JP2022083501A - Image formation device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To enable proper color correction to an image on a medium having different colors per area.SOLUTION: An image formation device includes: display means for displaying an image; input means for selecting an object area of a displayed image and a color of a medium; correction means for correcting color information of the image on the basis of a correction value corresponding to the color of the selected medium; and image formation means for forming the image on the medium on the basis of the corrected color information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

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

Conventionally, when an image is printed on a color paper other than white in a printing device, the color of the paper and the color of the printed image may overlap and the hue of the original image and the actually printed image may change. Therefore, it is necessary to perform color correction on the image so that the hue does not change when printed.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of detecting the color of paper, setting the color, and correcting the color of an image.

However, since the conventional color correction detects a part of the paper and corrects the whole, there is a problem that the color correction is not properly performed when the paper having different colors for each area is used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and a program capable of appropriately performing color correction of an image even for a medium having a different color for each region.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image forming apparatus of the present invention has a display means for displaying an image, an input means for selecting a target area of the displayed image and a color of a medium, and the selected above. It is characterized by comprising a correction means for correcting the color information of the image by a correction value corresponding to the color of the medium, and an image forming means for forming the image on the medium based on the corrected color information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately perform color correction of an image even for a medium having a different color for each region.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the control board included in the printing apparatus. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a functional block of the control unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence information of correction values. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the setting screen. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a method of designating an area of an image divided into four as an example. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a print processing flow by the control unit.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the image forming apparatus and the program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment may be appropriately applied as long as it is an apparatus for forming an image with a liquid on a medium. Here, the "medium" refers to an object that forms an image with a liquid. The "liquid" also includes coloring materials such as ink and toner. FIG. 1 shows, as an example, the configuration of a printing device that forms an image on clothing (fabric). Clothing (fabric) is an example of a medium, but it may also be paper or the like.

The printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 shows a state in which the upper cover is removed and the inside is exposed so that the configuration of the apparatus can be understood.

In FIG. 1, the carriage 11 is slidably held by the guide member 12 along the main scanning direction (arrow B direction) and is reciprocated in the arrow B direction.

The carriage 11 is equipped with a head 13. The head 13 discharges a liquid that forms an image on the surface of the fabric M (an example of a medium). The fabric M is not only a piece of cloth such as a handkerchief or a towel, but also a cloth processed as clothes such as a T-shirt or a trainer, or a cloth that is a part of a product such as a tote bag. There may be. As an example, an ink capable of printing the fabric M is used as the liquid, but the type of the liquid is not limited to the ink.

The stage 14 is displaced so as to expose the entire platen member 15 to the outside of the apparatus main body 10, and when the operator sets the fabric M on the exposed platen member 15, the stage 14 is displaced so as to be pulled into the apparatus main body 10. , The platen member 15 is housed in the apparatus main body 10.

The printing device 1 starts printing when the platen member 15 is in the stored state. In printing, the printing device 1 repeats the reciprocating movement of the head 13 in the arrow B direction (main scanning direction) and the movement of the stage 14 in the arrow A direction (secondary scanning direction) to form a predetermined image on the fabric M.

The printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with an operation panel 16 having a touch-type display panel on the apparatus main body 10. The operation panel 16 is a user interface that displays a screen for making various settings on a display panel (LCD) and accepts setting inputs from the user.
The printing apparatus 1 has a built-in control board and operates by controlling each part by the control board.

(Hardware configuration)
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the control board included in the printing apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 1 includes a control unit 100, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 104, a communication I / F 105, an image formation control unit 107, an LCD 108 as an operation panel 16, and a touch panel 109. Has. The parts are connected to each other via the system bus 106.

The control unit 100 has a computer configuration including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, and controls the entire printing device 1 in an integrated manner.

ROM 102 is a non-volatile memory. The RAM 103 is a volatile memory used by the CPU 101 as a work area or the like during various processes. The HDD 104 is an auxiliary storage device that stores various programs, various data, and the like. The ROM 102, HDD 104, or the like corresponds to a storage unit (corresponding to a “storage means”).

The CPU 101 executes a program stored in the storage unit to perform various processes and control each unit.

The communication I / F 105 is an interface for connecting the printing device 1 and a PC or the like. For example, the print image data created by the PC is taken into the printing device 1. The communication I / F 105 may be an interface for connecting to a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, or the like. In that case, print image data can also be received from a computer such as a PC on the network.

The image formation control unit 107 performs reciprocating movement of the head 13, movement of the stage 14, and ejection control of the head 13 to form an image on the fabric M.

The LCD 108 is a display device and displays various display information (setting screen, etc.) output from the CPU 101. The touch panel 109 is a touch sensor that detects the touch position (coordinates) on the screen of the LCD 108. When the user performs a touch operation, the touch panel 109 notifies the CPU 101 of the information on the touch position on the screen. The touch panel 109 is an example of the "input means", but the "input means" is not limited to this. For example, an operation unit such as a hardware key that outputs an operation signal may be provided to the CPU 101, and input operations such as various settings may be performed in combination with the operation unit or only by the operation unit.

Subsequently, the processing by the control unit 100 will be described. The control unit 100 realizes various functions of performing image processing by reading the control program stored in the HDD 104 into the RAM 103 and executing the CPU 101.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a functional block of the control unit 100. In FIG. 3, the display output unit 201 and the LCD 108 correspond to "display means". The input receiving unit 202 and the touch panel 109 correspond to "input means". The correction unit 203 corresponds to the "correction means". The image forming instruction unit 204 and the image forming control unit 107 correspond to "image forming means". Hereinafter, the configuration of the functional block of the control unit 100 (display output unit 201, input reception unit 202, correction unit 203, and image formation instruction unit 204) will be described in detail.

The display output unit 201 outputs an operation screen to the LCD 108. The operation screen includes a setting screen for making various printing settings and an image to be printed.

The input receiving unit 202 receives a button operation, an area designation, or the like from a position on the operation screen detected by the touch panel 109. Further, the input receiving unit 202 may receive an operation instruction or the like from an operation button such as a hardware key.

The correction unit 203 acquires the correction value T corresponding to the color of the medium (fabric M in this example) and corrects the color information of the image. For example, the correction unit 203 corrects the ink amount of each plate based on the correction value T of each color during the RIP process.

The image formation instruction unit 204 instructs the image formation control unit 107 to form an image with the image of each plate whose color information has been corrected. As a result, the image formation control unit 107 forms an image on the fabric M based on the corrected image of each plate.

Here, the correction value T is an ink according to the color of the cloth so that the image formed on the cloth of a plurality of colors is formed in advance using the printing apparatus 1 and the color formed on the cloth matches the color of the original image. Determine the correction value of. The correction value T is stored in the storage unit, and when the image is formed, the correction unit 203 appropriately acquires the correction value T from the storage unit and uses it for color correction. The correction value T may be stored in an external device, and the correction value T may be acquired from the external device each time via the network and used.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence information of the correction value T. FIG. 4 shows correspondence information between the color of the medium (fabric) and the correction value. As an example, the correspondence information with CMYα, which is the toner color of the image forming apparatus, is shown. Here, C is cyan, M is magenta, Y is yellow, and α is K (black toner) or a special color.

As the color of the medium, five colors of W (white), M (magenta), C (cyan), Y (yellow), and G (green) are shown as an example. These five colors correspond to the colors when the user is made to select the color of the medium on the setting screen 300 described later. These five colors are an example, and the number of color selections may be larger or smaller than this. Further, colors other than these five colors may be applied.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the setting screen 300. The display output unit 201 outputs the setting screen 300 when printing an image.

The setting screen 300 includes a selection button 301 for selecting a color of the medium and a display field 302 for displaying a print preview image. In the example shown in FIG. 5, as an example of the selection button 301, the five-color selection button (“W” selection button, “M” selection button, “C”” of the medium color set in the corresponding information of FIG. 4 is set. Selection button, "Y" selection button, "G" selection button) are shown.

The user selects a button having a color close to the color of the medium from each of the five color selection buttons 301. The button may be selected by the user touching the area of the target selection button 301 on the setting screen 300 or selecting the button with the hardware key.

Further, the user selects an area corresponding to the medium color selected by the button by designating the area from the entire print preview image in the display field 302. For example, the entire print preview image displayed in the display field 302 is divided into a plurality of areas, and the user is made to touch the area corresponding to the color specified as the medium color. The input receiving unit 202 accepts an area corresponding to the position touched by the user as a selection area. The area can be specified by touching the screen or by operating the hardware key associated with the area.

By managing each area with range information such as coordinate values, it is possible to uniquely specify which area is selected. Here, the number of divisions of the area is arbitrary. For example, when the medium is predetermined, the area is divided according to the color arrangement of the medium. If the medium is not decided, increase the number of areas and have them select a color close to each area. It is desirable that the number of areas is such that the workload is not applied to the user.

It should be noted that the user may be able to specify the number of divisions of the area by operating a button or the like, and the number of divisions may be increased or decreased to the specified number of areas.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a method of designating an area of an image divided into four as an example. FIG. 6A shows an example of a combination of the color of the medium and the image formed on the medium. Consider a case where a face image 400 is printed in the center of a T-shirt (fabric M) having different colors in the left and right areas. In this T-shirt, the left half is yellow and the right half is blue, and a face image 400 of the same color (green as an example) is printed on the left and right areas. In the case of this T-shirt, it is necessary to apply different correction values for the left half and the right half, so the left half and the right half are set individually.

6 (b) and 6 (c) show the selection button 301 of the setting screen 300 and the display field 302 of the print preview image. FIG. 6B shows the selection button 301 of this example, and FIG. 6C shows a display field 302 including a print preview image. In this example, since the image is divided into four, on the setting screen 300, the left half area I is specified and the "Y" selection button is selected, and the left half area II is specified and "Y" is selected. Select a button. Further, the right half area III is specified and the "C" selection button is selected, and the right half area IV is specified and the "C" selection button is selected. A designated area and color combination are displayed next to the print preview image in the display field 302. The position of the 4-split line displayed as a dotted line in the print preview image in the figure is fixed, and even if the face image is displaced from the center position in any direction, the color is corrected according to the dotted line split. I do. The position of the dotted line may be arbitrarily changed by the user on the setting screen 300.

In this way, by selecting the color of the medium for each divided area, the correction is performed with the correction value corresponding to each selected color for each divided area. The order of color selection and area selection is not particularly limited. The order may be changed as appropriate.

Next, the flow of the printing process performed by the control unit 100 of the printing apparatus 1 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a print processing flow by the control unit 100. First, when the print of the image is accepted by the input reception unit 202, the display output unit 201 outputs the print setting screen of the image to be printed to the LCD 108 (S1). For example, the display output unit 201 generates a preview image from the image to be printed, and outputs the setting screen 300 to which the selection button is configured to the LCD 108.

Next, the input receiving unit 202 accepts an input operation on the print setting screen (S2). For example, the input receiving unit 202 accepts the designation of the target area of the preview image from the setting screen 300, and further accepts the input of the medium color selection button 301.

Next, the correction unit 203 determines whether to set the color of another image area (S3), and if the setting is made (S3: Yes), the setting process is continuously performed in the same manner. If no setting is made (S3: No), the correction unit 203 acquires the correction value T for each of the set areas, and corrects each area with each correction value (S4).

Then, the image formation instruction unit 204 instructs the image formation control unit 107 to form an image with the corrected image (S5).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the color of the medium is specified for each area of the medium, and the image is corrected with the correction value corresponding to the color. Therefore, even if the color of the medium is different for each region, the color of the original image of the printed image data and the color of the image formed on the medium can be matched.

In the present embodiment, an example of application to a printing device is shown as an example of an image forming device, but the image forming device is not limited to this. For example, it may be applied to a multifunction device such as an MFP.

The program executed by the computer of the present embodiment is a file in an installable format or an executable format and is read by a computer such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). It may be recorded and provided on a possible recording medium. Further, the program of the present embodiment may be configured to be provided by incorporating it into a ROM or the like in advance.

Further, the program executed by the computer of the present embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by downloading via the network. Further, the program executed by the computer of the present embodiment may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

1 Printing device 100 Control unit 107 Image formation control unit 108 LCD
109 Touch panel 201 Display output unit 202 Input reception unit 203 Correction unit 204 Image formation instruction unit M Cloth (medium)
T correction value

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-0099940

Claims (6)

Display means for displaying images and
An input means for selecting the target area of the displayed image and the color of the medium, and
A correction means for correcting the color information of the image by a correction value corresponding to the selected color of the medium, and a correction means.
An image forming means for forming the image on the medium based on the corrected color information, and
An image forming apparatus. moreover,
A storage means for storing a correction value for correcting the color information of the image is provided.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The display means displays a print preview image as the image and displays the print preview image.
The input means accepts selection of the target area from the divided areas obtained by dividing the image area of the print preview image into a plurality of divided areas.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The input means accepts selection of a color close to a plurality of color settings as the color of the medium.
The correction means corrects the color information of the image by a correction value corresponding to the selected color.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The input means accepts a different color for each region of the image as the color of the medium.
The correction means corrects the color information of the image for each area by a correction value corresponding to the color selected for each area.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Computer,
A display output section that displays an image on the display section, and a display output section.
An input receiving unit for selecting a target area of the image displayed on the display unit and a color of the medium, and an input receiving unit.
A correction unit that corrects the color information of the image by a correction value corresponding to the selected color of the medium, and a correction unit.
A program for functioning as an image forming instruction unit that outputs the corrected image to the image forming unit.

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