JP2944145B2 - Video printer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a video printer, and more particularly, to a video printer capable of easily adjusting the quality of a print image obtained by the printer and an image obtained by a monitor television. .

(B) Conventional technology A sublimation-type thermal transfer video printer is described in, for example, the magazine "Television Technology", September 1989, pp. 15 to 20, but especially the color of the printed image (printed image). Adjustment is described in JP-A-1-183970 and JP-A-1-198886.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, none of the above publications disclose a technique for matching the quality of a printed image with the quality of an image projected on a monitor television.

Therefore, the present invention has been made with such points in mind.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, a test pattern generating means, a memory in which an image signal is stored, and an output signal of the test pattern generating means and an image signal read from the memory are selected. A first selection unit for selecting one image, a first color adjustment unit for adjusting a hue such as a hue and a saturation of an image signal output from the first selection unit for printing, A second selection unit for selectively selecting an image signal output from the first selection unit and a video signal output from the first color adjustment unit;
An image forming unit that performs printing in accordance with the output from the second selecting unit, and a second unit that adjusts the hue of the image signal output from the first selecting unit, such as hue and saturation, to be displayed on a monitor. Color adjustment means, third selection means for selectively selecting an image signal output from the first selection means and an image signal output from the second color adjustment means, and third selection means A monitor for displaying an image signal output from the monitor, monitor color adjusting means for adjusting the color tone of the monitor itself,
Color adjustment control means for controlling the color adjustment amount of the color adjustment means to be the same as the color adjustment amount of the second color adjustment means, and the output signal of the test pattern generation means is provided in advance by the first selection means. The output from the first selection means is selected by the second selection means and the third selection means by selection, and an image is displayed and printed by the monitor and the image forming means, respectively. The monitor color adjustment unit adjusts the color tone of the image displayed on the monitor to match the color of the image displayed on the monitor, and when printing the image signal recorded in the memory, the first selection unit selects The image signal read from the memory is selected, and the second selection means and the third selection means select the output from the first color adjustment means and the output from the second color adjustment means, respectively, and The color adjustment amount of the second color adjustment unit is adjusted by the color adjustment control unit by adjusting the tint of the indicated image by the second color adjustment unit, and the image projected on the monitor by the image forming unit. Print in the same color as

(E) Operation When the first selecting means selects the output of the test pattern generator, the second and third selecting means are obtained without the intervention of the first and second color adjusting means in conjunction therewith. Select the output signal.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the video printer of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

An analog video signal Va obtained from a video tape recorder, an electronic still camera, a camcorder, etc. is converted into an A / D converter 1
Is converted into a digital video signal by the digital processing unit 2
Supplied to

When a memory button (not shown) of the video printer is pressed, a video signal input from the A / D converter 1 to the digital processing unit 2 is input to the memory 4 via the first selection circuit 3. This memory 4 has a capacity to store a still image for one field or one frame. The digital video signal output from the digital processing unit 2 is converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 5,
The data is output to the monitor television 9 via the second color adjustment circuit 7 and the third selection circuit 8. The monitor television 9 is provided with a color adjustment circuit 10, which can adjust hue and saturation by adjusting the volume.

When a print button (not shown) is pressed, the first selection circuit 3 selects the output of the memory 4, the second selection circuit 12 selects the output of the first color adjustment circuit 11, and the third selection circuit 8 selects the output of the first color adjustment circuit 11. Since the output of the two-color adjustment circuit 7 is selected, the digital video signal read from the memory 4 is transferred to the first selection circuit 3, the digital processing unit 2, the first color adjustment circuit 11, and the second selection circuit 11. The image is supplied to the processing circuit 13, where an image is printed on a recording sheet. At this time, the signal read from the memory 4 is simultaneously supplied to the monitor television 9 via the D / A converter 5, the analog processing unit 6, and the second color adjustment circuit 7, so that the monitor television 9 can monitor the signal. .

The adjustment of the hue and saturation of the video projected on the monitor television 9 can be adjusted by the second color adjustment circuit 7. The adjustment amount by the second adjustment circuit 7 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 14. It is supplied to the controller unit 15. The controller 15 controls the first color adjustment circuit 11 by the same amount as the adjustment amount of the second color adjustment circuit 7 to change the hue and saturation of the image to be printed.

By the way, when the monitor television 9 is first connected (initial state), the color of the image displayed on the monitor television 9 does not match the color of the image to be printed. For this reason, in the present invention, a test pattern signal generation circuit 16 is provided in order to match the colors of the two, and the controller unit 15 generates a test pattern signal from the test pattern signal generation circuit unit 16 when:
The first to third selection circuits 3, 12, 8 are controlled as follows.

That is, the first selection circuit 3 is a test pattern signal generation circuit.
When the first selection circuit 3 selects the output of the test pattern signal generator 16, the first and second color adjustments are performed in response to the selection of the 16 output signals. circuit
Control is performed so as to select an output signal obtained without going through 11, 7. Therefore, since the test pattern signal is supplied to the image forming circuit 13 and the monitor television 9 without any color adjustment, the image is printed once in this state, and the monitor television 9 is adjusted to match the color of the image. If the color adjustment circuit 10 is adjusted, the image data stored in the memory 4 is actually printed by the second color adjustment circuit 7 by the monitor TV 9.
When the image projected on the image is adjusted, the image is printed in the same color as the adjusted image.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a print image of a color faithful to an image on a monitor television can be obtained with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the video printer of the present invention. (3)... First selection circuit, (4)... Memory, (8).
... 1st selection circuit, (9) ... monitor television, (12) ...
Second selection circuit (13) Image forming circuit (16)
Test pattern signal generation circuit section.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A video printer which prints an image signal by checking the image signal before printing on a monitor, a test pattern generating means, a memory storing an image signal, an output signal of the test pattern generating means and the memory. A first selecting means for selectively selecting an image signal read out of the image processing apparatus, and a hue such as hue and saturation of the image signal output from the first selecting means for printing. A first color adjusting unit, and a second selecting unit that selectively selects an image signal output from the first selecting unit and a video signal output from the first color adjusting unit.
Selecting means, image forming means for performing printing in accordance with the output from the second selecting means, and adjusting the hue, such as hue and saturation, of the image signal output from the first selecting means for display on a monitor A second color adjustment unit for selecting the image signal output from the first selection unit and an image signal output from the second color adjustment unit.
A monitor for displaying an image signal output from the third selecting means, a monitor color adjusting means for adjusting the color tone of the monitor itself, and a color adjusting amount of the first color adjusting means for the second color adjusting means. Color adjustment control means for controlling the amount of color adjustment to be the same as the color adjustment amount of the color adjustment means, wherein the first selection means selects the output signal of the test pattern generation means in advance and the second selection means and the third selection means
The output from the first selection means is selected by the selection means, and an image is displayed and printed by the monitor and the image forming means, respectively, and the output of the printed image and the image displayed on the monitor are selected. The monitor color adjustment unit adjusts the color to match, and when printing the image signal recorded in the memory, the image signal read from the memory is selected by the first selection unit. The second selecting means and the third selecting means respectively select the output from the first color adjusting means and the output from the second color adjusting means, and adjust the hue of the image displayed on the monitor to the second color adjusting means. The color adjustment amount of the second color adjustment unit is adjusted by the color adjustment control unit by adjusting the color adjustment unit, and the image is printed in the same hue as the image projected on the monitor by the image forming unit. Video printer.