JPH11161452A - Color recording data processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color recording data processing method with which a desired color record can be provided on a color recording paper sheet. SOLUTION: One piece of plotting data is composed of the gradation values of light in three primary colors and additional information showing the presence/ absence of recording information and before transferring pixel data to a printer driver, the gradation values of these three primary colors for the respective last plotting data in a memory are respectively turned to '0' by the printer driver. After initialization is performed for raising flags on all the additional information, the pixel data at a color recording object part are transferred, and the respective flags at the color recording object part are canceled by overwriting the new plotting data only at the color recording object part. Next, whether it is the color recording object part or not is discriminated from the presence/absence of the flag in the respective plotting data, and only the plotting data judged as the color recording object part are converted to recording data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color recording data processing method for performing recording having a white recording area on a recording sheet, and more particularly to a method for processing a recording having the white recording area on a color recording sheet. The present invention relates to a color print data processing method to be performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In color recording using inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and, if necessary, black (B), a recording image having a white recording area is recorded. If so, the white recording area
A desired recording is obtained by performing the same processing as the background part having no recording image, using a recording paper having a white background color, and using the white background color as white in the recording image. be able to. FIG. 5 shows a case where an alphabet “A” in which the inside of the middle frame of red characters is white is displayed on a white recording paper. It is a record using the ground white of the paper.

However, when recording is performed on a color recording sheet (for example, a yellow recording sheet) as described above, as shown in FIG. It goes without saying that the color becomes yellow, and the aesthetic appearance differs from the recording result in which the inside of the middle frame of the red character desired by the user is white.

Therefore, when the recording paper to be used is a color paper, a white ink ribbon is used in advance for an area having some recording information (hereinafter referred to as a color recording object) in order to obtain a white color in the recorded image. Then, a method of obtaining a desired color record by first preparing a white base and then performing color printing by overlapping the white base has been considered.

By the way, generally, PDL (Printer
The extraction of the white background recording area using a printer and a printer driver that does not support Description Language) is performed by automatically extracting the outline of the image.

[0006]

However, in the conventional method of extracting a recording area of a white background, for example, white parts are often randomly scattered in image data such as a photograph. It has been difficult to accurately extract the contour of.

Further, as shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 7, pixel data constituting an area having some kind of print data (hereinafter, referred to as a color print object) is transferred to a printer driver, and then an OS in the printer driver is used.
(Operating System), a drawing image is created in a memory for image development in the printer driver by using three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) as a recording image.
The drawing data of the print image is stored in the YMCK used for printing after dithering processing for gradation printing.
Is converted into print data for each ink color and transmitted to the drive control unit of the printer, and the drive control unit of the printer is driven based on the print data.

However, the drawing data corresponding to the pixel data indicating the white recording area is the initial value of the image development memory in the printer driver, that is, it indicates that it is a part other than the color recording object. Since it is the same as the drawing data, it is difficult to determine whether the portion corresponding to the drawing data indicates white recording in the color recording object or an area other than the color recording object. there were.

More specifically, normal drawing data is represented by R, G,
If the configuration is such that B = x, y, z (x, y, and z are gradation values of 0 to 255, respectively), the initial values are R, G, B = 0,
0, 0, and the drawing data indicating that the recording portion of the image data is white is also R, G, B = 0, 0, 0.
The above determination could not be made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned point, and enables formation of a white background on the entire area of the color recording object or white recording on only a white recording area in the color recording object. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color recording data processing method capable of obtaining a desired color recording on the recording paper.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color recording data processing method, comprising: transferring all pixel data of a color recording object portion to a printer driver; After storing a plurality of drawing data to be configured in an image development memory provided in the printer driver, the printer driver converts the drawing data into print data for each color of ink to be used for printing. A color print data processing method for transferring
One piece of drawing data corresponding to one of the pixel data is composed of tone values of the three primary colors and additional information indicating the presence or absence of recording information, and the pixel data of the color recording object portion is transmitted to the printer driver. Before the transfer, the printer driver initializes the tone values of the three primary colors of the previous drawing data in the memory to 0 and sets flags for all additional information, and initializes the drawing data. The pixel data of the color recording object portion is transferred to the memory via the printer driver, and the initialized drawing data is overwritten with new drawing data of only the color recording object portion, so that the color recording object portion is overwritten. Are removed, and then, depending on the presence or absence of the flag of each drawing data,
It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not it is the color recording object portion, and only the drawing data determined to be the color recording object portion is converted into the recording data.

According to the color print data processing method of the present invention, first, a white background is formed on the entire area determined to be the color print object, and thereafter, a desired color print is superimposed on the white background. By using the white background as white in a recorded image, color recording of a recorded image having a white recorded portion can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color recording data processing method according to the first aspect, wherein the three primary color tone values of the drawing data determined to be the color recording object portion are included. The presence or absence of the ink is determined. If the gradation values are all 0, the drawing data indicates white recording. Otherwise, the drawing data indicates color recording other than white. It is characterized in that the data is converted into recording data for performing the recording.

According to the color recording data processing method of the present invention, recording using white ink is performed only on the area determined to be a white recording area, and recording is performed on the other color recording areas. By directly performing recording using YMCK inks on recording paper, color recording of a recorded image having a desired white recording portion can be obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the color print data processing method according to the first or second aspect, wherein the additional information is one byte. .

According to the color print data processing method of the present invention, the presence or absence of a flag can be determined based on the presence or absence of one byte of the additional information portion.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In the color recording data processing method according to the present embodiment, one drawing data corresponding to 1 of the pixel data is converted into respective gradation values of R, G, and B of three primary colors of light (in the present embodiment, (Indicated as 0 to 255 as described above.)
And a flag of additional information indicating the presence or absence of recording information
And an α channel indicated by OR0 (absent). Specifically, (R, G, B) + α = (x, y, z) + (1OR
0).

Before the pixel data of the color recording object is transferred, each drawing data provided for the previous recording in the memory of the printer driver is initialized, and each drawing data is converted into (R, G, B + α = ( 0, 0, 0) +1 In other words, in the present embodiment, the α channel as the additional information is configured to set a flag to 1 when there is no pixel data corresponding to the drawing data. Therefore, at the time of initialization, a flag is set for the α channel as all the additional information.

After this initialization, the pixel data of the color recording object is transferred to the printer driver, and stored in the memory for image development in the printer driver as the recording image by the OS using the three primary colors of R, G, and B light. Create drawing data.

At this time, in the portion where some pixel data is transferred, the initialized drawing data is overwritten by the drawing data corresponding to the pixel data of the color recording object, and the flag is also removed from the α channel to 0. It is said. Therefore, the colored portions other than white are R, G,
B = a, b, c (a, b, c are gradation values from 0 to 255, respectively, but not all 0),
A white colored portion will be indicated as R, G, B = 0, 0, 0.

On the other hand, a portion to which no pixel data is transferred, that is, a color recording object does not exist.
Since the drawing data in the memory indicating the background portion is not newly overwritten, the state of (R, G, B) + α = (0, 0, 0) +1 is maintained with the initial value. Becomes

When the transfer of all the pixel data is completed, it is checked whether or not the α channel flag of each drawing data in the memory exists.

That is, in the present embodiment, if the α channel of each drawing data is left with a flag of 1, the background portion is not a color recording object, and the α channel stores the drawing data. If the flag is removed by overwriting, it can be determined that the portion is a color print object portion having some print information.

On the basis of the result of this determination, the control section of the printer controls the recording drive section of the printer. That is, first, a white background is formed by performing recording using white ink on all areas determined to be a color recording object, and thereafter, a color using RGB ink is superimposed on the white background. Make a record. By doing so, a desired color recording having a white recording area can be obtained.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the alphabet “A” in which the middle frame of red characters is white on yellow recording paper.
Is displayed (FIG. 2 is a completed drawing).
As shown in FIG. 1, the entire area having the pixel data relating to the recording of “A” on the yellow recording paper is as described above.
It is determined that the object is a color recording object, and a white background recording using white ink is performed on the entire area.

After that, the YMC
By performing recording of the red portion of "A" using the ribbon of each color of K, and utilizing the white base as white in the recorded image, color recording of a desired recorded image having a white recorded portion, that is, It is possible to obtain a record of the alphabet “A” in which the inside of the middle frame of the red character is white.

The drawing data is converted into data for each ink color used for recording after the dithering process.
As described above, the print data is transmitted to the drive control unit of the printer, and the printer is driven based on the print data.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which drawing data determined to be the color recording object, and further, the drawing data represent RGB gradation values. By judging whether or not the data has the drawing data, it is determined whether the drawing data indicates the recording of the white color or the drawing data indicating the recording of the other colors. By this determination, it is possible to control so that printing using white ink is performed only on a portion having white print data. In other words, the rendering data is determined to be the color recording object, and if the RGB gradation values are all 0, it can be determined that the rendering data is rendering data indicating white recording. Therefore, the drawing data portion is converted into white print data, and control is performed so that printing using white ink is performed. On the other hand, if the drawing data is determined to be the color recording object and at least one of the RGB gradation values has a gradation value other than 0, the drawing data is other than white. Since it can be determined that the drawing data indicates color recording, the drawing data portion is determined to be YMCK.
Is controlled so as to be converted into print data for printing using each of the above inks.

For example, when an alphabet "A" is displayed on a yellow recording sheet, the white of which is the white color in the middle frame of the red character (the completed drawing is shown in FIG. 4). First, as shown in FIG. A portion using white ink is applied to a portion of the yellow recording paper determined to be drawing data indicating white recording, and then, as shown in FIG. 4, the recording of drawing data indicating red recording is performed by YMCK. By applying each of these inks on the same paper surface, a recorded image having a desired white recording portion can be obtained.

By performing recording based on this determination, a white recording area can be formed only in the minimum necessary portion without using white ink for forming the base of the color recording portion. Ink consumption can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as needed. For example, the recording order of the white recording portion and the red recording portion in the specific example of the second embodiment may be recorded first, regardless of the above-described example.

[0033]

As described above, the color recording data processing method according to the present invention indicates that the recording area of the color recording object is data indicating that the recording area is white or that it is a part other than the recording area. It is possible to determine whether the data is data, to form a white background on the entire recording area of the color recording object, or to perform white recording only on the white recording area in the color recording object, For the recording paper of
Color recording of a recorded image having a desired white recording portion can be obtained. Also on color recording paper, it is possible to obtain a color recording of a recording image having a desired white recording portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing one process of an embodiment of a color print data processing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a step subsequent to the step in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing one process of another embodiment of the color print data processing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a step subsequent to the step in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording result when a recording having a white recording area is performed on a white recording paper by a conventional color recording data processing method.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording result when a recording having a white recording area is performed on a color recording sheet by a conventional color recording data processing method.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a general color print data processing method.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. After all pixel data of a color recording object portion is transferred to a printer driver and stored in a memory for image development provided in the printer driver as a plurality of drawing data composed of three primary colors of light, In a color print data processing method in which a printer driver converts the drawing data into print data for each color of ink to be used for printing and transfers the print data to a drive control unit of a printer, a method corresponding to one of the pixel data The drawing data is composed of the tone values of each of the three primary colors and additional information indicating the presence or absence of recording information, and the printer driver stores the pixel data of the color recording object portion in the memory before transferring the pixel data to the printer driver. The tone values of the three primary colors of each previous drawing data are set to 0, and all Initialization for setting a flag on information is performed. Pixel data of a color recording object portion is transferred to the memory in which the drawing data is initialized via the printer driver, and a color recording object is added to the initialized drawing data. By overwriting the new drawing data of only the portion, each flag of the color recording object portion is removed, and then, based on the presence or absence of the flag of each drawing data, it is determined whether or not the color recording object portion exists, and the color is determined. A color print data processing method, wherein only the drawing data determined to be a print object portion is converted into the print data. 2. Examining the presence or absence of the three primary color tone values of the drawing data determined to be the color recording object portion, if the tone values are all 0, the drawing data indicates white recording; 2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein if not, it is determined that the drawing data indicates color printing other than white, and the printing data is converted into printing data for printing using each ink. Color recording data processing method. 3. The color print data processing method according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is one byte.