JP2002278179A - Device, system, and method for image formation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device, a system, and a method for image formation which make it possible to automatically obtain a hard copy with gloss close to the intention of generation of an image data file when an image based upon the image data file is formed. SOLUTION: The PC 104 on the transmission side of the image file 105 obtains image data and glossiness from a scanner 102 and a gloss meter 103. On the basis of the image data and the obtained gloss information or gloss information that a user optionally sets, the image file 106 is generated. Then a reception-side PC 107 receives the image file 105 and sends a print instruction to a printer 108. The PC 107 adjusts image formation conditions of the printer 108 according to the gloss information of the image file. Then the printer 108 generates a hard copy of an original. Consequently, the hard copy has gloss close to the generation intention of the image file creator.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image forming technique for forming a hard copy from an image data file, such as a printer. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a system thereof, and a method thereof, which reproduce the gloss of a document on which image data is based in a hard copy as much as possible.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various image forming apparatuses for creating a hard copy in which an image is formed on a visible medium such as printing paper based on image data are known. Among these, in a copying machine, there is known a technique which not only reproduces an image of a document but also matches glossiness between a document and a hard copy. JP-A-9-238237
An example is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Publication. In the technique disclosed in the publication, when reading the image information of the document, the gloss information is also acquired, and both the image data and the gloss data are sent to the image forming unit.

[0003]

However, the prior art described above is based on the premise of a closed system in which an image of a document is read to obtain image data and a hard copy is created based on the image data by itself. On the other hand, consider an open system in which image data read from a document is temporarily stored as a file, and a hard copy is separately created based on the image data file. In this case, there is no information on the gloss of the original document when the hard copy is created. For this reason, even if the image forming apparatus to be used had a gloss adjusting function, a hard copy matched to the gloss of the document could not be obtained. Also, considering image data acquired by a digital camera or image data created by a computer, there is no original document, and of course, there is no gloss information of the original document. For this reason, at the stage of creating the image data file, it was not possible to specify the gloss of the hard copy.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, a system, or a method for automatically obtaining a glossy hard copy close to the purpose of creating an image data file when forming an image based on the image data file. Is to provide.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An image forming apparatus according to the present invention for solving this problem is an apparatus for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the image data file. It has a gloss information extracting means for extracting gloss information attached to the file, and a gloss adjusting means for adjusting the gloss of the formed image according to the gloss information extracted by the gloss information extracting means.

In this image forming apparatus, when an image is formed on a medium based on an image data file, gloss information accompanying the image data file is extracted by gloss information extracting means. Then, the image is formed while the gloss is adjusted by the gloss adjusting means based on the extracted gloss information. For this reason, by adding appropriate gloss information at the time of creation of the image data file, a hard copy with gloss close to the intended creation is automatically obtained.

Alternatively, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the image data file, wherein an image forming condition indicating gloss of an image attached to the received image data file is provided. A gloss information extracting unit that extracts information; and an image forming condition adjusting unit that adjusts an image forming condition according to the image forming condition information extracted by the gloss information extracting unit. The gloss may be adjusted.

In this image forming apparatus, when an image is formed on a medium based on an image data file, gloss information accompanying the image data file is extracted by gloss information extracting means. Then, the image formation is performed while the image formation condition is adjusted by the image formation condition adjusting means based on the extracted gloss information. For this reason, by adding appropriate gloss information at the time of creation of the image data file, a hard copy with gloss close to the intended creation is automatically obtained.

An image forming system according to the present invention is a system having a transmitting terminal for transmitting an image data file and a receiving terminal for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the transmitting terminal. Has gloss information embedding means for attaching gloss information of an image to an image data file to be transmitted, and the receiving terminal has gloss information extracting means for extracting gloss information attached to the received image data file; A gloss adjusting means for adjusting the gloss of the formed image in accordance with the gloss information extracted by the extracting means.

Alternatively, an image forming system according to the present invention is a system having a transmitting terminal for transmitting an image data file and a receiving terminal for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the transmitting terminal. ,
A gloss information embedding unit for attaching image forming condition information indicating the gloss of the image to the image data file to be transmitted;
The receiving terminal includes: a gloss information extracting unit that extracts image forming condition information indicating gloss of an image attached to the received image data file; and an image forming condition according to the image forming condition information extracted by the gloss information extracting unit. The image forming condition adjusting means may be adjusted, and the gloss of the formed image may be adjusted by the image forming condition adjusting means.

In these systems, when transmitting an image data file at the transmitting terminal, image forming condition information indicating the gloss of the image can be attached to the image data file using the gloss information embedding means. As a result, the gloss of the image formed on the receiving terminal can be adjusted.

According to the image forming method of the present invention, an image data file is created, and when the image forming apparatus forms an image using the image data file, the gloss level of the image is determined, and information indicating the gloss level of the determined image is determined. Is attached to the image data file. Thus, the image forming apparatus can form an image based on the gloss degree information attached to the image data file. Here, the determination of the gloss level of the image may be performed by measuring the gloss level of the document, or by allowing the operator to select the gloss level.

Alternatively, according to the image forming method of the present invention, when an image data file is received and an image is formed on a medium based on the image data file, gloss information attached to the received image data file is extracted, and the extracted gloss information is added to the extracted gloss information. A method of adjusting the gloss of the formed image accordingly may be used. Alternatively, a method of adjusting the gloss of the formed image by adjusting the image forming conditions according to the extracted image forming condition information may be used. By these methods, a hard copy having a gloss close to the intention of creating the image data file can be obtained.

In the present invention, it is more preferable that the gloss can be adjusted for each portion of the formed image.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. On the transmitting side of this image forming system, a scanner 102 and a gloss meter 103 are provided.
Terminal PC 104 for transmitting image file 105
And are provided. On the receiving side, a receiving terminal PC 107 for receiving the image file 105 and a printer 108 for outputting a copy of a document are provided. The sending PC 104 and the receiving PC 107 are NETWORK10.
6, bidirectional communication is possible.

On the transmitting side, the scanner 102 has a function of reading an image of a document as an image input device and outputting an image signal. The gloss meter 103 has a function of measuring the gloss of a document and outputting gloss information. The PC 104 has a function of adding the gloss information output by the gloss meter 103 to the image signal output by the scanner 102 and creating an image file 105.

On the receiving side, the PC 107 has a function of receiving the image file 105 and a function of transmitting an image signal to which gloss information has been added to the printer 108 via an application or the like. The printer 108
It has a function of adjusting image forming conditions and the like based on an image signal and outputting a copy of an image of a document.

PC 104 on the transmitting side and PC 107 on the receiving side
Is an open system that can be connected to the NETWORK 106 and can share the image file 105. The image file 105 created by the PC 104 is placed on the server on the NETWORK 106 and
The image file 105 is transferred from the server to the PC 107 by access from the server 07.

An image forming process using the image forming system configured as described above will be described. In the image forming system according to the present embodiment, the transmitting side automatically or manually creates an image data file including information on the gloss of a document. Then, the receiving side performs an image forming process for outputting a hard copy based on the image data file.

First, the processing on the transmitting side will be described. The scanner 102 in FIG. 1 converts an image of a document into digital data as an image signal such as RGB or CMYK and transfers the digital data to the PC 104. The gloss meter 103 measures the gloss by irradiating the image of the document with light and receiving its specular reflection component. The measured glossiness is represented by a numerical value of about 0 to 100. Of course, when a scanner that can measure glossiness is used as the scanner 102, the measurement information may be used.

The PC 104 creates an image file 105 based on the digital data obtained from the scanner 102 and the gloss meter 103. First, the digital data is displayed on a monitor by an image editing application or the like. Next, when a menu for saving the digital data is selected from the application, a prompt screen for saving an image is displayed. FIG.
7 is an example of a prompt screen for saving an image file 105. Here, it is possible to select whether or not to embed the gloss information of the document screen in the image file 105.

When "embed gloss information" is selected on the prompt screen shown in FIG. 2, a prompt screen for adjusting gloss information to be embedded in the image file 105 is displayed. FIG. 3 is an example of a prompt screen for setting a gloss embedding option. Here, it is possible to select whether to use the glossiness as a numerical value or to use the glossiness according to the user's subjectiveness. When using the glossiness as a numerical value, basically, a value measured by the glossmeter 103 or the like is used. However, when the user wants to change the glossiness arbitrarily, the user can also input a numerical value. When the user's subjective gloss is used, any of high gloss, medium gloss, and low gloss can be selected. When the "OK" button in FIG.
C104 creates an image file 105 to which gloss information is added based on the gloss information.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the internal structure of the created image file 105. The image file 105 has a header section and an image signal section. Gloss information set via the prompt screens shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the like is stored at a predetermined address in the header portion. The image file 105 created in this way is placed on the server on the NETWORK 106 and transferred to the PC 107 by access from the PC 107.

Next, processing on the receiving side will be described. First, P
Upon downloading the image file 105, the C107 displays an image based on the image file 105 on a monitor using an image editing application or the like. next,
When a menu for performing output from the application to the printer 108 is selected, a prompt screen for performing print settings is displayed. FIG. 5 is an example of a prompt screen for making print settings. Here, the PC 107
The operator can select whether or not to use the gloss information in the image file 105.

When the "OK" button is pressed while "read gloss information" is selected in FIG.
7 obtains gloss information from a predetermined address in the header of the image file 105. Then, a command for changing the image forming conditions of the printer 108 is generated based on the gloss information. The command is transferred to the printer 108 together with the image signal, and the printer 108 outputs a hard copy suitable for the setting based on the command and the image signal.

Here, the relationship between the image forming conditions and the gloss of the hard copy will be described. FIG. 6 shows an example of image forming conditions that affect the gloss of a hard copy. Here, the fixing temperature, the fixing speed, the coating process, the wrapping process, and the paper type are listed. First, as for the fixing temperature, the higher the temperature, the higher the gloss, and the lower the temperature, the lower the gloss. Next, as for the fixing speed, the longer the fixing time, that is, the lower the fixing speed, the higher the gloss, and the shorter the fixing time, that is, the higher the fixing speed, the lower the gloss. Next, the coating process is a process of smoothing the surface shape by further applying a transparent toner after image formation is completed. By performing this, glossiness tends to increase as compared with the case where it is not performed. Next, the wrapping process is a process of performing wrapping of image processing using resin or the like after completion of image formation. By performing this, the glossiness tends to increase as compared with the case where it is not performed. Next, as for the paper type, an image having a different gloss can be output by changing a paper tray or a paper cassette. That is, glossy paper coated with a surface may be selected for high gloss, and plain paper may be selected for low gloss.

In the case of a printer having a plurality of types of fixing device routes, a configuration may be adopted in which the fixing device is passed under more suitable conditions in accordance with gloss information. Similarly, when there are a plurality of types of developing machines, a configuration may be employed in which development is performed using a developing machine containing a more suitable developer according to gloss information. Further, some image forming conditions shown in FIG. 6 may be used in combination. When the glossiness is designated, stepwise control may be performed so that the set glossiness can be obtained within the controllable range of the printer 108. In addition, a certain threshold value may be set to classify the sheet into high gloss, low gloss, or the like, and, for example, the paper type may be changed.

Next, a modification of the embodiment will be described. The first modified example is a form in which gloss information for each pixel is held as an internal structure of an image file. In the present modified example, as shown in FIG.
It has a file structure in which B information (here, dot-sequential format) and gloss information of the pixel are further assigned. In the image signal section in the image file of FIG. 7, gloss information is stored next to RGB information indicating the density of each color for each pixel. When a command for outputting to the printer 108 is generated from an application in the PC 107 based on the image file, the data is transferred to the printer 108 together with the image signal in consideration of the gloss information. For example, if a printer or the like described in JP-A-5-208508 is used, the gloss of each pixel can be selectively controlled. In order to implement this modification, for example, it is necessary to use a scanner or the like that can read gloss information for each pixel as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-238237.

Next, in a second modification, gloss information for each area is stored in an image file. In this case, the internal structure of the image file may be a file configuration in which the gloss of the pixels for each area is stored in the image signal section, or a file configuration in which the gloss information of each area is stored in the header section. FIG. 8 shows an example of a case where a file configuration in which gloss information of each area is held in a header portion is adopted. For example, together with the address information of a certain area 1 in the image, the gloss information 1 corresponding to the address is held. Similarly, the gloss information n corresponding to the address is held together with the address information of the area n in the image. Is what it is. When a command for outputting to the printer 108 is generated from an application in the PC 107 based on the image file, the image file is transferred to the printer 108 in consideration of gloss information for each area. . For example, by combining with the coating process in FIG. 6, it is possible to control to perform the coating process only on a part of the area.

As described in detail above, in the image forming system according to the present embodiment, the PC 104 on the transmitting side outputs the image file 105 to which the gloss information set automatically or by the user is added. . The PC 107 obtains gloss information from the image file 105, and the printer 108 extracts gloss information matching the function of the printer itself from the set gloss conditions, and outputs a copy of the document. As a result, an image file system capable of outputting a glossy hard copy that is close to the user's intention of creating the image file at the receiving side is realized.

The present embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention. Therefore, naturally, the present invention can be variously modified and modified without departing from the gist thereof. For example, it is possible to input information regarding glossiness in another file including profile information of the image. In this case, when transferring the image file to an image output device such as a printer, the profile may be referred to and the above-described functional portion related to the gloss of the image output device may be controlled. Further, the image file may be a text file or map data.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when forming an image based on an image data file, a glossy hard copy close to the intention of creating the image data file is automatically obtained. Image forming equipment,
The system or the method is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen when an image file is saved.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gloss information embedding setting screen when an image file is saved.

FIG. 4 is an internal schematic configuration diagram of an image file.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gloss information reading setting screen when an image file is printed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of image forming conditions affecting gloss.

FIG. 7 is an internal schematic configuration diagram of an image file.

FIG. 8 is an internal schematic configuration diagram of an image file.

[Explanation of symbols]

 102 scanner 103 gloss meter 104 PC 105 image file 106 NETWORK 107 PC 108 printer

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Claims (10)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus that receives an image data file and forms an image on a medium based on the image data file,
Gloss information extracting means for extracting gloss information attached to the received image data file, and gloss adjusting means for adjusting the gloss of the formed image according to the gloss information extracted by the gloss information extracting means. Image forming apparatus. 2. An image forming apparatus which receives an image data file and forms an image on a medium based on the image data file,
Gloss information extraction means for extracting image formation condition information indicating the gloss of the image attached to the received image data file, and an image for adjusting image formation conditions according to the image formation condition information extracted by the gloss information extraction means An image forming apparatus, comprising: a forming condition adjusting unit, wherein the gloss of a formed image is adjusted by the image forming condition adjusting unit. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gloss can be adjusted for each portion of the formed image. 4. An image forming system comprising a transmitting terminal for transmitting an image data file and a receiving terminal for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the transmitting terminal, wherein the transmitting terminal transmits the image data file. And a gloss information embedding unit for attaching gloss information of the image to the receiving terminal, wherein the receiving terminal extracts the gloss information attached to the received image data file, and the gloss information extracting unit extracts the gloss information. An image forming system comprising: a gloss adjusting unit that adjusts the gloss of a formed image in accordance with gloss information. 5. An image forming system comprising a transmitting terminal for transmitting an image data file and a receiving terminal for receiving the image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the transmitting terminal, wherein the transmitting terminal transmits the image data file. And a gloss information embedding means for attaching image forming condition information indicating the gloss of the image to the receiving terminal. The receiving terminal extracts the image forming condition information indicating the gloss of the image attached to the received image data file. An image forming condition adjusting unit that adjusts an image forming condition according to the image forming condition information extracted by the gloss information extracting unit; and adjusts a gloss of a formed image by the image forming condition adjusting unit. An image forming system, characterized in that: 6. An image forming method for creating an image data file and causing an image forming apparatus to form an image based on the image data file, determining a gloss level of the image, and transmitting information indicating the determined gloss level of the image to an image data file. Image forming method. 7. The image forming method according to claim 6, wherein the gloss level of the image is determined by measuring the gloss level of the document. 8. The image forming method according to claim 6, wherein the degree of gloss of the image is determined by allowing an operator to select the degree of gloss. 9. An image forming method for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the image data file,
An image forming method characterized by extracting gloss information attached to a received image data file and adjusting the gloss of a formed image according to the extracted gloss information. 10. An image forming method for receiving an image data file and forming an image on a medium based on the image data file, extracting and forming image forming condition information indicating gloss of the image attached to the received image data file. An image forming method characterized by adjusting the gloss of a formed image by adjusting the image forming condition according to the image forming condition information.