Preventing deterioration in aesthetic appearance of a printed result without reduction of printing speed

• US 10,457,054 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Kawai, Ryuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Legesse, Henok D
• Application Number:
  US16/140,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20190092025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04595 Dot-size modulation by changing the number of drops per dot
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/175 Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2132 Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding methods for local corrections by dot omission, image edge enhancement, or multi-pass mask selection G06K15/102; colour conversion H04N1/40
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/32 using thermal heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2029/3932 Battery or power source mounted on the carriage
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 29/393 Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine ; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns

Abstract

The disclosure discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a printing processing program for executing steps. In a line specification step, it is determined whether or not an on-dot ratio or the number of on-dots is equal to or greater than a threshold value and at least one print lines equal to or greater than a threshold value is specified. In a labeling step, a plurality of dot groups is identified such that on-dots adjacent to each other form one dot group. In a dot group specification step, at least one first dot groups including the at least one print lines is specified. In a density reduction process step, a density at the time of print formation of the on-dots included in the first dot groups is made lower than a density at the time of print formation of the on-dots included in at least one second dot groups.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a printing processing program for executing steps on a computing device, said computing device included in an operating terminal for operating a printer comprising a thermal line head that includes a plurality of heat generation elements and is configured to form dots on respective print lines divided by print resolution on a fed print-receiving medium, and an energizing device configured to selectively control drive of said plurality of heat generation elements according to print data,

said steps comprising:

a dot pattern generation step for generating a binarized dot pattern including on-dots to be printed and off dots not to be printed corresponding to said print data;

a line specification step for determining whether or not an on-dot ratio represented by the number of on-dots/(the number of on-dots+the number of off-dots), or the number of on-dots, is equal to or greater than a threshold value for each print line in said binarized dot pattern generated in said dot pattern generation step, and for specifying at least one print lines equal to or greater than said threshold value;

a labeling step for separately identifying a plurality of dot groups such that the on-dots adjacent to each other form one dot group in said binarized dot pattern generated in said dot pattern generation step;

a dot group specification step for specifying at least one first dot groups including said at least one print lines specified in said line specification step among the plurality of groups identified in said labeling step; and

a density reduction process step for executing a predetermined density reduction process of making a density at the time of print formation of said on-dots included in said first dot groups specified in said dot group specification step lower than a density at the time of print formation of said on-dots included in at least one second dot groups other than the first dot groups.

2. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

said steps further comprises:

a voltage acquisition step for acquiring an actual voltage value of a battery mounted on said printer, and

a first threshold value setting step for variably setting said threshold value according to said actual voltage value acquired in said voltage obtaining step.

3. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

said steps further comprises:

a model acquisition step for acquiring model information of said printer, and

a second threshold value setting step for variably setting said threshold value according to said model information acquired in said model acquisition step.

4. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

in said density reduction process step, said density reduction process is also executed for said second dot group surrounded by any of said first dot groups.

5. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

in said dot pattern generation step, said binarized dot pattern corresponding to said print data for forming a frame line and an object arranged within said frame line is generated, wherein

in said dot group specification step, said first dot group constituting said frame line is specified, and wherein

in said density reduction process step, said density reduction process is executed for said on-dots included in said first dot group constituting said frame line.

6. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

in said density reduction process step, a masking process of thinning on-dots at a predetermined thinning rate is executed.

7. The medium according to claim 1, wherein

said printer further comprises:

a feeder configured to feed said print-receiving medium; and

a driving device configured to drive said feeder;

wherein

said energizing device and said driving device are configured to drive said heat generation elements and said feeder by electric power supplied from said battery.