JPS6398460A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the block copies of four colors of Y, M, C, and BLK to be easily manufactured without using a color scanner, by a method wherein an ordinary mode and a process mode are provided and full color hard copying and four color separation printing for printing process are made performable. CONSTITUTION:When ordinary full color hard copying is carried out, a movable contact 26C of a change-over switch 26 is connected to a fixed contact 26A on one side and full color hard copying based on an R signal, a G signal, and a B signal is carried out. Further, when four color separation printing for printing process is carried out, the movable contact 26C of the change-over switch 26 is connected to a fixed contact 26B on the other side and four color separation printing for printing process is carried out. Therefore, when a color television image or the like are color printed on a newspaper, a magazine, etc., a block copy for each color can be manufactured without using an expensive color scanner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing device suitable for use in recording color television images and the like.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention is a printing device suitable for use in recording color television images, etc., in which a plurality of individual heads are arranged, and the head scans the screen while moving relative to the screen. In a printing device in which a plurality of individual heads are energized for a time corresponding to the gradation of image density, a normal mode and a plate-making mode are provided, and full-color hard copy and four-color separation printing for printing plate-making can be performed. This makes it possible to make full-color hard copies of color TV images, etc., and also makes it easier to create plates for each color without using expensive color scanners when color printing color TV images, etc. on newspapers, magazines, etc. It is made so that it can be manufactured.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in thermal printers, as shown in Figure 3,
A recording paper (2) is wrapped around a rotating drum (1), a thermal ink paper (3) is placed on top of the recording paper (2), and this thermal ink paper (3) is heated by a thermal head (4) to generate a thermal image. The ink on the ink paper (3) can be transferred to the recording paper (2), and in such a printer, the screen (5) of the recording paper (2) can be transferred as shown in Fig. 4. For example, the image is subdivided into 1024 x 512 pixels, and an image with shading is created by transferring ink from a thermal ink paper (3) to each pixel based on image information. In this case, in this thermal printer, as shown in FIG.
) is intermittently rotated, that is, the recording paper (2) is intermittently moved 1024 times in the direction shown by the arrow H, and at each stop of this intermittent movement, each heating element T61-(61 is rotated for a time corresponding to the image information). It is possible to draw images with shading by energizing and heating the area.It is also possible to draw images with shading.
In this case, use thermal ink paper in four colors: Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and BLK (black), and print in each color to obtain one full-color hard copy. ing. Incidentally, such a thermal printer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-20429, for example.

By the way, when printing color images on newspapers, magazines, etc.
Four colors of Y, M, C, and BLK are required, and especially when color printing color television images, a full-color hard copy obtained by such a thermal printer is run through a color scanner, and Y, M, C, Separate the image into the four colors of BLK, create four-color black-and-white images according to the respective densities of Y, M, C, and BLK, and convert these black-and-white images into halftone photographs to obtain a block copy. There is.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Since color scanners are very expensive, when printing color TV images, etc. on newspapers, magazines, etc., it is possible to easily print out the four-color printing of Y, M, C, and BLK without using a color scanner. It was requested that it be made possible to manufacture.

The present invention has been made in view of this point.

[Means for solving problems]

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, for example, the printing apparatus of the present invention has a head (4), which is composed of a plurality of individual heads (6) to (6) arranged, relative to the screen (5). Scan the screen (5) while moving, and select multiple destinations or a single throat (6).
)--(6) In a printing device in which electricity is applied at a time corresponding to each gradation of image density, a normal mode and a plate-making mode are provided, and full-color hard copy and four-color separation printing for printing plate-making are possible. It has been made possible to do so.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, a normal mode and a plate-making mode are provided, and it is possible to perform full-color hard copy and four-color separation printing for printing plate-making, so that it is possible to print color TV images, etc. in color on newspapers, magazines, etc. When printing, it is possible to create blocks for each color without using an expensive color scanner.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

In FIG. 1, (7R), (7G) and (7B) are R (red) signals constituting a color video signal, respectively;
It shows an R signal input terminal, a C signal input terminal, and a B signal input terminal to which a G (green) signal and a B (blue) signal are supplied, and in this example, this R signal input terminal (7R)
, C signal input terminal (7G) and B signal input terminal (7B)
are connected to the input side of the white peak automatic gain control circuit (8), respectively, so that the gain-controlled R signal, C signal, and B signal are obtained at the output side of the white peak automatic gain control circuit (8). , the output side of this white peak automatic gain control circuit (8) is connected to a Y, M, C conversion circuit (
10) to the input side of this Y, M, C conversion circuit (1
C signal, M signal, and Y signal obtained by complementary color conversion of the R signal, C signal, and B signal are obtained on the output side of 0). still,
In the frame memo (January 9), the R signal, C signal, and B signal are each converted into digital signals and written, and the read digital signals are converted into analog signals. Therefore, although not shown, this frame memo is provided with an analog-to-digital converter on the input side and a digital-to-analog converter on the output side.

In addition, the output side of the Y, M, C conversion circuit (10) is connected to the input side of the self-pedestal addition circuit (11), and a pedestal pulse indicating the white pedestal level is output to the output side of the white pedestal addition circuit (11). In addition to obtaining the C signal, M signal, and Y signal added during the ranking period, the output side of this white pedestal addition circuit (11) is connected to the input side of the black peak automatic gain control circuit (12). The gain-controlled C signal, M signal, and Y signal are obtained on the output side of the peak automatic gain control circuit (12).

In addition, the output side of the black peak automatic gain control circuit (12) is connected to the input side of a color masking circuit (13), and a masked full-color hard copy C. The output side of the color masking circuit (13) is connected to the fixed contacts (14C) (14M) and (14Y) of the switch circuit (14), respectively, so as to obtain the M signal and the Y signal. In this case, this switch/7 circuit (14) has a movable contact (14A) as a fixed contact (14Y) and a fixed contact (14Y) as a fixed contact (14Y).
4M) and a fixed contact (14C), and the Y signal, M signal, and C signal for full-color hard copy can be taken out in sequence from the movable contact (14A).

In addition, in this example, the black peak automatic gain control circuit (12
) is connected to the input side of the video/density conversion circuit (16) of the signal processing circuit (15) for four-color separation printing, and the optical level is connected to the output side of this video/density conversion circuit (16). The C signal, M signal, and Y signal are multiplied by cm to obtain M density signals and Y density signals having levels corresponding to the density of printing ink of each color, and the output side of the video/density conversion circuit (16) is Achromatic/chromatic color separation circuit (17)
Connect to the input side of this achromatic/chromatic color separation circuit (17
), an achromatic color density signal and C, M, and Y chromatic color density signals are obtained from the C density signal, M density signal, and Y density signal. In this case, the C concentration signal, M! ! Point adjustment and gamma adjustment are performed on the achromatic color density signal detected from the Y density signal and the Y density signal, and this achromatic color density signal is
Subtracted from the density signal, M density signal and Y density signal, C'
, M, and Y chromatic color density signals are obtained. Further, the point II adjustment and gamma adjustment of the achromatic color density signal are performed in conjunction with the point adjustment and gamma adjustment in tlcR (undercolor removal), which will be described later. In addition, this achromatic color/chromatic color separation circuit (17) performs color adjustment for the chromatic color density signals of C1M and Y, but in this example, since the achromatic color density signals are separated, the achromatic color Color adjustment is possible without changing the neutral color.

Also, C and M obtained in the achromatic/chromatic color separation circuit (17)
, Y chromatic color density signal to a color masking circuit (18)
The masked C, M, and Y chromatic color density signals are obtained at the output side of this color masking circuit (18), and the C, M, and Y chromatic color density signals are mixed with a sumi (black) signal. At the same time, the achromatic color density signal obtained from the achromatic color/chromatic color separation circuit (17) is supplied to the tint signal mixing circuit (19). In this case, the color masking circuit (18) performs masking equivalent to known masking performed in printing technology, and here, the Y component contained in the M ink, the M component contained in the C ink, and the C A variable resistor (18A) for adjusting mainly these three components of the Y component contained in the ink (
18B) Adjust by (18C) and subtract from each signal. In addition, the shading signal mixing circuit (19) adds the achromatic color density signal obtained in the achromatic color/chromatic color separation circuit (17) to the masked C density signal, M density signal, and Y density signal, and generates a normal signal. A C density signal, an M density signal, and a Y density signal are obtained.

Further, the output side of the shading signal mixing circuit (19) is connected to the input side of the saturation adjustment circuit (21) via the shading signal subtracting circuit (20). In this case, the output side of the shading signal mixing circuit (19) is connected to the input side of the shading signal detection circuit (22), and the C concentration signal and the Mi
At the same time, the output side of this shade signal detection circuit (22) is connected to the input side of the OCR adjustment circuit (23), and the IJcR adjustment In the circuit (23), a variable resistor for adjustment (23A) and a variable resistor for adjustment (23B) are used to perform UCR point adjustment and tlcR gamma adjustment, respectively, and this IJ (1, R point adjustment and tlcR gamma The adjusted shading signal is sent to the shading signal subtraction circuit (20).
and on the output side of this black signal subtraction circuit (20),
The C1M and Y chromatic color density signals are obtained by subtracting the black and white signals that have been subjected to UCR point adjustment and UCR gamma adjustment from the C density signal, M density signal, and Y density signal. Further, the output side of the shading signal detection circuit (22) is connected to the input side of the chroma adjustment circuit (21) via the shading signal adjustment circuit (24). In this case, in this Sumi signal adjustment circuit (24), the adjustment variable resistor (24A) and the adjustment variable resistor (24B) are used to adjust the point +-tm for the Sumi signal.
and gamma adjustment, and the saturation adjustment circuit (2
In 1), the ratio between the chromatic density signal and the tint signal is changed to change the saturation, and the output side of the saturation adjustment circuit (21) is equipped with Y and M for four-color separation printing. ,
A C chromatic color density signal and a tint signal are obtained.

In addition, the output side of the saturation adjustment circuit (21) is connected to the Sui Nochi circuit (
25) Fixed contacts (25C) (25M) (25Y)
and (25B). In this case, the movable contact (25Δ) of this switch circuit (25) is replaced with the fixed contact (25Y).
, the fixed contact (25M), the fixed contact (25G), and the fixed contact (25B) are sequentially switched in this order, and the movable contact (25A) is provided with a Y chromatic color density signal for four-color separation printing, and a M
To make it possible to take out a chromatic color density signal of C, a chromatic color density signal of C, and a shading signal in frame sequence.

Therefore, in this example, the movable contact (L4A) of the switch circuit (I4) is connected to one fixed contact (26A) of the changeover switch (26), and the switch circuit (25
) is connected to the other fixed contact (26B) of the changeover switch (26), and the movable contact (26G) of this changeover switch (26) is connected to the input side of the correction circuit (27). , the movable contact (26) of the changeover switch (26)
C) to one fixed contact (26A), the correction circuit (27) is connected to Y, M, C for full color hard copy.
When connecting the movable contact (26C) of this changeover switch (26) to the other fixed contact (26B), the Y
, M, and C chromatic color density signals and a shading signal are supplied. In this case, the correction circuit (27) performs necessary corrections such as edge correction.

In addition, the output side of the correction circuit (27) is connected to the input side of the print control circuit (29) via the analog-to-digital conversion circuit (28), and the output side of the print control circuit (29) is provided with alignment marks, color An identification mark, etc. is added to obtain a pulse width modulation signal having a pulse width corresponding to the density of each pixel, and this pulse width modulation signal is supplied to the head device (30) to produce full color hard copy or printing plate making based on the video signal. To enable four-color separation printing. In this case, in full-color hard copy, printing is performed using three-color ink paper on one sheet of recording paper in the order of Y, M, and C, and in four-color separation printing for printing plates, only black ink paper is used. The recording paper is exchanged in the order of Y, M, C, and BLK, and four black and white images are recorded for each color.

Here, the print control circuit (29) is configured as shown in FIG. 2, for example, and obtains a pulse width modulation signal having a pulse width corresponding to the density of each pixel, and uses this pulse width modulation signal to control the head (4). It is possible to control the energization time of each heating element (6)--(6).

That is, in this example, the image data obtained at the output side of the correction circuit (27) is transferred to the analog-to-digital conversion circuit (27).
8) to the data buffer circuit (31) and CPU (32) of the print control circuit (29). In this case, the CPU (32) operates based on the mode switching signal, color switching signal, and other timing signals supplied to the control timing interface (33). Valid off-screen data ROM (34) based on etc.
An address signal for the correction data ROM (35) and an address signal for the correction data ROM (35) are created, and these address signals are applied to the effective off-screen data RO (34) and the correction data ROM (3'), respectively.
5). In this case, marking data such as alignment marks and color identification marks are stored in advance in the effective off-screen data ROM (34).
This marking data is read out at a predetermined time point by an address signal supplied from the CPU (32) and supplied to the data buffer circuit (31). Further, correction data such as gamma correction is stored in the correction data ROM (35), and this correction data is supplied to the read data buffer circuit (31) at a predetermined time using an address signal supplied from the CPU (32). do. In this way, image data, marking data, correction data, etc. are transferred to the data buffer circuit (31) on the screen (5) of the recording paper (2).
This drive data is written in one line RAM (36) so as to be supplied to each vertical pixel line, so-called drive.

In addition, the oscillation circuit (37) is configured to oscillate a clock CK of a predetermined frequency, and this clock CK is transmitted to the CPU.
(32), address counter (38) and frequency division counter (39), and address counter (38).
) so that the data written in one line RICM (36) is read out. Also, the frequency division counter (39)
The carry pulse P1 from the frequency division counter (39) is supplied to the tone level generator (40), and the density reference level data is generated in the tone level generator (40) every time the carry pulse P1 from the frequency division counter (39) is supplied. Let it happen in stages. In this case, the density is expressed in 32 gradations, and reference levels D1 to D32 are sequentially generated, and the comparator (41
). Therefore, when the reference level D1 is indicated, 466 pieces of data of the first drive are sequentially read from the 1-line RAM (36), and compared with the reference level D1 in the comparator (41), and the data is When higher than the reference level D1, a high level signal “
1", and when it is low, a low level signal "0" is output, and these signals are held at the corresponding addresses of the latch circuits (42). Then, when the comparison with the reference level D1 is completed. , the comparison result of the latch circuit (42) is sent to the head (4) via the head drive circuit (43).
The high level signal “1” is supplied to the heating elements (6)-(6).
The heating element (6)-(6) to which the comparison result of " is supplied is energized to perform printing. Also, while this printing is being performed, the next reference level D2 is sent to the comparator (41). The data is sequentially compared with the same 466 pieces of data as described above, the comparison result is held in the launch circuit (42), and then the comparison result is supplied to the head (4) via the head drive circuit (43). The heating elements (6) to (6) to which the high level signal "1" is supplied are energized, and thereafter, comparisons are made in the same manner with reference levels D3 to D32, and based on the comparison results, the heating elements (6) ) - (6) are energized. That is, each heating element (6) - (61 is continuously energized when the sequentially sent comparison result is a high level signal "1", and when the low level signal is "0" In this case, each heating element (6) to (61) is supplied with a pulse width modulation signal having a pulse width corresponding to the density of the corresponding pixel. .

When printing for one drive is completed in this way, a counter (
44)'s carry pulse P2 to the gradation level generator (40
) to reset this tone level generator (40).

In addition, in this example, when the printing of the first drive is completed as described above, the rotating drum (1) is rotated by one pixel pitch and then stopped, so that the data of the second drive is In the same manner as above, each signal is converted into a pulse width modulation signal so that printing can be performed. Thereafter, by repeating the same operation, the scanning in the H direction is completed and an image is drawn as shown in FIG.

In the printing apparatus of this example configured in this way, when performing normal full-color hard copying, the movable contact (26C) of the changeover switch (26) is connected to one of the fixed contacts (26C).
Connect to A). In this case, R signal input terminal (7R)
, C signal input terminal (7G) and B signal input terminal (7B)
The R signal, C signal and B signal supplied to the white peak automatic gain control circuit (8), frame memory circuit (9),
Through the Y, M, C conversion circuit (10), white pedestal addition circuit (11), black peak automatic gain control circuit (12) and color masking circuit (13), it is converted into Y signal, M signal and C signal for full color hard copy. converted,
These signals are sequentially processed in the order of Y signal, M signal, and C signal by a correction circuit (27) and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit (
28) is supplied to the head device (30) via the print control circuit (29), and a full-color hard copy is made based on the R signal, G signal, and B signal.

Further, when performing four-color separation printing for printing plate making, the movable contact (26C) of the changeover switch (26) is connected to the other fixed contact (26B). In this case, the R signal input terminal (7
R), G signal input terminal (7G) and B signal input terminal (
The R signal, G signal and B signal supplied to the white peak automatic gain control circuit (8) and the frame memory circuit (7B) are respectively supplied to the white peak automatic gain control circuit (8).
9), Y, M, C conversion circuit (10), white pedestal addition circuit (11), and signal processing circuit for printing plate making (15)
are converted into Y, M, C chromatic density signals and BLK signals for four-color separation printing, and these signals are converted into Y chromatic density signals, M chromatic density signals, C chromatic density signals, and The correction circuit (27), the analog-to-digital conversion circuit (28), and the print control circuit (
29) to the head device (30), where four-color separation printing for printing plate making is performed.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when color printing a color television image or the like on a newspaper, magazine, etc., there is an advantage that a block copy for each color can be produced without using an expensive color scanner.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various other configurations may be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform full-color hard copy and four-color separation printing for printing plate making, so when printing color television images, etc. on newspapers, magazines, etc. in color, an expensive color scanner is not required. First, there is an advantage that a block copy for each color can be easily produced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the print control circuit of the example shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are for explaining the present invention. FIG. (1) is a rotating drum, (2) is a recording paper, (3) is a thermal ink paper, (4) is a head, (6) is a heating element, (7R),
(7G) and (7B) are R signal input terminal, G signal input terminal and B signal input terminal respectively, (15) is a signal processing circuit for four color separation printing, (16) is a video/density conversion circuit, (1
7) is an achromatic/chromatic color separation circuit, (18) is a color masking circuit, (19) is a tint signal mixing circuit, (20) is a tint signal subtraction circuit, (21) is a saturation adjustment circuit, (22)
is the sumi signal detection circuit, (23) is the UCR11 adjustment circuit, (
24) is a black signal adjustment circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] The screen is scanned while moving a plurality of heads arranged relative to the screen, and each of the plurality of heads is arranged for a time corresponding to the gradation of image density. What is claimed is: 1. A printing device that is energized at 300° C., which has a normal mode and a plate-making mode, and is capable of performing full-color hard copy and 4-color separation printing for printing plate-making.