JP2738742B2 - Color printer device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color printer capable of multicolor printing.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a color printer, when non-mounting of a head and running out of ink are detected prior to printing, means for responding with an error indicating that printing cannot be continued is known. In such a situation, it is necessary to take measures such that the user transmits the data again after mounting the head and replenishing the ink.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when a head to be mounted is not close to the user or when there is no ink to be replenished, a request for printing is generated by a user for the time being. There's a problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to normally receive image data even if the settings of the printer head and the ink are not perfect, and to make it possible to express, for example, a portion normally expressed in four colors by a single color. is there.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a color printer device capable of mounting a plurality of heads including chromatic colors, and whether the heads are mounted on a carriage. Head detecting means for detecting the presence of each ink, ink detecting means for detecting whether or not each ink remains, and recording means for performing monochromatic recording based on the detection results of the head detecting means and the ink detecting means. And

Further, in the present invention, the recording unit extracts brightness information from the input color image data based on the detection result, and performs single-color recording based on the extracted brightness information.

[Operation] According to the present invention, it is detected whether or not the head is mounted on the carriage and whether or not each ink remains, and monochrome recording is performed based on the detection result.

Examples (Example 1) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color printer device employing the present invention. Each block will be described.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a color printer device including a data receiving unit 2, an information input unit 3, an engine unit 4, and a printer control unit 5.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a data receiving unit including an interface unit 6, which is controlled by the printer control unit 5 and receives color data from a host computer or a data transfer device 15 via an interface cable 14.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an information input unit including an ink presence / absence detection unit 7 and a head presence / absence detection unit 8. FIG. 1 shows the information input unit 2 described above, but other than that, means for mounting various sensors and detecting the state of each unit of the printer may be provided.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an engine unit including the printer engine 9.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a microprocessor (MPU) 10 for controlling the entire printer apparatus, a printer control program (storage means) 11, and a brightness for extracting only the brightness component from received color data which is a feature of the present invention. It is a printer control unit comprising the component extracting means 12 and the RAM 13.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an interface cable for physically connecting the color printer device 1 to a host computer or a data transfer device 15. The type of interface is not particularly limited here.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a host computer or a data transfer device for transferring data to a printer.

Next, the operation of the color printer having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. In step S1, the color printer device 1 operates as a host computer or a data transfer device 15.
Then, the process waits for a data transmission request from the server, and if a data transmission request is received, the process proceeds to step S2 to start receiving print data.

If data reception is confirmed, it is confirmed in step S3 whether or not each color of ink remains, and if so, (Ye
s) The process proceeds to step S4, and if it is confirmed that there is no ink even for one color, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S4, it is checked whether the head corresponding to each color is normally mounted, and if so, (Yes) step S
The process proceeds to step S5, and if it is confirmed that at least one head corresponding to each color is not mounted, the process proceeds to step S6.

If it is confirmed that both the ink and the head are normal, a normal printing operation is executed in step S5.

Next, the algorithm related to the brightness component extraction executed in steps S6 and S7 will be described with reference to the following processing formula for brightness component extraction and FIG.

Processing Formula for Extracting Brightness Component Here, it is assumed that 8-bit gradation data of each of the NTSC RGB is used as an input to the printer, but this is merely an example, and even if an input other than this method is used, the brightness may be increased. Since the component extracting means can be realized by making a slight change to the algorithm, the description of each algorithm for various inputs will be omitted here.

The chromaticity coordinate conversion from the RGB system to the XYZ system is performed using Expression (1) in order to extract only the brightness component from the color data represented by the NTSC RGB color system.

In the XYZ system, since only the Y value is the brightness component of the target color, equation (1) is applied to each pixel of the color data to determine the Y coordinate value on each XYZ system.

When the Y coordinate values for all the pixels have been obtained, the brightness L ^* is obtained using Expression (2) so that each of the brightness component values matches human vision.

The lightness L ^* obtained by equation (2) represents the psychological brightness of the object surface expressed on the CIELUV uniform color space.
For Y ₀ in equation (2), the largest value among the Y coordinate values obtained in equation (1) is substituted.

FIG. 3 shows a data flow for obtaining the lightness L ^* in this manner. In FIG. 3, the RGB input of eight gradations from the blocks 16, 17, and 18 is passed to the MPU 19, and the program 20 managed by the MPU performs the arithmetic processing of the equations (1) and (2). This indicates that L ^* is obtained.

Since the lightness L ^* obtained after the above processing is an amount having a gradation, data suitable for a printer can be obtained by performing a binarization processing using a dither method or the like.

(Example 2) An example in which the arithmetic processing for obtaining the lightness L ^* in the above (Example 1) is performed by hardware will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, the RGB inputs of eight gradations from the blocks 21, 22, and 23 are passed to an arithmetic processing circuit 24 composed of a TTL, a gate array, and the like, where the arithmetic processing of the equations (1) and (2) is performed. , Indicates that the lightness L ^* is obtained as a processing result, and the other processing is the same as in the first embodiment. Since the obtained lightness L ^* is an amount having an 8-bit gradation, data suitable for a printer is obtained by performing a binarization process in the same manner as in the first embodiment. According to this method, the lightness L ^* can be obtained in a shorter processing time than in a program.

(Third Embodiment) An example in which the arithmetic processing for obtaining the lightness L ^* in the first embodiment is performed using a look-up table will be described as a fifth embodiment.
This is shown below using the drawings.

In FIG. 5, corresponding output values are read from the look-up tables 28 and 29 from the eight gradation RGB inputs from the blocks 25, 26 and 27, and the lightness L ^* is obtained.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the look-up table is constituted by a RAM, but this may be constituted by a ROM.

Look-up table 1 in FIG.
B is a table for outputting the value of Y using each data as an input value.

The look-up table 2 in FIG. 5 uses the output value Y of the look-up table 1 as an input value from equation (2) to
^This is a table for outputting ^* .

 Other processes are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Since the obtained lightness L ^* is an amount having an 8-bit gradation, data suitable for a printer is obtained by performing a binarization process in the same manner as in the first embodiment. According to this method, the processing time is shorter than that performed by a program, and there is an advantage that an extra circuit is not required as compared with the hardware.

As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform printing in a single color by the means for extracting the above-mentioned brightness component without making print processing impossible even when the head is not mounted or in the absence of ink. Become.

In addition, by calculating a brightness component that summarizes the brightness of each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, an excellent effect can be obtained in that the print image is monochromatic but is as close as possible to the original.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, image data can be received even if the setting of the head or the ink is not complete, and, for example, a portion that is usually expressed in four colors can be expressed in a single color.

Therefore, the user can grasp the approximate print image even when the setting of the head or the ink is not perfect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color printer apparatus used in the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of a printing operation of the entire color printer apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a data flow when a brightness L ^* is obtained by a program. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data flow when brightness L ^{* is obtained} by hardware, and FIG. 5 is a data flow when brightness L ^* is obtained by using a look-up table. FIG. The names of the blocks shown in FIG. 1 are described below. 1 ... color printer, 2 ... data receiving section, 3 ... information input section, 4 ... engine section, 5 ... printer control section,
6 interface unit 7 ink presence / absence detection unit
8 ... Head presence / absence detector, 9 ... Printer engine, 10
... MPU, 11 printer control program, 12 brightness component extraction means, 13 RAM, 14 interface cable, 15 host computer or data transfer device.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A color printer device capable of mounting a plurality of heads including chromatic colors, comprising: head detecting means for detecting whether the head is mounted on a carriage; and detecting whether or not each ink remains. A color printer device comprising: an ink detecting unit for performing a single-color recording based on detection results of the head detecting unit and the ink detecting unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means extracts brightness information from the input color image data based on the detection result, and performs monochrome recording based on the extracted brightness information. Color printer device.