JP6141124B2 - Inkjet recording method and inkjet recording system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus using a colored ink and a transparent ink not containing a color material. In particular, the present invention relates to a recording method for obtaining a preferable glossiness in each of a decoration area and an original image area when printing with a predetermined decoration applied to an input original image.

  In many ink jet recordings, image output with the same image quality and texture as silver halide photographs is required. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for decorating and outputting a part of a photograph and its periphery. In such a situation, for example, when recording is performed using pigment ink on glossy paper, the glossiness may be different between the area where the pigment ink is applied and the white paper area. Further, in the case where decoration is applied to the original image, if the glossiness of the decoration portion becomes higher than that of the original image portion, the original purpose of decoration for enhancing the original image is impaired.

  In view of the above situation, in recent years, a method for controlling the glossiness of the entire image using transparent ink has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a high gloss photo image is surrounded by a low gloss frame image to effectively enhance the photo image by controlling the amount of polymer liquid (transparent ink) applied according to the position of the image. Is disclosed. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses that the decorative portion reduces the amount of transparent ink for controlling glossiness and exhibits a decorative effect, while applying the transparent ink after the colored ink in the entire image. A configuration for maintaining such glossiness and haze is disclosed.

JP 2012-051211 A JP 2001-018380 A

  However, in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, although the amount of transparent ink applied can be varied between a region where decoration is applied and a region where decoration is not performed, a sufficient decoration effect cannot be obtained. For example, in an original image, the glossiness of an image may be originally different in a color gamut such as yellow, light cyan, light magenta, and gray where a high lightness ink is applied and a low lightness color gamut. Therefore, for example, even if the cited document 1 or the cited document 2 is used when a low-brightness photographic image is surrounded by a high-brightness frame, the glossiness of the frame cannot be sufficiently lowered, and there is a case where the effect of decoration is difficult to appear. there were.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording method and system that can bring out the effect of decoration by surely adjusting the glossiness for each of the decoration area and the original image area.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a colored ink containing a color material, a first transparent ink containing no color material, and a second ink that does not contain a color material and has a higher permeability to the recording medium than the first transparent ink. In the ink jet recording method for recording an original image and a decoration image for decorating the original image on the recording medium, the image data of the colored ink for recording the original image, and the original A generating step for generating image data of the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink for making the glossiness of an image uniform; and a decorative image is synthesized with the original image for the colored ink. A compositing step for generating composite image data; and the image data of the first transparent ink and the image of the second transparent ink at a pixel where the decoration image exists. A correction step for correcting data; and after recording with the colored ink based on the composite image data, the image data of the first transparent ink and the image of the second transparent ink after correction by the correction step And a recording step of performing recording with the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink based on data.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a suitable and uniform glossiness without impairing the image clarity in the original image area, while it is possible to sufficiently exhibit the decoration effect in the decoration area.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the image processing in the recording system of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the recording data. It is a figure which shows the dot arrangement pattern with respect to the input levels 0-8. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the multipass recording method. It is the figure which showed an example of the mask pattern. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an ink jet recording apparatus that can be used in the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the inside of an inkjet recording device. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of an inkjet recording device. It is a figure which shows the component of the ink to be used. (A)-(d) is a figure explaining glossiness and haze. (A)-(d) is a figure which shows the image clarity and the glossiness with respect to the overlapping method of ink. (A)-(c) is a figure which shows the glossiness and the provision effect of transparent ink. (A)-(c) is a figure for demonstrating the adjustment method of the recording rate of transparent ink. It is a figure which shows an example of the mask pattern of colored ink and transparent ink. It is a figure which shows the example which sets and records a decoration image with respect to an original image. (A) And (b) is a flowchart which shows the process of a decoration image synthetic | combination process. It is a figure which shows an example of the mask pattern of colored ink and transparent ink. It is a figure which shows four types of decoration modes AD which a user can set.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1. 1. Basic Configuration 1.1 Overview of Recording System FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the flow of image data processing in an inkjet recording system that can be used in the present invention. The inkjet recording system J0011 includes a host device J0012 and a recording device J0013. The host device J0012 generates image data indicating an image to be recorded, sets a UI (user interface) for generating the data, and the like. The recording device J0013 performs recording on a recording medium based on the image data generated by the host device J0012.

  As an example, the recording apparatus of this example includes cyan (C), light cyan (Lc), magenta (M), light magenta (Lm), yellow (Y), black (K), gray (Gray), and first transparent. Nine types of inks, ink (CL1) and second transparent ink (CL2), are provided. Therefore, a recording head H1001 that discharges each of these nine types of ink is used. Among these, cyan (C), light cyan (Lc), magenta (M), light magenta (Lm), yellow (Y), black (K), and gray (Gray) are pigment inks containing pigments as color materials. is there.

  Examples of programs that operate on the operating system of the host device J0012 include applications and printer drivers. The application J0001 executes processing for creating image data to be recorded by the recording apparatus. This image data, or data before editing or the like, can be taken into the host device (PC) J0012 via various media. The host device of this example can capture, for example, JPEG format image data captured by a digital camera via a CF card. Further, the host device can take in, for example, TIFF format image data read by the scanner and image data stored in a CD-ROM. Further, the host device can capture data on the web via the Internet. These captured data are displayed on the monitor of the host device, and are subjected to processing such as editing and processing via the application J0001, and for example, image data R, G, and B of the sRGB standard are created. On the UI screen displayed on the monitor of the host device J0012, the user instructs recording after setting the type of recording medium used for recording, the quality of recording, and the like. In response to this recording instruction, the image data R, G, B is transferred to the printer driver.

  The printer driver includes a pre-stage process J0002, a post-stage process J0003, a γ correction J0004, a transparent ink data generation process J0005, a halftoning J0006, and a print data creation J0007. Hereinafter, the processes J0002 to J0007 performed by the printer driver will be briefly described.

  In the pre-stage process J0002, color gamut mapping is performed. In this example, data conversion is performed to map the color gamut reproduced by the image data R, G, B of the sRGB standard into the color gamut reproduced by the recording device J0013. Specifically, 256-gradation image data R, G, and B each represented by 8 bits are converted into 8-bit data in the color gamut of the recording apparatus J0013 by using a three-dimensional LUT. Convert to R, G, B.

  In the post-processing J0003, based on the 8-bit data R, G, B, 8-bit color separation data Y, M, Lm, C, respectively corresponding to the 7 colored inks for reproducing the color represented by this data. Lc, K, Gray, and second transparent ink data CL2 are generated. The second transparent ink data CL2 is determined according to the values and combinations of the color separation data Y, M, Lm, C, Lc, K, and Gray, and the correspondence will be described in detail later. Similarly to the pre-stage process J0002, the post-stage process J0003 may be performed by using the interpolation calculation while referring to the three-dimensional LUT.

  The γ correction J0004 performs density value (gradation value) conversion for each color data of the color separation data obtained by the post-processing J0003. Specifically, by using a one-dimensional LUT corresponding to the gradation characteristics of each color ink in the recording apparatus J0013, conversion is performed so that the color separation data is linearly associated with the gradation characteristics of the recording apparatus.

  In the decorative image combining process J0005, a decorative image is combined with the original image after γ correction, and each of the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink is handled based on the data of each color and the designated area of the decorative image. 8-bit data CL1 and CL2 are newly generated (or corrected). A specific generation method will be described in detail later.

  Halftoning J0006 performs quantization by converting each of 8-bit color separation data Y, M, Lm, C, Lc, K, Gray, CL1, and CL2 subjected to γ correction into 4-bit data. In this example, 256-gradation 8-bit data is converted into 9-gradation 4-bit data using a multilevel error diffusion method. The 4-bit data is data serving as an index for indicating the dot arrangement pattern in the dot arrangement patterning process described later.

  At the end of the processing performed by the printer driver, recording data is created by adding recording control information to the recording image data containing the 4-bit index data by the recording data generation processing J0007.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of such recording data. The recording data includes recording control information for controlling recording and recording image data (the above-described 4-bit index data) indicating an image to be recorded. The recording control information includes “recording medium information”, “recording quality information”, and “other control information” such as a paper feed method. The recording medium information is information indicating the type of recording medium to be recorded, and defines any one type of recording medium among plain paper, glossy paper, postcard, printable disc, and the like. The recording quality information is information indicating the quality of the recording, and any one quality among “clean”, “standard”, “fast” and the like is defined. The recording control information is formed based on the content specified by the user on the UI screen on the monitor of the host device J0012. The recorded image data is 4-bit image data generated by the aforementioned halftone process J0006. The recording data generated as described above is supplied to the recording device J0013.

  The printing apparatus J0013 performs the following dot arrangement patterning process J0008 and mask data conversion process J0009 on the printing data supplied from the host apparatus J0012.

  In the halftone process J0006 described above, the number of gradation levels is reduced from 256-value multi-value density information (8-bit data) to 9-value gradation value information (4-bit data). However, the data that can be actually recorded by the printing apparatus J0013 is binary data (1 bit data) indicating whether or not ink dots are printed for each area. Therefore, in the dot arrangement patterning process J0007, a dot arrangement pattern corresponding to the gradation value (levels 0 to 8) is assigned to 4-bit data of gradation levels 0 to 8, which is an output value from the halftone process J0006. . Thus, 1-bit binary data of “1” (recording) or “0” (non-recording) is arranged in each of a plurality of areas in one pixel, and the presence / absence of ink dot recording is defined.

  FIG. 3 shows output patterns for input levels 0 to 8 that are converted in the dot arrangement patterning process of this example. Each level value shown on the left side of the drawing corresponds to level 0 to level 8 which are output values from the halftone processing unit on the host device side. An area composed of 2 vertical areas × 4 horizontal areas arranged on the right side corresponds to an area of one pixel output by halftone processing. Each area in one pixel corresponds to a minimum unit in which dot on / off is defined.

  In the figure, the area filled with circles indicates the area where dots are recorded, and as the number of levels increases, the number of dots to be recorded increases by one. In this example, finally, the density information of the original image is reflected in such a form.

  (4n) to (4n + 3) indicate pixel positions in the horizontal direction from the left end of the image data to be recorded by substituting an integer of 1 or more for n. Each pattern shown under (4n) to (4n + 3) indicates that a plurality of different patterns are prepared according to the pixel position even at the same input level. That is, even when the same level is input, four types of dot arrangement patterns (4n) to (4n + 3) are circulated and assigned on the recording medium.

  In FIG. 3, the vertical direction is the direction in which the ejection ports of the recording head are arranged, and the horizontal direction is the scanning direction of the recording head. As described above, the configuration in which recording is performed using a plurality of different dot arrangements for the same level distributes the number of ink ejections between the nozzles located in the upper stage of the dot arrangement pattern and the nozzles located in the lower stage thereof. effective. Further, there is an effect that various noises peculiar to the recording apparatus are dispersed. By such dot arrangement patterning processing, all dot recording positions on the recording medium are determined.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a recording head and a recording pattern in order to explain the multipass recording method. The recording head H10001 applied to this example actually has 768 nozzles, but here, for the sake of simplicity of description, the recording head H00011 will be described as a recording head P0001 having 16 nozzles. The plurality of nozzles are divided into four groups of first to fourth nozzles as shown in FIG. 4, and each of the first to fourth mask patterns P0002 (a) to P0002 (d) is included in each nozzle group. It is addressed. In the first to fourth mask patterns P0002 (a) to P0002 (d), the black painted area indicates the print allowable area (1), and the white painted area indicates the non-print allowable area (0). The first to fourth mask patterns P0002 (a) to P0002 (d) are complementary to each other. When these four mask patterns are overlapped, the recording of the area corresponding to the 4 × 4 area is completed. .

  Each pattern indicated by P0003 to P0006 indicates a state in which an image is completed by overlapping recording scans. At the end of each recording scan, the recording medium is conveyed by the width of the nozzle group in the direction of the arrow in the figure (four nozzles in this figure). Therefore, an image is completed in the same region of the recording medium (region corresponding to the width of each nozzle group) by four recording scans. As described above, forming the same area of the recording medium by a plurality of scans and using a plurality of nozzle groups has an effect of reducing variations peculiar to nozzles, variations in conveyance accuracy of the recording medium, and the like.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a mask pattern. Since the recording head H1001 used in this embodiment has 768 nozzles, 192 nozzles belong to each of the four nozzle groups. The size of the mask pattern is 768 areas in the vertical direction equal to the number of nozzles, and 256 areas in the horizontal direction, and the four mask patterns corresponding to the four nozzle groups maintain a complementary relationship with each other. It has become.

  In order to eject a large number of small droplets from an inkjet recording head at a high frequency, an air flow is generated in the vicinity of the recording unit during a recording operation, and this particularly affects the ink ejection direction at the nozzle located at the end of the recording head It has been confirmed. In such a case, as shown in FIG. 5, a mask pattern in which the distribution of the recording allowance is biased depending on the region in each nozzle group or the same nozzle group is effective. By making the recording allowance of the end nozzles smaller than the recording allowance of the center, it is possible to make inconspicuous an adverse effect caused by the landing position deviation of the ink droplets ejected by the end nozzles.

  Such binary data of the mask pattern is stored in a ROM in the recording apparatus main body. In the mask data conversion process J0009, for each area, by performing AND processing between the binary mask data and the binary data obtained by the dot arrangement patterning process described above for each area, Binary data to be recorded is determined. Then, the binary data is sent to the head drive circuit J0010. As a result, the recording head H1001 is driven and ink is ejected according to the binary data.

  In FIG. 1, the pre-process J0002 to the print data creation process J0007 are executed by the host apparatus J0012, and the dot arrangement patterning process J0008 and the mask data conversion process J0009 are executed by the print apparatus J0013. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form. For example, a part of the processes J0002 to J0006 executed by the host device J0012 may be executed by the recording device J0013, or all may be executed by the host device J0012. Alternatively, all of the processes J0002 to J0009 may be executed by the recording device J0013.

1.2 Apparatus Configuration FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a serial type ink jet recording apparatus J0013 that can be used in the present invention. The recording medium is fed into the apparatus from the paper feed tray 12 in the direction indicated by the arrow to form an image, and then ejected to the paper ejection tray 22. On the other hand, FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the inside of the ink jet recording apparatus. When a recording start command is input, one sheet S2 of the recording media stacked on the paper feed tray 12 is supplied into the apparatus, and is sandwiched between the transport roller 16 and the pinch roller 15 by the recording head H1001. It is transported to the platen 2 at a recordable position.

  The recording head H1001 mounted on the carriage 5 ejects ink from the nozzles while reciprocating along the guide rail 4 in the directions of arrows A1 and A2, and forms an image on the recording medium S2. The recording head 1 includes seven colored inks, cyan (C), light cyan (Lc), magenta (M), light magenta (Lm), yellow (Y), black (K), and gray (Gray). The nozzle group discharges the first and second transparent inks (CL1, CL2). These color inks and transparent ink are stored in the ink tank 7 and supplied to the recording head H1001 as necessary.

  The driving force of the carriage motor 11 is transmitted to the carriage 5 through the timing belt 17, and the carriage 5 reciprocates along the guide shaft 3 and the guide rail 4 in the directions of arrows A 1 and A 2 (main scanning direction). During this movement, the position of the carriage 5 is detected by reading the linear scale 19 provided along the carriage movement direction by the encoder sensor 21 provided on the carriage 5. The recording head H1001 ejects ink according to the image data and the position of the carriage, whereby an image for one scan is recorded on the recording medium. When recording for one scan is performed, the transport roller 13 is driven by the transport motor 13 via the linear wheel 20, and the recording medium S2 is transported by a predetermined amount in the arrow B direction which is the sub-scanning direction. Thereafter, recording is performed on the recording medium S2 while the carriage 5 scans in the A2 direction.

  By repeating the operation described above, when the recording for one sheet of recording medium is completed, the recording medium is discharged to the sheet discharge tray, and the recording for one sheet is completed. As shown in FIG. 7, the home position is provided with a head cap 10 and a recovery unit 14, and intermittently performs recovery processing of the recording head 1 as necessary.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus. The controller 100 is a main control unit, and includes, for example, an ASIC 101 in the form of a microcomputer, a ROM 103, and a RAM 105. The ROM 103 stores a dot arrangement pattern, a mask pattern, and other fixed data. The RAM 105 has an area for developing image data, a work area, and the like. The ASIC 101 reads a program from the ROM 103 and executes a series of processes from recording image data to a recording medium. Image data, other commands, status signals, and the like are transmitted and received between the host device J0012 and the recording device J0013 via the interface (I / F) 112.

  The head driver 140 drives the recording head 1 according to print data or the like. The motor driver 150 drives the carriage motor 11, and the motor driver 160 drives the carry motor 13.

1.3 Ink Configuration Hereinafter, a colored ink containing a pigment color material (hereinafter referred to as ink) and a transparent ink used in the ink jet recording apparatus of the embodiment will be described.

(Aqueous medium)
The ink used in the present invention is preferably an aqueous medium containing water and a water-soluble organic solvent. The content (% by mass) of the water-soluble organic solvent in the ink is preferably 3.0% by mass or more and 50.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink. The water content (% by mass) in the ink is preferably 50.0% by mass or more and 95.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink.

  Specifically, for example, the following water-soluble organic solvents can be used. C1-C6 alkyl alcohols, such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, propanediol, butanol, butanediol, pentanol, pentanediol, hexanol, hexanediol, and the like. Amides such as dimethylformamide and dimethylacetamide. Ketones or ketoalcohols such as acetone and diacetone alcohol. Ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane. Polyalkylene glycols having an average molecular weight of 200, 300, 400, 600 and 1,000 such as polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol. Alkylene glycols having an alkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, triethylene glycol, 1,2,6-hexanetriol, thiodiglycol, hexylene glycol, and diethylene glycol; Lower alkyl ether acetates such as polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate. Glycerin. Lower alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol monomethyl (or ethyl) ether, diethylene glycol methyl (or ethyl) ether, triethylene glycol monomethyl (or ethyl) ether. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, 2-pyrrolidone, 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone and the like. The water is preferably deionized water (ion exchange water).

(Pigment)
As the pigment, carbon black or an organic pigment is preferably used. The pigment content (% by mass) in the ink is preferably 0.1% by mass or more and 15.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink.

  The black ink preferably uses carbon black such as furnace black, lamp black, acetylene black, channel black, or the like as a pigment. Specifically, for example, the following commercially available products can be used. Ray Van: 7000, 5750, 5250, 5000ULTRA, 3500, 2000, 1500, 1250, 1200, 1190ULTRA-II, 1170, 1255 (above, Colombia). Black Pearls L, Legal: 330R, 400R, 660R, Mogul L, Monak: 700, 800, 880, 900, 1000, 1100, 1300, 1400, 2000, Vulcan XC-72R (above, manufactured by Cabot). Color Black: FW1, FW2, FW2V, FW18, FW200, S150, S160, S150, Printex: 35, U, V, 140U, 140V, Special Black: 6, 5, 4A, 4 (above, manufactured by Degussa). No. 25, no. 33, no. 40, no. 47, no. 52, no. 900, no. 2300, MCF-88, MA600, MA7, MA8, MA100 (above, manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical). Carbon black newly prepared for the present invention can also be used. Of course, the present invention is not limited to these, and any conventional carbon black can be used. Further, the material is not limited to carbon black, and magnetic fine particles such as magnetite and ferrite, titanium black, and the like may be used as a pigment.

  Specifically, for example, the following can be used as the organic pigment. Water-insoluble azo pigments such as toluidine red, toluidine maroon, Hansa yellow, benzidine yellow and pyrazolone red. Water-soluble azo pigments such as Ritolol Red, Helio Bordeaux, Pigment Scarlet, and Permanent Red 2B. Derivatives from vat dyes such as alizarin, indanthrone and thioindigo maroon. Phthalocyanine pigments such as phthalocyanine blue and phthalocyanine green. Quinacridone pigments such as quinacridone red and quinacridone magenta. Perylene pigments such as perylene red and perylene scarlet. Isoindolinone pigments such as isoindolinone yellow and isoindolinone orange. Imidazolone pigments such as benzimidazolone yellow, benzimidazolone orange, and benzimidazolone red. Pilanthrone pigments such as pyranthrone red and pyranthrone orange. Indigo pigments, condensed azo pigments, thioindigo pigments, diketopyrrolopyrrole pigments. Flavanthrone yellow, acylamide yellow, quinophthalone yellow, nickel azo yellow, copper azomethine yellow, perinone orange, anthrone orange, dianslaquinonyl red, dioxazine violet, etc. Of course, the present invention is not limited to these.

  Moreover, when an organic pigment is shown by a color index (CI) number, the following can be used, for example. C. I. Pigment Yellow: 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 24, 74, 83, 86, 93, 97, 109, 110, 117, 120, 125, 128, 137, 138, 147, 148, 150, 151, 153 154, 166, 168, 180, 185, etc. C. I. Pigment Orange: 16, 36, 43, 51, 55, 59, 61, 71, etc. C. I. Pigment Red: 9, 48, 49, 52, 53, 57, 97, 122, 123, 149, 168, 175, 176, 177, 180, 192, etc. 215, 216, 217, 220, 223, 224, 226, 227, 228, 238, 240, 254, 255, 272, etc. C. I. Pigment violet: 19, 23, 29, 30, 37, 40, 50, and the like. C. I. Pigment Blue: 15, 15: 1, 15: 3, 15: 4, 15: 6, 22, 60, 64, and the like. C. I. Pigment Green: 7, 36 etc. C. I. Pigment Brown: 23, 25, 26, etc. Of course, the present invention is not limited to these.

(Dispersant)
As the dispersant for dispersing the pigment as described above in the aqueous medium, any resin having water solubility can be used. Of these, those having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000 to 30,000, more preferably 3,000 to 15,000 are preferred. The content (% by mass) of the dispersant in the ink is preferably 0.1% by mass or more and 5.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink.

  Specifically, for example, the following can be used as the dispersant. Monomers of styrene, vinyl naphthalene, aliphatic alcohol esters of α, β-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids, acrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, fumaric acid, vinyl acetate, vinyl pyrrolidone, acrylamide, or derivatives thereof A polymer. In addition, it is preferable that at least one monomer constituting the polymer is a hydrophilic monomer, and a block copolymer, a random copolymer, a graft copolymer, or a salt thereof may be used. good. Alternatively, natural resins such as rosin, shellac and starch can be used. These resins are preferably soluble in an aqueous solution in which a base is dissolved, that is, an alkali-soluble type.

(Surfactant)
In order to adjust the surface tension of the ink constituting the ink set, it is preferable to use a surfactant such as an anionic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, and an amphoteric surfactant. Specifically, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkylphenols, acetylene glycol compounds, acetylene glycol ethylene oxide adducts, and the like can be used.

(Other ingredients)
In addition to the above-described components, the ink constituting the ink set may contain a moisturizing solid content such as urea, urea derivatives, trimethylolpropane, and trimethylolethane in order to maintain the moisturizing property. The content (% by mass) of the moisturizing solid content in the ink is 0.1% by mass or more and 20.0% by mass or less, further 3.0% by mass or more and 10.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink. It is preferable to do. In addition to the above-described components, the ink constituting the ink set includes a pH adjuster, a rust inhibitor, a preservative, an antifungal agent, an antioxidant, an anti-reduction agent, and an evaporation accelerator as necessary. Various additives may be contained.

  Next, the ink used in the present embodiment will be described more specifically. The present invention is not limited by the following examples as long as the gist thereof is not exceeded. In the text, “parts” and “%” are based on mass unless otherwise specified.

(Preparation of resin aqueous solution A)
A random copolymer of styrene / acrylic acid having an acid value of 200 mg KOH / g and a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 was neutralized with potassium hydroxide to 1 equivalent. Then, it adjusted with water so that resin concentration might be 10.0%, and resin aqueous solution A was obtained.

(Preparation of aqueous resin solution B (polymer that easily penetrates))
A random copolymer of styrene / acrylic acid having an acid value of 200 mgKOH / g and a weight average molecular weight of 10,000, used in the aqueous resin solution A, has an acid value of 288 mgKOH / g, a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 and a monomer composition of styrene / n. -It replaced with the random copolymer of butyl acrylate / acrylic acid = 23/37/37. Except this, resin aqueous solution B was prepared in the same manner as in resin aqueous solution A.

(Preparation of aqueous resin solution C (polymer that does not easily penetrate))
A random copolymer of styrene / acrylic acid having an acid value of 200 mgKOH / g and a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 used in the aqueous resin solution A was converted into an acid value: 210 mgKOH / g, a weight average molecular weight of 10,000, and a monomer composition of styrene / n. -It replaced with the random copolymer of butyl acrylate / acrylic acid = 33/30/27. Except for this, the resin aqueous solution C was prepared in the same manner as the resin aqueous solution A.

(Preparation of pigment dispersions 1 to 4)
Pigment dispersions 1 to 4 were prepared by the following procedure.

<C. I. Preparation of Pigment Dispersion Liquid 1 Containing Pigment Red 122>
10 parts of pigment (CI Pigment Red 122), 20 parts of aqueous resin solution A and 70 parts of ion-exchanged water are mixed and dispersed for 3 hours using a batch type vertical sand mill. Thereafter, coarse particles were removed by centrifugation. Furthermore, pressure filtration is performed with a cellulose acetate filter having a pore size of 3.0 μm (manufactured by Advantech) to obtain a pigment dispersion 1 having a pigment concentration of 10% by mass.

<C. I. Preparation of pigment dispersion 2 containing Pigment Blue 15: 3>
10 parts of pigment (C.I. Pigment Blue 15: 3), 20 parts of aqueous resin solution A and 70 parts of ion-exchanged water are mixed and dispersed for 5 hours using a batch type vertical sand mill. Thereafter, coarse particles were removed by centrifugation. Furthermore, pressure filtration is performed with a cellulose acetate filter (manufactured by Advantech) having a pore size of 3.0 μm to obtain a pigment dispersion 2 having a pigment concentration of 10% by mass.

<C. I. Preparation of Pigment Dispersion Liquid 3 Containing Pigment Yellow 74>
10 parts of pigment (CI Pigment Yellow 74), 20 parts of aqueous resin solution A and 70 parts of ion-exchanged water are mixed and dispersed for 1 hour using a batch type vertical sand mill. Thereafter, coarse particles were removed by centrifugation. Further, pressure filtration is performed with a cellulose acetate filter having a pore size of 3.0 μm (manufactured by Advantech) to obtain a pigment dispersion 3 having a pigment concentration of 10% by mass.

<C. I. Preparation of Pigment Dispersion Liquid 4 Containing Pigment Black 7>
Carbon black pigment (CI Pigment Black 7) 10 parts, resin aqueous solution A 20 parts, and ion-exchanged water 70 parts are mixed and dispersed for 3 hours using a batch type vertical sand mill. In addition, the peripheral speed at the time of dispersion was set to double that when the pigment dispersion liquid 1 was prepared. Thereafter, coarse particles are removed by centrifugation. Further, pressure filtration is performed with a cellulose acetate filter having a pore size of 3.0 μm (manufactured by Advantech) to obtain a pigment dispersion 4 having a pigment concentration of 10% by mass.

(Preparation of colored ink and image quality improving liquid)
After mixing each component shown in FIG. 9 and stirring sufficiently, pressure filtration is performed with a cellulose acetate filter (Advantech) having a pore size of 0.8 μm, and inks 1 to 7 and an image quality improving liquid CL1 (first transparent) Ink) and CL2 (second transparent ink) are prepared. The transparent ink obtained by the above adjustment is at least a liquid for controlling glossiness. As long as the same effect can be obtained, the transparent ink is not limited by the embodiment.

1.4 Relationship between glossiness and image clarity (Glossiness and image clarity evaluation method)
In the embodiment of the present invention, the glossiness and image clarity of the surface of a recording medium, which is a reference for evaluating the gloss uniformity in an image, will be described. Glossiness and image clarity are indexes for evaluating the glossiness of recording media and images. Below, the evaluation method of glossiness and image clarity, and the relationship between these and image clarity are explained.

  FIGS. 10A to 10D are diagrams for explaining glossiness and haze. As shown in FIG. 10 (a), 20 ° specular gloss (hereinafter referred to as gloss) and haze are obtained by detecting reflected light reflected on the surface of a printed material by a detector (for example, B-4632 manufactured by BYK-Gardner (Japanese name). 10 (d), the reflected light is distributed at an angle around the axis of the specularly reflected light, and the glossiness is at the center of the detector. It can be detected with an aperture width of, for example, 1.8 °, and haze can be detected outside the range of, for example, ± 2.7 °, ie the center of the distribution when reflected light is observed. The reflectance of incident specularly reflected light on the axis is defined as the glossiness, and the measurement of the scattered light generated in the vicinity of the specularly reflected light in the reflected light distribution is defined as the haze or haze value. The above detector In gloss and units of haze dimensionless be more measured gloss in K5600 of JIS standard, the haze is compliant with DIS13803 ISO standard.

  The image clarity is measured using, for example, JIS H8686 “Method for measuring the image clarity of anodized films of aluminum and aluminum alloys” and JIS J7105 “Testing method for optical properties of plastics”, and the clarity of the image reflected on the recording medium. Represents For example, when the illumination image reflected on the recording medium is blurred, the image clarity value is low.

  FIGS. 10B and 10C are diagrams showing that the amount and direction of reflected light differ depending on the roughness of the printed image surface. As shown in these figures, generally, as the surface becomes rougher, the reflected light diffuses and the amount of specular reflected light decreases, so that the image clarity and the glossiness are measured to be smaller. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, the fact that the measured value of the image clarity is small with respect to the target image clarity is described as low image clarity. Further, the fact that the measured value of the measured glossiness is smaller than the target glossiness is described as low glossiness.

(Relationship between glossiness and image clarity)
FIGS. 11A to 11D are diagrams for explaining how the image clarity and the glossiness change according to the way the colored ink and the transparent ink overlap. FIG. 11A shows a state where only colored ink is uniformly applied and transparent ink is not applied. When colored ink is applied uniformly, the surface of the image is smooth, and incident light is likely to be regularly reflected, so that the glossiness and image clarity are high. At this time, there may be a difference in glossiness between a region to which colored ink is applied and a blank paper region to which color ink is not applied. In such a case, it is possible to apply a transparent ink to the highlight area including the blank area to smooth the image surface and increase the glossiness.

  FIG. 11B shows a case where colored ink and transparent ink are recorded simultaneously. In simultaneous recording, since colored ink and transparent ink are recorded at random timing in the same recording scan, a portion where the transparent ink is applied on the colored ink, and a portion where the colored ink is applied on the transparent ink, Are mixed, and the image surface is uneven. As a result, light is scattered on the outermost surface of the image, and the image clarity and the glossiness tend to be lowered as compared with FIG. 11A where the surface is smooth.

  FIG. 11C shows a case where the second transparent ink is overcoated after recording the colored ink. Since the second transparent ink is difficult to separate into a liquid component and a solid component, all the components do not remain on the surface of the image and penetrate into the interior, and the image clarity is unlikely to deteriorate. However, since the refractive index of the second transparent ink is low and the amount of regular reflection on the surface is low, the glossiness of the surface is lower than that in FIG. That is, by overcoating the second transparent ink, the glossiness can be adjusted to an appropriate value while maintaining image clarity.

  FIG. 11D shows a case where the first transparent ink is overcoated after recording the colored ink. Since the first transparent ink is easily separated into a liquid component and a solid component, solid components remain on the surface of the image, and the unevenness is amplified. As a result, glossiness and image clarity are reduced. That is, the glossiness can be effectively reduced in the decoration region having a relatively high glossiness.

  FIGS. 12A to 12C are diagrams for explaining the glossiness with respect to the ink recording rate and the effect when the second transparent ink is applied. FIG. 12A is a diagram illustrating the glossiness with respect to the recording rate of the black ink under the condition where the transparent ink is not recorded. Here, the recording rate when eight drops of 3.5 pl of black ink are applied to one pixel area of 600 dpi × 600 dpi is 100%. According to the figure, it can be seen that the glossiness increases as the recording rate increases.

  FIG. 12B shows the change in gloss when the second transparent ink is overcoated in the region of the recording rate of 64% to 124% in the graph shown in FIG. Is a diagram showing the recording rate of 0%, 10%, and 20%. It can be seen that the glossiness decreases as the recording rate of the transparent ink increases. FIG. 12C is a diagram showing changes in haze under the same conditions. It can be seen that the haze is stable even when the recording rate of the transparent ink is increased.

  On the other hand, FIG. 12D shows the change in haze when the second transparent ink is recorded simultaneously with the black ink. As shown in FIG. 11B, since the unevenness of the image surface is amplified in the simultaneous recording, the haze deteriorates as the recording rate of the second transparent ink increases. In other words, when applying the second transparent ink to adjust the glossiness, it can be said that it is preferable to overcoat the colored ink.

  FIGS. 13A to 13C are diagrams for explaining a method of adjusting the recording rate of the second transparent ink when an image is recorded without decoration. Here, as an example, the recording rates of the color ink, the gray ink, the black ink, and the second transparent ink in an achromatic line of white → gray → black are shown. However, the recording rate of the second transparent ink shows almost the same tendency for any color line as long as it goes from white to black, and the same recording rate control can be performed.

  In the figure, the horizontal axis represents RGB luminance signals, the left end is white (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 255), and the right end is black (R, G, B) = (0, 0, 0). Is shown. The vertical axis represents the ink recording rate for each luminance signal. In the case of a gray line that gradually decreases the brightness from white to black, a neutral color is expressed by mixing light cyan, light magenta, and yellow from the highlight to almost the center gray, and the recording rate of the ink and black ink is 0% Is maintained. When the lightness shifts to a lower brightness area, the gray ink recording rate gradually increases, and the light cyan, light magenta, and yellow recording rates decrease accordingly. When the lightness is further decreased and the black ink recording rate is increased, the gray ink recording rate is also gradually decreased. When black (R, G, B) = (0, 0, 0) having the lowest lightness, the black ink recording rate is obtained. Is 100%, and the recording rate of other colored inks is 0%.

  The recording rate of the second transparent ink can be adjusted depending on the use of the recorded matter and the recording area. Here, FIG. 13A shows a case where the glossiness is reduced in a region where the glossiness is increased more than necessary by applying colored ink. The recording rate of the transparent ink is 0% for white (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 255), but increases as the brightness decreases, and black (R, G, B) = ( A recording rate of 20% is maintained up to (0, 0, 0). By setting the recording rate of the second transparent ink in this way, it is possible to adjust the low-lightness region, which tends to have high glossiness, to a glossiness substantially equivalent to that of the blank paper region.

  On the other hand, FIG. 13B shows a case where the glossiness of the blank area is increased so as to match the glossiness of the low brightness area. The recording rate of the transparent ink is about 20% when white (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 255), but decreases as the brightness decreases, and is maintained at 0% after the gray at the center. . By setting the recording rate of the second transparent ink in this manner, it is possible to adjust the high brightness area where the glossiness tends to be low to the same glossiness as the area where the colored ink is applied.

  FIG. 13C shows a case where the recording rate of the transparent ink is uniformly maintained regardless of the gradation value of the image data. By setting the recording rate of the second transparent ink in this way, the glossiness of the low lightness area can be lowered while the glossiness of the high lightness area is increased, and the glossiness of the entire image can be stabilized substantially constant. I can do it.

  As described above, when an image is recorded without decoration in the present embodiment, in order to prevent a large difference in glossiness between an area to which colored ink is applied and an area to which colored ink is not applied, colored The recording rate of the second transparent ink is adjusted according to the applied amount of ink (that is, the RGB signal value). At this time, since the second transparent ink overcoats the image formed with the colored ink, the recording is performed after the recording of the colored ink is completed.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a mask pattern of colored ink and transparent ink used for realizing the overcoat of the transparent ink. Reference numeral 141 denotes a mask pattern for colored ink, and 142 denotes a mask pattern for transparent ink. Here, an example of a mask pattern in the case of 6-pass multi-pass is shown, and the print medium is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow by a width d (128 nozzles) each time one print scan is completed. Similar to the mask pattern shown in FIG. 5, the black area indicates an area that allows dot recording, and the white area indicates an area that does not allow dot recording.

  In the mask pattern 141 for colored ink, image recording is completed by the first three recording scans by the first to third nozzle groups, and the latter three recordings by the fourth to sixth nozzle groups. Ink is not applied during scanning. On the other hand, the mask pattern 142 for transparent ink is not provided with ink in the first three printing scans by the first nozzle group to the third nozzle group, and the latter three times by the fourth nozzle group to the sixth nozzle group. Ink is applied by recording scanning. By using these mask patterns 141 and 142, the same image area having the width d on the recording medium can be transferred to the transparent ink in the latter three printing scans after the colored ink recording is completed in the first three printing scans. Is applied or overcoated.

  By the way, in a normal image region, it is desired to stabilize the glossiness between the region to which colored ink is applied and the region to which no color ink is applied, as described above. A recording method different from the recording method of the transparent ink is required. In this case, for example, when it is desired to sufficiently reduce the gloss of the decorative portion, referring to FIG. 13, if the lightness of the decorative portion is low, the application amount of the second transparent ink in the decorative portion is increased, and the lightness of the decorative portion is increased. If it is higher, the application amount of the second transparent ink in the decorative portion may be reduced. However, if the decorative part is recorded with ink with high brightness such as light cyan, light magenta or yellow, the amount of ink applied is large even if the brightness of the image is high, and the gloss is extremely high when recording with colored ink only. May be expressed. In such a case, even if the recording rate of the second transparent ink is 0%, the glossiness cannot be lowered sufficiently and a decorative effect cannot be obtained.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, in addition to the second transparent ink, a first transparent ink having lower permeability is prepared. Hereinafter, the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink are used, and while maintaining stable glossiness in the original image portion, effective decoration is performed while variously controlling the level of glossiness in the decoration portion. A recording method for performing the above will be specifically described with reference to some examples.

  FIG. 15 shows an example in which a first decorative image 201 and a second decorative image 202 are set and recorded for an original image 200 that is a photograph. In the application, the user selects a desired decoration image from various characters and graphics, and sets the arrangement and decoration effect of the decoration image in the original image 200. Here, the decoration effect refers to the intensity of the glossiness and the pattern of the glossiness in the decoration image. For example, for the decorative image 201 composed of heart marks, a pattern A that uniformly sets the glossiness inside the heart, a pattern B that alternately arranges high and low gloss areas, and the like can be set. When such decoration image setting is completed, the host device J0012 generates decoration image data separately from the original image.

  FIGS. 16A and 16B are flowcharts for explaining a process executed in the decorative image synthesis process in step J0005 described in FIG. FIG. 16A shows decoration image data generation processing, and FIG. 16B combines the decoration image data generated in FIG. 16A and the original image data, and based on this, the first transparent image data is synthesized. A process of generating recording data of ink and second transparent ink is shown.

  First, referring to FIG. 16A, when this process is started, decoration image data is generated based on the decoration image set by the user in step S1511. In the example of FIG. 15, the image data of the first decoration image 201 and the image data of the second decoration image 202 are generated.

  In step S1512, based on the items set by the application, data including information indicating the arrangement and decoration effect in the original image 200 is generated, and added as header data to the head of the image data generated in step S1511. Examples of information serving as header data include a page ID, print settings, page size, width, height, decoration effect, position in the page, and the like. Here, the print setting is information including items necessary for execution of printing, such as a paper size and a printing direction. The decoration effect is information for designating the pattern A or the pattern B in FIG.

  In subsequent step S1513, the decoration image data is rasterized based on the respective header data, and 600 dpi multi-valued decoration image data is generated.

  In step S1514, the multi-value data generated in step S1513 is binarized to generate 600 dpi binary data (201 and 202). In the binarized data, black “1” indicates a pixel in which decoration data exists, and white “0” indicates a pixel in which decoration data does not exist. In step S1515, the generated binary data is temporarily stored in the memory.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 16B, a recording data generation process of the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink will be described. Referring to FIG. 1 again, in the step before this processing is started, the multi-value original image data corresponding to each color ink and the multi-value data for the second transparent ink have already been generated. In FIG. 15, multi-value original image data corresponding to colored ink is indicated by 203, and multi-value data for the second transparent ink is indicated by 204. These have a resolution of 600 dpi, and the multi-value data 204 for the second transparent ink has an appropriate value so that the same glossiness can be obtained in all areas of the original image data, as described in FIG. It has been adjusted.

  When this processing is started, first, in step S1504, the binary data 201 and 202 of the decoration image temporarily stored in step S1515 are read, and in step S1505, header data of these decoration image data is analyzed. Further, in step S1506, the decorative image binary data 201 and 202 are combined with the original image data based on the header data to generate combined image data.

  In step S1507, based on the binary data 201 of the decoration image and the set decoration effect, the multi-value data 204 for the second transparent ink is corrected for each pixel, and the multi-value data 205 for the transparent ink is also generated. To do.

  Referring to FIG. 15, in this example, the corrected multi-value data 206 for the second transparent ink is obtained by correcting the multi-value data of the decoration area to “0” with respect to the multi-value data 204 before correction. Yes. Such correction is realized by changing the multi-value data of pixels whose binary data 201 and 202 of the decoration image are “1” among the multi-value data 204 before correction to “0”.

  On the other hand, the newly generated multi-value data 205 for the first ink is generated in a region where the glossiness is particularly lowered in the decorative image. In the example of FIG. 15, the multi-value data of the first transparent ink is generated only in the heart region. At this time, when the pattern A is set as the decoration effect, the multi-value data is uniformly generated in the intra-heart region. When the pattern B is set, areas where predetermined multi-value data exist and areas where 0 data exist are alternately arranged.

  Referring again to FIG. 1, multi-value data for 600 color seven colored inks, multi-value data for first transparent ink of 600 dpi, and second transparent ink by decorative image composition processing J0005 described above. Multi-valued data is generated. These data are transmitted to the subsequent halftoning process. Thereafter, the processing of J0006 to J0009 already described is performed, and the recording operation is performed by the recording head H1001.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mask pattern of colored ink and first and second transparent inks used when decoration recording is set. Reference numeral 171 denotes a mask pattern for colored ink, 172 denotes a mask pattern for the second transparent ink, and 173 denotes a mask pattern for the first transparent ink. Here, an example of a mask pattern in the case of adopting 9-pass multi-pass is shown, and the recording medium is transported in the direction indicated by the arrow by a width d ′ (for 85 nozzles) each time one printing scan is completed. . Similar to the mask pattern shown in FIG. 5, the black area indicates an area that allows dot recording, and the white area indicates an area that does not allow dot recording. In the mask pattern 171 for colored ink, image recording is completed by the first three recording scans by the first nozzle group to the third nozzle group, and ink is not applied in the recording scan after the fourth nozzle group. ing. On the other hand, the mask pattern 172 for the second transparent ink is not provided with ink in a total of six recording scans by the first nozzle group to the third nozzle group and the seventh nozzle group to the ninth nozzle group, and the fourth nozzle Ink is applied by three recording scans by the groups 6 to 6. Further, the first transparent ink mask pattern 173 is completed by the last three recording scans by the seventh to ninth nozzle groups, and ink is not applied in the recording scan before the sixth nozzle group. It is like that. By using these mask patterns 171 to 173, the same image area having the width d ′ on the recording medium is firstly recorded with the colored ink, then with the second transparent ink, and finally with the first image area. The transparent ink is applied. Therefore, a suitable and uniform glossiness can be realized without deteriorating the image clarity in the original image area, while the decoration effect can be sufficiently exhibited in the decoration area.

  If no decoration is performed, 6-pass multipass printing using the mask pattern shown in FIG. 14 is performed. If decoration is used, 9-pass multipass printing using the mask pattern shown in FIG. 17 is performed. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this. If a mask pattern in which the second transparent ink having high permeability is applied later than the colored ink is used, these mask patterns can be set freely. For example, even when decoration is performed, the mask pattern shown in FIG. 14 may be used, and the mask pattern 242 may be addressed to the colored ink and the mask pattern 142 may be addressed to the first and second transparent inks. Further, in these simultaneously used mask patterns, the effect of the present embodiment can be obtained even if a part of the area where the recording allowable pixels are set overlap each other in order to realize high-speed recording.

  In the above description, as described with reference to FIG. 15, the pattern A and the pattern B are prepared as an example of the decoration pattern inside the heart. However, more patterns can be prepared. In the pattern B, a rectangular pattern is periodically repeated. However, for example, a predetermined figure such as a round dot or a rhombus can be periodically arranged. At this time, in addition to the pattern figure, the figure size may be set from “large”, “medium”, and “small”, and the arrangement cycle and interval may be set. In any case, in step S1507 described with reference to FIG. 16B, pattern data may be generated inside the decorative image in accordance with the designated graphic or parameter. By setting such a periodic pattern in the decoration region, it is possible to produce a decoration effect in which a portion with high glossiness and a portion with low glossiness are adjacent to each other and the region shines brightly. According to the study by the present inventors, it has been confirmed that such an effect is most enhanced even in the case of a pattern size of about 2 to 3 mm.

  Further, in the above description, the multi-value data for the second transparent ink is corrected to “0” for the pixel whose signal value of the decorative image is “1”. However, the multi-value data for the second transparent ink has a predetermined amount. The signal value may be corrected to a signal value other than “0”, such as by reducing the signal value or changing the signal value to a fixed value.

  Even when the same decorative image is recorded, the effect of decoration can be variously changed by changing the type of transparent ink to be used and the order of ink application. In this embodiment, the user can select a desired decoration effect by preparing a plurality of modes in which the types of transparent ink to be used and the order of application are different.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating four types of decoration modes A to D that can be set by the user in the present embodiment. Mode A is a mode in which neither the first transparent ink nor the second transparent ink is applied in the decorative portion. When this mode is set, in step S1507 of FIG. 16B, the host device J0012 sets the binary data 201 and 202 of the decorative image among the multi-value data 204 of the second transparent ink to “1”. All the multi-value data of a certain pixel are changed to “0”. Further, the multi-value data 205 for the first ink is set to “0” for all pixels. On the other hand, the controller 100 of the printing apparatus assigns the mask pattern 141 shown in FIG. 14 to the colored ink nozzle row and the mask pattern 142 to the second transparent ink from the plurality of mask patterns stored in the ROM 103. , 6-pass multi-pass printing is executed. Thereby, the second transparent ink is applied to make the gloss uniform, but an image in which neither the decoration effect by the first transparent ink nor the decoration effect by the second transparent ink is expressed is output.

  Mode B is a mode that realizes only the decorative effect of the first transparent ink. When this mode is set, in step S1507 of FIG. 16B, the host device J0012 sets the binary data 201 and 202 of the decorative image among the multi-value data 204 of the second transparent ink to “1”. The multi-value data of a certain pixel is changed to “0”. The first ink multi-value data 205 generates predetermined multi-value data larger than “0” or is designated for pixels whose binary data 201 and 202 of the decoration image are “1”. Multi-value data and “0” data are arranged according to the pattern. On the other hand, in the printing apparatus J0013, the controller 100 assigns the mask pattern 141 shown in FIG. 14 to the colored ink nozzle row and the mask pattern 142 to the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink. Perform multi-pass recording. As a result, the first and second transparent inks are applied after the color ink recording is completed, and the decorative effect of the first transparent ink can be obtained while the glossiness of the original image is made uniform.

  The mode C is a mode in which the first transparent ink is applied after the second transparent ink is applied after the colored ink is recorded, as in the first embodiment. When this mode is set, the host device J0012 performs the image processing described in the first embodiment. In the recording apparatus J0013, the controller 100 assigns the mask pattern 171 shown in FIG. 17 to the colored ink nozzle row, the mask pattern 172 to the second transparent ink, and the mask pattern 173 to the third transparent ink. , 9-pass multi-pass printing is executed. Thus, as in the first embodiment, the second transparent ink is applied after the color ink recording is completed, and then the first transparent ink is applied. As a result, like the first embodiment, it is possible to obtain a decorative effect by the first transparent ink and a gloss uniformity effect by the second transparent ink.

  Mode D is a mode in which the decorative effect is expressed by the first and second transparent inks, but the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink are recorded by the same recording scan after the colored ink is recorded. When this mode is set, the host device J0012 performs the image processing described in the first embodiment. On the other hand, the controller 100 of the printing apparatus J0013 assigns the mask pattern 141 shown in FIG. 14 to the colored ink nozzle row and the mask pattern 142 to the first and second transparent inks, and performs six-pass multi-pass printing. Execute. Thereby, after the recording of the colored ink is completed, the first and second transparent inks are applied, and the decoration effect by the first transparent ink and the gloss uniformity effect by the second transparent ink can be obtained. In the decorative portion, as described with reference to FIG. 11B, a portion where the transparent ink is applied on the colored ink and a portion where the colored ink is applied on the transparent ink are mixed, and the surface of the image is displayed. Unevenness can be made. As a result, light is scattered on the outermost surface of the image, the image clarity and the glossiness are lowered, and the decoration effect can be enhanced.

  According to the present embodiment described above, a suitable and uniform glossiness can be realized without impairing the image clarity in the original image area, while the user can achieve a desired decoration effect in the decoration area. It becomes possible.

(Other examples)
In the embodiment described above, the case where the multi-value data for the second transparent ink is reduced to “0” or a predetermined amount only for the pixel having the signal value “1” of the decoration image has been described. On the contrary, the signal value may be changed to a value increased from the value before correction.

  In the above description, the first transparent ink is applied only to the decoration area, and in order to make the glossiness of the original image area uniform, only the second ink is generated as shown in FIG. did. However, when the glossiness cannot be sufficiently reduced only by the second transparent ink for the original image area where the glossiness becomes extremely high, the glossiness of the original image is made uniform. The first transparent ink may be applied. In this case, the multi-value data of the first transparent ink is also generated together with the multi-value data of the second transparent ink in the subsequent processing shown in FIG. 1, and the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink are first generated in S1507 of FIG. The multi-value data of the transparent ink may be deleted or corrected. Furthermore, the application amount of the transparent ink in such a decoration area may be configured to be set by the user together with the decoration effect.

  In any case, the present invention is effective if the glossiness of the decoration area is increased or decreased to a target level so that an original image adjusted so that the gloss is uniform can be enhanced. is there.

200 Original image
201 first decoration image
202 Second decoration image
203 Original image data for colored ink
204 Multi-value data for transparent ink
205 Multivalued data for the first transparent ink
206 Multivalued data for the second transparent ink after correction
J0012 Host device
J0013 Recording device

Claims (7)

Colored ink containing a color material, a first transparent ink not containing a color material, and a second transparent ink that does not contain a color material and has a higher permeability to the recording medium than the first transparent ink are used. In the inkjet recording method for recording an original image and a decoration image for decorating the original image on the recording medium,
Generation step of generating image data of the colored ink for recording the original image and image data of the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink for making the glossiness of the original image uniform When,
Combining a decoration image with the original image to generate combined image data for the colored ink; and
A correction step of correcting the image data of the first transparent ink and the image data of the second transparent ink in a pixel in which the decoration image exists;
After recording with the colored ink based on the composite image data, the first transparent ink image data and the first transparent ink image data corrected by the correction step are used. An ink jet recording method comprising: a recording step of performing recording with a transparent ink and the second transparent ink.   2. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein, in the correction step, image data of the second transparent ink of a pixel in which the decoration image exists is reduced or set to “0”. And further comprising setting a decoration effect of the image,
In the correction step, the correction method of the image data of the first transparent ink and the image data of the second transparent ink is changed according to the decoration effect,
3. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein, in the recording step, the recording method using the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink is changed based on the decoration effect. And further comprising a step of setting a high-gloss area and a low-gloss area in the decorative image to be arranged in a predetermined pattern,
When the predetermined pattern is set, in the correction step, the area where the image data of the first transparent ink in the decoration image is 0 and the area which is not 0 are arranged according to the predetermined pattern. The inkjet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the image data of the first transparent ink is corrected. By binarizing the composite image data, the image data of the first transparent ink and the image data of the second transparent ink that have been corrected in the correction step, respectively, the colored ink and the first transparent ink And a binarization step for generating binary data of the second transparent ink,
The recording step includes recording the colored ink, the first transparent ink, and the second transparent ink based on the binary data generated by the binarization step. 5. The ink jet recording method according to any one of 1 to 4.   In the multi-pass recording in the serial type ink jet recording apparatus, the recording step is performed after recording with the colored ink by applying different mask patterns to the colored ink and the first and second transparent inks. The inkjet recording method according to claim 1, wherein recording is performed using the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink. Colored ink containing a color material, a first transparent ink not containing a color material, and a second transparent ink that does not contain a color material and has a higher permeability to the recording medium than the first transparent ink are used. In the inkjet recording system for recording an original image and a decoration image for decorating the original image on the recording medium,
Generation means for generating image data of the colored ink for recording the original image and image data of the first transparent ink and the second transparent ink for making the glossiness of the original image uniform When,
A combining unit that combines a decoration image with the original image to generate combined image data for the colored ink;
Correction means for correcting the image data of the first transparent ink and the image data of the second transparent ink in a pixel in which the decoration image exists;
After recording with the colored ink based on the composite image data, the first transparent ink image data and the second transparent ink image data corrected by the correction means are used as the first transparent ink image data. An ink jet recording system comprising: a transparent ink and a recording means for performing recording with the second transparent ink.

Images