JP2013120402A - Print control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that since whether to perform printing with a main color or a sub-color is controlled in accordance with a color included in print data in a conventional two color printing function, it is necessary to adjust the color of an original document and the color of additional plotting in accordance with two color printing in the case of obtaining a printed matter in which an additional plotting section such as a stamp has been emphasized by using the two color printing function.SOLUTION: The printing control device includes means for designating an additional plotting object to be printed with a sub-color, and generates print data with a sub-color based color only for additional plotting whose printing with a sub-color has been designated, and with a main color-based color for the other plotting objects.

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus.

  As one of the simple color printing functions, printer manufacturers offer two-color printing functions that reduce the number of colors that can be expressed from full-color printing. This two-color printing function is usually limited to one or two types of toners and inks that use full-color colors expressed using three toners and inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C). This is realized (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP 2009-166451 A JP 2006-246183 A

  In printing using the two-color printing function, there is no means for easily switching between a portion expressed using black (K) and a portion expressed using other colors. For this reason, when an original image including color data is printed with the two-color printing function, a portion not intended by the user is expressed in a color using yellow (Y), magenta (M), or cyan (C) toner or ink. There is a problem of being done.

  In order to avoid this problem, the user decides in advance the portion to be printed with black (K) and the portion to be printed with other colors before performing two-color printing, and the original image is selected as necessary. I had to edit it.

  Because of this problem, depending on the original image, when various additional drawing printing functions (for example, a stamp printing function) for adding drawing to the original image and the two-color printing function are used in combination, the added stamp drawing and a part of the original image May be printed in a non-black color designated by the two-color printing function.

  In other words, if the user uses the two-color printing function for the purpose of emphasizing the print object added by the stamp printing function, a part of the original image and the stamp drawing object have the same or similar color as the non-black color specified by the two-color printing function. Will be printed. For this reason, when trying to emphasize the stamp, the printed matter does not reflect the user's intention. In order to obtain a printed material desired by the user, it is necessary to edit the document image as necessary as described above.

  In addition, it has been necessary to independently specify the color used for additional drawing such as stamp printing and the color designation used for two-color printing.

  In other words, even if the two-color printing function is used, if the color of the additional drawing function such as stamp printing is set to a color based on black (K), the additional drawing part will be black (K) toner or There is also a problem that it is not emphasized because it is printed with ink.

  For this reason, when the additional drawing such as the stamp function is to be emphasized by the two-color printing function, it is necessary to match the color setting of the two-color printing function and the color setting of the additional drawing function.

  Furthermore, in order to perform two-color printing, there is a problem that a printer that supports two-color printing is necessary.

A printing control apparatus that performs two-color printing using a first color and a second color,
An object designating unit (503) for designating a first drawing object to be printed using the first color, a judging unit (601, S803, S806) for judging whether the drawing object is the first drawing object; The first conversion means (604, S807) for converting the color specified for the drawing object into a color using the first color, and the color specified for the drawing object using the second color Second conversion means (603, S804) for converting the first drawing object using the first conversion means, and converting the drawing object other than the first drawing object into the color Print data is generated by conversion using the second conversion means.

  The effect of enabling two-color printing that easily emphasizes additional drawing without changing the document image or resetting the color of the additional drawing object is exhibited. Furthermore, even if the color printer does not support the two-color printing function, it is possible to perform two-color printing in which only the additional drawing object is printed with the sub-color.

Block diagram showing the system configuration of the present invention The block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of PC of this invention, a printer Block diagram showing the software configuration of the PC and printer of the present invention The figure which shows the classification | category of the drawing object of this invention Block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver UI processing unit Figure showing an example of the printer driver screen Block diagram showing an example of two-color print settings on the printer driver screen Block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver graphic processor The figure which shows the processing flow of the graphic processing section The figure which shows the processing flow of drawing command generation processing

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Example]
[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the present invention.

  The present invention includes a communication medium 103 such as a network and an information device 101 such as a personal computer and a printing apparatus 102 such as a printer.

  The PC 101 has a function of communicating with the printer 102 connected via the communication medium 103.

  In the apparatus, an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS), a printer driver for controlling a printer, an application for printing, and the like can be installed.

  The printer 102 is a device for printing print data transmitted from the PC 101 via the communication medium 103.

[Hardware configuration]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the PC 101 and the printer 102.

  The PC 101 is controlled by the CPU 1. The CPU 1 can load and execute a basic input / output system (BIOS control program) stored in the ROM 3, an OS and various application programs stored in the external memory 11, and the like on the RAM 2. Connected to the PC 1 are a keyboard 9 for receiving input from the user, a display 10 for displaying processing results as images to the user, and the like. Further, the PC 101 includes a printer I / F 8 for printing.

  The printer 102 is also controlled by the CPU 12. The CPU 12 can load a control program stored in the ROM 14 and various programs stored in the external memory 22 into the RAM 13 and execute them. The CPU 12 performs printing by converting print data or the like input via the input unit 16 into an image signal based on the operation of the control program and outputting the image signal to the printing unit 20. Note that an operation unit 20 is connected to the printer 102 so that a direct input from the user can be received.

  It is assumed that the printer 102 can perform color printing using a known printing method.

[Software configuration]
Next, an operation at the time of print setting and an operation at the time of printing according to the present invention will be described using FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the software configuration of the PC 101 and the printer 102.

  The PC 101 includes the following components.

  An application 201 that executes printing. A graphic device interface (hereinafter referred to as GDI) 202 of an OS that receives a call of the application 201. A printer driver 203 that performs print settings and print data generation in response to a call from the GDI. In the printer driver 203, a UI processing unit 204 that generates print settings, and a graphic processing unit 205 that generates print data. A system spooler 206 of an OS component that transfers print data generated by the printer driver 202 to the printer 102.

  On the other hand, the printer 102 includes the following components.

  A print job receiving unit 207 that receives print data from the PC 101. A print job control unit 208 that controls a print job. A print processing unit 209 that executes print processing.

[Explanation of terms]
Here, each drawing object used in the description of the present embodiment will be described in advance.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the classification of drawing objects used in this description.

  In this description, all objects printed on a print medium to be printed are called “drawing objects”. The drawing object includes an “original drawing object” instructed to be drawn by the application 201 and an “additional drawing object” added by the driver 203 such as a stamp, a header / footer, and a page frame according to the setting.

  In two-color printing, printing using a primary color and a secondary color is performed. In the present invention, since an additional object to be printed in the secondary color is designated, the additional drawing object is divided into a “sub-color designated object” designated for printing in the secondary color and the other “sub-color non-designated object”.

[Process when printing is set]
The application 201 needs to determine print settings when performing printing.

  The application 201 calls the UI processing unit 204 of the printer driver 203 via the GDI 202 to create print settings.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing processing of the UI processing unit 204 of the printer driver 203.

  The UI control unit 301 receives a print setting request from the GDI 202.

  The UI control unit 301 creates internal data for displaying a UI based on a request from the GDI 202 and calls the UI display unit 302.

  The UI display unit 302 displays a printer driver screen on the display based on the internal data passed from the UI control unit 301. The user can make desired settings using an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse while looking at the printer driver screen.

  The print settings on the driver screen designated by the user are returned to the UI control unit 301, and after being formatted by the UI control unit 301 into the print settings in the format set by the GDI 202, the print settings are returned to the GDI 202.

  The print settings returned to the GDI 202 are then returned to the application 201 and used as print settings at the start of the print job.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a printer driver screen.

  The UI display unit 302 displays the “print quality” tab display on the driver UI screen as a UI screen 401. As shown in this figure, the two-color printing 402 is implemented as one option of the color mode. Another option for the color mode is “black and white” in which printing is always performed using black (K) toner or ink. “Color” that performs full-color printing using yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) toner and ink. There are “automatic (monochrome / color)” for switching between “black and white” and “color” in units of pages according to the drawing contents of the page.

  When the color mode is “two-color printing”, it is possible to perform detailed two-color printing settings by selecting a “setting” 403 button.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a setting screen for two-color printing.

  When the setting 403 is selected, the UI display unit 302 operates to display the screen 501 on the display. In this screen 501, two colors to be used for two-color printing can be designated from check boxes in the color group box 502. In the example of this figure, one pair of black (K), which is the primary color, and other colors, which are secondary colors, is always specified.

  Achromatic colors that can be expressed only with black (K) toner and ink as the primary color, and chromatic colors that can be expressed with other yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) toners and ink as the secondary colors. As a result, the effect of emphasizing the sub-color designated object can be further enhanced.

  In this example, the primary color is limited to black (K), and the secondary colors are red (R), green (G), blue (B), yellow (Y), magenta (M), blue-green (C For this reason, the sub-color is actually designated.

  In addition, the effect of the present invention can be applied to various printed materials by making it possible to specify the primary color and the secondary color individually, or by specifying the primary color and the secondary color as arbitrary colors. .

  In the two-color mode group box 503, it is possible to designate the type of additional drawing object to be printed in the sub-color in the two-color printing mode and the object designation mode.

  First, two modes, “normal” and “object designation”, are prepared for the two-color mode, and can be selected exclusively. When the “normal” mode is specified, the conventional two-color printing function as described in the background art is provided. In this case, the UI display unit 302 controls the stamp, page frame, and header / footer check boxes to be invalid.

  Another two-color mode “object designation mode” is a print mode for carrying out the two-color printing of the present invention. When the “object designation mode” is designated, only the objects designated by the stamp, page frame, and header / footer check boxes become sub-color designated objects, and the graphic processing unit 205 described later is printed in the sub-color. Works.

  Each check box of the stamp, page frame, and header / footer is a check box for designating a sub-color designation object, and the UI display unit 302 performs control so that a plurality can be designated at the same time.

  The above is the description of the UI displayed on the UI display unit 302 of the present invention.

  In the present invention, as shown in the example of FIG. 7, by performing color setting 502 for two-color printing and selection of a sub-color designation object on the same screen, additional drawing for performing color designation for two-color printing and sub-color printing. It is no longer necessary to specify the colors individually, and the user can easily perform print setting operations.

  User settings relating to two-color printing are determined by the UI display unit 302 that displays the two-color printing setting screen 501 and the printer driver screen 401. When the UI control unit 301 sets this setting as a print setting and returns it to the application 201 via the GDI 202, the print setting process ends.

[Processing during printing]
Next, processing during printing according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the graphic processing unit 205 of the printer driver 203 according to the present invention.

  The graphic control unit 601 receives various print requests from the application 201 via the GDI 202. The graphic control unit 601 determines the subsequent color conversion processing according to the print settings and the type of drawing object passed from the application 201.

  When the color mode 402 is other than two-color printing, or when the color mode 402 is two-color printing and the two-color mode 503 is normal, printing is performed without performing color conversion processing related to two-color printing regardless of the type of drawing object. The data generation unit 602 generates print data.

  When the color mode 402 is two-color printing and the two-color mode 503 is normal, conversion to the primary color and the secondary color is required in the graphic processing unit 205 or the printer 102. It doesn't matter.

  When the color mode 402 is two-color printing and the two-color printing mode 503 is object designation, the graphic control unit 601 switches the color conversion process to be used depending on the type of drawing object.

  If the drawing object is an original drawing object or a non-sub-color designated object, the main color conversion processing unit 603 performs processing to convert the color included in the drawing object into a color based on the main color. If the drawing object is a sub color designation object, the sub color conversion processing unit 604 is used to convert the color included in the drawing object into a color based on the sub color.

  The drawing object color-converted by the main color conversion processing unit 603 and the sub color conversion processing unit 604 is converted into data in a format that can be processed by the print data generation unit 602, and the printer 102 receives the data via the system spooler 206. Sent to.

  A processing flow during printing will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing during printing by the printer driver 203.

  The application 201 starts a print job using the print settings previously received from the UI processing unit 204. The print setting information is passed to the printer driver 203, and processing for job initialization is performed in response to the start of the print job (step S701).

  Following the job start process, the application 201 also starts the page. In response to this, the printer driver 203 executes processing for page initialization (step S702).

  Thereafter, the application 201 issues various drawing commands in the page. The printer driver 203 also performs a drawing command generation process according to each drawing command (step S703).

  When the application 201 finishes issuing a drawing command for one page, the application 201 calls a page end process. In response to this call, the printer driver 203 determines whether or not additional drawing such as a stamp, header / footer, and page frame is specified in the print settings (step 704). If the additional drawing is not designated, the page end process is performed in response to the page end process of the application 201 (step S706).

  If additional drawing is specified in the print settings, the printer driver 202 generates a print command for additional drawing according to the specified content, and performs a drawing command generation process corresponding to the content (step S705). Thereafter, in response to the page end processing of the application 201, the printer driver 203 performs processing for page end (step S706).

  The application 201 determines whether there are still pages to be drawn (step S707). If there are still pages to be drawn, the process is repeated from the page start process (step S702). If drawing of all pages has been completed, the application 201 calls a job end process, and the printer driver 203 performs a process for job end in response to this (step S708), thereby generating a single print job. Ends.

  Next, the drawing command generation process of the present invention will be described.

  The drawing command generation process is a process performed by the document image drawing process (step S703) and the additional drawing process (step S705).

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the drawing command generation process.

  When the drawing command generation process is started, the setting value of the color mode for print settings is confirmed (step S801). If it is a setting other than two-color printing, the process proceeds to step S805 to convert the drawing command passed to the print command as it is, and the drawing command generation processing for one drawing command is completed.

  If the color mode is the two-color print setting, the process advances to step S802 to confirm the two-color print mode 503. If the two-color print mode is “normal”, the process proceeds to step S805 as in the previous case, and a process of converting the drawing command into a print command as it is is performed.

  When the two-color print mode is “object designation”, the printer driver 203 determines whether the additional drawing object is generated in step S705 according to the print setting (step S803). If it is not an additional drawing object, that is, a document drawing object issued by the application 201, a process of converting the color included in the drawing command into a color based on the main color of the color setting 502 for two-color printing is performed (step S804). ). Thereafter, a drawing command using the color converted in the drawing command generation (step S805) is generated.

  Returning to step S803, if it is determined that the input drawing command is the additional drawing object added in step S705 by the printer driver 203, the sub-color designation object instructed to print in the secondary color in the two-color mode. It is determined whether or not (step S806). When the additional drawing object is a non-sub-color designated object, the same color conversion processing as that of the original drawing object is performed. That is, the process proceeds to step S804 to perform processing for converting the color included in the drawing command into a color based on the main color of the color setting 502 for two-color printing, and generate a drawing command (step S805).

  If it is determined in step S806 that the object is a secondary color designation object, the process proceeds to step S807 to perform processing for conversion to a color based on the secondary color of the color setting 502, and uses the color converted in the rendering command generation (step S805). Generate drawing commands.

  As described above, the drawing object that uses the primary color and the secondary color is determined according to the user's designation, thereby exerting an effect of emphasizing an additional drawing object such as stamp printing using two-color printing.

  In addition, by using the graphic processing unit 205 of the present invention, print data that has already been converted into the primary color or the sub color according to the drawing object is generated. Therefore, if the printer 102 can perform color printing even if the printer 102 does not support two-color printing, a two-color printing function can be provided.

101 Information equipment 102 Printing device 103 Communication medium

Claims (7)

A print control apparatus that performs printing using a first color and a second color,
Drawing designation means (503) for designating drawing for printing using the first color;
Determination means (601, S803, S806) for determining whether or not the drawing is designated by the drawing designation means;
First conversion means (604, S807) for converting a color designated for drawing into a color using the first color;
Second conversion means (603, S804) for converting a color designated for drawing into a color using the second color;
The drawing designated by the drawing designation means is converted using the first conversion means, and the drawing other than the drawing designated by the drawing designation means is converted using the second conversion means. A print control apparatus that generates print data. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first color is a chromatic color and the second color is an achromatic color. In addition to the printing control apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
Additional drawing generation means (S705) for generating additional drawing not included in the drawing of the original document;
The print control measure, wherein the drawing that can be specified by the drawing specifying means is the additional drawing. The print control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the drawing designating unit can designate one or more types of additional drawing. In addition to the printing control device according to claim 1,
Color setting means (502) for setting the first color;
A printing control apparatus that displays the drawing designation unit and the color setting unit on the same screen. The print control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the color setting unit sets the first color by a combination of the first color and the second color. The print control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the additional drawing that can be designated by the drawing designation unit includes stamp printing, frame line printing, and header / footer printing.