JPH06328790A - Color printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Using monochrome text data, it is possible to easily print in color. [Configuration] The host computer 1 sends a control code for character modification together with a character code to the host interface 3
To the controller 4 via. The CPU 6 of the controller 4 decodes the received control code. The data processing unit 13 performs graphic processing, dither processing, or colorization processing of a character to be a control code for character decoration on a bitmap memory according to an instruction of the CPU 6, and video-maps the bitmapped image data. It is sent to the color printer 2 via the interface 5 to perform printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color printer device which can receive data from a host device and print it out.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a color printer and a personal computer are connected via a controller and an interface. In order to perform color printing, the controller receives a color-specific control command from the computer via the interface. There is.

[0003]

However, since color printers are more expensive than monochrome printers, many application software used in computers are intended for monochrome printers.

Therefore, even if a user who has been using a monochrome printer introduces a color printer, the amount of text data created by application software for a monochrome printer is already huge, and the data is changed to that data. It is difficult to utilize the color printer without adding the above, and in the end, there is a problem that it can print only in monochrome.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a color printer device that can easily print in color by using monochrome text data.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, in a color printer capable of receiving monochrome print code data, changes the color of a modified character when developing the received data into a bitmap. It is characterized in that it is provided with a data processing means for making a printed output.

Further, the color printer device is characterized by comprising data processing means for changing the color of the print data other than the text data and printing it when the received data is expanded into a bitmap.

In the color printer device, 1
The present invention is characterized by comprising data processing means for changing the color depending on the page and printing out when the received data is expanded into a bitmap when the copy mode is set for printing the contents of one sheet of a plurality of sheets.

Further, it is characterized in that color selection is made possible by an external operation section.

Further, it is characterized in that it is provided with an input means for inputting a control code for color selection.

[0011]

In the color printer device having the above structure, application software intended for a monochrome printer is used.
When coded data is sent to a color printer, underlines, character highlighting, and other processing for the specified characters are underlined in red, highlighted in green, and shaded in blue. Performs processing such as to enable effective color expression.

By changing the color of data other than text data, it is possible to color image data (for example, scanner data) or graphic data (graphs or logo marks).

When the copy mode is set, by changing the color of a plurality of prints depending on the page, it is possible to distinguish the original print and the copy print by the color.

Further, the color is arbitrarily designated by the operation of the external operation section or the input of the control code.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a controller in one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the connection configuration between this embodiment and a host computer, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a host interface. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the bit map unit.

A host computer (for example, personal computer: PC) 1 is a color printer (PRN) 2
In contrast, a host interface (HI / F) 3, a controller 4 to be described later, a video interface (VI / I / F)
F) It is connected through 5.

The controller 4, as shown in FIG.
It is controlled by a PU (central processing unit) 6 and has an H.I / F3 that is an interface with the PC1 and a V.I / F5 that is an interface with the PRN2, for storing program data and various data. Is a memory means of RA
It has M7,8 and ROM9,10. And CPU
A data processing unit 13 is provided between the bus 11 and the image memory bus 12 on the V.I / F5 side.

In FIG. 3, H.I / F3 is P
Centro I / F15, 232C I / F corresponding to C1a-1c
16, use of SCSI I / F 17 is considered. In addition, PC1c
A hard disk drive (HDD) 18 is connected to the. The CPU bus 11 has a timer 20 and a programming RA.
The M7, the program ROM 9a, and the font ROM 9b are connected.

The PC 1 sends a control command to the controller 4 via the H.I / F 3 in order to cause the PRN 2 to print. The CPU 6 decodes the received control command.

In FIG. 4, since the present embodiment is intended for a color printer, a plane memory (bitmap memory) 25 of a bitmap for each color of C, M, Y and K,
It has 26, 27 and 28. The CPU 6 expands the print data in the bitmap memories 25 to 28 according to the control command.

Further, the data processing unit 13 performs graphic processing and dither processing by using the dither table memory 30 or the like in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 6, and outputs the image data that has been bit map expanded to the PRN 2 via the V / I / F 5. Send to. Upon receiving the transmission data, the PRN 2 performs the printing operation.

In this embodiment, it is possible to easily obtain a colorized print result by using monochrome document data. Next, a specific description will be given.

Some print data for a general word processor enables effective print expression by colorization. For example, there are modifier characters such as underline, emphasis, and shading. These letters are PC
In order to perform the above modification from 1, 1a to 1c, a control code for modification is sent together with the character code.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the colorization processing of the modified characters, which is the target character of the control code (modified character).
Is (YES in S1), for example, M, Y bitmap memory 2
Expands only to 6 and 27 (S2), other characters (S1 N
O), C, M, Y, K bit map memories 25 to 28 are expanded (S3).

By the colorization process, as shown in FIG. 6, color printing is performed in which only the characters W _R of the underlined portion which the user originally focused on are red and the other characters W _B are black, as shown in FIG. Can be done.

Further, the document may include graphic data and image data as data other than the text data. In a monochrome printer, for example, different rectangular portions of a bar graph are filled with different shaded patterns to obtain a visual effect. However, by visualizing the data relating to the graph, the visual effect of the graph can be further improved.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the color display processing of the graph display. If each rectangular portion of the bar graph is not solid black or solid white (NO in S10), bit memories 25 to 28 for C, M, Y and K. (S12), and a different color is assigned to each rectangular portion.

However, with respect to the black solid or white solid rectangular portion (YES in S10), it is developed in the bit map memory as usual (S11). The reason is that there is a possibility that an automatic color scheme of solid black or solid white may result in an output not intended by the user.

As a result of the above-described colorization, as shown in FIG. 8, in a bar graph consisting of eight rectangular portions, printing is performed by changing the color of the rectangular portions excluding the left and right solid white and solid black portions.
(Red, blue, yellow, green, etc.) can be performed.

Further, it is possible to perform copy printing by printing a plurality of one original, but if the output printed matter has the same color,
This causes a problem that the original and the copy cannot be distinguished. Therefore, the above-mentioned problem can be solved by printing a plurality of printed matter by changing the color for each page.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the colorization process in the copy mode. For the copy page (YES in S20), it is developed in the bit map memory of the color corresponding to the page (S21).
If it is not the copy mode, it is expanded in all C, M, Y and K bitmap memories (S22).

FIGS. 10 (a) to 10 (c) are explanatory views showing an example of the above colorization, in which the first copy of the copy print is black (FIG. 10 (a)) and the second copy is blue (FIG. 10). (b)) The third sheet is printed in green (Fig. 10 (c)). For example, the first sheet is the order sheet, the second sheet is the order sheet copy, and the third sheet is the request source copy. Can be used.

As described above, if the black and white solid rectangles are automatically colored, the output may not be intended by the user. Further, the image data created by using a paint tool or a scanner is transmitted from the PC as bitmap data. At this time, if the printer is compatible with a monochrome printer, even if the original data is color data, it is converted to monochrome data when it is transmitted from the PC. Therefore, in automatic color conversion, the output is not intended by the user. there is a possibility.

Measures for such a case will be described.
That is, V · in the controller 4 of the present embodiment
By providing the I / F 5 with a serial interface capable of communicating with the operation unit 40 of the PRN 2 as shown in FIG. 11, the user can specify a color from the operation unit via the serial interface. .

For example, as shown in the flow chart of the black solid colorization processing of FIG. 12, whether the black solid filling of the rectangular portion of the graphic data is painted black (YES in S30, S31) or the color is changed sequentially Is possible (N of S30
O, S32). In the operation unit 40 of FIG. 11, the guidance of the color conversion processing of the graphic unit is displayed on the display unit 41 and the numeric keypad 4 is pressed.
2. The desired color can be selected with the return key 43, etc.

In addition to the color designation from the operation unit 40, P
It is possible to specify a color by transmitting a dedicated control command from C1 to the controller 4 of this embodiment prior to the document data for conventional monochrome printing.

For example, when it is desired to make the image data part in sepia, a color specifying signal of (image part color specifying control command) + (sepia color code) is transmitted from the PC 1 to the controller 4. When the controller 4 receives the command, it replaces all image data sent thereafter with sepia.

However, when another color designation signal is received thereafter, the designated color is processed from the subsequent image data, but if the document data is not received for a certain period of time, it is automatically canceled. The fixed time can be designated as a control command, and the set time can be selected as an optimum time for each system.

[0039]

As described above, according to the color printer device of the present invention, even if the text data is created by the application software intended for the monochrome printer, the modified character Since you can change the color of and print out, you can make effective color expression such as highlighting characters.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the colors of the image, the graph, the logo mark, etc. can be changed and printed out, so that the effective color expression of the image, the graph, the logo mark becomes possible.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when copying, it is possible to change the color depending on the page and print out, so it is possible to distinguish between the original print and the copy print.

According to the constitutions of claims 4 and 5, the color can be easily designated by operating the external operating section or inputting a control code.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller in an embodiment of a color printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a connection configuration between the present embodiment and a host computer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a host interface.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bitmap unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a colorization process for a modified character.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of colorization of modified characters.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a graph display colorization process.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of colorization of a graph.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of colorization processing in a copy mode.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an example of copy printing.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of an operation unit of the PRN.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a black solid colorization process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 1b, 1c ... Host computer (PC), 2
... Color printer (PRN), 3,15,16,17 ... Host interface (HI / F), 4 ... Controller,
5 ... Video interface (V / I / F), 6 ... CP
U, 7, 8 ... RAM, 9, 9a, 9b, 10 ... ROM,
13 ... Data processing unit, 25, 26, 27, 28 ... Bit map memory, 30 ... Dither table memory, 40 ... Operation unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 1/387 4226-5C

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A color printer device capable of receiving monochrome print code data, comprising data processing means for changing the color of a modified character and printing it when expanding the received data into a bitmap. Color printer device. 2. A color printer device capable of receiving monochrome print code data, comprising data processing means for changing the color of print data other than text data and printing it when expanding the received data into a bitmap. A color printer device. 3. In a color printer capable of receiving monochrome print code data, a color is changed depending on a page when the received data is expanded into a bitmap when a copy mode for printing a plurality of contents of one original is set. A color printer device comprising data processing means for printing and outputting. 4. The color printer device according to claim 1, wherein color selection is made possible by an external operation unit. 5. An input device for inputting a control code for color selection is provided.
The described color printer device.