JP2839094B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that performs color conversion using a table.

[Prior Art] In a conventional single-color laser beam printer, for example, normally, a set of toner and page memory of the color is provided for an output sheet. Impossible to department. Therefore, in such a case, the operator is informed that the toner is not mounted,
A method is adopted in which data is not received or a printer is not operated even if data is received.

On the other hand, in a multi-color laser beam printer, which has attracted attention in recent years, a method is adopted in which a developing system for toner or the like and page memories are provided at least as many as the number of colors to be printed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional method, when an input color cannot be reproduced by the output means, it cannot be reproduced with a color close to the input color instead of the input color. .

The present invention has been proposed in view of the problems of the prior art,
The purpose is to input color that cannot be reproduced by the output means,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of converting to an approximate color that can be reproduced according to the state of the output unit.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to a configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object, there are provided input means for inputting color data indicating a color, detection means for detecting a state of an output means, A table for associating color data with data indicating an output color, wherein color data of an input color that cannot be reproduced by the output means is associated with data indicating an output color corresponding to an approximate reproducible color. Based on the state of the output means detected by the detection means and the table, the color data of the non-reproducible input color corresponding to the reproducible color approximating the input color. And color conversion means for converting the data into data indicating an output color to be output.

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a laser beam printer.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer mechanism, and 2 denotes a control circuit. The printer mechanism 1 has 10
Color toner developing unit and phenomenon processing unit such as Kanko drum
13 and a laser (14 to 2) corresponding to each of the 10 color toners.
3) and a detector 24 for detecting the mounting state of each of the toner developing units. The toner developing units (A to J) and the lasers (14 to 23) have black to black corresponding to their respective color codes.
It shall represent white.

In the control circuit 2, reference numeral 25 denotes a controller for controlling a series of operations. The page memories # 0 to # 9 save data for each print color. The main role of the controller 25 is to read out data from each of the page memories # 0 to # 9 while synchronizing with the developing process section 13 and convert the data to a video signal to output to a predetermined laser. It is. Reference numeral 26 denotes an external device such as a host computer for transmitting print data to the apparatus.

It is assumed that a laser beam printer of 20 colors exists as a top-level machine of the present laser beam printer device. Therefore,
In the system as a whole, color numbering is performed for 20 colors, and there are 0 to 19 color codes. The host computer 26 can handle image data of 20 colors. Each page memory of # 0 to # 9 logically corresponds to each laser in the printer of this embodiment. That is,
An image stored in a page memory of a certain number is output to a laser corresponding to the page memory, and is developed by a toner developing unit corresponding to the laser.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the correspondence of color codes to each page memory. As mentioned earlier, the whole system
There are 20 color codes, while this printer has 10
It is a color printer. Therefore, it is necessary to compress the type of color from 20 colors to 10 colors. As shown in FIG. 2, even numbered color codes are stored in the page memories # 0 to # 9 in this order. 0,2,4 ... 18 are assigned. Third
The figure is a correspondence table of an approximate relationship between color codes. Looking at the first-best optimal color in FIG. 3, the approximate color of the color code “1” is the color of the code “0”, and the approximate color of the code “3” is the color of the code “2”. I have to.
If such first-order approximation relation between colors is determined, "1",
When image data of odd color codes “3”, “5”, “19” is input, even color codes “0”, “2”, “4”
.., "18" are stored in the page memories # 0 to # 9. Of course, if you have a page memory for 20 colors,
Needless to say, such compression is unnecessary.

Now, the usable flag in FIG. 2 indicates whether or not the developing system is mounted. This is because, in this embodiment, the development system and the page memory correspond one-to-one. The load flag is a flag indicating that image data has been loaded from the host computer 26 into the page memory.

Next, the operation of this embodiment in the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows the controller 25
Is a control flowchart of a data load sequence started based on a synchronization signal from the developing process unit 13. Steps S2 to S14 are routines for loading image data for each color into the page memory.
Steps 6 to S26 are a routine for reloading the data into the page memory corresponding to a color close to the color if the data is loaded into the page memory corresponding to the developing system that is not mounted.

First, in step S2, an image of one color is input. In step S4, the data is loaded into the corresponding page memory based on the correspondence table shown in FIG. In step S6, the corresponding load flag is set. In step S8, the output of the detector 24 is input, and it is checked whether or not the developing system corresponding to the currently loaded page memory is mounted.
If it is not mounted, it is unusable, so the corresponding usable flag is reset (usable: 1, unusable: 0). In step S12, the host computer 26 is inquired as to whether all colors for one page have been sent from the host computer 26. If there is no data to be sent, the next color is requested in step S14, and the process returns to step S2.

Thus, when proceeding to step S12 and step S16,
Images for all colors of one page are stored in any of the page memories # 0 to # 9, and the load flag of the stored page memory is set to "1" and used according to the use state of the developing system. Yes flag is set.

Next, in step S16, in order from the page memory of # 0,
Check the load flag. If this flag is "1", the corresponding usable flag is checked in step S18.

Here, it is assumed that data is loaded into a certain page memory (load flag = 1) and the developing system corresponding to the color is not mounted (usable flag = 0). At this time, the process proceeds to step S16, step S18, and step S20.
In step S20, the color code of the second best approximation color and the page memory corresponding to the color code are known from the correspondence table (FIG. 3). In step S22, the data in the page memory corresponding to the developing system that has not been
The logical sum with the data of the page memory of the second best approximation color is calculated. In step S24, the load flag of the page memory corresponding to the unmounted developing system is reset. This is because the image data of the unmounted development system has been moved to another page memory.

FIG. 6 shows a specific example. It is assumed that the developing system B is loaded with “green” toner. The development system C has “yellow-green”
It is assumed that the toner is to be mounted, but is not mounted. According to the control procedure of FIG. 4, the yellow-green image (#
(Stored in the two-page memory) is transferred to the # 1 page memory by performing an OR operation with the data of the # 1 page memory. That is, the green image and the yellow-green image are stored again as the green image in the # 1 page memory.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart relating to the exposure / development sequence. In steps S22 and S24 shown in FIG. 4, the data of the page memory of the unmounted developing system is transferred and the load flag is reset.
In the control procedure shown in the figure, each page memory is simply searched in order, and in step S34, only the data of the page memory in which the load flag is set to "1" is read out (step S36), and the data is handled as a video signal. That is, it is only necessary to output (step S38) to the laser to be changed.

Thus, color data not prepared in the printer,
Alternatively, data that cannot be printed because it is not attached to the toner developing unit can be replaced with an approximate color in accordance with the correspondence table in FIG. 3 and printed out, that is, the data can be approximated without bothering the operator. It is possible to perform color conversion to color and print out.

In the above embodiment, a color is recognized as a color code assigned for convenience, and this color code is stored in advance as an approximate relationship between colors as a code correspondence as shown in FIG. However, as another method, colors may be numbered. That is, the colors are arranged in order of gradually changing, for example, from black to white, and numbers (color codes) are assigned to all the colors in this order. Then, the control may be simplified by arranging the developing system, the laser, and the page memory in this order. With this simplification, there is no need to search the correspondence table in step S20, and the image data can be simply transferred to the adjacent page memory.

Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the page memory is made to correspond one-to-one with the laser (that is, the developing system). That is, the image data is stored in the page memories # 0 to # 9 together with the color codes in the order in which they are sent from the host computer 26. The laser to output the image data is output according to the correspondence between the stored color code and the developing system.

In the above embodiment, 20 full-color colors are compressed to 10 colors, but there is no limitation on the number of colors. There is no particular limitation on the numbering method for colors.

Further, the detector 24 detects the absence of the developing system, but may detect, for example, a laser failure or the like. This is because the failure of the laser does not change its color as it does when the developing system is not mounted.

Further, although the correspondence in FIG. 3 is a correspondence between approximate colors, it may be as follows. For example, in the case of outputting a graph of many colors, it is not necessary to output in a similar color, as long as the colors are different. Therefore, the correspondence in such a case is at least different colors.

Further, instead of calculating the logical sum in step S24 in FIG. 4, for example, taking FIG. 6 as an example,
The green image data may be exposed, and then the unmounted yellow-green image data may be exposed so as to overlap the green-exposed portion.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention described above, color data that cannot be reproduced by the output unit is converted into data indicating an output color corresponding to a reproducible color that approximates the input color. Thus, even when an input color of color data that cannot be reproduced by the output means is input, it is possible to reproduce the input color in a color similar to the input color.

Further, since the color conversion is performed in consideration of the state of the output unit, it is possible to obtain an effect that output is performed using an approximate color adaptively corresponding to the state of the output unit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a 10-color printing device embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the correspondence between a page memory and a color code, and FIG. FIGS. 4 and 5 are flow charts related to control of the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a specific example in which a developing system is not mounted. In the figure, 1 is a printer mechanism, 2 is a control circuit, 14 to 23 is a laser, 24 is a detector, 25 is a controller, and 26 is a host computer.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An input means for inputting color data indicating a color, a detection means for detecting a state of an output means, and a table for associating color data indicating an input color with data indicating an output color, Means for storing a table configured to associate color data of an input color that cannot be reproduced by the means with data indicating an output color corresponding to an approximate reproducible color; and output means detected by the detection means. And color conversion means for converting color data of an unreproducible input color into data indicating an output color corresponding to a reproducible color similar to the input color based on the state and the table. Characteristic image processing device.