JPH08147123A - Printer and color character print method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable printed characters to be read with naked eyes independently of the color of a print form by rewriting color data of characters, whose color is designated, with discriminatable color data based on the color of the recording face of a read recording material or a designated recording material to print the characters. CONSTITUTION: Based on data of the recording material read by a scanner part 1, a printed character color calculating part 6 calculates the printed character color for print in accordance with the representative value of the form color calculated by a form color calculating part 5 and the character color of characters whose color is designated. A control part 2 rewrites the color of character data, whose color is designated, with the calculated printed character color and controls a printer 3 to print the character data on the colored recording material. Thus, even if the color of the colored recording material approximates the color of characters whose color is designated, the color of the colored recording material is discriminated and the color of these characters is converted to a visually discriminatable color to print the characters.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing character data in multiple colors by a color printing apparatus and a color character printing method for the printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when multicolor printing of character data is performed by a color printer, character code data is converted into character font data or character color data in a connected computer or in an image processing unit in the printer. It was converted into image data based on the above and printed. In addition, the character data is not limited to ordinary characters (such as kanji and alphabets),
It also includes pictograms.

[0003]

However, in the conventional printing apparatus, the converted image data is printed as it is, regardless of the color of the paper to be printed. Therefore, for example, when printing yellow characters, the paper happens to be printed. When was yellow, there was a problem that the printed characters were difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

Also, the paper to be printed is not a single color but a color
Paper with patterns and pictures may be used, but if part of the character string printed at that time is close to the paper color,
It is often necessary to read the part by associating it with the letters around it.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the first to sixth inventions of the present invention is to provide a color of a recording surface of a recording material read or a designated recording. By replacing the color data of characters that are color-specified based on the color of the recording surface of the material with identifiable color data and printing, the printed characters can be read with the naked eye regardless of the color of the printing paper. It is to provide a printing device and a color character printing method of the printing device capable of color-printing character data designated by color characters.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus for printing color-instructed character data on a recording material by a printing means, the recording material is scanned and colored. A reading means for reading the color of the recording surface, a paper color calculating means for calculating a representative color of the recording material based on the data of the recording material read by the reading means, and a paper color calculating means for calculating the representative color of the recording material. A print character color calculating means for calculating a print character color to be printed from the representative value and the color of the character to be printed, and a print character color calculated by the print character color calculating means for calculating the color of the color-specified character data. And control means for controlling the printing means so that the character data is printed on the colored recording material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus for printing color-instructed character data on a recording material, a paper color designating means for designating a color of the colored recording surface of the recording material, A print character color calculation unit that calculates a print character color to be printed from the recording surface color designated by the paper color designation unit and the character color of the character to be printed, and the color of the character data designated by the color is the print character color calculation unit. And a control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the printing character color calculated by the unit and print the character data on the colored recording material.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus for printing color-instructed character data on a recording material, a reading means for scanning the recording material to read the color of a colored recording surface, A print character position calculating means for calculating a print area from the character data; and a paper color calculating means for calculating a representative color of the recording material in the print area based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the reading means. A print character color calculation unit for calculating a print character color to be printed from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculation unit and the character color of the character to be color printed; and a color of the color-specified character data. And a control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the printing character color calculated by the printing character color calculating unit and print the character data on the colored recording material.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a color character printing method of a printing apparatus for color-printing character data of which color is designated on a recording material by a printing means, the recording material is scanned and colored by the reading means. A reading step of reading the color of the recorded surface, a paper color calculating step of calculating a representative color of the recording material based on the read data of the recording material, and a color printing with the calculated representative value of the paper color. A print character color calculation step of calculating a print character color to be printed from the character color of the character,
And a printing step of replacing the color of the color-instructed character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in a color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data of which color is designated on a recording material by a printing means, the color of the recording surface of the recording material is colored. A paper color designating step of designating a print color, a print character color computing step of computing a print character color to be printed from the designated recording surface color and a character color of a character to be printed, and a color of the character data designated by the color And a printing step of replacing the calculated print character color with the character data and printing the character data on the colored recording material.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in a color character printing method of a printing apparatus, in which color-designated character data is color-printed on a recording material by the printing means, the recording material is scanned and colored by the reading means. A reading step of reading the color of the recorded surface, a print character position calculating step of calculating a print area from the character data, and a representative of the recording material in the print area based on the read recording surface color data of the recording material. A paper color calculation step of calculating a color, a print character color calculation step of calculating a print character color to be printed from the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed, and the color designated character A printing step of replacing the color of the data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the print character color is calculated from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculation means based on the data of the recording material read by the reading means and the character color of the color-designated character. Calculating the print character color to be printed by the means, and causing the control means to replace the color of the color-instructed character data with the calculated print character color and print the character data on the colored recording material. Even if the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-instructed character are similar, the color of the colored recording material is discriminated and the color of the instructed character is visually recognized by controlling the printing means. It is possible to print by converting to a color that can be visually identified.

In the second aspect of the invention, the color of the character data instructed by the control means is calculated by the print character color calculating means from the recording surface color designated by the paper color designating means and the character color of the character to be printed. Even if the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-instructed character are similar to each other, the printing means is controlled to replace the print character color and print the character data on the colored recording material. It is possible to discriminate a designated color of a colored recording material, convert the color of a character whose color has been designated into a visually distinguishable color, and print the color.

In the third invention, the paper color calculating means calculates the representative color of the recording material in the print area calculated by the print character position calculating means based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the reading means. Then, the control unit controls the printing unit to replace the color of the color-instructed character data with the calculated print character color and print the character data on the colored recording material, thereby coloring the character data. Even if the color of the printed area of the printed recording material and the color of the color-designated character are similar, the color of the printed area of the colored recording material is determined to visually identify the color of the designated text. It is possible to print by converting to possible colors.

In the fourth invention, the representative color of the recording material is calculated based on the data of the recording material read by the reading means, and the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed. The print character color to be printed from is calculated, the color of the color-designated character data is replaced with the calculated print character color, and the character data is printed on the colored recording material. Even if the color and the color of the color-designated character are similar, it is possible to determine the color of the colored recording material and convert the color of the color-designated character into a visually distinguishable color for printing. Execution is programmable.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the color of the colored recording surface of the recording material is designated, and the print character color to be printed is calculated from the designated recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed, By replacing the color of the color-designated character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material, the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are changed. Even if they are similar to each other, it is possible to control programmatically the control for discriminating the designated color of the colored recording material and converting the color of the color-instructed character into a visually distinguishable color for printing.

In the sixth invention, the recording material is scanned to read the color of the colored recording surface, the printing area is calculated from the character data, and the read recording surface color data of the recording material is read. The representative color of the recording material in the printing area is calculated based on the above, the print character color to be printed is calculated from the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed, and the color instruction is given. The color of the character data is replaced with the calculated print character color to print the character data on the colored recording material, and the color of the printing area of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are approximated. Even in this case, it is possible to programmatically execute the control of discriminating the color of the printing area of the colored recording material and converting the color of the color-designated character into a visually discernible color for printing.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a scanner unit which optically scans a sheet to read the sheet color. A control unit 2 controls the entire apparatus according to a procedure written in an internal memory (not shown). A printer unit 3 prints characters and images on paper.

A storage unit 4 stores character fonts, character data, and image data. A paper color calculation unit 5 calculates a representative value of paper colors in a predetermined area from the read paper color data. 6 calculates a character color for printing from the data of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculation unit 5 and the designated character color data,
A print character color calculation unit.

An external interface 7 is connected to a computer, for example, to transfer character code data and to send and receive signals for controlling the printing apparatus. Reference numeral 8 denotes a control switch, which is a switch group used when the printing apparatus main body is controlled independently without a control signal from the outside. The operation panel P1 is provided on the printing apparatus main body.
(Shown in FIG. 6 described later).

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each means of the first invention and its operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus for color-printing character data of which color is designated on a recording material by a printing means, a reading means (scanner) for scanning the recording material to read the color of a colored recording surface. Section 1) and a sheet color calculating section (sheet color calculating section 5) for calculating a representative color of the recording material based on the data of the recording material read by the reading section.
And a print character color calculating unit (print character color calculating unit 6) for calculating a print character color to be printed from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculating unit and the character color of the character to be color printed.
A control unit (control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the color of the color-designated character data with the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation unit and print the character data on the colored recording material. And a print character color calculation based on the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculation unit 5 based on the data of the recording material read by the scanner unit 1 and the character color of the color-designated character. The print character color to be printed by the unit 6 is calculated, and the control unit 2 replaces the color of the color-specified character data with the calculated print character color and prints the character data on the colored recording material. By controlling the printer unit 3 so that the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are similar to each other, the color of the colored recording material is discriminated and the color-designated character Convert colors to visually distinguishable colors and print It makes it possible to be.

Next, referring to the flow chart shown in FIG. 2, the color character printing control operation for the colored paper of the printing apparatus in this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 shows the first part of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the color character printing control method of FIG. Note that (1) to (14) indicate each step. In this embodiment, an external control device (not shown), such as a personal computer, is connected to the printing apparatus via the external interface 7, and control information, character data, etc. are transferred from the external control device. The case is assumed.

First, when a signal indicating a print start command is transferred from an external control device (not shown) to the control unit 2 via the external interface 7 (1), the control unit 2 determines the state of the printer unit 3 (printable). (2). At this time, it is determined whether the printer unit 3 is in the print OK state (3), and if it is impossible for some reason, an error code indicating the reason is sent to an external control device (not shown) via the external interface 7. Transfer 4). In this case, the next print request cannot be accepted until the cause of the fact that the printing device cannot print is eliminated.

For example, when printing is in progress, an error code indicating that the main body is printing is transferred each time a print request arrives until the current printing is completed.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step (3) that the printing unit 3 is in the printable state, the control unit 2 conveys the printing paper to the scanner unit 1 and reads the color information on the one surface of the paper. (5). The color information read at this time is expressed by the three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) in this embodiment, but it can be read by another color expression method. It doesn't matter. The read color information of the printing paper is stored in the storage unit 4 as image data represented by 8 bits of RGB.

Here, the control unit 2 requests the paper color calculation unit 5 to calculate the representative color of the printing paper, and the paper color calculation unit 5
Executes a process of calculating a representative color of the printing paper based on the color information of the printing paper accumulated in the storage unit 4 (calculation routine of a representative color of the printing paper) (6), and storing the value in the storage unit 4. accumulate.

Then, the external interface 7 sends a signal indicating that the controller 2 is ready for printing.
(7) to the external control device (not shown) via. Then, the control unit 2 causes the external control device (not shown) to print character data (character type, character size,
Character code data, print position, character color, etc. are received via the external interface 7 (8) and stored in the storage unit 4. Here, the control unit 2 reads out the designated character color data of the character data to be printed from the storage unit 4 (9), and the read designated character color data together with the control command for calculating the print character color. Then, a process for calculating the print character color (a print character color calculating process routine described later) is executed (10).

Next, the control unit 2 rewrites the designated character color read in step (9) in the character data stored in the storage unit 4 to the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation unit 6 (11). .

Here, in step (8), it is judged whether or not the print character color has been calculated for all the print character data transferred from the external device (not shown) (12), and NO.
Then, steps (9) to (11) are repeated.

On the other hand, if the print character color has been calculated for all the character data in the judgment of step (12), then the control unit 2 creates a print image based on the character data, and the printer unit Transfer to 3 and print out (1
3). Next, when printing is completed, the control unit 2 sends a print completion code to an external device (not shown) via the external interface 7 (14), and the process is completed.

As described above, the printing for one surface of the printing paper is completed. If you want to print multiple pages,
Repeat from step (1).

In the present embodiment, the print character data is received for each side, but a method of collectively receiving the character data for a plurality of sides and printing continuously may be used.

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each step of the fourth invention and its action will be described below with reference to FIGS.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a color character printing method of a printing apparatus for color-printing character data of a color instruction on a recording material by a printing means, wherein the reading means (scanner section 1) scans the recording material. A reading step of reading the color of the colored recording surface (step (5) in FIG. 2), and a paper color calculating step of calculating a representative color of the recording material based on the read data of the recording material (step of FIG. 2) (6)), and a print character color calculation step (steps (9) and (10) in FIG. 2) for calculating a print character color to be printed from the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed. ) And a printing step of replacing the color of the color-designated character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material (steps (11) to (13) in FIG. 2). ) And run and are colored Even if the color of the recording material and the color of the color-designated character are similar, the color of the colored recording material is determined and the color of the color-designated character is converted into a visually distinguishable color for printing. The control to be executed is made programmable.

Now, the representative color calculation processing routine of the printing paper shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the detailed procedure of the representative color calculation processing routine of the printing paper shown in FIG. Note that (1) to (5) indicate each step.

First, noise removal processing is performed on the image data for one surface of the printing paper (1). This process is, for example, a process of setting the average value of adjacent pixels as the new data of the pixel of interest. That is, the convolution filter as shown in FIG. 4 is used to remove noise over the entire image, and the result is stored in the storage unit 4.

Next, the noise-removed image data of the RGB color coordinate system is converted into data of the HLS (hue, saturation, lightness) color coordinate system (2). This is a process performed later by the print character color calculation unit 6 to calculate the character color at the time of printing by referring to the color of the designated character data.
Data is converted to the HLS color coordinate system in order to calculate so that the color tones of the designated character color and the character color at the time of printing do not change. Also, since the method of converting RGB to HLS is well known, detailed description will be omitted here.

Next, the average value of the entire image data converted into the HLS color coordinate system is calculated (3). Furthermore, each gradation of HLS of the calculated average value is reduced (4). Next, the value subjected to the gradation reduction processing is stored in the storage unit 4 as a representative value of the printing paper color (5), and the processing ends.

In this embodiment, the hue H is converted from 256 gradations to 12 gradations, the brightness L is converted from 256 gradations to 4 gradations, and the saturation S is converted from 256 gradations to 3 gradations. . here,
The number of gradations of the hue H is larger than that of other hues because it covers one basic color. That is, if there are 12 kinds of hues H, the basic three primary colors, their complementary colors, and their intermediate colors can be expressed.

Further, the lightness L is set to four kinds, for each hue, for example, a dark orange color, a slightly dark orange color, a slightly bright orange color, a bright orange color can be expressed, and the saturation S The reason why the three types are used is that expressions such as a dull orange color, a normal orange color, and a bright orange color can be made. The number of colors that can be expressed by this gradation reduction processing is 144 colors. By reducing the number of colors in this way, as will be described later,
It is possible to mitigate erroneous recognition due to a slight color difference when comparing the designated character color and the printing paper color.

In the present embodiment, the representative value was calculated using the method of taking the average value, but another method, for example, the histogram of all data is taken and the gradation reduction processing is performed based on the maximum count HLS data. It does not matter even if the value that is set is the representative value. In other words, it is sufficient that information about what color the paper is can be calculated as the representative value of the printing paper color. Further, in this embodiment, the gradation conversion is performed after calculating the average value, but the gradation conversion may be performed before calculating the average value.

The print character color calculation processing routine shown in FIG. 2 will now be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of a detailed procedure of the print character color calculation processing routine shown in FIG. Note that (1) to (7) indicate each step.

First, the designated character color data is converted from the RGB color coordinate system data to the HLS color coordinate system data (1). Next, as in the case of calculating the representative color of the printing paper, gradation reduction processing is performed on the designated character color data converted into the data of the HLS color coordinate system (2). Now this value is Cs
[Hs, Ls, Ss] ([Hue H, lightness L, saturation S])
And

Next, the representative color (H
(LS data) is read (3). Now set this value to Cy
[Hy, Ly, Sy]. Next, the hue H (Hs · Hy) of each color data Cs and Cy and the saturation S
Whether or not (Ss · Sy) are equal, and the lightness L (Ls
-Compare whether the difference of Ly) is less than 2 (4).

Regarding the brightness, it is data of 4 gradations,
The value is expressed as an integer value 0 to 3, and when the value obtained by taking the absolute value of Ls-Ly is 2 or more, the lightness of the color of the printing paper and the color of the character to be printed on it is different. Because
Even if the colors are the same, it can be judged that the printed characters can be clearly discriminated.

If at least one of the hue H and the saturation S is different, it can be determined that the color of the printing paper and the color of the character to be printed on it are different.

Therefore, in step (4), Hs =
If Hy, Ss = Sy, and | Ls−Ly | <2 can be determined, a new print character color is calculated (6). This means that when the desired print character color is Cx [Hx, Lx, Sx], Hx = Hs, Lx = MOD (Ls + 2,4), S
It is calculated by x = Ss.

However, MOD (X, Y) is a function for calculating the remainder when X is divided by Y.

Next, the calculated print character color Cx [Hx, L
[x, Sx] is converted from the data of the HLS color coordinate system into the data of the RGB color coordinate system (7). Since the conversion method from HLS to RGB is publicly known, detailed description is omitted here.

On the other hand, when it is judged in step (4) that the color of the printing paper and the color of the character to be printed on it are different colors (when step (4) is NO), first The designated character color of the RGB color coordinate system that has been transferred is directly used as the print character color (5), and the process is terminated.

Next, the procedure for operating the printing apparatus alone (without external control) and the operation of the printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

However, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the character data to be printed is already stored in the storage unit 4. Regarding the storage method, it may be read from an external control device (not shown) as described above, or an external storage device is connected to the printing device itself (for example, a floppy disk device or an IC memory device), It is also possible to read / write directly from there or copy to the storage unit 4.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the operation panel in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows the second part of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the color character printing control method of FIG. Note that (1) to (13) indicate each step.

First, the character data to be printed is selected from the operation panel P1 on the printer body (1). In this case, when the menu button P6 is pressed, the operation and setting items are displayed as a menu in the display area P2. Select "Data selection" (not shown) from among them with the cursor key P1
When 0 is selected and the start key P3 is pressed, a list of print character data sets existing in the storage unit 4 is displayed and a cursor (not shown) is displayed on the first data set. Use to move the cursor to the desired character data set. Further, when the start key P3 is pressed, the print character set is set.

In the present embodiment, the list of print character data sets is displayed as integers and corresponds to the order stored in the storage unit 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this and, for example, data set names such as You can display it.

Although the start key P3 is used to fix the character data set, any method can be used as long as it can realize a procedure satisfying the function of setting.

Next, the start key P3 is pressed (2). Then, the control unit 2 checks the state of the printer unit 3 (whether printing is possible) (3). At this time, the printer unit 3 determines whether or not printing is in an OK state (4), and if it is impossible for some reason, an error code indicating the reason is displayed in the display area P2 (5). In this case, the next print request cannot be accepted until the cause of the fact that the printing device cannot print is eliminated.

For example, when the printing paper is not loaded, other operations cannot be accepted until the printing paper is replenished and loaded and the reset button P8 is pressed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (4) that the print unit 3 is in a printable state, the control unit 2
Reads the color information on one surface of the paper (6) and calculates the representative color of the printing paper (7), as in the case where the above-mentioned external control device (not shown) is connected.

Here, the control unit 2 sequentially reads the designated character color in the character data stored in the storage unit 4 and selected in step (1) (8). Furthermore, the print character color is calculated in the same manner as when the above-mentioned external control device (not shown) is connected (9), the designated character color in the character data is rewritten (10), and the print character color is set for all character data. Is determined (11), and if NO, steps (8) to (11) are repeated for all character data in the character data set.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step (11) that the print character color has been calculated for all character data,
The control unit 2 creates a print image based on the character data, transfers it to the printer unit 3, and prints it out (1
2). When the printing is completed, the control unit 2 displays the print completion (READY) on the display area P2 of the operation panel P1.
Is displayed (13) and the process ends.

As described above, printing is performed without connecting an external control device.

In the present embodiment, the printing for one surface of the printing paper has been described, but it is also possible to prepare data for a plurality of surfaces in one character data set and perform printing continuously. Further, although the color information of the printing paper is expressed by 8 bits for each of RGB, it is not limited to this.

Although the HLS color coordinate system is used for comparing the character color and the paper color, other color coordinate systems may be used as long as the same effect can be obtained.

Further, although the printing apparatus in the present embodiment is assumed to be a page printer, even if a continuous printer such as a line printer is used, one sheet feeding is regarded as one page. Is feasible.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Scans the color information of the print paper, and if the specified character color is similar to the print paper color, the character color for printing is calculated without changing the color appearance of the specified color, so regardless of the color of the print paper. ,
The printed characters can be printed readable. [Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of a printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The difference from the configuration of the printing apparatus shown in the first embodiment is that the scanner unit 1 and the paper color calculation unit 5 are not provided, but the paper color designation unit 9 is present. That is, in the first embodiment, the scanner unit 1 scans the printing paper to calculate the printing paper color, but in the present embodiment, the paper color designating unit 9 is used to specify the printing paper color.

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each means of the second invention and its operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

In a second aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus for printing character data for which a color instruction is given on a recording material, a paper color designating means (paper color designating section 9 for designating the color of the recording surface of the colored recording material. ) And the recording surface color designated by the paper color designating means and the character color of the characters to be printed, a print character color calculating means (print character color calculating portion 6).
And a control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the color of the color-designated character data with the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation unit and print the character data on the colored recording material. (Control unit 2), and the control unit 2 sets the color of the character data for which the color instruction is given to the paper color designation unit 9
The printer unit 3 is controlled so as to replace the printing character color calculated by the printing character color calculating unit 6 with the recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed, and to print the character data on the colored recording material. Even if the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-specified character are similar, the color of the color-specified character can be visually identified by determining the specified color of the colored recording material. It is possible to print in various colors.

The third color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing an example of the color character printing method of FIG. In addition, (1) to (13) show each step, and FIG.
A process different from the above step will be mainly described.

In the color character printing method of the printing apparatus according to this embodiment, an external control device (not shown) such as a personal computer is connected to the printing device via the external interface 7, and the external control device It is assumed that control information and character data will be transferred.

The part different from the first embodiment receives the representative color of the printing paper from an external control device (not shown) after the printer section status check in steps (2) and (3) (5).

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each step of the fifth invention and its action will be described below with reference to FIG.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data of which color is designated by a printing means on a recording material, and a paper for designating a color of a recording surface of the colored recording material. Color designation step (step (8) in FIG. 9) and print character color calculation step (step (8) in FIG. 9) for calculating a print character color to be printed from the designated recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed , Step (9)),
A printing step of replacing the color of the color-designated character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material (step (10) to FIG. 9).
(12)) is executed to specify the color of the colored recording surface of the recording material, and the print character color to be printed is calculated from the specified recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed, By replacing the color of the color-designated character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material, the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are changed. Even if they are similar to each other, it is possible to control programmatically the control for discriminating the designated color of the colored recording material and converting the color of the color-instructed character into a visually distinguishable color for printing.

In this embodiment, the data transferred from the external control device (not shown) has the data structure shown in FIG.

In FIG. 10, the control code (D1) is
It is a code that indicates that the data that follows is data for the printing paper color. The color designation method (D2) is a code for determining what kind of expression format the next color data (D3) is, for example, "8 bits in RGB order in the RGB color coordinate system. expressing"
It is a coded version of such information.

Next, the control unit 2 causes the control code (D
When 1) is received, the subsequent color designation method (D2) and the color data (D3) are continuously received, and the color designation method (D
Based on the information designated in 2), the color data (D3) is converted into data of the HLS color coordinate system and stored in the storage unit 4 in the area for storing the print paper color.

Thereafter, the printing apparatus in this embodiment operates in the same manner as in the first embodiment from steps (6) to (13). Further, when printing for a plurality of faces, the process is repeated from step (1).

In the present embodiment, the print character data is received for each side, but a method of collecting the character data for a plurality of sides at once and printing them continuously may be used.

Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 11, a procedure for operating the printing apparatus of this embodiment independently (without external control) and the operation of the printing apparatus will be described. However, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the character data to be printed is already stored in the storage unit 4.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the fourth color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (12) indicate each step.

The difference from the first embodiment is that first, the print character data is selected (1) and then the print paper color is selected (2).
Is the point to do. This is done by pressing the menu button P6 in the same manner as in step (1), and using the cursor key P10 to select the item "Selection of printing paper color" (not shown) from the items displayed in the display area P2. When the start key P3 is pressed, a list of color designation methods is displayed in the display area P2.

In this embodiment, three items of RGB designation, HLS designation, and pantone process color designation are prepared. However, the color designation method is not limited to these three items. When RGB designation is selected, RGB slide bars are displayed in the display area P2 as shown in FIG. 12, and white (R: 255, G:
255, B: 255) is displayed. Each value of RGB is
In the present embodiment, since it is expressed by 8 bits, 0 to 25
It takes a value of 5, but is not limited to this.

Then, the R portion is highlighted and in a state where the R data can be changed. Here, the operator can change the value of R using the cursor key P10 (horizontal direction) or the numerical value using the numerical key P9.
It is also possible to change the values of G and B by using the cursor key P10 (up and down direction). HL
When S is designated, it can be designated by the same operation.

On the other hand, when the pantone process color is designated, a list of color numbers is displayed in the display area P2, and the cursor key P10 is used for selection. This list is scrolled vertically. By pressing the start key P3 after selecting the color, the printing paper color can be determined.

Thereafter, the steps (3) to (4) are the first
The operation is similar to that of the above embodiment, and steps (6) and (7) shown in FIG. 7 are not executed. In addition, steps (7) to (12) perform the same operations as steps (8) to (13) in FIG. 7.

As described above, printing is performed without connecting the external control device. In the present embodiment, the printing of one surface of the printing paper has been described, but it is also possible to prepare data for a plurality of surfaces in one character data set and perform printing continuously.

The printing apparatus in the present embodiment is assumed to be a page printer, but it may be one that prints continuous paper such as a line printer.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
The same effect as the first embodiment is obtained. [Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the third embodiment, the same components as those in the first and second embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of a printing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The difference from the first embodiment is that the print character position calculation unit 10 is added. In the first embodiment, the representative color of the printing paper is calculated, but in the present embodiment, the print character position calculation unit 10 calculates the area occupied by the character to be printed from the character information, and the representative color in the area is calculated. The feature is that the color calculation unit 5 calculates.

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each means of the third invention and its action will be described below with reference to FIG.

A third aspect of the present invention is a printing apparatus for printing character data of color indication on a recording material, and a reading means (scanner section 1) for scanning the recording material to read the color of the colored recording surface. A print character position calculating unit (print character position calculating unit 10) for calculating a print area from the character data
And a paper color calculation unit (paper color calculation unit 5) that calculates a representative color of the recording material in the print area based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the reading unit.
And a print character color calculating unit (print character color calculating unit 6) for calculating a print character color to be printed from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculating unit and the character color of the character to be color printed.
A control unit (control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the color of the color-designated character data with the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation unit and print the character data on the colored recording material. 2) and the paper color calculation unit 5 determines the representative color of the recording material in the print area calculated by the print character position calculation unit 10 based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the scanner unit 1. In advance, the control unit 2 replaces the color of the character data instructed by the color with the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation unit 6, and causes the character data to be printed on the colored recording material. Even if the color of the printed area of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are similar to each other by controlling the printer unit 3, the color of the printed area of the colored recording material is determined and the color is designated. Look at the color of the letters To make it possible to print by converting the identifiable colors.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the fifth color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (15) indicate the respective steps, and in this embodiment, an external control device (not shown), for example, a personal computer or the like is connected to the printing apparatus via the external interface 7, and the external control is performed. It is assumed that control information, character data, etc. will be transferred from the device.

The difference from the first embodiment is that the representative color of the printing paper is calculated immediately after reading the color information of the one surface of the printing paper (5) (step (6) in FIG. 2).
The print preparation completion code is sent to the external control device (not shown) without executing (6).

Correspondence between the present embodiment and each step of the sixth invention and its action will be described below with reference to FIG.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data of a color instruction on a recording material by a printing means, wherein the reading means (scanner section 1) scans the recording material. A reading step of reading the color of the colored recording surface (step (5) in FIG. 14), and a print character position calculating step (steps (8) and (9) in FIG. 14) of calculating a print area from the character data. A paper color calculating step (step (10) in FIG. 14) of calculating a representative color of the recording material in the print area based on the read recording surface color data of the recording material, and a representative of the calculated paper colors. A print character color calculation step (step (11) in FIG. 14) for calculating a print character color to be printed from the value and the character color of the character to be printed, and the color of the color-specified character data Letter color A printing step (steps (12) to (14) in FIG. 14) for replacing and printing the character data on the colored recording material is executed, and the color and the color of the printing area of the colored recording material are designated. Even if the colors of the letters are similar, the control to program the control to discriminate the color of the printing area of the colored recording material and convert the color of the color-instructed letters into a visually distinguishable color for printing Make it executable.

Next, the control section 2 receives character data to be printed on one surface of the printing paper from an external control device (not shown) via the external interface 7 (7) and stores it in the storage section 4. A typical data structure example of the character data received and stored at this time in this embodiment is shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of character data received by the control unit 2 shown in FIG.

In the figure, D10 is a control code for discriminating that the following data is character data, D1
1 is the character type (font type) and size data (character type / size data) for the subsequent character code, D12 is the character color data for the subsequent character code, and D13 and D15 are the subsequent characters. Character print start position data for the code, and D14 and D16 are character code strings.

The character type / size D11 and the character color data D12 are inserted when there is a change from the beginning of all the data. Also, the character print start position data D
13 is provided for each character string (character set). Character code strings D14 and D16 are two types of character strings (character set)
Means In the present embodiment, the character data format as shown in FIG. 15 is used, but the data may be expressed in a page description language or the like.

Next, the control unit 2 reads the character data (character code) for one character from the storage unit 4 (8).

The operation after step (8) will be specifically described with reference to the data structure example shown in FIG. 15 and the print data structure example shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of print data in the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

First, the control section 2 is provided with a section for storing the character type and character size, the designated character color, the print start position data, and the print character color in the storage section 4. Also, a character data area for printing is secured. Next, reading is started from the beginning of the character data, and first, the control code D10 is confirmed to be the read character data, and is copied to the character data area for printing (control code D10 in FIG. 16).

Subsequently, the character type / size data is read and copied to the character type / character size storage area in the storage unit 4 and the character data area for printing. Further, the character color data A is read and copied to the storage area of the designated character color and the print character color in the storage section 4 and the character data area for printing. Further, the character print start position data A is similarly copied to the storage area and the character data area for printing.

Next, the code of the first character of the character code string A is read. Now, here, the character code string A is "AB
If it is a code string that represents the character string "CDE", "A"
It means that the code that represents the character is read.

Here, the control unit 2 controls the character type and character size stored in the storage unit 4, character print start position data,
The character code is transferred to the print character position calculation unit 10. Then, the print character position calculation unit 10 calculates an area to be printed based on the transferred data (9). This area is represented by the diagonal coordinates of the rectangular area and passed to the control unit 2. Then, the control unit 2 passes this area data to the paper color calculation unit 5. Here, the paper color calculation unit 5 calculates the representative color of the printing paper for the area where the character "A" is printed from the paper color data corresponding to the given area in the same manner as in the first embodiment (10). .

Subsequently, the control unit 2 sets the designated character color data (here, the same as the character color data A: D12) stored in the storage unit 4 and the calculated representative color of the printing paper to the printing character color. It is transferred to the calculation unit 6. Then, the print character color calculation unit 6 calculates the print character color in the same manner as in the first embodiment (11). Here, the control unit 2 compares the calculated print character color with the print character color stored in the storage unit 4, and if they are the same, a character code (here, a code representing “A”) for printing. Append to the character code string in the character data area.

Assuming that "AB" of the character code string A is the same as the calculated print character color and the print character color stored in the storage unit 4, the print calculated in the portion "C" is printed. It is assumed that the character color is different from the print character color stored in the storage unit 4. At this time, in the character data area for printing, the character code string (A-1) D from the control code D10 in FIG.
Up to 17 are stored and the character code string (A-1) D1
The content of 7 contains a code representing "AB".

Now, the print character color when the character is "AB" is X
The print character color calculated when 1 and "C" is X2.
At this time, "X1" is stored in the character color data (A) D12. Here, the control unit 2 determines that the print character color is "X.
Since it has been changed from "1" to "X2", "X2" is additionally written as character color data B (character code string B: D18 in FIG. 16) in the character data area for printing and saved in the storage unit 4. The print character color data being displayed is set to "X2".

Further, a character code representing "C" is added to the character code string (A-2) D19 of the character data area for printing. In this way, the designated character color in the character data is rewritten (12).

Note that, when the character type / size data, the character color data, and the character print start data are newly read in the middle of reading the character data, the control unit 2 stores each of them in the storage unit 4. Rewrite the data of.

When the processing is completed for all the characters as described above (13), the control unit 2 creates a print image based on the data in the character data area for printing stored in the storage unit 4. It is created, transferred to the printer unit 3 and printed out (14). The subsequent operation is similar to that of the first embodiment.

When the printing apparatus is operated alone (without external control), the operation method is the same as in the first embodiment, and the internal processing is realized by the above method. In this embodiment, the area is calculated for each character, but the area may be calculated for each line or for each character block of the same color.

According to the present embodiment, not only the same effect as the first embodiment is obtained, but even if the print paper has a pattern or a picture is drawn, the print character color is changed for each character unit. Is calculated, it is possible to print the printed characters so that the printed characters can be read regardless of the color, the pattern, and the drawing of the printing paper.

When the color of the paper to be used is recognized or designated as a blank paper, the control unit 2 prints the character in accordance with the color instructed and executes the above-mentioned paper color calculation processing and print character color calculation processing. The control is performed so as to shift to the print processing without executing.

Further, according to the above embodiment, the color of the paper to be printed is read, or the paper color is designated, and the optimum character color at the time of printing is calculated from the color data and the designated character color, By printing with the calculated character color,
Character data can be printed so that the characters to be printed can be read regardless of the color of the paper.

Furthermore, the paper to be printed is not a single color,
Even if you use paper with colors, patterns, and pictures, calculate the optimum character color for printing from the paper color of the character area to be printed and the specified character color, and calculate the calculated character By printing in color, by printing in the calculated character color, the character data can be printed such that the character to be printed can be read without being affected by the color, pattern, or picture of the paper.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0129]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention
According to the invention, the print character color calculation unit prints from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the paper color calculation unit based on the data of the recording material read by the reading unit and the character color of the color-designated character. The print character color is calculated in advance, and the control unit replaces the color of the character data instructed by the color with the calculated print character color to print the character data on the colored recording material. Since the color is controlled, even if the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-specified character are similar, the color of the colored recording material can be distinguished and the color of the color-specified character can be visually identified. It can be converted into various colors and printed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the control means calculates the color of the character data for which the color is specified by the print character color calculating means from the recording surface color specified by the paper color specifying means and the character color of the character to be printed. Since the printing means is controlled so as to replace the printed character color with the character data and print the character data on the colored recording material, even if the color of the colored recording material and the color of the color-instructed character are similar to each other. It is possible to discriminate the designated color of the colored recording material and convert the color of the color-instructed character into a visually discernible color for printing.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the paper color calculating means determines the representative color of the recording material in the print area calculated by the print character position calculating means based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the reading means. Since the control means controls the printing means to replace the color of the color-instructed character data with the calculated print character color and print the character data on the colored recording material, Even if the color of the printed area of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are similar, the color of the printed area of the colored recording material is determined to visually determine the color of the designated character. It is possible to print by converting to a distinguishable color.

According to the fourth invention, the representative color of the recording material is calculated based on the data of the recording material read by the reading means, and the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed. A print character color to be printed is calculated from and the color of the character data designated by the color is replaced with the calculated print character color, and the character data is printed on the colored recording material. Even if the color of the material and the color of the color-designated character are similar, the color of the colored recording material is discriminated and the color of the color-designated character is converted into a visually distinguishable color for printing. The control can be executed in a programmable manner.

According to the fifth invention, the color of the recording surface of the colored recording material is designated, and the printing character color to be printed is calculated from the designated recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed. Since the color of the color-designated character data is replaced with the calculated print character color and the character data is printed on the colored recording material, the color of the colored recording material and the color-designated character Even if the colors are similar to each other, it is possible to programmatically execute the control of distinguishing the designated color of the colored recording material and converting the color of the color-instructed character into a visually distinguishable color for printing. .

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the color of the colored recording surface is read by scanning the recording material, the printing area is calculated from the character data, and the recording surface color of the read recording material is calculated. A representative color of the recording material in the print area is calculated based on the data, a print character color to be printed is calculated from the calculated representative value of the paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed, and the color instruction is given. The color of the character data is replaced with the calculated print character color and the character data is printed on the colored recording material, so that the color of the printing area of the colored recording material and the color of the color-designated character are Even if they are close
It is possible to programmatically execute control to determine the color of the printing area of the colored recording material, convert the color of the color-instructed character into a visually distinguishable color, and print.

Therefore, there is an effect that the character data designated by the color character can be printed in color so that the printed character can be read by the naked eye regardless of the color of the printing paper.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a first color character printing control method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of a representative color calculation processing routine of the printing paper shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a convolution filter used during noise removal processing in the paper color calculation unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a detailed procedure of a print character color calculation processing routine shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing an example of an operation panel in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a second color character printing control method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a third color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of data received by the control unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a fourth color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

12 is a diagram showing an example of a list of color designation methods displayed in the display area of the operation panel shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a fifth color character printing method in the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

15 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of character data received by the control unit shown in FIG.

16 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of print data in the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Scanner Section 2 Control Section 3 Printer Section 4 Storage Section 5 Paper Color Calculation Section 6 Print Character Color Calculation Section 7 External Interface 8 Control Switch

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A printing device for printing character data of which color is designated on a recording material (color by a printing means),
Reading means for scanning the recording material to read the color of the colored recording surface, paper color calculating means for calculating a representative color of the recording material based on the data of the recording material read by the reading means, and this paper A print character color calculation unit that calculates a print character color to be printed from the representative value of the paper color calculated by the color calculation unit and the character color of the character to be color printed, and the color of the character data instructed by the color is the print character. A printing device, comprising: a control unit that controls the printing unit to replace the printing character color calculated by the color calculation unit and print the character data on the colored recording material. 2. A printing device for printing color-designated character data on a recording material, a paper color designating means for designating a color of a colored recording surface of the recording material, and a paper color designating means for designating the color. A print character color calculating means for calculating a print character color to be printed from the recording surface color and the character color of the character to be printed,
A control means for controlling the printing means so that the color of the color-designated character data is replaced with the print character color calculated by the print character color calculation means and the character data is printed on the colored recording material. A printing apparatus having: 3. A printing device for printing color-designated character data on a recording material, a reading means for scanning the recording material to read a color of a colored recording surface, and a printing area calculated from the character data. A print character position calculating means, a paper color calculating means for calculating a representative color of the recording material in the print area based on the recording surface color data of the recording material read by the reading means, and the paper color calculating means A print character color calculating means for calculating a print character color to be printed from the representative value of the designated paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed, and the color of the color-specified character data is calculated by the print character color calculating means. And a control unit that controls the printing unit so that the character data is printed on the colored recording material by substituting the printed character color. 4. A color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data instructed by color by a printing means on a recording material, wherein the reading means scans the recording material to read the color of a colored recording surface. The reading step, the paper color calculation step of calculating the representative color of the recording material based on the read data of the recording material, and the printing from the representative value of the calculated paper color and the character color of the character to be color printed A print character color calculation step of calculating a print character color, and a printing step of replacing the color of the color-instructed character data with the calculated print character color and printing the character data on the colored recording material. A method for printing color characters in a printing device, comprising: 5. A paper color designating step of designating a color of a recording surface of a colored recording material in a color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data of which color is designated on a recording material by a printing means. A print character color calculating step of calculating a print character color to be printed from the designated recording surface color and a character color of a character to be printed, and replacing the color of the color-specified character data with the calculated print character color And a printing step for printing the character data on the colored recording material. 6. A color character printing method of a printing device for color-printing character data instructed by color on a recording material by a printing means, wherein the reading means scans the recording material to read the color of a colored recording surface. A reading step, a print character position calculating step of calculating a print area from the character data,
A paper color calculation step of calculating a representative color of the recording material in the printing area based on the read recording surface color data of the recording material, a representative value of the calculated paper color and a character color of a character to be color printed. A print character color calculating step of calculating a print character color to be printed from the printing, and printing for printing the character data on the colored recording material by replacing the color of the color-designated character data with the calculated print character color A method for printing color characters in a printing device, comprising: