JPH0311906B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that records on a recording member, and particularly relates to a recording apparatus that records a color image. Conventionally, there are various types of recording devices such as copy recording devices using electrophotography and inkjet recording devices, but in these recording devices,
When attempting to obtain multiple records from the same original or the same information, it is necessary to repeat the same recording process multiple times. That is, in order to obtain a desired number of copies, a time corresponding to the product of the time required for one recording and the desired number of copies is required. In addition, in a conventional recording device that records black and other multicolors, for example, if black is recorded in fine mode at 16 dots/mm, other colors are recorded in fine mode as well. I was recording it. However, colors other than black, such as red, can be used as underlines of black type in normal manuscripts.
Currently, it is used for marks, etc., and does not require as high a resolution as black. Therefore, recording colors other than black at the same image density as black requires an expensive recording apparatus and is extremely uneconomical. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording device that solves the problems of the prior art as described above. More specifically, there is a reading means for outputting a plurality of color image signals by color-separating and reading a document having a plurality of color images; recording means for recording a plurality of color images on the reading means; Provided is a recording device comprising a processing means for making different color images, wherein the recording means records a specific color image based on the specific color image signal and another color image based on another color image signal at mutually different recording densities. It is. Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, where 100 is a first recording section, 200 is a second recording section, and 300 is a third recording section.
Each recording section has two recording heads, for example, inkjet heads 10 and 1.
1, 20, 21 and 30, 31.
Each inkjet head has a plurality of recording elements in the first
This is a full-line inkjet head arranged in a straight line in a direction perpendicular to the drawing, and is driven to perform recording in response to electrical signals from an information source (not shown). In this example, ink jet heads 10, 2
0 and 30 perform black normal mode recording at 16 dots/mm, and inkjet heads 11, 21, and 3
1 shall perform red normal mode recording at 8 dots/mm. Each recording section is vertically stacked in three stages by a support (not shown). Further, each recording section can be configured in the same manner except for the configuration or control of each head. In the figure, 101, 201, 301 are the recording paper stored in the recording paper storage cassettes 114, 214, 314, 102, 202, 302 are paper feed rollers, 1
03, 203, 303 are guide plates, 104, 20
4,304 is a registration roller, 105,20
5,305 is the first conveyance roller, 106,20
6,306 is a platen with many pores, 10
7,207,307 is Juan, 108,208,
308 is a second conveyance roller, 109, 209, 3
09 is a suspension roller, 110, 210, 310 is a conveyor belt, 111, 211, 311 is a paper discharge tray, 112, 113, 212, 213, 312,
313 is an ink tank. Next, the recording operation in the above configuration will be explained.
Regarding the operations other than the ink jet head, since the recording sections 100, 200, and 300 operate in exactly the same manner, only the recording section 100 will be described. Recording paper 10 stored in paper cassette 114
1, the guide plate 1 is rotated by the rotation of the paper feed roller 102.
03 to the registration roller 104, which has stopped rotating, to form an appropriate loop. Next, as the registration roller 104 rotates, the recording paper is held between the registration roller 104 and the first conveyance roller 105 and conveyed toward the ink jet heads 10 and 11. At this time, a platen 106 having small holes and a fan 107 are provided on opposite sides of the ink jet heads 10 and 11, and as the fan 107 rotates, air is blown in the T direction in the figure. Therefore, the first conveyance roller 105
The recording paper that has passed through is sucked by a fan 107 and is passed over the platen 106 by the second conveyance roller 10.
It is transported in eight directions. Inkjet head 10
Recording is performed by a drive circuit in response to electrical signals from an information source (not shown) supplied to and/or 11. After recording, when the leading edge of the recording paper is transported to the second conveyance roller 108, the recording paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray 111 by the second conveyance roller 108 and the conveyance belt 110. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a document reading device of an input section applied to the recording apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 401 is a document table glass, 402 is a bar-shaped light source such as a halogen lamp or a fluorescent lamp, 403 is a first mirror, and 404 is a second mirror.
Mirror, 405 is the third mirror, 406, 406'
are lenses arranged perpendicular to the plane of the paper. Beam splitters 409, 409' are lenses 406,
These are color separation beam splitters arranged corresponding to 406', respectively, and have spectral characteristics of reflecting long wavelength ranges and transmitting short wavelength ranges. 407
R, 407B and 408R, 408B are one-dimensional solid-state imaging devices such as CCDs arranged corresponding to the beam splitters 409 and 409', respectively. lens 406, beam splitter 409,
A set of optical system is composed of CCD407 (R, B), lens 406', beam splitter 409', CCD4
08 (R, B) form another set of optical systems, and these two sets of optical systems are completely equivalent optically. They are arranged so that each half length (perpendicular to the drawing) can be read. Therefore, CCD407 and CCD408
If the output image signals of 1 and 2 are successively read out, it becomes information about the entire width of the document in the main scanning direction. To explain the operation of the document reading device, a document placed on a document table glass 401 is illuminated by a rod-shaped light source 402, and a first mirror 403, a second mirror 404, and a third mirror 40 scan (sub-scan) the document.
CCD by lens 406,406' through 5
Images are formed on 407B, 408B and 407R, 408R. The main scanning direction of the CCDs 407B, 408B and 407R, 408R is perpendicular to the drawing. Rod-shaped light source 402 and first mirror 4
03 is integrated by a support (not shown), and scans the document surface while moving in the direction F in the figure by a guide rail (not shown) (sub-scanning). The second mirror 404 and the third mirror 405 are integrated by a support (not shown), and the first mirror 403
1/ of the moving speed of the first mirror 403 in the same direction as
It moves on a guide rail (not shown) at a speed of 2. The rod-shaped light source 402, the first mirror 403, the second mirror 404, and the third mirror 405 are located at the positions indicated by dotted lines in the figure (402', 403', 404', 4
05'), but at this time, the original platen 401
The optical path length from the mirror 403, 404, and 405 to the lens 406 is always kept constant. Therefore, if the signals from the light receiving elements of the CCDs 407B, 408B and 407R, 408R are read out in order during sub-scanning, sequential signals obtained by raster scanning the document surface can be obtained. FIG. 3 shows an example of a control circuit in the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. In the figure, 407B, 408
B, 407R, 408R are the aforementioned CCDs, 41,
42 is a digitizing circuit, 43 is a color discrimination circuit, 4
4 is a pixel density conversion circuit, 45 is a readable/writable memory, 46 is a memory control circuit, 47 to 49 are buffer circuits, 50 to 55 are drive circuits, 1
0 and 11 are the black recording head and red recording head in the first recording section 100, and 20, 21 and 30, 31 are the black recording head and red recording head in the second recording section 200 and the third recording section 300, respectively. Further, 56 is a main control circuit that controls the entire electrical circuit and mechanical system, 57 is a dial for setting the number of recording sheets, a recording section selection button,
This is an operation panel that includes a start button and the like for instructing to start recording. To explain the operation in Fig. 3, CCD407B,
408B, and CCD407R, 408R are
In this example, each has a 1728-bit configuration, and the image data to be read is 16 bits/mm. this
The 16 bit/mm image data read by the CCD is binarized by digitizing circuits 41 and 42, respectively. The binarized data is subjected to color discrimination between black and red in a color discrimination circuit 43. The method of color discrimination is that CCD407B and 408B detect short wavelength light, so they are sensitive to white backgrounds (areas with no image information), but are not sensitive to black and red originals, while CCD407R and 408
Since R detects long wavelength light, it is sensitive to white and red originals, but not sensitive to black originals.
Therefore CCD407B, 408B and CCD40
If it is sensitive to both 7R and 408R, it is black if it is not sensitive to white background, and it is red if it is not sensitive to CCD407B, 408B but is sensitive to CCD407R, 408R. It is a manuscript. Table 1 shows these relationships.

[Table] Among these black and red data, black data BLK
The RAM remains in fine mode at 16 bits/mm.
(random access memory) or the like. On the other hand, the red data R is supplied to the pixel density conversion circuit 44 and stored in the memory circuit 45 as 8 bit/mm normal mode data. The capacity of the memory circuit 45 can be arbitrarily selected from a small capacity such as a line memory to a large capacity such as a page memory. Therefore, depending on the memory capacity, in addition to recording the original while reading it, it is also possible to read one page or several pages of the original at once, store it in the memory circuit 45, and then record it. The address and timing of writing or reading from this memory circuit 45, read, write signals, etc. are performed by a memory control circuit 46 which is controlled by a control circuit 56. The image data BLK, R in the memory circuit 45 is sent to the buffer circuit 47 under the control of the memory control circuit 46.
~49 is output. The black data BLK and red data R supplied to the buffer circuits 47-49 are transmitted to the corresponding black recording heads 10, 20, 30 and red recording heads 11, 21, 31, respectively. The drive circuits 50 to 55 are turned on and off by a control circuit 56. Therefore, when the recording section selection button on the operation panel 57 is pressed, the drive circuit of the selected recording section is turned on under the control of the control circuit 56, and recording is performed in the recording head. Here, the black recording head 10, (2
0, 30), 16 dots/mm fine mode recording is performed based on 16 bits/mm black data BLK, and red recording head 11 (21, 31) performs 8 dots/mm recording based on 8 bits/mm red data R. Normal mode recording is performed. That is, black, which requires high resolution, is recorded on the recording member using high dot density, and red, which does not require high resolution, is recorded using low dot density. Next, FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, parts similar to those in FIGS. 1 to 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, the CCD 4 of the above embodiment
CCD507B that reads 8 bit/mm normal mode image data instead of 07B and 408B
Use. And recording units 100, 200, 30
Detects long wavelength light to record black at 0
Using 16 bit/mm image data read by CCD407R and 408R, CCD4 was used for red recording.
Detects 07R, 408R and short wavelength light
It is assumed that 16 bits/mm and 8 bits/mm image data read by CCD 507B are used.
The image data read by the CCDs 407R and 408R is binarized via the digitization circuit 41, and then sent to the memory circuit 45 and the pixel density conversion circuit 44.
is output to. Then, from this conversion circuit 44 to 8
The data is taken out as normal mode image data of bits/mm and supplied to the color discrimination circuit 43. On the other hand, the 8 bit/mm normal mode image data read by the CCD 507B is directly supplied to the color discrimination circuit 43 via the digitization circuit 42. Next, the 8-bit/mm image data that has been subjected to color discrimination processing in the color discrimination circuit 43 is sent to the memory circuit 45.
is supplied to Here, as shown in Table 1 above, the CCDs 407R and 408R have no sensitivity to black originals, and in this case, 16 bits/mm image data is supplied to the memory circuit 45 via the digitizing circuit 41. is stored in the memory circuit 45. On the other hand, CCD40
7R and 408R are sensitive to red originals and white backgrounds, and in this case, CCD407R and 408R
The 16 bit/mm image data read in is supplied to the memory circuit 45, but the data is not stored. Such 16 bit/mm image data is also supplied to the pixel density conversion circuit 44, and the conversion circuit 4
4 and then supplied to the color discrimination circuit 43. Since the color discrimination circuit 43 is also supplied with 8 bit/mm image data from the CCD 507B, it discriminates the red color based on these image data, and
Red data in bits/mm is output to the memory circuit 45. The 8 bit/mm red data is stored in the memory circuit 45. Therefore, in the memory circuit 45,
16 bits/mm fine mode black data and 8
Normal mode red data of bits/mm is stored, and 16 bits/mm fine mode black recording and 8 bits/mm normal mode red recording can be performed similarly to the embodiment shown in FIG. According to the configuration of the embodiment described above, black recording that requires high resolution is performed in fine mode,
Other red records are performed in normal mode. Therefore, while maintaining the required clarity of the black portion of the recorded image, it is possible to simplify the control system for red recording and reduce power consumption, thereby reducing the cost of the recording device. can be realized. In the above description, the recording colors are black and red, but the recording colors are of course not limited to these. Furthermore, the recording density is not limited to 16 dots/mm or 8 dots/mm. As described above, according to the present invention, the recording density of a specific color image signal among a plurality of color image signals outputted by color-separating and reading a document having a plurality of color images is compared to that of other color images. By making the signal recording densities different, a specific color image and other color images can be recorded at different recording densities, so for example, a black image that requires high resolution can be recorded at a high density, and a black image that requires high resolution can be recorded at a high density. It becomes possible to perform color image recording such as recording an unnecessary red image at a low density.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the document reading device, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control section that similarly performs recording control, and FIG. The figure is a block diagram of a control section showing another example of the recording apparatus of the present invention. 10, 11, 20, 21, 30, 31... Recording head, 41, 42... Digitization circuit, 43
...Color discrimination circuit, 44...Pixel density conversion circuit, 4
5...Memory circuit, 46...Memory control circuit, 4
7-49... Buffer circuit, 50-55... Drive circuit, 56... Main control circuit, 57... Operation panel, 100, 200, 300... Recording section, 10
1,201,301...copy paper, 102,20
2,302...Paper feed roller, 103,203,3
03... Guide plate, 104, 204, 304...
Registration roller, 105, 108, 205, 20
8,305,308...conveyance roller, 106,2
06,306...Platen, 107,207,3
07...Fan, 111,211,311...Output tray, 112,113,212,213,3
12,313...Ink tank, 114,21
4,314...Paper cassette, 401...Document stand,
402... Rod-shaped light source, 403, 404, 405...
...Mirror, 406, 406'...Lens, 407
R, 407B, 408R, 408B, 507B...
...CCD, 409,409'...beam splitter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Reading means for outputting a plurality of color image signals by color-separating and reading a document having a plurality of color images; and a recording member based on the plurality of color image signals from the reading means. recording means for recording a plurality of color images on the reading means; The recording means is characterized in that the recording means records a specific color image based on the specific color image signal and another color image based on another color image signal at mutually different recording densities. Recording device.