JPH0971007A - Printer and printing control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power source capacity by a method wherein the value of printing duty corresponding to one page indicated by a printer driver is compared with the value of printing duty indicated to determine the number of printing passes for one page, thereby to control the number of passes. SOLUTION: A printer driver 101, which receives image information by means of an operation system on the side of an information processing device, effects a bit-map development of the image information in an internal memory in the information processing device by means of a bit-map development task 101A. And the printing duty obtained is sent from the device to a printer 102. On the side of the printer 102, the value of printing duty corresponding to one page, which is sent, is compared with a preindicated reference duty based on a pass judging program 102A to decide the number of passes to be printed. And if the value of printing duty for one page exceeds the preindicated reference value, printing is effected in two passes per line and if it is less than the reference value, printing is effected in one pass per line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a serial type printer and a print control method thereof, and more particularly to a printer suitable for a case having a plurality of recording elements and a print control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printer of a serial system, a thermal transfer system, an inkjet system, etc. are known.
These types of printers have multiple recording elements, namely,
The recording medium has a recording unit for recording in dot units, the plurality of recording elements are arranged in parallel to the recording paper conveyance direction, and the recording element arrangement is sequentially scanned vertically in the recording paper conveyance direction. By doing so, an image is recorded on one recording sheet. Further, a printer that scans and prints the same line twice, such as reciprocal printing, has also been proposed.

[0003]

When the recording element array becomes long, the power supply capacity increases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer and a print control method therefor capable of contributing to a reduction in power supply capacity.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention of claim 1 provides a printer driver having an instruction means for instructing a value of a print duty for one page of image data to be printed. , The number of print passes for one line is determined according to the specified print duty value,
And a means for controlling the number of passes according to the number of print passes.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the value of the print duty is color, 120 to 1 for 400% of total discharge.
When it exceeds 50%, the number of passes is 2, the above 120-
The number of passes is set to 1 when it does not exceed 150%.

According to a third aspect of the invention, when the value of the print duty is monochrome, 40 to 6 for 100% of the total discharge.
When it exceeds 0%, the number of passes is 2, 40 to 60
When the ratio does not exceed%, the number of passes is set to 1.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the print duty value of the image data to be printed is instructed, and the number of print passes for one line is determined in correspondence with the instructed print duty value. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the value of the print duty is calculated on the side of the information processing device that generates the image data, and the information processing device instructs the print duty to the printer. To do.

According to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention, when the number of dots to be printed is small, the number of passes can be reduced and power consumption can be reduced. Further, at this time, since the number of print dots is small, even if the number of passes is reduced, the print image quality is not affected.

The second aspect of the invention is suitable for color printing by limiting the range of the reference value of the print duty that determines the number of passes.

The invention of claim 3 is suitable for monochrome printing by limiting the range of the reference value of the print duty for determining the number of passes.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the print processing time is not affected by executing the print duty value on the image data generating source side.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) In this embodiment, a schematic system example of a printing apparatus for printing a color image using a color recording element is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a printer driver installed in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, that is, a software program for controlling the printer. The printer driver 101 has, for example, a conventionally known program 101A for expanding a character code into a print pattern into a bitmap and a dot count task (program) 101B for counting the print duty according to the present invention. The program 101A and the task 101B are executed by the CPU in the information processing apparatus on the print data generation source side.
On the printer 102 side, a processing program 102A and a determination for determining a print pass, that is, whether to print one line by one scan or two scans such as reciprocal print, according to the print duty. A print task 102B that controls each component of the printer to perform printing in accordance with the number of passes made is built in.

These programs 102A and tasks 102B are executed by the CPU in the printer 102. In such a system configuration, the printer driver 101 which has received the image information from the operation system of the information processing apparatus develops the image data into the internal memory in the information processing apparatus by the pit map development task (drawing development function) 101A. To do. More specifically, in the memory, image data indicated by a bit "1" when printing the print pixel (dot) in correspondence with the print pixel (dot), and when not printing the print pixel (dot) is indicated by several lines or one.
Store pages. CPU is bit "1" in the above memory
The number of data of (1) is counted by the dot count task 101B, and the print duty is calculated.

In the bit map expanded data,
For the dot to be printed, the bit becomes "1",
The pits that are not printed are "0". Therefore,
The printer driver's dot count task counts the number of "1" dots by software.
Since the number of dots that can be printed on one page (or line) is determined, the ratio of the number of dots that are actually printed and the number of dots that can be printed is the print duty. A printing duty of 100% (400% for four colors of R, G, B, and BK in the case of color) indicates that all dots on one page are printed.

The print duty thus obtained is sent from the information processing apparatus side to the printer 102 side. On the printer 102 side, the path determination program 102A causes
The value of the print duty sent for one page and the value of the reference duty specified in advance (120 to 120% for all discharges 400%)
150%) to determine the number of printing passes. That is, if the value of the print duty for one page is equal to or greater than the previously specified reference value, each line is printed in two passes. If the value of the print duty for one page is equal to or less than the preset reference value, each line is printed in one pass. However, the above reference value is set in the memory in the printer.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the basis of the reference value. This shows the frequency distribution of the print duty of a color image. According to this, for the color image, the total discharge 40
It is understood that the reference value should be set to 120 to 150% with respect to 0%. In addition, the power supply rated value may be designed with a margin of 10% or more with respect to the reference value in consideration of the variation of each component as a measure against the temperature rise of the switching power supply.

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, a design example of a printer for printing a monochrome image using a monochrome recording element will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a graph which is the basis of the reference value. This shows the frequency distribution of the print duty of a monochrome image. According to this, it is understood that for a monochrome image, the reference value should be set to 40 to 60% with respect to 100% of total ejection. In addition, the power supply rated value may be designed with a margin of 10% or more with respect to the reference value in consideration of the variation of each component as a measure against the temperature rise of the switching power supply.

[0023]

As described above, according to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention, in a printer using a long print head, the number of passes can be reduced in printing with a small amount of image data, so that low power consumption can be achieved. In addition, a printer that can use a low-cost power supply can be provided.

In the second and third aspects of the invention, FIG. 2 and FIG.
As shown in the graph shown by, it is possible to perform printing suitable for a color image or a monochrome image by limiting the reference value for determining the number of passes.

According to the invention of claim 5, the calculation of the print duty is used as the source of the image data, so that the processing load on the printer side can be reduced and the print processing time can be shortened.

[0026]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a print duty characteristic.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a print duty characteristic.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Printer Driver 101A Bitmap Development Program 101B Dot Count Task 102 Printer 102A Path Judgment Program 102B Print Task

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver having an instruction means for instructing a print duty value for one page of image data to be printed, and the number of print passes for one line is determined in correspondence with the instructed print duty value. And a means for controlling the number of passes according to the number of print passes. 2. When the value of the print duty is color, the number of passes is 2 when it exceeds 120 to 150% of the total discharge of 400%, and when it does not exceed 120 to 150%, the number of passes A printer having one pass. 3. When the value of the print duty is monochrome, the number of passes is 2 when it exceeds 40-60% with respect to 100% of total ejection, and when it does not exceed 40-60%, the number of passes is 2. A printer having one pass. 4. A print control method for a printer, wherein a print duty value of image data to be printed is instructed, and the number of print passes for one line is determined in correspondence with the instructed print duty value. . 5. The information processing apparatus that generates the image data calculates the value of the print duty, and the information processing apparatus instructs the print duty to the printer. Print control method of the described printer.