JPH0781145A - Multi-color printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a printed pattern visible when a printing is performed with the same or similar color to that of a printing medium. CONSTITUTION:The color of a recording paper is read by a color sensor 108 and CPU 101. Then, whether the read color and the color of a pattern to be printed is the same or similar is judged by the CPU 101. When the judgement is positive, a color to trim the pattern is determined by the CPU 101. Then, the vicinity of the border between the recording paper and pattern is trimming- printed with a different color by a printing unit 104.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a multicolor printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional multicolor printing apparatus is based on the premise that the color of the printing medium is white.

[0003]

However, since the color of the print medium is not corrected, when the print medium is printed with the same or similar color, the print pattern (characters, figures, etc.) is visually recognized. There was a problem that it could not be done or it became unclear.

Further, since the color of the print medium is not corrected, when the print medium other than white is printed, the color tone of the print image is deteriorated.

A first object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a multi-color printing apparatus capable of visually recognizing a print pattern when printing is performed in the same or similar color as a print medium. To do.

A second object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a multi-color printing apparatus in which the color tone does not deteriorate even when printing on a printing medium other than white.

[0007]

To achieve the first object of the present invention, the color reading means for reading the color of the print medium, the color read by the color reading means, and the color of the pattern to be printed are the same. Alternatively, a determination unit that determines whether or not they are similar, and a determination unit that determines a different color that borders the vicinity of the boundary between the print medium and the pattern when the determination unit makes an affirmative determination, are determined by the determination unit. And a edging means for edging with a color.

In order to achieve the second object of the present invention, the present invention provides a color reading means for reading the color of a print medium, and a correction means for correcting to a predetermined color tone based on the color read by the color reading means. It is characterized by having and.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the determining means determines whether the color read by the color reading means and the color of the pattern to be printed are the same or similar, and if a positive determination is made, the print medium and the pattern are printed. The deciding means decides a different color for edging the vicinity of the boundary, and the edging means outlines the pattern with the decided color.

Further, in the present invention, the correction means corrects the color tone to a predetermined color tone based on the color read by the color reading means.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of a color laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as a color LBP). In FIG. 1, a host computer 108 sends print data to the apparatus. A parallel I / F 105 receives print data from the host computer 108. A color sensor 106 and a CPU (central processing unit) 101 read the color of paper as a printing medium. 1
A ROM (read only memory) 02 stores a control program. According to the control program stored in the ROM 102, the CPU 101 determines whether the color of the read paper and the color of the pattern to be printed sent from the host computer 108 are the same or similar,
When a positive determination is made, the border of the paper (background) and the pattern is bordered with different colors. 103 is RAM (r
andom access memory), which is a working memory of the CPU 101. A printing unit 104 prints based on image data. 107 is a system bus.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of the control program stored in the ROM 102 shown in FIG.

In step S201, color print data described in a language such as page description language (PDL) from the host computer 108 is received via the parallel I / F 105 and stored in the RAM 103. Then, step S2
At 02, the contents of the color sensor 106 are read to read the color of the paper. Then, in step S203, a series of commands is extracted from the received color print data, and in step S204, it is determined whether the color of the print pattern according to the series of extracted commands is the same or similar to the color of the read paper. To determine. As a result of the determination, when the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S205, the received print data is expanded and converted into printable bit image data. At this time, the bit image data is a color image, and the yellow component (Y) corresponding to the color of the ink to be printed,
It is separated into four colors of magenta component (M), cyan component (C data), and black component (K), and each has a gradation. . Hereinafter, the data set in which these components are displayed is referred to as YMCK data. Then, step S207
Then, it is determined whether or not the command remains, and if the result of the determination is a positive determination, the process returns to step S201, and if a negative determination is made, the process ends.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S204 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S206, and in step S206, YMCK of the bit image is obtained.
The data is developed, the color of the edge portion of the character graphic is converted into a color different from the color described by the PDL command, and the process proceeds to step S207.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the color of the edge portion of the character graphic is made a single color has been described, but it may be changed continuously from the inside of the character to the background.

Second Embodiment FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of a color laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as a color LBP). In FIG. 1, a host computer 308 sends print data to the apparatus. A parallel I / F 305 receives print data from the host computer 308. A color sensor 306 and a CPU 301 read the color of paper as a print medium. A ROM 302 stores a control program. CPU301 is ROM302
According to the control program stored in, the correct color tone is corrected based on the read color of the paper. Reference numeral 303 denotes a RAM, which is a working memory of the CPU 301. A printing unit 304 prints based on image data. 307 is a system bus.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the control program stored in the ROM 302 shown in FIG.

In step S401, color print data described in a language such as page description language (PDL) from the host computer 308 is received via the parallel I / F 305 and stored in the RAM 303. Then, step S4
At 02, the received print data is expanded and converted into a printable bit image. This print data is color image data, and is separated into four colors of a yellow component (Y), a magenta color component (M), a cyan color component (C), and a black component (K) corresponding to the color of the ink to be printed. Each has its own color tone. The data set in which these components are displayed is called YMCK data.

In step S403, the contents of the color sensor are read to determine the color of the paper. Then, in step S404, YMCK is determined based on the determined paper color.
A correction calculation is performed on the data to convert it into a color tone suitable for the color of the paper, and in step S405, the corrected YMCK
The printing unit 304 prints based on the data.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Determine whether the read color and the color of the pattern to be printed are the same or similar, and if affirmative, determine a different color that outlines the pattern, and make an outline with the determined color. Therefore, when printing is performed in the same or similar color as the print medium, the print pattern can be visually recognized.

Further, according to the present invention, since the correction means corrects the color tone to a predetermined color tone based on the read color, the color tone is not deteriorated even when printing on a print medium other than white. There is an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a control program stored in a ROM 102 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing an example of a control program stored in a ROM 302 shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101,301 CPU 102,302 ROM 103,303 RAM 104,304 Image printing unit 105,305 Parallel I / F 106,306 Color sensor 107,307 System bus 108,308 Host computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A color reading means for reading the color of a print medium, a judging means for judging whether or not the color read by the color reading means and the color of a pattern to be printed are the same or similar, When the determination means makes an affirmative determination, it comprises determination means for determining a different color for edging the vicinity of the boundary between the print medium and the pattern, and edging means for edging with the color determined by the determination means. And multicolor printing device. 2. The multicolor printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the different color is a color which is continuously changed at the boundary. 3. A multicolor printing apparatus comprising: a color reading unit for reading the color of a print medium; and a correction unit for correcting the color tone read by the color reading unit to a predetermined color tone. .