Patent Grant
11842110
The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2016-103695 discloses a printing technique designed to perform printing while replacing information (RGB values) on a specific color with a spot color designated in advance.
There is a demand for avoiding the occurrence of an unintended result in a case of performing such spot color printing.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium, which are capable of suppressing the occurrence of an unintended print result.
A storage medium of the present invention is a storage medium storing a prescribed program, the prescribed program causing a computer to execute a method including: a displaying step of displaying a content to be printed based on print data; and a notifying step of executing a prescribed notification based on fulfillment of a prescribed condition concerning a region corresponding to first RGB values by the print data even though a first setting is being activated, the first setting is to print a first print region corresponding to the first RGB values in a print target image by using a first color represented by use of at least a specific color ink being an ink of a color other than a process color.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium, which are capable of suppressing the occurrence of an unintended print result.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 20A1 is a diagram showing an object;
FIG. 24A1 is a diagram showing an object;
An initialization program is stored in the ROM 112. A group of application programs, an operating system (OS), a printer driver, and other various data are stored in the external storage device 114. The RAM 113 is used, for example, as a work memory in executing various programs stored in the external storage device 114.
An image output apparatus 102 being a device is connected to the host computer 101 through the input-output interface 116. Here, the host computer 101 and the image output apparatus 102 are separately provided. However, these constituents may be formed into a single information processing apparatus. The following description will be given of an inkjet printer configured to perform printing by ejecting inks onto a paper surface as an example of the image output apparatus. Instead, the image output apparatus may execute the printing in accordance with a different method (such as an electrophotographic printing method).
In the present embodiment, the description will be given of an inkjet printer equipped with a spot color ink as an example. Moreover, the description will be given of a large-format inkjet printer capable of printing on a print medium in a large size such as A0 or B0 size as an example of the image output apparatus of the present embodiment. In the meantime, the host computer 101 may be any of a desktop personal computer, a smartphone, and a notebook personal computer.
An application 202 is software for creating contents to be printed. For example, an image editing application to create poster data corresponds to the application 202. A user designates specific RGB data values on the application 202 concerning characters and graphic image data for which the user wishes to carry out spot color printing to be described later. Upon receipt of a print request from the user, the application 202 issues a print instruction to an OS 201. Upon receipt of the print instruction, the OS 201 assigns an OS printing system (not shown) included in the OS 201 to perform processing concerning the subsequent printing. The following description will be given on the assumption that the OS printing system carries out actions in cooperation with a printer driver 203 provided by an image output apparatus vendor.
Upon receipt of a print request from the application 202, the OS printing system requests the printer driver 203 to display a print setting screen, and the printer driver 203 displays the print setting screen by using a user interface unit 204. Although the print setting screen will be described later, a paper size, a paper type, and the like can be designated on the print setting screen and the spot color printing can also be designated thereon. Moreover, in a case where print preview display setting provided on the print setting screen is conducted and the print instruction is issued by using the print setting screen, the OS printing system, the application 202, and the printer driver 203 take coordinated actions whereby a print preview application 206 is activated before the printing.
Print data to be printed is delivered as a spool file from the application 202 to the print preview application 206 through the OS printing system. Present embodiment shows an example of using a PDF file as a format of the spool file. However, the format of the spool file is not limited to the foregoing. Meanwhile, a print setting which is set on the print setting screen is delivered from the printer driver 203 to the print preview application 206 through the OS printing system. The present embodiment shows an example of using the print setting in a ticket format as a format of the print setting. However, the format of the print setting is not limited to the foregoing.
Thereafter, a print preview control unit 208 creates a preview print image and print layout information by using the spool PDF file and the print setting ticket, and a print preview display unit 207 displays a preview in such a way that one page of the print data fits into one screen. Meanwhile, the print preview application 206 is also provided with a spot color print preview function to display a preview of a spot color printing unit, so that the user can check before the printing as to which part of the image the spot color ink will be used in. In a case where the user checks a printing image and a printing layout and confirms that a desired result is being printed out, the user conducts the print instruction by using the print preview application 206.
In response to the print instruction by using the print setting screen or the print preview application 206, the spool PDF file and the print setting ticket on the application 202 are delivered to a graphics processing unit 205 of the printer driver 203 through the OS printing system. The graphics processing unit 205 converts these data into a data format interpretable by the image output apparatus 102, and transmits the converted data to the image output apparatus 102. In present embodiment, the spool PDF file is converted into an image data format interpretable by the image output apparatus 102 through a rendering engine installed in the OS printing system or the graphics processing unit 205 in accordance with the print settings.
Thereafter, an image is formed on a print medium fed to the image output apparatus 102 by ejecting inks from a print head to the print medium. Here, in the case where the spot color printing is set, the designated spot color ink is ejected for forming an image at a data portion of the print data to which the spot color printing is designated.
The present embodiment will describe an example of the image output apparatus 102, in which the image output apparatus 102 can perform printing while using two types of spot color inks in a case where the spot color printing is set by using the printer driver 203. In the case where the spot color printing is set by using the printer driver 203, pixels having specific RGB values corresponding to a set spot color in the print data are printed by using the spot color ink. In the present embodiment, the specific RGB values are R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF), for example. The pixels having the corresponding RGB values are printed in fluorescent pink by using the fluorescent pink ink. Alternatively, the specific RGB values are R=255 (0xFF), G=85 (0x55), and B=0 (0x00), for example. The pixels having the corresponding RGB values are printed in orange by using the fluorescent pink ink mixed with the M and Y inks.
Here, if an orange ink is available as the spot color ink, for example, then the pixels may be printed in orange by using the orange ink only. Specifically, the pixels having the specific RGB values corresponding to the spot color only need to be printed by using at least the spot color ink, and may be printed by using the ink mixed with or not mixed with any of the CMYK inks. Note that the pixels not having the specific RGB values corresponding to the spot color are printed by using the CMYK inks only even in the spot color printing. In the meantime, the spot color printing is executed in a case where the spot color printing is activated by a user operation. In other words, if a spot color print setting is not activated, then the pixels having the specific RGB values corresponding to the spot color are printed by using the CMYK inks only with reference to the RGB values as usual.
In the case where the printer driver 203 activates the spot color print setting and the RGB values of the pixels included in the print data are R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF), the image output apparatus 102 can perform the spot color printing by using the fluorescent pink ink. Meanwhile, in the case where the printer driver 203 activates the spot color print setting and the RGB values of the pixels included in the print data are R=255 (0xFF), G=85 (0x55), and B=0 (0x00), it is possible to perform the spot color printing by using a fluorescent orange ink. On the other hand, in the case where the pixels having any of the above-mentioned the specific RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing are not included in the print data although the printer driver 203 activates the spot color print setting, it is not possible to carry out the spot color printing. In the case where the spot color printing is infeasible, an error (a warning) is notified in present embodiment.
In the case of performing the spot color printing, the user creates a content on the application 202 to begin with. Then, the user designates the specific RGB data values corresponding to any of the above-mentioned spot color inks to characters or a specific region on the graphic image data that the user would like to print by using the spot color ink.
The toolbar buttons 300 are used for selecting application functions such as cancellation and redoing of an editing operation, creation of a text object, creation of a graphic object, creation of an image data object, change of a display magnification, display of help for the application, and selection of an object. The image data display region 301 displays image data created by the user. In the image data editing region 302, the user can select an arbitrary object, move the selected object, and edit the image data by using the pointing device 117. The object selecting frame 303 shows a selected object in the case where the user selects the relevant object. In this example, the object selecting frame 303 shows that a text object “SALE” is selected.
In the case where the object color editing tab menu 304 is selected, a control item is displayed for changing a color of the object that is currently selected. In the case where the object resizing tab menu 305 is selected, a control item is displayed for changing the size of the currently selected object. Here, the object color editing tab menu 304 is selected and the R value change control item 306, the G value change control item 307, and the B value change control item 308 are displayed for changing the RGB values of the object.
Each control item for the R value, the G value, and the B value can set a value from 0 to 255 by directly inputting a value by using the keyboard 118 or selecting a button on the right side of each control item by using the pointing device 117. Meanwhile, the inputted value is also indicated below each control item in a hexadecimal number. In this example, the RGB values of the text object “SALE” surrounded by the object selecting frame 303 are set to R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF). As described above, these RGB values are the values for designating the color to be printed by using the ink of the specific color.
In the present embodiment, a data creation color space of the application 202 and a color space of the print data created by a rendering engine of the printer driver 203 are defined as sRGB color spaces that stand for standard RGB color spaces. Moreover, an effect of color matching processing is assumed to be negligible for the purpose of simplifying the explanation. Meanwhile, the data creation color space of the application 202 and a color space of the print data created by the rendering engine of the OS printing system are also defined as the sRGB color spaces that stand for the standard RGB color spaces. Here, the effect of the color matching processing is assumed to be negligible for the purpose of simplifying the explanation. In other words, the RGB values expressed on the application 202 are assumed to coincide with the RGB values of the pixels included in the print data created by the rendering engine of either the printer driver 203 or the OS printing system. Thus, the print data having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF) becomes the data to be printed in the fluorescent pink spot color in the case where the spot color printing is designated in the image output apparatus 102. The following description will be given on the assumption that the RGB values of other image objects displayed in the image data editing region 302 have the RGB values other than the aforementioned values.
The image data displayed in the image data editing region 302 is printed in the case where the user selects and presses the print button 309. The poster data creation application is terminated in the case where the user presses the end button 310.
Back to
The print setting dialogue 400 includes a printer setting item 401, a number of copies setting item 402, a printed pages setting item 403, control items 404, a paper size setting item 405, a paper type setting item 406, a print quality setting item 407, and a feeding mode setting item 408. Moreover, the print setting dialogue 400 includes a fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409, an orange spot color print setting item 410, a print preview setting item 411, a cancel button 412, and a print button 413.
The printer setting item 401 is used to select a print cue for the image output apparatus 102 from a list registered with the OS printing system in advance. The number of copies setting item 402 is for setting the number of copies to be printed. The printed pages setting item 403 enables selection for printing all pages or printing pages in a designated range by using radio buttons. In the case of selection for printing the pages in the designated range, the range of the pages to be printed can be designated by using the control items 404. The paper size setting item 405 enables selection of the paper size such as A1 and A2 from a list to be printed with the image output apparatus 102, and outer lengths of the selected paper size are displayed at the same time. The paper type setting item 406 enables selection of one of the types of the paper such as plain paper and glossy paper from a list, which are acceptable to the image output apparatus 102.
The print quality setting item 407 enables selection of print quality such as fast, standard, and high modes from a list, which is to be used for printing with the image output apparatus 102. Meanwhile, in present embodiment, values to be set in the print quality setting item 407 are assumed to correspond to print resolutions in the case of printing with the image output apparatus 102. As for the print resolutions, the fast mode is assumed to correspond to 300 dpi, the standard mode is assumed to correspond to 600 dpi, and the high mode is assumed to correspond to 600 dpi, respectively.
The feeding mode setting item 408 enables selection of a feeding mode such as rolled paper and cut paper from a list, which is to be fed in the image output apparatus 102. The print setting dialogue 400 is provided with the fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409 and the orange spot color print setting item 410 as the selectable items. The fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409 is an item for accepting the selection as to whether or not it is appropriate to activate the spot color printing (fluorescent pink spot color printing) for printing the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to fluorescent pink in fluorescent pink. Here, in the case where the fluorescent pink spot color printing is not activated, the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to fluorescent pink are printed in a color other than fluorescent pink. In this context, this item can also be regarded as the item for accepting a setting as to whether it is appropriate to print the pixels having the specific RGB values in florescent pink or to print these pixels in the color other than fluorescent pink. In the meantime, this item can also be regarded as the item for accepting a setting as to whether it is appropriate to print these pixels by using the spot color ink or to print these pixels by using ordinary inks such as the CMYK inks and without using the spot color ink.
In the case where a check box for the fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409 is on, the image output apparatus 102 performs printing by using a fluorescent pink spot color ink in the case where there are the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to fluorescent pink among the pixels included in the print data created by the printer driver 203. In the case where the check box is off, an image that reproduces the RGB values by using process color inks such as the CMYK inks is formed without using the fluorescent pink spot color ink (a color material) even if there are the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to fluorescent pink among the pixels included in the print data created by the printer driver 203. In other words, by checking and turning on the check box for the fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409, the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to fluorescent pink are printed in a color to be printed by using the spot color. Likewise, the orange spot color print setting item 410 is an item for accepting the selection as to whether or not it is appropriate to activate the spot color printing (orange spot color printing) for printing the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to orange in orange.
As with fluorescent pink, in the case where the orange spot color printing is not activated, the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to orange are printed in a color other than orange. In this context, this item can also be regarded as the item for accepting a setting as to whether it is appropriate to print the pixels having the specific RGB values in orange or to print these pixels in a color other than orange. In the case where a check box for the orange spot color print setting item 410 is on, the image output apparatus 102 performs printing by using an orange spot color ink in the case where there are the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to orange among in the print data created by the printer driver 203. In the case where the check box is off, an image that reproduces the RGB values by using the process color inks such as the CMYK inks is formed without using the orange spot color ink even if there are the pixels having the RGB values corresponding to orange in the print data created by the printer driver 203. The description has been given above on the assumption that only fluorescent pink and orange can be set to the spot colors used in the spot color printing. However, the present invention is not limited only to this configuration. In another configuration, the number of the spot colors may be set to a desired number other than two.
Note that the setting concerning the spot color is not limited only to the above-described method. For example, the image output apparatus 102 first displays an item on the printer driver 203 for accepting the setting as to whether or not it is appropriate to activate the spot color printing. Then, any of the above-described print setting items 409 and 410 may accept the setting as to whether or not it is appropriate to activate the spot color printing of the corresponding color in the case where the setting for executing the spot color printing is accepted as a consequence of an operation involving the relevant item.
The print preview application 206 is activated in the case where a check box for the print preview setting item 411 is on and the print button 413 is selected. The cancel button 412 is selected in the case of returning to the state before the display of this print setting dialog without carrying out the printing. In the case where the print button 413 is selected in an off state of the print preview setting item 411, the print data to be printed on the application 202 and print setting values set by using this print setting dialog are delivered to the graphics processing unit 205 through the OS printing system. In the case where the print button 413 is pressed in the conditions according to the respective control items shown in print setting dialogue 400, a spool PDF file shown in
Regarding a graphic object 500 that corresponds to a background, a color having the values R=0 (0x00), G=255 (0xFF), and B=80 (0x50) is designated for the fill color and the line color. Regarding each of graphic objects 501, 502, and 503, a color having the values R=0 (0x00), G=0 (0x00), and B=0 (0x00) is designated for the line color and a color having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=255 (0xFF), and B=0 (0x00) is designated for the fill color. Regarding a text object 504, a text “SALE” is designated by a color having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF). Regarding a graphic object 505, a color having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=0 (0x00) is designated for the fill color and the line color.
Regarding a text object 506, a text “UP TO 50% OFF” in front of the graphic object 505 is designated by a color having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=255 (0xFF), and B=255 (0xFF). Regarding a graphic object 507, a color having the values R=204 (0xCC), G=0 (0x00), and B=204 (0xCC) is designated for the line color and the color having the values R=0 (0x00), G=255 (0xFF), and B=80 (0x50) is designated for the line color. Meanwhile, a width 420.00 mm and a height 594.00 mm are assumed to be set to Media Box of this spool PDF file.
A feeding mode setting item 606 corresponds to the feeding mode setting item 408 and indicates the setting to feed the rolled paper. Paper size setting items 607 correspond to the paper size setting item 405 and indicate the settings of A2 as the name of the paper size, the width and the height of the paper, and upper, lower, right, and left margins in the order of 1 mm, respectively. A fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 608 corresponds to the fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 409 and indicates the setting of the fluorescent pink spot color printing. An orange spot color print setting item 609 corresponds to the orange spot color print setting item 410 and indicates the unsetting of the orange pink spot color printing. A print preview setting item 610 corresponds to the print preview setting item 411 and indicates the setting to activate the print preview application 206.
Prior to the explanations of the flowchart in
The preview display processing in present embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart in
The series of processing shown in
In the case where the preview display processing is started, the print preview control unit 208 obtains the spool file and the print settings in S701 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the spool PDF file shown in
Here, the print resolution at 600 dpi indicated in the item 605 of the print setting ticket serves as the print setting to be referred to. However, the print setting value that depends on the creation of the preview image is not limited only to the foregoing. Although it is not shown in the print setting dialogue 400, in a case of setting black and white printing, for example, the print preview control unit 208 may render the spool PDF file into a black and white image as appropriate.
Meanwhile, concerning the rendering, the rendering engine such as the rendering engine of the OS printing system and the rendering engine of the graphics processing unit 205 to be actually used in the case where the printer driver 203 creates the print data for the image output apparatus 102 is employed. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the following description will be given on the assumption that the effect of the color matching is negligible in the course of rendering for the purpose of simplifying the explanation. In this case, the rendering engine of the OS printing system creates the preview image at the resolution of 600 dpi.
Here, the rendering is carried out at 600 dpi corresponding to the print resolution in the present embodiment. Instead, processing performances and display performances may be improved by rendering at a resolution lower than the print resolution. However, in the case of rendering at the lower resolution than the print resolution, the pixels of the image data supposed to be printed may not be appropriately confirmed on the print preview. Next, the print preview control unit 208 creates the print layout information from the obtained print settings and the preview rolled paper width in S704 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the print layout information is created in the case of printing on the rolled paper having the width of 420.0 mm obtained as the preview rolled paper width by reflecting the A2 size (outer lengths 420.0 mm×594.0 mm, and upper, lower, right, and left margins 3 mm) being the paper setting value indicated in the item 607 of the print setting ticket.
Next, the print preview display unit 207 displays the preview image in the print preview image display region 801 in S705 by the control of the CPU 111 while using a print preview image created by the print preview control unit 208 and using the print layout information. Then, the processing is terminated. In S705, the print preview is displayed as shown in
Meanwhile, in the case where the user changes the rolled paper width for the preview in the preview rolled paper width setting item 802, the rolled paper width in the preview rolled paper width setting item 802 becomes the preview rolled paper width obtained in S702 in the preview display processing shown in
On the other hand, in the case where the print preview application 206 is activated after selecting the cut paper in the feeding mode setting item 408, the preview in the case of printing on the cut paper is displayed in the print preview image display region 801 without displaying the preview rolled paper width setting item 802. In this instance, the print preview control unit 208 does not carry out the processing in S702, and creates the print layout information on the cut paper in the processing in S704 without using the rolled paper width.
The processing from S901 to S903 is the same as the processing from S701 to S703 in
The print preview control unit 208 obtains the spot color print setting from the print settings in S904 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the print preview control unit 208 obtains the value in the fluorescent pink spot color print setting item 608 and the value in the orange spot color print setting item 609 in the print setting ticket, and obtains the setting to activate the fluorescent pink spot color printing. Next, the print preview control unit 208 creates a spot color preview image in S905 by the control of CPU 111 by extracting the pixels to be printed in the spot color in the preview image created in step S903.
Here, the pixels having the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF), which represent the pixel values (the RGB values in present embodiment) of printed pixels corresponding to the fluorescent pink spot color printing, are extracted from the preview image created in step S903. Then, an image is created by setting the pixels other than the extracted pixels to have the RGB values R=255 (0xFF), G=255 (0xFF), and B=255 (0xFF), which bring about white. Thus, the spot color preview image is created so as to indicate the pixels to be printed by using the fluorescent pink spot color ink. On the other hand, in the case where the orange spot color print setting item is set to the value to activate in S904, an orange spot color preview image is created by conducting similar processing to set the pixels other than the corresponding pixels to be printed to have the RGB values which bring about white.
Next, the print preview control unit 208 creates the print layout information in S906 by the control of the CPU 111. Note that this processing is the same processing as S704 in
Here, the color such as the fluorescent pink ink can hardly be displayed on the display unit 119 like a general display unit that reproduces the color space in accordance with sRGB or Adobe RGB. For this reason, in the case of displaying the preview of the spot color ink as mentioned above, it is possible to display a similar color in the print preview image display region 801. Alternatively, it is also possible to display a text such as “a region to use the fluorescent pink ink is displayed” can be displayed in the print preview image display region 801 together with the image. This makes it possible to inform the user of an image of the ink to be actually used.
By displaying these print previews, the user can learn that which part of the data that the user intends to print through the application will be printed by using the spot color ink before the printing, thereby avoiding a printing failure.
The user presses a print button 804 in the case where the user learns that a desired result is available by checking the display of the print preview image and the display of the spot color print preview. The user presses an end button 805 in the case where the user learns that the desired result is not available. Thus, the user terminates the print preview application 206, re-edits the print data on the application 202 or changes the print settings on the print setting dialogue 400, and then conducts the printing again. In the case where the print button 804 is selected, the PDF file and the print setting ticket are delivered to the graphics processing unit 205 of the printer driver 203 through the OS printing system as described above. Then, the graphics processing unit 205 converts these data into the data format interpretable by the image output apparatus 102, and then transmits the converted data to the image output apparatus 102. Meanwhile, the image output apparatus 102 ejects the inks from the print head and forms the image on the fed print medium.
As described above, the RGB values for printing in the spot color are set to the portion of the data to be printed in the spot color by using the poster data creation application 311. Moreover, the setting to use the spot color ink is carried out by using the poster data creation application 311, so that a desired object can be printed by using the spot color. In the meantime, the user can confirm whether or not the spot color setting is made properly by displaying the print preview screen and switching the display of the spot color preview.
So far, the description has been given of the example in which the user sets the RGB values for using the spot color ink for the portion of the data to be printed in the spot color on the application 202, and performs the setting to use the spot color ink by using the printer driver 203, thereby obtaining the desired result. However, if the user makes a mistake in setting values in the course of inputting the RGB values, it is not possible to obtain an intended result as the print result in the poster data creation application 311. An operation in the case where the user makes a mistake in setting the spot color printing will be described below.
The RGB values R=255 (0xFF), G=10 (0x0A), and B=255 (0xFF) are assumed to be set to the color of the text object on the screen of the poster data creation application 311 shown in
As a consequence, a spool PDF file shown in
Meanwhile, in the print setting ticket shown in
Here, it is possible to confirm a region that uses the spot color ink on the preview display screen by setting the print preview setting item 411 to the on state in the print setting dialogue 400 and setting the spot color preview setting item 803 to the on state. However, the printing ends up in failure unless the user conducts this operation.
Given the situation, present embodiment will describe a method of suppressing the occurrence of a printing failure to obtain an intended result as mentioned above.
In the case where the print button 413 is pressed, the print preview control unit 208 obtains the spool PDF file shown in
In the case where the spot color printing preliminary determination processing is started, the print preview control unit 208 renders the spool PDF file based on the resolution in the obtained print settings in S1301 by the control of the CPU 111. In this case, the print preview control unit 208 renders the spool PDF file at 600 dpi based on a print resolution item 1106 by using the rendering engine of the OS printing system. Next, the print preview control unit 208 searches the pixels of the generated image after the rendering in S1302 by the control of the CPU 111 so as to check whether or not the RGB values to designate the spot color are included therein. Here, the print preview control unit 208 checks whether or not the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF), which represent the RGB values corresponding to the fluorescent pink spot color print setting, are included therein. In this case, since there is no effect of color matching by the OS rendering engine as discussed earlier, the RGB values of the respective pixels in the image after the rendering represent one of sets of the RGB values shown in
The print preview control unit 208 judges the result of the spot color printing preliminary determination processing in S1204 by the control of the CPU 111. Since the result of determination turns out to be failed in this case, the processing goes to S1205 where the print preview control unit 208 issues a warning (notification) that it is not possible to carry out the spot color printing as it is set. On the other hand, in the case where the result of determination turns out to be successful, this processing is terminated on the assumption that a desired result of the spot color printing is available. Thereafter, an output of the spot color printing can be obtained from the image output apparatus 102 after the graphics processing unit 205 carries out the processing.
In the case where the spot color warning processing is started, the print preview control unit 208 displays the spot color printing warning alert (prescribed information) in S1401 by the control of the CPU 111.
Meanwhile, a spot color printing warning alert 1503 as shown in
In the meantime, a spot color printing warning alert 1505 as shown in
In the case where the user presses one of the buttons in response to the spot color printing warning alert, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the pressed button is the print cancel button in S1402 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing goes to S1403 in the case where the pressed button is the print cancel button, and the print preview control unit 208 cancels the ongoing printing job and terminates this processing. Here, the processing goes to S1404 in the case where the pressed button is not the print cancel button, and the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the pressed button is the print continue button.
In the case where the pressed button is the print continue button, the print preview control unit 208 issues the print instruction to the OS printing system in S1405 by the control of the CPU 111, thereby causing the graphics processing unit 205 to execute the printing normally. Then, this processing is terminated. Here, in the case where the pressed button is not the print continue button, the print preview control unit 208 executes processing to carry out the above-described spot color preview display shown in
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the basic configuration of present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment. Accordingly, characteristic structures of present embodiment will be described below. The first embodiment shows the example for preventing the printing failure in the case where the user designates the wrong RGB values for the portion to be printed in the spot color on the application, and guiding a modification method in order to carry out the spot color printing to bring about the desired result. The present embodiment will describe an example of a configuration to activate the print preview application without having the user to conduct the print preview setting, and to change the RGB values on the preview.
As with the first embodiment, the user in the present embodiment is assumed to have issued the print instruction while designating the wrong RGB values to the data to be printed in the spot color on the application 202. Then, the user presses the print button 413 in the off state of the print preview setting item 411 in the print setting dialog shown in
In the case where the processing at the time of the print instruction is started, the user interface unit 204 obtains the print setting which are set on the print setting dialogue 400 in S1601 by the control of the CPU 111. Next, the user interface unit 204 determines whether or not a spot printing color is set in the print settings in S1602 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing goes to S1606 in the case where the spot printing color is not set. Here, the processing goes to S1603 since the fluorescent pink spot color print setting is set up. Next, the user interface unit 204 writes an on state of a spot color printing determination setting in the print setting ticket in S1603 by the control of the CPU 111.
Next, the user interface unit 204 determines whether or not the print preview setting is on in the print settings in S1604 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing goes to S1606 in the case where the print preview setting is set to be on. In this case, the processing goes to S1605 since the print preview setting is not set. Next, the user interface unit 204 writes an on state in the print preview setting item in the print setting ticket in S1605 by the control of the CPU 111. In other words, in present embodiment, if the spot printing color is set in the print settings, the print preview setting is set to be on even in the case where the print preview setting is not carried out by the user. A print preview setting item 1710 in
As described above, in the case where the user carries out the spot color print setting and issues the print instruction, the print preview application 206 is activated even if the user does not carry out the print preview setting. Thus, the print preview control unit can carry out spot color printing determination processing. On the other hand, the processing at the time of the ordinary print instruction is executed in the case where the spot color print setting is not carried out.
In the present embodiment, the processing is carried out by the print preview control unit 208 after the completion of execution of the processing in
Subsequently, in the case where the user sets the spot color preview setting item 803 to the off state, the print preview control unit 208 displays a screen shown in
The fluorescent pink ink print setting button 1602 designates the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF) that correspond to the fluorescent pink spot color to the currently selected color at the time of printing. Meanwhile, an orange ink print setting button 1603 designates the values R=255 (0xFF), G=85 (0x55), and B=0 (0x00) that correspond to the orange spot color to the currently selected color at the time of printing. Here, it is assumed that the user selects the fluorescent pink ink print setting button 1602.
Next, in the case where the user sets the spot color preview setting item 803 to an on state, the print preview control unit 208 displays a screen shown in
In the case where the processing at the time of the print instruction is started, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the fluorescent pink print setting is designated on the screen in
In this case, the values R=255 (0xFF), G=10 (0x0A), and B=255 (0xFF) are obtained. Next, the print preview control unit 208 replaces the values of the pixels included in the preview image and having the same color as the selected color with the RGB values corresponding to the fluorescent pink spot color (changes the details of the setting) in S1903 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the values R=255 (0xFF), G=10 (0x0A), and B=255 (0xFF) included in the preview image are replaced by the values R=255 (0xFF), G=0 (0x00), and B=255 (0xFF) corresponding to the fluorescent pink spot color.
Next, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the orange printing is designated on the screen in
Next, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the designation of the fluorescent pink printing or the designation of the orange ink printing is carried out on the screen in
Next, the print preview control unit 208 carries out the print instruction processing in normal times in S1909 by the control of the CPU 111.
As described above, even in the case where the user conducts the printing while designating the wrong RGB values for the data to be printed in the spot color on the application 202, the print preview application 206 edits the wrong RGB values in the print data. In this way, it is possible to provide a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium, which are capable of suppressing the occurrence of an unintended print result.
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the basic configuration of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment. Accordingly, characteristic structures of the present embodiment will be described below.
Poster data may often be created by a third party and the user per se may edit a text object as required by the user, and then print the edited data as a poster. In this case, the user does not often edit graphic objects in the poster data or figure out what elements the graphic objects created by the third party are formed from. In the meantime, if the print data includes thin lines (prescribed objects) and the objects are unintentionally printed with the spot color ink in the course of the spot color printing in the fluorescent color such as fluorescent pink, these objects may give an odd impression in terms of harmony with surrounding images, thus resulting in a printing failure.
Given the situation, the present embodiment will describe a method of preventing the occurrence of such a printing failure. In present embodiment, the user edits the print data created by a third party on the application 202 shown in
In the case where the spot color printing preliminary determination processing is started, the print preview control unit 208 obtains a line width set to spot color printing thin line warning in S2101 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the spot color printing thin line warning is a value held inside the print preview control unit 208, which may be an arbitrary value held by the print preview control unit 208. Meanwhile, the print preview application 206 may display a setting dialog shown in
In
Next, the print preview control unit 208 extracts each object having the line width equal to or below the line width set to the spot color printing thin line warning setting value from the graphic objects in the spool PDF file in S2102 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the graphic object 2007-3 is extracted as the object having the line width of 0.5 pt. Next, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not there is any thin line object in the spool PDF file in S2103 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing goes to S2104 in the case where there is a thin line object. In the case where there are no thin line objects, the processing goes to S2106 where a result of determination is deemed successful. Then, this processing is terminated.
The following description will be given of an example in which the thin line object is extracted and the processing goes to S2104. In S2104, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether not the line color of the thin line object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing. The processing proceeds to S2105 in the case where the line color of the thin line object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing as a result of determination, and the result of determination is deemed failed. The processing proceeds to S2106 in the case where this color does not have the corresponding RGB values, and the result of determination is deemed successful. Then, this processing is terminated.
Next, in S1204 of
Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a printing failure caused by printing the thin line object unintentionally in the spot color such that the line object gives an odd impression in terms of harmony with surrounding images. In this way, it is possible to prevent the printing failure that may occur in the case of carrying out the spot color printing while editing the print data created by a third party.
In the present embodiment, the object having the thin line is extracted from the graphic objects in the spool PDF file. Instead, the thin line may be detected by identifying a line from the rendered image data and then calculating the line width thereof.
In the case where the spot color print is set as described above, it is determined whether or not the thin line object is included in the image pixels and whether or not the line color of the thin line object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing. As a consequence of the determination, the spot color printing warning alert is displayed in the case where the line color of the thin line object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing, and the print data is made editable. In this way, it is possible to provide a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium, which are capable of suppressing the occurrence of an unintended print result.
A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the basic configuration of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment. Accordingly, characteristic structures of present embodiment will be described below.
Poster data is created by using a type of an application called a drawing application, which is designed to perform vector data drawing. The data created by using this drawing application enables scalable outputs and a piece of illustration may often be formed from several hundred to several thousand tiny objects. If such tiny objects are included in the print data to be printed in the spot color, a printing failure that gives an odd impression in terms of harmony with surrounding images may occur if these tiny objects are unintentionally printed with the spot color ink.
Given the situation, the present embodiment will describe a printing method of preventing the occurrence of the printing failure caused by printing the tiny objects in the spot color. In the present embodiment, the user edits the print data created by a third party on the application 202, designates RGB values to be printed in the fluorescent pink spot color to a text that the user intends to be printed in the spot color, and issues the print instruction. Thereafter, the processing advances with the same procedures as those in the third embodiment, and the print preview control unit 208 executes the spot color printing failure prevention processing in the flowchart shown in
In the spool PDF file 2400 of the present embodiment, a graphic object 2407 is an object formed from more than a thousand tiny objects. A portion at a central part of this object is formed from tiny objects 2407-1 to 2407-11 as schematically illustrated in FIG. 24A1. Meanwhile,
In the case where the spot color printing preliminary determination processing is started, the print preview control unit 208 obtains a percentage set to the spot color printing tiny object warning in S2501 by the control of the CPU 111. Here, the spot color printing tiny object warning is a value held inside the print preview control unit 208, which may be an arbitrary value held by the print preview control unit 208. Moreover, the print preview application 206 may display a setting dialog shown in
In
Next, the print preview control unit 208 extracts each object having the percentage equal to or below the setting percentage set to the spot color printing tiny object warning from the graphic objects in the spool PDF file in S2502 by the control of the CPU 111. The target object size is derived from a print resolution item 1705 and a paper size setting item 1707 in the print setting ticket and from the obtained percentage. First, a size is obtained for drawing an object in the paper size having the width of 420.00 mm and the height of 594.00 mm at the resolution of 600 dpi. In this case, the size for drawing on the entire paper turns out to be 1190 pt for the width the 1684 pt for the height. Next, based on the obtained percentage of 0.1%, objects having the width equal to or below 1.19 pt and objects having the height equal to or below 1.684 pt turn out to be the tiny objects. In this way, the relevant objects are extracted from the spool PDF file. Here, the objects 2407-1 to 2407-11 illustrated in
Next, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not there is any tiny object in the spool PDF file in S2503 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing goes to S2504 in the case where there is a tiny object. In the case where there are no tiny objects, the processing goes to S2506 where a result of determination is deemed successful. Then, this processing is terminated. Here, the tiny objects are extracted and the processing goes to S2504. Next, the print preview control unit 208 determines whether or not the fill color or the line color of each tiny object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing in S2504 by the control of the CPU 111. The processing proceeds to S2505 in the case where the fill color or the line color of the tiny has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing as a result of determination, and the result of determination is deemed failed. The processing proceeds to S2506 in the case where these colors do not have the corresponding RGB values, and the result of determination is deemed successful. Then, this processing is terminated. Here, it is assumed that the fill color and the line color of the tiny objects have the RGB values corresponding to the fluorescent pink spot color printing. Hence, the processing goes to S2505 and the result of determination is deemed failed. Then, this processing is terminated.
Next, the print preview control unit 208 judges whether or not the result of the spot color printing preliminary determination processing turns out to be failed in S1204 of
In the case where the spot color printing is set as described above, it is determined whether or not the tiny object is included in the image pixels and whether or not the line color of the tiny object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing. As a consequence of the determination, the spot color printing warning alert is displayed in the case where the line color of the tiny object has the RGB values corresponding to the spot color printing, and the print data is made editable. In this way, it is possible to provide a control apparatus, a controlling method, and a storage medium, which are capable of suppressing the occurrence of an unintended print result.
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-019228 filed Feb. 9, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-019228 | Feb 2021 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7612913 | Matsuzaki | Nov 2009 | B2 |
| 20210200489 | Takasaki | Jul 2021 | A1 |
| 20230185493 | Kurata | Jun 2023 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-103695 | Jun 2016 | JP |
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| Tetsuhide Takasaki, U.S. Appl. No. 17/728,030, filed Apr. 25, 2022. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220256056 A1 | Aug 2022 | US |
