JPS58128858A - Color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a color printer capable of printing characters of clear outlines even when they are printed in a color other than black by such an arrangement wherein black outlines are printed on the boundary between a character and the ground tint when the character is to be printed in a color other than black. CONSTITUTION:A character form and color information memory 10 is caused to memorize dot patterns representing the form of the character to be printed and color information. Upon receipt of outline information from an outline detection device 11, a nozzle control device 12 sends out control output to nozzles 1-4, and at that time, when it is known that the color of the character to be printed and that of the background are a color other than black by color information 13 given by the memory 10, the nozzle control device 12 prints outlines of the character by controlling ink nozzles 1-4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a color printer that prints characters in a color different from the background.

Printer formats can be roughly divided into two types: impact type, in which an ink ribbon is hit with type or wire, etc., and inkjet type, in which liquid ink is jetted from a micro-diameter nozzle, turned into particles, and deposited on a predetermined position on Sotsu recording paper for recording. There are two types: non-innocent type, typified by thermal type, which records by heating recording paper that develops color with heat.

Comparing impact type and non-impact type carving, high speed,
Non-impact engraving is superior in terms of high definition and high quality recording. There are various types of non-impact printers, such as the above-mentioned inkjet method, thermal method, and discharge destruction method, but the inkjet method can be relatively easily realized for color printing, which is expected to be in high demand in the future.

The case where color printing is performed using this inkjet method will be described below.

The first wJ is a perspective view showing a main part of a printing mechanism of a general inkjet color printer.

In the figure, 1 to 4 are nozzles that charge and eject ink into particles; 1 is black, 2 is cyan, 3 is magenta, and 4 is
jets yellow ink.

5 is a deflection electrode 1 that changes the direction in which charged ink particles fly.
Reference numeral 6 indicates a collection groove for collecting ink particles unnecessary for printing among the ink particles continuously ejected from the nozzles, and 7 indicates nozzles 1 to 4.
, a deflection electrode 5, a table that moves laterally in the collecting groove 6, $ is an ink particle, and 9 is a recording paper. Record the blue with cyan and magenta, the red with magenta and yellow, and the edge with yellow and cyan using the three primary colors of cyan, magenta, and yehha mentioned above. By changing the ink droplet by means of a filter, it is possible to scan the ink droplet in the longitudinal direction. Since the amount of scanning in the vertical direction varies, one character's worth of scanning is performed.In other words,
- Vertical scanning when printing a line is performed by changing the amount of charge on the ink droplets 8, and further scanning is performed by moving the recording paper 9 in the vertical direction. Scanning in the lateral direction is performed by moving the stand 7. Also, the nozzles 1 to 4 are attached to the stand 7 so that the ink particles 8 ejected from the nozzles 1 to 4 all adhere to the same location in the recording position. It is being done.

The operation of printing the number 1 in yellow using such an ordinary color printer will be described with reference to Section 2g.

The second Wi is an explanatory diagram showing a part e of the printed font, and the printed font is a numeral. The size of this font is 1 vertically and 7 m rows horizontally! Assume that it is within the range of the trix dot. To describe the printing order of the printer, first, it prints in order from the 1st row of the 1st column to the nth row.

When the printing of the first column is completed, the table 7 in Fig. 1 moves to the right,
Print from the first line to the nth line of the second column. By repeating this process up to the m-th column, one character is printed.

This printing process will be described in detail below.

First, in Fig. 2, there is no part corresponding to characters from the 1st column to the (k-1)th column, so the 1st!1 nozzle 1
-4, the ink particles 8 are not charged, so the ink particles 8 do not reach the recording paper 9 and are all collected from the collection groove 6, and the table 7 moves.

In the case of the next gk column, from the 1st row to the (j+2)th batting pattern
1, the ink particles 8 are unnecessary and are collected from the collection groove 6. In the (j+3)th line, there is a part corresponding to the character #i, so the nozzle 4 controls the amount of charge on the ink particles 8 by I and ejects them, and the yellow ink particles 8 are directed vertically by the deflection electrode device. It is attached to the part corresponding to column jIk and row (j+3) of the font on recording paper 9. Other nozzle 1
- 3 does not charge the ink particles 8, black 1 cyan 1
The magenta ink is collected from the 0at(j+4) row to the n-th stamp, so there is no part corresponding to the character, so all the ink is collected from the collection groove 7.Next, the stand 7 is moved to the right by one font column. Move to the font's (k+
1) Column printing becomes possible. When the (i+1)th column also prints on the llk column and *si, the table 7 moves to the right by one column again. This operation is then repeated for jll1m rows to complete printing as shown.

The above operation was described for printing in yellow, but when printing in blue, cyan and magenta inks are applied, and when printing in red, yellow and magenta inks are overlapped and adhered to the recording paper 9. Just let it happen.

Color printing is possible with the above operation, but when printing in three primary colors other than black, or in a color that is a mixture of three primary colors, the difference in brightness between the text and the background is greater than when printing in black. The disadvantage was that the outline was not clear and it was difficult to read.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art described above and to provide a color printer that can print with clear outlines even when printing in colors other than black.

In order to achieve the above object, the color printer according to the present invention includes a temporary storage device for storing font information representing the font of a character to be printed at the time of printing, and color information representing each color of the font and background; A detection device is provided that detects the boundary between a character and the background as an outline based on information and color information, and when printing in a color other than black, a black border is placed around the outline as the boundary between the character and the background. , so that the text can be clearly seen.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the following.

FIG. 3 is a pull diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, lo is the font information that represents the font of the character to be printed, and the text that represents each color of the character and background.
A font color information storage device stores information, 11 is a contour detection device that detects the contour of a font from font color information 14, and 12 controls ink nozzles 1 to 4 based on contour information 15 and color information 13. It is a control device. These storage device 10, contour detection device 11, and nozzle control device 12 are integrated into a conventional color printer (If not shown).

In printers, the print information for, say, one line to be printed next is stored in the buffer memory in the form of numbers, and then the built-in CPU (central control unit) reads out this number 11, By inputting the dot pattern of the character to be printed, the dot pattern of the character to be printed is outputted, and the ink nozzle is controlled according to this pattern to perform printing. It is also equipped with a memory that stores the color of the characters to be printed.
The CPU reads color information from the memory and controls the color of printed characters.

The font color information storage device 1o in the ll3WJ stores dot pattern information and color information representing the font to be printed by the function of the CPU (not shown) as described above. In response to contour information from the detection device 11, control outputs are issued to the nozzles 1 to 4.1 The color information 13 from the storage device 10 determines that the color of the font to be printed or the color of the background is black. When this is known, no control output is issued.

When the color of the font to be printed and the color of the background are colors other than black, the control device 12 outputs a control output to control the ink nozzles 1 to 4, thereby recording the outline of the font.

Next, aspects of the printing operation realized by the color printer according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4.

FIG. 4 shows a font in which a border #l (also recorded in dot pattern format) is applied along the outline of the font for the number 1 (shown in FIG. 2), that is, a font obtained according to the present invention. It is an explanatory diagram of a font.

In Figure 4, the real IS shows the outline, the inside of it is the font of the conventional cursive character, and the outside is the border record.Hereinafter,
This printing is the conventional example of lB! As in the case of light, we will describe the process of printing in yellow.First of all, in the 4 Kaku, from the 1st column to the 1st column to the 1st column (k-2'), there is no part that corresponds to Ig for the characters, and nozzles l to 4 is the amount of charge on the ink particles 8, all of the ink particles become opaque, and the printing table 7 moves without printing. jl
When printing the ll(kl) column, the next jlk column, happy(j-1
4) There is a part corresponding to a character in a line, and a border is recorded at the boundary between the character and the background detected by the outline detection device 11, that is, at a position corresponding to column K-1 and row If(j+s) on the recording paper. It is necessary to attach black ink particles that become .

2. The nozzle l is controlled by the control unit to apply an electric current to the ink particles S, and the deflection electrode 5 changes the position in the vertical direction to deposit the black ink particles at the above-mentioned position on the recording paper. After the black ink particles adhere to the recording paper, the stand γ moves to the right by one font column. In the 111th column of the font, there is a part corresponding to a character only in the (j+3)th line, and the detection device 11 marks the border on the (j+2) and *(j+4)th lines. Therefore, the nozzle 1 is set to 1lilIIl to control the amount of charge to the black ink particles, and the (j+
2) Attach black ink particles as a border to the position corresponding to the (114)th line. Control the amount of charge applied to the yellow ink particles by the nozzle 4 on the recording paper 9. Ieda ink particles, which will become the font, are attached to the corresponding position of the 1st column and the (J!+3)th row. This completes the printing of column #Ik, so the stand 7 moves to the right of the font by one column. Printing is performed on the (k+1)th column in the same manner as in the 1llk column. Thereafter, this operation is repeated to complete printing up to the m-th column, and then the printing of number 1 is completed.

In the above example, yellow ink was used as an example, but as with the conventional example, cyan and magenta ink particles are used to print in blue, and yellow and magenta ink particles are overlapped on the platform to print in red. Just attach it.

Comparing the above with the conventional example, it is found that the color printer of the present invention always maintains a clear outline by adding a black border to color characters with unclear outlines to make the characters clearly legible. It is possible to perform clear color printing and is effective in improving print quality.The present invention can also be realized by simply changing the printing procedure using software, without changing the printer itself. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The first panel is a perspective view showing the main part of the printing mechanism of a general inkjet printer, the second Wi is an explanatory diagram showing the conventional printed font, and the third figure is the main part of the bait of the present invention. Show PuVtsuku W, 4th i! FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a font having border markings along its outline according to the present invention. Hakama No. Chikaaki l... Black intanosuru, 4... Yellow ink nozzle, 5... Deflection 1111i, 6...
...Small collection groove, 7...stand, 9...
Recording paper, 10... Font color information storage device, 11.
... Contour detection device, 12 ... Nozzle control device, 13 ... Color information, 14 ... Font color information, 15 ... Contour information Agent Patent Attorney Akio NamikiFigure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] l) In a color printer equipped with a printing means for printing characters in a dot pattern format, a temporary storage device for storing font information representing the font of the characters to be printed and color information representing each color of the characters and background; a contour detection device that detects the boundary between the printed character and the background as the contour of the character based on the read font information and color information; 1. A color printer comprising: a control device for controlling said printing means so as to perform border recording.