JP4556582B2 - Image printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints out code image information on a medium such as paper based on print data including code image information such as a QR code and a barcode, and in particular, the code image information is accurately read. The present invention relates to a technology for printing in a form.

Code image information such as QR code and bar code is information obtained by coding various information such as product data, URL, contact information, and related information into a two-dimensional image. For example, information coded on printed matter is added. It is used to print.
In recent years, the multi-functionality of printing devices has made it possible to easily create printed materials in which various types of information such as images such as photographs, characters, figures, etc. are mixed. Therefore, a printing process as a photo mode is performed.

  In addition, when various types of information are mixed, the structure of the information can be easily edited. For example, print data in which various information is laid out in a page by using a page description language (PDL) is input to the printing apparatus. Thus, by performing a printing process with the printing apparatus, it is possible to obtain a printed matter in which code images are freely arranged.

The code image printed on such a printed material is read by an apparatus having a code recognition means, and the original information is extracted by recognizing the coded information.
Therefore, in printing the code information image, it is important to print the code image in a faithful form.

Regarding printing of a code information image, when printing a code image included in a certain image, an area where the color characteristic or color density characteristic is changed corresponding to the code image is provided at the edge of the code image of the image, Thus, an invention has been proposed that makes it possible to add code image information without degrading the image quality even if the code information image is easy to detect and it is relatively difficult to add code information. (See Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-41449

  Here, since the print data includes an image or is colorized, the data becomes large. For this reason, the printing apparatus divides the print data for a page into several parts and performs image processing. The data is printed out when there is enough data for each page in the print unit. The printing apparatus must hold a large amount of data until the print data input in this way is printed out. Therefore, the data is irreversibly compressed and held in the memory. A measure is taken to reduce the necessary memory capacity by irreversibly decompressing the data held in the printout and printing it out.

  However, image information such as photographs does not have a significant effect on image quality even if irreversible compression and irreversible decompression processing are performed. However, code information images are subjected to such irreversible processing. As a result, the printed code information image is distorted or the sharpness of the outline is lost, and the code information cannot be read and recognized correctly.

  In addition, since the color image is expressed in the RGB color system in the print data and the color image is expressed in the CMYK color system in the printing process, the printing apparatus converts the RGB color data to the CMYK color system. Image processing for color conversion is performed. Furthermore, if black is represented by K in a photographic image, dullness occurs in the printed photographic image, and therefore, black is represented by a mixed color of CMY and printed.

  However, since the code image information is handled and printed as an image in the same way as a photographic image, the printed code image becomes a color slightly different from the original color expressed in the RGB system, and the code information is correctly displayed. There was a problem that it could not be read and recognized. For example, since a black QR code image expressed in B is printed in black expressed in a mixed color of CMY, the QR code image cannot be printed in original black.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and prints code information image data included in the print data in a form in which the code information image can be accurately read and recognized by performing appropriate processing. It is an object.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the code information determination unit specifies the code information image portion included in the print data, the lossless compression unit performs lossless compression of the specified code information image portion data, and the lossless storage unit performs lossless compression. Held code information image portion data is held. Then, the code information image part data held in the reversible storage means is reversibly decompressed by the reversible decompression means, and the synthesis means renders the code information image part data that has been reversibly decompressed and developed into a print page image. Prints a page image for printing on a medium such as paper.
Therefore, the code information image data is subjected to lossless compression and lossless decompression, thereby reducing the capacity of the storage means (memory) that holds the data until the data for the page is image-processed. An image can be printed in an original form that is correctly read and recognized.

  In the present invention, the irreversible compression means for irreversibly compressing the object part included in the print data, the irreversible storage means for holding the irreversibly compressed object part data, and the stored object part data are In a printing apparatus further comprising a lossy decompression means for performing lossless decompression, at least the code information image part data is subjected to lossless compression, lossless accumulation, lossless decompression, lossless compression, lossless accumulation, and lossless decompression as described above. What is necessary is just to make a synthetic | combination means expand | deploy to a page image for printing with object part data.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the code information determination unit identifies the code information image portion included in the print data, and the color assurance color conversion unit guarantees the code information image portion data identified by the color of the code image. The color information is converted into a printing color system, and the code information image portion data subjected to the color conversion is drawn by the synthesizing unit and developed into a print page image, and the printing unit prints the print page image on the medium.
Therefore, the code information image expressed in black and white can be printed in the original color that is correctly read and recognized, such as being printed as an image expressing black by CMYK K.

  In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the above-described lossless compression processing and color-guaranteed color conversion processing may be combined. For example, the code information determination unit specifies the code information image portion included in the print data, The code information image part data for which the color-guaranteed color conversion means is specified is color-converted to a printing color system by guaranteeing the color of the code image, and the code information image part data for which the color conversion is performed is losslessly compressed. The reversible storage means retains the reversibly compressed code information image part data, the reversible decompression means retains the code information image part data reversibly, and the combining means renders the reversibly decompressed code information image part data. Then, the image is developed into a print page image, and the printing means prints the print page image on a medium.

In the present invention described above, when the code information image portion is included in the photographic image portion in the print data, the photographic image portion data including the code information image portion is subjected to irreversible compression / decompression processing or color assurance. Then, the color may be converted into a printing color system and developed into a printing page image. That is, a photographic image including a code information image may be printed by performing processing suitable for the code information image.
In the present invention, when the print data includes a character portion or a graphic portion in addition to the code information image, the character portion or the graphic portion is subjected to irreversible compression / expansion processing or color assurance. Then, the color may be converted into a printing color system and developed into a printing page image. In other words, the characters and graphics may be prevented from being damaged by the lossy compression process, and the black may be printed clearly as black.

In the present invention, preferably, the print data is in a PDL data format, and the code information determination unit analyzes the PDL data to identify the code information image portion.
The above-described printing apparatus according to the present invention preferably includes code recognition means (for example, a scanner or image recognition means) that reads code information images printed on a medium and recognizes code information, and prints it by itself. The code information image can be read and recognized. As a result, even if some deviation or distortion occurs in the printing of the code information image, it can be read and recognized by allowing the deviation or distortion or the like by reading and recognizing with the same error.

  According to the present invention, the code information image data included in the print data can be appropriately processed, and the printed code information image can be accurately read and recognized.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on examples.
FIG. 1 shows a main functional configuration of a multifunction printer 1 to which the present invention is applied.
The multi-function printer 1 is a device that is provided with various functions such as a copier function and a facsimile machine function in addition to the function as a printing apparatus. A code recognition function including a scanner 2 that reads a printed code information image (in this example, a QR code image) and an image recognition unit 3 that recognizes code information from the read code information image is provided.

In this example, the code information image is described as a black and white QR code image, but the present invention can also be applied to other code information images such as barcodes and color code information images.
Further, in this example, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, when a monochrome code information image 30, photographic images 31, 32, 33, monochrome characters 34, monochrome graphics 35 are included in one page, the code information image 30 Not only the black and white characters 34 and the black and white graphics 35, but also the photographic image 31 including the code information image 30 are color-guaranteed color conversion and lossless compression / decompression, but in the present invention, only the code information image 30 is extracted. Then, color-guaranteed color conversion and reversible compression / decompression may be performed.

The multi-function printer device 1 identifies each object such as a print data interpretation unit 11 that interprets print data input as PDL data and a code information image unit included in the print data based on the interpretation result as a print device function. Code information discriminating section 12 for performing black-guaranteed color conversion on the object set for color-guaranteed conversion, such as the specified code information image part data, and converting the color from the RGB system to the CMYK system for the printing color system 13. A reversible compression unit 14 that reversibly compresses code information image portion data that has undergone black guarantee color conversion, a reversible storage unit 15 that retains code information image portion data that has been reversibly compressed, a code held in the reversible storage unit 15 A reversible decompression unit 16 is provided for reversibly decompressing information image portion data and the like during printing processing.
Therefore, in addition to the code information image 30, the character 34 and the figure 35 set as the processing target in this example are subjected to a color conversion process for guaranteeing black in which black is expressed in K single color, and data for a page is stored. Lossless compression / decompression processing is performed during the accumulation.

Furthermore, the multi-function printer 1 converts the object included in the print data other than the code information image portion data specified by the code information determination unit 12 from the RGB system to the CMYK system by performing normal color conversion processing similar to the conventional one. The normal color conversion unit 17 for conversion, the irreversible compression unit 18 for irreversibly compressing the object data subjected to the normal color conversion, the irreversible storage unit 19 for holding the irreversibly compressed object data, and the irreversible storage unit 19 The irreversible decompression unit 20 is provided for irreversibly decompressing the object data during the printing process.
Therefore, objects other than the code information image, characters, and graphics (in this example, the photographic images 32 and 33 not including the code information image 30) are subjected to color conversion processing in which black is expressed by the mixed color of CMY, When storing the data, irreversible compression / decompression processing is performed.

Further, the multi-function printer 1 includes a combining unit 21 that combines the data for one page expanded by the reversible expansion unit 16 and the irreversible expansion unit 20 into a printed page image and draws the page image for printing. Is printed on paper P and output.
Accordingly, the code information image, characters, and graphics included in the page of the print data are subjected to the black guaranteed color conversion process and the reversible compression / decompression process, and other objects ( The photograph image or the like is subjected to normal color conversion processing and irreversible compression / decompression processing, and then the code information images and the like in the same page are synthesized again and printed on the paper P as a page image.
Here, in the present example, each of the functional units 11 to 21 according to the present invention is configured by executing the program according to the present invention with computer hardware included in the multi-function printer apparatus 1. Each of these functional means may have a hardware configuration.

Next, print processing by the multi-function printer 1 of this example will be described with reference to FIG.
When print data in PDL format is input to the multi-function printer 1, the print data analysis unit 11 interprets the print data, and the code information determination unit 12 is included in the print data based on the interpretation result. A code information image is specified, and further characters and figures are specified (steps S1 and S2).
Therefore, the code information image 30, the character 34, and the graphic 35 included in one page each specify the size and position in the page together with the type attribute based on the PDL description.

Each of the identified code information image, character and graphic data is subjected to color conversion processing with black guarantee by the black guarantee color converter 13 (step S3), reversibly compressed by the lossless compressor 14 (step S4), and reversibly. Accumulated in the accumulation unit 15 (step S5).
On the other hand, each data of other objects included in the print data (in this example, the photographic images 33 and 32 not including the code information) is similarly specified with the type attribute and the size and position in the page. The normal color conversion unit 17 performs color conversion processing (step S6), the lossy compression unit 18 performs lossy compression (step S7), and stores the lossy storage unit 19 (step S5).

The above processing is performed for each of a plurality of divided areas of one page (step S8). When processing for one page is completed (that is, when data for one page is accumulated and ready for printing). The reversible decompression unit 16 reversibly decompresses the data stored in the reversible storage unit 15, and the irreversible decompression unit 20 performs irreversible decompression on the data stored in the irreversible storage unit 19, and the decompressed data. Based on the above, the composition unit 21 performs composition / drawing processing to develop an image for one page as the original print data (step S9).
Then, based on this page image, the printing unit 22 prints and outputs a page image on the paper P (step S10), and when all the pages in the print data have been processed in the same manner as described above, the printing process ends. (Step S11).

  In the example of the procedure shown in FIG. 2, the color conversion process (steps S3 and S6) is performed before the compression process (steps S4 and S7), but the color conversion process (steps S3 and S6) is performed, for example, It may be performed between the compression process (steps S4 and S7) and the accumulation process (step S5), or may be performed before the expansion / combination process (step S9), or the expansion / combination process (step S9). Or printing processing (step S10).

By performing the above-described processing on the code information image, the character, and the graphic, the code information image, the character, and the graphic can be printed on the paper P in clear black with a clear outline.
For example, when printing a photographic image 31 including a code information image 30 as shown in FIG. 4A, if the photographic image 31 is subjected to normal color conversion processing or irreversible compression / decompression processing as in the prior art, FIG. ), The code information image 30 included in the photographic image 31 is unclear and printed. On the other hand, when the photographic image 31 is subjected to the black guarantee conversion process or the lossless compression / decompression process, the code information image 30 included in the photographic image 31 is printed as clear as shown in FIG. The code information can be correctly recognized from the printed code information image 30 by reading the printed matter P with the scanner 2 and processing it with the image recognition unit 3.

1 is a configuration diagram of a multifunction printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure explaining the printing process which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the object in the page which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the printing result which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: Multi-function printer device 2: Scanner,
3: Image recognition unit, 11: Print data interpretation unit,
12: Code information determination unit, 13: Black guaranteed color conversion unit,
14: reversible compression unit, 15: reversible storage unit,
16: reversible decompression unit, 17: normal color conversion unit,
18: irreversible compression unit, 19: irreversible storage unit,
20: irreversible decompression part, 21: synthesis part,
22: Printing section, 30: Code information image,
31:32, 33: photographic image,
34: characters, 35: figures,

Claims (6)

Code information determining means for specifying a code information image portion included in the print data;
Reversible compression means for reversibly compressing data of characters, graphics, the specified code information image portion , and a photographic image including the specified code information image portion in the print data. When,
Reversible storage means for holding data reversibly compressed by the reversible compression means;
Reversible decompression means for reversibly decompressing the losslessly compressed data for one page when the losslessly compressed data for one page is accumulated by the lossless accumulation means ;
A color-guaranteed conversion means for performing black-guaranteed color conversion that expresses black as a single K color when performing color conversion from the RGB system to the CMYK system of the printing color system for the data subject to lossless compression by the lossless compression means;
Irreversible compression means for irreversibly compressing image data other than the reversible compression means by the lossless compression means among the data included in the print data;
Irreversible storage means for holding data irreversibly compressed by the irreversible compression means;
Irreversible decompression means for irreversibly decompressing the irreversibly compressed data for one page when the irreversibly compressed data for one page is accumulated by the irreversible accumulation means;
Combining means for drawing the data reversibly decompressed for one page by the reversible decompression means and the data irreversibly decompressed for one page by the irreversible decompression means and developing them into a print page image;
Printing means for printing the printing page image on a medium;
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
The print data is PDL data,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the code information determining unit analyzes the PDL data to identify a code information image portion. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 ,
A printing apparatus, further comprising code recognition means for recognizing code information by reading a code information image printed on a medium. On the computer,
A code information determination function for specifying a code information image portion included in the print data;
A reversible compression function for reversibly compressing data of characters, figures, the specified code information image portion, and a photographic image that includes the specified code information image portion among the data included in the print data When,
A reversible storage function for holding data reversibly compressed by the reversible compression function;
A lossless decompression function for reversibly decompressing the losslessly compressed data for one page when the losslessly compressed data for one page is accumulated by the lossless accumulation function;
A color-guaranteed conversion function that performs black-guaranteed color conversion that expresses black as a single K color when performing color conversion from RGB to CMYK, which is a color system for printing, with respect to data subject to lossless compression by the lossless compression function;
Of the data included in the print data, an irreversible compression function for irreversibly compressing image data other than the reversible compression function by the lossless compression function;
An irreversible storage function for holding data irreversibly compressed by the irreversible compression function;
An irreversible decompression function for irreversibly decompressing the irreversibly compressed data for one page when the irreversibly compressed data for one page is accumulated by the irreversible accumulation function;
A composition function for drawing the data reversibly decompressed for one page by the reversible decompression function and the data irreversibly decompressed for one page by the irreversible decompression function and developing them into a page image for printing;
A program to realize The program according to claim 4, wherein
The print data is PDL data,
The code information discriminating function analyzes a PDL data and specifies a code information image part. In the program according to claim 4 or 5,
A program for causing the computer to further realize a code recognition function for recognizing code information by processing an image obtained by reading a code information image printed on a medium.

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