KR20170032851A - Image processing apparatus and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image processing device and an image processing method. The image processing method includes: a step of receiving color image data of an image and gloss image data; a step of changing the color image data to a first printing material amount signal indicating a use amount of a dark printing material with relatively high concentration; a step of generating changing the use amount corresponding to the gloss image data among the use amount of the dark printing material which the first printing material amount signal indicates, to the use amount corresponding to a soft printing material with the relatively low concentration; a step of changing a second printing material amount signal to pass decomposition data corresponding to each printing injection of an image generating device; and a step of generating a record signal generating an overlap of on-dots of the soft printing material in the printing injection of the image generating device by performing halftone processing on the pass decomposition data to generate a printing signal indicating the printing position of the on-dots for each of the dark printing material and the soft printing material.

Description

[0001] IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD [0002]

Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention generally relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method, and particularly relates to control of gloss of an image to be generated.

When a dye ink using a dye which is easily dissolved in water is used for image formation, the coloring material in the solvent penetrates into the fibers of the printing medium, the surface shape of the printing medium is maintained even after the image is formed, And is maintained as the gloss of the image. However, dye molecules are easily decomposed by light, and printed images using dye inks are liable to discolor. Further, when the printed matter using the dye ink is wetted with water, the dye molecules that have penetrated into the fibers dissolve in water, so that the printed image is blurred.

In order to solve the problems of these dye inks, pigment inks using pigments as coloring materials have recently been used for image formation. Unlike dyes present as molecules in a solvent, since the pigment is present in the solvent as particles having a size of several 10 nm to several 탆, it is possible to obtain a printed article having high weather resistance by using a pigment ink. The pigment is difficult to penetrate into the print medium, but is attached to the surface of the print medium and forms irregularities on the surface of the print image, so that the gloss of the print using the pigment ink is different from that of the print medium itself. Further, due to the characteristics of the resin used in the pigment ink and the pigment itself, the surface reflectance of the printed image using the pigment ink becomes larger than the printed image using the dye ink.

Further, in the printed matter, a technique of obtaining a decorative effect by using a difference in gloss has been developed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-331708 discloses an invention for obtaining a decorative effect by changing the gloss for each area or each object. BACKGROUND ART [0002] In recent years, a technique has been developed for obtaining a decorative effect by using a difference in gloss even in a printed matter using a pigment ink.

According to the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-331708, the amount of use of the transparent toner, which is a glossy material, is determined based on the gloss level set for each object to obtain a desired gloss. However, the control range of gloss is limited to a controllable range only by the use amount of the gloss material. For example, the glossiness can not be controlled at all in the area not using the glossing material.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-284951 discloses a technique of controlling the gloss even though it is not intended to obtain a decorative effect. However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-284951 discloses a technique of printing ink at the same position in a high- Thereby increasing the unevenness to lower the gloss. However, according to this method, it is not possible to perform control such as increasing the gloss of the low definition area which tends to lower the gloss relatively.

As described above, in a printed matter using pigment ink, even when it is intended to obtain a decorative effect by using a difference in gloss, a sufficient decorative effect can not be obtained due to the restriction of the control range of gloss.

An aspect of the present invention provides gloss control in a printed matter.

An aspect of the present invention has the following configuration.

An image processing apparatus is provided with an input unit configured to receive color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated, and an input unit configured to receive the color image data as a first printing material amount indicating a usage amount of a darker print material A first color separation unit configured to convert the amount of use of the thick printing material represented by the first printing material amount signal into the amount of use of the glossy image data in a soft printing material having a relatively low density A second color separation unit configured to generate a second printing discretion signal to be exchanged for a corresponding usage amount; a path disassembly unit configured to convert the second printing discretion amount signal into path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image generation apparatus; A print signal indicating the print position of on-dots is generated for each of the dark print material and the light print material Subjected to a halftone processing with respect to the decomposition pass data to, and a halftone processing unit configured to generate the print signals to generate the light-on-dot printing material overlapping in the printing scan of the image generating device.

An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to receive color image data and gloss image data of an image to be generated, and an input unit configured to receive the color image data from the usage amount of the basic color printing material and the characteristic color printing material A first color separation unit configured to convert a usage amount corresponding to the gloss image data among the usage amount of the characteristic printing material represented by the first printing discretion amount signal to a first printing disposal amount signal indicating a usage amount corresponding to the characteristic printing material A second color separation unit configured to generate a second printing discretion amount signal to be exchanged with a usage amount corresponding to a plurality of basic color printing materials; and a second color separation unit configured to convert the second printing discretion amount signal into path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image generation apparatus And a printing unit for printing on-dot printing positions for each of the basic color printing material and the characteristic printing material Wherein the image forming apparatus performs halftone processing on the path disassembly data to generate a print signal so as to generate superposition of on-dots of the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the characteristic printing material in the printing scan of the image generating apparatus And a halftone processing unit configured to generate a print signal.

An image processing method includes: receiving color image data and gloss image data of an image to be generated; converting the color image data into a first printing discretion amount signal indicating an amount of use of a dark printing material having a relatively high density; 1) generating a second printing discretion signal for exchanging a usage amount corresponding to the glossy image data among the usage amount of the thick printing material indicated by the printing disposal signal to a usage amount corresponding to a soft printing material having a relatively low density, 2 printing discretion signal into the path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image forming apparatus, and for each of the thick printing material and the light printing material, The halftone processing is performed on the data, and in the printing scan of the image generating apparatus, To generate a superposition of the dot-on includes generating the printing signal.

The image processing method includes receiving color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated and outputting the color image data as a usage amount of the basic color printing material and an amount of the characteristic printing material used to reproduce a color different from the basic color printing material The amount of use corresponding to the gloss image data among the usage amount of the characteristic printing material represented by the first printing discretion amount signal to a plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the characteristic printing material The second printing discretion signal is converted into the path disassembled data corresponding to each printing scan of the image generating apparatus, The halftone processing is performed on the path disassembly data to generate a print signal indicating the print position of the on dot And includes in the printing scan of the image generation device to generate the print signals to generate a superposition of the plurality of basic color printed material on a dot corresponding to the printing material characteristic.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, it is possible to control the gloss of the printed matter. For example, the gloss control range of the printed matter is enlarged, and a decorative effect can be imparted to the printed matter.

Additional aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following exemplary embodiments (with reference to the accompanying drawings).

1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G are diagrams schematically showing a state in which a print material of a pigment is laminated on a print medium.
2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the image processing apparatus of the first embodiment.
3 is a diagram showing an example of a color separation table referred to by the first color separation processing section.
4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information processing apparatus.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining generation processing of image generation data by the image processing apparatus. Fig.
6 is a diagram showing an example of a gloss control table referred to by the second color separation processing section.
Figs. 7A, 7B and 7C are diagrams for explaining the path decomposing process. Fig.
8A, 8B and 8C are diagrams showing an example of a 4x4 dither matrix for halftone processing for quantizing the path disassembled data of the K "signal into a 1-bit drive signal.
9 is a diagram showing the result of halftone processing of the path disassembled data of the value of K ".
10A and 10B are diagrams for explaining the halftone processing of the path disassembled data of the Gy "value.
11 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus of the second embodiment.
12A and 12B are diagrams for explaining gloss control conversion and pass decomposition processing.
Fig. 13 is a diagram showing a halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the R "value. Fig.
Fig. 14 is a diagram showing the halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the value of Y "M ".
15 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus of the third embodiment.
16A and 16B are diagrams for explaining the determination of the CL value and the path decomposition process.
17A and 17B are diagrams for explaining halftone processing.
18 is a flowchart for explaining generation processing of image generation data by the image processing apparatus of the third embodiment.
19 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus of the fourth embodiment.
20A and 12B are diagrams for explaining gloss control conversion and pass decomposition processing.
Figs. 21A and 12B are diagrams for explaining halftone processing of the Gy printing material. Fig.
22A and 22B are diagrams for explaining halftone processing of the Lgy printing material.
23 is a diagram showing the final dot layout of the BK series printing material.

Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus and an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to the claims and all combinations of the configurations described in the embodiments are not essential to the solution of the present invention.

[summary]

1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G schematically show a state in which a printing material of a pigment is laminated on a printing medium. 1A shows a state in which an image is generated by a printing material of black (K) in the entire area of a predetermined area. In the present embodiment, "area" represents a minimum unit in which dot on / off can be controlled.

1B shows a state in which an image is generated by a combination of a K printing material and a Gy printing material. The color reproduced is the same as shown in Fig. In Fig. 1B, one layer of K printing material is formed in one area, while two layers of Gy printing material are laminated in another area. That is, as shown in Figs. 1A and 1B, the unevenness of the image surface of the predetermined region can be changed while reproducing the same color according to the combination of the printing material, the printing material to be used, the amount of the printing material to be used, .

Since the printing material itself has irregularities and the shape of the dot is almost circular as viewed from the above, in the case shown in Fig. 1A, the surface of the image shown in Fig. 1A is not completely smooth but is relatively smooth. On the other hand, in the case shown in FIG. 1B, the thickness of the printing material layer in one area is different from that in the other areas, so that the smoothness is lowered as compared with the case shown in FIG. That is, the image shown in Fig. 1B has the same color as the image shown in Fig. 1A but has a lower gloss than the image shown in Fig. 1A.

That is, the printing material having a relatively high density (hereinafter referred to as a thick printing material) is replaced with a printing material having a relatively low density (hereinafter referred to as a soft printing material), and a soft printing material is superposed Thereby increasing the unevenness of the surface of the image. As a result, the gloss can be controlled.

Hereinafter, the lamination state of the printing material indicates the order in which the printing material of a certain color and the printing material of a certain color are laminated. In the following description, the coloring of the first printing material (for example, K printing material) of the n layer (where n is a natural number) and the second printing material of the m layer (m is a natural number, n < m) , Gy printing material) can be regarded as having the same color.

It is also possible to use a third printing material (for example, a light gray (Lgy) printing material) having a lower density than the first and second printing materials. Of course, a combination of a cyan (C) printing material and a soft cyan (Lc) printing material, and a combination of a magenta (M) printing material and a light magenta (Lm) printing material are available. Hereinafter, in order to simplify the explanation, a combination of the K printing material and the Gy printing material will be mainly described.

[First Embodiment]

[Configuration of the apparatus]

2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus 12 of the first embodiment. 2, the input unit 101 receives color image data RGB representing the color of each pixel of the image to be printed and glossy image data GI representing the clarity of gloss of each pixel of the image to be printed From the information processing apparatus 11.

The input unit 101 performs resolution conversion to match the resolutions of the input data (the color image data RGB and the gloss image data GI) and the resolution of the image generating apparatus 13 when they are different from each other. When the resolution of the input data is 600 ppi and the printing resolution is 2400 dpi in the main scanning direction and 1200 dpi in the sub scanning direction, the input unit 101 converts the input data by a resolution conversion such as a bicubic method Into 2400 dpi in the main scanning direction and 1200 dpi in the sub scanning direction.

The color image data RGB and the gloss image data GI are data created, edited or processed by various applications operating in the information processing apparatus 11 which is a computer apparatus, and the color image data RGB is, for example, sRGB data. The color image data RGB and the glossy image data GI are not limited to the information processing apparatus 11, and may be acquired from a recording medium such as an image input device, a memory card, or a web site. As the input unit 101, a serial bus interface such as USB or a network interface such as a wired or wireless LAN can be used.

The color matching unit 102 refers to the color matching table 103 in the form of a lookup table (LUT), maps the sRGB data to the color gamut of the image generating apparatus 13, and outputs an R'G'B 'signal . The R'G'B 'signal includes an 8-bit signal of each color. As the color matching table 103, a plurality of tables corresponding to the type of print medium and the purpose of image creation are prepared, and the user can select an appropriate table.

The first color separation processing section 104 refers to the color separation table 105 in the LUT format and converts the R'G'B 'signal output from the color matching section 102 into the colorant amount signal CMYK. The colorant amount signal CMYK indicates the usage amount of the thick printing material of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y, and black K of the image generating apparatus 13, and includes signals of 8 bits for each color. By the above processing, the color image data RGB is converted into the print data CMYK.

For example, when the colorant amount signal CMYK is (0, 20, 100, 255), each dot of the CMYK color material is printed with a probability of 0/255, 20/255, 100/255, and 255/255, respectively. In other words, 0/255 x n C dots, 20/255 x n M dots, 100/255 x n Y dots, and 255/255 x n K dots are printed in the image of the number of pixels n. For example, when the colorant amount signals CMYK of all 16 × 16 pixels (n = 256) are images of (0, 20, 100, 255), 0 C dot, 20 M dot, 100 Y dot, 256 K dots are printed.

Fig. 3 shows an example of the color separation table 105 referred to by the first color separation processing section 104. Fig. The color separation table 105 is a table in which the color difference table R'G'B 'is set to 0, 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160, 176, 192, 208, Represents a lattice point of 17 ³ = 4913, which is one of 17 values of 255. The color discretionary signal value (output value) corresponding to the R'G'B 'value (input value) of each lattice point is stored in the color separation table 105.

The second color separation processing section 106 receives the CMYK signal and the gloss image data GI output from the first color separation processing section 104 and outputs the CMYK signal based on the gloss image data GI to the C ' M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal. The second color separation processing section 106 performs conversion so that the sum value of the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signals becomes larger than the sum value of the CMYK signals as the gloss value indicated by the glossy image data GI becomes lower .

As described above, it is necessary to increase the number of layers of the printing material in order to increase the unevenness of the surface of the printed image as the reproducible gloss becomes lower. Therefore, as the gloss value is lower, the conversion is performed so as to change the usage amount of the thick printing material to the usage amount corresponding to the light printing material. Hereinafter, this conversion by the second color separation processing section 106 will be referred to as "gloss control conversion ".

The reason why the first color separation processing section 104 and the second color separation processing section 106 are performed is that the gloss control conversion is not performed when the decorative printing is not performed, that is, when the gloss image data GI is not input , So that the CMYK signal is used as it is for the next process. In other words, when the gloss image data GI is not input, the second color separation processing section 106 passes the CMYK signal.

Pass decomposition unit 108 outputs the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal output from the second color separation processing unit 106 to each printing scan (image data) of the image generation apparatus 13 that performs multi-pass Path). The details of the multipass printing will be omitted. However, in order to control the unevenness of the surface of the printed image in detail, it is necessary to print the same printing material on the same area in order to laminate the same soft printing material on the basis of the gloss value. Realization.

The halftone processing unit 109 performs a process of determining a dot layout for C _i M _i Y _i K _i Lc _i Lm _i Gy _i after the path decomposition process, And generates driving data for driving each printing element of the head.

The output data buffer 110 stores the drive data output from the halftone processing unit 109 as image generation data. The image generation data stored in the output data buffer 110 is output to the image generation apparatus 13 via the output unit 111 in synchronization with the image generation operation of the image generation apparatus 13. [ As the output unit 111, a universal interface or a dedicated interface such as USB, eSATA, PCI, or PCIe (registered trademark) can be used.

[Image generating apparatus and information processing apparatus]

Although detailed description of the configuration of the image generating apparatus 13 is omitted, the image generating apparatus 13 moves the print head vertically and horizontally with respect to the print medium to print the binary image of each color material represented by the image generating data on the print medium do. Further, the image generating apparatus 13 employs a multipass printing method in which an image is completed by scanning the print medium by the print head several times, and the image forming apparatus 13 performs a printing operation in both the forward scan and the return scan of the print head Bidirectional printing method is adopted. Further, as described above, the image generating apparatus 13 can print and scan the same area of the print medium several times by using the same printing material by using a plurality of printing elements.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing apparatus 11. Fig. The CPU 171 uses the RAM 173 as a work memory and executes the OS 172 and various programs stored in the ROM 172 and the storage unit 179 to execute various programs through the system bus 178 .

The storage unit 179 is an HDD, an SSD, a flash memory, or the like connected to the system bus 178 via a SATA interface (I / F) 176, for example. The general purpose I / F 175 is a serial bus interface such as USB. An input device 14 such as a mouse or a keyboard, an image generating device 13, and a universal drive 17 for a recording medium are connected to the general-purpose I / F 175. [

The CPU 171 loads the program designated by the user via the input device 14 from the storage unit 179 to the RAM 173 and executes the program to monitor the monitor connected to the video card (VC) And displays the user interface on the display unit 16. The user selects, creates, and edits the color image data and the glossy image data input to the image processing apparatus 12 using the user interface. Further, the color image data and the gloss image data or the data serving as the basis of the image data are stored in the storage medium of the storage unit 179 and the universal drive 17. [

The network interface card (NIC) 177 is a network interface for connecting the information processing apparatus 11 to a network 15 such as a wired LAN or a wireless LAN. The programs, color image data, and gloss image data executed by the information processing apparatus 11, or data serving as a basis of these image data, may be stored in a server apparatus on the network.

The processing and the function of the image processing apparatus 12 can be realized by a printer driver for the image generating apparatus 13 executed by the information processing apparatus 11. [ Of course, it is also possible to install the image processing apparatus 12 as hardware in the image generating apparatus 13. Alternatively, the input section 101, the color matching section 102, and the first color separation processing section 104, which are a part of the image processing apparatus 12, may be realized by a printer driver, and the second color separation processing section 106 and the following may be realized as hardware It is also possible to install it in the generating apparatus 13.

[Image processing]

Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining generation processing of image generation data by the image processing apparatus 12. Fig. The input unit 101 receives the color image data RGB and the glossy image data GI (step S501). The color matching unit 102 performs color matching processing for converting the inputted color image data RGB into a color signal R'G'B 'depending on the image generating apparatus 13 (step S502).

The first color separation processing unit 104 executes a first color separation processing for converting the color signal R'G'B 'into the printing material amount signal CMYK (step S503). The second color separation processing section 106 performs a second color separation process for converting the printing material amount signal CMYK into the printing material amount signal C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy containing the signal value of the light printing material based on the input glossy image data GI (Step S504).

The path decomposing unit 108 performs path decomposition processing for multipass printing the printing material amount signal C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy (step S505). The halftone processing unit 109 performs halftone processing for converting the result of the path decomposition processing into driving data for driving each printing element of the image generating apparatus 13 (step S506).

The output unit 111 outputs the image generation data stored in the output data buffer 110 to the image generation apparatus 13 in synchronization with the image generation operation of the image generation apparatus 13 (step S507). The image generation data is output in units of the whole image or the bandwidth of the print scan or the like. The processing from step S501 to step S506 is repeatedly performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

[Second color separation processing section]

As described above, based on the gloss image data GI, the second color separation processing section 106 converts the colorant amount signal CMYK output from the first color separation processing section 104 into the printing material amount signal C 'including the signal value of the printing material, M'Y'K'LcLmGy. At that time, as the gloss value indicated by the gloss image data GI decreases, conversion is performed so that the sum value of the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signals becomes larger than the sum value of the CMYK signals. The number of lamination of the printing material is increased to increase the unevenness of the surface of the printed image and to lower the gloss reproduced by the printed image.

The gloss value is explained using the image clarity value C, which shows the image clarity test method for measuring the sharpness of the image of the object reflected on the sample surface. In the following description, the gloss value is denoted by GI in order to avoid confusion between the value C of the image clarity and the cyan content value C. [ It is confirmed that it is possible to give a decorative effect to the printed matter by changing the image clarity and control of the image clarity can be made by controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. In addition, an index indicating the degree of gloss of the sample, such as a reflection haze or specular image clarity specified in the haze measuring method for measuring the degree of hase of the sample surface, is available.

Each of the indices is an index indicating a different value when the irregularities of the surface of the print image are changed. However, among the above indices, only the reflection haze is an indicator that the gloss decreases as the value increases. Hereinafter, since a gloss value that increases the gloss becomes larger as the value thereof is larger, it is necessary to use a reciprocal in the case of using reflection haze. These indexes may not have a linear relationship with the glossiness felt by the image observer. Therefore, when the user generates the glossy image data GI, it is preferable to perform appropriate conversion based on the index used as the gloss value so that the relationship between gloss value and glossiness can be intuitively understood.

Fig. 6 shows an example of the gloss control table 107 referred to by the second color separation processing unit 106. Fig. The gloss control table 107 is a table in which one of 9 values of 0, 32, 64, 96, 128, 160, 192, 224 and 255 for each of CMYK, The gloss value GI is defined, and a lattice point of 9 ³ x 5 = 3645 is shown. As the gloss value GI, for example, 60, 55, 50, 45, and 40 are specified. Then, the colorant amount signal value (output value) corresponding to the CMYKGI value (input value) of each lattice point is stored in the gloss control table 107. [

For example, when the gloss value GI is changed in CMYK = (0, 0, 0, 255), the output value is changed, and as the GI value is decreased, the usage amount of the K printing material is changed to the usage amount corresponding to the Gy printing material, Gy value increases. In this embodiment, the number of layers of the Gy printing material is described as two layers, but the number of layers is considered as the processing result of the second color separation processing section 106. [ When the value obtained by dividing the Gy value by 2 and the value of K 'are added, the total is 256 regardless of the gloss value GI. However, the sum becomes 255 only in the case of GI = 60 where Gy = 0.

If the inputted CMYKGI value is the value of the lattice point of the gloss control table 107, the second color separation processing section 106 outputs the colorant amount signal C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy printed at the corresponding lattice point. If the input CMYKGI value is a value between lattice points in the gloss control table 107, the second color separation processing section 106 performs interpolation processing using the value printed at the lattice point surrounding the input value, C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy.

In the example shown in Fig. 6, the gloss reproduction range of the image generating apparatus 13 is 40? G? 60. That is, it is difficult to reproduce a gloss value that exceeds the gloss upper limit value (60 in the example shown in FIG. 6) and a gloss value that is lower than the lower limit value (GI <40 in the example shown in FIG. 6). In addition, when a non-reproducible gloss value is input, it is preferable that the application of the information processing apparatus 11 generates a warning.

When a non-reproducible GI value is inputted, the second color separation processing unit 106 clips the GI value to the upper limit value or the lower limit value, and sets the GI value within the gloss reproduction range, thereby performing the second color separation process. That is, when the GI value is equal to or less than the upper limit value of the gloss reproduction range, the usage amount corresponding to the GI value among the usage amount of the thick printing material represented by the CMYK signal can be replaced with the usage amount corresponding to the soft printing material, The total sum of the K'LcLmGy signal values becomes larger than the total sum of the CMYK signal values. This exchange of the usage amount is performed when the GI value is equal to or less than the upper limit value of the gloss reproduction range, and the exchange amount in the exchange of the usage amount increases with the decrease of the GI value.

An example in which the second color separation processing unit 106 uses the multidimensional LUT has been described. However, the second color separation processing section 106 may perform the second color separation processing using the following formula.

if (G1 > 60) G1 = 60;

if (G < 40) G1 = 40;

if (C <255) {

      C '= C - Wc x (Glm - Gl);

} else {

      C '= C + 1 - Wc x (Glm-Gl);

}

if (C '&gt; 255) C' = 255;

if (C &lt; 0) C &apos; = 0;

if (M < 255) {

      M '= M - Wm x (Glm-Gl);

} else {

      M '= M + 1 - Wm x (Glm-Gl);

}

if (M '&gt; 255) M' = 255;

if (M '<0) M' = 0;

Y '= Y;

if (K < 255) {

      K '= K - Wk x (Glm - Gl);

} else {

      K '= K + 1 - Wk x (Glm-Gl);

}

if (K '&gt; 255) K' = 255;

if (K '<0) K' = 0;

Lc = Nlc x Wc x (Glm-Gl);

Lm = Nlm x Wm x (Glm-Gl);

Gy = Ngy x Wk x (Glm-Gl); ... (One)

Here, Glm is the upper limit value of the gloss reproduction range,

Wc, Wm, and Wk are weight factors depending on the values of C, M, and K,

Nlc, Nlm, and Ngy are stacked numbers.

The number of stacks (or the amount of use) of the soft printing material which can obtain the almost same density with respect to the usage amount of the dark printing material is changed from K to Gy and from C to Lc , And is used as the lamination number of the light printing material when exchanging from M to Lm. Alternatively, the number of laminated layers can be obtained from the colorimetric values of the printed materials obtained by printing one layer (or the same amount) of each printing material by the following formula.

First, the reflectance R '(K) or R' (Gy) of an image obtained by printing a K print material or a Gy print material on one layer (or an equivalent amount) and a print medium can be expressed by the following formula.

R '(K) = R (K) x Rp;

R '(Gy) = R (Gy) x Rp; ... (2)

Here, R (K) is the reflectance of the K printing material,

R (Gy) is the reflectance of the Gy printing material,

Rp is the reflectance of the print medium itself.

Since R '(K), R' (Gy) and Rp are measurable in the formula (2), the reflectances R (K) and R (Gy) can be calculated. Further, the reflectance R '(Gy_Ngy) when the Gy printing material is laminated Ngy times on the print medium can be expressed by the following equation.

R '(Gy_Ngy) = R (Gy) ^Ngy × Rp; ... (3)

Therefore, the number of stacks Ngy for obtaining R '(K) = R' (Gy_Ngy) is represented by the following equation.

Ngy = log {R (K)} / log {R (Gy)}; ... (4)

Further, the natural number closest to Ngy calculated by the formula (4) may be set as the number of layers. The weight coefficients Wc, Wm, and Wk can be set by measuring the gloss value GI of the printed matter by changing the ratio (area ratio) at which the thick printing material is changed to the soft printing material.

● Ly printing material

The above assumes that a light yellow (Ly) printing material, which is a soft printing material corresponding to the Y printing material, is not yet placed in the image generating apparatus 13, so that the description is given on the assumption that Y '= Y. This is because the density of the Y printing material is low and the Ly printing material is not generally used. However, since gloss can not be controlled in the region of C = 0, M = 0, Y> 0, and K = 0, it is preferable to mount the Ly printing material on the image generating apparatus 13. In this case, the exchange from the Y value to the Ly value follows the following equation.

if (Y <255) {

      Y '= Y - Wy X (Glm - Gl);

} else {

      Y '= Y + 1 - Wy X (Glm-Gl);

}

      if (Y '> 255) Y' = 255;

      if (Y '<0) Y' = 0;

Ly = Nly x Wy x (Glm-Gl);

      if (Ly > 255) Ly = 255; ... (5)

Here, Glm is the upper limit value of the gloss reproduction range,

Wy is a weight coefficient depending on the values of C, M, and K,

Nly is the number of layers.

[Path disassembly section]

The pass decomposition unit 108 performs a path decomposition process for distributing the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal output from the second color separation processing unit 106 to each recording scan (path).

A multipass printing method will be briefly described. In the inkjet recording method, there is a line method in which a print head having a printing element corresponding to a printing range is used, and an image is printed by moving only the printing medium in the sub scanning direction (paper feeding). In addition, a print head having a smaller number of printing elements than a line-type print head is used, and a serial method (printing method) in which images are sequentially printed by alternately repeating movement of the print head in the main- . The "paper main feeder " is a device for feeding a print medium in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the main scan of the print by a predetermined length.

The width of the area to be printed is determined by performing the printing main scan one time by the arrangement density and the number of printing elements of the print head. When an image is printed by one print scan, the position at which the printing material reaches the print medium changes due to the manufacturing error of the printing element and the influence of the air flow generated around the print head by the printing main scan. As a result, a shaded line called "banding " is formed to deteriorate image quality.

In order to improve the image quality by alleviating the above problem, a multipass recording system is employed. In this embodiment, a light printing material is laminated to control the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. Therefore, it is necessary to print the same printing material in the same area, and multi-pass printing for realizing this is performed by a plurality of printing scans.

In the multipass printing method, an image is completed by a plurality of print main scanning lines. Therefore, the printable image generation data is not completely recorded by one printing main scan. The path decomposing process will be described with reference to Figs. 7A, 7B and 7C. 7A shows an example of a print rate table showing the print rate for each print scan. The value of the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal can be assigned to each print scan (pass) according to the print rate table. In other words, the value obtained by multiplying the signal value by the printing rate is the amount of printing material used in each pass.

When the unit area of the halftone process in the subsequent stage has, for example, 4 x 4 dots, the number of grayscales capable of being reproduced by 4 x 4 dot is 16. In this case, the path resolving section 108 converts the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal of 8 bits of each color into a 4-bit color signal indicating 0-15. FIG. 7B shows the result of converting the upper 4 bits of the K'Gy value (8 bits of each color) after the second color separation process into a 4-bit color signal.

7C shows the path disassembled data assigned to each path based on the printing rate, that is, the output from the path disassembling section 108. The value of K "Gy" The path decomposing unit 108 converts the C'M'Y'K'LcLmGy signal into the path decomposition data C _i M _i Y _i K _i Lc _i Lm _i Gy _i of the _{i- th} path.

The pass decomposition unit 108 determines pass decomposition data in accordance with the print rate table sequentially from the first pass and performs processing similar to the error diffusion processing for propagating the redundancy to the next pass. That is, the error (extra) in the noticed path is propagated to the next path, and the path decomposition data of the path is determined by the signal value obtained by adding the error and the printing rate of the next path. When the signal value of 4 bits is 0xF = 15, the path disassembling section 108 performs the path disassembling process with the signal value being "16 ". 7B and 7C also show reference GI values, it goes without saying that the GI values are not directly related to the processing of the path resolving section 108. [

[Halftone processor]

The halftone processing unit 109 determines the dot layout corresponding to the path disassembly data C _i M _i Y _i K _i Lc _i Lm _i Gy _i . That is, the halftone processing unit 109 generates a 1-bit print signal representing the print position of on-dot from the path disassembly data for each print material. The print signal is outputted as a drive signal (1 bit) of each printing element of the image generating apparatus 13 through the output section 111. [

● thick printing material

8A, 8B and 8C show an example of a 4x4 dither matrix for halftone processing for quantizing the path-separated data of the K "signal into a 1-bit drive signal. , 8b, and 8c are used to determine the dot layout of each pass of the K printing material.

In the first pass, the halftone processing unit 109 sequentially outputs, as a print signal from the cell having the minimum value in the initial dither matrix (FIG. 8A) to the cell having the same value as the path disassembled data, (Dot on), and sets '0' (dot off) as a print signal of another cell.

Then, the halftone processing unit 109 subtracts the path disassembly data of the first pass from the value of each cell of the dither matrix. If a cell having a value smaller than 0 appears, the halftone processing unit 109 adds 16 to the cell in order to keep the cell value within the range of 1-16. 8B and 8C show the update of the dither matrix when the path disassembled data is "4 ".

In the second pass, the halftone processing unit 109 performs the same processing as the first pass using the updated dither matrix (Fig. 8C). This process is repeatedly executed for all passes to determine the dot layout of each pass of the thick printing material.

9 shows the halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the K "value shown in FIG. 7C. In FIG. 9, the cell on which" K "is printed corresponds to on-dot. It is needless to say that the GI value is not directly related to the processing of the halftone processing unit 109. [

● Soft printing material

10A and 10B illustrate halftone processing of the path disassembly data of the Gy "value. Fig. 10A is a diagram for explaining the halftone processing of the 4x4 dither signal for halftone processing which quantizes the path- Represents an example of a matrix. That is, the halftone processing unit 109 determines the dot layout of each pass of the Gy print material by using the dither matrix shown in Fig. 10A.

In the first pass, the halftone processing unit 109 sequentially outputs '1' ("1") as a print signal from the cell having the minimum value to the cell having the same value as the path disassembled data Dot on) and sets '0' as the print signal of the other cell.

In the case of the halftone processing of a thick printing material, the dither matrix is updated after halftone processing of each pass. On the other hand, in the halftone processing of the light printing material, the halftone processing unit 109 performs halftone processing corresponding to the number of passes int (P / N) when the total number of passes is P and the number of layers is N, The dither matrix is initialized to enable the lamination of the light printing material. By this initialization, on-dot overlap of the light printing material occurs in the printing scan of the image generating apparatus 13.

For example, in the case of P = 4 and N = 2, after the halftone processing of the second pass, the dither matrix is initialized, and overlapping of on-dots of the light print material occurs. In the case of P = 4 and N = 3, after the halftone processing of the first, second, and third passes, the dither matrix is initialized, and overlapping of on-dot of the light printing material occurs. By initializing the dither matrix, cells which have already been made "on dot" can be turned on again, and lighter printing materials can be stacked at the same cell position.

10B shows the halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the Gy "value shown in Fig. 7C. In Fig. 10B, a cell in which" G "is printed corresponds to on- 10B shows the reference GI value, but needless to say that the GI value is not directly related to the processing of the halftone processing unit 109. [

When comparing the final dot layout shown in Figs. 9 and 10B, it is known that K-dot and Gy-dot are arranged exclusively. That is, according to the gloss value GI, each K dot is exchanged with a Gy dot of two layers. When the gloss value GI has the lowest value (GI = 40 in this example), the area ratio of the K dot and the area ratio of the Gy dot are the same, and the K dot of the first layer and the Gy dot of the second layer are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. As a result, the thickness of the printing material becomes different between the adjacent dots, and the unevenness (height difference) of the surface of the printed image becomes maximum.

In the above, an example of four print scans (four passes) has been described. However, since the two-layer light printing material and the one-layer thick printing material can be printed, an image can be generated even with two passes. In addition, even when four passes are used, a light printing material can be recorded in the same area in successive passes. However, regardless of this, there is the following reason for performing 4-pass printing and not printing the printing material as much as possible in the same area in successive passes.

The printing material adheres to the printing medium in a liquid state, and is gradually fixed on the printing medium as solid by infiltration of the solvent into the printing medium or evaporation in the air. That is, the printing material immediately after landing on the printing medium is in a wet state. For this reason, by waiting for the fixation of the landed printing material first by giving a time difference in landing, the printing material is then landed on the same area. By doing so, it is an object to prevent the spread of the wet printing material and to laminate a more bulky printing material.

As described above, on the basis of the input gloss image data GI, the usage amount of the thick printing material obtained by the color separation processing of the color image data is replaced with the usage amount of the light printing material. Further, the dot layout of the soft printing material is determined so that the dot of the printing material is superimposed, thereby controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. Therefore, the lower the gloss value to be reproduced, the more the area ratio for increasing the unevenness of the surface of the printed image increases. As a result, desired gloss reproduction can be obtained in the printed image.

[Second Embodiment]

An image processing apparatus and an image processing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof may be omitted.

[summary]

In the first embodiment, as the gloss value reproduced based on the gloss image data GI is lower, the usage amount of the thick printing material is replaced with the usage amount corresponding to the soft printing material, and the dot layout of the soft printing material is determined Thereby controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printed image.

The image forming apparatus 13 is configured to include a red (R) printing material, a blue (B) printing material, and a green (G) printing material in a complementary color relationship with CMY in addition to the CMYK printing material (Hereinafter referred to as &quot; characteristic printing material &quot;) may be mounted. In the second embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the image generating apparatus 13 for mounting the CMYKRGB seven-color printing material will be described.

The image generation device 13 that mounts the basic color printing material and the characteristic printing material replaces the usage amount of the characteristic printing material with the usage amount corresponding to the CMY printing material as the reproducible gloss value is lower and controls the dot amount of the CMY printing material The irregularities on the surface of the printed image are controlled by determining the layout.

1C shows a state in which an image is formed in all the areas in a predetermined area. FIG. 1D shows a state in which an image is formed by overlapping one layer of the R printing material and the Y printing material and the M printing material. The colors reproduced are the same as those in Fig. 1C. In the case shown in Fig. 1 (d), the areas formed only by the R printing material and the areas formed by the lamination of the Y printing material and the M printing material are mixed, so that the unevenness of the surface of the printed image increases and the gloss decreases.

[Configuration of the apparatus]

11 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus 12 of the second embodiment. The first color separation processing section 114 refers to the color separation table 115 and converts the R'G'B 'signal output from the color matching section 102 into the colorant amount signal CMYKRGB. The colorant amount signal CMYKRGB indicates the amount of use of the basic color printing material of the image generating apparatus 13 and the amount of use of the characteristic printing material. Each of the CMYKRGB signals is an 8-bit color signal. By the above process, the color image data RGB is converted into the print data CMYKRGB.

The second color separation processing section 116 receives the CMYKRGB signal and the gloss image data GI output from the first color separation processing section 114 and outputs the CMYKRGB signal as C'M'Y'KR'G ' B 'signal. The second color separation processing unit 116 performs conversion such that the total value of the C'M'Y'KR'G'B 'signals becomes larger than the total value of the CMYKRGB signals. That is, in order to increase the unevenness of the surface of the printed image as the reproducible gloss becomes lower, the second color separation processing unit 116 performs gloss control conversion in which the used amount of the RGB printing material is replaced with the used amount corresponding to the CMY printing material.

The second color separation processing section 116 performs gloss control conversion with reference to the gloss control table 117. [ If the inputted CMYKRGBGI value is the value of the lattice point of the gloss control table 117, the second color separation processing unit 116 outputs the colorant amount signal C'M'Y'KR'G'B 'printed at the lattice point . If the input CMYKRGBGI value is a value between the lattice points of the gloss control table 117, the second color separation processing unit 116 converts the colorant amount signal C (C) by the interpolation process using the value printed at the lattice point surrounding the corresponding value 'M'Y'KR'G'B' is output.

The gloss control conversion and pass decomposition processing will be described with reference to Figs. 12A and 12B. 12A shows a case where red print data having CMYKRGB values (0, 0, 0, 0, 255, 0, 0), i.e., red printable only by the R print material, is input to the second color separation processing unit 116. Fig. In this case, as shown in the fourth column from the second column in the table shown in Fig. 12A, the Y printing material and the M printing material are unused when the gloss value GI = 60. However, as the gloss value GI decreases, R Thereby reducing the amount of printing material used. Then, the amount of the Y printing material and the M printing material capable of reproducing the red color is increased by subtractive color mixing. Of course, in the case of red which can not be reproduced by only the R printing material, the result of the first color separation processing is Y? 0, M? 0, K? 0, R <255. In this case, however, as the gloss value GI decreases, the amount of the R printing material used is decreased and the amount of the Y printing material and the M printing material used is increased.

Although not shown in FIG. 12A, when the result of the first color separation process indicates G = 255, the amount of the G printing material used is decreased as the gloss value GI is decreased, and the Y printing material capable of reproducing green by subtractive color mixing, Thereby increasing the amount of printing material used. Likewise, when the result of the first color separation process indicates B = 255 or the like, as the gloss value GI decreases, the amount of the B printing material used is decreased and the amount of the C printing material and the M printing material capable of reproducing the blue color by subtractive color mixing .

The pass decomposition unit 118 performs a path decomposition process for assigning signal values of C'M'Y'KR'G'B output from the second color separation processing unit 116 to each print scan (path). As in the first embodiment, the path resolving section 118 uses the print rate table shown in Fig. 7A, and the unit area in the halftone processing section 119 has 4 x 4 dots. Thus, the path resolving section 118 converts the C'M'Y'KR'G'B 'signal of each 8 bits into a signal of each color 4 bits. The fifth column through seventh column in the table shown in Fig. 12A show the result of converting the upper 4 bits of the value R'Y'M '(8 bits of each color) after the second color separation processing into 4-bit color signals.

12B shows the path disassembly data assigned to each path on the basis of the print rate, and shows the output of the path disassembling section 118. The path disassembling section 118 is configured to divide the R "Y" , C'M'Y'KR'G'B 'signals into C _i M _i Y _i K _i R _i G _i B _{i which} is the path decomposition data of the i-th path.

The halftone processing unit 119 determines a dot layout for C _i M _i Y _i K _i R _i G _i B _i after the path decomposition process. That is, the halftone processing unit 119 generates a 1-bit print signal indicating the print position of on-dot from the path disassembly data for each print material. In this process, Fig. 8A is used as the initial dither matrix for the characteristic printing material. Also, Fig. 10A is used as the initial dither matrix for the basic color printing material. However, unlike the first embodiment in which the same printing material is laminated, the dither matrix is not initialized during halftone processing because printing materials of different colors are laminated.

13 shows the halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the R "value shown in FIG. 12B. In FIG. 13, the cell on which" R "is printed corresponds to on-dot. 14 shows the halftone processing result of the path disassembled data of the value of Y "M" shown in Fig. 12B. In Fig. 14, "YM" 13 and 14 also show a reference GI value, but it should be noted that the GI value is not directly related to the processing of the halftone processing unit 119 There is no.

Comparing the final dot layout shown in Figs. 13 and 14, it is known that R dot and YM dot are arranged exclusively. That is, according to the gloss value GI, each R dot is exchanged with the YM dot of the second layer. When the gloss value GI has the minimum value (GI = 40 in this example), the area ratio of R dot and the area ratio of YM dot are the same, and the R dot of the first layer and the YM dot of the second layer are arranged in a checkerboard pattern . As a result, the thickness of the printing material is different between the adjacent dots, and the unevenness (height difference) of the surface of the printed image becomes maximum.

In the above description, an example in which FIG. 7A is applied as the printing rate table of all printing materials has been described for simplicity of explanation. Therefore, the Y printing material and the M printing material are printed in the same area with the same number of passes. Different printing rate tables are used for the C printing material, the Y printing material and the M printing material, respectively, in order to obtain a difference in hit time between overlapping printing materials as described in the first embodiment.

As described above, based on the input gloss image data GI, the usage amount of the characteristic printing material, which is acquired by the color separation processing of the color image data, is replaced with the usage amount of the CMY printing material. Further, the dot layout of the CMY printing material is determined so that the CMY printing material is superimposed, thereby controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printing image. Therefore, the lower the gloss value to be reproduced, the more the area ratio for increasing the unevenness of the surface of the printed image increases. As a result, desired gloss reproduction can be obtained in the printed image.

If the process of step S503 in Fig. 5 is changed from R'G'B 'to CMYKRGB and the process of step S504 of Fig. 5 is changed from CMYKRGB to C'M'Y'KR'G'B' 2 is a flowchart showing generation processing of image generation data. Therefore, a flowchart showing the generation processing of the image generation data of the second embodiment is omitted.

[Third Embodiment]

An image processing apparatus and an image processing method according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the third embodiment, the same components as those in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof may be omitted.

[summary]

In the first and second embodiments, the exchange of the amount of thick printing material from the usage amount of soft printing material, the replacement of the amount of use of the characteristic printing material to the usage amount of CMY printing material, and the lamination of soft printing material or CMY printing material have been described. In addition to the dark printing material (basic color printing material), the soft printing material, and the characteristic printing material, the image generating device 13 may be provided with a substantially clear color clear material. In the third embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an image generating apparatus 13 for mounting a CMYK four-color primary color printing material and a CL material will be described.

The clear material (hereinafter referred to as CL material) is mainly used as a gloss adjusting material for adjusting the gloss of a printed material, and is generally used for applications such as gloss enhancement. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, the amount of CL material used is increased as the reproducible gloss is lower, thereby increasing the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. In addition, the CL material does not care if there is some color or slight cloudiness.

[Configuration of the apparatus]

15 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus 12 of the third embodiment. The CLY re-attaching unit (CL re-attaching unit) 126 receives the CMYK signal and the gloss image data GI output from the first color separation processing unit 104, determines the CL value based on the gloss image data GI, And outputs a signal. The CL reattacher 126 increases the CL value as the gloss value indicated by the glossy image data GI decreases. That is, the amount of CL material used is increased in order to increase the unevenness of the surface of the printed image as the reproducible gloss decreases.

The CL re-adder 126 refers to the one-dimensional gloss control table 127 to determine the CL signal value. If the input gloss value GI is a recording value of the gloss control table 127, the CL reattacher 126 outputs a CMYKCL signal to which a CL value corresponding to the gloss value GI is added. If the input gloss value GI is a value between the printing values of the gloss control table 127, the CL re-appending unit 126 adds the CL value determined by the interpolation process using the printing value between the gloss values And outputs the CMYKCL signal.

The determination of the CL value and the path decomposition process will be described with reference to Figs. 16A and 16B. 16A shows a case in which black print data reproducible by the CMYK value (0, 0, 0, 255), that is, only the K print material, is input to the CL re- As shown in the second column in the table of Fig. 16A, the usage amount of the K printing material is irrelevant to the gloss value GI. On the other hand, as shown in the third column, when the gloss value GI = 60, the CL material is unused, and the CL amount is increased as the gloss value GI is decreased. In other words, as the gloss value GI decreases while maintaining the CMYK signal value, the amount of the CL printing material used is increased.

The path decomposition unit 128 performs path decomposition processing for assigning the CMYKCL signal value output from the CL reattach unit 126 to each print scan (path). As in the first embodiment, the path resolving unit 128 uses the printing rate table shown in Fig. 7A, and the unit area in the halftone processing unit 129 has 4 x 4 dots. Therefore, the path decomposing unit 128 converts each of the 8-bit CMYKCL signals into 4-bit signals. The fourth column and the sixth column in the table shown in Fig. 16A show the result of conversion from the upper 4 bits of the KLC signal (each color 8 bits) to each 4-bit signal.

16B shows the path disassembled data assigned to each path on the basis of the printing rate, and shows the output from the path disassembling section 128. In Fig. The path decomposition unit 128 converts the CMYKLC signal into C _i M _i Y _i K _i LC _{i which} is the path decomposition data of the i-th path.

The halftone processing unit 129 determines the dot layout for C _i M _i Y _i K _i CL _i after the pass decomposition process. That is, the halftone processing unit 129 generates a 1-bit print signal indicating the printing position of the dot from the path disassembly data for each printing material. In this process, Fig. 8A is used as the initial dither matrix for the basic color printing material. 10A is used as a dither matrix for CL. However, unlike the first embodiment in which the same printing material is laminated, since the basic color printing material and the CL material are laminated, the dither matrix is not initialized during halftone processing.

The halftone processing will be described with reference to Figs. 17A and 17B. Fig. 17A shows the result of halftoning the path disassembled data of the K "value shown in Fig. 16B. In Fig. 17A, the cell on which" K & Shows the result of halftoning the path decomposition data of the indicated CL "value. In Fig. 17B, the cell on which "CL" is printed corresponds to the on-dot of the CL material. 17B also shows a reference GI value, but it goes without saying that the GI value is not directly related to the processing of the halftone processing unit 119. [

FIGS. 17A and 17B show that CL ashes are superimposed on the K printing material when the K printing material is printed in the front area, and when the GI is other than 60, the overlapping area of the CL material increases as the gloss value GI decreases. Further, since unevenness may be formed on the surface of the printed image, the CL material may be disposed on the basic color printing material, or the basic color printing material may be disposed on the CL material.

18 is a flowchart for explaining generation processing of image generation data by the image processing apparatus 12 of the third embodiment. The input unit 101 inputs the color image data RGB and the gloss image data GI (step S601). The color matching unit 102 performs color matching processing for converting the input color image data RGB into color signals R'G'B 'depending on the image generating apparatus 13 (step S602).

The first color separation processing section 104 executes the first color separation processing for converting the color signal R'G'B 'into the printing material amount signal CMYK (step S603). The CL re-adder 126 outputs the printing material quantity signal CMYKCL added with the CL disposition based on the input glossy image data GI (step S604).

The path disassembling section 128 executes a path disassembling process for multipass printing the printing material quantity signal CMYKCL (step S605). The halftone processing unit 129 performs halftone processing for converting the pass decomposition processing result into drive data for driving each printing element of the image generating apparatus 13 (step S606).

The output unit 111 outputs the image generation data stored in the output data buffer 110 to the image generation apparatus 13 in synchronization with the image generation operation of the image generation apparatus 13 (step S607). The image generation data is output in units of the whole image or the bandwidth of the print scan or the like. The processes from step S601 to step S606 are repeatedly performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

As described above, the usage amount of the CL material is determined based on the input glossy image data GI, and the amount of the CL material used is increased as the gloss value is decreased. Further, the dot layout is determined so that the basic color printing material and the CL material overlap each other, thereby controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. Therefore, as the gloss value to be reproduced decreases, the area ratio for increasing the unevenness of the surface of the printed image is increased, so that desired gloss reproduction can be obtained in the printed image.

[Fourth Embodiment]

Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus and an image processing method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the fourth embodiment, the same components as those in the first to third embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof may be omitted.

[summary]

In the first embodiment, as the gloss value reproduced based on the gloss image data GI decreases, the usage amount of the thick printing material is changed to the usage amount corresponding to the LcLmGy printing material, and the dot layout of the soft printing material is determined so as to overlap the soft printing material, A method of controlling the unevenness of the surface of the image has been described.

The image generating device 13 may be a high density black type printing material having a relatively high density and a plurality of low density black type printing materials having a relatively low density for the K printing material contained in the basic color printing material. For example, the image generating apparatus 13 may mount three types of printing materials, that is, K, Gy, and Lgy, in the order of higher density as a black printing material (hereinafter referred to as a BK printing material). In this case, Gy and Lgy are low-concentration black-based printing materials. In the fourth embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the image generating apparatus 13 for mounting the six color printing materials of CMYKGyLgy will be described.

When three kinds of BK-based printing materials are used, the K printing material is exchanged with a lamination of a Gy printing material or a lamination of an Lgy printing material, and lamination of one K printing material, a Gy printing material, and a Lgy printing material Low gloss can be realized by mixing.

Fig. 1E shows an image in which a part of the K printing material is replaced with a two-layer Gy printing material. 1F shows an image in which a part of the K printing material is replaced with four layers of Lgy printing material. In addition, it is presupposed that the color reproduced by the two-layer Gy printing material, the color reproduced by the four-layer Lgy printing material, and the color reproduced by the K printing material of the first layer are the same. Fig. 1G shows an image in which a part of the K printing material is replaced with a two-layer Gy printing material or a four-layer Lgy printing material.

The graphs shown on the right side of each of Figs. 1E, 1F, and 1G show a histogram (normal histogram) of the normal angles of the surface of the corresponding printed image. These histograms are obtained by dividing the measurement result of the surface shape of the sample of each of Figs. 1E, 1F, and 1G into fine regions and measuring the normal direction of each fine region.

When comparing the normal histogram shown in Fig. 1E with the normal histogram shown in Fig. 1F, it is found that the most frequently used normal angle is different. In the normal histogram shown in Fig. 1G, the frequency distribution is wide. That is, the surface of the fine region in the image shown in the image of Fig. 1G is inclined in various directions, and as a result, the direction of the light reflected from the image surface is also distributed at various angles. Therefore, the gloss of the image shown in Fig. 1G is lower than that shown in Figs. 1E and 1F.

[Configuration of the apparatus]

19 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image processing apparatus 12 of the fourth embodiment. The black-based decomposition processing section (BK-based decomposition processing section) 136 receives the CMYK signal and the glossy image data GI output from the first color separation processing section 104 and decomposes the BK-based printing material based on the gloss image data GI And converts the CMYK signal into a CMYK'GyLgy signal. The BK-based decomposition processing unit 136 converts the used amount of the K printing material into the usage amount corresponding to the Gy printing material or the usage amount corresponding to the Lgy printing material as the gloss value indicated by the gloss image data GI decreases. That is, in order to increase the unevenness of the surface of the printed image as the reproduced gloss decreases, gloss control conversion is performed to increase the amount of use of the Gy printing material and the Lgy printing material.

The BK-type decomposition processing section 136 refers to the gloss control table 137 and performs gloss control conversion. If the input CMYKGI value is the value of the lattice point of the gloss control table 137, the colorant amount signal CMYK'GyLgy printed at the corresponding lattice point is output. If the input CMYKGI value is a value between lattice points in the gloss control table 137, the BK-type decomposition processing unit 136 performs interpolation processing using the values printed at the lattice points surrounding the corresponding values, Outputs CMYK'GyLgy.

20A and 20B, gloss control conversion and pass decomposition processing will be described. 20A shows a case in which black print data reproducible by the CMYK value (0, 0, 0, 0, 255), that is, only the K print material, is input to the BK system decomposition processing unit 136. FIG. In this case, as shown in the second to fourth columns in the table of Fig. 20A, the Gy printing material and the Lgy printing material are unused when the gloss value GI = 60. However, if the GI value decreases, the usage amount of the K printing material decreases, and the use of the Gy printing material is first started.

Further, when the GI value is further reduced, the amount of use of the Gy printing material is increased, and the use of the Lgy printing material is started. Thereafter, when the GI value further decreases, the increase in the usage amount of the Gy printing material is stopped and the usage amount of the Lgy printing material is increased. That is, the usage amount is exchanged for the low density black type printing material corresponding to the GI value.

The path decomposing unit 138 performs a path decomposition process for assigning the signal value of CMYK'GyLgy outputted from the BK-type decomposition processing unit 136 to each print scan (path). Also, as in the first embodiment, the pass decomposition unit 138 uses the printing rate table shown in Fig. 7A, and the unit area in the halftone processing unit 139 has 4 x 4 dots. Thus, the path decomposing unit 138 converts each 8-bit CMYK'GyLgy signal into a 4-bit signal. The fifth through seventh columns in the table of Fig. 20A show the result of conversion from the upper 4 bits of the K'GyLgy value (8 bits of each color) to each 4-bit signal.

20B shows the path disassembled data assigned to each path based on the print rate, and shows the output of the path disassembling section 138. The value of K "LC" The path decomposing unit 138 converts the CMYK'GyLgy signal into C _i M _i Y _i K _i Gy _i Lgy _{i which} is the path decomposition data of the i-th path.

The halftone processing unit 139 determines the dot layout for C _i M _i Y _i K _i Gy _i Lgy _i after the pass decomposition process. That is, the halftone processing unit 139 generates a 1-bit print signal indicating the printing position of the dot from the path disassembly data for each printing material. In this process, Fig. 8A is used as the initial dither matrix for the basic color printing material. Therefore, the result of halftoning the path disassembled data of the K "value shown in Fig. 20B is as shown in Fig.

The halftone processing of the Gy printing material will be described with reference to Figs. 21A and 21B. 21A shows an example of an initial dither matrix for a Gy print material. In order to overlap the Gy print material with two layers, the dither matrix is initialized during halftone processing as in the first embodiment. 21B shows a result of halftoning the path disassembled data of the Gy "value shown in Fig. 20B. In Fig. 21B, the cell on which" G "is printed corresponds to on- Corresponds to a dot having each of the two-layer Gy printing material.

The halftone processing of the Lgy printing material will be described with reference to Figs. 22A and 22B. 22A shows an example of a dither matrix for an Lgy printing material. In order to overlap the Lgy print material with four layers (in order to overlap in all passes), the dither matrix is not initialized during halftone processing. 22B shows the result of halftoning the path disassembled data of the Lgy "value shown in Fig. 20B. In Fig. 22B, the cell in which" Lg " 21B and 22B also show reference GI values, but it is to be understood that the GI values are not directly related to the processing of the halftone processing unit 139 There is no need.

23 shows the final dot layout of the BK series printing material. As the gloss value GI decreases, the print image generating dot is changed to "K dot of the first layer", "K dot of the first layer + Gy dot of the second layer", "G dot of the first layer + Gy dot of the second layer + Quot; Lgy dot ". As described above, when the relationship between the density Dk of the K printing material, the density Dgy of the Gy printing material, and the density Dlgy of the Lgy printing material is Dk: Dgy: Dlgy = 4: 2: 1, Is not observed, and the gloss corresponding to the gloss value GI is reproduced in the image.

As described above, a plurality of BK-based printing materials having different concentrations are used, and the usage amount of the K printing material is distributed to the usage amounts of the plurality of low-density BK-based printing materials. Also, the dot layout of a plurality of low-concentration BK-based printing materials is determined so as to obtain a superposition of the number of layers corresponding to the density of a plurality of low-concentration BK-based printing materials, thereby controlling the unevenness of the surface of the printed image. Therefore, it becomes possible to control the area ratio for increasing the concavities and convexities of the surface of the printed image in multiple steps. As a result, desired gloss reproduction and smoother gloss change in a printed image can be obtained.

In addition, it becomes possible to lower the gloss regardless of the gradation. Especially, in the dark part of the image, the decorative effect can be improved by widening the reproduction range on the low-gloss side. In addition, when increasing the concavity and convexity of the surface of the printed image by replacing the relatively high-density printing material with the relatively low-density printing material having a low density in the unit of area, the color or the density of the adjacent area becomes as close as possible. By doing so, there is an effect of preventing deterioration of granularity.

5 is replaced with CMYK? CMYK? GyLgy, the processing of step S504 in Fig. 5 is changed to the flowchart showing the generation processing of the image generation data in the fourth embodiment. Therefore, the flowchart showing the generation processing of the image generation data in the fourth embodiment will be omitted.

Other Embodiments

Additional embodiments (s) of the present invention may be implemented as computer-executable instructions stored on a storage medium (e.g., 'non-temporary computer readable storage medium') to perform one or more of the above- One or more circuits (e.g., ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) that read and execute possible instructions (e.g., one or more programs) and perform one or more of the above- ), And by reading and executing computer-executable instructions from a storage medium to perform one or more of the above-described embodiment (s), for example, And / or by the method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by controlling one or more circuits performing one or more of the functions of the above described embodiment (s) Can be realized. The computer may comprise one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), or other circuitry, and may comprise a separate computer or a network of independent computer processors. These computer executable instructions may, for example, be provided to a computer from a network or storage medium. The storage medium may be, for example, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a storage of a distributed computing system, an optical disk (compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc Disc (BD) ^TM, etc.), a flash memory device, and a memory card.

While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

Claims (11)

An input unit configured to receive color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated;
A first color separation unit configured to convert the color image data into a first printing material amount signal indicating a usage amount of a thick printing material having a relatively high density;
And a second printing discretionary signal generating unit that generates a second printing discretionary signal for exchanging the usage amount corresponding to the glossy image data among the usage amount of the thick printing material indicated by the first printing material amount signal to the usage amount corresponding to the soft printing material having a relatively low density A two-color separation unit,
A path disassembly unit configured to convert the second printing material amount signal into path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image producing apparatus,
The halftone processing is performed on the path disassembly data to generate a print signal indicating a print position of on-dot for each of the thick print material and the light print material, And a halftone processing unit configured to generate the print signal that causes overlapping of the dots.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the relatively high density printing material is a high density black printing material and the low density printing material is a low density black printing material.
3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the image forming apparatus comprises a plurality of low-concentration black-based printing materials having different concentrations, the low-concentration black-
Wherein the second color separation unit exchanges the usage amount with respect to the low density black type printing material corresponding to the gloss image data.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
And when the gloss image data is equal to or lower than the upper limit value of the gloss reproduction range of the image generating apparatus, the usage amount is exchanged.
The method according to claim 1,
And the exchange amount in the exchange of the usage amount increases along with the decrease of the gloss image data.
The method according to claim 1,
The total sum of the signal values of the second printing material quantity signal is larger than the total sum of the signal values of the first printing material quantity signal by the exchange of the usage amount.
An input unit configured to receive color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated;
A first color separation unit configured to convert the color image data into a first printing material amount signal indicating a usage amount of the basic color printing material and an amount of use of the characteristic printing material for reproducing a color different from the basic color printing material;
A second printing material quantity signal which is used for exchanging the usage amount corresponding to the gloss image data among the usage amount of the characteristic printing material indicated by the first printing material amount signal to the usage amount corresponding to the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the characteristic printing material, A second color separation unit configured to generate the second color separation unit,
A path disassembly unit configured to convert the second printing material amount signal into path disassembly data corresponding to each print scan of the image producing apparatus,
Wherein the halftone processing is performed on the path disassembly data to generate a print signal indicating a printing position of on-dot for each of the basic color printing material and the characteristic printing material, And a halftone processing unit configured to generate the print signal that causes overlapping of on-dots of the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the plurality of basic color printing materials.
8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the characteristic printing material are combinations of basic color printing materials capable of reproducing colors reproduced by the characteristic printing material.
Comprising: receiving color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated;
Converting the color image data into a first printing material quantity signal indicative of an amount of use of a thick printing material having a relatively high density;
Generating a second printing discretionary signal for exchanging a usage amount corresponding to the glossy image data among the usage amount of the thick printing material indicated by the first printing material amount signal to a usage amount corresponding to a soft printing material having a relatively low density; ,
Converting the second printing material amount signal into the path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image producing apparatus,
Wherein the halftone process is performed on the pass decomposition data to generate a print signal indicating a print position of on-dot for each of the thick print material and the light print material, And generating the print signal that causes overlapping of dots.
10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the relatively high density printing material is a high density black printing material and the low density printing material is a low density black printing material.
Comprising: receiving color image data and glossy image data of an image to be generated;
Converting the color image data into a first printing disposal amount signal indicating a usage amount of the basic color printing material and an amount of use of the characteristic printing material reproducing a color different from the basic color printing material;
A second printing material quantity signal which is used for exchanging the usage amount corresponding to the gloss image data among the usage amount of the characteristic printing material indicated by the first printing material amount signal to the usage amount corresponding to the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the characteristic printing material, ,
Converting the second printing material amount signal into the path disassembly data corresponding to each printing scan of the image producing apparatus,
The halftone processing is performed on the path disassembly data to generate a print signal indicating a printing position of on-dot for each of the basic color printing material and the characteristic printing material, And generating the print signal which causes overlapping of on-dots of the plurality of basic color printing materials corresponding to the plurality of basic color printing materials.

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