JPH0664240A - Color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preferentially print specific data to be printed preferentially at all times regardless of the color and order of processing of the specific data. CONSTITUTION:The positional information of preferential printing data is stored in a priority buffer 17. When printing images are formed at every printing color from printing data by an image forming device 14 and stored in a base- color page buffer 15 and a highlight-color page buffer 16, only the printing images of the preferential printing data are stored in each page buffer 15, 16 regarding positions, where there are preferential printing data, while referring to information stored in the priority buffer 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color printer in which two or more colors such as black and red are used for printing, and particular data can be printed with priority. Related to the color printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a color printer using two or more colors, when printing color data, the data may overlap each other. When multiple colors are expressed by subtractive color mixing, it is necessary to overlap multiple colors, but in a color printer that attempts to express a limited number of colors such as red and blue in addition to black, multiple colors are used. If they overlap, there is a problem that a desired color is not expressed or the printed result is hard to see.

To cope with this, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-11
Japanese Patent No. 5634 discloses a technique in which color priorities are given to a plurality of color patterns and an image is formed with a color pattern having a high color priority when the plurality of color patterns overlap. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-115635
The publication discloses a technique for forming an image with a second color pattern when a first color pattern to be imaged first and a second color pattern to be subsequently imaged overlap.

[0004]

By the way, for example, when shading (decoration) by form data and variable data which is data sent from the host side at the time of printing overlap, the variable data has an important meaning. In some cases, it is desirable to print variable data with priority because it has it. In such a case, the above-mentioned JP-A-1
In the technology of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 115634, variable data is preferentially printed when all the colors of variable data have a higher priority than the colors of form data, but in the opposite case, variable data is not preferentially printed. . Therefore, it is necessary to consider the color of the variable data and the color of the form data and set the color priority order according to these colors, which causes a problem of complicated operations and processes.
Also, when the variable data and the form data are each composed of a plurality of colors, there may be a case where a particular color of the variable data is printed with priority, but other colors are not printed with priority. There is a problem that variable data cannot be preferentially printed.

On the other hand, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-115635 discloses a technique for preferentially printing data written later in the page buffer. If this technique is used,
By writing variable data to be printed with priority to the page buffer lastly, variable data can be printed with priority. However, in this case, it is necessary to be aware of the order of processing the data, and there is a problem that the operation and the processing become complicated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a color printer capable of always giving priority to printing of specific data regardless of the color of specific data to be preferentially printed or the order of processing. Especially.

[0007]

A color printer according to a first aspect of the present invention is provided with a plurality of print image storage means provided corresponding to each print color and storing a print image for each print color, with priority. Priority information storage means for storing the positional information of the priority print data to be printed, and a print image for each print color is generated from the print data and stored in each print image storage means. With reference to the stored information, at the position where the priority print data exists, the print image generation means for storing only the print image of the priority print data in each print image storage means, and the print image stored in each print image storage means With a printing means for printing different colors on the same page.

In this color printer, the print image generation means generates a print image for each print color from the print data and stores the print image in each print image storage means. At this time, the information stored in the priority information storage means. Is referred to, only the print image of the priority print data is stored in each print image storage means at the position where the priority print data exists. As a result, only the print image of the priority print data is printed at the position where the priority print data and other print data overlap.

A color printer according to a second aspect of the invention is
A page buffer memory for multiple color data, which is provided for each print color and stores the data for each print color in correspondence with the print position, and stores the position information of the priority print data to be printed with priority. Page buffer memory for priority information, priority print data designating means for designating priority print data, and priority print data designated by the priority print data designating means for each print color to correspond to the print color. Priority print data writing means for writing priority print data while erasing data previously written at the same position of each color data page buffer memory at the same time as writing to the color data page buffer memory, and this priority print data writing Position information of the priority print data when writing the priority print data by the means Memory and the print data other than the priority print data designated by the priority print data designating means are written into the color data page buffer memory corresponding to the print colors separately for each print color. Refer to the page buffer memory for priority information, and write the non-priority print data writing unit that prohibits writing at the position where the priority print data exists, and the data stored in the page page buffer memory for each color in different colors. And a printing means for printing on the same page.

In this color printer, the priority print data is divided into each print color by the priority print data writing means and written in the page buffer memory for each color data. At that time, the priority print data in the page buffer memory for each color data is written first. The data written in the same position is erased. At that time, the position information of the priority print data is written in the priority information page buffer memory by the priority information writing means. On the other hand, the print data other than the priority print data is divided into each print color by the non-priority print data writing means and written in the page buffer memory for each color data. At that time, the page buffer memory for priority information is referred to. , Writing is prohibited at the position where the priority print data exists. As a result, at the position where the priority print data and the other print data overlap, only the priority print data is stored in the page buffer memory for each color data, and only the priority print data is printed.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the color printer of this embodiment. This color printer is provided with a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 11, and the CPU 1
1 is an input control device 1 via a bus 12 such as a data bus.
3, image generation device 14, base color page buffer 1
5, the highlight color page buffer 16, the priority buffer 17, the auxiliary storage controller 18, and the print controller 19. A main memory 21 is connected to the CPU 11, a keyboard 22 and a host computer 23 are connected to the input control device 13, an auxiliary storage device 24 is connected to the auxiliary storage control device 18, and a print control device 19 is connected. A two-color printer unit (plus one-color printing device) 25 is connected.

The main storage memory 21 is a memory for storing programs for performing various controls of the color printer and temporarily necessary data. The input control device 13 is for inputting data required for printing from the keyboard 22 and the host computer 23, and data for controlling printing such as specifying priority print data described later is also handled here. Data input from the host computer 23 via the input control device 13 is converted into print data in an internal format by an input processing program in the main storage memory 21, and is temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 24. The auxiliary storage device 24 is for storing the data itself to be printed, a font file and an image file used for printing, a program for controlling the color printer, and the like.

The image generator 14 forms image data (print image) corresponding to each color on the page buffers 15 and 16 from the print data, form data, and image data converted into the internal format, and the priority control described later. Is a device for performing. In the present embodiment, the image generating device 14 has a CPU which is separate from the CPU 11 and a memory which stores a program executed by the CPU and serves as a working area.

The base color page buffer 15 is a page buffer memory that holds print data regarding black as a base color. The highlight color page buffer 16 is a page buffer memory that holds print data regarding a highlight color (chromatic color) as a color for emphasis.
The priority buffer 17 is a page buffer memory that holds position information of priority print data specified as print data to be printed with priority.

The print control device 19 controls the two-color printer section 25 to print with a total of two colors, black and one highlight color.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram simply showing the structure of the two-color printer unit 25. The two-color printer unit 25 includes a photosensitive drum 31 having a circular cross section that rotates at a predetermined speed. At a predetermined position on the outer circumference of the photoconductor drum 31, a charge corotron 32 for uniformly applying an electric charge to the drum surface is arranged. This charge corotron 32
On the downstream side of the base color laser light irradiation unit 33 for irradiating the laser light modulated by the image signal of the base color.
Are arranged. This laser light irradiation forms an electrostatic latent image for the base color on the surface of the photosensitive drum 31. This electrostatic latent image is developed by the base color developing device 35 arranged further downstream to form a base color toner image. In this embodiment, the base color is black, and a black toner image is formed on the drum surface.

A highlight color laser beam irradiation unit 36 and a highlight color developing device 37 are arranged in this order on the further downstream side of the base color developing device 35. The highlight-color laser light irradiation unit 36 modulates the laser light with a red image signal and irradiates the photosensitive drum 31 with the image signal, for example, and forms an electrostatic latent image for the highlight color. This electrostatic latent image is developed with red toner in this example. The toner image thus developed with the two colors of black and red is transferred onto the printing paper 39 by the action of the transfer corotron 38 arranged further downstream. Here, the printing paper 39 is supplied one by one from the supply tray 41 by driving the feed roll 42. The printing paper 39 to which the toner image is transferred passes through a fixing device 44 composed of a heat roll or the like and is thermally fixed. Then, the paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 45. After the transfer corotron 38 is transferred, the photoconductor drum 31 on which a toner image remains to some extent is cleaned by the cleaning device 46, and is charged again by the charge corotron 32 to prepare for the next printing process.

FIG. 3 shows the image generating apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of 4. As shown in this figure, the image generator 14 writes print data other than the priority print data into the base color page buffer 15 and the highlight color page buffer 16 separately for each print color, and at the same time, the priority buffer 17 The non-priority print data writing means 51 for prohibiting writing at the position where the priority print data exists, and the priority print data are divided into print colors for each of the base color page buffer 15 and the highlight color page buffer 16. At the time of writing, the page buffers 15 and 1
Priority print data writing means 52 for writing priority print data while erasing the data written at the same position 6
And a priority information writing means 53 for writing the positional information of the priority print data into the priority buffer 17 when the priority print data writing means 52 writes the priority print data.

In this embodiment, the priority designation for specifying the priority print data can be set by the keyboard 22 in FIG. 1 or can be set by the function code from the host computer side 23 side.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, first, in step (hereinafter referred to as S) 101 in FIG. 4, input data is read and S
At 102, it is determined whether the data processing is completed. When the data processing is completed (“Y”), the operation is completed. On the other hand, if the data processing is not completed (“N”), it is determined in S103 whether the input data is the priority designation data. If it is not the priority designation data (“N”), the priority buffer 17 is read in S104, and it is determined for each dot whether or not there is a protection bit in the priority buffer 17. If there is a protection bit (“Y”), writing of the data in the dot to each page buffer 15 and 16 is prohibited in S106, and the process proceeds to S108. On the other hand, S105
If it is determined that there is no protection bit ("N"),
If the data is base color data in S107, it is written in the base color page buffer 15, and if the data is highlight color data, it is written in the highlight color page buffer 16, and the process proceeds to S108. In S108, it is determined whether or not the processing of all the dots of the input data has been completed. If not completed (“N”), the process returns to S104, and the processing of S104 to S107 is repeated for the next dot. If it is determined in S108 that all dots have been processed (“Y”), S1
Return to 01.

Here, the processing of S104 to S108 corresponds to the operation of the non-priority print data writing means 51 in FIG.

If it is determined in S103 that the input data is priority designation data ("Y"), it is determined in S109 whether or not each dot is base color data. In the case of the base color data (“Y”), the same coordinates of the highlight color page buffer 16 are read in S110, and it is determined in S111 whether or not there is data. When there is data (“Y”), the data is erased and the process proceeds to S113, and when there is no data (“N”), the process proceeds to S113. In S113, the data is transferred to the base color page buffer 1
Write in 5, and proceed to S118. On the other hand, if it is determined in S109 that the color is not the base color (“N”), that is, the highlight color, the same coordinates of the base color page buffer 15 are read in S114, and whether or not there is data in S115. To judge. If there is data ("Y"), the data is erased and the process proceeds to S117. If there is no data ("N"), the process proceeds to S117. In S117, the data is written in the highlight color page buffer 16,
Proceed to S118.

The above-mentioned steps S109 to S117 are processing for writing the priority print data while erasing the data previously written at the same position of the page buffers 15 and 16, as shown in FIG.
2 corresponds to the operation of the priority print data writing means 52.

In S118, the priority buffer 17
The protection bit is set to and the process proceeds to S119. The protection bit is information indicating that the priority print data exists, and the data is written in the priority buffer 17 by the same operation as the data write in the normal page buffers 15 and 16 by using the image generation device 14 in FIG. Set by Note that the protection bit is set in the priority buffer 17 by S
It is on the same coordinates as the coordinates of the page buffers 15 and 16 in which the data is written in 113 or S117. Further, the above S118 corresponds to the operation of the priority information writing means 53 in FIG.

In S119, it is judged whether or not the processing of all the dots of the input data has been completed. If not completed ("N"), the process returns to S109, and the S of the next dot is processed.
The processes of 109 to S118 are repeated. If it is determined in S119 that all dots have been processed (“Y”), S101
Return to.

Next, an example of the operation of this embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. 5 (a)-(c)
Are three data (1) to (3) which are respectively input to the color printer of this embodiment and printed on the same page. These data (1) to (3) each include both the base color data and the highlight color data. In FIG. 5, one dot indicates one dot, and reference numeral 61
The dots filled with black indicate that the base color data exists, and the dots indicated by the dots indicate that the highlight color data exists, as shown in FIG. Here, an example in which data (2) is preferentially printed when data (1) to (3) are processed in this order will be described.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of processing the input data of FIG. It is assumed that the data (1) to (3) are superimposed on the origins of the page buffers 15 and 16, and the base color page buffer 15 and the highlight color page buffer immediately after the data (1) is written in the page buffers 15 and 16. 16, the states of the priority buffer 17 are (a1), (b1), and (c1), respectively. Subsequently, the states of the buffers 15, 16 and 17 immediately after the data (2) is written in the page buffers 15 and 16 are (a2), (b2) and (c2), respectively. Further, the states of the respective buffers 15, 16, 17 immediately after the data (3) are written in the page buffers 15, 16 are (a3), (b3), (c3), respectively. It should be noted that in these figures, the dots filled in with black indicate that there is data.

First, since the data (1) shown in FIG. 5 (a) does not have a priority designation instruction, the page buffers 15 and 16 are processed only in the portions not protected by the priority buffer 17 in S104 to S108 of FIG. You can write data to. In this example, since the data (1) is processed first, the priority buffer 17
Since there is no portion protected by, the data (1) is all in the base color page buffer 15 and the highlight color page buffer 1 as shown in FIGS. 6 (a1) and (b1).
6 will be written.

Next, the priority designated data (2) shown in FIG. 5B is processed. In this case, S109 of FIG. 4 is processed.
Through S117, page buffer 1 of the corresponding color
At the same time that the data is written in Nos. 5 and 16, the process of erasing other data previously written at the same coordinates in the page buffers of other colors is performed. As a result, the page buffers 15 and 16 become as shown in FIGS. 6 (a2) and 6 (b2). In these figures, "x" and "△"
The part indicated by is the object to be erased, and the part with “Δ” is the part actually erased in this example. If there is a priority designation, the protection bit for protecting the priority print data is written by writing the data in the priority buffer 17 in the same manner as writing the data in the page buffers 15 and 16 in S118 of FIG. Set. As a result, the priority buffer 17 becomes as shown in FIG. 6 (c2).

Next, the data (3) shown in FIG. 5C is processed. Since this data has no priority designation, the data can be written only to the portion protected by the priority buffer 17. . In this case, unlike the case of the data (1), as shown in FIG. 6 (c2), the protection bit is set in the “T shape” in the priority buffer 17, and therefore, in FIGS. 6 (a3) and 6 (b3). Data cannot be placed in the part indicated by "x". As a result, the page buffers 15 and 16 are set in FIG.
3) and (b3).

When the above processing is completed, the data stored in the page buffer 15 is black and the data stored in the page buffer 16 is red and the same by the print controller 19 and the two-color printer unit 25 in FIG. Printed on the page. The print result is as shown in FIG. As can be seen from this figure, the priority-specified data (2) is
Even if it overlaps with other data, it is printed with priority over other data, and the printing of the data (2) portion is guaranteed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, for example, when it is desired to give priority to variable data when printing form data, variable data, and image data over one page, the order of processing each data should be taken into consideration. Without
That is, no matter which data is processed first, a print result in which variable data is prioritized can be finally obtained.
Even when each data is composed of a plurality of colors, variable data can always be preferentially printed.

Further, in the present embodiment, when writing the preferentially designated data to the page buffers 15 and 16, the preferentially designated data is written while erasing other data previously written at the same position, At the same time, the protection bit is set in the priority buffer 17. This simplifies the process because it is not necessary to first set the protection bit in the priority buffer 17, and it is not necessary to reprocess the previously processed data after setting the protection bit in the priority buffer 17. .

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
For example, the printing color may be three or more.

[0037]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the positional information of the priority print data is stored by the priority information storage means, and the print image is generated from the print data for each print color. When storing the data in the storage means, the information stored in the priority information storage means is referred to so that only the print image of the priority print data is stored at the position where the priority print data exists. There is an effect that the specific data can always be preferentially printed regardless of the color of the specific data to be processed or the order of processing.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the priority print data is written in the page buffer memory for each color data, the priority print data is written while erasing other data previously written at the same position. At the same time, since the position information of the priority print data is written in the priority information page buffer memory, there is an effect that the process is simplified in addition to the above effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a color printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a configuration of a two-color printer unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the image generating apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the color printer of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing three input data input to the color printer of one embodiment and printed on the same page.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of processing the input data of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... CPU, 14 ... Image generation device, 15 ... Base color page buffer, 16 ... Highlight color page buffer, 17 ... Priority buffer, 25 ... Two-color printer section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of print image storage means provided corresponding to each print color for storing print images for each print color, and priority information storage for storing position information of priority print data to be printed with priority. Means and a print image for each print color is generated from the print data and stored in each print image storage means, and at that time, the information stored in the priority information storage means is referred to, and the priority print data exists. Regarding the position, the print image generating means for storing only the print image of the priority print data in each print image storage means and the print image stored in each print image storage means
A color printer, comprising: a printing unit that prints on the same page in different colors. 2. A plurality of color data page buffer memories provided corresponding to each print color and storing data for each print color corresponding to a print position, and priority print data to be printed with priority. The page buffer memory for priority information to store the position information of, the priority print data designating means for designating the priority print data, and the priority print data designated by this priority print data designating means for each print color. Priority print data writing means for writing priority print data while erasing data previously written at the same position of each color data page buffer memory at the same time as writing to the color data page buffer memory corresponding to the print color, When writing the priority print data by this priority print data writing means, the position information of the priority print data is set to the priority information. Priority information writing means for writing to the information page buffer memory, and print data other than the priority print data designated by the priority print data designating means for each print color in the color data page buffer memory corresponding to the print color. At the same time as writing, the priority information page buffer memory is referenced, and the non-priority print data writing means that prohibits writing at the position where the priority print data exists and the data stored in each color data page page buffer memory And a printing unit that prints on the same page in different colors.