JPH0764106B2 - Printer inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] In the field of automation of quality inspection, the present invention automatically determines whether the color mixture switching mechanism of the printer device is normal or abnormal from the result of the paper output by the printer device capable of color mixture printing. In regard to the inspection device, the projection and histogram of each local area with and without the use of a filter having almost the same color as the color used in the print ribbon are calculated, and the density distributions are compared. Discloses a configuration of a printer inspection device that can automatically inspect.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for automatically inspecting the normality of printing operation of a printer when manufacturing a printer device, and more particularly to a printer capable of printing characters of different colors. The present invention relates to a configuration of an inspection device capable of automatically inspecting whether or not the change of the printing color is normally performed.

[Prior Art] In a typewriter printer used as an input / output device of an information processing device or an impact type printer of a data communication terminal device, the position of an ink ribbon is switched by an instruction from a keyboard or an instruction on control. As a result, the color of printing can be changed (for example, red and black).

Even in non-impact printers, there are ink-jet ink-jet printers and the like that can print different colors by switching the ejected ink.

These printers capable of printing characters of different colors are in the trend of increasingly diverse information processing systems in recent years and tend to be used in large numbers.

In the inspection of the manufacturing of such a printer, it is, of course, necessary to test whether or not the character color switching is normally operated when the color switching is instructed.

For example, ink ribbon switching in an impact type printer is performed mechanically, and if the adjustment is not performed reliably, one character may partially appear when the color of the character is switched during printing. It can happen that the colors are different.

Therefore, conventionally, in an inspection process in manufacturing a printer, an inspector visually inspects an output sheet printed by the printer to determine whether the output sheet is good or bad.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In a printer capable of switching the color of a print character, as described above, one character may partially have a different color. As an example of such a case, as shown in FIG. 4, there is a case where a red dot 51 is mixed with a part of the character "rich" that should be displayed only with the black dot 50.

This occurs due to the relationship between the relative position of the printer head and the ribbon, the disturbance of the control timing, and the like. In any case, however, the inspection fails and the inspection is performed again after the adjustment is performed again.

It is desirable that all inspections in printer manufacturing are automated and require no human intervention at all, but in the past, inspections were performed by actually printing and determining pass / fail as described above. There was a problem that it could not be done efficiently.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention is an inspection apparatus capable of automatically determining whether a print color change operation for a printer that can change the color of characters to be printed is good or bad from its output list. Is intended to provide.

[Means for Solving Problems] According to the present invention, as described in the claims, the above-mentioned object is correct in the character switching operation in a printer device capable of printing characters of plural kinds of colors. An apparatus for inspecting whether or not the image is to be performed, the image input section having a filter for masking a target color and reading an image as multi-valued data, and an x-direction for multi-valued data on the image memory. A circuit for accumulating for each column and a circuit for accumulating for each row in the y direction of the multi-valued data on the image memory are provided, and the filter prints the characters on the medium printed by the printer to be inspected. Total result for each column or row in the x-direction or y-direction when input without, and cumulative result for each column or row in the x-direction or y-direction when input using the filter This is achieved by a printer inspection device characterized by comparing the result with the result and judging whether or not the operation relating to the switching of the printing color of the printer has been correctly performed based on the relationship between them.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, showing a configuration of a normality test unit of a printer print color switching operation in a printer inspection apparatus, and 1 is a printer to be inspected. Output sheet, 2 is image input unit, 3 is filter, 4
Is an image memory, 5 is an x-direction pixel cumulative unit, 6 is a y-direction pixel cumulative unit, 7 is a cumulative value storage unit, 8 is a determination unit, and 9 is a control unit.

In FIG. 1, the print output sheet 1 of the printer to be inspected is read by the image input section 2 as multi-valued data (at this time, the filter 3 is turned off) and stored in the image memory 4.

The x-direction pixel accumulating unit 5 reads pixels in the x-direction from the image memory 4 for each column and accumulates them. Further, the y-direction pixel accumulating unit 6 reads the pixels in the y-direction from the image memory 4 row by row and accumulates them.

Then, the cumulative value of pixels for each column in the x direction and for each row in the y direction is written in the cumulative value storage unit 7 by the control unit 9.

This is a projection calculation performed on a character image.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the projection calculation. 10 is a print sheet, 11 is a character (“person”), 12 is a pixel distribution in the x direction, and 13 is a pixel distribution.
Represents the distribution of pixels in the y direction. That is, when the print sheet 10 is scanned in the x direction, the pixel value is accumulated for each column and the value is shown in the graph as a distribution 12 of pixels in the x direction, while the print sheet 10 is moved in the y direction. A pixel distribution 13 in the y direction is shown in a graph in which the pixel values are accumulated for each row when scanned and the value is represented as a frequency.

The cumulative value storage unit 7 in FIG. 1 stores data relating to such pixel distribution.

Then, next, the filter 3 of the pixel input unit 2 is turned on (a state of receiving an image through the filter), the print sheet 1 is scanned again, read as multi-valued data, and stored in the image memory 4, and is completely different from the previous case. Similarly, the pixel distribution is obtained.

At this time, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the red dot 15 is mixed with a part of the character "rich" that should be originally drawn by the black dots 14 and printed, the red filter is used. In the pixel distribution 16 in the x direction, the filter is ON
The pixel distribution is as shown in 17 when, and as shown in 18 when the filter is OFF.

Also, in the distribution 19 of pixels in the y direction, the distribution when the filter is ON is 20 and the distribution when the filter is OFF is 21.

That is, when the color of the main body is mixed in the printed character, the distribution of pixels differs depending on the mixed color and the presence / absence of the same color filter.

The determination unit 8 in FIG. 1 compares such distributions and detects the difference to determine whether or not there is color mixing in the printed characters, and outputs the result.

Further, in the present invention, by recognizing the pattern of the distribution in advance as can be inferred from the above description,
It is also possible to test whether the color change of the character has been performed normally.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically determine whether or not the operation relating to the switching of the printing color is normally performed in the printer capable of printing by switching the color of the character. There is an advantage that can be inspected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a projection calculation, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining pixel distribution when print characters have a color mixture, and FIG. 4 is a color diagram. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing in which a mixture of characters is present. 1 ... Print output sheet of printer to be inspected, 2 ... Image input section, 3 ... Filter, 4 ... Image memory, 5 ... x direction pixel value cumulative section, 6 ... Y direction pixel value cumulative section, 7 ...... Cumulative value storage section, 8 ...... Judgment section, 9 ...... Control section, 10 ...... Print sheet, 11 ...... Character, 12, 16 ...... Pixel distribution in the x direction,
13, 19 …… y direction pixel distribution, 14 …… black dots, 15 ・ ・ ・
… Red dots, 17, 20 …… Distribution when the filter is ON, 18,
21 …… Distribution when the filter is off

Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-59-128418 (JP, A) JP-A-55-74894 (JP, A) JP-A-55-139285 (JP, A) JP-A-59-140092 (JP , A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device for inspecting whether or not a character switching operation is correctly performed in a printer device capable of printing characters of plural kinds of colors, and a filter for masking a target color is provided. An image input unit that is provided and reads an image as multivalued data, an image memory that stores the multivalued data, a circuit that accumulates the multivalued data on the image memory for each column in the x direction, and the image memory A circuit for accumulating the above multi-valued data for each row in the y direction, and inputting characters on a medium printed by a printer to be inspected without using the filter, the x direction or the y direction The column-by-column cumulative result of each column or row is compared with the cumulative result by the column or row in the x-direction or the y-direction when input using the filter, and the result of the two is compared. Printer inspection apparatus characterized by operation of the switching colors of the data printing to determine whether it has been done correctly.