JPH04239265A - Picture forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily operate a color calibration by matching the color reproducing area of a constituting unit in a system to the minimum color reproducing area searched based on the color reproducing area information of the constituting units in the system. CONSTITUTION:Each unit 105 is connected through an interface cable with a host computer 101. Each unit 105 transmits the color reproducing area information of the R, G, and B signals of its own to the host computer 101 by using this interface cable. For example, at the time of indicating each R, G, and B as 8 bit, the color reproducing area information is transmitted as 0<R<200, 0<G<240, and 0<B<240. Then, the host computer 101 searches the minimum color reproducing area of the units constituting the system, and transmits the information to a CRT 102. The CRT 102 operates the processing of matching the color reproducing area of the CRT 102 to the minimum color reproducing area of the units constituting the system.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming system, and more particularly to an image forming system having a plurality of system constituent units such as a CRT, a printer, a reader, and a scanner.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, image forming systems, particularly CRTs,
In an image forming system consisting of multiple units such as printers, readers, scanners, etc., if the color reproduction gamut of the printer or other unit for color images differs from the color reproduction gamut of the CRT, the printer or other unit may The difference in gamut was dealt with by matching the gamut of the CRT to the gamut of the CRT.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional example described above, the color reproduction gamut of units such as printers that constitute an image forming system is generally much narrower than that of a CRT. It has the disadvantages that it is technically difficult to match the color reproduction gamut of the unit's color image to the color reproduction gamut of the CRT, and (2) even if it is technically possible, the circuit becomes extremely complicated. ing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it calculates the minimum color gamut from the color gamut information of the constituent units of the system, and adjusts the gamut of the constituent units to the minimum color gamut. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming system that can easily perform color calibration.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the image forming system of the present invention is an image forming system having a plurality of constituent units, and which has a plurality of constituent units. The apparatus includes means for determining a minimum color gamut, and means for matching the color gamut of the constituent units to the minimum color gamut.

[0006] Here, the constituent unit includes means for receiving the minimum color gamut, and means for making the color gamut of the constituent unit meet the received minimum color gamut.

In the image forming system configured as described above, the color gamut of the component units can be matched to the minimum color gamut determined based on the color gamut information of the component units in the system, and the color Calibration can be easily carried out.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system according to this embodiment. In the figure, 101 is a host computer, 102 is a CRT, 103 is a reader, 10
4 is a printer; 105 is a printer that constitutes the system;
Indicates units such as scanners.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, each unit is connected to a host computer 101 through an interface cable. Using this interface cable, each unit has its own R, G,
The color gamut information of the B signal is transmitted to the host computer 101. For example, when R, G, and B are represented by 8 bits, for example, 0<R<200, 0<G<240, 0<
It is transmitted as B<240. host computer 10
Step 1 determines the minimum color gamut based on the color gamut information of each unit transmitted from each unit. This can be done, for example, by finding the minimum reproduction range of R, G, and B for each unit. In this embodiment, the color gamut information includes R, G,
Consider the color reproduction range of each B signal.

When the host computer 101 determines the minimum color gamut of the units making up the system, it transmits this information to the CRT 102, and the CRT changes the color gamut of the CRT to the minimum color gamut of the units making up the system. Perform matching processing.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing the configurations of the host computer 101 and CRT 102 that carry out the above-described operations. Here, 201 to 206 are CR
This is the internal configuration of T102, and 207 and 208 are the internal configurations of host computer 101.

In the figure, 201 is a shading correction circuit that performs shading correction, 202 is a color conversion circuit that converts R, G, and B signals into NTSC-compliant R, G, and B signals, and 203 is an R, G, and B signal. 204 is the LO of R, G, and B signals.
Lookup table (LUT) for G conversion and γ conversion
, 205 is a masking circuit that performs masking processing on the output signal of 204, 206 is an image display panel, 2
07 inputs the color gamut information from the units that make up the system, and calculates the minimum color gamut Rmi of each of the R, G, and B signals.
Comparator to obtain n, Gmin, Bmin signals,
208 is a CPU, which determines the mapping function in 203 based on the minimum color gamut information obtained by the comparator 207.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a mapping method in the mapping circuit 203 of FIG. 2. Figure 4 shows that the minimum color gamut of the units that make up the system is Rmi.
n=200, Gmin=100, Bmin=10
0, and the R, G, and B data are 8 bits. Mapping is a linear mapping method that makes the CRT's color gamut correspond to the minimum color gamut of the component units in each of the R, G, and B axis directions, in order to match the CRT's color gamut to the minimum color gamut of the component units. shall be.

In this embodiment, the user determines and instructs whether or not to perform calibration through the computer terminal.

[0015]

[Other Embodiments] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming system according to another embodiment. In the figure, 401 is a host computer, 402 is an interface unit, 403 is a CRT, 404 is a reader, 405 is a printer, and 406 is a unit such as a printer or scanner that constitutes the system.

The difference from the first embodiment is that the interface unit 402 automatically performs the processing performed by the computer 101 after power is turned on, reducing the load on the host computer. becomes possible.

As explained above, by providing a means for transferring the color gamut information of the units constituting a system such as a printer to the CRT side, it is possible to match the color gamut of the CRT to the color gamut of the constituent units. It becomes possible.

That is, in this embodiment, one of the image reproduction units is a CRT, and the other unit is a printer, so if the CRT has a larger color gamut than the other units, generally Although the color reproduction range of the CRT is matched to the color reproduction range of the printer, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be similarly applied to a system that does not have a CRT and uses a plurality of printers, for example.

[0019]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, color calibration can be easily carried out by finding the minimum color reproduction gamut of the constituent units of the system and matching the color reproduction gamut of the constituent units to the minimum color reproduction gamut. It is possible to provide a possible image forming system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system according to the present embodiment.

[Figure 2],

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit that adjusts the color gamut of a CRT to the minimum color gamut of the constituent units.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of mapping between the color gamut of a CRT and the minimum color gamut of the constituent units.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system according to another embodiment.

[Description of symbols] 101...computer, 102...CRT, 103...reader, 104...printer, 105...unit, 201...shading correction circuit, 202...color conversion circuit, 203...
Mapping circuit, 204... LUT, 205... Masking circuit, 206... Panel, 207... Comparator, 208
...CPU, 401...Computer, 402...Interface unit, 403...CRT, 404...Reader, 4
05...Printer, 406...Unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming system having a plurality of constituent units, comprising means for determining a minimum color gamut among the color gamuts of the plurality of constituent units; An image forming system comprising: means for adjusting the color reproduction gamut. 2. The component unit comprises means for receiving the minimum color gamut, and means for matching the color gamut of the component unit to the received minimum color gamut. The image forming system according to item 1.