JP2002200788A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printer device for improving background contamination of a print image of a printer. A printer device includes an operation panel, a non-volatile memory, setting items set in the non-volatile memory,
And a selection processing unit. In this configuration, when the print data sent from the host is developed into a bitmap, a function of determining whether surrounding data is white data or black data for an area of a predetermined plurality of dots adjacent to each other is provided. I have. Further, a function is provided for determining image data around a certain black data area and changing the black data to white data when no black data exists around the area. Thus, by judging the surrounding data for a certain image area, it is possible to know what the surrounding image data looks like, and it becomes possible to print an image with background stains neatly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly, to a printer applicable to a multifunction machine such as a copy machine or a facsimile machine having a printer function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer generally develops print data sent from a host into a bit map, and forms an image by fine white / black dots.

[0003]

However, in the above-described prior art image structure, it is required to form a clearer image without image contamination.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device for improving background smear of a print image of a printer. The details are as follows.

In the present invention, the background stain is regarded as black data of an adjacent dot area and data indicating that no black data exists around the dot area, and when such data is detected, the black data is changed to white data. The aim is to improve the dirt. The invention described in each claim aims at the following matters in order to enable such processing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to determine the data around a certain area of a bitmap in order to detect an isolated black data area.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when black data of a plurality of dot areas is white data of a certain range around the area, black of the area is black. The data is determined to be unnecessary, and the area can be made white.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the case of an image such as image data, there is a possibility that the image may be degraded by changing the data. It is possible to select whether or not to change data to white data.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer according to the present invention comprises an operation panel, a non-volatile memory, setting items set in the non-volatile memory, and a selection processing unit. When the print data sent from the host is expanded into a bitmap, a function is provided for determining whether the surrounding data is white data or black data for a predetermined plurality of dot areas adjacent to each other. It is characterized by having.

If the data surrounding the predetermined plurality of dot areas is white data within a certain range, the black data of the plurality of dot areas is determined to be unnecessary and the area is turned white. It is preferable to have a function and a function of selecting whether or not to change black data of predetermined plural dot areas into white data.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
5 to FIG. 5, there is shown one embodiment of the printer device of the present invention.

FIGS. 1 to 3 schematically show a first embodiment of the present invention. First, in the present invention, it is necessary to detect black data of a certain dot. The image output to the printer is developed as a bitmap in an image area allocated on the memory of the printer controller, and this image area is defined as m, m in the X-axis direction (main scanning direction).
The area is defined as n in the y-axis direction (sub-scanning direction).

Then, (0,0) → (m, 0), (0,1) in the image area
Check in the order of → (m, 1),…, (0, n-1) → (m, n-1), (0, n) → (m, n). If black data of one dot is detected, data of eight dots adjacent to the dot is examined.

Assuming that the coordinates of the detected dot are (x, y), (x-1, y-1), (x, y-1), (x + 1, y-1), (x-1 , y) are known as white data, so (x + 1, y), (x-1, y + 1),
The data of four dots (x, y + 1) and (x + 1, y + 1) is examined. If there is black data in these four dots, the same processing is repeated. Repeating this process a lot means that continuous black data is present in a certain area or more, so this is meaningful data (part of characters, etc.).
it is conceivable that.

The background dirt is regarded as isolated black data of about one dot to several dots, and the processing for detecting the black data is considered several times or less. (A, b), (a + 1, b), (a + 2, b), (a + 1, b + 1), (a + 2, b +
Assume that area 1) is black data. For this area, consider the area from (ac, bd) to (a + e, b + f). For each dot in this range, it is determined whether the data is black or white.

FIG. 3 shows the flow of these processes. When an area to be detected is determined (step S1), surrounding values (c, d, e, f) for the area are set (S1).
2) Check the data of each dot within the above range (S3). If black data does not exist in the range as a result of this check (S4 / NO), a flag is set and used in the processing of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows the flow of the procedure in the second and third embodiments. When an area of black data is detected in the image area (step S11), data around the area is determined according to the same method as in the first embodiment (step S12).

It is determined whether or not black data exists therein.
Judgment is made by looking at the flag of the first embodiment (step S1).
3) If the flag is not set (step S13 /
NO), since there is black data in the surrounding area, it is determined that the data is valid, and the black data in that area is left as it is. If the flag is set, it means that there is no black data in the surrounding area, and it is determined that the black data in this area has little meaning.

Here, if the one-dot black data can be changed in the third embodiment (S14 / YES), the data is changed from black to white (S15). If the black data in this area cannot be changed (S14 / N
O), and leave the data unchanged (S16).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a printer device in which a data flow is added. The printer device applied to the present embodiment includes an operation panel 1, a nonvolatile memory 2, setting items 3 set in the nonvolatile memory 2, a selection processing unit 4,
It comprises a setting unit 5 and a printer driver 6.

The procedure for selecting whether or not to change the area of black data to white data according to the third embodiment will be described below. This selection item is provided in the non-volatile memory (named as a background dirt removal mode or the like), and is selected by setting from the operation panel 1 or the printer driver. The option that the black data cannot be changed is provided on the assumption that the image is not deteriorated in the case of an image such as image data.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, the printer apparatus of the present invention, when the print data sent from the host is developed into a bitmap, stores the data in a predetermined plurality of dot areas adjacent to each other. A function is provided for determining whether surrounding data is white data or black data. In this configuration, it is possible to know what the surrounding image data looks like by determining the surrounding data for a certain image area.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, image data around a certain black data area is determined,
When there is no black data in the surroundings, a function is provided for changing the black data to white data. Since such black data can be determined to be a background stain, using this function makes it possible to print an image with a background stain neatly. In particular, data read by a scanner is effective in outputting such a document because the read document may be soiled.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since there is provided a function of selecting whether or not to change certain data for an area of black data, data deterioration in the case of an image such as image data is provided. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram 1 of a black data check showing an embodiment of a printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram 2 of a black data check showing an embodiment of the printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a processing procedure example 1 in the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing procedure example 2 in the second and third embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram in which a data flow is added to a configuration example of a printer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation panel 2 Non-volatile memory 3 Setting item 4 Selection processing part 5 Setting part 6 Printer driver

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus comprising an operation panel, a non-volatile memory, setting items set in the non-volatile memory, and a selection processing unit, and develops print data sent from a host into a bit map. In this case, a printer apparatus has a function of determining whether surrounding data is white data or black data for a predetermined plurality of dot areas adjacent to each other. 2. When the data around the predetermined plurality of dot areas is white data within a certain range with respect to the black data of the predetermined plurality of dot areas, it is determined that the black data of the plurality of dot areas is unnecessary, and 2. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of setting the print condition. 3. The printer according to claim 2, further comprising a function of selecting whether or not to change the black data of the predetermined plurality of dot areas into white data.