurality of types of color inks,
Discharging the special glossy ink, printing the special glossy area,
When performing color printing by discharging the plurality of types of color ink for each color in an overlapping manner with the printed special glossy region, the discharge of the color ink in the overlapping color printing is performed according to the printing position. The gist is to execute the color printing while limiting.

  The above-described effects can also be achieved by the printing method having the above configuration.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order based on examples.
A. Summary of embodiment:
B. Device configuration:
C. Printing process:
D. Other examples

A. Summary of embodiment:
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a printing system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a computer 100 as a printing control apparatus, a printer 200 that actually prints an image under the control of the computer 100, and the like. The printing system 10 functions as a printing device in a broad sense as a whole.

  The printer 200 of the present embodiment includes cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, and black ink as color inks, and further includes metallic ink that exhibits metallic luster due to the contained metal pigment. In this embodiment, the term “color ink” includes black ink.

  As the metallic ink, an oil-based ink composition containing a metal pigment, an organic solvent, and a resin was used in this example. About the metal pigment to contain, what was prescribed | regulated as follows is contained. For example, when a tabular grain metal pigment is used and the major axis on the plane of the tabular grain is X, the minor axis is Y, and the thickness is Z, the tabular grain is obtained from the area of the XY plane of the tabular grain. A 50% average particle diameter R50 of the equivalent circle diameter was 0.5 to 3 μm and a condition satisfying the condition of R50 / Z> 5 was employed. In this case, it is possible to use a metal pigment formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, or a metal pigment formed by crushing a metal vapor deposition film. In this example, a metal pigment formed from aluminum was employed. The concentration of the metal pigment contained in the metallic ink can also be set to 0.1 to 10.0% by weight, for example, and in this example, 1.5% by weight was used. The color ink is an existing color ink containing a pigment as an organic coloring material that develops the above-described colors.

  A predetermined operating system is installed in the computer 100, and the application program 20 operates under this operating system. A video driver 22 and a printer driver 24 are incorporated in the operating system. The application program 20 inputs image data ORG from the digital camera 120 through the peripheral device interface 108, for example. Then, the application program 20 displays an image represented by the image data ORG on the display 114 via the video driver 22. The application program 20 outputs the image data ORG to the printer 200 via the printer driver 24. The image data ORG input from the digital camera 120 by the application program 20 is RGB format image data including three color components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B).

  The application program 20 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an area composed of R, G, and B color components (hereinafter referred to as “color coloring area”) and an area printed with metallic ink for an arbitrary area in the image data ORG. (Hereinafter referred to as “metallic area”) can be designated. A part of the metallic area and the color development area are overlapped, and in the overlapped area, a color image is formed on the metallic luster exhibited by the metallic pigment of the metallic ink as a background color. Thus, the metallic area | region which printed metallic ink becomes a texture expression area as said to this application. When the metallic area is designated in this way, the area is designated in advance using tag information or the like attached to the image data. For example, the application program 20 is programmed to set a printing area having a specific graphic shape as the metallic area. Alternatively, the application program 20 can be programmed so that a print area of a specific color such as a skin color is a metallic area.

  Inside the printer driver 24, a color conversion module 42, a halftone module 44, and a print control module 46 are provided.

  In accordance with a color conversion table LUT prepared in advance, the color conversion module 42 is a color component (cyan (C), magenta) that can be expressed by the printer 200 for the color components R, G, and B of the color development region in the image data ORG. (M), yellow (Y), light cyan (lc), light magenta (lm), and black (K).

  The halftone module 44 performs a halftone process in which the gradation of the image data color-converted by the color conversion module 42 is represented by dot distribution. In this embodiment, a known systematic dither method is used as the halftone process. As the halftone process, an error diffusion method, a density pattern method, and other halftone techniques can be used in addition to the systematic dither method.

  The print control module 46 rearranges the arrangement of the halftone-processed image data in the order to be transferred to the printer 200, and outputs it as print data to the printer 200. In this case, the well-known microweave method was used. The print control module 46 controls the printer 200 by outputting various commands such as a print start command and a print end command to the printer 200.

  In this embodiment, the print control module 46 includes a metallic dot forming module 47 and a color printing module 48. The metallic dot forming module 47 forms metallic dots of a predetermined size in the metallic area designated by the application program 20. The color printing module 48 forms dots with the color inks of the above-described colors on the halftone-processed image, that is, the image in the color development region.

B. Device configuration:
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a computer 100 as a print control apparatus. The computer 100 is a well-known computer configured by connecting a ROM 104, a RAM 106, and the like with a bus 116 around a CPU 102.

  The computer 100 includes a disk controller 109 for reading data such as the flexible disk 124 and the compact disk 126, a peripheral device interface 108 for exchanging data with peripheral devices, and a video interface 112 for driving the display 114. It is connected. A printer 200 and a hard disk 118 are connected to the peripheral device interface 108. Further, if the digital camera 120 or the color scanner 122 is connected to the peripheral device interface 108, it is possible to perform image processing on an image captured by the digital camera 120 or the color scanner 122. If the network interface card 110 is installed, the computer 100 can be connected to the communication line 300 to obtain data stored in the storage device 310 connected to the communication line. When the computer 100 obtains image data to be printed, the printer driver 24 controls the printer 200 to print the image data.

  Next, the configuration of the printer 200 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the printer 200. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer 200 is mounted on the carriage 240, a mechanism for transporting the print medium P by the paper feed motor 235, a mechanism for reciprocating the carriage 240 in the axial direction of the platen 236 by the carriage motor 230. And a control circuit 260 that controls the exchange of signals with the paper feed motor 235, the carriage motor 230, the print head 241, and the operation panel 256. Has been.

  The mechanism for reciprocating the carriage 240 in the axial direction of the platen 236 is an endless drive belt between the carriage motor 230 and a slide shaft 233 that is installed in parallel with the platen 236 axis and slidably holds the carriage 240. A pulley 232 that stretches 231, a position detection sensor 234 that detects the origin position of the carriage 240, and the like.

  On the carriage 240, a color ink cartridge 243 that contains cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K) as color inks is mounted. The carriage 240 is mounted with a metallic ink cartridge 242 that contains metallic ink (S1). A total of five types of ink ejection heads 244 to 248 corresponding to these colors are formed in the print head 241 below the carriage 240. When these ink cartridges 242 and 243 are mounted on the carriage 240 from above, ink can be supplied from the cartridges to the respective ink ejection heads 244 to 248.

  Here, the print head 241 will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the nozzle arrangement of the ink ejection head that constitutes the print head 241. As shown in the drawing, in this embodiment, ink discharge heads 244 to 247 for each color of cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K), and metallic ink (S) are shown. And an ink discharge head 248. Each ink discharge head includes 10 nozzles arranged on the lower surface of the print head 241 in the sub-scanning direction. Each nozzle is arranged at an interval of 2 dots in the sub-scanning direction. In the drawing, since the lower part indicates the sub-scanning direction, the printing medium P passes through the nozzle shown at the lowermost part during printing. In the drawing, the black-filled nozzles indicate that the metallic ink is discharged from the ink discharge head 248, and the hatched nozzles indicate color inks of the corresponding color in the ink discharge heads 244 to 247. Indicates that the nozzle is ejected.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, for the ink ejection head 248 for metallic ink, among the 10 nozzles, 5 nozzles that pass through the print medium P first are used during actual printing, The remaining five are not used. In addition, for the ink ejection heads 244 to 247 forming the nozzle row of color ink (C, M, Y, K), among the 10 nozzles, 5 nozzles that pass through the print medium P first are not used. And use the remaining five. Hereinafter, as necessary, nozzles that eject metallic ink are referred to as metallic nozzle groups, and nozzles that eject color ink are referred to as color nozzle groups.

  Piezo elements are incorporated in each nozzle shown in FIG. As is well known, a piezo element is an element that transforms electro-mechanical energy at an extremely high speed because its crystal structure is distorted by application of a voltage. In the present embodiment, by applying a predetermined voltage signal (drive signal) to the piezo element, one side wall of the ink passage in the nozzle is deformed, thereby ejecting an ink droplet from the nozzle. In this embodiment, ink is ejected using a piezo element as described above. However, a method of ejecting ink by generating bubbles in the nozzle may be employed.

  The control circuit 260 of the printer 200 shown in FIG. 3 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a PIF (peripheral device interface), and the like connected to each other via a bus. The operation of the carriage motor 230 and the paper feed motor 235 is performed. By controlling, the main scanning operation and the sub scanning operation of the carriage 240 are controlled. When print data output from the computer 100 is received via the PIF, a drive signal corresponding to the print data is supplied to the ink ejection heads 244 to 248 in accordance with the movement of the carriage 240 in the main scanning or sub scanning. Thus, these heads can be driven.

  The printer 200 having the hardware configuration described above drives the carriage motor 230 to reciprocate the ink discharge heads 244 to 248 for each color in the main scanning direction with respect to the print medium P, and to perform a paper feed motor. By driving 235, the print medium P is moved in the sub-scanning direction. The control circuit 260 performs printing by driving the nozzles at an appropriate timing based on the print data in accordance with the movement of the carriage 240 reciprocally (main scanning) or the movement of paper feeding of the printing medium (sub scanning). Ink dots of appropriate colors are formed at appropriate positions on the medium P. In this way, the printer 200 can print a color image on the print medium P and form a color print image area superimposed on the metallic area as will be described later.

  The printer 200 of the present embodiment is described as a so-called inkjet printer that forms ink dots by ejecting ink droplets toward the print medium P. However, the printer that forms dots using any method It does not matter. For example, the present invention can be suitably applied to printers and line printers that form dots by adhering toner powder of each color onto a print medium using static electricity instead of ejecting ink droplets. Is possible.

C. Printing process:
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the printing process in this embodiment. In this embodiment, the computer 100 determines a metallic area using metallic ink, and performs a process for printing with color ink without using the metallic ink for areas other than the metallic area.

  When the printing process is started, the computer 100 first inputs RGB format image data (step S100). When the image data is input, the computer 100 determines a metallic area defined by the application program 20 (step S102). In this determination processing, the computer 100 determines, for example, a graphic area having a specific shape as a metallic area in accordance with a program defined by the application program 20. In addition, the application program 20 can also determine an area printed in a predetermined color as a metallic area including its shape. For example, in the case of a print image including the sun and stars, the sun and stars in the image can be distinguished through image analysis such as shape and color, and the distinction region can be determined as a metallic region. Alternatively, it can be determined as a metallic region by using tag information attached to image data.

  After determining the metallic area, the computer 100 uses the color conversion module 42 to convert the RGB format image data input in step S100 into CMYK ink data in the color development area (step S104). When the CMYK ink data is obtained, the computer 100 performs halftone processing in the color development area using the halftone module 44, and generates binary image data that can be transferred to the printer 200 (step S106).

  When the halftone process is completed, the computer 100 sets a color printing prohibition mask corresponding to the binary image data obtained in step S106 in order to control the printer 200 using the print control module 46 and perform printing (step S106). Step S108). FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a color ink ejection prohibition pattern included in the color printing prohibition mask. The color ink discharge prohibition pattern of the color print prohibition mask shown in FIG. 6 is a pattern in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi in the figure are dispersed following the noise mask pattern in the blue noise mask, and the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi In the overlapping region, it means that the discharge of color ink is prohibited over the region. In the present embodiment, the individual ejection inhibition areas TK1 to TKi are areas where several dots are concentrated.

  Here, the color printing prohibition mask shown in FIG. 6 will be described. A blue noise mask is generally used as one of dither masks in halftone processing of a digital image. In the dot distribution image obtained as a result of the halftone process using the blue noise mask, the low frequency component is suppressed and the high frequency component is emphasized. Since human visual characteristics are not sensitive to high frequency components, the dots appear to be uniformly distributed. Therefore, in this embodiment, the color printing prohibition mask in which the ejection prohibition regions TK1 to TKi are dispersed following the mask pattern of the blue noise mask is set in step S108.

  Following the setting of the color ink ejection prohibition pattern, the computer 100 compares the metallic area determined in step S102 with the position of the pixel (print target pixel) currently being printed, It is determined whether the pixel to be printed is a metallic region or a non-metallic region (that is, a color coloring region using only color ink) (step S110). If it is determined by this determination that the current pixel to be printed is a non-metallic region, the computer 100 prints dots of only color ink (step S118).

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the current print target pixel is a metallic region, the computer 100 determines the amount of metallic ink used for the current print target pixel (step S112), and performs halftone processing on the metallic ink dots. (Step S114). Subsequently, color ink dot masking is performed (step S116), and printing is performed using metallic ink and color ink (step S118). Specifically, for the current pixel to be printed, a dot of metallic ink having a constant density is formed, and the metallic ink is ejected first so that the metallic region can be printed and formed. Color ink is ejected so that a color coloring area can be printed and formed with the color ink. In addition, in the color ink dot masking process in step S116, the color ink dots are masked after collating with the color ink ejection inhibition pattern set in step S108. As a result, when a color development region is formed by color ink so as to be superimposed on the metallic region, printing that overlaps with the discharge prohibited regions TK1 to TKi in the color ink discharge prohibited pattern of the color print prohibited mask shown in FIG. In the region (print region with color ink), the color ink dots are not formed, and the color ink dots are formed only in the print regions other than the discharge prohibited regions TK1 to TKi.

  If the dot formation for the current print target pixel is completed by the above steps, the computer 100 executes printing by controlling the printer 200 through the microweave method performed by the print control module 46 in step S118. Then, the computer 100 determines whether the printing of the entire image data has been completed (step S120). If the printing of the entire image data has not been completed, the process returns to step S110, and the dots are continuously printed for other pixels. Continue forming. On the other hand, when printing of the entire image data is finished, the printing process is finished.

  By the printing process of the present embodiment described above, the printing system 10 in the printing area determined to be the metallic area in step S110, the ink having the metallic nozzle group that first passes through the printing medium as described in FIG. First, metallic ink is ejected from each nozzle of the nozzle group of the ejection head 250 with the ink amount determined in step S112 described above. Thereby, the metallic region is first printed and formed on the surface of the print medium. In this metallic area, color ink is ejected from the nozzles of the color nozzle group of the ink ejection head so as to overlap the area, and a color coloring area is printed and formed so as to overlap the printed metallic area.

  When color color printing using color ink is performed on the printed metallic area in this way, printing that overlaps the ejection prohibited areas TK1 to TKi in the color ink ejection prohibited pattern of the color printing prohibited mask shown in FIG. In the area, the color ink dots are masked (step S116), and the color ink dots are printed only in the print areas other than the above-described ejection prohibited areas TK1 to TKi. For this reason, in the printing area that overlaps with the ejection prohibition areas TK1 to TKi, the metallic area is exposed through non-execution of ink ejection (ejection prohibition), and this metallic exposure location is distributed in the metallic area with the dispersion pattern of the ejection prohibition area. Let As a result, at each metallic exposure location in the metallic region, a metallic feeling based on the pigment contained in the metallic ink can be expressed without being blocked by the color ink, so that reduction of metallic feeling can be achieved and metallic feeling can be achieved. Can be emphasized. This means that color development with the metallic feeling can be realized while securing the metallic feeling obtained through the printing of the metallic ink.

  In the printing system 10 according to the present embodiment, the discharge of the color ink in the above-described metallic area is prohibited by using the color printing prohibition mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi as shown in FIG. 6 are dispersed. did. Specifically, the masking (deletion) of dots in the printing area that overlaps the ejection prohibition areas TK1 to TKi was performed. In other words, with a simple method of using a color printing prohibition mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are dispersed, the metallic feeling obtained through the printing of metallic ink is secured and emphasized, and the texture is obtained. Color development can be easily realized.

  Further, in the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, the color printing prohibition mask of FIG. 6 is a mask in which the ejection prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are dispersed following the noise mask pattern in the blue noise mask. Therefore, the metallic exposed portions are dispersed in the metallic region due to the uniform dispersibility of the dots, which is a characteristic of the blue noise mask pattern. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a sense of incongruity from being felt when emphasizing the metallic feeling due to the dispersion of the metallic exposed portions.

D. Other Examples Next, other examples will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3, and is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer 200A in another embodiment. This embodiment is characterized in that the metallic feeling is set to be strong or weak.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the printer 200 </ b> A has the same configuration as the above-described printer 200 in hardware configurations such as a paper feed mechanism and a print head drive mechanism, and includes a metallic feel level setting switch 257 on the operation panel 256. Depending on the operation, the metallic feeling is expressed. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the transition of the color ink ejection prohibition pattern that causes the metallic feeling to be strong or weak. FIG. 8A shows a state in which the metallic feeling is emphasized by increasing the dispersion density of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi, and FIG. 8B increases the individual areas of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi. This shows how the metallic feeling is emphasized.

  In the printing process in the printer 200A, the operation state of the metallic feel strength setting switch 257 is read when the color printing prohibition mask is set in step S108 of FIG. Next, the metallic feeling is set according to the read operation status, and the color printing prohibition mask is changed and set as shown in FIG. 8 in accordance with the set metallic feeling. For example, if the metallic feeling is set to the strongest by the metallic feeling strength setting switch 257, the color printing prohibition mask having the maximum dispersion density in the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi, or the individual areas of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi are the largest. Using the color printing prohibition mask, the dispersion density of the metallic exposed portion described above is increased or the size of the exposed portion is increased. In this case, both the dispersion density and the individual areas of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi can be changed and set simultaneously.

  Therefore, according to the printer 200A of this embodiment, various metallic feelings can be emphasized according to the user's preference, and the added value is increased.

  In addition, the following modes can be adopted. In the above embodiment, since color inks of cyan ink, magenta ink, and yellow ink are used, a different color printing prohibition mask (see FIG. 6) is prepared for each color ink. For example, for cyan ink, a color printing prohibition mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are distributed following the blue noise mask pattern of FIG. 6 is used, and for magenta ink, the discharge prohibition area following a green noise mask pattern (not shown) is used. A color printing prohibition mask in which TK1 to TKi are dispersed is used, and a color printing prohibition mask in which ejection prohibition regions TK1 to TKi are dispersed in accordance with a white is mask pattern (not shown) is used for the yellow ink. In addition, in the mask process of each color ink dot (step S116), the color ink ejection is prohibited using a mask corresponding to each color ink. Even in this case, the effects described above can be obtained.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to above-described embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, it is possible to implement in various aspects. For example, in the above-described embodiment, printing using metallic ink is performed in the printing system 10 including the computer 100 and the printer 200. In contrast, the printer 200 itself may input image data from a digital camera or various memory cards and perform printing with metallic ink. That is, the CPU in the control circuit 260 of the printer 200 may perform printing using metallic ink by executing processing equivalent to the printing processing in each of the embodiments described above.

  In addition, the metallic glossy ink has been described as an example of the special glossy ink. However, a pigment that expresses a pearly luster after being fixed on the medium surface, for example, a pigment in which a plurality of thin pearly layers such as natural pearls are stacked. In place of metallic ink, pearlescent ink containing lacquer, or lamaque or plain ink containing pigments with minute irregularities to cause irregular reflection after fixing on the medium surface to express so-called lame or plain texture It can also be used.

  Further, the color printing prohibition mask is a mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are distributed following the noise mask pattern in the blue noise mask. However, the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TK1 are copied according to the green noise mask pattern and the white noise mask pattern. A mask in which TKi is dispersed can also be used. Alternatively, a color printing prohibition mask may be a mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are regularly dispersed in a lattice pattern or a staggered pattern, or a mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are randomly dispersed. it can. In this way, different textures can be emphasized depending on the characteristics of each mask pattern. As described above, the color printing prohibition mask is prepared in advance as a predetermined mask, and the color printing prohibition mask in which the discharge prohibition areas TK1 to TKi are dispersed according to the set of dot ON data and the discrete situation in the binary image data is divided into half. It can also be created based on the tone processing result. For example, when the dot ON data is continuously gathered, the dispersion of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi is set as a dense tendency, and when the dot ON data is dispersed, the dispersion of the discharge prohibited areas TK1 to TKi is set as a sparse tendency. A color printing prohibition mask can also be generated.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration diagram of a computer 100 as a print control apparatus. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer 200. FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the nozzle arrangement of an ink ejection head constituting the print head 241. It is a flowchart of the printing process in a present Example. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the color ink discharge prohibition pattern which a color printing prohibition mask has. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer 200A in another embodiment corresponding to FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows transition of the color ink discharge prohibition pattern which brings about the strength setting of a metallic feeling.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing system 20 ... Application program 22 ... Video driver 24 ... Printer driver 42 ... Color conversion module 44 ... Halftone module 46 ... Print control module 47 ... Metallic dot formation module 48 ... Color printing module 100 ... Computer 102 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 108 ... Peripheral device interface 109 ... Disk controller 110 ... Network interface card 112 ... Video interface 114 ... Display 116 ... Bus 118 ... Hard disk 120 ... Digital camera 122 ... Color scanner 124 ... Flexible disk 126 ... Compact disk 200 ... Printer 200A ... Printer 230 ... Carriage motor 231 ... Drive belt 232 ... Pulley 233 ... Slide shaft 234 ... Position detection sensor 235 ... Motor 236 ... Platen 240 ... Carriage 241 ... Print head 242 ... Metallic ink cartridge 243 ... Color ink cartridge 244 to 248 ... Ink Ejection head 250 ... Ink ejection head 256 ... Operation panel 257 ... Metallic strength Constant switch 260 ... control circuit 300 ... communication line 310 ... storage device P ... print medium TK1～TKi ... discharge prohibition region ORG ... image data LUT ... color conversion table

Claims (11)

A printing apparatus that prints an image using a special gloss ink having a special gloss and a plurality of types of color inks,
Special gloss printing means for discharging the special gloss ink and performing special gloss printing;
Color printing means for performing color printing by discharging the plurality of types of color ink for each color; and
When the color printing is performed by controlling the color printing unit and the special glossy printing unit so as to overlap the printed special glossy ink, the discharge of the color ink at the time of the color printing to be performed is printed. A printing apparatus comprising: a printing control unit that restricts according to a position.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing control unit restricts the discharge of the color ink using a mask in which prohibited areas for prohibiting ink discharge are dispersed.   The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the mask is a mask in which the prohibited area is dispersed with a noise mask pattern.   The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the mask is a mask in which at least one of a size and a dispersion degree of the prohibited area can be variably set.   5. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the print control unit restricts ejection of the color ink for each color ink by selectively using the mask corresponding to the plurality of types of color ink. 6. .   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the special gloss printing unit discharges a texture-expressing ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture as the special gloss ink.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the special gloss printing unit ejects, as the special gloss ink, an ink whose optical characteristics printed on a medium surface have a reflection angle dependency. . A printing method for printing an image using a special gloss ink having a special gloss and a plurality of types of color inks,
Discharging the special glossy ink, printing the special glossy area,
When performing color printing by discharging the plurality of types of color ink for each color in an overlapping manner with the printed special glossy region, the discharge of the color ink in the overlapping color printing is performed according to the printing position. A printing method for performing the color printing while restricting.   The printing method according to claim 8, wherein the special glossy ink is a textured ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture.   The printing method according to claim 8, wherein the special glossy ink is an ink in which an optical characteristic of ink printed on a medium surface has a reflection angle dependency.   The printing method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the special glossy ink is a metallic ink containing a pigment that develops a metallic feeling.

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