JP3210029B2 - Image processing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to image processing performed for forming an image in a page description language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, one image signal generating source having a storage means for transmitting bitmap data to one printer engine is connected to one printer engine, or both are integrated. .

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since the printer engine and the image signal generation source are 1: 1, there are the following drawbacks. (1) In the case of an image signal generation source having a page description language interpreter function, the processing speed is limited because one image signal generation source handles data development for one page. (2) If the image signal source can handle only binary data,
Even if the printer engine can also input multi-valued data, printing cannot be performed based on the multi-valued data, and the performance of the printer engine cannot be fully exhibited.

[0004]

In order to solve such a problem, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention converts multivalued image data represented by a plurality of bits and binary image data corresponding to page description language data. An image processing apparatus for forming an image included in one page, comprising: first storage means for receiving and storing multi-valued image data; Receiving the description language data,
A second storage unit that expands and stores the binary image data, and synchronizes the multi-valued image data stored in the first storage unit with the binary image data stored in the second storage unit. And supply means for supplying the image data to the image forming means. Further, an image processing method according to the present invention is an image processing method for forming an image including multi-valued image data represented by a plurality of bits and binary image data corresponding to page description language data in one page. Receiving the multi-valued image data and storing it in the first storage means;
In parallel with the storage processing of the storage means, the page description language data is received, expanded and stored in the second storage means as binary image data, and the multi-valued image data stored in the first storage means And the binary image data stored in the second storage means are synchronously supplied to an image forming means.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1a and 1b denote storage units having a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) interpreter function, a function of holding binary bitmap data obtained by expanding the command, and a function of reading the data. An apparatus main body 2, a power switch 3, a digital color copier main body having a binary printer function, a scanner 4, a output tray 5, and a paper feed cartridge 6. 7 is a storage device 1
a and 1b are connected to the copying machine 3, an interface device for synthesizing binary image signals (hereinafter referred to as video signals) received from the storage devices 1a and 1b and transmitting the synthesized signal to the copying machine 3, and 8 is a video interface cable. is there. A host computer 14 sends image information to the storage devices 1a and 1b.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the interface device 7 of FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 9 denotes a CPU of the processing unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a ROM in which a processing program of the CPU 9 and the like are stored. Reference numeral 11 denotes a RAM used as a 7-7 memory or the like used by the system. Reference numerals 12a to 12c denote devices for transmitting and receiving video signals to and from the storage devices 1a and 1b and the copying machine 3. A bus 13 transfers data, addresses, and control signals.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a portion for synthesizing video signals in the interface device. 15a and 15b are receivers for receiving a video signal, and 16 is an O for combining them.
An R gate 17 is a driver for transmitting a video signal to the copying machine 3.

The operation of the embodiment having the above structure will be described. The PDL command for one page is transmitted by half from the host computer 14 to the storage devices 1a and 1b, and the bitmap data independently developed is stored. Then, the interface device 7 combines the binary bitmap data received from the storage devices 1a and 1b, transmits the resultant to the copying machine 3 as a video signal, and prints out.

Next, the operation of the interface device 7 will be described. In FIG. 4, in step s1, the number of storage devices connected to the interface device 7 is set in a variable ALL. In step s2, the storage devices 1a and 1b
To receive commands from It is determined whether or not the command received in step s3 is a print start command. In step s4, the variable count is incremented. In step s5, it is determined whether or not the count and the ALL match, and if they match, a print start command is transmitted to the copying machine 3. At this time, the storage devices 1a,
A video signal transmission command is transmitted to the interface device 1b. In step s7, composite printing is started.

In the above embodiment, the printer engine 1
By connecting two PDL-compatible storage devices 1a and 1b to one unit, it is possible to perform distributed processing of two pages, instead of processing one page of PDL by one unit, thereby improving processing speed. Measured. This is particularly effective when dealing with a large amount of bitmap data such as when outputting a color image.

Although two storage devices are connected here, more may be connected. Further, the interface device may be built in the copying machine 3 or the storage device.

The storage devices 1a and 1b and the copying machine 3
Although the description has been made on the assumption that value data is handled, a configuration for processing multi-value data may be adopted.

2. A second embodiment of the present invention will be described in which image data in which a text image and an image image are present in the same page is printed. The basic configuration is the same as in FIG. 1, and the features will be described. The host computer 14 transmits the text data of the PDL data for one page to the storage device 1a and the image data to the storage device 1b, and stores the developed bitmap data. Then, the storage device 1 is connected to the interface device 7.
The binary bitmap data received from a and 1b are combined, transmitted to the copying machine 3 as a video signal, and printed out.

In the above embodiment, the image data and the text data are distributed and processed by another storage device, so that the PDL text data received from the host computer 14 is interpreted and developed into bitmap data. It is possible to send image data requiring a long time to transfer to the storage device 1b, and the processing speed is improved.

Although two storage devices are connected here, distributed connection processing may be performed by connecting more storage devices. Further, the interface device may be built in the copying machine or the storage device.

As in the above-described embodiment, multi-value data may be used.

3. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention. The host computer 14 is a host computer having at least two interfaces such as SCSI, RS-232C, RS-422, and Centronics. Reference numeral 18a denotes an image processing apparatus, which is connected to the host computer 14 by an interface cable 30, for example, of the SCSI standard. The image processing device 18a has a memory capable of storing, for example, one page of multi-valued image data of each color of Y, M, C, and Bk, and has a function of performing various types of image processing. The original image data stored in the memory of the image processing device 18a may be sent from the host computer 14 to the memory via the interface cable 30. The obtained image data can be sent to the memory via the lines 37 and 34 and the interface device 24. The multi-valued image data that has been processed in the image processing device 18a is transmitted to the interface device 24 via the interface cable 34 in a sequence described later, for example, in 8-bit parallel, in a frame-sequential manner for each color.

Reference numeral 18b denotes an image processing apparatus having a processing unit 25 for analyzing and processing a page description language such as a host script. Data described in the page description language includes:
It is transmitted from the host computer 14 via an interface cable 31 of, for example, the RS-422 standard. In the present embodiment, the processing unit 25 has a memory for storing one page of binary image data for each color of Y, M, C, and Bk.

Reference numeral 24 denotes an interface device, which in this embodiment is configured to be mountable as an expansion board in a slot of the image processing device. This interface device 24
Outputs the binary image data sent from the processing unit 25 via the line 38 to the copier 22 via the line 35, and outputs the multi-valued image data sent from the image processing device 18a via the line 34. Output to the copying machine 22 via the line 37. The copying machine 22 has a function of reproducing an image read by the scanner unit 21 and a function of forming an image based on image data from the lines 35 and 37.
When the binary image data and the multi-valued image data are input at the same time, the images related to the two image data are combined and formed.

The interface device of the image processing system has three operation modes. The operation of each mode will be described below.

(1) Multivalued Image Data Reproduction Mode In this mode, an image relating to image data from the image processing device 18a is formed by the copying machine 22. The connector of the interface device 24 with the image processing device 18a and the connector of the copier 22 have the same shape, and the lines 32 to 34 from the image processing device 18a are lines 35 to 3
7 can be directly connected to the copying machine 22. In this mode, the same operation as in the case of such connection is performed. In this mode, the image processing device 18a can output binary image data in addition to multi-value image data. The former is mainly graphic data, and the latter is mainly text data. However, in this mode, the processing unit 18
Image formation using PDL (for example, PostScript) processed in b cannot be performed. In this mode, the interface device 24 returns the status sent from the copier 22 via the line 36 to the line 33 as it is.
The command (excluding the command to the interface device) sent from the image processing apparatus 18a via the line 33 to the copying machine 22 via the line 36 as it is.

(2) Binary image data reproduction mode In this mode, when the interface device 24 is not mounted on the image processing device 18b, that is, the lines 35 to 37 from the copier are replaced with the lines 38 and 39, and the direct processing unit is used. It operates in exactly the same way as when it is connected to 35. However, in this mode, the 8-bit parallel line 37 is not used. That is, in this mode, the PD processed by the processing unit 25
Only the image related to the binary image data created using L is formed by the copying machine 22.

(3) Binary / multi-valued image data synthesizing mode In this mode, when one page includes multi-valued image data and PDL-compatible binary image data, for example, the host computer 14 controls the image processing in the image processing device 18a. The multi-valued image data is stored in the memory, and the PDL data is distributed and transmitted to the image processing device 18b and stored in the memory 26 as the binary image data. Then, the multi-valued image data and the binary image data are synchronized by the interface device 24 and sent to the copying machine 22 for printing.

The operation of the interface device 24 in this mode will be described below. In FIG. 6, in step s1, a standby state for receiving a data transfer preparation completion command from the image processing apparatus 18a is set. In step s2,
It enters a state of waiting for reception of a data transfer preparation completion command from the image processing device 18b. In step s3, a data transfer command is transmitted to both image processing apparatuses 18a and 18b. In step s5, both image data are sent to the copying machine 22 and printing is started.

However, in general, a general-purpose PDL is often compatible with binary image data in order to eliminate the dependence on the recording device, and even when the recording device can record multi-valued image data, the PDL is not used. A high-quality image cannot be formed by multi-valued image data. In this embodiment, a single recording apparatus is provided with an image processing apparatus supporting multi-values and a PDL.
By connecting two compatible image processing apparatuses, it is possible to reproduce a high-quality image using multi-valued image data even when a PDL that can handle only binary image data is used.

In addition, since multivalued image data requiring a large amount of memory can be handled by a different image processing device from binary image data as compared with binary image data, a load is imposed on an image processing device supporting binary image data. Efficient.

In this embodiment, two image processing apparatuses are connected to one copier. However, more than two image processing apparatuses may be connected. Further, the interface device may be configured independently, or may be built in the copying machine.

Further, a case where a copying machine having a scanner is used has been described, but a laser printer, an ink jet printer, a dot printer, or the like may be generally used as long as it has an image forming function.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, 1
An image including multi-valued image data and binary image data corresponding to page description language data in a page can be formed, and the image can be formed at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an interface device 7 in the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a binary-multi-value, multi-value-multi-value video signal combining portion.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the interface device 7 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the interface device 24 according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Storage device 3, 22 Copy machine 7, 24 Interface device 18a, 18b Image processing device

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for forming an image including multi-valued image data represented by a plurality of bits and binary image data corresponding to page description language data in one page, comprising: And a second storage unit that receives, expands, and stores as binary image data page description language data in parallel with the storage processing of the first storage unit. And supply means for supplying the multi-valued image data stored in the first storage means and the binary image data stored in the second storage means to a means for forming an image synchronously. Characteristic image processing device. 2. An image processing method for forming an image including, in one page, multi-valued image data represented by a plurality of bits and binary image data corresponding to page description language data, comprising: Is received and stored in the first storage means. In parallel with the storage processing of the first storage means, the page description language data is received, expanded and stored as binary image data in the second storage means. Image processing, wherein the multi-valued image data stored in the first storage means and the binary image data stored in the second storage means are supplied to a means for forming an image synchronously; Method.