JPH10224614A - Output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an output device by which the user prints out data in an intended color. SOLUTION: Data outputted from a host device 1 are received by an input section 2, and given to an input control section 3, where processing that converts color information of color data into a printed image color set by the output device is conducted. The conversion processing is conducted by a basic input color limit means that limits color information of the color data to specific basic input colors and by a printed color conversion means that converts color information of the color data whose colors are limited to the basic input colors into a printed color set by the output device side. The input control section 3 adds the printed color to data information and converts the resulting information into an intermediate code and provides an output. The intermediate code is stored in a segment memory 8 and a hard disk 9. The intermediate code is converted into bit map data by an image data generating section 5 and fed to the output device 7 via an output control section 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output device such as a plotter, and more particularly, to an output device capable of outputting data supplied from a host device in a color designated by a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a device for outputting character or graphic data using a CAD or the like as a high-order device, generally, a high-order device sends a control code for designating a color provided in the output device. Performs color printing.

Similarly, a conventional plotter or other device that outputs language data also converts data supplied from a host device into a pen having a pen number corresponding to black and white or color information in accordance with an instruction from the host device. It is well known to operate and output in black and white or full color. However, in a conventional output device such as a plotter,
There has not yet been proposed a printer capable of outputting a color designated by a user without changing data from a host device.

As a prior document which discloses a device capable of outputting in a color designated by a user irrespective of data from a host device, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
No. 6 publication. This publication discloses the following technology. That is, fonts, forms, and images that the user wants to output in the colors provided in the output device are registered from the operation panel of the output device. When these are received, they are expanded in the corresponding page buffer. On the other hand, when an unregistered font or the like is received, it is developed in another page buffer.

When printing these data, the data read from the page buffer storing the data in which the print colors are registered is the registered colors, while the data in which the print colors are not registered is stored. The data read from the current page buffer is printed in black and white, and these are superimposed and printed. As a result, a multi-color image intended by the user can be printed while receiving single-color information from the host device.

[0006]

However, in the case of plotter data, since the data sent from the host device is basically described in a graphic language, the prior art described above is applied to an output device such as a plotter. It is difficult. That is, in an output device such as a plotter, with respect to printing in a color designated by a user on the output device without changing data transmitted from a higher-level device,
There was a problem that no special consideration was given.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to provide an output device capable of printing in a color intended by a user.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention relates to an output device capable of printing in a color designated on the output device side, wherein color data sent from an external device is output. Input means for inputting, basic input color narrowing means for narrowing color information of the input color data to a specific basic input color, drawing color setting means for setting a drawing color corresponding to the basic input color, It is characterized in that it comprises drawing color conversion means for converting the color information of the color data narrowed down to the basic input color by the basic input color narrowing means to the drawing color set by the drawing color setting means.

According to the present invention, the enormous amount of color information input from the external device can be easily narrowed down to as few as eight basic input colors. Since the image can be converted into the set drawing color, it is possible to provide an output device such as a plotter capable of printing in a color designated by the output device with simple means.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an output device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, CAD
The host device 1 outputs language data such as character data, graphic data, and a plotter. The input unit 2 receives data output from the host device 1. The received data is transferred from the input unit 2 to the input control unit 3 as needed. The input control unit 3 determines an output color and converts data into an intermediate code (or an internal code) that can be processed by the present output device by command processing described later with reference to FIG. The control data output from the input control unit 3 is sent to the output device 7 via the data control unit 4, the image data generation unit 5, and the output control unit 6.

On the other hand, the intermediate code converted by the input control unit 3 is temporarily stored in the segment memory 8 and then stored in the hard disk 9. Conversely, the hard disk 9
Is also temporarily stored in the segment memory 8 and then sent to the data control unit 4. The data control unit 4 performs, for example, a scale process such as enlarging or reducing data so as to match the size of the output sheet. The image data generator 5 develops the intermediate code into bitmap data. The data expanded into the bitmap data is temporarily stored in the frame memory 10, read out from the frame memory 10 at a timing required by the output control unit 6, and sent to the output control unit 6. The output control unit 6 sends the output color, bitmap data, and other data together to an output device 7, and the output device 7 prints on paper using, for example, a pen of the selected color.

Next, the command processing of the input control unit 3 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S1, it is determined whether or not the instruction from the host device 1 or the instruction from the control panel of the output device has priority on the color command. If this determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S2, where it is determined whether a color command is present in the data received from the host device 1. If the color command exists,
Proceeding to step S3, it is determined whether or not a fill pattern has been designated by the command. If this determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S12, where gray scale processing, that is, processing for determining the density of the fill pattern is performed.

When the determination in step S3 is negative, or when the gray scale processing in step S12 is completed, the process proceeds to step S4, where the designation by the color command is
A determination is made as to whether the designation is a color designation or an index designation. Here, color designation means designation by color command information, and index designation means designation by color table number (for example, pen number). If it is a color designation, the process proceeds to step S5, where the color command information is converted into any one of eight colors,
Determine the input color. On the other hand, when the index is designated in step S4, the color set in the color table is set as the input color.

Further, when the judgment at the step S2 is negative, that is, when the color command is not present in the data received from the upper device 1, based on the data designated by the pen from the upper device 1, At S14,
The color set by the user on the control panel is determined as the input color.
That is, since the user sets a color for the pen number from the control panel as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the color corresponding to the pen designation from the host device 1 is set as the input color. .

Step S5, S13 or S14
After the end of the process, the process proceeds to step S6, where the input color is matched with the color set on the control panel.
That is, a matting process is performed. Then, in step S7, the output color is determined. Since the step S6 is a process of converting the color information of the color data narrowed down to the basic input color into a set drawing color, it can be called a drawing color conversion process. The input control unit 3 includes:
The output color is added to the data information and converted into the intermediate code.

Next, an example of the basic input color narrowing-down process in step S5 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the color command information, R (red), G
In the case of three colors (green) and B (blue), the respective densities are compared with reference values as shown.
Then, a color having a value smaller than the reference value is ignored, and the input color is determined only from colors having a value equal to or larger than the reference value. This reference value can be freely changed by the user from the control panel or the like. Further, luminance may be used instead of the density.

In the example shown, the input color is determined to be Y (yellow) because the densities of R and G exceed the reference value. When the three colors R (red), G (green), and B (blue) are equal to or larger than the reference value, the input color is W (white). , The input color is determined to be BL (black). By the processing in step S5, a huge amount of color information of the color command (ie, full color information composed of R, G, B + 25 for each full color information)
(6 levels of gradation information) can be easily narrowed down to 8 basic input colors.

Next, the process of converting the input color into the output color in step S6 will be described with reference to FIG. The output colors shown in FIG. 5 are obtained by the user selecting the print colors of the output device from the control panel and arbitrarily setting the print colors. In the example of FIG. 5, the output device has a print color of (black and white + red), and as shown, the input color is WHITE, BL.
Output colors are set to white, black, red, black, red, black, red, and black for ACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA, and CYAN, respectively.

As described above, according to this embodiment, even if the color command sent from the higher-level device is color designation or index designation, the color command can be easily changed to, for example, eight basic input colors. It is possible to easily narrow down and convert this to the print color of the output device set by the user from the control panel. For this reason, for example, a plotter output device in a non-existent form such as black and white + monocolor (for example, red) can be provided with a simple configuration.

Next, the operation when the determination in step S1 is negative will be described. If step S1 is negative, the process proceeds to steps S8, S9, S10 and S11.
Steps S8, S9, and S10 are the same as steps S3, S2, and S12, respectively, and will not be described.

The user sets colors such as black and red from the control panel to drawing information such as line width and line type as shown in FIG. 6 without being limited to the pen numbers. Therefore, in step S11, the color set from the control panel can be assigned to the drawing information such as the line width and line type input from the host device. For example, when the data of FIG. 6A is set, a line of 1 mm or more in the graphic data can be drawn in red.
In the case of FIG. 7B, the dashed line can be drawn in red. The input control section 3 adds the result of the color to the data information and converts it into the intermediate code.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, basic input color narrowing means for narrowing down color information of input color data to a specific basic input color; Since there is provided drawing color conversion means for converting the color information of the color data narrowed down to the basic input color to a drawing color set on the output device side, with simple means,
It is possible to provide an output device such as a plotter capable of printing with a drawing color designated on the output device side. Also,
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, drawing information (pen number, line width, line type, etc.) of color data input from an external device can be printed in a drawing color designated on the output device side by simple means. Become like

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input color set from a control panel or the like.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a process of narrowing down color information of color data to basic input colors.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a process of converting color information of color data into a drawing color set on the output device side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between drawing information of color data and a drawing color.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Upper apparatus, 2 ... Input part, 3 ... Input control part, 4 ... Data control part, 5 ... Image data generation part, 6 ... Output control part 6,
7 output device, 8 segment memory, 9 hard disk, 10 frame memory.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An output device capable of printing in a color designated by an output device, comprising: input means for inputting color data sent from an external device; and inputting color information of the input color data. Basic input color narrowing-down means for narrowing down to a specific basic input color; drawing color setting means for setting a drawing color corresponding to the basic input color; and color data of the color data narrowed down to the basic input color by the basic input color narrowing-down means. A drawing color conversion means for converting color information into a drawing color set by the drawing color setting means, wherein printing can be performed with the drawing color determined by the drawing color conversion means. apparatus. 2. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the basic input color narrowing-down unit compares the density or brightness of the color information of the color data with a preset reference value, and based on the comparison result. An output device for narrowing down to a specific basic input color. 3. The output device according to claim 2, wherein the reference value is variable and can be set arbitrarily. 4. An output device capable of printing in a color designated on the output device side, an input means for inputting color data sent from an external device, and an input device corresponding to drawing information of the input color data. Drawing color setting means for setting a drawing color to be drawn, and drawing color conversion means for converting drawing information of the input color data into a drawing color set by the drawing color setting means. An output device capable of printing with a drawing color determined by the means.