KR0154760B1 - Printing method and apparatus for sublimation type color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A sublimation type color printing method in which a composite video signal is divided into luminance, RY and BY color difference signals, and stored in a memory. In addition to the existing composite video signal, a digital R, G, B digital camera is used in addition to the existing composite video signal. Receive data and print.

Description

Sublimation Color Printing Method and Apparatus

1 is a conventional circuit diagram.

2 is a circuit diagram according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method of storing and printing image data of a color printer. In particular, the present invention relates to digital R, G, The present invention relates to a sublimation type color printing method and apparatus for printing with B data.

Based on FIG. 1, the structure of a prior art is demonstrated.

Conventional methods include a Y / C separation unit (separating a composite video signal into luminance and chroma signals), a color difference separation unit 103 (a separation of chroma signals into color difference signals RY and BY), and an A / D conversion unit 105. (ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER), 1st memory (color difference signal storage), 2nd memory (luminance signal storage), RGB converter 111 (color difference and luminance signals converted to R, G, B signals), TPH controller (113) (controls the amount of heat generated by the TPH according to the input RGB data), the memory control unit 109, the mechanism 115 (printer drive unit including the TPH), and the system control unit (controls each unit of the printer). Receives an analog composite video signal (hereinafter referred to as a composite video signal) from a TV or a VTR, and separates the luminance and chroma signals in the Y / C separation unit 101, and converts the chroma signals into BY and RY signals in the color difference separation unit 103. Separate.

The separated signal is converted into a digital signal in the A / D converter 105 as described above (D _by means of digital BY, D _ry means digital RY, and D _y means digital luminance signal) in the memory. Save to (107). The memory 109 may store one field or one frame, and includes a first memory for storing D _by and D _ry and a second memory for storing D _y , wherein the frequency region of the luminance signal is a color difference signal. Since it is larger than the frequency domain, the data amount is generally stored in the memory 107 at the rate of D _y : D _by : D _ry = 4: 1: 1 when stored in the memory 107. Therefore, in FIG. 1, the capacity of the second memory of the memory 107 is about twice that of the first memory. As described above, one field or one frame of image data is stored in the memory 107 and then printing is performed. Hereinafter, a printing process will be described. The memory 107 reads D _y, D _{by, and} D _ry at the same time from one line to another _, and then converts the R, G, and B signals by the RGB converter 111. Here, instead of printing R, G, and B at the same time, one page is printed on the B signal, and then the same process (reading D _y, D _by, D _ry one line at a time from the memory at the same time, then RGB conversion unit 111). Converts into R, G, and B signals), and prints one page of the G signal. Finally, the same process prints one page of the R signal. The TPH control unit 113 converts the B, G or R signal into a Y, M or C signal, and then converts the B, G or R signal into a signal suitable for heat generation of the TPH and transmits the signal to the TPH. At the same time, the mechanism unit 115 performs printing under the control of the system control unit 117. As described above, the conventional configuration is a system capable of printing only composite video signals, and employs a color difference memory method (a smaller amount of memory is required than the RGB memory method). However, in order to receive and print R, G, and B data as input, three memories (one for each of R, G, and B) having the same capacity as the second memory of FIG. 1 are required. Therefore, in the conventional configuration, only the composite video signal can be printed using the color difference memory method without increasing the memory capacity.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for printing a digital RGB input signal in addition to a conventional composite video signal without adding a separate memory.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a circuit diagram according to the present invention, the configuration of the present invention in addition to the conventional configuration as shown in Figure 2 interface unit 201 (digital R, G, B data from the PC to send and receive various comments Part) and switch (SW1, SW2) (output by selecting one of two inputs). That is, the rest of the configuration except for the interface unit 201 and the switches SW1 and SW2 is similar to and the same as that of FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the operation of the present invention will be described in detail. When the composite image signal is input and printed, the operation is omitted since it is the same as described in the operation description of the prior art, and mainly digital R, G, and B are used. The TPH control unit directly receives the B (BLUE) data of the data to be printed out of the data, stores it in the second memory (the same memory as the conventional luminance component memory), reads it out, and does not pass it through the RGB conversion unit 111. At 113 and the mechanism 115, one page is printed on B data. Next, in the same process as above, one page of G (GREEN) data is received from the PC and stored in the second memory to print one page of G data, and finally, the same process for R (RED) data. Save it and run printing. Hereinafter, the process of transmitting, storing, and printing digital R, G, and B data will be described in detail. The interface unit 202 is controlled by the system controller 117 to print one page of B data to be printed by communication with a PC. Receive from the PC. At the same time, the switch SW1 selects the b input terminal among the a and b input terminals under the control of the system controller 117 (the A input terminal selection, i.e., the D _y data selection, for the composite video signal printing) to select the output terminal c. Pass B data through. As described above, the B data of one page having passed through the switch SW1 is stored in the second memory under the control of the memory controller 109. In this case, the second memory is generally twice the capacity of the first memory as described in the conventional processing method, and the luminance signal data amount of the composite video signal is generally the same as the respective R, G, and B data amounts of the RGB format. Stored in memory. As described above, after receiving one page's worth of B data from the PC and storing the data in the second memory, the data is read one by one from the second memory sequentially and without passing through the RGB converter 111. (Because the data from the PC itself is RGB format data, there is no need to perform RGB conversion.) Enter the terminal b directly with the switch (SW2). The switch SW2 selects the b input terminal among the a and b input terminals under the control of the system controller 117 (a compound terminal is selected from the composite video signal printing, that is, from the D _y, D _{by, and} D _ry data). Selects the data converted to RGB through the RGB conversion unit) and passes the B data through the output terminal c.

The TPH controller 113 converts the B data into a Y (YELLOW) signal in the same manner as the conventional processing method, and then converts the B data into a signal suitable for heat generation of the TPH and transmits the same to the TPH. At the same time, the mechanism unit 115 prints one page of the B data under the control of the system controller 117 to complete the B data printing. Next, G (GREEN) data of one page of digital R, G, and B data to be printed is received from the PC in the same manner as above, stored, printed, and the G data printing of one page is completed. Finally, the same process as above is repeated for R (RED) data to completely finish printing.

As described above, a color printer (especially a sublimation color printer) system capable of printing only composite image signals using a color difference memory method can be added to a PC by adding a simple interface that can communicate with a PC without additional memory. Since digital R, G, and B data can be printed, there is an advantage that various images can be provided from a PC, not limited to a composite video signal of a TV or a VTR.

Claims (4)

A sublimation type color printing method in which a composite video signal is divided into luminance, R0Y, BY color difference signals, and stored in a memory, and the digital R, G, and B digital inputs from the PC are added to the conventional composite video signal without additional memory. A method for receiving data and printing. The method of claim 1, wherein the printing comprises: receiving a page of digital B data from the PC, storing the same in a memory, and performing printing; A second step of receiving digital G data and storing it in a memory and performing printing, and a second step of receiving digital R data of one page from a PC and storing and printing it in a memory in the second step. Printing method characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory area storing the digital R, G, and B data shares the memory area storing the luminance signal as it is. A sublimation type color printer capable of printing a composite video signal and also printing digital R, G, and B data, comprising: an interface unit capable of additionally communicating with a PC to receive digital R, G, and B data; A switch (SW1) for selecting the luminance signal separated from the composite video signal and the digital R, G, and B data transmitted from the PC, and the R, G, B data separated from the composite video signal by the RGB converter Sublimation type color printer characterized by consisting of a switch (SW2) for selecting the digital R, G, B data transmitted from the PC.