JPH0370631B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in color inkjet recording methods, and particularly in color recording methods that record at least two or more colors, when printing characters, two or more colors overlap. Print it like this, attach it,
Clear characters can be printed by preventing the character width from becoming thick, and when printing a pattern, printing is performed so that dots do not overlap, thereby preventing the occurrence of ink flow.

Generally, in color inkjet recording devices, colors are represented by unit pixels of four colors: yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (BLK), and the unit pixels are, for example, m ×
It is expressed as a matrix of n, and the number of dots in the matrix represents intermediate tones, and by mixing, multiple colors are represented. However, in the case of low density, the number of dots occupying a unit pixel area is small, so even if they are mixed, the ink does not flow on the paper surface, but when printing m x n dots (in high density case), ink flow occurs when colors are mixed. For this reason, a method has been proposed in which an m×n matrix is constructed so that the dots do not overlap. However, if printing is controlled so that the dots do not overlap, the line width of the characters becomes thicker and the printing quality of the characters deteriorates, making it impossible to distinguish the characters, especially small characters.

The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art. In particular, when printing characters, it is possible to print clear characters by printing dots of two or more colors overlapping each other. When printing a pattern, the pattern is printed so that the dots do not overlap to prevent ink from flowing. That is, in a color inkjet recording method in which ink droplets of two or more colors are ejected from a plurality of nozzles to perform printing, character information corresponding to printed characters or image information corresponding to a printed image are combined with If the mode indicates whether the image is text information or image information, and the color information indicates the color of the characters or dots to be printed, then the character corresponding to the character information. The printing dot signal from the generator is ANDed with the color information signal, and the head is driven by the ANDed signal to print dots of two or more colors in an overlapping manner, and the mode is image information. When this is indicated, a matrix pattern is specified by the matrix pattern generator based on the image information and the color information, and the matrix pattern corresponding to the color ink is selected and there is no difference between the matrix patterns. Output two or more matrix patterns in which dots do not overlap, drive the head according to the matrix patterns, and print dots of two or more colors according to the matrix pattern corresponding to the color ink for each color. It is characterized by the following.

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a microcomputer, 2 is a Character generator, 3 is an address counter, 4 is a matrix pattern generator, 5 is an AND circuit, 6 is an OR circuit,
7 is a clock pulse generator, 8 is a frequency dividing circuit, 9 is a pulse-sine wave conversion circuit, 10 is an amplifier, 11
12 is a phase search circuit, 12 is a charging circuit, 13 is a digital-to-analog conversion circuit, and 14 is an amplifier.Although not shown in the figure, the pulse-sine wave conversion circuit 9 and amplifier 10 are connected to each head. Furthermore, phase search circuits 11 to amplifiers 14 are provided for each charging electrode.

(1) Now, if you specify the mode of printing pattern (image) information or character information from the external device, one line (32 x 1 line) of the code and color information on the data line will be added to the line buffer. Stored.

(2) When a code for printing characters is specified, a color information code and a character code on the data line are specified, the color information is determined by the microcomputer 1, and if red is specified, Y
(yellow) and M (magenta) become “1”,
If green is specified, Y and C (cyan) are “1”
becomes. Next, the character code on the data line is determined, and this character code may be, for example, ASC
Specified by code. The microcomputer 1 outputs the address of the corresponding character generator 2 according to the character code, and also outputs an enable signal for the address counter 3. As a result, the address counter 3 starts incrementing, and when 1024 dots (32×32) for one character are read out, a one-character end signal is output, and printing of one character is completed.

(3) At this time, from character generator 2,
A signal indicating the presence or absence of a dot (imprint dot signal) is output, and the microcomputer 1 also outputs a signal indicating the presence or absence of a dot (imprint dot signal).
A 1/0 signal (color information signal) of YMCBLK (black) is output, and the logical product of these signals is taken by the AND circuit 5. If it is red, Y
The same signal is sent to the head and the M head, and dots from these two heads are printed at the same position.

(4) When the pattern printing mode is specified,
Color information is determined and a matrix code is specified. That is, the matrix pattern generator 4 specifies a matrix pattern based on the image information and the color information, and the matrix pattern corresponds to the color ink and there are no dots overlapping between the matrix patterns. Output the above matrix pattern,
The head is driven according to the matrix pattern to print dots of two or more colors according to the matrix pattern corresponding to the color ink of each color. For example, when red is specified, a pattern as shown in FIG. 3 is selected for Y and M (the shaded areas are printed dots), and the dots are printed so that they do not overlap. This is for 2 vertical lines (16
×(2×2) matrix) is repeated.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, patterns are printed so that they do not overlap, thereby eliminating ink flow, and characters are printed in an overlapping manner, so that the line width does not become thick and high-quality characters are printed. be able to. In other words, since letters always have white parts, no ink flow will occur even if they are overprinted, but since patterns are often printed continuously, overprinting will cause ink flow; According to the invention, no ink flow occurs when printing a pattern, and when printing characters, the width of the characters does not become thick, making it possible to print clear characters.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of printed dots during pattern printing. It is a figure showing an example of composition. 1...Microcomputer, 2...Character generator, 3...Address counter, 4...
...Matrix pattern, 5...AND circuit, 6
...OR circuit, 7...Clock pulse generator, 8
... Frequency divider circuit, 9 ... Pulse-sine wave conversion circuit, 10 ... Amplifier, 11 ... Phase search circuit, 1
2...Charging circuit, 13...Digital-analog conversion circuit, 14...Amplifier.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a color inkjet recording method in which ink droplets of two or more colors are ejected from a plurality of nozzles to perform printing, character information corresponding to the printed characters or image information corresponding to the printed image and printed Depending on the mode that indicates whether it is text information or image information, and the color information that indicates the color of the characters or dots to be printed,
When the mode indicates character,
The printing dot signal from the character generator corresponding to the character information is ANDed with the color information signal, and the head is driven by the ANDed signal to print dots of two or more colors in an overlapping manner. , when the mode indicates image information, a matrix pattern is specified in the matrix pattern generator based on the image information and the color information, and a matrix pattern corresponding to the color ink is specified. Output two or more matrix patterns in which dots do not overlap between the matrix patterns, drive the head according to the matrix patterns, and print dots of two or more colors into matrices corresponding to the color inks for each color. A color inkjet recording method characterized in that printing is performed according to a print pattern.