JP5888974B2 - Image processing apparatus, image display apparatus, printing apparatus, and image processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that applies a special effect to an image.

  In recent years, image processing apparatuses that apply various special effects to images have been proposed. For example, by applying a high-intensity low-pass filter to the area other than the target area, or by reducing the image bandwidth by image enlargement / reduction processing, special effects such as shooting a miniature from a close range can be obtained. There is a miniature shooting that is possible. Similarly, in a printing apparatus (printer), special printing (so-called miniature printing) that can obtain the same effect on an image that has not been miniature-captured has been proposed.

  However, in order to obtain special effects such as special shooting and special printing, it is necessary to perform high-intensity filtering processing. For this reason, when color space conversion processing is performed after such filtering processing, a tone jump occurs. Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses an image processing apparatus that detects and corrects a tone jump by detecting an edge of an image before and after the color space conversion process and comparing the images before and after the color space conversion process. .

JP 2001-36756 A

  However, since the image processing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs edge detection on an image before and after color space conversion, a great amount of processing time is required.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an image processing device, an image display device, a printing device, and an image processing program capable of obtaining high image quality with a simple image processing method.

An image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention provides a first image process that uses at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data , or a second filter that performs a filter process on the image data. Image processing means for selectively performing the image processing, a first conversion means for performing first conversion processing on the image data, and the first image processing when the first image processing is selected . performs image processing of the first prior to conversion, the second of said image processing unit to perform image processing of the second after the first conversion processing when the image processing is selected and and control means for controlling said first converting means, second converting means for performing a second conversion processing on the image data after processing by the image processing means and said first conversion means is performed , have a, the first conversion processing, print hand In which at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data is changed according to the ink characteristics of the image data, and the second conversion process is performed in a format corresponding to the color of the ink of the printing unit. It is the process which changes .

  An image display device as another aspect of the present invention includes the image processing device and display means for displaying the image data output from the image processing device.

  A printing apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention includes the image processing apparatus and a printing unit that prints the image data output from the image processing apparatus.

An image processing program according to another aspect of the present invention is a first image processing that uses at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data , or performs a filtering process on the image data. A step of selectively setting the second image processing, a step of performing the selected first image processing or the second image processing on the image data, and a first of the image data. A step of performing a conversion process, a step of performing a second conversion process on the first image process or the second image process, and image data after the first conversion process is performed; An image processing program to be executed by a processing apparatus, wherein when the first image processing is selected, the first image processing is performed before the first conversion processing, and the second image processing is performed. Selected There line image processing of the second after the first conversion processing when the said first conversion processing, at least the chromaticity values and luminance values of the image data in accordance with the ink properties of the printing means The second conversion process is a process for changing the image data into a format corresponding to the color of the ink of the printing unit .

  Other objects and features of the present invention are illustrated in the following examples.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus, an image display apparatus, a printing apparatus, and an image processing program capable of obtaining high image quality with a simple image processing method.

1 is a block diagram of a print processing system of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. FIG. 6 is a relationship diagram between a special printing effect that can be set by the printing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment and a control unit that is used correspondingly. It is a figure which shows the change of the chromaticity coordinate by the image process in a present Example. It is explanatory drawing of the 2nd control method in a present Example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each figure, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, with reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the sublimation type printer (printing apparatus) in a present Example is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print processing system of the printer 100 (printing apparatus). The printer 100 includes an image processing apparatus that performs image processing described later. Reference numeral 101 denotes a card reader (image acquisition means) for setting various memory cards. The card reader 101 is configured to be able to read image data (for example, a JPEG image) recorded on a memory card. Reference numeral 102 denotes a ROM (nonvolatile memory). The ROM 102 stores a program (image processing program) for controlling the printer 100. A system control unit (control unit) 103 controls the entire printer 100. A system control unit 103 controls the entire printer 100 according to a program stored in the ROM 102. Reference numeral 104 denotes a RAM (volatile memory). The RAM 104 holds image data read from the card reader 101.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes an image processing unit (image processing means). The image processing unit 105 performs an expansion process on the image data (JPEG image) read from the card reader 101. Note that the decompression process in this embodiment is conversion from the JPEG format to the YCbCr format. The image processing unit 105 also performs image processing described later. That is, the image processing unit 105 selectively performs, on the image data, first image processing that uses the characteristic value of the image data or second image processing that does not use the characteristic value of the image data. The characteristic value of the image data is, for example, a chromaticity value or luminance value of the image data. The image processing unit 105 also has a function as a conversion unit that performs color space conversion processing on image data. The image processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment includes at least a system control unit 103 and an image processing unit 105.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes a print image generation unit. In this embodiment, a printer 100 as a printing apparatus is a sublimation type thermal transfer recording type printer, and an ink cartridge in which an ink sheet and paper are integrated is employed. The ink sheet covers the print area of the print medium, and is configured by arranging the yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) ink layers and the overcoat (OC) layer in approximately the same size. ing. Each layer is thermally transferred to return the paper to the recording start position, and sequentially transferred onto the paper. For this reason, the print image generation unit 106 converts the YCbCr format image data generated by the image processing unit 105 into YMC format print data. Reference numeral 107 denotes a print processing unit. The print processing unit 107 sequentially transfers heat to the paper by transferring data from the thermal head controller to the thermal head, returns the paper to the recording start position, and prints all colors. The print image generation unit 106 and the print processing unit 107 constitute a printing unit that prints image data output from the image processing apparatus.

  Reference numeral 108 denotes an image display unit. The image display unit 108 is configured to select a print image (image data to be printed). The image display unit 108 is a display unit that displays image data output from the image processing apparatus. Reference numeral 109 denotes a UI operation unit. The UI operation unit 109 includes up / down / left / right buttons and a print button for operating the menu screen displayed on the image display unit 108. The UI operation unit 109 is a setting unit that sets special effects given to image data as described below.

For example, the image processing unit 105 selectively performs the first image processing and the second image processing based on the special effect set by the UI operation unit 109. As will be described later, when the first image processing is selected, the system control unit 103 performs the first image processing before the color space conversion processing, and when the second image processing is selected. The image processing unit 105 is controlled to perform the second image processing after the color space conversion processing.

  Next, the operation of the printer 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer 100, and shows the operation from when a memory card storing image data is inserted into the card reader 101 until printing. Each step of FIGS. 2A to 2D is executed based on a command from the system control unit 103 of the printer 100.

  First, in step S201 in FIG. 2A, print setting is performed. In this embodiment, the special printing effect is selected. FIG. 3 is a relationship diagram of special printing effects that can be set by the printer 100 and control means used correspondingly. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, a special printing effect is selected from five types of “no special printing effect”, “skin-beautifying printing”, “toy camera printing”, “soft focus printing”, and “miniature printing”. Is possible. Here, it is assumed that “no special printing effect” is selected.

  In step S202, image data is selected. That is, the image data stored in the memory card is displayed on the image display unit 108, and image data to be printed is selected using the UI operation unit 109. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating changes in chromaticity coordinates due to image processing in the present embodiment. Here, as shown in FIG. 4A, it is assumed that image data showing a sky and a mountain is selected. In step S203, the image data selected in step S202 is read out. The read image data is decompressed by the image processing unit 105 and stored in the RAM 104.

  In step S204, a control method (image processing) corresponding to the special printing effect (special effect) selected in step S201 is selected. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, one control method is selected from two control methods according to the special printing effect. The first control method (first image processing) is selected in the case of “no special printing effect”, “beautiful skin printing”, and “toy camera printing”, and in the case of “soft focus printing” and “miniature printing”. The second control method (second image processing) is selected. Here, the first control method is executed by the image processing unit 105 according to the flow of FIG. First, in step S208, various image processing (first image processing) corresponding to the selected special printing effect is performed. In step S209, color space conversion processing corresponding to the head characteristics and ink characteristics of the printer 100 (sublimation printer) is performed. A method in which the color space conversion process is performed after various image processes, as in the first control method, is generally used in printers.

  If color space conversion processing corresponding to the head characteristics and ink characteristics of a sublimation printer is performed before various image processing, the image data after color space conversion will change the chromaticity value and brightness of the image data due to changes in the color space. Characteristic values such as values differ before and after color space conversion. For this reason, for example, when performing processing for extracting human skin with the special print effect set to “skin-beautifying print”, the color value of human skin changes after color space conversion, making it difficult to perform good extraction. In the case of nonlinear color space conversion, desired color space conversion may not be executed. For the above reasons, as shown in FIG. 2B, the color space conversion process is generally performed after various image processes. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in the case of “beautiful skin printing” for performing human skin extraction processing and “toy camera printing” in which nonlinear color space conversion is performed, the first control method is Selected.

On the other hand, linear seed image processing that does not use characteristic values of image data, such as filter processing, does not substantially affect image quality even if it is performed after color space conversion processing. A control method for performing various types of image processing (second image processing) after performing color space conversion processing in this manner is the second control method shown in the flow of FIG. The second control method can reduce tone jumps that occur by performing color space conversion processing prior to high-intensity filter processing such as “miniature printing” or enlargement / reduction processing for reasons described later.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the first control method is selected when image processing that refers to the characteristic value of image data is performed, and the second control method is selected when such image processing is not performed. To do. The image processing unit 105 performs image processing using the selected control method. As a result, it is possible to achieve both the process of referring to the characteristic value of the image data and “miniature printing” in which the occurrence of tone jump is reduced.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, “soft focus printing” and “miniature printing” configured only by filter processing (diorama processing) and enlargement / reduction processing performed without using characteristic values of image data. In this case, the second control method is selected. Here, since “no special printing effect” is selected in step S201, the process proceeds to step S205, and the first control method is performed. As shown in FIG. 2B, first, various kinds of image processing are performed in step S208. The various image processes are image processes corresponding to the special printing effect selected in step S201. In the case of “no special printing effect”, since special effect printing is not performed, the process proceeds to step S209 without performing any image processing. In step S209, color space conversion processing corresponding to the head characteristics and ink characteristics of the sublimation printer is performed, and the process proceeds to step S207. In step S207, the print image generation unit 106 converts the image data into CMY, and sends the converted data to the print processing unit 107. The print processing unit 107 actually performs printing (print processing).

  Next, a case where “miniature printing” is selected in the print setting in step S201 in FIG. If “miniature printing” is selected, as shown in FIG. 3, the second control method is selected in step S204, and the process proceeds to step S206. The second control method is executed by the image processing unit 105 according to the flow of FIG. First, in step S210, color space conversion processing corresponding to the head characteristics and ink characteristics of the sublimation printer is performed, and the process proceeds to step S211. Subsequently, in step S211, various image processing (second image processing) is performed. Here, since “miniature printing” is selected, the sequence proceeds to the image processing sequence for miniature processing shown in FIG.

  In the image processing for miniature processing, first, in step S212, the image data A1 after the color space conversion processing is reduced to generate a reduced image (image data A2). In step S213, the reduced image (image data A2) is enlarged to generate an enlarged image (image data A3). FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the second control method, and FIGS. 5A to 5C show the image data A to C created in the second control method, respectively.

  Subsequently, in step S214, the image data A1 after the color space conversion process and the enlarged image data (image data A3) are synthesized. This synthesis process is performed using the following equation (1) to create B [x, y].

B [x, y] = A1 [x, y] × Mix [y] + A3 [x, y] × (1−Mix [y]) (1)
Here, x is the horizontal pixel position of the image data, and y is the vertical pixel position of the image data. Mix [y] is a Mix function of the image data A and the image data A3 that changes as shown in FIG. 5D according to the vertical pixel position y. FIG. 5D is a relationship diagram between the vertical pixel position y and the Mix ratio (Mix [y]). By performing image processing using Expression (1), a result (region) as shown in FIG. 5E can be obtained.

  FIG. 5E shows each region obtained by image processing using Expression (1). In FIG. 5E, “A1 area” is the original image data A1, and “A3 area” is the image data A3 obtained by enlarging the reduced image (image data A2) of the image data A1. “A3 and A1 combined region” is a region obtained by combining image data A1 and A3 using Expression (1). By such image processing, it is possible to obtain an image that is the original image as it is in the central region and that gradually blurs upward and downward from the central region. An image obtained by performing such special printing effect processing has a shallow depth of field and appears to be taken from a close distance, that is, as if a miniature model is printed.

When a strong filtering process (for example, a miniature process) is performed on the image data shown in FIG. 4A, an empty blue region (point A in FIG. 4B) and a yellow-green region of a mountain A region (point M in FIG. 4B) in which the colors of (the point B in FIG. 4B) are mixed occurs. FIG. 4C shows the points A1, B1, and M1 on the chromaticity coordinates of the points A, B, and M at this time. A trajectory L1 shown in FIG. 4C represents a change in the chromaticity coordinates of the trajectory L from point A to point M and point B in FIG. 4B. Further, the chromaticity values of the points A1, B1, and M1 at this time are A1 (L, a *, b *) = (75, -14, 19), B1 ( L, a *, b *) = (55, −2, −38) and M1 (L, a *, b *) = (65, −8, −10). As can be seen from the track L1 of FIG. 4 in (c), since the point M1 is present in the middle of the points A1 and B1, from point A 1 up to the point B1, the color change is gradual tone jump Does not occur. Here, it is assumed that color space conversion processing for enhancing the saturation of sky and mountains is performed on such image data.

  FIG. 4D shows the chromaticity coordinates of points A, B, and M in FIG. 4B after the color space conversion process in the first control method. The points A1 and B1 in FIG. 4C move greatly to the points A2 and B1, respectively, and the point M1 moves slightly to the point M2. The chromaticity values of the points A2, B2, and M2 at this time are A2 (L, a *, b *) = (75, −17, 26), B2 (L, L) as shown in FIG. a *, b *) = (55, −10, −37), M2 (L, a *, b *) = (65, −9, −11). A trajectory L2 in FIG. 4D is a trajectory on the chromaticity coordinates from the point A2 to the point M2 and the point B2. As described above, as can be seen from the trajectory L2 in FIG. 4D, the saturation decreases from the point A2 toward the point M2, and the saturation increases toward the point B2. When the color changes non-linearly in this way, it seems to the user that a tone jump has occurred.

  On the other hand, FIGS. 4E and 4F show changes in the chromaticity coordinates of each point in FIG. 4B when the processing by the second control method in the present embodiment is used. First, by the color space conversion process in step S210, points A and B move to points A2 and B2, respectively, as shown in FIG. Subsequently, in a filtering process by various image processing (in this case, miniature processing) in step S211, a region where the point A and the point B are mixed (point M) is formed at the boundary (FIG. 4B). FIG. 4F shows a trajectory L on the chromaticity coordinates from point A to point M and point B in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4G, the chromaticity value of M2 ′ is M2 ′ (L, a *, b *) = (65, −13, −5). For this reason, in FIG. 4F, the trajectory L from the point A2 to the point B2 changes linearly. As described above, the trajectory L changes more gently (changes linearly) than the trajectory L2 (FIG. 4D) when color space conversion is performed after performing various image processing (miniature processing). . For this reason, generation | occurrence | production of a tone jump can be reduced effectively.

  As described above, in this embodiment, in an image processing apparatus (image processing apparatus capable of selectively setting a plurality of image processes) capable of giving a special effect to image data, image processing and color space conversion processing are performed. The execution order can be changed. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide an image processing device, an image display device, a printing device, and an image processing program capable of obtaining high image quality with a simple image processing method.

  In this embodiment, “miniature processing” has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. 3, “soft focus printing” for performing image processing similar to “miniature printing” and other similar processing are also performed by performing color space conversion processing first as shown in FIG. The image processing may be performed. The present embodiment can also provide an image processing program that causes an information processing apparatus (computer) to execute various image processes and color space conversion processes and control the execution order of these processes.

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

100 Printing device (image processing device)
103 system control unit 105 image processing unit

Claims (10)

Image processing means for selectively performing first image processing using at least one of the chromaticity value and luminance value of the image data or second image processing for performing filter processing on the image data on the image data; ,
First conversion means for performing a first conversion process on the image data;
Wherein prior to the first conversion processing to perform image processing of the first, the first conversion processing when the second image processing is selected in the case where the first image processing is selected Control means for controlling the image processing means and the first conversion means to perform the second image processing after
Second conversion means for performing a second conversion process on the image data after the processing by the image processing means and the first conversion means;
I have a,
The first conversion process is a process of changing at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data according to an ink characteristic of the printing unit, and the second conversion process is an ink of the printing unit. An image processing apparatus , wherein the image data is changed to a format corresponding to the color of the image. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first image processing is non-linear image processing with respect to the image data. The first image processing, the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the analysis process for acquiring at least one information of the chromaticity values and luminance values of the image data. The second image processing includes
Reducing the image data to generate a reduced image;
Enlarging the reduced image to generate an enlarged image,
The synthesized image data and the said enlarged image, the image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that. An image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
An image display device comprising: display means for displaying the image data output from the image processing device. An image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
Having the printing means;
Printing device the printing means and said and Turkey be printed the image data output from the image processing apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the second conversion process is a process of converting image data in YCbCr format into print data in YMC format. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 or 7 , wherein, when the printing unit performs miniature printing on the image data, the image processing unit performs the second image processing. Selectively setting a first image process using at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data or a second image process for performing a filter process on the image data for the image data;
Performing the selected first image processing or second image processing on the image data;
Performing a first conversion process on the image data;
Image processing for causing an information processing apparatus to execute a step of performing a second conversion process on the image data after the first image process or the second image process and the first conversion process are performed. A program,
Wherein prior to the first conversion processing to perform image processing of the first, the first conversion processing when the second image processing is selected in the case where the first image processing is selected There line image processing of the second after,
The first conversion process is a process of changing at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data according to an ink characteristic of the printing unit, and the second conversion process is an ink of the printing unit. An image processing program characterized in that it is a process of changing the image data into a format according to the color . Image processing means for selectively performing skin processing for extracting a color corresponding to the skin of the subject in the image data or miniature processing for blurring the image data from a central region of the image data toward the periphery of the image data; ,
First conversion means for performing a first conversion process on the image data;
Wherein if the skin treatment is selected performed該肌treatment prior to the first conversion processing, when the miniature processing is selected to perform the miniature process after the first converting process Control means for controlling the image processing means and the first conversion means;
Second conversion means for performing a second conversion process on the image data after the processing by the image processing means and the first conversion means;
I have a,
The first conversion process is a process of changing at least one of a chromaticity value and a luminance value of the image data according to an ink characteristic of the printing unit, and the second conversion process is an ink of the printing unit. An image processing apparatus , wherein the image data is changed to a format corresponding to the color of the image.