JP2011130422A - Device, method and program for adjusting print data - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform simultaneous color adjustment to a particular object specified in a document, and also to an object similar or analogous to a specified object in the document. <P>SOLUTION: A print data adjustment device includes a first instruction unit for specifying pixels to be color-corrected, a second instruction unit for specifying post-correction color information of the pixels to be color-corrected, a display unit which displays a document image, pre-correction color information on the pixels specified by the first instruction unit, and post-correction color information on the pixels specified by the second instruction unit, an extraction unit for extracting an object having at least one of the features of the particular object as the object to be corrected from the document image, and a color changing unit for changing the color of pixels of the object to be corrected extracted by the extraction unit based on the color information specified through the second instruction unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a print data adjustment apparatus, a print data adjustment method, and a print data adjustment program that perform color adjustment when printing color image data.

  Conventionally, when adjusting the color when printing out a document, the hue, brightness, saturation, and contrast are adjusted from the print setting screen of the printer driver or from the preview screen of the print document that allows confirmation of the change result. It was to do.

JP 2001-292331 A

    However, this color adjustment method replaces not only specific objects in the document but also all objects with the same color, and also has objects that are similar or similar to the specified object in the document. There is a problem that it cannot be adjusted all at once.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a print data adjustment device that can adjust the color of a specific object specified in a document and can simultaneously adjust the color of objects that are similar or similar to the specified object in the document. And an adjustment method.

    In order to achieve the above object, a print data adjustment apparatus according to an embodiment includes a first instruction unit that specifies a pixel for color correction in a specific object in a displayed document image, and correction of the pixel for color correction. A second instruction unit that specifies subsequent color information; the document image; color information before correction of the pixel specified by the first instruction unit; and correction of the pixel specified by the second instruction unit A display unit that displays subsequent color information, an extraction unit that extracts an object having at least one of the features of the specific object as a correction target object from the document image, and designated by the first instruction unit The color of the pixel to be corrected of the specific object and the color of the pixel of the correction target object extracted by the extraction unit that is the same as the color of the color correction target pixel are designated by the second instruction unit And a color replacement unit for replacing, based on the color information.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the multifunction device shown in FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the multifunction device shown in FIG. Schematic diagram showing an example of the correction condition setting screen Example of data structure corresponding to raster image developed document image Schematic diagram of the screen for instructing objects and correction values Enlarged view of the screen indicating the object The figure which shows the example of the palette which designates the correction color Diagram showing chromaticity before and after object color correction Schematic diagram showing document layout Flow chart showing object search operation Diagram showing chromaticity before and after gradation object color correction

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is an overall view of a multifunction peripheral (hereinafter, MFP) according to an embodiment. The MFP includes an input unit 1 that receives a document image from an external device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC), a display unit 2 that displays a document image or an operation instruction, and displays data. The instructed data includes a rewritable memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 6 that is temporarily stored via the interface 5. The data stored in the RAM 6 is sent to the CPU 7 responsible for processing. The MFP further includes a processing unit 8 that processes data stored in the RAM 6 into data for comparison, an extraction unit 9 that extracts objects, a color replacement unit 10 that replaces colors in accordance with user instructions, and user-specified data. Is provided with a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) 11 that stores data for converting ink into a value such as the amount of ink, and an output unit 12 that outputs a color-replaced image. The output unit 12 supplies data to, for example, a printing unit (not shown). The CPU 7 functions as a processing unit 8, an extraction unit 9, and a color replacement unit 10 as shown in the figure.

  The display unit 2 of the MFP has a touch sensor on the surface, for example, a first instruction unit 3 for designating a specific object or a pixel row to be corrected on the specific object of the document image, and the color of the specific pixel. Display information. The display unit further includes a second instruction unit 4 that displays the color information and specifies the color information of the corrected object. The second instruction unit 4 for designating color information may be displayed by switching the screen with the first instruction unit 3. In addition, a third instruction unit may be provided separately, or the second instruction unit 4 may be switched to display as shown in FIG. 1 to set the object correction conditions.

  Although not shown, the MFP has a conventionally well-known hardware configuration such as a scanner unit for reading a document and a printing unit.

  Next, processing steps will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing steps of this embodiment. The MFP receives document data composed of script sentences from a terminal such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) at the input unit 1 (100), and develops the document data into a raster image at the processing unit 8 (101). In addition, the attribute is stored in the RAM 6 as data together with the chromaticity (102). Of these, only chromaticity data is used to display a color image on the display unit 2 via the interface 5 (103).

  The user designates a pixel or a pixel row of an object to be subjected to color correction on the first instruction unit 4 displayed on the screen of the display unit 2 (104). Then, after obtaining the chromaticity corresponding to the position designated by the user from the RAM 6, the chromaticity is displayed together with a correction value input field described later (105), and the user is prompted to input the corrected chromaticity. . When the user inputs a correction value using the second instruction unit 4 (106), the second instruction unit 4 is switched to the third instruction unit 4, and a correction condition setting screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. (107). The designation by the second instruction unit 4 may be a method of selecting a numerical value from a pull-down on the screen or a method of inputting from a keyboard connected to the PC. On the correction condition setting screen, the range of objects to be extracted, the presence / absence of extraction of objects of different sizes including color differences and aspect ratio scaling, and data extrapolation ON / OFF when the objects are gradations are displayed. OFF is designated (108).

  It is determined from the contents designated in step 108 whether or not an object of a different color is extracted (109). When extracting different colors (109: Y), all color gamuts except for achromatic colors are targeted (110), and when different colors are not extracted (109: N), only specified colors are targeted (111). A color gamut is stored in the RAM 6 after being converted into a notation of a target Postscript or a signal value such as RGB in the unit 8. Thereafter, objects having a congruent relationship are extracted from the attribute of each pixel (112).

  It is determined from the contents specified in step 108 whether only the objects to be extracted are congruent or objects having a size different from the specified object are extracted (113). Here, when it is not specified to extract an object of a different size (113: N), the object extraction process such as a size difference is not performed. In addition, when it is specified to extract objects of different sizes and colors or different sizes (113: Y), the object specified in the processing unit is developed into a bitmap (114), and the object is further deformed according to the magnification. (115), and the extraction unit 9 extracts all object groups including objects having different sizes and magnifications (116).

  If the specified object is gradation, it is determined whether the extrapolated data specified in step 108 is ON or OFF (117). When extrapolation data ON is selected (117: Y) and gradation exists in the designated object, the chromaticity after gradation correction accompanying color correction is predicted and stored in the RAM 6 (118). When extrapolation data OFF is selected (117: N), only the designated color is processed regardless of the presence or absence of gradation. Next, color replacement of pixels on the object designated by the color replacement unit 10 is executed (119), and data is supplied to the output unit 12 (120).

  Details of designation of an object executed in the first instruction unit 3 and the second instruction unit 4 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. A document image supplied from an external terminal such as a PC is supplied into the CPU 7 via the interface 5, developed into a raster image by the processing unit 8, and the data is stored in the RAM 6. FIG. 5 is a table of data corresponding to each pixel developed into a raster image. In this way, a configuration is adopted in which data can be read using the coordinates of each pixel as an address. An image is displayed on the display unit 2 based on RGB values in this data.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a display example of the first instruction unit 3 and the second instruction unit 4 for designating color replacement. In this figure, the left side serves as the first instruction unit 3 and the right side serves as the second instruction unit 4. The user uses, for example, a mouse or a touch sensor installed on the display unit 2 to specify the pixel of the object whose color is to be replaced in the document on the document image shown on the left side of FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the document image, and the corresponding portion of the object is designated as indicated by the schematic diagram cross-shaped point in FIG.

  When the corresponding portion is designated, the chromaticity of the corresponding portion is displayed on the upper right portion of the screen as shown in FIG. 6, for example, and the chromaticity is designated as the second instruction portion 4 to prompt the input of the corrected chromaticity. An input field is displayed. Here, if the reading value is unique to the scanner such as RGB, the color displayed by the apparatus and ink characteristics is not uniquely determined. Therefore, for example, L * a * b * which is a CIE uniform color space coordinate as shown in FIG. Convert to and seek. The conversion to L * a * b * is created by the processing unit 8 using a conversion table from RGB to L * a * b * stored in the ROM, and the display unit 2 via the interface 5. Is displayed as numerical data together with a correction value input field at the lower right.

  For example, the user inputs a correction value from the keyboard in the correction value input field at the lower right of the screen described above at the second instruction unit 4. When the user inputs a correction value, the specified correction value is temporarily stored in the RAM 6. In addition, since the user does not know what color L * a * b * represents specifically, the correction value is not prompted after displaying L * a * b * of the target pixel. Such a palette may be displayed to select the corrected color. In this case, first, the color 30 according to the RGB value before correction is displayed prominently by blinking or a thick frame. When the user designates the corrected color 31 by touching the screen or clicking with the mouse or the like, the RGB value corresponding to the color is stored in the RAM 6 as the corrected value.

  For example, FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing the movement on the chromaticity diagram when the object specified by the document data is specified as a brighter and brighter color. The white circle 40 is the color before correction, and the black circle 41 is Each color after correction is shown. In this chromaticity diagram, the higher the L * is, the brighter the color is, and the farther away from the L * axis, the higher the saturation.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of the layout of the document image on the display unit 2. In this figure, a region 50 represented by a straight line represents a body, and a region 51 enclosed by a rectangle represents a title or logo region. In this embodiment, first, an object having the same size and configuration as the designated object is extracted from data expressed in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL), and objects having different sizes are also extracted.

  Hereinafter, details of object group extraction including objects of the same size and objects of different sizes executed by the extraction unit 9 of FIG. 1 will be described.

  First, in the operation shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the user designates a logo as a color replacement target and performs processing in the following procedure, for example. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the object extraction procedure. First, pixel value data obtained by bitmapping a selected object including a circumscribed rectangle is stored in the RAM 6 as a template (200). Therefore, the PDL is first analyzed (201), and a conjoined object is extracted in comparison with the case where the selected data is expressed and displayed by the final output device (202).

  Next, after analyzing the layout of an image that has been subjected to bitmap development (203) in coarse pixel units (204), a logo character portion is searched for, and the circumscribed rectangle as an object candidate. In accordance with the circumscribed rectangle of this object candidate, the template stored in the RAM 6 is scaled to the same size both vertically and horizontally (205), and template matching is performed (206).

In template matching, the difference between the template and the object candidate is obtained for every pixel in the rectangle in units of pixels, and the absolute value is divided by the total number of pixels in the rectangle as shown below.

  Here, St (i, j) is the pixel value of the template, and So (i, j) is the pixel value of the object candidate. When this value is compared with a threshold value stored in the ROM 11 in advance, and the value is smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the object candidate is an object.

Alternatively, the normalized correlation within the rectangle is obtained by the following equation, and the object candidate may be an object when the difference from the template is smaller than the threshold value stored in the ROM 11.

  The above operation is performed on all object candidates to extract an object group (correction target object).

Only the pixel corresponding to the chromaticity of the specified point described above is replaced with the specified chromaticity for the extracted object group.

  The color replacement performed by the color replacement unit 10 in FIG. 1 is performed by replacing the chromaticity with a desired value, and then converting the chromaticity into the ink amount, sRGB, and the like using a lookup table or the like stored in the ROM 11. In conversion, it matches the form of the output unit 12.

  When the object has a gradation of gradation or rainbow, the color of the pixel to be replaced is changed and the gradation up to the end point is gradually changed.

  FIG. 12 shows the chromaticity before (◯) and after (●) the gradation-like object color correction. In this figure, t1 indicates the chromaticity of the pixel designated on the object, t3 indicates the chromaticity of the pixel corresponding to the end point of the gradation, and t2 indicates the chromaticity of the pixel corresponding to the intermediate point of the gradation.

  As shown in this figure, the chromaticities of the end points of the gradation are matched, and the chromaticity of the pixel corresponding to the intermediate point is generated along a curve connecting t1 to t2 and t3, and t2 is the color of the point on the curve Select the degree and perform color correction. In this figure, t1 'is a correction value designated by the second instruction unit 4, and t2' is a correction value calculated using extrapolated data from t1, t2, and t1 '.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, not only a specific object specified in a document but also an object similar or similar to a specified object in a document can be color-adjusted all at once. Thus, color replacement of an object group including objects having different sizes and aspect ratios can be executed, and the user can replace the color with a desired color.

  In this embodiment, the function for carrying out the invention is stored in advance in the apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same function may be downloaded from the network to the apparatus, and the same function is recorded. What is stored in the medium may be installed in the apparatus. The recording medium may be any form as long as the recording medium can store the program and can be read by the apparatus, such as a CD-ROM. In addition, the function obtained by installing or downloading in advance may be realized in cooperation with an OS (operating system) inside the apparatus.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input part 2 ... Display part 3 ... 1st instruction | indication part 4 ... 2nd instruction | indication part 5 ... Interface 6 ... RAM
7 ... CPU
8 ... Processing unit 9 ... Extraction unit 10 ... Color replacement unit 11 ... ROM
12 ... Output section

Claims (10)

A first instruction unit for designating a color correction target pixel in a specific object in a displayed document image;
A second instruction unit for specifying color information after correction of the color correction target pixel;
A display unit for displaying the document image, color information before correction of the pixel specified by the first instruction unit, and color information after correction of the pixel specified by the second instruction unit;
An extracting unit that extracts an object having at least one of the characteristics of the specific object as a correction target object from the document image;
The color of the pixel for color correction of the specific object specified by the first instruction unit and the color of the pixel of the correction target object extracted by the extraction unit that is the same as the color of the color correction target pixel are specified by the second instruction unit. A print data adjustment apparatus comprising: a color replacement unit that replaces based on designated color information.   The print data adjustment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the specific object is a common attribute, characteristic, and chromaticity.   The correction target object corresponds to any one of congruence, similarity, aspect ratio deformation, line width deformation, rotating body, and color difference with the specific object, and is a target to be replaced with the specified color. The printing data adjustment apparatus described.   A third instructing unit for setting correction conditions such as limitation of objects to be subjected to color correction such as presence / absence of extraction of different sizes, presence / absence of extraction of different colors, and presence / absence of data extrapolation for the specific object; The print data adjustment apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:   When extracting the correction target object, for an object having a congruent relationship with the specified specific object among the correction target objects, the page description language data of the object and the specified page description language of the specific object 3. The print data adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the two match each other and are determined to be the same, the print data adjustment device is a color replacement target.   When extracting the correction target object, for an object having a relationship of similarity, aspect ratio deformation, and line width deformation with the specified specific object among the correction target objects, the object is expanded into a bitmap and image verification is performed. The print data adjustment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when it is determined that the objects are the same, the print data adjustment apparatus is a color replacement target.   2. The color replacement unit according to claim 1, wherein the color replacement unit predicts the color after adjustment of the pixels around the pixel in the correction target object that exhibits a color to be subjected to color replacement, and performs color replacement. Print data adjustment device.   2. The color replacement method according to claim 1, wherein when the color replacement target object has gradation, information representing a gradation pattern is acquired from the data of the object, and an adjustment color is predicted based on the information to perform color replacement. Print data adjustment device. When a specific color in a specific object of the document image is selected according to a user instruction, a correction field for the specific color is shown.
When a color after correction is designated by a user instruction, a correction target object having at least one matching characteristic among the characteristics of the specific object is extracted from the document image;
A print data adjustment method for replacing a specific color of the extracted object with the specified color. In an electronic computer or an image forming apparatus incorporating an electronic computer, the electronic computer includes:
When a specific color in a specific object of the document image is selected, a correction value for the specific color is input,
When a color after correction is specified, a correction target object having at least one matching characteristic with the characteristic of the specific object is extracted from the document image,
A print data adjustment program for causing a specific color of the extracted object to be replaced with the specified color.

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