JP6140952B2 - Data processing apparatus, data processing method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a program for performing printing based on compressed data.

  When receiving the compression-encoded image data from the host computer, the printing apparatus temporarily stores the image data in a reception buffer and performs an expansion process. At this time, there is a technique in which the printing apparatus performs an expansion process for each line in the image. Patent Document 1 describes that when decompressing compressed data of an image, an image to be printed is obtained by detecting a line end code of each line.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-030282

  When an image to be printed is obtained by the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-260, margin data needs to be added when a margin is provided for the image. For example, margin data is stored in a memory area corresponding to the entire area of the image to be printed, and a part of the image is expanded by the method described in Patent Document 1 to form image data. Then, the decompressed image data is stored (overwritten) in the memory in which the margin data is stored. That is, the margin data is stored in the area corresponding to the entire image to be printed in the memory, and the image data is overwritten in the area. In this process, access to the memory for storing the margin data and access to the memory for storing the image data must be performed. Therefore, many times of memory access may occur in order to store the image to be printed in the memory, which may cause a reduction in the efficiency of data processing for printing.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such conventional problems. In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data processing device, a data processing method, and a program that can easily store image data in a memory.

In order to solve the above problem, a data processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires compressed image data corresponding to an output target image, and the compressed image data acquired by the acquisition unit. Decoding means for decoding a part of image data corresponding to one or a plurality of lines in the output target image, and image data sequentially decoded for each of the one or a plurality of lines by the decoding means And data to be stored corresponding to the one or more lines including the margin data corresponding to the margin provided in the one or more lines, and the generated data to be stored is or comprising a storage control unit for each of the plurality of lines is stored sequentially in the memory, wherein the storage control means, the image data of the blank data and the image data Storage of the data to be stored without accessing the memory for storing only the image data and without accessing the memory for storing only the margin data of the image data and the margin data. Therefore, the storage target data is stored in the memory by accessing the memory .

  According to the present invention, the efficiency of decompression processing on compressed data can be improved.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram focusing on the periphery of a recording unit of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the block configuration of an image process part. It is a figure which shows the block configuration of the data decoding part in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the concept of operation | movement of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the procedure of the outline | summary of a process until it performs a printing process. It is a figure which shows the procedure of the decoding process in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the block configuration of the data decoding part in Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the concept of operation | movement of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the procedure of the decoding process in this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. . The same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram focusing on the periphery of a recording unit of a printing apparatus 100 according to the present invention. Hereinafter, an inkjet recording apparatus will be described as an example of the printing apparatus 100. However, the printing apparatus 100 may not be an ink jet recording apparatus. For example, an electrophotographic printing apparatus such as a laser printer or a copying machine may be used. The printing apparatus 100 creates corresponding character patterns, form patterns, and the like according to print information, form information, macro instructions, and the like supplied from a host computer or the like connected to the outside via a network or an interface. The printing apparatus 100 forms an image on a recording medium such as paper by ejecting ink from the recording head.

  The recording head 101 is connected to an ink tank (not shown) in which a plurality of color inks such as black, cyan, magenta, and yellow are sealed. In the recording head 101, nozzles corresponding to ink colors such as black, cyan, magenta, and yellow are arranged along the forward scanning direction of the arrow X1. The print control unit 108 determines whether the print start command signal transmitted from the image processing unit 107 via the flexible cable is appropriate, and applies a voltage to the heating element corresponding to each nozzle on the recording head 101. Control. The carriage 102 includes the recording head 101 and the print control unit 108, and can reciprocately scan in the main scanning directions X1 and X2. The carriage 102 is positioned at the home position P in a standby state where no printing operation is performed. The carriage 102 is moved in the main scanning directions X1 and X2 by a moving mechanism (not shown) while being guided by the guide rod G. The paper feed roller 105, together with the auxiliary roller 104, intermittently conveys the recording medium 106 in the sub-scanning direction indicated by the arrow Y while suppressing the recording medium 106. In addition to conveying the recording medium 106, the paper feed roller 103 plays a role of suppressing the recording medium 106 in the same manner as the paper feed roller 105 and the auxiliary roller 104. The image processing unit 107 has functions such as decompression processing and clip processing of input compressed data, and binarization processing for multi-valued image data. Further, the image processing unit 107 has a CPU mounted therein, and can control various processes of the present embodiment and the entire printing apparatus 100.

  Next, a basic printing operation in the printing apparatus 100 will be described. The image processing unit 107 scans the carriage 102 at the home position P at the time of printing standby in the forward scanning direction by a print start command. The image processing unit 107 performs printing on the recording medium 106 by ejecting ink from each ink ejection port of the recording head 101 based on image data to be output as the carriage 102 is scanned. When printing on a predetermined area on the recording medium 106 is completed by scanning the recording head, the image processing unit 107 rotates the paper feed roller 105 to feed the recording medium 106 by a predetermined width in the Y direction. Subsequently, the image processing unit 107 prints on the recording medium 106 by discharging ink based on the image data from a plurality of ink discharge ports on the recording head 101 while scanning the carriage 102 in the backward scanning direction X2. I do. Then, the image processing unit 107 returns the carriage 102 to the original home position P. Thereafter, the image processing unit 107 again rotates the paper feed roller 2005 to feed the recording medium 106 by a predetermined width in the Y direction. The printing apparatus 100 can print an image on the recording medium 106 by repeating the reciprocating scanning of the recording head 101 and the paper feeding operation as described above. Note that the printing apparatus 100 also includes a motor driver for driving a carriage motor for driving the carriage 102, a paper feed motor for driving the paper feed roller 103, a paper transport motor for driving the transport roller, and the like. . The printing apparatus 100 also includes a driver for driving the recording head 101.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the image processing unit 107. The image processing unit 107 includes a CPU 201. The CPU 201 is, for example, a high-speed RISC type CPU, and comprehensively controls access to various devices connected to the system bus based on a control program stored in the ROM 207, a control program stored in the RAM 206, and the like. . The CPU 201 is communicably connected to an external device such as a host computer connected to the external network 209 via the I / O 208. The external network 209 receives and acquires compression-encoded image data from the host computer. The data decoding unit 202 performs a decoding process (decompression process) on the compression-encoded image data. Although details will be described later, in the present embodiment, at the time of data decoding, a part of the image data exceeding the number of pixels up to the decoding right end position represented by the predetermined first parameter is cut out (clip processing) and determined in advance. White fixed data is added up to the position specified by the number of pixels up to the output right end position represented by the second parameter. The first and second parameters are stored in a storage area such as the RAM 206 in advance. The image processing unit 203 performs binarization processing on the decoded image data, and the print command generation unit 204 generates a print start command signal corresponding to the binarized image data. Then, the data transmission unit 205 transmits the binarized image data and the print start command signal to the print control unit 108 mounted on the carriage 102 via the flexible cable.

  Note that communication between the blocks in the image processing unit 107 is performed via the system data bus 210. The ROM 207 stores a control program executed by the CPU 201 and data necessary for controlling the printing apparatus 100. The RAM 206 stores data processed by the above-described units, and can be accessed by reading and writing from each unit of the image processing unit 107. The printing apparatus 100 may communicate with an external host computer via the network 209, or may be connected to the host computer via a USB (not shown) to perform communication.

  The printing apparatus 100 according to this embodiment executes collective printing in which a plurality of pieces of image data are aligned by rotating and moving to form a single piece of image data. Specifically, the image processing unit 107 creates image data of an image in which a plurality of images are arranged, and transmits the image data to the carriage 102, thereby printing an image in which the plurality of images are arranged. .

  In the present embodiment, the compressed image data corresponds to each of the plurality of images printed on the print medium, but the margin data added to the image is not included in the image data. That is, when the image processing unit 107 creates an image to be printed, it is necessary to insert margin data.

  In this embodiment, when margin data is added to an image, when each line of the image to be printed is decoded, the margin data is added to the image data of that line. Then, the image data with the margin data added is written in the RAM 206 as data corresponding to the line. Therefore, margin data can be appropriately added without accessing the RAM 206 for margin writing.

  Next, image data decoding processing, clip processing, and fixed data addition processing in the present embodiment will be described in detail. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the image data is subjected to a compression encoding method that performs compression encoding with reference to surrounding pixels as predicted values. However, other compression schemes may be used.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the data decoding unit 202 that executes the decoding process according to the present embodiment. The image decoding unit 301 decodes the image data according to the input compressed code (compressed and encoded image data) and the reference line (reference image data at the time of decoding), and adds the decoded data to the fixed data adding unit. It outputs to 304. The fixed data adding unit 304 adds fixed data subsequent to the decoded image data. The data to which the fixed data is added is stored in the RAM 206 as output data. The control unit 302 issues a decoding end instruction to the image decoding unit 301 and a data output end instruction to the fixed data adding unit 304. The counter 303 in the control unit 302 counts the number of pixels for which the decoding process or the fixed data addition process has been completed. The control unit 302 performs the decoding end instruction and the data output end instruction based on the counter value of the counter 303, the first parameter, and the second parameter.

  The first parameter indicates the number of pixels in one line of the image to be decoded. Therefore, when the number of decoded pixels reaches the number of pixels indicated by the first parameter, it can be determined that the decoding process for the line has been completed. The second parameter indicates the size of the margin added to the image, and specifically indicates the number of margin pixels added to each line of the image. Therefore, when margin data for the number of pixels indicated by the second parameter is inserted into a line, it can be determined that the addition of the margin to the line has been completed.

  Therefore, when the decoding for the number of pixels indicated by the first parameter is completed, the above-mentioned decoding end instruction is given, and when the margin data for the number of pixels indicated by the second parameter is added, the above-mentioned data output instruction is given. Thus, the print data of the line can be appropriately generated.

  The first parameter and the second parameter can be determined by referring to information in the print job received from the host computer. For example, the first parameter can be determined by analyzing the print job and acquiring the number of pixels of the image data included in the print job. Further, the print job created by the host computer includes paper size and margin setting information (output conditions) according to the print settings in the host computer. Therefore, by referring to the information, the size of the margin in the printing can be determined, and the second parameter indicating the number of pixels of the margin can be determined according to the determination result. In this way, when the CPU 201 receives a print job, the CPU 201 refers to the print job, identifies the first parameter and the second parameter, and stores these parameters in the RAM 206.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the concept of the operation of the present embodiment. With reference to FIG. 4, the relationship between the first and second parameters, the decoding process, and the process of adding fixed data corresponding to the margin part will be described. First, in the decoding process of the image data, the decoding process is performed using the compressed code and the reference line read from the RAM 206 via the system bus. The decoded image data is used not only as data for print output but also as reference data in the decoding process for the subsequent lines, so that it is sequentially sent to the RAM 206 via the system data bus. That is, when the decoding process is performed for each line, the decoded data that has already been decoded from the RAM 206 is read out as a reference line for reference.

  In the present embodiment, the decoding process is performed for the number of pixels up to the rightmost pixel position specified by the first parameter. The first parameter is the number of pixels for one line of each of the images 403 to 405 (for example, an A4 size image) when performing aggregate printing. When decoding, if a compressed code exists on the right side of the pixel position on the right end of decoding, decoding of the compressed code is temporarily terminated without continuing the decoding process and output to the fixed data adding unit 304.

  When decoding is performed up to the rightmost pixel position specified by the first parameter, fixed data is added up to the rightmost pixel position specified by the second parameter. The second parameter represents a margin width around each image when performing aggregate printing. For example, the second parameter represents the number of pixels in the line direction of the margin 402 in FIG. 4 represented by the number of pixels. Here, the fixed data may be arbitrarily set, for example, white data representing ink non-ejection. When fixed data up to the pixel position on the output right end is generated and added, output data for one line is stored in the RAM 206 via the system data bus 210.

  In addition, while the fixed data is added by the fixed data adding unit 304 for the first line, the image decoding unit 301 performs a decoding process for the subsequent one line. Thus, in this embodiment, the decoding process for one line and the fixed data addition process for the next line are performed simultaneously. Then, both the image data and the margin data of each line are sequentially stored in the RAM 206 for each line.

  Rather than decoding the image for each line, inserting a margin, and storing it in the RAM 206 as in the present embodiment, if the margin is to be inserted after the images 403 to 405 to be arranged are stored in the RAM 206, the RAM 206 is inserted. The number of accesses may increase. For example, processing for storing margin data for the aggregate print area 401 in the RAM 206, processing for forming the images 403 to 405, and processing for storing (overwriting) image data representing the images 403 to 405 in the RAM 206. And do. In this case, the RAM 206 must be accessed for each of the processing for storing the margin data and the processing for overwriting each image data. Accordingly, many times of memory accesses may occur in order to store the image to be printed in the memory, which may cause a reduction in the efficiency of data processing for printing.

  However, according to the configuration of this embodiment, fixed data is added to the decoded image data while decoding the compression-encoded image data in units of lines. Then, both the image data and margin data of each line are stored in the RAM 206. By repeating this for all lines, image data for all lines is stored. As a result, image data and margin data can be written to the RAM 206 with a smaller number of accesses to the RAM 206 than in the above example, so that the efficiency of data processing during printing can be improved.

  Hereinafter, processing from when the printing apparatus 100 receives compression-encoded image data to printing will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an overall processing procedure from when the printing apparatus 100 receives image data that has been compression-encoded from an external host computer to printing processing. Hereinafter, the processing illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 is executed, for example, when the CPU 201 of the image processing unit 107 executes a control program stored in the ROM 207 and controls each unit illustrated in FIG. 2.

  First, the printing apparatus 100 receives image data to be printed together with a print job from a host computer (S501). At this time, by referring to the print job, a first parameter indicating the number of pixels of each line of the image and a second parameter indicating the number of pixels of the margin of each line are acquired and stored in the RAM 206. The image data received in step S501 is image data that has been compression-encoded in the host computer, and can be decoded by using the above-described reference line. The printing apparatus 100 decodes the compression-coded image data received in S501 using the reference line (S502). Details of the decoding process in S502 will be described later with reference to FIG. The reference line may be received from the host computer in S501. Next, the printing apparatus 100 executes binarization processing on the image data decoded in S502 by the image processing unit 203 (S503), and generates a print start command signal (S504). The printing apparatus 100 transmits the binarized data binarized in S503 and the print start command signal to the recording head 101 via the flexible cable (S505). The printing apparatus 100 performs printing on the recording medium 106 by ejecting ink from each nozzle based on the binarized data while scanning the recording head 101 in the main scanning direction (S506).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the decoding process in S502 of FIG. First, the data decoding unit 202 reads from the RAM 206 image data (compressed code) and reference lines that have been compression-encoded in the host computer, as well as first and second parameters. Then, the CPU 201 initializes the count value of the counter 303 that counts the number of processed pixels in one line to be processed (S601). Next, using the compressed code read from the RAM 206 and the reference line, decoding processing in units of lines is started (S602). The decoding process is continuously performed until the number of pixels specified by the first parameter (or the pixel position may be reached) in one line is reached. For example, when the image 404 in FIG. 4 is being decoded, the first parameter indicates the number of pixels corresponding to the width of the image 404. Then, the decoding process is continued until the pixels corresponding to the number of pixels are processed.

  Therefore, every time one pixel is decoded, the count value indicating the number of processed pixels is incremented (S603), and it is determined whether or not the number of processed pixels matches the number of pixels specified by the first parameter. (S604). Although the first parameter has been described as representing the number of pixels, it may represent the pixel position in the horizontal axis direction in FIG. If it is determined in S604 that the number of processed pixels does not match the number of pixels specified by the first parameter, the processing from S602 onward is repeated for subsequent pixels. On the other hand, if it is determined in S604 that the number of processed pixels matches the number of pixels specified by the first parameter, the decoding process ends at that point (S605). The case where the number of processed pixels matches the number of pixels specified by the first parameter is a case where the decoding process has been completed for the width of the image to be decoded. Therefore, the image decoding unit 301 outputs the decoded image data for one line to the fixed data adding unit 304.

  Next, the fixed data adding unit 304 performs fixed data adding processing (S606). The fixed data adding process is continuously performed for the number of pixels specified in the second parameter. For example, when the decoding process of the image 404 in FIG. 4 is completed, fixed data for the number of pixels corresponding to the width of the margin 402 is added to the decoded image data. Here, the count value of the number of processed pixels is incremented every time one fixed data is added (S607). The count value at that time is the total value with the number of processed pixels counted in S603. The CPU 201 determines whether or not the count value counted in S607 matches the number of pixels up to the output right end specified by the second parameter (S608). Here, when it is determined that the count value does not match the number of pixels up to the output right end, subsequently, fixed data is added, and the processing from S607 is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined in S608 that the count value matches the number of pixels up to the output right end, it is determined that the processing for one line to be processed has been completed, and the process proceeds to S609. In S609, the image data decoded in S602 to S604 and the fixed data added in S606 to S608 are both stored in the RAM 206.

  When the image data and margin data of the line are stored in the RAM 206 in S609, it is determined whether or not the number of processed lines so far has reached a predetermined number of lines (S610). The predetermined number of lines is the number of lines constituting each of the images 403 to 405. If it is determined in S610 that the predetermined number of lines has not been reached, the processing from S601 is repeated for the subsequent lines. On the other hand, when it is determined that the predetermined number of lines has been reached, it is determined that the decoding process has been completed for all the lines of the image to be decoded, and the process illustrated in FIG. 6 ends.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of processing for a line in which a blank is provided at the right end of the decoding target image. For the lines corresponding to the margins provided above and below the decoding target, the margin data of the number of pixels corresponding to one line of the image provided with the margins is sequentially stored in the RAM 206 for each line.

  In FIG. 6, the processing is described focusing on one line. However, in S <b> 606 and subsequent steps, the CPU 201 performs the image decoding unit 301 and the fixed data adding unit so that S <b> 601 to S <b> 605 are performed for the subsequent lines. 304 is controlled. As described above, in this embodiment, the decoding process and the addition process of the fixed data (margin data) are performed for each line constituting the image, and the image data with the margin data added is sequentially stored in the RAM 206 for each line. (Memory control) Therefore, the process for storing the margin data in the RAM 206 and the process for storing the decoded image data in the RAM 206 may not be performed separately. Therefore, the number of accesses for writing the decoded data and the margin data into the RAM 206 can be reduced. Therefore, for example, when performing collective printing in which a plurality of images are aligned and printed, the image data of each image to be printed can be easily stored in the memory.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which fixed data (margin data) is added to image data that has been subjected to decoding processing has been described. However, the image decoding unit 301 is added to fixed data created by the fixed data adding unit 304. It may be a case where the image data decoded by is added.

[Embodiment 2]
In the above description, the example in which the margin is provided on the right side of the image has been described. In the present embodiment, an example in which the margin is provided on the left side of the image will be described.

  The description of FIGS. 1 to 2 and FIG. 5 is the same in this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the data decoding unit 202 in the present embodiment. Similar to the image decoding unit 301 in FIG. 3, the image decoding unit 701 decodes an image according to the input compressed code and reference line. The fixed data adding unit 704 performs the process of adding fixed data to the decoded data in the same manner as the fixed data adding unit 304 in FIG.

  Similar to the control unit 302 in FIG. 3, the control unit 702 issues a decoding start instruction and an end instruction to the image decoding unit 701 and a data output start instruction and an end instruction to the fixed data adding unit 704. The counter 703 counts the number of processed pixels similarly to the counter 303 in FIG. However, in the present embodiment, the control unit 702 issues a decoding end instruction and a data output end instruction based on the counter value, the first parameter, and the second parameter, and sets the counter value, the third parameter, and the fourth parameter. Based on this, a decoding start instruction and a data output start instruction are performed.

  The third parameter and the fourth parameter are respectively the left edge position of the margin provided on the left side of the image and the right edge of the margin provided on the left side of the image (or the image's right edge). The leftmost position is shown. The first parameter and the second parameter indicate the position of the left end of the margin (or the right end of the image) provided on the right side of the image and the position of the right end of the margin provided on the right side of the image, respectively.

  Similarly to the first parameter and the second parameter, the third parameter and the fourth parameter can be determined by referring to the information in the print job and determining the size of the left margin.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the concept of the operation of the present embodiment. Also in the present embodiment, the decoding process is performed using the compressed code read from the RAM 206 via the system data bus 210 and the reference image data. The decoded image data is used not only as print output data but also as reference data in the decoding process for the subsequent lines, so that it is sequentially sent to the RAM 206 via the system data bus.

  The fourth parameter shown in FIG. 7 represents the pixel position at the output left end shown in FIG. For example, the coordinate position in the horizontal axis direction of the consolidated print area 801 in FIG. 8 may be used. In the present embodiment, for example, prior to the decoding process of the image 803, fixed data is added from the output left end position specified by the fourth parameter to the decoding left end position specified by the third parameter. The fixed data is the same as described in the first embodiment.

  Next, the decoding process starts from the decoding left end position specified by the third parameter, and is performed up to the decoding right end position specified by the first parameter. The first parameter and the second parameter shown in FIG. 7 are the same as described in FIG. The decoding process for the number of pixels of the first parameter from the third parameter in FIG. 8 and the additional process for adding the fixed data for the number of pixels of the second parameter are also the same as the description in FIG. is there.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the decoding process in the present embodiment. The process shown in FIG. 9 is executed, for example, when the CPU of the image processing unit 107 controls each unit shown in FIG. First, the data decoding unit 202 reads from the RAM 206 image data (compressed code) and reference lines that have been compression-encoded in the host computer, as well as first and second parameters. Then, the fourth parameter indicating the position of the output left end is set as an initial value for the counter 703 that counts the number of processed pixels in one line (S901). Next, fixed data addition processing is performed from the output left end position shown in FIG. 8 (S902). The process of adding fixed data is continuously performed until the position at the left end of decoding specified by the third parameter is reached. Each time one piece of fixed data is added, the count value of the counter 703 is incremented (S903), and it is determined whether or not the count value matches the position of the decoding left end specified in the third parameter (S904). . Here, if it is determined that the count value does not match the position at the left end of the decoding, the processing from S902 is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that the count value matches the position of the left end of decoding, it is determined that the fixed data addition processing has been completed for the left end portion of the current target line of the image 802 (S905). ).

  After S905, the decoding process is started using the compressed code read from the RAM 206 and the reference line (S906). The decoding process is continuously performed until the pixel position designated by the first parameter is reached in one line. Here, every time one pixel is decoded, the count value indicating the number of processed pixels is incremented (S907), and the pixel position corresponding to the number of processed pixels matches the pixel position specified by the first parameter. It is determined whether or not to perform (S908). If it is determined in S908 that the pixel position corresponding to the number of processed pixels does not match the pixel position specified by the first parameter, the processing from S906 onward is repeated for subsequent pixels. On the other hand, if it is determined in S908 that the pixel position corresponding to the number of processed pixels matches the pixel position specified by the first parameter, the decoding process ends at that point (S909). . The image decoding unit 701 outputs the decoded image data for one line to the fixed data adding unit 704.

  Next, the fixed data adding unit 704 performs fixed data adding processing (S910). The fixed data adding process is continuously performed for the number of pixels specified in the second parameter. Here, every time the fixed data is added for one pixel, the count value of the number of processed pixels is incremented (S911). The count value at that time is the total value with the number of processed pixels counted in S907. The CPU determines whether or not the count value counted in S911 matches the number of pixels up to the output right end specified by the second parameter (S912). Here, when it is determined that the count value does not match the number of pixels up to the output right end, subsequently, fixed data is added, and the processing from S910 is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined in S912 that the count value matches the number of pixels up to the output right end, it is determined that the processing for one line to be processed has been completed, and the process proceeds to S913. In S913, the image data decoded in S902 to S908 and the fixed data added in S902 to S904 and S910 to S912 are both stored in the RAM 206.

  When the image data and margin data of the line are stored in the RAM 206 in S913, it is determined whether or not the number of processed lines so far has reached a predetermined number of lines (S914). The predetermined number of lines is the number of lines constituting the image data. If it is determined in S914 that the predetermined number of lines has not been reached, the processing from S901 is repeated for subsequent lines. On the other hand, when it is determined that the predetermined number of lines has been reached, it is determined that the decoding process has been completed for all the lines of the image of the decoding process, and the process illustrated in FIG. 9 ends.

  As described above, in the first and second embodiments, the image decoding unit, the control unit, the counter, and the fixed data adding unit described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 7 may be configured as an electric circuit using one ASIC.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the decoding process and the margin data adding process are executed line by line has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a decoding process and a margin data adding process may be executed for each predetermined plurality of lines. Furthermore, the number of lines on which encoding processing and margin data addition processing are performed at a time may be switched in accordance with predetermined conditions. For example, the number of lines to be processed at a time may be switched according to the contents of the image data.

  In the above embodiment, printing by a printing apparatus has been described as an example of image output. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The process shown in the above embodiment can be applied to various output processes such as display by a display device.

  The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. In other words, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various computer-readable storage media, and the computer of the system or apparatus (or CPU, MPU, etc.) This is a process of reading and executing a program. Furthermore, it is not limited to the case where one computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) executes processing. Even when a plurality of computers (or CPUs, MPUs, etc.) cooperate to execute the processing, the processing described in the above embodiments can be realized. Further, not only when a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) executes a program stored in a memory such as a ROM, but processing is performed by hardware (circuit, etc.) for performing the processing shown in the above embodiments. May be performed. Furthermore, a part of the processing shown in the above embodiment may be executed by a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) and the remaining part may be executed by hardware.

Claims (13)

Acquisition means for acquiring compressed image data corresponding to an image to be output;
Decoding means for decoding a part of the image data corresponding to one or a plurality of lines in the output target image of the compressed image data acquired by the acquisition means;
Corresponding to the one or a plurality of lines including the image data sequentially decoded for each of the one or a plurality of lines by the decoding means and the margin data corresponding to the margins provided in the one or the plurality of lines. Storage control means for creating data to be stored, and storing the created data to be stored in the memory sequentially for each of the one or more lines;
With
The storage control means
The memory is not accessed to store only the image data of the image data and the margin data, and to the memory to store only the margin data of the image data and the margin data. A data processing apparatus that stores the data to be stored in the memory by accessing the memory for storing the data to be stored without accessing the data. The storage control means
Until the creation of the data to be stored, waiting for access to the memory of the image data included in the data to be stored and access to the memory of the margin data included in the data to be stored, The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data to be stored is stored in the memory by accessing the memory after the data to be stored is created . The acquisition unit acquires the information for identifying the output condition when the still image of the output object is output, the storage control means based on the output conditions specified by the acquired information Ku data processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that to create the data of the memory object, including the blank data. The storage control unit determines a size of a margin provided in the output target image based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, and includes the margin data corresponding to the determined size. The data processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein target data is created. The storage control unit determines an area to be stored in the memory among the one or more lines of the image to be output based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, and the determined area 5. The data processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the storage target data including image data corresponding to is stored in the memory.   6. The information acquisition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating a print setting when the output target image is printed, as the information for specifying the output condition. The data processing device according to item. The output device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising output means for outputting the output target image based on the storage target data stored in the memory by the storage control means. Data processing equipment. And the output means, the printing means, the data processing apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that to print the image of the output object to record medium. The data processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a printing unit as the printing unit. When the plurality of images based on the image data acquired by the acquisition unit are printed by the printing unit in a state in which the plurality of images are arranged in the direction along the one or more lines on the recording medium, the storage control unit The data processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the data to be stored corresponding to the plurality of images is stored in the memory. The storage control means
As the first storage control, the storage target data is sequentially stored in the memory for each one or a plurality of lines in the first image of the plurality of images, and as the second storage control, The data processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the data to be stored is sequentially stored in the memory for each of one or more lines in a second image of the plurality of images. An obtaining step for obtaining compressed image data corresponding to an image to be output;
A decoding step of decoding a part of the image data corresponding to one or a plurality of lines in the image to be output, of the compressed image data acquired in the acquisition step;
Storage control means includes an image data sequentially decoded per the one or more lines in the decoding step, a blank data corresponding to the margin provided in the one or more lines, the one or more A storage control step of creating a storage target data corresponding to the line, and executing a predetermined storage control for sequentially storing the generated storage target data in the memory for each of the one or a plurality of lines;
I have a,
In the storage control step,
The memory is not accessed to store only the image data of the image data and the margin data, and to the memory to store only the margin data of the image data and the margin data. A data processing method comprising: storing the storage target data in the memory by accessing the memory for storing the storage target data without accessing the storage target data . Program for causing a computer to function as each means of the data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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