JP2020155904A - Information processing device, information processing method and information processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve the hue reproducibility of a printed matter of a metallic color.SOLUTION: A printing control unit controls a printing part so as to print a prescribed image using a color material of a metallic color, and a colorimetry acquisition unit acquires a colorimetric result of a metallic printing part on a printed sheet subjected to colorimetry by a colorimetry unit. A determination unit determines color reproducibility on the basis of the colorimetric result of the metallic printing part. Then, a color adjustment unit adds a color material of an other metallic color or a color material of a process color to the color material of the metallic color to perform color adjustment such that the color material of a metallic color becomes a hue in a complementary color direction of a hue in which the color material of a metallic color undergoes color changing on the basis of a determination result of the determination unit. Thus, a printed matter having a desired hue can be acquired, and the hue reproducibility of the printed matter can be improved when color changing due to influence of heat treatment or the like during fixation or drying occurs.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-233883) discloses a printing apparatus for suppressing "dullness" generated in a color ink when printing in combination with a metallic ink and a color ink. There is.

This printing apparatus prints an image by forming a relatively large color ink in a region where printing is performed using metallic ink, as compared with a region where printing is performed without using metallic ink. As a result, the color ink is formed relatively large, the degree of scattering of the incident light is reduced, and the dullness of the color can be suppressed.

However, printing devices having a conventional metallic ink and color ink image formation system, including the printing device disclosed in Patent Document 1, have a tint to metallic ink due to the influence of heat treatment during fixing and drying. Was changing. Therefore, there is a problem that the reproducibility of the desired color is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program for improving the reproducibility of the tint of a metallic color printed matter.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention measures with a print control unit that controls a printing unit so as to print a predetermined image using a metallic color material, and a color measuring unit. A color measurement acquisition unit that acquires the color measurement result of the metallic printed portion on the colored and printed paper, a determination unit that determines the color reproducibility based on the color measurement result of the metallic print portion, and a determination unit. Based on the judgment result of, add another metallic color material or process color color material to the metallic color material so that the metallic color material has a color in the complementary color direction of the discolored color. It has a color adjusting unit for performing color adjustment.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that the reproducibility of the tint of a metallic color printed matter can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of the printing apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the printing apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the color adjustment operation of the printing apparatus of the embodiment.

Hereinafter, the printing apparatus of the embodiment will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

(Hardware configuration of printing device)
The printing apparatus of the embodiment prints using a metallic color material in addition to the process color material of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and key plate (K: or black). It is possible to do it. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the printing apparatus of the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus of the embodiment includes a CPU 1, a system memory (MEM-P) 2, a north bridge (NB) 3, a south bridge (SB) 4, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 6. It has a local memory (MEM-C) 7, an HDD controller 8, and a hard disk (HD) 9. The NB3 and the ASIC6 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921.

Further, the printing apparatus of the embodiment includes a network interface (network I / F) 5, a short-range communication circuit 10, a short-range communication unit 11, a printer unit 12, a scanner unit 13, and an operation panel 15. ..

The CPU 1 is a control unit that controls the entire printing apparatus. The NB3 is a bridge for connecting the CPU1 and the MEM-P2, SB4, and AGP bus 921. The NB3 has a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P2, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target.

The MEM-P2 has a ROM 10 which is a memory for storing a program or data that realizes each function of the memory controller, and a RAM 11 used for expanding the program or data and a memory for drawing at the time of memory printing. The program stored in the RAM 10 may be provided by recording a file in an installable format or an executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, or DVD. ..

The SB4 is a bridge for connecting the NB3 to the PCI device and peripheral devices. The ASIC 6 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing that has hardware elements for image processing, and is a bridge that connects an AGP bus 921, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus 18, an HDD controller 8, and a MEM-C7, respectively. Has the role of.

The ASIC 6 has a PCI target and an AGP master, a memory controller that controls an arbiter (ARB) and a MEM-C7 that form the core of the ASIC 6. Further, the ASIC 6 has a PCI unit that transfers data between a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers), a printer unit 12, and a scanner unit 13 via the PCI bus 18.

As will be described later, the scanner unit 13 is an in-line scanner device, and reads a printed matter that has been test-printed in metallic color. Based on the image read by the scanner unit 13, the metallic color is measured and the change in color is measured.

A USB interface or an IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface may be connected to the ASIC6.

The MEM-C7 is a local memory used as a copy image buffer and a code buffer. Image data, font data used at the time of printing, and a form are stored in the HD9. Further, the HD9 stores a print processing program for controlling printing of printed matter that suppresses changes in metallic color tint, and secular change information indicating changes in tint due to secular change of each metallic color. There is.

The HDD 9 controls the writing and reading of data to the HD 9 according to the control of the CPU 1. The AGP bus 921 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed for speeding up graphic processing. The AGP bus 921 provides direct access to MEM-P2 with high throughput. Graphics accelerator card can be speeded up.

A short-range communication unit 11 is connected to the short-range communication circuit 10, and performs short-range wireless communication such as NFC (Near field communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication.

The operation panel 15 has a panel display unit 17 such as a touch panel that displays the current set value or selection screen and receives input from the operator. Further, the operation panel 15 has an operation panel 17 provided with a numeric keypad for inputting set values of conditions related to image formation such as density setting conditions and a start key for instructing the start of copying.

The network I / F5 is an interface for performing data communication via the network. The short-distance communication circuit 10 and the network I / F5 are connected to the ASIC 6 via the PCI bus 18.

(Functional configuration and operation of printing equipment)
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of each function realized by the CPU 1 of the printing apparatus of the embodiment executing a print processing program stored in the HD 9. As shown in FIG. 2, the CPU 1 executes a print processing program to acquire the input processing unit 21, the test image formation control unit 22, the color adjustment unit 23, the gradation processing unit 24, the printer control unit 25, and the color measurement acquisition. Each function of the unit 26 and the color determination unit 27 (an example of the determination unit) is realized. The test image formation control unit 22 and the printer control unit 25 show an example of the print control unit.

The input processing unit 21 performs information processing corresponding to an input operation performed by the user via the operation panel 15. As will be described later, the printing apparatus of this embodiment is provided with a metallic color adjustment mode for adjusting the color of the metallic color. The input processing unit 21 acquires a metallic color adjustment mode request made by the user via the operation panel 15.

When the input processing unit 21 acquires the metallic color adjustment mode request, the test image formation control unit 22 forms a test image for adjusting the tint of the metallic plate and the color ink plate. The gradation processing unit 23 performs gradation processing for printing, such as converting multi-valued image data such as 8 bits formed by the test image formation control unit 22 into 2-bit image data. Form image data with area gradation suitable for printing.

The printer control unit 25 controls the print unit 12 based on the image data after the gradation processing, forms an image on paper, and obtains a print output of a test image printed with a metallic plate and a color ink plate. The test image printed on this paper is read by a scanner unit 13 such as an in-line scanner. The color measurement acquisition unit 26 acquires the image data of the test image from the scanner unit 13 and supplies it to the color determination unit 27.

The test image printed on the paper may be read manually by the user using a scanner device.

The color determination unit 27 determines the tint of the test image printed by the metallic plate and the color ink plate based on the image data of the test image. The determination of the color tone may be performed by the user visually or based on the measurement result with a colorimeter. The color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color so that the color of the printed test image becomes the color desired by the user.

For example, if the metallic plate is more yellowish than the desired color due to the influence of heat during fixing of the coloring material or in the drying process, the color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color in the direction of the color and the complementary color. Set the parameters to perform.

In the color adjustment of a normal color ink plate (CMYK process color), for example, when the density of yellow is high, the process is performed in the direction of reducing the yellow component. However, in the case of the metallic version, discoloration is not a problem of density, so simply adjusting the density does not solve the problem of discoloration. Therefore, the color adjusting unit 23 adds a coloring material of the opposite color (complementary color) of the metallic plate, so that the metallic color is desired when the metallic color is discolored due to the influence of heat during fixing of the coloring material or in the drying process. It is adjusted so that the color development can be obtained.

When such color adjustment is performed, the gradation processing unit 24 and the printer control unit 25 control the printer unit 12 to print the color-adjusted test image again. The reprinted test image is read by the scanner unit 13 and color-determined by the color determination unit 27. The above operation is repeated until the user determines that the color determination result in the color determination unit 27 is the desired color determination result (until the metallic color of the test image becomes the desired color). Be told.

(Flow of color adjustment operation)
Next, the flow of the color adjustment operation in the printing apparatus of such an embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 3, when the user requests the metallic color adjustment mode, the test image formation control unit 22 forms a test image including the metallic color as described above. Then, the gradation processing unit 24 and the printer control unit 25 control the printer unit 12 to print a test image (step S1).

Next, the scanner unit 13 reads the portion of the test image printed with the metallic color material. The color measurement acquisition unit 26 acquires the image data of the read test image and supplies it to the color determination unit 27 (step S2).

Next, the color determination unit 27 determines whether or not the metallic print portion of the image data of the test image is tinted (step S3). If there is a color, it is determined that the color is discolored due to the influence of heat treatment during fixing or drying, and the color adjustment unit 23 becomes the discolored color and the color in the complementary color direction. As described above, color adjustment is performed by adding a color material of another metallic color or a color material of a process color.

In other words, the color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color of the current metallic color so that a metallic color having a desired tint can be obtained by causing discoloration due to the influence of heat treatment or the like during fixing or drying. As a result, the test image is printed again with the color-adjusted tint (step S4). Each such process is repeated until the metallic color has a desired tint.

(Correspondence due to aging)
Here, in the printing apparatus of the embodiment, the secular change information indicating the occurrence of secular change for each metallic color, such as a predetermined discoloration of the metallic color portion after printing occurs after one month, is HD9 or the like. It is stored in the storage part of. As shown in FIG. 2, the color adjustment unit 23 reads the secular change information and performs color adjustment of the metallic color.

That is, the color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color of the current metallic color so that a metallic color having a desired tint can be obtained by causing discoloration due to the influence of heat treatment or the like during fixing or drying as described above. Do. In addition to this, the color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color of the current metallic color so that a metallic color having a desired tint can be obtained by causing the metallic color to change over time.

As a result, it is possible to obtain a printed matter having a desired color due to aging of the metallic color when a predetermined time has elapsed, for example, one month later.

(Effect of embodiment)
As is clear from the above description, in the printing apparatus of the embodiment, the color adjustment unit 23 is discolored due to the influence of heat treatment or the like during fixing or drying, so that a metallic color having a desired color can be obtained. Make color adjustments for the current metallic color. As a result, a printed matter having a desired color can be obtained when discoloration occurs due to the influence of heat treatment or the like during fixing or drying.

Further, the color adjustment unit 23 adjusts the color of the current metallic color so that a metallic color having a desired tint can be obtained when the metallic color changes over time. As a result, it is possible to obtain a printed matter having a desired color due to aging of the metallic color when a predetermined time has elapsed, for example, one month later.

Finally, the above embodiments are presented as an example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. This novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. Further, the embodiment and the modification of the embodiment are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

1 CPU
9 HD
12 Printer unit 13 Scanner unit 15 Operation panel 21 Input processing unit 22 Test image formation control unit 23 Color adjustment unit 24 Gradation processing unit 25 Printer control unit 26 Color measurement acquisition unit 27 Color judgment unit

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-233883

Claims (5)

A print control unit that controls the printing unit so as to print a predetermined image using a metallic color material, and a print control unit.
The color measurement acquisition unit that acquires the color measurement result of the metallic print part on the printed paper that has been color-measured by the color measurement unit,
A determination unit that determines color reproducibility based on the color measurement result of the metallic print portion,
Based on the judgment result of the judgment unit, the metallic color material is added to another metallic color material or the process color color material so that the metallic color material has a color in the complementary color direction of the discolored color. And the color adjustment unit that adjusts the color by adding
Information processing device with. The color measuring unit is an in-line sensor, and reads a metallic printed portion of an image printed on the paper so as to form a metallic printed portion.
It is further equipped with a color determination unit that determines the tint of the metallic print portion from the scanned image.
Based on the determination result of the color determination unit, the color adjustment unit adds another metallic color material or a process color color material to the metallic color material, and the metallic color material changes color. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metallic color is adjusted so as to have a tint in a complementary color direction of the tint. The color adjustment unit adjusts the color of the metallic color so that the color material of the metallic color has a color in the complementary color direction of the discoloration, and also provides secular change information indicating discoloration due to secular change of the metallic color. Based on this, when a change over time occurs, a color material of another metallic color or a color material of a process color is added to the color material of the metallic color so as to obtain a desired color, and the color of the metallic color is obtained. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein adjustment is performed. A print control step in which the print control unit controls the print unit so as to print a predetermined image using a metallic color material, and
A color measurement acquisition step in which the color measurement acquisition unit acquires the color measurement result of the metallic print portion on the printed paper that has been color-measured by the color measurement unit.
A determination step in which the determination unit determines the color reproducibility based on the color measurement result of the metallic print portion.
Based on the determination result of the determination unit, the color adjustment unit is added to the metallic color material, or another metallic color material, so that the metallic color material has a color in the complementary color direction of the discolored color. A color adjustment step that adds color materials for process colors and adjusts the color,
Information processing method having. Computer,
A print control unit that controls the printing unit so as to print a predetermined image using a metallic color material, and a print control unit.
The color measurement acquisition unit that acquires the color measurement result of the metallic print part on the printed paper that has been color-measured by the color measurement unit,
A determination unit that determines color reproducibility based on the color measurement result of the metallic print portion,
Based on the judgment result of the judgment unit, the metallic color material is added to another metallic color material or the process color color material so that the metallic color material has a color in the complementary color direction of the discolored color. An information processing program characterized by functioning as a color adjustment unit that adjusts colors by adding.

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