INK CONTROL APPARATUS, PRINTER, AND PRINTING METHOD

Abstract

An image is created from PPF data and the image is displayed. An operator selects one or more areas from the displayed image in which color adjustment is to be performed. An arithmetic unit adjusts a quantity of each ink component to be supplied to the areas selected by the operator based on standard quantities of ink for each ink component. The arithmetic unit, for example, adds or subtracts certain values from the standard quantities. An ink supply device correspond to each ink component prints the image on a paper based on the quantity of each ink component adjusted by the arithmetic unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an operation unit of an ink control apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an external view of the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic for explaining ink supply quantity control performed by the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a graph of a variation in an ink clearance with respect to an image area ratio;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are graphs for explaining a collective adjustment method for a density variation;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of ink supply quantity control by the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a schematic of an offset printer according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a schematic of an operation unit of an ink control apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic of the ink control apparatus in the printer according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an ink supply quantity control performed by the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a schematic of an operation unit of an ink control apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an ink supply quantity control performed by the ink control apparatus shown in FIG. 13; and

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an ink supply quantity control performed by a conventional ink control apparatus.

Claims

1. An ink control apparatus comprising: an area selecting unit that selects an ink area in which color adjustment is to be performed in a print pattern;a color-quantity setting unit that sets a quantity of color adjustment to be performed in selected ink area selected by the area selecting unit; anda changing unit that changes quantity of ink to be supplied in the ink area selected by the area selecting unit based on the quantity of color adjustment set by the color-quantity setting unit thereby performing the color adjustment.

2. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area selecting unit selects at least two ink areas, andthe color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment for each of the ink areas selected by the area selecting unit based on a pre-set value.

3. The ink control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment for each of the ink areas selected by the area selecting unit based on one or more selected from the pre-set value, an image area ratio, and a number of revolutions of an ink fountain roller.

4. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that displays thereon a print pattern image based on image information, wherein the area selecting unit selects an ink area in which color adjustment is to be performed from among areas in the image displayed on the display unit.

5. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image selecting unit that selects a representative image from among images in the ink area selected by the area selecting unit.

6. The ink control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a storing unit that stores therein the representative image.

7. The ink control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a pre-adjustment display unit that displays a raw image that is the representative image before the changing unit performs the color adjustment; anda post-adjustment display unit that displays a processed image that is the representative image after the changing unit performs the color adjustment.

8. The ink control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a color-difference display unit that displays, in the representative image, a difference between a raw print color that is a print color before the changing unit performs the color adjustment and a processed print color that is a print color after the changing unit performs the color adjustment using a deviation value in a CIELAB color space.

9. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit includes: an ink-quantity setting unit that sets any one of an increment quantity and decrement quantity of ink for each component of the ink; andan adjusting unit that adjusts the quantity of ink by any one of adding the increment quantity and subtracting the decrement quantity from a standard quantity of ink for each of the components of the ink.

10. The ink control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the display unit includes an image display unit that displays a print pattern image based on image information by sectioning the print pattern image into ink areas; anda quantity display unit that displays, for each of the ink areas, the quantity of color adjustment set by the color-quantity setting unit, andthe area selecting unit selects an ink area by using the image display unit or the color-adjustment-quantity display unit.

11. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment corresponding to each component of the ink.

12. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment corresponding to each component of the ink and intermediate colors of the components.

13. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment corresponding to cyan, magenta, and yellow as components of the ink and red, green, and blue as intermediate colors of the components.

14. The ink control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment for each component of the ink based on a hue, brightness, and chroma.

15. A printer comprising: a display unit that displays a print pattern image based on image information;an area selecting unit that selects an ink area in which color adjustment is to be performed in a print pattern;a color-quantity setting unit that sets a quantity of color adjustment to be performed in selected ink area selected by the area selecting unit;a changing unit that changes quantity of ink to be supplied in the ink area selected by the area selecting unit based on the quantity of color adjustment set by the color-quantity setting unit thereby performing the color adjustment; andan ink supply unit that supplies ink of the quantity decided by the changing unit to each ink areas in a print width direction.

16. The printer according to claim 15, wherein the area selecting unit selects at least two ink areas, andthe color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment for each of the ink areas selected by the area selecting unit based on a pre-set value.

17. The printer according to claim 16, wherein the color-quantity setting unit sets a quantity of color adjustment for each of the ink areas selected by the area selecting unit based on one or more selected from the pre-set value, an image area ratio, and a number of revolutions of an ink fountain roller in the ink supply unit.

18. The printer according to claim 15, further comprising a display unit that displays thereon a print pattern image based on image information, wherein the area selecting unit selects an ink area in which color adjustment is to be performed from among areas in the image displayed on the display unit.

19. The printer according to claim 15, further comprising an image selecting unit that selects a representative image from among images in the ink area selected by the area selecting unit.

20. The printer according to claim 19, further comprising a storing unit that stores therein the representative image.

21. The printer according to claim 19, further comprising: a pre-adjustment display unit that displays a raw image that is the representative image before the changing unit performs the color adjustment; anda post-adjustment display unit that displays a processed image that is the representative image after the changing unit performs the color adjustment.

22. A printing method in a printer that is capable of adjusting a quantity of ink supply for each of ink areas sectioned in a print width direction, comprising: displaying an image based on image information;selecting an ink area in which color adjustment is to be performed from among areas in the image displayed at the displaying;setting a quantity of color adjustment in the ink area selected at the selecting; andchanging a quantity of ink supply in the ink area selected at the selecting based on the quantity of color adjustment set at the setting thereby performing color adjustment on the image.

23. The printing method according to claim 22, further comprising: selecting two or more ink areas in which color adjustment is to be performed; andsetting a quantity of color adjustment for each of the ink areas selected at the selecting based on one or more selected from a pre-set value, an image area ratio, and a number of revolutions of an ink fountain roller.

24. The printing method according to claim 22, further comprising: selecting a representative image from among images in the ink area selected at the selecting;displaying a raw image that is the representative image before performing the color adjustment; anddisplaying a processed image that is the representative image after performing the color adjustment.