JPH0255165A - Processing method for character graphic - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print a character graphic of high quality even if halftones of a character graphic are separated and color-printed by applying the profile of the graphic to the color printing plate having a maximum area rate of halftone area rates of color plates obtained on the basis of information of character graphic colors. CONSTITUTION:A halftone generator 3 generates halftones of a designated color printing plate from a halftone area rate fed from a halftone area rate calculator 1 and information of character pattern from a character pattern generator 2 in the character pattern. Then, if the area rate of the plate designated now is maximum as compared with that of other color printing plate, the profile of a character is generated from a profile generator 4. If the halftone generated from the generator 3 and the designated color plate have maximum halftone area rate, the profile of the character generated from the generator 4 is developed in a bit map memory 5. The above process is conducted for all the color plates.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a character/figure processing method for preventing the quality of characters from being impaired even when character/figures, etc. are separated into dots and printed in color. It is something.

[Prior Art] When printing characters or figures in a specified color, ink is mixed to obtain the specified color, and the ink is used to print solidly. In this way, high quality characters and figures can be printed in the specified color. However, in order to handle various colors, ink must be mixed each time, which is very complicated and expensive. For this reason, as with general photo printing, text is usually separated into 3 or 4 colors: C (cyan), Y (yellow), M (magenta), and K (black). Printing i was performed using ink to express the specified color.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention 1] However, color printing using halftone dot separation expresses colors by the size of the halftone dots of each color plate, so if this is applied to character figures, the outline of the character figure becomes discontinuous. As a result, the sharpness of the outline is lost and the quality is degraded. In particular, there is no problem if the character figure is sufficiently large compared to the size of the halftone dots, but if the character figure is so small that the size of the halftone dots cannot be ignored, as shown in the example in Figure 2, It can be seen that the contours are discontinuous and the quality is very poor.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned points, and provides character/figure processing that can print high-quality character/figures even when character/figures are separated into halftone dots for color printing. The purpose of this method is to provide a character/figure processing method that separates character/figure into halftone dots to create data for creating each color plate for color printing. Among the halftone area ratios of each color plate calculated based on the information,
It is to give the outline of the character figure to the color plate with the maximum area ratio.

[Operation] The present invention creates data for each color plate for printing high-quality character figures by adding the outline of the character figure to one of the halftone-separated color plates.

[Example 1] The present invention will be described in detail below. In addition, although the following explanation is about characters among characters and figures, the same is true for figures as well.

FIG. 1 shows the actual character/graphic processing method of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a character/graphics processing device suitable for carrying out the present invention. Third
Each part of the figure is as follows.

1; Halftone area ratio calculation unit. C and Y for printing and expressing the specified character color.

The halftone dot area ratio of each color version of M is calculated.

2; Character pattern generation part. A character pattern is generated based on the received character information such as character code, position, and character size.

3; Halftone dot generation area. Among the halftone dot area ratios calculated by the halftone dot area ratio calculation unit 1, halftone dots of the designated color plate are generated in the character pattern generated by the character pattern generation unit 2.

4; Outline generation area. Generates character outlines as needed in the specified color plane.

5; Bitmap memory. The created halftone dots and character outlines are developed into bits for each color of C, Y, and M.

First, the halftone area ratio calculation unit 1 calculates the halftone area ratio of each color plate based on the information of the specified character color (see Fig. 18).
1). Information on the calculated halftone dot area ratio is halftone dot occurrence $s3,
'Send to contour generation section 4.

Next, the character pattern generating section 2 generates a character pattern based on the received character information such as character, position, character size, etc. ($2). The generated character pattern is sent to a halftone dot generation section 3 and an outline generation section 4.

Next, the halftone dot generation section 3 converts the halftone dots of the specified color plate into characters based on the halftone dot area ratio and character pattern information sent from the halftone area heavy oil tJ) section 1 and the character pattern generation section 2. It occurs inside the pattern (S3).

Next, if the halftone dot area ratio of the currently designated color plate is the largest compared to the halftone dot area W4 ratio of other color plates (S4), the outline generation unit 4 generates the outline of the character (S5 ). The contour generated at this time may have a thickness corresponding to the halftone dot coverage, for example.

In this way, the halftone dots generated by the halftone dot generating section 3 and the outline of the character generated by the contour generating section 4 are developed in the bitmap memory 5 when the specified color plate has the maximum halftone dot area ratio (
S6).

The above processing is performed for each color plate (S7).

When a printing plate is created and printed according to the data for each color plate developed in the bitmap memory 5 through processing as described above, as shown in FIG. Since the outline 6 of the character is printed, there are no discontinuous parts of the outline of the character, and the quality is greatly improved.

Next, other embodiments of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a character/graphics processing device suitable for carrying out this embodiment. Components in FIG. 6 that are the same as those in FIG. 3 are given the same numbers, and their explanations will be omitted.

7; Halftone area ratio calculation unit. For the specified back silver color, calculate the halftone dot area ratio of each color plate of C, Y, and M to express that color by printing.

8; Comparator. Compares the size of the dot area ratio of the text color and the dot area ratio of the background color for the specified color plate.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail using FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, the halftone dot area ratio calculation unit 1 calculates the halftone dot area ratio of each color plate based on the information of the designated character color (Sl).

The calculated halftone area ratio information is sent to the halftone dot generation section 3 and the comparator 8.
send to

Next, the dot area ratio calculation unit 7 calculates the dot area ratio of each color plate based on the information of the specified background color (S2). Information on the calculated dot area ratio is sent to the comparator 8.

Next, the character pattern generating section 2 generates a character pattern based on the received character information in the character code, position, and character size list (S3). The generated character pattern is sent to a halftone dot generation section 3 and an outline generation section 4.

Next, the halftone dot generation section 3 converts the halftone dots of the specified color plate into a character pattern based on the halftone dot area ratio and character pattern information sent from the halftone dot area ratio calculation section 1 and the character pattern generation section 2. (S4).

Next, the halftone area ratio of the currently specified color plate is the largest (S5) compared to the halftone area ratio of other color plates (including text color and background color), and If the halftone dot area ratio of the background color is larger than the halftone dot area ratio of the text color (86), the outline generation part 4
An outline is generated outside the character (S7). On the other hand, the halftone dot area ratio of the currently specified color plate is the largest compared to the halftone dot area ratio of the black color plate (including text color and background color) (S5),
If the dot area ratio of the background color of the color version is smaller than the dot area ratio of the character color (S6), the outline generation unit 4 generates an outline inside the character (S8), and the outline generated at this time is ,
As in the previous embodiment, the thickness may be generated in accordance with the dot area ratio, for example.

In this way, the halftone dots generated by the halftone dot generation section 3 and, if the outline of a character is generated, the outline of the character generated by the contour generation section 4 are developed in the bitmap memory 5 (S9).

The above processing is performed for each color plate (S10).

By doing the above, a character outline can be generated inside or outside the character, taking into account the background color and character color.

The above embodiment is an example of printing in three colors, C, Y, and M as color plates, but the present invention may also be applied to printing in four colors including K (black). Of course.

[Effects] As explained in detail above, according to the present invention, data for each color plate is created by adding the outline of a character figure to 6, which has the largest area ratio among the halftone separated color plates. So,
When a printing plate is created and printed based on the data, the outline of the character figure is printed in addition to the halftone dots, so it is possible to print a high quality character figure. In addition, since the outline is attached to only one color that has the maximum halftone area ratio, the internal color of the character shape and the outline color will not be extremely different when printed, and the discomfort caused by printing the outline will be avoided. High-quality printing can be performed without applying any pressure. It has the following effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 5 are flowcharts of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing conventional problems, and FIGS. 3 and 6 are character and graphic processing devices suitable for implementing this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example in which outlines are provided to characters according to the present invention. 1. Halftone dot area ratio calculation section 2. Character pattern generation section 3. Halftone dot generation section 4. Contour generation section 5. Bit map memory 7. Halftone dot area ratio calculation section. 8... Comparator

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) In a character/figure processing method that creates data for creating each color plate for color printing by dividing the text/figure into halftone dots, the halftone dot area of each color plate is determined based on the information of the text/figure color. A method for processing characters and figures, characterized in that an outline of a character figure is given to a color plate having a maximum area ratio among the ratios. (2) A character/figure processing method for creating data for creating each color plate for color printing by dividing a letter/figure into halftone dots, characterized by adding an outline of the letter/figure to a specified color plate. Text and figure processing method. (3) In a text/figure processing method that creates data for creating each color plate for color printing by separating the text/figures into halftone dots, the halftone area of each color plate determined based on the information of the text/figure colors. 1. A method for processing characters and figures, characterized in that an outline of a character is given to a color plate having a maximum halftone dot area ratio among the halftone dot area ratios of each color plate determined based on background color information. (4) In the character/figure processing method described in claim (3), the halftone dot area ratio of the color plate having the maximum halftone dot area ratio is determined based on the background color information. Characters characterized in that when the dot area ratio of the color plate is larger than the halftone dot area ratio of the color plate determined based on the information of the character and figure color, the outline of the character figure is given to the outside of the character figure, and when it is smaller, the outline of the character figure is attached to the inside of the character figure. Graphic processing method. (5) The character/figure processing method according to claims (1) to (4), characterized in that the thickness of the outline of the provided text/figure is controlled in accordance with the halftone dot area ratio. A method for processing characters and figures.