JP2014124792A - Printer, control method for the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer that enables selection of such a printing mode that the amount of toner used for data to be printed is minimized.SOLUTION: A printer having a toner saving printing function includes: image acquisition means for acquiring image data to be printed and output; application quantity computing means for computing the application amount of a recording material associated with output of an image acquired by the image acquisition means, for each printing purpose; and printing output means for performing printing output by using the printing purpose based on the application amount computed by the application quantity computing means.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique capable of realizing toner-save printing of a printing apparatus that is suitable for a scanned image in a printing apparatus having a toner-save printing function.

  In recent years, when using a printing apparatus, there has been a desire to save and output toner, and many printing apparatuses are provided with a toner saving mode called a toner saving mode. In this mode, for example, the density is uniformly reduced by a predetermined ratio (for example, 50%). In such a case, depending on the manuscript, a phenomenon may occur where the output is faint or faint.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 proposes a technique that can select a print condition setting item to be changed in order to perform toner save printing with reference to a toner saving evaluation value calculated by an image analysis unit. That is, when selecting a setting item for changing the printing condition, the user recognizes a setting item having a high toner saving effect, and the user can set the toner saving condition that can efficiently save the toner consumption amount very easily. I can do it.

JP 2011-133775 A

  In the toner saving mode, the user can adjust the density by looking at the printing result. In the method of Patent Document 1, the toner saving condition can be selected so as to increase the toner saving effect when selecting the printing condition. It has become.

  However, with either method, the user has to set the toner saving by himself / herself, and there are users who are not familiar with the setting or simply need to output less toner and with a certain quality (appearance). To do.

  Incidentally, many printing apparatuses have a plurality of print modes that can be selected by the user. In this case, a mode can be selected depending on the purpose of printing (for example, a photograph or text). The print mode is a setting relating to the print quality or printing speed of the printer or a screen for selecting these settings.

  When printing a document, it is often possible to select the case where it is desired to print as cleanly (with high quality) as possible, or the case where printing is desired as fast as possible without regard to quality, depending on the purpose and purpose of printing. In such a case, by changing the setting of the print mode, it is possible to perform printing according to the purpose and purpose. Further, although the amount of toner to be used varies depending on the mode to be selected, it can be expected to print with a certain quality.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of selecting a printing mode that minimizes the amount of toner used by data to be printed.

Image acquisition means for acquiring image data to be printed out, application amount calculation means for calculating the application amount of the recording material for outputting the image acquired by the image acquisition means for each printing purpose, and the application amount calculation means Printing output means for printing out using the printing purpose according to the coating amount.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus capable of selecting a printing mode in which the amount of toner used by data to be printed is minimized.

It is a hardware block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the printing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure of the operation panel of the printing apparatus in this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control procedure of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the image conversion process in this invention. It is a transition diagram which shows an example of the color conversion process in this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the function of the printing apparatus in this invention. 3 is a print purpose screen provided in the printing apparatus according to the present invention. 3 is an example of an image printed by the printing apparatus according to the present invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating a calculation result of a total amount of toner printed by a printing apparatus according to the present invention. 6 is an example of a print setting screen UI when setting from the driver to the printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is an example of a printing purpose setting screen UI in driver printing in the present invention. 3 is a printing flowchart in driver printing according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The printing apparatus 100 can be applied to a multifunction machine having the following configuration. Reference numeral 101 denotes an operation panel on which a user operates. Details of the operation panel will be described later with reference to FIG. The CPU 102 controls the entire printing apparatus, and the RAM 103 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 102.

  The CPU 102 implements various operations by loading a program or the like necessary for execution of processing from the ROM 104 or HDD 105 to the RAM 103 and executing the loaded program.

The ROM 104 stores a basic input / output system (BIOS) and an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as an OS), which are control programs for the CPU 102, and various programs described below that are necessary for realizing the functions executed by each server or each PC. It is remembered.
The HDD 105 stores images, programs, and the like as a large-capacity storage area.

  The scanner 106 is an optical unit for reading a printed material, and the luminance RGB values acquired from the scanner 106 are temporarily stored in the RAM 103 which is a storage area, or stored as image data in the ROM 104 or the HDD 105.

  Reference numeral 107 denotes a screen I / F, which controls a screen 201 displayed on the operation panel 200. An image processing unit 108 converts image RGB data acquired by the scanner 106 into CMYK binary data.

  An image analysis unit 109 analyzes the CMYK binary data processed by the 108 image processing unit and derives image data with a small amount of toner consumption. The image output unit 110 outputs the image data with the least amount of toner derived by the image analysis unit 109.

Further, it is possible to connect to the network 111 via a network I / F (not shown), and it is also possible to accept and output a print job via the printer driver of the information processing apparatus 112 that can also be connected to the network 111. A plurality of information processing apparatuses 112 can be connected.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an operation panel of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The operation panel 200 is a schematic diagram of a panel operated by a user mounted on the printing apparatus 100. A screen I / F 201 and a start button 204 for starting printing (copying) are provided.

  The screen I / F 201 includes a toner save check box 202 for determining toner-saving printing. When this check box is checked, toner-saving printing according to the present invention is executed.

  Reference numeral 203 denotes a drop box for displaying a print purpose list provided in the printing press. Normally, the user opens this box and selects a printing purpose, and printing is performed in a desired printing purpose mode.

  In the toner saving printing function of the present invention, when the toner save check box 202 is checked, when the start button 204 is pressed, it can be confirmed by opening the drop box 203 to be registered in the printing apparatus. After performing the simulation of the paste amount of the output image for all the printing purposes, the toner saving printing is executed using the one having the smallest toner paste amount. A screen when the drop box 203 is pressed will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is an expanded view of the drop-down box 203 in FIG. The print purpose displayed here indicates the print purpose of the printing apparatus, and the user can select the print setting as the print purpose according to the purpose of printing.

  When “character / photo / map” 701 is selected in a conventional printing machine, it is determined when reading a manuscript containing characters and photographs, or a fine character or figure such as a map with a scanner, and is optimal for each printed matter. Printing is performed using Profile.

  When “print photo” 703 is selected, printing is performed with settings suitable for a photo document (print photo) made of halftone dots. When “printed paper photograph” 702 is selected, printing is performed with settings suitable for photographs printed on photographic paper. When “character” 704 is selected, printing is performed with settings suitable for a character document.

If the toner save check box 202 in FIG. 2 is checked, image conversion is performed using all printing purposes. Specifically, the CMYK binary data is created for all the printing purposes by switching the printing purpose shown here at Step 304, and “total amount of printing for each image = printing amount” is examined. An image with a small amount is determined. Next, functions of the printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to a functional block diagram.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functions of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The printing apparatus 100 includes an image reading module 601, an image conversion module 602, a glue amount determination module 603, a print purpose acquisition module 604, a color conversion module 605, and a screen operation module 606.

  First, the image reading module 601 reads an image (image acquisition means) and acquires RGB values. The image conversion module 602 creates R′G′B ′ in which the RGB values acquired by the image reading module 601 are color-converted according to the print purpose acquired by the print purpose acquisition module 604.

  The color conversion module 605 generates CMYK binary data from the R′G′B ′ value generated by the image conversion module 602.

  The glue amount determination module 603 (application amount calculation means) determines, based on the CMYK binary data created by the color conversion module 605, for which printing purpose the minimum toner amount is printed. The glue amount is the coating amount of a recording material such as toner or ink.

The print purpose acquisition module 604 acquires a print purpose included in the printing press. The screen operation module 606 controls display of the operation panel in FIG. 2 that performs a series of operations.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control procedure of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  3 is a flowchart illustrating a toner save printing function according to the present invention, and processing is started when start 204 is pressed in a state where a toner save check box 202 is checked on the operation panel of FIG.

  First, in step 301, a print object is read from the scanner 106, and RGB data is acquired. The acquired RGB data is temporarily stored in the RAM 103. When saving as image data, it is saved in the ROM 104 or HDD 105.

  Next, if the toner save check box 202 in FIG. 2 is checked in step 302, the process proceeds to step 304. If it is not checked, step 303 proceeds to another printing process and the process is terminated.

  In step 304, the RGB data acquired in step 301 is converted into CMYK binary data by the image processing unit 108 for the number of printing purposes provided in the printing apparatus. The converted CMYK binary data is stored in the RAM 103.

In step 305, the amount of paste for each image is determined from the CMYK binary data converted in step 304, and image data with the smallest amount of paste is selected. The image selected in step 305 is printed in step 306 and output from the image output unit 110.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of image conversion processing in the present invention.

  This corresponds to the image conversion process in step 304 of FIG. In step 401, the printing purpose provided in the printing apparatus is called from the ROM 104 and set in the image processing unit 108.

  In step 402, processing for conversion to CMYK binary data is performed using the RGB image data read in step 301 and the printing purpose set in step 401. The converted CMYK binary data is temporarily stored in the RAM 103 in step 403.

  In step 404, it is determined whether the color conversion 402 has been executed and stored for all the print settings held by the printing apparatus. If not, the process returns to step 401 and the image conversion is repeated until the color conversion is completed for all the print settings. I do.

  Image data color-converted with all print settings is analyzed by the image analysis unit 109, and image data with the smallest amount of paste is selected in step 305.

In the minimum amount of image printing 306, the image output unit 110 outputs the image data with the smallest toner consumption selected in step 305.
FIG. 5 is a transition diagram showing an example of color conversion processing in the present invention.
The process of converting from RGB to CMYK binary data in Step 402 of FIG. 4 is described.

  In step 501, the RGB data acquired from the scanner 106 is converted into R′G′B ′ based on the print setting provided in the printing apparatus.

  In step 502, R′G′B ′ converted in step 501 is converted into CMYK using a known means.

In step 503, the converted CMYK is binarized for each color and converted to C′M′Y′K ′. The toner paste amount is calculated using the converted C′M′Y′K ′.
FIG. 8 is an example of an image printed by the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

By scanning the image 801 with the scanner 106 included in the printing apparatus, when the main image is printed out (copied), the printing purpose with the smallest toner amount is determined by the amount determination module. . An image of the determination result will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 9 illustrates a calculation result of the total toner amount printed by the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The calculation result 901 is an image diagram of the calculation result of the toner paste amount, and can be displayed on the operation panel. As the total amount of toner paste 902, the total of CMYK values for each printing purpose is displayed on the graph.

  The printing purpose 903 displays the printing purpose of the printing apparatus, and the number and type of the printing purpose differ depending on the printing apparatus used.

  In the figure, it is understood that the total amount of toner paste is the largest when “printed paper photograph” is adopted as the printing purpose, and the total amount of toner paste is the smallest when “character” is adopted.

The print setting with the smallest amount of toner paste may be automatically adopted and output, or the determination result of the paste amount determination module is displayed to the user (calculation result display control means) for selection (printing) The purpose of printing may be determined by a purpose receiving unit).
[Second Embodiment]

The printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to processing using a multifunction peripheral as a printing machine. In the second embodiment, processing when data is output from the information processing apparatus 112 to the printing apparatus 100 via a printer driver will be described. The description of the same parts as those in the first embodiment is omitted.
FIG. 10 is an example of a print setting screen UI for setting from the driver to the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

  A print setting screen 1001 is a screen displayed by the printer driver when printing a document file from the information processing apparatus 112.

  By checking the toner save printing 1002, toner save printing according to the present invention is executed. When the print quality 1003 is pressed, a screen for displaying the print quality of the printer driver is displayed.

  When OK 1004 is pressed while the toner save printing 1002 is checked, a printing image paste amount simulation is performed for all the printing purposes registered in the printer driver, and the one having the smallest toner paste amount is used. Toner save printing (toner saving printing) is executed. This screen plays the same role as the screen displayed on the operation panel of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

  FIG. 11 is an example of a print purpose setting screen UI in driver printing according to the present invention.

  FIG. 10 shows a screen displayed when the print quality 1003 is pressed. The print purpose displayed here indicates the print purpose provided in the printer driver.

“General”, “DTP”, “Graphics”, “Photo”, “CAD”, and “High-definition document” are set as printing purposes. When toner save printing is executed, the toner paste is selected from these printing purposes. The one with a small amount is selected. This screen plays the same role as the screen displayed on the operation panel of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 12 is a printing flowchart in driver printing according to the present invention.

  In step 1201, an image (file) to be printed is selected from the PC, and in steps 1202 to 1205, the same processing as in steps 302 to 305 in FIG.

  In step 1206, the binary image data converted by the driver is transmitted to the printing apparatus. The transmitted image is printed by the printing apparatus in step 1207.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program according to the present invention is a program that can be executed by a computer according to the processing method of the flowchart shown in the present invention. The storage medium according to the present invention stores a program that can be executed by a computer. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each device.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.
In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

100 Printing Device 101 Operation Panel 102 CPU
103 ROM
104 Network 105 HDD
106 Scanner 107 Operation Unit Analysis Unit 108 Image I / F
109 Image processing unit 110 Image output unit

Claims (7)

A printing apparatus that holds a plurality of printing purposes with print settings that can be selected according to the purpose of printing,
Image acquisition means for acquiring image data to be printed out;
A coating amount calculating unit that calculates the coating amount of the recording material for outputting the image acquired by the image acquiring unit for each printing purpose;
Print output means for printing out using a printing purpose according to the application amount by the application amount calculation means;
A printing apparatus comprising:   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print output unit performs print output using a printing purpose determined by the coating amount calculation unit to determine that the coating amount of the recording material is the smallest. A calculation result display control means for displaying a calculation result by the coating amount calculation means;
A printing purpose receiving means for receiving a printing purpose to be used from the displayed calculation result;
Further comprising
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print output unit performs print output using the print purpose received by the print purpose reception unit.   The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the image acquisition means is obtained by scanning image data to be printed out. The image acquisition means acquires from a printer driver of an information processing apparatus that issues a print request,
4. The application amount calculation unit according to claim 1, wherein the application amount calculation unit can select and use either a printing purpose of the printer driver or a printing purpose of the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus as described. A control method of a printing apparatus that holds a plurality of printing purposes with print settings that can be selected according to the purpose of printing,
An image acquisition step for acquiring image data to be printed out;
An application amount calculating step for calculating the application amount of the recording material for outputting the image acquired by the image acquisition step for each printing purpose;
A print output step for printing out using a printing purpose according to the coating amount in the coating amount calculation step;
A control method for a printing apparatus, comprising: A printing device that holds multiple printing purposes with print settings that can be selected according to the purpose of printing.
Image acquisition means for acquiring image data to be printed out;
A coating amount calculating means for calculating the coating amount of the recording material for outputting the image acquired by the image acquisition for each printing purpose;
Print output means for printing out using a printing purpose according to the application amount by the application amount calculation means;
A program for causing a printer to function as a printing apparatus.

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