JPH0867029A - Document making apparatus and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To print with colors being changed as frequently as possible and to obtain almost equal printing results even when the printing modes for two kinds of printing media different in color expressions like a monochromatic ribbon and a multicolor ribbon are changed over. CONSTITUTION: A printer 20 has a structure for conducting color printing using a monochromatic ribbon or a multicolor ribbon. When a monochromatic document is stored in a document buffer 13a, CPU 11 conducts color printing by replacing the expressive color of the monochromatic ribbon with that of the multicolor ribbon according to the command of printing selecting a multicolor mode on a printing menu scope. When a multicolor document is stored in the document buffer 13a, CPU 11 conducts color printing by replacing the expressive color of the multicolor ribbon with that of the monochromatic ribbon according to the command of printing selecting a monochromatic mode on the printing menu scope.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document preparation device such as a Japanese word processor, and more particularly to a document preparation device and a printing control method having a printing means for performing color printing using a printing medium such as an ink ribbon. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a document creating apparatus such as a Japanese word processor is provided with a printing apparatus so that the created document can be printed on a sheet as needed. A thermal transfer printer is generally used as a printing device. Therefore, when printing on plain paper, an ink ribbon is used. The ink ribbon is an elongated ribbon that has been previously coated with ink. In the thermal transfer type printer, the ink of the ink ribbon is melted by the heat of the heating element of the head and transferred to the paper.

Further, in this type of document creating apparatus, there is one that performs color printing by using a colored ink ribbon called a color ribbon. In this method, a print color is designated in a document and printing is performed using a ribbon corresponding to the designated color.

Color ribbons include mono-color ribbons having the same color on the entire ribbon and multi-color ribbons having a plurality of different colors alternately in the longitudinal direction of the ribbon. As a method of expressing colors, a method of expressing with colors such as black, red, and blue, and a method of expressing with colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (in this case, a specified color is formed by a combination of four primary colors). There will be). By using such a color ribbon, the created document can be printed in any color.

[0005]

By the way, in general, color expressions such as black, red and blue are used for a single color ribbon, and color expressions such as cyan, magenta, yellow and black are used for a multicolor ribbon. When the color representation is different, the printing method is also different. For example, with a single-color ribbon, printing is performed for each color such as “black”, “red”, “blue”, etc. according to the specified color, but with the multi-color ribbon, “cyan”, “magenta”, and “yellow” are specified according to the specified color. ",
Plane data of four colors such as "black" will be overprinted.

Therefore, in the conventional apparatus, the document created in the monochromatic color mode (the document whose color is designated by the expression color of the monochromatic ribbon) can be printed only in the monochromatic color mode. Further, the document created in the multi-color mode (the document whose color is designated by the expression color of the multi-color ribbon) can be printed only in the multi-color mode.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when two types of print media having different color expressions such as a single color ribbon and a multicolor ribbon are used, even if the print modes of both are switched, It is an object of the present invention to provide a document creation apparatus and a print control method capable of printing by replacing colors as much as possible to obtain substantially the same print result.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A document creating apparatus according to the present invention includes two types of print media having different expression colors, printing means for selectively using each of these print media to perform color printing, and document data. When performing printing using a color designating means for designating an arbitrary color and one of the above print media,
When the document data is color-designated by the expression color of the other printing medium, the printing control unit executes the printing by replacing the color with the expression color of the one printing medium.

[0009]

According to the above configuration, when printing is performed using one of the two types of print media, even if the document data is color-designated by the expression color of the other print medium,
Printing is performed by replacing the color with the expression color of one print medium.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A document creating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the document creation device. In the figure, 11 is a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as CPU), 12 and 13
Is a memory (ROM, R
AM).

The CPU 11 controls the entire apparatus. The CPU 11 accesses the ROM 12 and the RAM 13 and activates a program according to an input instruction to execute a document creation process and a print control process here.

The ROM 12 includes a system ROM 12a,
A dictionary ROM 12b, a font ROM 12c, a ribbon type correspondence table 12d, etc. are provided. System ROM
A control program for starting the CPU 11 is stored in 12a. The dictionary data for kana-kanji conversion is stored in the dictionary ROM 12b. Font ROM
12c stores font data for display and printing. The ribbon type correspondence table 12d stores the correspondence information between the expression color of the single color ribbon and the expression color of the multi-color ribbon.

The RAM 13 includes a document buffer 13a, a figure / ruled line buffer 13b, and a monochrome image buffer 1.
3c, a color image buffer 13d, a print setting buffer 13e, etc. are provided. Document data is stored in the document buffer 13a. Further, in the embodiment, the document data is composed of a character code and color attribute information added to the code. The graphic / ruled line buffer 13b stores graphic data or ruled line data accompanying the document data.

The monochrome image buffer 13c stores monochrome image data input by the monochrome image reader 24. The color image buffer 13d stores color image data input by the color image reader 25.

The print setting buffer 13e stores print setting information set at the time of printing. The print setting information includes the presence or absence of color printing, paper type, print range,
It consists of various setting item data such as font type.

Reference numeral 14 is a keyboard (KB), 15 is a keyboard interface (KB-IF), 16 is a pen input device, and 17 is a pen interface (pen-I).
F) 17 and 18 are displays, 19 is a display interface (display-IF), and 19a is a display memory (VRAM).

The keyboard 14 sends input information necessary for creating a document to the CP via the keyboard interface 15.
Input to U11. This keyboard 14 has "characters"
In addition to keys, "numerical value" keys, function keys such as "function 1" key and "function 2" key, a "print" key 14a for instructing printing is provided here.
The pen input device 16 is a coordinate input device using a pen. The pen interface 17 outputs the position coordinate data designated by the pen input device 16 to the CPU 11.

The display 18 is composed of, for example, a 40-character, 20-line liquid crystal display with a backlight, and the bottom line (20th line) is set as an area dedicated to guide display (guide line). The display interface 19 controls the display of the display 18 under the control of the CPU 11. Display memory 19a
Is a memory for expanding the data displayed on the display unit 18.

Further, 20 is a printer device (PRT), 2
1 is a printer interface (PRT-IF), 21
a is a printer buffer (PRT buffer) 21a, 22
Is a floppy disk device (FDD), and 23 is an FDD interface (FDD-IF).

The printer device 20 is composed of, for example, a heat-sensitive / thermal-transfer type printer, and particularly has a structure capable of color printing by using a color ribbon.
The printer interface 21 controls the output of the printer device 20 under the control of the CPU 11. The printer buffer 21a is a memory for developing the data to be printed by the printer device 20, and here, as shown in FIG. 4, C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), B (black)
And four line buffers 31a to 21d.

The floppy disk device 22 is composed of, for example, a 3.5-inch FDD and has a 2D storage medium.
Use D floppy. FDD interface 23
Is a floppy disk device 2 under the control of the CPU 11.
2. Data storage / call control is performed.

The apparatus also has a monochrome image reader 24, a color image reader 25, and an image interface (image-IF) 26. The monochrome image reader 24 is an image reading device for directly reading image data such as graphics and photographs in monochrome. The color image reader 25 is an image reading device for directly reading image data such as graphics and photographs in color. The image interface 26 controls the input of image data input by the monochrome image reader 24 or the color image reader 25.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the color ribbon in the embodiment. In the present apparatus, by using a colored ink ribbon called a color ribbon for the printer device 20, the created document can be printed in color.
This color ribbon includes a single-color ribbon having the same color as shown in FIG. 2A and a multi-color ribbon having a plurality of different colors alternately in the longitudinal direction of the ribbon as shown in FIG. 2B. There is a ribbon. Here, black with a single color ribbon,
Color expressions such as red and blue are used, and color expressions such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are used for the multicolor ribbon.

In order to perform printing of a plurality of colors, that is, color printing using such a color ribbon, the printing method must be changed for each type of ribbon used. For example, a multi-color ribbon has multiple colors per one, so printing can be performed without changing ribbons, but a single-color ribbon has only one color per ribbon, so the color designated part can be used appropriately. Ribbon must be replaced. In this case, the sequential exchange printing method, in which the ribbon is exchanged for each color designated portion in the document, is printed, and the ribbon is exchanged after printing the designated portions of the same color in the page all together, and the paper is set again for printing. There is a color-coded printing method, and it is necessary to select one of them.

When a multi-color ribbon is used, a specified color is formed by the combination of the four primary colors, and therefore the same portion is overprinted by changing the primary colors. For example, when printing a character in which the color of "red" is specified, first the magenta is used for printing, and then the same character is printed again by using yellow. The method of specifying the color will be described later with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the color designating method in the embodiment. As a method of designating a color in a document, there are a method of adding a control code (control character) indicating the color to target data and a method of adding color attribute information (modification information). In general, the former control method is used in a system using a single color ribbon, and the latter modification method is used in a system using a multicolor ribbon. In the example of FIG. 3, the character modification function specifies "red" for the character "A", "blue" for the characters "B" and "C", and "black" for the character "D". The case is shown.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the printer buffer in the embodiment. The printer buffer 19a is a memory for expanding print data, and here has four line buffers 31a to 31d in accordance with the four primary colors of the multicolor ribbon. The cyan data is expanded in the line buffer 31a. Line buffer 3
Data for magenta is developed in 1b. Yellow data is expanded in the line buffer 31c. Black data is expanded in the line buffer 31d.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a print menu screen in the embodiment. "Printing" provided on the keyboard 14
When printing is instructed by operating the key 14a, a print menu screen as shown in FIG. This print image setting screen is provided with setting items for the color print mode, and the cursor 32 is used to select either "multi-color" or "single-color". If you select “Multi Color”,
Printing is performed according to the printing method (overlay printing method) of the multi-color ribbon. When "monochromatic" is selected, printing is performed according to the monochromatic ribbon printing method (sequential exchange / color-coded printing method).

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. The colors that can be expressed using a single color ribbon are "black, red, blue, green,
Gold and silver ”. The colors that can be expressed using the multi-color ribbon are "black, red, blue, green, magenta, yellow (yellow), light blue (cyan) ...". Normally, a document created in single color mode (hereinafter referred to as a single color document) is printed in single color mode, and a document created in multicolor mode (hereinafter referred to as a multicolor document) is printed. You will be printing in multi-color mode.

Here, in the present embodiment, substantially the same print results are obtained even if the print modes of both are switched. That is, it is possible to print a single color document in a multicolor mode and a multicolor document in a single color mode.

Specifically, "black, red,
"Blue and green" are replaced and printed as they are. For example, when printing a portion for which "green" is designated by a single color ribbon with a multicolor ribbon, two colors of "cyan + yellow" are overprinted. Also, for colors that are not common to both modes, all should be unified to a predetermined color such as "black" or a color close to it (for example, a single color "gold"
→ Multicolor “yellow”) or similar colors are expressed using dither patterns (single color “gold” → multicolor “magenta + cyan”). The correspondence information between the expression color of such a single color ribbon and the expression color of the multi-color ribbon is
It is stored in the ribbon type correspondence table 12.

The respective operations in the case of (a) printing a single-color document in the multi-color mode and (b) printing a multi-color document in the single-color mode will be described. (A) When printing a single-color document in the multi-color mode FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation when printing the single-color document in the multi-color mode in the embodiment. When a document whose color is designated by the expression color of the monochrome ribbon (monochrome color document) is stored in the document buffer 13a,
When the user selects the multi-color mode on the print menu screen of FIG. 5 and gives an instruction to print, the CPU 11 executes the following print control process.

As a premise, the multicolor ribbon has four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black as shown in FIG. 2B, and the line buffer for developing the dot image of the print pattern is shown in FIG. Thus, there are four for each color, one for each color. In addition, the printer device 2
0 is a line printer, and the print pattern is developed line by line.

First, the CPU 11 sets the character counter (n) to "0" so that the counter value indicates the first character of the line (step A11). Then, the CPU 11 determines what color the character indicated by the character counter is designated.

When the designated color is "black" (step A)
12), the CPU 11 uses the black line buffer 3
The pattern of the character is solidly developed at the development position of n characters of 1d (step A13). To expand solidly means to expand the entire character pattern as usual.

When the designated color is "red" (step A)
14), the CPU 11 solidly develops the pattern of the character at each of the n character development positions of the magenta line buffer 31b and the yellow line buffer 31c (step A15).

When the designated color is "blue" (step A)
16 (Yes in 16), the CPU 11 solidly develops the pattern of the character at the development position of n characters in the line buffer 31b for magenta and the line buffer 31a for cyan (step A17).

When the designated color is "green" (step A)
(Yes in 18), the CPU 11 solidly develops the pattern of the character at the development position of n characters in the yellow line buffer 31c and the cyan line buffer 31a (step A19).

When the designated color is "gold" (step A)
20), the CPU 11 expands the pattern of the character by dither at the expansion position of n characters in the magenta line buffer 31b and the cyan line buffer 31a (step A21). To expand with dither,
It is to partially expand the character pattern. That is, since "gold" is not an expression color of the multi-color ribbon, a color close to "gold" is expressed by partially shifting the magenta pattern and the cyan pattern and developing them. Note that “yellow” may be used as a color close to “gold”. In this case, n of the yellow line buffer 31c
The pattern of the character is solidly expanded at the expansion position of the character.

When the designated color is "silver" (step A)
No. 20), the CPU 11 dithers the pattern of the character to the n character development positions of the magenta line buffer 31b, the cyan line buffer 31a, and the yellow line buffer 31c (step A).
22).

When the expansion of the character pattern is completed in this way, the CPU 11 increments the character counter (n) so that the count value indicates the next character (step A23). Then, it is judged whether or not one line has been completed, and if not completed (N in step A24).
o) Similarly to the above, color discrimination and character pattern development processing are performed.

After the end of one line (Yes in step A24)
s), the CPU 11 uses the four line buffers 31a to 31
The data of d is transferred to the printer device 20 and printing for one line is executed (step A25). In this case, since the designated color is formed by the combination of the four primary colors of the multi-color ribbon, the primary colors are changed and the same portion is overprinted.
For example, when printing a character in which the color of "red" is specified, first the magenta is used for printing, and then the same character is printed again by using yellow.

When a document contains data such as figures and ruled lines, after the character data is developed, pattern development is performed in accordance with the similarly designated color and printing is performed at the same time. (B) When printing a multi-color document in the single-color mode FIGS. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the operation in the case of printing the multi-color document in the single-color mode. When a document (multicolor document) whose color is designated by the expression color of the multicolor ribbon is stored in the document buffer 13a and the user selects the single color mode on the print menu screen of FIG. C
The PU 11 executes the following print control process.

As a premise, the monochrome ribbon is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), there are six colors of black, red, blue, green, gold and silver, and the line buffer for developing the dot image of the print pattern is one of the four lines shown in FIG. The buffer 31d is used. In addition, as the printing method, the sequential exchange printing method in which the ribbon is exchanged for each color designated portion in the document is printed, and the same color designated portion in the page is collectively printed, and then the ribbon is exchanged and the paper is set again. Although there is a color-coded printing method in which the color printing is performed in this way, the color printing is performed line by line in the sequential exchange printing method.

First, the CPU 11 sets the character counter (n) to "0" so that the counter value indicates the first character of the line (step B11). Then, the CPU 11 determines what color the character indicated by the character counter is designated.

When the designated color is "red" (step B
12), the CPU 11 solidly develops the pattern of the character at the n character expansion position of the line buffer 31d (step B13). Thereafter, while incrementing the character counter (step B14), the characters designated by the same color are searched for in one line, and the character pattern is expanded.

When one line is completed (Yes in step B15)
s), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the data is stored in the line buffer 31d, and if the data is stored (Yes in step B16), the data is transferred to the printer device 20 to print one line. Is executed (step B17). In this case, by displaying a message indicating that the red single color ribbon is set, the red printing is executed using the ribbon.

Similarly, even when the designated color is "blue" or "green", the character pattern is developed for one line in the line buffer 31d, and printing is executed using a blue or red single color ribbon ( Steps B19-B21).

On the other hand, when a color other than the above is designated (Yes in step B22), that is, including "black", for example, "magenta", "yellow",
When a color peculiar to multiple colors such as “light blue (cyan)” is designated, the CPU 11 expands the character pattern for one line in the line buffer 31d, and then displays a message to the effect that a black monochromatic ribbon is set. , Black printing is executed (step B27). If the document contains data such as figures and ruled lines, after the character data is developed, pattern development is performed in accordance with the similarly designated color and printing is performed at the same time.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, when two kinds of print media having different color expressions such as a single color ribbon and a multicolor ribbon are used, even if the print modes of both are switched, it is possible. By replacing the colors and printing, it is possible to obtain almost the same print results.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a color ribbon in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a color designating method in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printer buffer in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a print menu screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when printing a single color document in the multi-color mode in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation when printing a multi-color document in a single color mode in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation when printing a multi-color document in a single color mode in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 12a ... System RO
M, 12b ... Dictionary ROM, 12c ... Font ROM, 1
2d ... Ribbon type correspondence table, 13 ... RAM, 13a ...
Document buffer, 13b ... Graphic / ruled line buffer, 13c ...
Monochrome image buffer, 13d ... Color image buffer, 13e ... Print setting buffer, 14 ... Keyboard
16 ... Pen input device, 18 ... Display device, 20 ... Printer device, 24 ... Monochrome image reader, 25 ... Color image reader.

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Two types of print media having different expression colors, printing means for performing color printing by selectively using each of these print media, and color designating means for designating an arbitrary color for document data, When printing using one of the print media, if the above-mentioned document data is color-designated by the expression color of the other print medium, replace that color with the expression color of the one print medium. A document creation apparatus comprising: a print control unit that executes printing. 2. The document creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control unit executes the printing by directly replacing the expression color of each print medium when there is a common color. 3. The document creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control unit executes printing by substituting a predetermined color when there is no common color among the expression colors of the print media. . 4. The print control means, when there is no common color among the expression colors of the print media, replaces with a similar color according to a predetermined correspondence relationship and executes printing. 1. The document creation device described in 1. 5. The printing control means, when there is no common color among the expression colors of the respective print media, executes printing by imitating a similar color according to a predetermined correspondence relationship. 1. The document creation device described in 1. 6. A print control method of a document creation apparatus comprising a printing means for performing color printing by selectively using two types of print media having different expression colors, wherein an arbitrary color is designated for document data, and When printing using one of the print media, if the document data is color-designated by the expression color of the other print medium, replace that color with the expression color of the one print medium and print. A print control method, characterized in that the print control method is executed.