JP2011138447A - System and apparatus for processing image, image forming apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the consumption of resources and a degradation in the accuracy of color reproduction relating to reprinting. <P>SOLUTION: In an image processing system 1 having a print controller 2 for outputting image data on the input of a print job and a print engine 3 for forming an image based on the image data, the print controller 2 includes a control part 21 for outputting color adjustment data for gamma adjustment of the image data, and a storage part 22 for storing the color adjustment data, the print engine 3 includes a storage part 32 for storing input color adjustment data, an operation panel 36 for editing the color adjustment data, a control part 31 for outputting the edited color adjustment data to the print controller 2, and an adjustment part 33 for applying gamma adjustment to the image data according to the color adjustment data, and the control part 21 stores the edited color adjustment data in the storage part 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a program.

  When an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a printer, image processing such as a print controller is performed between the printer and a device (for example, a PC or a portable terminal) that outputs an instruction (print job) for causing the printer to perform image formation. There is a method of interposing a device. When a print job is input, the print controller performs rasterization processing for generating image data such as a bitmap based on a page description language (hereinafter referred to as “PDL”) included in the print job, Output image data. The printer forms an image based on the image data input from the print controller.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of a print job.
The print job of this example includes PJL (Printer Job Language) and PDL.
PJL is information in which commands related to image formation are described in a command format. One of the contents determined by the PJL command is contents relating to color adjustment data applied to image data generated by PDL.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of color adjustment data.
The color adjustment data shown in FIG. 19 includes four sets of gamma conversion tables indicating the relationship between input tone values and output tone values, and each set includes cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black. Corresponds to each color of (K).
The gamma conversion table shown in FIG. 19 shows the relationship between the input / output gradations of each color of 256 gradations, that is, 8 [bit] color.

  As shown in FIG. 19, each set of gamma conversion tables is data that can be represented by an independent gamma characteristic curve for each color, and the locus of each gamma characteristic curve corresponds to the gamma value of each color.

  The gamma value is a value indicating the intensity of the gamma characteristic curve, and if the gamma value is positive, the output gradation value (vertical axis shown in FIG. 19) is the input gradation value (horizontal axis shown in FIG. 19). A relatively large curve (for example, the uppermost curve of ADJUST2 shown in FIG. 19) is shown, and if it is negative, a curve (for example, the figure where the output gradation value becomes relatively small with respect to the input gradation value) Any curve of ADJUST1 shown in FIG. The magnitude of the curve changes depending on the absolute value of the gamma value. The smaller the absolute value of the gamma value, the smaller the difference between the input gradation value and the output gradation value, and the smaller the curve. As the absolute value of the gamma value increases, the difference between the input gradation value and the output gradation value increases, and the curve increases.

  As shown in FIG. 19, each color adjustment data is given a color adjustment data name. For example, the description of “@PJL SET COLORADJUST = ADJUST1” shown in FIG. 18 is the color adjustment of “ADJUST1” shown in FIG. Indicates that color adjustment data having a data name is applied.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the color adjustment based on the color adjustment data is a process in which each color of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) is subjected to gradation adjustment independently. This is different from processing related to color space conversion by application of an ICC profile.

  The PDL is a command for instructing image drawing, and the print controller interprets the contents of the PDL command, performs rasterization processing, and generates image data.

Conventionally, when performing a rasterization process, a print controller generates image data that has been subjected to gamma adjustment using color adjustment data. That is, the image data generated by the print controller has only the color information after the gamma adjustment by the color adjustment data.
For this reason, even if the drawing content specified by the PDL is the same as that of the past print job, the color adjustment data specified by the PJL may be changed to be printed again (hereinafter referred to as “reprint”). ), The printer controller performs rasterization processing again to generate new image data, and inputs it to the printer (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-82482 A

  However, in the above-described image data generation by the conventional print controller, rasterization processing is performed every time reprinting with different color adjustment data, so that the processing capacity of the print controller is greatly reduced for reprinting with different color adjustment data. As a result, the processing capability that can be allocated for rasterization processing based on other print jobs is reduced, and the response of the print controller is deteriorated.

In addition, a configuration for performing gamma adjustment in a printer may be provided to perform gamma adjustment of image data input to the printer.
Here, when the image data in a state where the gamma adjustment by the color adjustment data is applied at the time of the rasterizing process is generated, the color information before the gamma adjustment by the color adjustment data, that is, the image when the gamma adjustment by the color adjustment data is not taken into consideration Data gradation information (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “original gradation information”) is lost.
For this reason, when generating image data in a state where gamma adjustment by color adjustment data is applied when performing rasterization processing, gamma adjustment in the printer is for image data after gamma adjustment by color adjustment data, and the original gradation information Gamma adjustment cannot be performed for. That is, color adjustment is further performed on the image data after color adjustment by the color adjustment data, and the accuracy of color reproduction based on the original gradation information is lowered.

  It is an object of the present invention to reduce resource consumption and color reproduction accuracy reduction related to reprinting.

  The invention according to claim 1 is an image processing apparatus having an image processing apparatus that outputs image data based on an input of a print job and an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on the image data. Includes a first control unit that outputs color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data, and a first storage unit that stores the color adjustment data. A second storage unit that stores color adjustment data input from the processing device, an editing unit that edits the color adjustment data, and a second unit that outputs the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit to the image processing device. The image data based on at least one of the color adjustment data output from the first control unit and the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit. Comprising an adjustment unit that performs Ma adjustment, wherein the first control unit may be stored color adjustment data input from the image forming apparatus to the first storage unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first aspect, the first control unit edits the color adjustment data stored in the first storage unit and performs color adjustment after editing. Data is output to the image forming apparatus.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the second aspect, the first control unit uses the alias name of the color adjustment data after editing as the color adjustment data before editing. It is memorized in.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to any one of the first to third aspects, the second control unit aliases the color adjustment data after editing with the color adjustment data before editing. And storing in the second storage unit.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the first control unit outputs ticket data including parameters relating to image formation based on the image data. It is characterized by doing.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the fifth aspect, the first storage unit stores the ticket data, and the second storage unit is input from the image processing device. The editing unit edits the ticket data, the second control unit outputs the ticket data edited by the editing unit to the image processing apparatus, and the first control The unit stores ticket data input from the image forming apparatus in the first storage unit.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the sixth aspect, the first control unit edits the ticket data stored in the first storage unit, and stores the edited ticket data. The output to the image forming apparatus.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus that generates image data based on an input of a print job and outputs the image data to the image forming apparatus, the image processing apparatus uses a color for performing gamma adjustment of the image data. A controller that outputs adjustment data; and a storage that stores the color adjustment data. The controller edits the color adjustment data that has been edited by the image forming apparatus and is input from the image forming apparatus. It is stored in one storage unit.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the control unit edits the color adjustment data stored in the storage unit, and the edited color adjustment data is used as the image forming apparatus. It is characterized by being output to.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the ninth aspect, the control unit stores the color adjustment data after editing in the storage unit under the alias of the color adjustment data before editing. And

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to any one of the eighth to tenth aspects, the control unit outputs ticket data including parameters relating to image formation based on the image data. Features.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing device according to the eleventh aspect, the storage unit stores the ticket data, and the control unit is edited by the image forming device, and is stored in the image forming device. The inputted ticket data is stored in the first storage unit.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, the control unit edits ticket data stored in the storage unit and outputs the edited ticket data to the image forming apparatus. It is characterized by doing.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in an image forming apparatus for forming an image based on image data input from the image processing apparatus, a color for performing gamma adjustment of the image data input from the image processing apparatus A storage unit that stores adjustment data, an editing unit that edits the color adjustment data, a control unit that outputs color adjustment data edited by the editing unit to the image processing device, and an output from the image processing device An adjustment unit that performs gamma adjustment of the image data based on at least one of color adjustment data and color adjustment data edited by the editing unit.

  According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourteenth aspect, the control unit causes the storage unit to store the color adjustment data after editing as the color adjustment data before editing. And

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourteenth or fifteenth aspect, the storage unit receives ticket data including parameters relating to image formation based on the image data, which are input from the image processing apparatus. The editing unit edits the ticket data, and the control unit outputs the ticket data edited by the editing unit to the image processing apparatus.

  According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for performing a gamma adjustment of the image data on a computer of an image processing apparatus that generates image data based on a print job input and outputs the image data to an image forming apparatus. It is characterized by functioning as means for outputting color adjustment data, means for storing the color adjustment data, means for storing color adjustment data edited by the image forming apparatus and inputted from the image forming apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 18 is a program, comprising: a computer of an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on image data input from the image processing apparatus; Means for storing color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment, means for editing the color adjustment data, means for outputting the edited color adjustment data to the image processing apparatus, and color adjustment data output from the image processing apparatus Alternatively, the image data may be functioned as means for performing gamma adjustment of the image data based on at least one of the edited color adjustment data.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce resource consumption and color reproduction accuracy reduction related to reprinting.

It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the image processing system by this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of the image formation process by an image processing system. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of ticket data. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of color adjustment data. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process of the image processing system in the edit of the ticket data from PC. An example of display contents during the color utility operation is shown. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of reprint processing when ticket data is edited from a PC. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing flow of the image processing system 1 in editing ticket data from the print engine 3. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a color adjustment data edit screen. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of reprinting processing when ticket data is edited on the print engine 3 side. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of a print controller that receives a print job. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of a print engine that receives print data. An example of ticket data including a parameter indicating whether overwriting can be performed is shown. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the overwrite process of the ticket data after edit. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the overwrite process of the color adjustment data after editing. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the ticket data to which several color adjustment data were added. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of embodiment of the image processing system which applies several color adjustment data with respect to image data. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a print job. It is a figure which shows an example of color adjustment data.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of an image processing system 1 according to this embodiment.
The image processing system 1 includes a print controller 2, a print engine 3, and a PC 4.

The print controller 2 functions as an image processing apparatus that generates image data based on a print job input and inputs the image data to the print engine 3.
The print controller 2 includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, a network unit 23, and a data transmission / reception unit 24, and each unit of the print controller 2 is connected by a bus 25.

  The control unit 21 controls the operation of each unit of the print controller 2. The control unit 21 of the present embodiment includes a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM. The CPU reads various programs, data, and the like corresponding to the processing contents from the ROM to the RAM and executes or processes them to perform various processes. The control unit 21 performs image data generation processing based on print job input and image data input processing to the print engine 3.

  The storage unit 22 functions as a storage device that can store various programs, data, and the like. The storage unit 22 stores color adjustment data having a gamma conversion table for each color of CMYK. The storage unit 22 can store a plurality of color adjustment data. These color adjustment data are different from each other, and the gamma conversion table is different for at least one of CMYK colors. The storage unit 22 may be a combination of a read-only storage device or medium (ROM) and a rewritable storage device or medium, or may be configured only by a rewritable storage device or medium.

  The network unit 23 functions as a communication device for performing communication between an external device such as the PC 4 and the print controller. The network unit 23 is, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) or the like, and enables data transfer by communication via a wired or wireless communication line 42 between the print controller 2 and an external device such as the PC 4.

  The data transmission / reception unit 24 functions as an interface for performing data transmission / reception between the print controller 2 and the print engine 3.

The print engine 3 functions as an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on the image data input from the print controller 2.
The print engine 3 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, an adjustment unit 33, an image forming unit 34, a data transmission / reception unit 35 and an operation panel 36, and each unit of the print engine 3 is connected by a bus 37.

The control unit 31 controls the operation of each unit of the print engine 3. The control unit 31 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM. The CPU reads out programs, data, and the like corresponding to the processing contents from the ROM to the RAM and executes or processes them to perform various processes.
The storage unit 32 functions as a storage area that can store various programs, data, and the like. The storage unit 32 stores image data and color adjustment data input from the print controller 2. The storage unit 32 may be a combination of a read-only storage device or medium (ROM) and a rewritable storage device or medium, or may be configured only by a rewritable storage device or medium.

The storage unit 32 stores correction data.
The correction data is data indicating a gamma conversion table for each color of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K), similar to the color adjustment data, and is used when color adjustment of image data is performed. Data used. The correction data is data indicating a 256 gradation gamma conversion table for each color of CMYK.

  The correction data is data for correcting the inherent gamma characteristic of the print engine 3. For example, there is a difference between a gamma characteristic of a color specified by print data input to the print engine 3 and a gamma characteristic at the time of image formation output based on the color development of each color toner used for image formation by the print engine 3. May occur. Such a difference is corrected by the correction data so that the gamma characteristic of the color designated by the input print data is reproduced at the time of image formation. In addition to the color development characteristics of the toner, the gamma of the color specified by the print data due to various causes such as changes in the charging characteristics of the photosensitive drum, changes in the resistance characteristics of the transfer belt, changes in characteristics depending on the type of recording paper, etc. Differences from the characteristics occur, and these differences are corrected.

The adjustment unit 33 performs color adjustment of the image data. The color adjustment of the image data by the adjustment unit 33 is a process of performing gamma adjustment of the image data based only on the color adjustment data and the correction data or the correction data.
The image forming unit 34 forms an image on a print medium such as paper. Hereinafter, the image formation by the image forming unit 34 is referred to as “printing”.

  The data transmission / reception unit 35 functions as an interface for performing data transmission / reception between the print controller 2 and the print engine 3. The data transmitter / receiver 23 and the data transmitter / receiver 35 are connected by a cable 41 or the like.

  The operation panel 36 is a display input device having a function as a display unit that displays various types of information regarding the operation of the print engine 3 and a function as an operation unit that performs various input instructions to the print engine 3.

  The PC 4 is an external device that performs input to the print controller 2. The PC 4 can perform various processes such as input of a print job to the print controller 2, editing of the print job, and registration and editing of color adjustment data described later.

  The PC 4 has at least a control unit 43 and a storage unit 44. The storage unit 44 stores at least the printer driver P41, the job editing utility P42, and the color utility P43, and the control unit 43 reads the printer driver P41, the job editing utility P42, or the color utility P43 from the storage unit 44 and executes it according to the processing content. To process. The printer driver P41 is a program for outputting a print job. The job editing utility P42 is a program for editing a print job output in the past. The color utility P43 is a program for registering and editing color adjustment data.

Next, image forming processing by the image processing system 1 will be described.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of image forming processing by the image processing system 1.
First, the color utility P43 is executed by the PC 4, and the color adjustment data is registered or edited in the print controller 2 via the color utility P43 (arrow 61 in FIG. 2). The registered or edited color adjustment data is stored in the storage unit 22 of the print controller 2. The registration and editing of the color adjustment data need only be performed before inputting a print job to the print controller 2, and need not be performed every time a print job is input. The color adjustment data is stored in the storage unit 22.

Next, a print job is input to the print controller 2 through the execution process of the printer driver P41 by the PC 4 (arrow 62 in FIG. 2). The print job is input to the control unit 21 via the network unit 23.
When the print job is input, the control unit 21 analyzes the print job (63 in FIG. 2), performs rasterization processing (64 in FIG. 2), and generates image data based on the PDL included in the print job (FIG. 2). 2 of 65). In the rasterizing process, even if the PJL command included in the print job includes the content indicating the designation of color adjustment data and its application, the control unit 21 generates image data without applying the color adjustment data.

  Then, after analyzing the print job, the control unit 21 reads the color adjustment data specified by the PJL command based on the specification of the color adjustment data included in the PJL command of the print job (arrow 66 in FIG. 2). It is added to the ticket data of the print job (arrow 67 in FIG. 2). Although not shown, when the color adjustment data is not designated by the PJL command, the color adjustment data is not added to the ticket data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of ticket data.
The ticket data is data having various items related to image formation and parameters thereof. As items included in the ticket data, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the number of copies of the print medium on which an image is formed by the print job (“number of copies” in FIG. 3), the presence / absence of printing on both sides of the print medium (“ Single side / double side ”) and information relating to stapling (“ Staple ”in FIG. 3), but not limited to the items shown in FIG. 3, various items relating to image formation can be included in the ticket data.
The ticket data is input from the PC 4 to the print controller 2 together with the input of the print job. The ticket data is stored in the storage unit 22.

  As shown in FIG. 3, information relating to color adjustment can be included as an item of ticket data (“color information” in FIG. 3). Then, color adjustment data used for color adjustment can be added (“color adjustment data” in FIG. 3). The print controller 2 adds the color adjustment data specified by the PJL to the ticket data.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the color adjustment data. As shown in FIG. 4, the color adjustment data is data having a plurality of numerical values for each color of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The numerical value included in the color adjustment data corresponds to the gamma curve of each color as shown in the example of FIG.

The control unit 21 outputs the ticket data and the image data as print data via the data transmission / reception unit 24 (68 in FIG. 2).
When the PJL command included in the print job includes contents indicating the designation and application of the color adjustment data, the control unit 21 outputs the ticket data and the image data after adding the color adjustment data to the ticket data.
When the PJL command included in the print job does not include the content indicating the designation of color adjustment data and its application, the control unit 21 does not add the color adjustment data to the ticket data via the data transmission / reception unit 24. Ticket data and image data are output.

  The ticket data includes information associating the ticket data with a print job to which the ticket data is applied, information associating the ticket data with image data, and the like. The image data output via the data transmission / reception unit 24 is output as print data together with ticket data including association information with the image data.

The print engine 3 to which image data and ticket data are input as print data forms an image based on the image data and ticket data.
Specifically, the control unit 31 first stores the input image data and ticket data in the storage unit 32 (arrow 69 in FIG. 2). Then, the control unit 31 causes the adjustment unit 33 to perform color adjustment of the image data.

  The adjustment unit 33 reads the input image data (arrow 70 in FIG. 2). Then, the adjustment unit 33 applies the color adjustment data added to the ticket data input together with the image data (arrow 71 in FIG. 2) and the correction data stored in the storage unit 32 to the read image data. Is applied (arrow 72 in FIG. 2) to adjust the color of the image data (73 in FIG. 2). The image data after color adjustment is output to the image forming unit 34 (74 in FIG. 2). The image forming unit 34 that has received the image data prints the image data.

  The color adjustment data indicated by the arrow 71 in FIG. 2 is applied when the color adjustment instruction is given by the ticket data, that is, when the “color adjustment” item of the ticket data shown in FIG. 3 is “Yes”. Done.

  The processing when applying both the color adjustment data added to the ticket data and the correction data stored in the storage unit 32 to the image data is not limited to one method. For example, after the adjustment unit 33 performs color adjustment to apply one of the color adjustment data and the correction data to the image data, the color adjustment to apply the other to the image data after the color adjustment by one is performed. Also good. On the other hand, the control unit 31 generates one data (for example, a color adjustment table) for adjusting the color of the image data based on the gamma conversion table for each color specified by the color adjustment data and the correction data. The unit 33 may perform color adjustment based on the one data.

  When the color adjustment instruction is not given by the ticket data, that is, when the “color adjustment” item of the ticket data is “No” as shown in FIG. 3, the adjustment unit 33 only applies the correction data to the image data. To adjust the color.

  Next, editing of ticket data will be described. The ticket data can be edited from the PC 4 or the print engine 3. The image processing system 1 has a function of performing reprint processing based on edited ticket data and color adjustment data.

First, a case where ticket data is edited from the PC 4 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing of the image processing system 1 in editing ticket data from the PC 4.
First, an instruction to edit ticket data is issued (81 in FIG. 5).
The editing of ticket data is a process of changing parameters for various items included in the ticket data. For editing ticket data, a job editing utility P42 is used.
Accordingly, the PC 4 makes a request for obtaining ticket data stored in the print controller 2 to the print controller 2 (82 in FIG. 5). The print controller 2 outputs the ticket data information stored in the storage unit 22 to the PC 4 as a response to the request from the PC 4. The PC 4 displays an execution screen (ticket data editing screen) of the job editing utility P42 reflecting the input ticket data information (83 in FIG. 5).
Thereafter, the ticket data to be edited is selected and the selected ticket data is edited by an input operation on the PC 4.

When editing the ticket data, the user can edit the color adjustment data applied to the image data. In that case, an instruction to edit the color adjustment data is issued (84 in FIG. 5). A color utility P43 is used for editing the color adjustment data.
Accordingly, the PC 4 issues a request for obtaining color adjustment data stored in the print controller 2 to the print controller 2 (85 in FIG. 5). The print controller 2 outputs information on the color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 22 to the PC 4 as a response to the request from the PC 4 (86 in FIG. 5). The PC 4 displays the screen of the color utility P43 based on the returned color adjustment data. The user can edit the color adjustment data by performing an input operation on the display contents of the color utility P43.

FIG. 6 shows an example of display contents when the color utility P43 is operated.
In editing the color adjustment data, as shown in FIG. 6, the images before and after editing the color adjustment data are displayed. The displayed images before and after editing the color adjustment data correspond to the rendering contents of the image data that undergoes color adjustment by the color adjustment data to be edited.
In the example shown in FIG. 6, an image before editing color adjustment data is displayed on the left side (Before), and a screen after editing color adjustment data is displayed on the right side (after). The user can edit the color adjustment data while checking the images before and after editing the color adjustment data.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the display content when the color utility P43 is operated includes a gamma curve G. The color adjustment data is edited by manually operating the gamma curve of each color. Specifically, when the color utility P43 is activated, the gamma curve before editing the color adjustment data is displayed. Then, the user designates a color to be edited with a check box, and points (designates) and drags a desired position of the gamma curve. Along with this drag operation, the gamma curve can be changed to a point as a vertex. An arbitrary number of points can be designated, and the gamma curve can be changed to a curve having the designated number of vertices. Further, the position once pointed can be released. The color adjustment data is edited by the above manual operation.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the display contents when the color utility P43 is operated include check boxes C1 to C5 corresponding to cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and all colors. The display content of the gamma curve G corresponds to the check content of the check boxes C1 to C5. That is, the user can display and edit only the data of the color selected by the check boxes C1 to C5 on the gamma curve G. As a result, it is possible to prevent erroneous manipulation and editing of a gamma curve of a color that does not need to be edited.

  When the color adjustment data is edited, the edited ticket data is associated with the edited color adjustment data. When the color adjustment data is not edited, the same color adjustment data as the ticket data before editing is associated with the edited ticket data.

  When the editing of the color adjustment data is completed and the user instructs to save the color adjustment data (87 in FIG. 5), the PC 4 outputs the edited color adjustment data to the print controller 2 (88 in FIG. 5). . The print controller 2 stores the input edited color adjustment data in the storage unit 22 (89 in FIG. 5). When the editing of the ticket data is completed and the user instructs to save the ticket data (90 in FIG. 5), the PC 4 outputs the edited ticket data to the print controller 2 (91 in FIG. 5). The print controller 2 stores the input ticket data after editing in the storage unit 22 (92 in FIG. 5). The data output contents indicated by 86 and 89 in FIG. 5 do not include image data.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of reprinting processing when ticket data is edited from the PC 4.
First, the job editing utility P42 is executed by the PC 4 (arrow 101 in FIG. 7), and the ticket data is edited. When editing the color adjustment data, the color adjustment data is edited via the color utility P43 (arrow 102 in FIG. 7). The edited ticket data and color adjustment data are output from the PC 4 to the print controller 2 (arrow 103 in FIG. 7). When the color adjustment data is being edited, the PC 4 outputs both the ticket data and the color adjustment data to the print controller 2. When the color adjustment data is not edited, the PC 4 outputs only the ticket data to the print controller 2. The print controller 2 stores ticket data and color adjustment data input from the PC 4 in the storage unit 22.

  In the present embodiment, the job editing utility P42 and the color utility P43 are programs that provide an interface for performing an input operation. The control unit 21 of the print controller 2 edits the ticket data and the color adjustment data according to the input operation contents performed through the job editing utility P42 and the color utility P43. The storage unit 22 stores a program for the control unit 21 to perform ticket data editing processing and color adjustment data editing processing, and the control unit 21 reads a program corresponding to the processing content from the storage unit 22 and executes it. To process.

When the print controller 2 receives the edit of the ticket data and the color adjustment data, the print controller 2 outputs the ticket data to the print engine 3 (104 in FIG. 7). When the color adjustment data is being edited, the print controller 2 outputs both the ticket data and the color adjustment data to the print engine 3. When the color adjustment data is not edited, the print controller 2 outputs only the ticket data to the print engine 3.
The print engine 3 to which the edited ticket data is input forms an image based on the edited ticket data and image data associated with the ticket data.
Specifically, the control unit 31 first stores the edited ticket data in the storage unit 32 (arrow 105 in FIG. 7). Then, the control unit 31 causes the adjustment unit 33 to perform color adjustment of the image data (106 in FIG. 7). The flow of color adjustment by the adjusting unit 33 is the same as the contents shown in FIG. Here, when the color adjustment data is being edited, the edited color adjustment data is used. On the other hand, when the color adjustment data is not edited, the color adjustment data before editing stored in the storage unit 32 of the print engine 3 is used. The image data after color adjustment is output to the image forming unit 34 (107 in FIG. 2). The image forming unit 34 that has received the image data prints the image data.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the color adjustment data can be individually provided for each page of the image data. It is possible to provide the color adjustment data individually for each page of the image data, not only for reprinting but also during normal image formation shown in FIG. In this case, information indicating which color adjustment data is applied to which page may be added to the ticket data.

Next, editing of ticket data by the print engine 3 will be described.
The print engine 3 has a function of editing ticket data and color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 32. Editing of ticket data and color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 32 by the print engine 3 is performed via the operation panel 36.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing of the image processing system 1 in editing ticket data from the print engine 3.
When an instruction to edit ticket data is given via the operation panel 36 (111 in FIG. 8), the control unit 31 displays a ticket data editing screen on the operation panel 36 (112 in FIG. 8). The user can select ticket data to be edited and edit the selected ticket data through an input operation on the ticket data editing screen.

  When an instruction to edit color adjustment data is input on the ticket data editing screen (113 in FIG. 8), the control unit 31 displays the color adjustment data editing screen on the operation panel (114 in FIG. 8). The editing of the color adjustment data via the operation panel 36 is performed via the color adjustment data editing screen. Selection of color adjustment data to be edited can be performed by selecting ticket data on the above-described ticket data editing screen.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a color adjustment data editing screen.
The color adjustment data editing screen shown in FIG. 9 is display contents displayed on the operation panel 36. As shown in FIG. 9, the images before and after editing the color adjustment data are displayed. The displayed images before and after editing the color adjustment data correspond to the rendering contents of the image data that undergoes color adjustment by the color adjustment data to be edited.
In the example shown in FIG. 9, an image before editing color adjustment data is displayed on the left side (Before), and a screen after editing color adjustment data is displayed on the right side (after). The user can edit the color adjustment data while checking the images before and after editing the color adjustment data.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the display content of the color adjustment data editing screen includes gamma curves G1 to G4. The gamma curves G1 to G4 display the gamma curves of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, respectively. The editing of the color adjustment data from the print engine 3 side is performed by manually operating the gamma curves G1 to G4 of the respective colors. Specifically, gamma curves G1 to G4 before editing of the color adjustment data are displayed at the start of editing the color adjustment data via the color adjustment data editing screen. Then, the user manually operates the gamma curves G1 to G4 to edit the color adjustment data.

  The user selects one of “low”, “medium”, “high”, and “overall” buttons provided below the gamma curves G1 to G4 of each color, and an edit button E1 provided above the “OK” button. The color adjustment data is edited by an operation on E2. Specifically, among the gamma curves G1 to G4, one of the “low”, “medium”, “high”, and “whole” buttons below the gamma curve to be edited is operated. After that, when the edit button B1 on which an upward arrow is drawn is pressed, the arc of the gamma curve is deformed so as to expand to the upper left. On the other hand, when the edit button B2 on which a downward arrow is drawn is pressed, the arc of the gamma curve is deformed so as to swell to the lower right. Various buttons “low”, “medium”, “high”, and “overall” are buttons for selecting which part of the gamma curve is to be deformed. The “Low”, “Medium”, and “High” buttons are for the low-saturation, middle, and high-saturation parts of the gamma curve, respectively. The “Whole” button is for the entire gamma curve. It is a button.

  The color adjustment data editing screen has an OK button B3 and a cancel button B4. When the OK button B3 is operated, the edited color adjustment data is stored in the storage unit 32. On the other hand, when the cancel button B4 is operated, the edited color adjustment data is discarded.

  When the editing of the color adjustment data is completed and the user instructs to save the color adjustment data (115 in FIG. 8), the control unit 31 saves the color adjustment data in the storage unit 32 (116 in FIG. 8). Then, the controller 31 outputs the edited color adjustment data to the print controller 2 (arrow 117 in FIG. 8). The control unit 21 of the print controller 2 stores the input color adjustment data after editing in the storage unit 22 (118 in FIG. 8). When the editing of the ticket data is completed and the user instructs to save the ticket data (119 in FIG. 8), the control unit 31 saves the ticket data in the storage unit 32 (120 in FIG. 8). Then, the control unit 31 outputs the edited ticket data to the print controller 2 (121 in FIG. 8). The control unit 21 of the print controller 2 stores the input ticket data after editing in the storage unit 22 (122 in FIG. 8). The data output contents indicated by 117 and 121 in FIG. 8 do not include image data.

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 31 of the print engine 3 reflects the editing content on the ticket data and the color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 32 in accordance with the operation content performed via the operation panel 36. The storage unit 32 stores a program for the control unit 31 to perform ticket data editing processing and color adjustment data editing processing, and a program for causing the operation panel 36 to display a ticket data editing screen and a color adjustment data editing screen. The control unit 31 reads out a program corresponding to the processing content from the storage unit 32 and executes the program.

  After the ticket data is edited using the operation panel 36 or the color adjustment data is edited, the user can perform a reprint instruction input operation via the operation panel 36. The adjustment unit 33 forms an image using image data associated with the edited ticket data. When the color adjustment data is edited, the gamma adjustment of the image data is performed based on the edited color adjustment data and the correction data.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of reprinting processing when ticket data is edited on the print engine 3 side.
First, when an instruction to edit ticket data is given through an input operation from the operation panel 36, a ticket data editing screen is displayed on the operation panel 36 (131 in FIG. 10), and ticket data can be edited. Here, when there is an instruction to edit the color adjustment data, the color adjustment data edit screen is displayed on the operation panel 36 (132 in FIG. 10), and the color adjustment data can be edited.

  After completing the editing of the ticket data and the color adjustment data (133 in FIG. 10), the control unit 31 stores the edited ticket data and the color adjustment data in the storage unit 32 (arrow 134 in FIG. 7). In addition, the control unit 31 outputs the edited ticket data and color adjustment data to the print controller 2 (135 in FIG. 10). When the color adjustment data is being edited, the control unit 31 outputs both the ticket data and the color adjustment data to the print controller 2. When the color adjustment data is not edited, the control unit 31 outputs only the ticket data to the print controller 2. The control unit 21 of the print controller 2 stores the input ticket data and color adjustment data in the storage unit 22 (136 in FIG. 10).

  Further, the control unit 31 causes the adjustment unit 33 to perform color adjustment of the image data (137 in FIG. 10). The flow of color adjustment by the adjusting unit 33 is the same as the contents shown in FIG. Here, when the color adjustment data is being edited, the edited color adjustment data is used. On the other hand, when the color adjustment data is not edited, the color adjustment data before editing stored in the storage unit 32 of the print engine 3 is used. The image data after color adjustment is output to the image forming unit 34 (138 in FIG. 10). The image forming unit 34 that has received the image data prints the image data.

  As shown in FIG. 10, as in the case shown in FIG. 7, color adjustment data can be individually provided for each page of image data. It is possible to provide the color adjustment data individually for each page of the image data, not only for reprinting but also during normal image formation shown in FIG.

  Note that the image processing system 1 can also perform reprint processing without editing ticket data or color adjustment data. In the reprinting process, the user selects ticket data corresponding to a print job to be reprinted via the operation panel 36 of the PC 4 or the print engine 3 and instructs reprinting. The print engine 3 forms an image having contents corresponding to the selected ticket data.

  It is possible to further edit the edited ticket data and color adjustment data. For example, edited ticket data and color adjustment data edited on the print engine 3 side are output to the print controller 2 and stored in the storage unit 22 of the print controller 2. Thereafter, the edited ticket data and color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 22 of the print controller 2 can be further edited by the job editing utility P42 and the color utility P43 of the PC 4. Similarly, edited ticket data and color adjustment data edited by the PC 4 can be further edited on the print engine 3 side.

Next, the flow of various processes by the image processing system 1 will be described using the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 and 12.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of the print controller 2 to which a print job is input.
First, the print controller 2 receives a print job (step S1). Next, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 analyzes the PJL command included in the print job received in step S1 (step S2), performs rasterization processing based on the analysis of the PDL included in the print job, and performs image data processing. Is generated (step S3). Steps S2 and S3 are out of order, and may be in the reverse order of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Next, the control unit 21 determines whether or not the PJL command includes contents instructing application of color adjustment data (step S4). If the PJL command includes content instructing application of color adjustment data (step S4: YES), the control unit 21 reads and acquires color adjustment data from the storage unit 22 (step S5), and acquires it in step S5. The adjusted color data is added to the ticket data (step S6), and the ticket data and the image data generated in step S3 are output as print data (step S7). If the PJL command does not include content for instructing application of color adjustment data (step S4: NO), the process proceeds to step S7.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the print engine 3 to which print data has been input.
First, the print engine 3 receives print data (step S11). Next, the control unit 31 of the print engine 3 stores the ticket data and image data of the print data received in step S11 in the storage unit 32 (step S12). Then, the control unit 31 determines whether there is a color adjustment instruction based on the ticket data (step S13).

When there is a color adjustment instruction by the ticket data (step S13: YES), the adjustment unit 33 reads and acquires the color adjustment data and correction data added to the ticket data from the storage unit 32 (step S14). Then, color adjustment of the image data is performed using the color adjustment data and correction data acquired in step S14 (step S15).
If there is no instruction for color adjustment based on the ticket data (step S13: NO), the adjustment unit 33 reads and acquires correction data from the storage unit 32 (step S16), and the color of the image data based on the correction data acquired in step S16. Adjustment is performed (step S17).

  After the processing in step S15 or step S17, the image data on which color adjustment has been performed is output to the image forming unit 34, and the image forming unit 34 to which the image data has been input prints the image data (step S18).

According to this embodiment, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 outputs color adjustment data for gamma adjustment of image data to the print engine 3, and the adjustment unit 33 of the print engine 3 is based on the input color adjustment data. Then, color adjustment is performed on the rasterized image data, and printing is performed using the image data after color adjustment.
Therefore, when it is desired to change the gamma characteristic of the image when performing reprinting, the print controller 2 outputs only the color adjustment data to the print engine 3, and the image based on the color adjustment data input at the time of reprinting on the print engine 3 side. You only need to adjust the color of the data. The color adjustment data is data having information on the gamma characteristics, and the amount of data can be made extremely small compared to image data such as a bitmap pattern. Compared to the configuration for outputting data, the traffic during reprinting in the transfer path between the print controller and the print engine for reprinting can be made extremely small. As a result, the transfer time between the print controller and the print engine for reprinting can be shortened, and the time cycle of reprinting can be greatly improved.
Furthermore, since the gamma adjustment based on the color adjustment data is performed by the adjustment unit 33 of the print engine 3, the print controller 2 does not apply the color adjustment data during the rasterization process. For this reason, even if the gamma value is changed when reprinting is performed, the print controller 2 does not need to perform the rasterization process again for the print job in which the gamma value is changed. As a result, the load on the print controller 2 at the time of reprinting can be greatly reduced, and the resources of the print controller 2 can be allocated to other processing, for example, rasterization processing of other print jobs.
Further, the image data input to the print engine 3 is image data before color adjustment. That is, the image data input to the print engine 3 has no loss of gradation information due to the color adjustment data. Therefore, when the color adjustment data is edited by the print engine 3 and applied to the image data, the edited color adjustment data can be applied to the image data before the color adjustment, and the color adjustment based on the color adjustment data is performed. Compared to a conventional configuration in which color adjustment is further performed on subsequent image data, the accuracy of color reproduction based on the original gradation information can be greatly improved.
The print engine 3 further includes an operation panel 36 capable of editing the color adjustment data stored in the storage unit 32, and the adjustment unit 33 is image data based on the color adjustment data edited via the operation panel 36. Adjust the color. Thus, when it is desired to edit the color adjustment data, the color adjustment data can be edited by the print engine 3 alone without using other devices such as the print controller 2 and the PC 4. That is, gamma adjustment of an image printed by the print engine 3 alone can be performed.
Further, the edited color adjustment data edited on the print engine 3 side is output to the print controller 2 and stored in the storage unit 22 of the print controller 2. As a result, the color adjustment data stored in both the print controller 2 and the print engine 3 can be synchronized. For this reason, even when the color adjustment data is edited on the print engine 3 side, when the color adjustment data is edited via the color utility P43 of the PC 4, the edited image is edited on the print engine 3 side. Can be edited based on the color adjustment data, and gamma adjustment based on the editing result from the print engine 3 can be performed.
The input / output of the color adjustment data accompanying the editing of the color adjustment data performed between the print engine 3 and the print controller 2 does not involve the input / output of the image data subjected to the gamma adjustment by the color adjustment data. For this reason, it is possible to perform gamma adjustment of image data without transferring a large amount of data by inputting / outputting image data.
As described above, the image processing system 1 according to the present embodiment can reduce resource consumption and color reproduction accuracy reduction related to reprinting.

  Further, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 edits the color adjustment data according to the operation contents of the color utility of the PC 4. Thus, the edited color adjustment data edited by the print engine 3 can be further edited from an external device such as the PC 4, and the editing history can be inherited between the print engine 3 and the external device.

Further, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 outputs ticket data including parameters related to printing based on the image data to the print engine 3, and the print engine 3 performs printing based on the input ticket data.
The print engine 3 includes an operation panel 36 that can edit the ticket data stored in the storage unit 32, and the print engine 3 performs printing based on the ticket data edited via the operation panel 36. Thus, printing parameters other than the color adjustment data can be edited by the print engine 3 alone without using other devices such as the print controller 2 and the PC 4. That is, the print setting can be changed by the print engine 3 alone.
Further, the edited ticket data edited on the print engine 3 side is output to the print controller 2 and stored in the storage unit 22 of the print controller 2. As a result, the ticket data stored in both the print controller 2 and the print engine 3 can be synchronized. For this reason, even when the ticket data is edited on the print engine 3 side, when the ticket data is edited via the job editing utility P42 of the PC 4, the post-edited data edited on the print engine 3 side is displayed. Editing based on the ticket data can be performed, and print settings can be changed based on the editing result from the print engine 3.
The input / output of ticket data accompanying the editing of ticket data performed between the print engine 3 and the print controller 2 does not involve input / output of image data associated with the ticket data. For this reason, it is possible to change the print settings without transferring a large amount of data by inputting / outputting image data.

Further, the print engine 3 stores the image data in the storage unit 32, uses the same image data as the image data stored in the storage unit 32, and performs printing with color adjustment data different from the past color adjustment data. When performing, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 outputs the changed color adjustment data to the print engine 3 via the job editing utility P42 of the PC 4, and the adjustment unit 33 of the print engine 3 receives the input color adjustment after the change. Color adjustment of image data is performed based on the data, and reprinting is performed using the image data after color adjustment.
For this reason, when performing reprinting using the image data stored in the storage unit 32, the print controller 2 only has to output the changed color adjustment data to the print engine 3, and there is no need to output the image data again. . As a result, as described above, it is possible to reduce resource consumption and color reproduction accuracy reduction related to reprinting.

  Furthermore, as an inquiry regarding image data stored in the storage unit 32 of the print engine 3, the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 acquires information on image data and ticket data held by the print engine 3. The control unit 31 of the print engine 3 returns the image data and ticket data information stored in the storage unit 32 to the print controller 2 based on a request from the print controller 2. As a result, it is possible to grasp the image data stored in the print engine 3 via the print controller 2 or a device connected to the print controller 2, and it is sufficient to input only the color adjustment data to the print engine 3 at the time of reprinting. Reprinting can be performed after grasping the job.

  Further, the storage unit 32 of the print engine 3 stores correction data, and the adjustment unit 33 of the print engine 3 performs color adjustment of image data based on the color adjustment data and the correction data. As a result, it is possible to perform printing while correcting the characteristic relating to the inherent gamma characteristic of the print engine 3 due to the color development of the toner.

  Further, the adjustment unit 33 of the print engine 3 performs the color adjustment of the image data based on either the color adjustment data or the correction data, and then performs the color adjustment of the image data after the gamma adjustment by one based on the other. It can be carried out. As a result, the adjustment unit 33 can perform color adjustment of the image data based on both the color adjustment data and the correction data by repeating the color adjustment processing, and therefore the color of the image data based on both the color adjustment data and the correction data. There is no need to provide the print engine 3 with a special configuration for performing adjustment.

  Further, the control unit 31 of the print engine 3 can generate one data for performing gamma adjustment based on both the color adjustment data and the correction data, and the adjustment unit 33 can generate image data based on the one data. Color adjustments can be made. At this time, the control unit 31 generates the color adjustment table and the color adjustment of the image data based on the color adjustment table is performed by the adjustment unit 33. Therefore, it is possible to distribute the processing load related to the color adjustment of the image data.

  The embodiment of the present invention should be considered that the embodiment disclosed this time is illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  For example, when editing ticket data or color adjustment data, it may be possible to select whether or not to overwrite the ticket data and color adjustment data after editing over the ticket data and color adjustment data before editing.

FIG. 13 shows an example of ticket data including a parameter indicating whether overwriting can be performed.
The ticket data shown in FIG. 13 includes a parameter F1 indicating whether overwriting can be performed. The control unit 21 of the print controller 2 and the control unit 31 of the print engine 3 determine whether or not the edited ticket data is to be overwritten on the pre-edited ticket data based on the parameter F1 indicating whether or not to overwrite.
For example, when “overwrite OK” shown in FIG. 13 indicates that overwriting is permitted, the control units 21 and 31 overwrite and save the edited ticket data on the pre-edited ticket data. . On the other hand, when the parameter F1 indicating whether overwriting can be performed indicates prohibition of overwriting, the control units 21 and 31 do not overwrite the edited ticket data over the pre-edited ticket data but store it under a different name. When saving under a different name, the control units 21 and 31 save the number information F2 and file name information F3 included in the edited ticket data as different from the pre-edited ticket data. Note that the alias of the ticket data after editing may be input from the PC 4 or the operation panel 36.

  The step of adding the parameter F1 indicating whether or not to permit overwriting to the ticket data may be performed at the time of generating the ticket data or after the event. When generating ticket data, the user may manually set whether or not overwriting is possible, and when generating ticket data, a parameter indicating either overwriting permission or overwriting prohibition is automatically given. Also good. When a parameter relating to whether or not to overwrite can be automatically given, the parameter may be changed afterwards by a user's manual operation.

  For overwriting of the edited color adjustment data, the control units 21 and 31 determine whether or not the color adjustment data with the same name is already stored in the storage units 22 and 32 when the edited color adjustment data is stored. If there is color adjustment data with the same name, an inquiry process is performed to allow the user to select whether or not to perform overwriting. Then, when the user instructs overwriting, the color adjustment data after editing is overwritten with the color adjustment data before editing. The inquiry process is performed by displaying an inquiry message on the display device (not shown) included in the PC 4 or the operation panel 36 of the print engine 3 and displaying an option for selecting permission / prohibition of the overwrite storage process. When prohibition of overwriting is selected, the edited color adjustment data is saved with a different name. At this time, an alias of the color adjustment data after editing may be input from the PC 4 or the operation panel 36.

  The flow of the edited ticket data overwrite process and the edited color adjustment data overwrite process will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 14 and 15.

FIG. 14 shows a flow of the ticket data overwriting process after editing.
First, the ticket data is edited and updated by editing the ticket data using the PC 4 or the print engine 3. When the control unit 21 receives the update of the ticket data (step S51), the control unit 21 acquires a parameter F1 indicating whether or not overwriting is permitted included in the ticket data, and determines whether or not overwriting is permitted (step S52). When overwriting is permitted (step S52: YES), the control unit 21 overwrites and saves the ticket data (step S53). On the other hand, when overwriting is prohibited (step S53: NO), the control unit 21 stores the edited ticket data with a file name different from that of the ticket data before editing (step S54).

FIG. 15 shows the flow of overwriting processing of color adjustment data after editing.
First, the color adjustment data is edited and updated by editing the color adjustment data using the PC 4 or the print engine 3. Upon receiving the update of the color adjustment data (Step S61), the control unit 21 determines whether a file with the same name has already been stored in the storage unit 22 (Step S62). When the color adjustment data with the same name is stored in the storage unit 22 (step S62: YES), the control unit 21 makes an inquiry for allowing the user to select whether to perform overwriting (step S63). When overwriting is prohibited in response to the inquiry in step S63 (step S64: NO), the control unit 21 displays a screen for allowing the user to input an alias for the color adjustment data on the display device of the PC 4 (step S65). And based on the input content with respect to the screen of step S65, the control part 21 preserve | saves color adjustment data in the memory | storage part 22 (step S66).
In step S62, when the color adjustment data with the same name is not stored in the storage unit 22 (step S62: NO), the control unit 21 does not perform the processing of steps S63 to S66 and stores the color adjustment data in the storage unit 22. Save (step S67). If overwriting is permitted in step S64 (step S64: YES), the control unit 21 overwrites and saves the color adjustment data (step S68).

  The flow of FIGS. 14 and 15 shows the flow of processing by the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 as an example, but the same applies to the processing by the control unit 31 of the print engine 3.

  As a result, the control units 21 and 31 can store the edited color adjustment data in the storage units 22 and 32 under the same name as the color adjustment data before editing. can do. For example, there is a utilization method in which printing based on the color adjustment data before and after editing is performed for each, and the color adjustment data is edited again based on the color adjustment data obtained with a better printing result. At this time, if the color adjustment data is overwritten, it is difficult to return the color adjustment data to the state before editing when the color adjustment data before editing is better. Although it may occur, it is possible to preserve the color adjustment data before editing by saving the edited color adjustment data with a different name, so that color adjustment based on the color adjustment data before editing can be easily performed. Can do.

The image processing system of the present invention can add a plurality of color adjustment data to one image data.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of ticket data to which a plurality of color adjustment data is added.
As shown in FIG. 16, a plurality of color adjustment data can be added to the ticket data. The addition of a plurality of color adjustment data to the ticket data is not limited to the case where individual color adjustment data is applied to each page as shown in FIGS. It can also be used when one of them is applied.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment of an image processing system that applies a plurality of color adjustment data to image data. In FIG. 17 and the following description, the same components as those in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
In the process of reading the color adjustment data designated by the PJL command performed by the control unit 21 of the print controller 2 and adding it to the ticket data of the print job, the control unit 21 reads a plurality of color adjustment data for the image data. It is added to the ticket data (arrows 151, 152, 153 in FIG. 17). The plurality of color adjustment data added at this time is not color adjustment data individually applied to each page, but a plurality of color adjustment data applied individually to the image data of the same page.

Then, the print engine 3 individually performs color adjustment of the image data to which each of the plurality of color adjustment data added to the ticket data is applied (154, 155, and 156 in FIG. 17), and after color adjustment by each color adjustment data Are individually output to the image forming unit 34 (arrows 157, 158, and 159 in FIG. 17). The image forming unit 34 prints each piece of individually input image data.
In the color adjustment of the image data to which each of the plurality of color adjustment data added to the ticket data is applied, the color adjustment using the correction data is also performed individually.

  That is, the image processing system 1 shown in FIG. 17 can individually obtain the print result of the image data that has been subjected to the color adjustment by each of the plurality of color adjustment data added to the ticket data. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, when three color adjustment data are applied to image data, three print results of image data to which one of the three color adjustment data is applied can be obtained. .

By adding a plurality of color adjustment data to one image data, the user can obtain a plurality of print results of the same image data subjected to gamma adjustment based on each of the plurality of color adjustment data at a time. . That is, when it is desired to obtain a plurality of print results with different color reproduction after color adjustment for the same image, it is not necessary to input a plurality of print jobs, and a single print job input is sufficient.
As a result, when a plurality of gamma conversion table candidates for color adjustment are generated when an image is printed, it is not necessary to input a plurality of print jobs, and all the gamma conversion table candidates can be obtained in one operation. A plurality of used printing results can be confirmed, and the best printing result can be selected.

Note that the plurality of color adjustment data added to one image data may be color adjustment data before editing and color adjustment data after editing. For example, both the color adjustment data before editing input from the PC 4 via the print controller 2 and the color adjustment data after editing edited by the PC 4 or the print engine 3 are added to one image data for editing. An example is a case in which print results based on previous and subsequent color adjustment data can be confirmed together.
Both the plurality of color adjustment data applied individually to the image data of the same page and the plurality of color adjustment data applied individually to each page may be added to the ticket data.

  The color to be subjected to gamma adjustment in the present invention is not limited to CMYK, and may be for color reproduction in another color space. Other color spaces include, for example, only three colors of CMY, only K (black and white), and RGB.

  Instead of the operation panel, an input device and a display device may be provided separately.

  In the above-described embodiment, the adjustment unit 33 is provided as an independent configuration. However, the control unit 31 stores a program for functioning as the adjustment unit 33 in the storage unit 32, and the control unit 31 reads the program. It may be configured to function as an adjustment unit by executing processing.

In the above-described embodiment, the print controller 2 and the print engine 3 are directly connected by the cable 41, but other connection methods may be used. For example, a network connection such as a connection between the print controller 2 and the PC 4 may be used. The print controller 2 and the PC 4 may be connected by a method other than network connection. For example, connection through a one-to-one interface (such as an interface based on USB or other standards) or connection using a dedicated line can be given.
Alternatively, the print controller 2, the print engine 3, and the PC 4 may be interconnected by a network connection or the like so that each can directly transmit and receive data to and from other configurations.

  The image processing system 1 may include any one or a plurality of configurations of the print controller 2, the print engine 3, and the PC 4. The functions of the printer driver, job editing utility, and color utility that the PC 4 has may be shared by a plurality of PCs.

  In the above description, the example in which the ROM is used as the computer-readable medium of the program according to the present invention has been disclosed, but the present invention is not limited to this example. As other computer-readable media, a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory and a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM can be applied. Further, a carrier wave (carrier wave) is also applied to the present invention as a medium for providing program data according to the present invention via a communication line.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Print controller 3 Print engine 21 Control part 23 Network part 24 Data transmission / reception part 31 Control part 32 Storage part 33 Adjustment part 34 Image formation part 35 Data transmission / reception part 36 Operation panel

Claims (18)

In an image processing system having an image processing apparatus that outputs image data based on an input of a print job and an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on the image data,
The image processing device includes a first control unit that outputs color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data;
A first storage unit for storing the color adjustment data,
The image forming apparatus includes a second storage unit that stores color adjustment data input from the image processing apparatus;
An editing unit for editing the color adjustment data;
A second control unit that outputs the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit to the image processing device;
An adjustment unit that performs gamma adjustment of the image data based on at least one of the color adjustment data output from the first control unit or the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit,
The first control unit stores color adjustment data input from the image forming apparatus in the first storage unit.   The first control unit edits the color adjustment data stored in the first storage unit, and outputs the edited color adjustment data to the image forming apparatus. Image processing system.   3. The image processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first control unit stores the edited color adjustment data in the first storage unit with another name as the color adjustment data before editing. 4.   The said 2nd control part memorize | stores the color adjustment data after edit in the said 2nd memory | storage part by the alias name with the color adjustment data before edit. Image processing system.   5. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the first control unit outputs ticket data including a parameter relating to image formation based on the image data. The first storage unit stores the ticket data,
The second storage unit stores ticket data input from the image processing apparatus,
The editing unit edits the ticket data,
The second control unit outputs the ticket data edited by the editing unit to the image processing device,
The image processing system according to claim 5, wherein the first control unit stores ticket data input from the image forming apparatus in the first storage unit.   The image processing according to claim 6, wherein the first control unit edits ticket data stored in the first storage unit and outputs the edited ticket data to the image forming apparatus. system. In an image processing apparatus that generates image data based on a print job input and outputs the image data to an image forming apparatus,
The image processing apparatus includes: a control unit that outputs color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data;
A storage unit for storing the color adjustment data,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the control unit stores color adjustment data edited by the image forming apparatus and input from the image forming apparatus in the first storage unit.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit edits the color adjustment data stored in the storage unit and outputs the edited color adjustment data to the image forming apparatus.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the control unit stores the edited color adjustment data in the storage unit using a different name from the color adjustment data before editing.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit outputs ticket data including a parameter related to image formation based on the image data. The storage unit stores the ticket data,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit stores ticket data edited by the image forming apparatus and input from the image forming apparatus in the first storage unit.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the control unit edits ticket data stored in the storage unit and outputs the edited ticket data to the image forming apparatus. In an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on image data input from an image processing apparatus,
A storage unit for storing color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data input from the image processing device;
An editing unit for editing the color adjustment data;
A control unit that outputs the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit to the image processing apparatus;
An adjustment unit that performs gamma adjustment of the image data based on at least one of the color adjustment data output from the image processing device or the color adjustment data edited by the editing unit. Forming equipment.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit stores the edited color adjustment data in the storage unit with a different name from the color adjustment data before editing. The storage unit stores ticket data including parameters relating to image formation based on the image data input from the image processing device;
The editing unit edits the ticket data,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit outputs ticket data edited by the editing unit to the image processing apparatus. An image processing apparatus computer that generates image data based on a print job input and outputs the image data to an image forming apparatus,
Means for outputting color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data;
Means for storing the color adjustment data;
A program which functions as means for storing color adjustment data edited by the image forming apparatus and inputted from the image forming apparatus. A computer of an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on image data input from the image processing apparatus,
Means for storing color adjustment data for performing gamma adjustment of the image data input from the image processing apparatus;
Means for editing the color adjustment data;
Means for outputting the edited color adjustment data to the image processing apparatus;
A program which functions as means for performing gamma adjustment of the image data based on at least one of color adjustment data output from the image processing apparatus or edited color adjustment data.

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