JPS6057059B2 - Preset-up device for color scanner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a presetup device for a color scanner, which calculates and calculates setup items for a color scanner in advance, and uses the calculation results to set up the scanner. This is what we are trying to do.

By the way, the setup operation of a conventional color scanner will be explained as follows. (1) First, a color scanner operator observes a color document on a color viewer, determines the highlight setup point, shadow setup point, tone, presence or absence of color correction, amount of sharpness, etc., and designs the plate.

(2) Place the color original in the scanner's original mounting cylinder.

(3) Shine the scanning light on the points on the color document that correspond to each adjustment item determined during the plate-making design, and check the density or halftone percentage displayed on the meter on the operation panel to match the plate-making design values. Adjust the knobs on the control panel.

When the setup operations (1) to (3) are completed, scanning is started and a separated halftone plate is obtained, and if the scanner is a direct mesh separation scanner, a separated halftone plate is obtained.

Here, the most important and difficult thing in operating a scanner is the setup operation.

However, the results of plate-making design vary depending on the operator.
Also, since the operations on the control panel are different, the quality of the disassembled version is not uniform and changes. For example, highlight setup is considered to be the most important setup item, but it is difficult to determine when to perform this setup because the scanning light picks up dye particles on the original, and the reading on the meter constantly fluctuates greatly. . Therefore, the operator relies on experience and intuition to determine the highlight point and the density or halftone percentage of this point, and performs the final operation of the operation panel based on this. Then, after determining the conditions for other setup items in the same way, scanning is started. Therefore,
The quality of the obtained disassembled plates depends on the skill level of the operator, and the same quality cannot always be obtained.

In addition, although direct-net resolution scanners have come into widespread use in recent years, the resolution half-tone plates obtained with this scanner do not go through the subsequent camera process, unlike the resolution plates obtained with conventional scanners, so it is possible to use the above-mentioned setup incorrectly. This immediately results in a loss of print, and the disassembly work must be carried out again.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and allows a specific plate-making designer to carry out plate-making design and setup, instead of requiring each scanner operator to perform a sudden reset operation as in the past. In this way, scanners can be centrally managed and quality can be stabilized.

That is, the present invention relates to a presetup device used by plate making designers to centrally manage such scanners, and the present invention relates to a presetup device used by plate making designers to centrally manage such scanners. It is made by combining a production board, etc.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a presetup device.

In the figure, numeral 10 is a transparent original holder, and numeral 12 is a color original placed thereon.

An optical path 14 is set at the center of the original holder, and a light source 16 that irradiates the scanning light having the same properties as the scanning light in a scanner, a heat ray absorption filter 18, and a concentrator are placed on one side, sandwiching the original holder 10. An optical lens 20, a mirror 22, etc. are arranged, and a movable mirror 24 is arranged on the other side.

Further, a standard light source 26 that irradiates standard light is installed on the irradiation side of the light source light.

The standard light source 26 is used for color evaluation of the color original 12, and for example, a 50002K light source is used. In addition,
The document holder 10 may be installed horizontally as shown in the figure, or may be installed vertically or diagonally.

The movable mirror 24 is rotated by a switch provided in the operation panel, which will be described later, and directs the transmitted light of the standard light onto the screen 28 at the solid line position, and directs the transmitted light of the standard light onto the screen 28 at the dotted line position. The transmitted light is directed toward the mirror group 30. Both light sources 16 and 26 are also synchronized with the drive of the movable mirror 24, and are selectively set to 0N/OF.
F is given. A magnifying lens 32 is provided between the movable mirror 24 and the screen 28, and the mirror 34 is provided as necessary to install the screen 28 so that it can be easily observed by the operator.

Moreover, between the movable mirror 24 and the mirror group 30, there is an ND (
Neutral density) batch, color batch, etc. 36
A main aperture 38 and the like are further provided. The screen 28 projects an enlarged image of the original 12, and a cross mark 40 is displayed at the center thereof.

The center of the cross mark 40 is made to coincide with the position where the spot light, which is the inspection light, is to be focused. The mirror group 30 separates the inspection light into three beams, and is composed of a semi-transparent mirror 42 and a reflecting mirror 44.

And each mirror has B (blue), G (green), and R.
(red) filter 46 corresponds to the light, and the Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) color light transmitted through each filter is then irradiated onto a photoelectric conversion element 48 . The photoelectric conversion element 48 is composed of, for example, a photomultiplier, and the electric signal generated here is then passed through a 10G converter 50, digitized by an A/D converter 52, and inputted to an arithmetic/control unit 54. Further, an operation panel 56 and a printer 58 are electrically connected to the calculation/control unit 54 .

The operation panel 56 includes various switches, adjustment knobs, etc. of the same type and preferably in the same arrangement as in the color scanner.

The result calculated by the calculation section is output to the display 60 and displayed as halftone dot % or density.

Then, the switch operation, knob operation, and the batch 3
6 conversion operations are performed, and the corrections resulting from the operations are recalculated by the arithmetic circuit 54 and displayed. The printer 58 is activated by the operator's switch operation when the operation of the operation panel 56, etc. is completed, and outputs the numerical values obtained as a result of the adjustment of the knobs, etc., on a paper tape, card, etc. as characters or codes. There is. Note that these numerical values can be read by the operator and recorded on a suitable paper, so in such a case, the printer can be omitted.

Next, the procedure for determining setup conditions using the above-described presetup device will be described.

First, the color original 12 is placed on the original holder 10, the standard light source 26 is turned on, and the image of the original 12 is transferred to the screen 2.
Enlarge and project onto 8.

Assuming that the original image is a landscape as shown in FIG. 2, the cloud 62 which is the brightest part has a halftone dot of 5%.
The plate-making design is such that the shadow 64, which is the darkest part, has 95% halftone dots, the sky 66 has 80% halftone dots for cyan, and 30% halftone dots for magenta. Then, the original 12 is removed and the cloud 6 is removed.
For example, the color density of the part 2 is set to 0.6, and an ND batch 36 having the same density or close to it is inserted into the optical path, the standard light source 26 is turned off, and the inspection light source 16 is made to emit light.
Rotate the movable mirror 24 to the dashed line position, and
8, and the concentration is displayed on the display 60 as O, for example.

Similarly, the color density of the shadow 64 is set to 3.0, and the level of the photoprint 48 is adjusted by replacing it with another ND batch, or by rotating the movable mirror 24 to the solid line position, etc. to block the optical path. Then, the display on the display 60 becomes, for example, 100. After completing the level adjustment, the original 12 is placed on the stand 10 again and moved so that the point in the cloud 62 that should be the halftone dot of 5% coincides with the center of the cross mark 40 on the screen. After that, fix it.

Of course, at this time, the light source has been switched to the standard light source 26, and the movable mirror 24 has also been rotated to the solid line position. Once the original 12 is fixed, the batch 36 is removed, the movable mirror 24 is rotated to the position shown by the broken line, the inspection light source 16 is switched to emit light, and the light beam is used as the amount of transmitted light at the highlight setup point in the photo frame 48. is converted into an electrical signal by

Then, a calculation is performed in the calculation section 54 based on the electric signal, and the halftone dot percentage or density for each of the Y, M, C, and BK (black) plates is digitally displayed on the display 60. The plate-making designer looks at this display and compares it with the plate-making design value, assuming that the design value is 5% halftone dot for each plate of Y, M, C, and BK.
If the display shows 3, 4, 5, 6%, operate the designated switches, buttons, etc. on the operation panel 56 to change Y, M, C, BK.
Adjust so that the display of each version is 5%.

Then, remove the original from the mount, insert the batch again, and check the displayed value. After this, the same operation is performed for the shadow setup point and the middle setup point, and the setup conditions for the tone are now determined.

Furthermore, after this, setup conditions such as color correction and UCR (undercolor removal) are determined using color filters, ND films, and the like.

In this way, when all setup items are operated, the ND filter value of the relevant point and the halftone percentage display value at the time of insertion of the relevant ND filter are displayed for the highlight setup, middle setup, and shadow setup, and for the tone, Set the dial value of each adjustment knob to U for UCR (undercolor removal).
ND filter value of CR setup point, halftone dot %
value (A, M) and the dial value (S, P) indicating the UCR start point, and highlight (P) for level adjustment.
ND filter values and meter values corresponding to U) and shadows (DR), and for color correction, the dial value of the color correction adjustment knob are output as characters or codes on a paper tape or card.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the output is performed on the card 68 in the form of numbers.

Now, in the present invention, as described above, the prepress designer sets the setup conditions in advance using the preset device, and the operator of each scanner sets up each scanner based on the results, so that the scanners can be centrally managed. It is possible to obtain a decomposition plate and a decomposition halftone plate with high and stable quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a presetup device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of an example of a color original to be color separated. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a card which is an example of output from the pre-setup device. 10... Manuscript stand, 1
2...Color original, 16...Inspection light source, 2
4...Movable mirror, 26...Standard light source, 28...Screen, 30...Mirror group, 36...Batch, 38... ... Main aperture, 46 ... Filter, 48 ... Photoelectric conversion element, 50 ... LOG converter, 52 ...
...A/D converter, 54... Arithmetic/control unit, 5
6...Operation panel, 58...Printer, 6
0...Display unit, 68...Card.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A presetup device for a color scanner comprising the following items. a Transparent manuscript holder. b A standard light beam that irradiates one side of the document holder. c. A magnifying lens system and screen that receives the standard light transmitted through the document holder and the document. d A light source that irradiates one surface of the document holder with inspection light similar to the scanning light in a color scanner. e A main aperture that narrows down the luminous flux of the standard density setting ND patch and color patch, which are provided in the optical path of the calibration light that has passed through the document holder. f A mirror group and a filter group that separate the inspection light transmitted through the document holder into three beams of light. g. A movable mirror that is installed on the other surface of the document holder and directs the transmitted light of the standard light toward the screen and the transmitted light of the inspection light toward the mirror group. h A photoelectric conversion element that receives three beams of light from the mirror group and converts each beam into an electric signal. i Calculation for calculating the electrical signal from the photoelectric conversion element
control section. j A display that displays the calculation results of the calculation section above in halftone percentage or density. k An operation panel that is electrically connected to the calculation/control unit and has adjustment switches, buttons, etc. similar to those in a color scanner.