JPS62279950A - Color hard copy system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a clear transfer image, by providing a sensor for detecting a hue or a brightness of paper and weighing a plurality of colors produced in a color conversion circuit according to the output from said sensor. CONSTITUTION:A color separation circuit 3 separates the color displayed on a CRT 1, i.e. a color information read out from a buffer memory 2 into pigments contained in the system. In this separating operation, the color weighing factor in the color separation circuit 3 is modified based upon the information detected by means of a color sensor 11 for deciding the color of print paper. In other word, plural pigments separated on the basis of said detected information are conditioned so as to prevent occurrence of same or similar transfer hue as the color of the paper. Then an adder 4 mixes respective pigments and the color information for every picture element is fed out from a shift register 9 through an output circuit 5 so as to transfer the color together with characters and graphs onto the paper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention 3. Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] This invention relates to a color hard copy system for color printing CRT images in computer systems and the like.

Figure 2 is a block connection diagram of a conventional color hard copy system. In the figure, 1.1 is a CRT device, 2 is a buffer memory, 3 is a color separation circuit, 4 is an adder, Together with the color separation circuit 3, it constitutes a color conversion circuit. 5 is an output circuit,
6 is a memory that stores pixel and color information for each line, 7 is an address memory that stores addresses, a is a counter, 9 is a shift register that outputs the pixel and color information for each line as serial data, and 10 is a This is a thermal head for a thermal transfer printer.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, a CRT device 1 installed in a computer system, etc.
The color information of the television image is written into the buffer memory 2 for each pixel. Next, the color separation circuit 3 of the color conversion circuit separates the color information (for example, 8 colors) of each pixel displayed on the CRT device into the pigments (for example, 3 colors of yellow, cyan, and magenta) that the system has. . Next, adder 4
The coloring matter is mixed in an appropriate ratio to generate a plurality of color signals necessary for color printing, and these are stored in one line of memory 6 via an output circuit 5. . On the other hand, the counter 8 in the system sequentially counts the print timing, reads the address from the seat address memory 7, drives the shift register 9 according to the print timing, and reads the image data for each pixel. The images are sequentially output and the heating of the thermal head 10 is controlled accordingly to transfer an image corresponding to the television image onto the paper.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Since the conventional color hard copy system is configured as described above, the color conversion circuit only converts colors in a fixed manner, and the background of the television image on the CRT device 1 is usually a dark color. On the other hand, since the paper used for printing often has bright colors such as white, even if the image is clear on the screen of the CRT device 1, bright colors (for example, yellow) cannot be distinguished when printed on paper, resulting in only extremely unclear copies. There were problems such as not being able to

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a color hard copy system that allows copies to be made in which the background and image can be clearly distinguished from each other no matter what color paper is printed on. The purpose is to obtain.

[Means for solving problems]

The color hard copy system according to the present invention has a sensor that detects the color and brightness of the paper to be printed, and according to the detection output of the sensor, obtains necessary color information from each pixel of the television image. The color signals of a plurality of color conversion circuits that generate color signals for transferred images are weighted.

[For production]

The weighting of color signals in this invention is carried out based on the detection output of the sensor in order to prevent the color and brightness of the paper from matching or similar to the color and brightness of the transferred image. It acts to make the transferred image clearer.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
In the figure, l is a CRT device, 2 is a buffer memory, and 3 is a CRT device.
4 is a color separation circuit, 4 is an adder S5 is an output circuit, 6 is a memory, 7 is an address memory that stores addresses, 8 is a counter, 9 is a shift register, and IO is a thermal head. These are shown in Figure 2. It is similar to the one shown. Further, 11 is a color sensor that detects the color of paper for printing.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, color information of a color television image is output from the CRT device 1 for each image, and both character or graphic data and color information for each pixel are written into the buffer memory 2 of the system. In color separation circuit 3, CRT device IK
The displayed colors, that is, the color information read out from the buffer memory 2, are separated into pigments possessed by the system. In this separation operation, the color weighting coefficients in the color separation circuit 3 are changed based on the detection information detected by the color sensor 11 that determines the color of the paper to be printed. In other words, each of the separated multiple dyes is adjusted according to the detected information,
This also prevents similar transfer colors from occurring if the color is identical to that of the paper. Subsequently, each colorant is mixed in an adder 4 and stored in one row of memory 6 via an output circuit 5. After that, the counter 8 in the system is sequentially incremented and the counter output is input to the address memory 7 to read out the address, and the color information for each pixel is sequentially sent from the shift register 9 in the same manner as described above. Then, the heating of the thermal head 10 is controlled to transfer the colors along with the characters and figures onto the paper.

The transferred image obtained in this way is displayed in color so as to have an appropriate contrast with the color of the paper, so that the transferred image becomes clear and the figure can be seen beautifully.

In the above embodiment, the color weighting coefficient is changed in the color separation circuit according to the output of the color sensor 11, and thereby the color for transfer is changed. The weighting may be performed by a person or by manually operating a weighting setting switch or the like. Furthermore, instead of providing the color sensor 11, a brightness sensor for measuring the brightness of the paper to be printed may be provided to achieve the same effect as described above.

Furthermore, although the colors were changed in the above embodiment, the color sensor 11
Even if the temperature of the thermal head 10 is directly controlled according to the output of the printer, and the degree of color transfer is thereby changed,
Adjustment of the color to be transferred can be performed in the same way.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a sensor for detecting the color and brightness of paper is provided, and a plurality of colors generated in a color conversion circuit are weighted according to the output of the sensor. Therefore, printing of an image having the same or similar color or brightness as that of the paper can be reliably prevented, and a clear transferred image with scratched figures and characters can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram showing a color hard copy system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block connection diagram showing a conventional color hard copy system. 1 is a CRT device, 2 is a buffer memory, 3 is a color separation circuit, 4 is an adder, 5 is an output circuit, 6 is a memory, 7 is an address memory, 8 is a counter, 9 is a shift register, 10 is a thermal head, 11 indicates color sensor 0. In the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] After separating the color information of a color television image into a plurality of specific pigments for each pixel in a color conversion circuit, a color signal corresponding to the above color information is generated, and this generated color signal and each pixel are transferred to a thermal head. In a color hard copy system that transfers data to paper using a sensor, a sensor is provided to detect the color or brightness of the paper, and the plurality of color signals generated by the color conversion circuit are weighted based on the detection output of this sensor. A color hard copy system characterized by: