JP7272489B2 - Special color definition device, image forming device and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a special color definition device, an image forming device and a program.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-100000 discloses that a white toner is placed in the lowermost layer on a recording medium, an image is drawn by blocking the color development of the recording medium with the white toner, and a toner other than the white toner is printed on the recording medium. Disclosed is an image forming apparatus characterized by forming a color image by developing colors and toners other than white toner.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-37138

By the way, if a special color developer such as a white toner is used in addition to the basic color developer, it is possible to express a different color than when forming an image using only the basic color developer. Such colors are called special colors.
The basic color developer is a developer of basic colors for image formation, and is a developer of YMC (yellow, magenta, cyan) or YMCK (yellow, magenta, cyan, black). Further, the special color developer is a developer other than the basic color developer, and includes, for example, developers for gold, silver, transparent, white, orange, and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a special color definition device, an image forming apparatus, and a program capable of defining a special color when forming an image using a special color developer.

In a first aspect of the present invention, a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer that is the basis for image formation and color data of a special color developer that is different in color from the basic color developer. , the special color setting reception unit defines a special color using the color data of the basic color developer for one special color. a color definition section; and a second special color definition section for defining a special color using the color data of the basic color developer and the color data of the special color developer; and the second special color definition unit.
Note that the special color definition device is means for realizing the definition of special colors using a computer, server, or the like.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer, which is a basis for image formation, and color data of a special color developer having a color different from that of the basic color developer. and an image forming main body for forming an image with the special color accepted by the special color setting accepting unit, wherein the special color setting accepting unit comprises: For the two special colors, a first special color definition part that defines the special color using the color data of the basic color developer, and a special color using the color data of the basic color developer and the color data of the special color developer. and a second special color definition section that defines the second special color definition section, and further comprising selection means for selecting either the first special color definition section or the second special color definition section. .

In a third aspect of the present invention, a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer, which is a basis for image formation, and color data of a special color developer having a color different from that of the basic color developer. a special color setting receiving step for receiving setting of color data, and the special color setting receiving step includes a first special color definition for defining a special color using color data of a basic color developer for one special color and a second special color definition section for defining a special color using the color data of the basic color developer and the color data of the special color developer, and further comprising the first special color definition section and the A program for causing a computer to execute a second special color definition part and a selection step of selecting one.

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, a special color can be defined when an image is formed using a special color developer, and a plurality of special color definitions can be provided.

1 is a front view showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an image forming apparatus main body used in an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a side view showing an image forming section in an image forming apparatus used in an embodiment of the invention; FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit example of the server used for embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram explaining the function of the server in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a screen diagram showing a special color setting screen in the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a chart showing an example of color data registered in a special color registration unit according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a screen diagram showing a job setting screen for setting use of a special color developer according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a screen diagram showing a job setting screen for designating a special color developer according to the embodiment of the present invention; 6 is a flow chart showing processing for a special color of a job in the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow when a special color is defined by a first special color definition section in the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow when a special color is defined by a second special color definition section in the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flowchart showing special color generation processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the invention.

The image forming apparatus 10 has a server 12, an image forming apparatus main body 14, and a post-processing device 16, which are connected via a network.

The server 12 supplies image data for image formation to the image forming apparatus main body 14 and controls the image forming apparatus main body 14 and the post-processing device 16 . A display device 17 is also connected to the server 12 . The display device 17 displays a setting screen using, for example, a liquid crystal, and allows data to be input using a touch panel, keyboard, or the like.

The image forming apparatus main body 14 has a recording medium supply section 18 and an image forming section 20 .

The recording medium supply unit 18 supplies, for example, cut paper or continuous paper as a recording medium to the image forming unit 20 .

The image forming section 20 has the structure shown in FIG. 2, for example.
That is, the image forming section 20 has an intermediate transfer belt 22 . For example, six image forming units 24 are provided above the intermediate transfer belt 22 . The image forming unit 24 forms images using toners selected from among gold, silver, transparent, white, orange, etc., as special color developers in addition to basic color developers of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. It is designed to The color of the special color developer can be exchanged by exchanging the toner container (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming unit 24 is, for example, a xerographic system, and includes a photosensitive drum 26, a charging device 28 as charging means for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 26, and a photosensitive member. It comprises a developing device 30 for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the drum 26 and a cleaning device 32 . The photoconductor drum 26 is a cylindrical image carrier that holds a toner image (developer image). is formed. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 26 is developed with toner by the developing device 30 . A primary transfer roll 36 is provided at a position facing the photosensitive drum 26 with the intermediate transfer belt 22 interposed therebetween. The toner image developed by the developing device 30 is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 22 by the primary transfer roll 36 . The cleaning device 32 removes residual toner, paper dust, and the like adhering to the photosensitive drum 26 after the toner image transfer process.

The toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 22 by the image forming unit 24 is secondarily transferred to the recording medium supplied from the recording medium supply section 18 by the secondary transfer roll 38 . The recording medium with the transferred image is sent to a fixing unit 40, and the image is fixed by heat and pressure, for example. The recording medium on which the image is thus fixed is further cooled by the cooling unit 42 .

The aforementioned server 12 has a CPU 48, a memory 50, a user interface 52 and a communication interface 54, which are connected via a control bus 56, as shown in FIG.

CPU 48 executes predetermined processing based on the control program stored in memory 50 . A user interface 52 is connected to the display device 17 . The display device 17 displays a preview screen and a setting screen generated from the received print data.

The communication interface 54 receives print data from a personal computer or the like connected to the network, and sends processed image data to the image forming apparatus main body 14 .

FIG. 5 is a functional configuration diagram of the server 12 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Each function may be realized by software, or may be partially or wholly realized by hardware.

The data reception unit 58 receives print data from a personal computer or the like connected to the network. The image processing section 60 processes the print data received by the data receiving section 58 . The image processing unit 60 also receives registration data registered in the special color registration unit 62 and setting data set by the job setting reception unit 64, and processes the image based on this setting data. The data processed by the image processing section 60 is sent to the image forming apparatus main body 14 via the data transmission section 66 . The special color data set by the special color setting reception unit 68 is registered in the special color registration unit 62 .

FIG. 6 shows a special color setting screen 70 by the special color setting reception unit 68. As shown in FIG. A special color setting screen 70 is displayed on the display device 17 .

The special color setting screen 70 has a special color name entry section 72 . The special color name entry section 72 is for entering the name of the special color. Here, for example, it is "PANTONE 877C" (PANTONE is a registered trademark of Pantone LLC). The name of this special color may be a name given by a trader who provides color samples, but can be freely entered by the user.

The first special color definition unit 74 defines special colors by L*a*b* values or CMYK values in the Lab space. L*a*b* takes values from -100 to +100. Here, L*=60.19, a*=-0.77, b*=-2.01, and values measured using a colorimeter for "PANTONE 877C" are entered as initial values. The first special color definition section 72 can also define CMYK depending on the typical image forming apparatus main body 14, and the user can select L*a*b* values or CMYK values. It has become. CMYK values range from 0% to 100% and represent developer amounts. The first special color setting reception section 72 includes a selection button for selecting either the L*a*b* value or the CMYK value.
Note that the Lab space is a device-independent space, and a special color may be defined using color data in another device-independent space.

On the side of the L*a*b* value or CMYK value, increase/decrease buttons are arranged for increasing/decreasing the value. Each value is changed by the user's operation of the increase/decrease button.

The second special color definition section 76 has a check box for whether or not to use a special color developer. The second special color definition section 76 has a basic color developer setting reception section 78 and a special color developer setting reception section 80 . The basic color developer setting receiving unit 78 uses CMYK as the basic color developer, but may be CMY. The second special color definition section 76 defines a special color from the CMYK values and the color data of the special color developer when the special color developer is used. As the color data, CMYK values (0-100%) set by the basic color developer setting reception unit 78, special color developer arrangement, type and special color development set by the special color developer setting reception unit 80 Amounts of agents (0-100%) are included. In the above-mentioned "PANTONE 877C", C=4.54, M=4.91, Y=0.65, K=0.00, the layout is the rearmost, and the type is silver. Here, it is 100% silver. The arrangement is determined by which image forming unit 24 described above is to be supplied with the special developer. In this case, the toner containing section is made to contain the silver developer so that the silver developer is supplied to the image forming unit 24 where the image is formed first. Also, the image forming unit 24, which forms the last image, is made incapable of forming an image with the special color developer.

However, the type of the special color developer in the second special color setting receiving section 76 may be linked with the installation status of the image forming unit 24, or may be set independently. The definition of the special color is that the special color with this name is to be printed with this color, so it is not necessary to depend on the installation status of the image forming unit 24 .

Increase/decrease buttons for increasing/decreasing the values are arranged on the sides of the CMYK values of the second special color definition section 76 and the color data of the special color developer. Each value is changed by the user's operation of the increase/decrease button.

A special color display section 82 is provided on the special color setting screen 70 . This special color display section 82 displays the special color defined by the first special color definition section 74 or the second special color definition section 76 . That is, the L*a*b* values or CMYK values defined by the first special color definition unit 74 are converted into RGB, or the CMYK values and special color developer set by the second special color definition unit 76 are converted. The values are converted into RGB and displayed on the special color display section 82 . The CMYK values and the special color developer values defined by the second special color definition section 76 are individually RGB-converted and combined to obtain the color to be displayed on the special color display section 82 .

A registration button 84 and a cancel button 86 are also provided on the setting screen 70 . A register button 84 registers the special color data set by the first special color definition section 74 or the second special color definition section 76 . A cancel button 86 returns to the previous screen without registering.

FIG. 7 shows the registration state of the color data of the special colors registered in the special color registration unit 62. As shown in FIG.
The special color data includes L*a*b* values and CMYK values defined by the first special color definition unit 74, CMYK values set by the second special color definition unit 76, and The placement, type and amount of special color developer are registered.

Each specialty color is assigned a category. Categories include, for example, special colors and user-registered colors. A special color is the same color as the special color developer, such as clear, gold, or silver. (C, M, Y, K, amount of special color developer), (0, 0, 0, 0, 100) is set as an initial value for the special color. On the job setting screen (shown in FIG. 9), which will be described later, the object specified by the special color name can be replaced with the special color developer without setting "Replace the specified special color plate" each time. is registered in advance so that

On the other hand, the user-registered color is a color registered by the user, such as the aforementioned "PANTONE 877C". This user-registered color can be specified by setting "replace the specified special color plate" on the job setting screen.

FIG. 8 shows a job setting screen 88 by the job setting accepting section 64 described above. A job setting screen 88 is displayed on the display device 17 .
Note that a job means printing a print target.

The job setting screen 88 has a tab for selecting a special color developer in addition to job paper, layout, color, and the like. This special color developer tab has a special color developer check box 90 for selecting whether or not to use the special color developer. It also has a use special color selection section 92 for selecting whether all the special color developers are to be used or which developer is to be used. Further, it has a special color use check box 94 for selecting whether or not to use the special color developer selected by the use special color selection section 92 for the special color. If the special color use check box 94 is not checked, the special color image is formed only with the CMYK developer without using the special color developer for forming the special color. Usually, the special color developer is more expensive than the CMYK developer, so in order to reduce the cost, it is set to form the special color image only with the CMYK developer.

Further, the special color developer tab has a selection section for selecting whether to use the special color developer on the foreground or on the backmost side. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when the foreground is selected, a special color developer designation portion 95 for designating a special color developer is displayed. This special color developer designating section 95 designates "according to the printer", "transparent", "gold", and "silver". “According to printer” is an option for setting to form an image according to the special color developer loaded in the image forming apparatus main body 14 . The job setting screen 88 is also provided with a replacement check box 97 for setting "replace the specified special color plate". When this replacement check box 97 is checked, the color is replaced with the user registered color as described above.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing processing for special colors in a job.
First, in step S10, it is determined whether or not the job includes a special color print target (object).

If it is determined in step S10 that the job does not include a special color to be printed, the process proceeds to step S12, permits the image forming apparatus main body 14 to form an image, and terminates the process. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S10 that the job includes a special color to be printed, the process proceeds to step S14.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not the image forming unit of the special color developer for forming the special color set by the user is mounted in the image forming apparatus main body 14 or not. If it is determined in step S14 that the image forming unit having the special color developer is mounted, the process proceeds to the next step S16.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S14 that the image forming unit having the special color developer is not mounted, the process proceeds to step S18. In step S18, error processing is executed and the processing ends. Error processing includes, for example, displaying a warning or prohibiting image formation.

In step S16, it is determined whether or not the special color developer registered in the special color registration section 62 and the special color developer received by the job setting reception section 64 match. If it is determined in step S16 that they match, the process advances to step S12 to allow the image forming apparatus main body 14 to form an image, and the process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S16 that they do not match, the process proceeds to step S18 and error processing is executed.

FIG. 10 shows processing when special colors are defined by the first special color definition unit 74 .
First, the CMYK values (or L*a*b* values) registered in the special color registration section 62 are obtained from the special color name described as the special color object in the document. In addition, CMYK values not included in the special colors are obtained, and the CMYK values of the special colors and the CMYK values not included in the special colors are combined in a raster image generation unit (RIP unit) 96 to create a raster image of the CMYK plates. - Generate images.

FIG. 11 shows the processing when the special color is defined by the second special color definition section 76 .
First, the CMYK values (or L*a*b* values) registered in the special color registration unit 62 and the color data of the special color developer are obtained from the special color name described as the special color object in the document. In addition, CMYK values not included in the special colors are acquired, and the CMYK values of the special colors and the CMYK values not included in the special colors are synthesized in the raster image generation unit 96, and the raster image composed of the CMYK plates and the special colors are synthesized. A raster image consisting of special color plates to be developed with color developer is produced, 5 or 6 plates.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing special color generation processing.
First, in step S20, it is determined whether or not the special color registration unit 62 has a definition of a special color to be used. If it is determined in step S20 that there is no special color definition in the special color registration unit 62, the process advances to step S22 to use the accepted color data without generating color data. If there is no color corresponding to the accepted data, a substitute color close to the data is used, and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S20 that there is a definition of the special color to be used in the special color registration section 62, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, it is determined whether or not there is a definition that the special color developer is present. That is, it is determined whether or not there is a special color definition in the second special color definition section 76 described above. If it is determined in step S24 that there is no definition of presence of the special color developer, the process proceeds to step S26. In step S26, color data for four colors are generated from the definition of the CMYK values or L*a*b* values, and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S24 that there is a definition that the special color developer is present, the process proceeds to step S28. In step S28, it is determined whether or not the special color developer is permitted as an option of the job, that is, whether or not the special color use check box 94 is checked. In step S28, if the presence of the special color developer is not permitted, the process advances to step S26 to generate color data for four colors from the definitions of the CMYK values or L*a*b* values, and the process ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S28 that the special color developer is permitted as an option of the job, the process proceeds to step S30. In step S30, color data (five colors or six colors) of the basic color developer and the special color developer are generated from the definition that the special developer is present, and the process ends.

In the above embodiment, the case of printing using the xerography technique has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to other printing techniques such as inkjet technology.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 image forming apparatus 12 server 14 image forming apparatus main body 17 display device 48 CPU
50 memory 52 user interface 58 data reception unit 60 image processing unit 62 special color registration unit 64 job setting reception unit 66 special color setting reception unit 70 special color setting screen 74 first special color setting reception unit 76 first special color setting Reception section 78 Basic color developer setting reception section 80 Special color developer setting reception section 88 Job setting screen 96 Raster image generation section

Claims (3)

A special color data setting is received so that a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer that is the basis for image formation and color data of a special color developer that is different in color from the basic color developer. having a color setting reception unit,
For one special color, the special color setting reception unit includes a first special color definition unit that defines a special color using color data of a basic color developer; a second special color definition unit that defines a special color using the color data of
further comprising selection means for selecting whether or not to use the special color developer ;
When the selection means selects not to use the special color developer, the special color is defined using the first special color definition section, and the special color developer is used by the selection means. Then, if selected, define the special color using the second special color definition section
Special color definition device. A special color data setting is received so that a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer that is the basis for image formation and color data of a special color developer that is different in color from the basic color developer. a color setting reception unit;
an image forming main body that forms an image with the special color accepted by the special color setting accepting unit;
has
For one special color, the special color setting reception unit includes a first special color definition unit that defines a special color using color data of a basic color developer; a second special color definition unit that defines a special color using the color data of
further comprising selection means for selecting whether or not to use the special color developer ;
When the selection means selects not to use the special color developer, the special color is defined using the first special color definition section, and the special color developer is used by the selection means. Then, if selected, define the special color using the second special color definition section
Image forming device. A special color data setting is received so that a special color is defined by color data of a basic color developer that is the basis for image formation and color data of a special color developer that is different in color from the basic color developer. a color setting reception step;
The special color setting reception step includes, for one special color, a first special color definition section that defines a special color using color data of a basic color developer; a second special color definition unit that defines a special color using the color data of
a selection step of selecting whether or not to use the special color developer ;
When the selection step selects not to use the special color developer, the special color is defined using the first special color definition unit, and the special color developer is used in the selection step. then, if selected, defining the special color using the second special color definition unit;
A program that makes a computer run.

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