JPS5985181A - Recording information control system of color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain beautiful recording picture by placing priority to character and image information, giving priority to the character for overlapped part from the image and recording only the character information. CONSTITUTION:Print buffers 31-34 storing print pattern by color corresponding to plural primary colors are provided, and a character buffer 35 receiving the character code information and a pattern generator 25 converting the code information into the pattern are provided. Further, a discriminating means to select the print buffer 31-34 based on the color designation data transmitted relating to the character code information and the image information is provided, the image information transmitted is led to the corresponding print buffer and the character and image information are synthesized. In the synthesis of the character and image information, the overlapped part of the information is detected and the overlapped part of the information is detected from the character and image information, and the character information is led to the print buffer by placing the priority to the character information than the image information in the overlapped part and led to a print buffer and the information of the print buffer, and the print buffer information is recorded on the recording head.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Technical Field> The present invention includes, for example, recording by ejecting color ink, that is, ejecting ink particles of each primary color such as yellow, magenta, cyan, etc. and mixing them on a recording medium to produce a predetermined color. This relates to links that perform color recording.

In particular, the present invention relates to a composite recording system for character information table image information in the color printer.

<Prior Art> As mentioned above, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-71690 by the same applicant, a color printer is provided with orifices corresponding to the three primary colors (yellow, magenta, and cyan), and ejected water is emitted from these orifices. There is an on-demand inkjet printer that mixes ink droplets on a recording medium to record a desired color.

In such a color printer, for example, character information (SS A // character) and image information may be combined and recorded as shown in Figure 8. In Figure 8, B is black and Y is Yellow, C stands for cyan, M stands for magenta, and images are recorded in other colors for the letter A by black and white.

Generally, when combining characters and images, the data processing device first converts all of the combined data into image information, and then transfers the image information to the printer for recording. Ta. That is, character data is converted into image data by a data processing device, edited with other image data, and then transferred to a color printer.

However, this method imposes a large burden on the data processing device and cannot be called a very good method.Objective of the Invention Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to avoid placing a large burden on the data processing device. This is a system that enables character and image composition to be performed, and in particular, character information and image information are individually transferred from a data processing device to a printer device, and the combination processing is performed on the printer device side. be.

However, in this case, if the character information and image information are simply recorded in an overlapping manner, there is a problem that the character cannot be recorded in the desired color due to the overlapping of the image and the character.

In order to further solve this problem, the present invention eliminates the priority for the character and image information, and puts the priority on the patterned part to give the character priority over the image, and only the character information is displayed. This allows for beautiful recorded images to be obtained.

<Embodiment> Fig. 1 shows the appearance of a color printer (on-demand type inkjet printer) according to the present invention, and 1 is a platen, and a slide shaft 2.3 is arranged in parallel in front of the platen 1. A carriage 4 is supported on the shaft 2.3 so as to be movable along the platen 1.

The carriage 4 is connected to a pulse motor (not shown) by a wire or the like, and the rotation of the pulse motor causes the carriage 4 to move, and is recorded when it moves to the right. Further, the carriage 4 is equipped with ink tanks 5 that individually store inks of four colors.

Four types of recording heads 6 are provided on the opposite surface of the ink tank 5 to the platen 1, and ink cartridges 7 to 10 are inserted into the ink tank 5.

That is, in the figure, 7 is a yellow ink cartridge, 8 is a magenta ink cartridge, and 9 is a cyan ink cartridge, and by mixing these primary color inks on a medium, recording pixels of a plurality of colors can be obtained. In addition, black ink is also provided, and numeral 10 indicates this ink cartridge.

A front view of the recording head 6 is shown in FIG.

From the left in the recording direction (front), there are four yellow orifice groups 6Y and four magenta orifice groups 6M.

Four cyan orifice groups 6C and four black orifice groups 6B are arranged in a row, with each orifice 1
1, 12, 13, and 14 are arranged obliquely and correspond to four dots in the row direction (vertical) of recording pixels. The horizontal spacing between each orifice corresponds to eight dots. Still 4 each
The four orifices 11 to 14 are aligned on the same axis as the orifices of each color in the horizontal direction.

Therefore, when recording with the above-mentioned a recording head 6, it is recorded every 4 lines, and the character pattern is 12 (vertical) x 8 (horizontal).
If the character pattern is composed of , the character pattern is divided into three and recorded.

Next, the printer circuit configuration in FIG. 3 will be explained. Reference numeral 021 is a central control unit (CPU) to which the data line (thick white line), address line, and control line are connected.
According to the control program M24, processing such as reception control 1 and synthesis control of data transmitted from the data processing device is performed.

22 is a printer control unit, and 23 is a color printer (on-demand type inkjet printer). This printer control section 22 is shown in FIG. Each orifice of the recording head 6 is controlled for recording in synchronization with the scanning position of the head 6. In this case, 6 recording heads record 4 lines at the same time.025 is a character pattern generator (CG) comprised of a ROM that converts a received character code into a corresponding character pattern.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an interface unit, which is connected to the data processing device through, for example, eight data lines, and receives 8-bit parallel data from the data processing device.

30 is a storage device (RAM), and 31 to 39 described later
buffer and Gallata pointer (CI-IPNT) 40
It consists of an area 41 for flags, buffers, etc., which are also used for other purposes.

To specifically explain the RAM 30, 31 is a yellow print buffer (PBY), 32
3 is a magenta print buffer (PBM), 33 is a cyan print buffer (PBC), and 34 is a black print buffer (PBB).

Image data transmitted from the data processing device is stored in each of these buffers according to the color code.

Reference numeral 35 is a gear actuation bass sofa (CHD), which has one row of customer data and sequentially stores character codes transmitted from the data processing device.

3G (character color buffer (CHCB)) sequentially stores color data for each character in the character buffer (CHJ3).

;37 to 1 temporary CG buffer (T c a B
F), which temporarily stores patterns for four lines at the position recorded by the head among the character patterns read from the CG 25 for the character code at the recording position. Therefore, we have 4 lines x 8 (dots) for customers.

38i, J: Hasoku ground buffer (BGCBF), which is a temporary buffer used to obtain the base pattern of the character pattern. The 8 dots are the number of dots corresponding to the character pattern rl in the column direction (yellow direction).

A buffer (CCFLG) 39 temporarily stores a color code transferred from the data processing device each time the color of a character changes, and is used when storing color data in the character color buffer (CHCI3).

40 is a galactor pointer (CHPNT), which is used when reading 4B of data from the character buffer (CHD), that is, it functions as an address pointer.

Next, the sequence transmitted from the data processing device will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4(a) shows image data, which consists of a 1-byte control command 50 followed by a color identification code (4 bits) 51 and a line number (L111 to "n2 in FIG. 28).
4) 52, and image data 53 which has the number of data bytes at the beginning, is recorded with "X1 //" and is spaced with "10", and is sequentially transmitted byte by byte to this image data 53. For example, 8 in the column direction as data
What if you want to record all dots? -1: F, F(lI
Il, l1lI) and 1~.

When two primary colors are mixed to reproduce this color, the same data is transmitted as image data of 21 colors other than f.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 IP) shows character data, which includes, following a control command 55 meaning transmission of a character code, a character color code 56, 59 which is transmitted every time the color data changes; Character code 58.60 after each color code 56.59
is transmitted.

This galactor color code is more specifically expressed in Figure 4 (c) as follows: This is the color area for characters 4 to 7 (Krando).

SS □ /7 has the weight of black (J3), 1" to the human is / un (C), human 2" is magenta (M), and human N3" is the weight of black (J3). Yellow (Y)
Therefore, if bit 10 has data of \11, the background color is black.Similarly, the text color is bit 4) black (B), and bit N5 is black (B). Bit 116 has a weight of cyan (C), bit 116 has a weight of magenta (M), and bit 17'' has a weight of yellow (Y).

The character, image, and background color data transmitted from the data processing device will be described later, but the color data of the character and image may change from the desired color (the difference between the color of the character and the color of the image). By overlapping recording -C), the dye of the character pixel is given top priority (setting the stopping degree high [7), followed by -f no 9 pixels,
Next, background pixels and ranks are assigned. The characters and images of the specified colors, such as Scary, Ni, and I:, can be made even if the image information is combined.

Next, we will explain the character and image compositing process based on the operation flow of FIGS. 5 to 7. If it is determined that the transmitted control command is image data, steps 101 to 102 in FIG. ~
ios is executed.

In other words, since this image data is as shown in FIG. 4(a), the color identification code is then determined in steps 102 to 10G. Now, if it is a yellow code, the code is determined in step 102 and step 103
The print buffer (PBY) 31 is transferred to the print buffer (PBY) 31 corresponding to the specified line.

From then on, for each color, select the corresponding print buffer (PBM, PBC) according to the color identification code and line number as above.
, I) BB ) is transferred to the J affirmative line.

0 When character data is received If it is determined from the transmitted control command that it is character data (step 120 in FIG. 5), steps 121 and subsequent steps are executed.

Since this character data is as shown in Figure 4 (b), the color code is received following the command.
This color code is transferred from step 121 to step 122 to the buffer (CCFLG) 39.

Thereafter, when a character code is received, it is transferred to the corresponding position of the character color buffer (CHCB): 36 according to the character pointer (CHPNT) 40 to the corresponding position of the character color buffer (CHCB): 36. However, the color code in the buffer (CCFLG) 39 is transferred according to the pointer 40. .

40 by +1 and waits for the next reception (steps 122 to 124).

Thereafter, the above operation is repeated for each reception.

The second is the operation when receiving image data and character data.
I will explain about it.

When receiving the above image data, 4 lines (vertical 4
dot) When one line of image data is transmitted, the CPU
2], a print command (step 126) is generated,
Also, when image data for 4 lines and 1 line is received following 1 line of character data, the CPU
A print command is generated from 21.

Based on this print command, image and character compositing processing is performed in step 127, and then printing processing is performed in step 128 (specifically, in Figures 6 and 7).
) [1-Run Chart). and step 129
Print buffer (PBY31, J) BM32, I)
B C33, P B B 34. ) is initialized.

What to keep in mind is that the character pattern (d8x
) 2 and receives one line of gearactor code, whereas image (・ is 4 lines (child Y4 dots)
Since only one line of the image 41 is received, it is necessary to receive the image pattern 17J three times for 7 and 21 gear rough lines.

After the image has been recorded for the phase width of the character pattern (one line of 8×12), the character code for the next line is transmitted.

0 Character and image pudding!・Processing (see FIG. 6) Now: As an example, the case of recording the color pattern shown in FIG. 8 will be explained.

In this example, the character pattern pixel sleep\A//(L-i
It is specified as black (B), and overlaid with magenta (
M) and cyan (c) images are combined 7, and the base color is designated as yellow (Y).

In this case, each Flint Hasoff 7- P B Y 31,
PBM32, I) 13 Four lines of image data are stored in C33 and PBB34, and character buffer (CHB) 35 and character color/< buffer (CHCB) 36 specify the color corresponding to each character in the character buffer. Data is stored.

In this composition, we will refer to the flow of print processing shown in Figure 6, and first, we will use the character pointer (CIfJ)NT).
40 is reset (, (step 15)), and then the character code is not read from the gearactor banner (CHB) 35 based on the data indicated by the pointer 4o (step 152).

This readout character code is supplied to a character pattern generator (CG) 25 for the corresponding key).
'Read out the 8 dot x 4 line pattern L2, which corresponds to the record you are about to record, and the 4 line IJ. It is transferred to the Grand Banoff (BGCB F) 38 (step 153).

In addition, as will be described later, the pattern transferred to this BGCBF38 (Creating a sundo pattern/Hime FfJ m
It will be done.

〃・B11 character pointer (CI-■PNT)
The color data corresponding to the character code at the position indicated by 40 is stored in the character color buffer (CI-icB) 3G.
In step 1.54), the image data is combined with the image data (specifically, the flow shown in FIG. 7 is executed), and the print buffers PB Y 31, PBM 32,
Synthesis to PBC33 and PBB34 1. The selected pattern is stored (step 155).

Furthermore, the character pointer (C, IJPNT) 40 is increased by 1, and the character pointer 40 becomes 11 (line length).
Repeat the above operation until the distance reaches . Thereafter, a recording operation is performed at step 128 in FIG. 5 and thereafter.

0 Character and Image Composition Process C (See FIG. 7) The specific operations of the composition process executed in step i55 in FIG. 6 are shown in FIG.

Now, an example will be shown in which a character and an image are synthesized at the position of the character λ\A on four lines L21 to L24 in FIG. 8 (this position is designated as m).

As mentioned above, in step 153 of FIG. 6, the hack ground buffer (BGCBF) 38 stores the pattern of \SA, // as shown in FIG. 9, and the print buffer PBY3], PBM32
, PBC33, PBB34 are shown in Figure 9■,■,■
, ■ Image patterns are stored as shown in (■).

In FIG. 9, black circles indicate data 'X1' and white circles indicate data '\0.'

Then, in step 154 of FIG.
6, read j1 and proceed to the synthesis processing from step 1.70 in FIG.

First, in step 170, the buffer (CI(C
B) It is determined whether the color data from 36 is yellow. In this example, since the character A/I is black, the process moves to step 173.

Here, the data in the bank ground buffer (BGCBF) 38 and the yellow print buffer PBY3 are logically summed, and the result is transferred to the BGCBF 38 again. In this example, since no image data is stored in the PB Y 31 (see Figure 9 ■), the BGCBF 38
Contents (do not change to d or f).

Subsequently, in step 174, the content of the PBY 31 and the data obtained by inverting the data of the temporary CG buffer (TCGB F ) 37 are logically multiplied by 1-1, and this result is stored in the PBY 31 again. In this case, PBY
Since no image data is stored in 31, it does not change.

However, in this step, as will become clear later, the overlapping portion between the image data and the character pattern is extracted from the image data.

Next, in step 178, buffer (CHCB) 3
It is then determined whether the color data from No. 6 is magenta. In this case as well, since the character is black, the process moves to step 181. In this step 181, the bank ground buffer (B
The data in the GCBF) 38 and the magenta print buffer (PBM) 32 are logically ORed, and the result is sent back to B.
Transfer to GCBF38. In this case, since the PBM32 has a pattern similar to that shown in FIG. 9C, the BGCBF3
The contents of 8 change as shown in Figure 9 (■).

In the following step 182, the pattern of the PBM 32 and the temporary CG buffer (
T CG B F
)32.

This is a state in which multiple pixels of the character pattern are extracted from the image data of the print buffer I) BM32 as shown in FIG. 9 O to FIG. 9 ■.

Next, in step 183, the buffer (CI-IC
B) It is determined whether the color data from 36 is now cyan. In this case as well, since the character is black, the process moves to step 186.

In this step 186 as well, the above-mentioned stesoge 173.1
Processing similar to 81 is performed, and the bank grand buffer y
(BGCBF) 38 Figure 9 ■ Yoshi Figure 9 C off the coast changes.

In the following step 182, the above-mentioned stesoge 174.1 is also
Processing similar to 82 is performed, and the print buffer (PBC
) 33 changes from FIG. 9 (2) to FIG. 9 (2), and pixels overlapping with the character pattern are extracted.

Next, in step 188, 1. Buffer (CHCB
) 36 is now determined to be black. In this case, since the character is black, the process advances to step 189.

In this step 189, the black print buffer 7 (
PBB) 34 (!: Temporary CG buffer (TCGB)
F) 37 and the result is stored in the PBB 34.

In this case, since no image data is stored in the PBB 34 as shown in FIG.

In the following step 190, the data in the background buffer (BGCBF) 38 and the image data in the PBB 34 are logically summed and the data in the background buffer (BGCBF) 38 is added to the BGCBF 38 again.
to be memorized.

In this case, the PBB34 contains the data of No. 911Z (2), and the data of BGCBF38 at this time (Fig. 9 O)
There is no change even if you OR the BGCB F 38.
There are up to 1 in Figure ■.

To summarize the above operations, the B G CB F38 has the steps 172.173.180.181.18.
Recorded pixels (8X4) by 5.186.190.191
The character pattern and image pattern in the image are synthesized and stored, and by inverting this synthesized pattern later, background data can be obtained.

171.179.184.189
Stores the character no turn in the print buffer of the character ζ turn color specified by the character. In the above example, character patterns are stored in the PBB 34.

The character pattern is prioritized over other /'S turns, ie, image data and background data. This is because, on the contrary, in steps 174, 182, and 187, image data pixels to be removed from the character pattern are extracted, giving priority to the character pattern.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned background is created by inverting a composite of the character no-turn and the image pattern, but this is because the image pattern is given priority over the background (ground color). 0 Returning to FIG. 7 again, the operations after step 190 will be explained.

The process proceeds from step 190 to step 200, and after this step, background processing is performed.

In this example, the background color is yellow, and that data is stored in the character color buffer (CI (CB).
) 36, and it is determined in step 200 whether the color designation is yellow.

Since yellow is currently specified, the process moves to step 201 and prints the yellow print buffer (P B Y ).
31 data and bank ground buffer (BGCBF)
38 and the inverted data, and the result is stored in the print buffer (1) BY) 31 again.

In this case, the PBY 31 is in the state shown in FIG. 9 (2), and if the inverted data in FIG. 9 (2) is summed every other month, the state shown in FIG.

Thereafter, steps 202 to 207 are performed, and these steps perform the same processing as described above in accordance with the designation of the background color.

In this manner, a series of compositing processing operations are executed, and then the process proceeds to steps 156 and 157 in FIG.

As a result, synthesis processing is performed sequentially for each character pattern size width of 8 bits x 4 lines, and a pattern for one line is created in each print buffer.

After this, printing processing is performed, and the composite pattern shown in FIG. 8 is recorded.

Although FIG. 8 shows an example of recording using a single color (primary color), the same method is used when a plurality of primary colors are mixed.

<Other Embodiments> In the second embodiment, the recording head 6 has four lines vertically.
Because it is 1i', each Glint Vanofa is 4
Each line was provided, and image data was transmitted every four lines.

However, the number of nozzles in the recording head 6 is not limited to the above four lines, and the nozzles of the recording head 6 can be provided for the character pattern size. In this case, a print buffer corresponding to the head is provided, and image data is also transmitted accordingly. Let's do it.

Furthermore, the color code shown in Figure 4 (c) is designed so that the data processing device determines the mixed color and transmits the corresponding code, but the data processing device only transmits the color instruction data. The colors to be mixed may be allocated on the printer side from the color data, that is, developed as shown in FIG. 4(C). That is, when the printer side receives a red color instruction from the processing device 1111, it can set the magenta M bit and the yellow Y bit to 1'' in FIG. 4(c).

<Effects of the Invention> The present invention includes a head having recording elements for a plurality of primary colors, records those colors on a recording medium, and mixes the colors appropriately on the recording medium to form a desired color. A color recording device for recording, which includes a print buffer 7 for accommodating color-specific print patterns corresponding to the primary colors, a gearactor buffer for receiving gearactor code information, and a gearactor buffer for receiving gearactor code information, and converting the code information into patterns. The color finger Si data i4 (, ji) associated with the character data information) 1; and the color finger Si data i4 (, ji The buffer is selected from the image t'i'r *.
lφ into the corresponding print buffer based on its color designation, while character code information received in the character buffer is passed through the pattern generator j1'1 to step 1.lφ based on its color designation. Then input the information into the corresponding print buffer to synthesize the character and image information.Furthermore, in the synthesis of the character and image information, both the character and image '1? The overlapping part of these pieces of information is detected from fx, and the character information for this overlapping part is given priority over the image information (the image information in the overlapping part is removed) and is introduced into the print buffer, and the information in this print buffer is The image is sent to the recording head to be recorded, and when combining and recording character and image information, the character is prioritized over the image as described above, so the character is in the desired color and beautiful recorded image. I get it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a color printer according to the present invention.
;li: 1st picture, 2nd picture V, front view of recording bed, 3rd picture
Figure (,・1 Control circuit 47 of a color printer according to the present invention)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the transmission sequence of image data and character data, and FIG.
f Flowchart showing the basic operation of the same printer, Fig. 6 (-J Niblin! - Flowchart 1 showing the specific operation of the process, Fig. 7 does not show the specific operation of the compositing process) r Coachyard, Fig. 6 8 Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of color printing, and Figure 9 is a diagram showing the storage status of each buffer during composition processing. ■ Platen, 4: Carino/, 5 Ink tank, 6
: recording head, 21 : CPU, 22 : printer control unit, 23. Color printer, 2・IROM, 25
Character pattern generator, 26 interfaces,
30 is a storage device (RAM), 31 to 34° print buffer, 35 is a galaxies, 36 is a character color buffer, 37 is a temporary CG buffer, 38 is a baseboard ground function, 39 is a color Buffer to store code, 40 character pointer. (114 people, patent attorney Fuku-1-2hiko (and 2 others) Mi; Mimiji VT55u ■ ■ ■ ε False donation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A color recording device that is equipped with a head having recording elements for a plurality of primary colors, records those colors on a recording medium, and mixes the colors appropriately on the recording medium to record a desired color. The device includes a print buffer that stores print patterns for each color corresponding to each of the primary colors, a character buffer that receives character code information, and a pattern generator that converts the code information into a pattern.
, and includes determining means for selecting the print buffer based on color specification data sent in connection with the character code information and image information (- indicates that the image information is selected based on the color specification). while introducing the character code information received into the print buffer into the corresponding print buffer based on the color designation through a pattern generator to combine the character and image information; In the synthesis of the character and image information,
A recording information control method for a color printer, characterized in that an overlapping portion of character and image information is detected from image information of the character and image, and character information is given priority over image information for this overlapping portion and introduced into the print buffer. .