Printing device and method of producing printing material

• US 9,007,652 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Shiohara, Ryuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Kimberly A
• Application Number:
  US13/750,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20130194594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 809 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.9
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2107 characterised by the ink properties supplying ink in a solid state B41J2/17593
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1868 for fitting to an output condition, e.g. paper colour or format
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1878 Adjusting colours image colour correction or control for documents in general H04N1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/407 Control or modification of tonal gradation or of extreme levels, e.g. background level

Abstract

A basic color to be printed in achromatic colors (a layer superimposed with another layer) is changed in response to the brightness of a pixel indicated by the original image data.

Claims

1. A printing device comprising:

an image data acquiring section that acquires an image data including a first pixel and a second pixel;

a print data producing section that produces a first print data to perform printing to a first layer by using at least color materials of achromatic colors, and produces a second print data to perform printing to the second layer that is superimposed with the first layer based on the image data; and

a print control section that controls a printing section based on the first print data and the second print data;

wherein when the brightness of the first pixel is brighter than the brightness of the second pixel, the print data producing section produces the first print data so that the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the first pixel becomes brighter than the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the second pixel.

2. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing section is printable for a plurality of color materials of the achromatic colors in different brightness,

the print data producing section produces the first print data to identify the color materials of the achromatic colors that should be printed in each pixel so that the brightness of the color material of the achromatic color printed in the first pixel becomes brighter than the brightness of the color material of the achromatic color printed in the second pixel.

3. The printing device according to claim 2, wherein the print data producing section converts colors of the pixels indicated by the image data to achromatic colors and chromatic colors that correspond to the colors, and after the conversion, the print data producing section produces the first print data that specifies an amount of the color materials of the achromatic colors for printing the achromatic colors and also produces the second print data that specifies an amount of the plural colors of the color materials that include the chromatic colors for printing the chromatic colors.

4. The printing device according to claim 3, wherein a transmissivity of the color channel of the achromatic color corresponding to a transmissivity of the brightest color channel among the color channels of the achromatic colors indicated by the image data is identified based on a lookup table that indicates a correspondence relationship of a transmissivity of each color channel of the pixel indicated by the image data, transmissivities of the color channels of the achromatic colors indicating colors printed in the first layer, and transmissivities of the color channels of the chromatic colors indicating colors printed in the second layer so that the print data producing section produces the first print data for printing the color materials of the achromatic colors having the identified transmissivities, and

wherein based on the lookup table, the transmissivities of the color channels of the chromatic colors corresponding to combinations of the transmissivities of the respective color channels of the pixels indicated by the image data and the transmissivities of the color channels of the achromatic colors are identified in the respective color channels so that the print data producing section produces the second print data for printing the plural colors of the color materials that include the chromatic colors having the identified transmissivities.

5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing section is printable for a plurality of the color materials of the achromatic colors in different brightness,

the first layer is printed by using the achromatic colors that were selected in response to a brightness region of a pixel included in the image data.

6. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing section is printable for a plurality of the color materials of the achromatic colors in different brightness,

in at least a part of a borderline region that is printed by the plurality of the color materials of the achromatic colors, a relationship between the brightness of the pixels and the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the pixels is different from another region.

7. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing section is printable for the first layer in which the thickness of the color materials of the achromatic colors is changed in each position,

the print data producing section produces the first print data that specifies an amount of the color materials of the achromatic colors that should be printed in the respective pixels so that a thickness of the color material of the achromatic color printed in the first pixel is thinner than a thickness of the color material of the achromatic color printed in the second pixel.

8. The printing device according to claim 1, further comprising the printing section that prints the first layer and the second layer.

9. A method of producing a printing material in which a color material is printed to a print medium comprising:

an image data acquiring process that acquires an image data;

a print data producing process that produces a first print data providing a brightness of a first print layer corresponding to a first pixel which is brighter than a brightness of the first print layer corresponding to a second pixel and produces a second print data to perform printing by using the color material to the second print layer that is superimposed with the first print layer, so that based on the image data, the first print data and the second print data are produced when the first print data is provided to perform printing in the first print layer by using at least color material of an achromatic color and when the brightness of the first pixel indicated by the image data is included in a first brightness region and the brightness of the second pixel is included in a second brightness region which is darker than the first brightness region; and

a print control process that prints the first print layer and the second print layer by controlling a printing section based on the first print data and the second print data.

10. An image generator comprising:

an image data acquiring section that acquires an image data; and

an image generating section that produces a first image to a first layer based on brightness of the image data and produces a second image to a second layer that is superimposed with the first layer based on the image data,

wherein a pixel of the second image which is based on a pixel of the image data is superimposed with a pixel of the first image which is based on the same pixel of the image data.

11. The image generator according to claim 10, wherein

when the image data includes a first pixel and a second pixel with the brightness of the first pixel being brighter than the brightness of the second pixel, the image data acquiring section acquires the image data in which the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the first pixel is brighter than the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the second pixel.

12. The image generator according to claim 10, wherein

the image data acquiring section acquires the image data in which at least one of a gradation value and a resolution is smaller in the first layer than in the second layer.

13. The image generator according to claim 10, further comprising

a print control section that outputs the first image and the second image to a printing section so that pixels produced based on the same image are superimposed with each other.

14. A method of generating an image data comprising:

an image data acquiring process that acquires an image data; and

an image data producing process that produces data of a first image, for a first layer, based on brightness of the image data and produces data of a second image, for a second layer that is superimposed with the first layer, based on the image data,

wherein a pixel of the second image which is based on a pixel of the image data is superimposed with a pixel of the first image which is based on the same pixel of the image data.

15. The method of generating an image data according to claim 14, wherein

the image data acquiring process includes acquiring the image data including a first pixel and a second pixel with the brightness of the first pixel being brighter than the brightness of the second pixel, and

the image data producing process includes producing the first image data in which the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the first pixel is brighter than the brightness of the first layer corresponding to the second pixel.

16. The method of generating an image data according to claim 14, wherein

the image data producing process includes producing the first image data and the second image data so that at least one of a gradation value and a resolution is smaller in the first layer than in the second layer.

17. The method of generating an image data according to claim 14, further comprising

a print control process that outputs the first image and the second image to a printing section so that pixels produced based on the same image are superimposed with each other.