JP2000132400A - Picture processor in modular-type picture processing system, recording medium which records memory management program applied to processor and which computer can read and memory management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently manage a memory and to avoid the lack of memory capacity by using the storage area of a processing program as a work area when the capacity of the work area lacks. SOLUTION: A modular-type picture processing system is constituted by connecting a printer 1, a scanner 2 and a facsimile controller 3 through the network 4 of LAN and the like so that they can mutually communicate. Respective controllers 10 have CPU 20 and memories 30 and corresponding function devices can show prescribed functions. The memories 30 of the respective controllers 10 have areas 32 storing the various processing programs and work areas 34 used for executing various processings. For avoiding the lack of the memory capacity of the respective controllers 10, the storage area of the processing program which is not used is released and it is used as the work area so as to enlarge the work area when it is possible that the memory capacity lacks in the controllers 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus in a modular image processing system, a computer-readable recording medium storing a memory management program applied to the apparatus, and a memory management method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A modular image processing system is a multifunctional composite system in which a plurality of image processing apparatuses (for example, printers and scanners) are communicably connected to one network controller via a network. It is a kind of machine. Note that, in addition to the mode in which the devices of the modular image processing system are connected via a network, there is also a mode in which the devices of the modular image processing system are communicably connected by a dedicated line. .

In such a modular type multifunctional MFP, unlike the so-called integrated type, the user can freely change each device as needed, and each device is provided with independent system resources (for example, CPU). And memory)
have. For this reason, processing programs that can be used in common among the devices (for example, in the case of an image processing device, image processing such as image data compression / expansion, resolution conversion, gradation conversion, font / rasterizer processing, scaling, etc.) In general, each device has such a common processing program even if it is a processing program such as editing processing.

[0004]

By the way, in recent years, with the increase in resolution and color of a print image processing apparatus, the memory capacity required by the apparatus (specifically, a controller) has been dramatically increased. . Further, the device (controller) includes, in its memory, various work areas (for creating pages) used for executing various processes, in addition to storage areas of various processing programs necessary for controlling the system. Intermediate record creation area),
With the increase in resolution and color, the frequency of memory capacity shortage has increased. In order to avoid this, a large-capacity memory may be mounted on the device (controller), but a problem arises in that the production cost increases.

[0005] Such a situation is the same in the above-mentioned modular image processing system. With the increase in resolution and color of the system, the memory capacity of the controller of each image processing apparatus (printer, scanner, etc.) is insufficient. Occur more frequently. In particular, in the modular image processing system, as described above, even though the processing programs can be commonly used among the image processing apparatuses, each of the image processing apparatuses independently has the processing program. In some cases, there was a problem in terms of efficient memory management.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem in memory management of each image processing apparatus of a modular image processing system, and enables efficient management of a memory mounted on each image processing apparatus. The present invention provides an image processing apparatus in a modular image processing system, a computer-readable recording medium storing a memory management program applied to the apparatus, and a memory management method, which can avoid occurrence of memory shortage. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following means.

(1) An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus of a modular type image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses, and executes a first area storing a processing program and processing. Storage means having a second work area used to perform the operation, first judgment means for judging whether or not the second area has a capacity shortage, and judgment that the second area has a capacity shortage Is performed, it is determined whether another image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area.
Determining means for deleting the processing program stored in the first area when it is determined that another image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area; Control means for releasing the area in which the processing program is stored and allocating the area to the second area.

(2) The image processing device is a printer.

(3) The image processing device is a scanner.

(4) A computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention is a computer storing a memory management program applied to an image processing apparatus of a modular image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses. In the readable recording medium, it is determined whether or not the second area of the memory having the first area for storing the processing program and the second working area used for executing the processing has insufficient capacity. If it is determined that the second area has insufficient capacity, it is determined whether another image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area. The first image processing device
When it is determined that there is a processing program identical to the processing program stored in the area, the processing program stored in the first area is deleted to release the area storing the processing program. And assigning the area to the second area.

(5) A memory management method according to the present invention is a memory management method applied to an image processing apparatus of a modular type image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses, and stores a processing program. Judging whether the second area of the memory having the first area and the second work area used for executing the process has insufficient capacity, and the second area has insufficient capacity. Determining whether or not another image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area; and determining whether the other image processing apparatus has the first area. If it is determined that there is a processing program identical to the processing program stored in the first area, the processing program stored in the first area is deleted and the processing program is stored. To free up space, the said region second
Assigning to an area.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a modular image processing system to which the present invention is applied.

This modular image processing system is configured by connecting a printer 1, a scanner 2 and a facsimile (FAX) controller 3 as image processing apparatuses via a network 4 such as a LAN so as to be able to communicate with each other. The network 4 is connected to a single network controller 5 that comprehensively controls the entire system via the network 4. Since a facsimile usually includes a scanner and a printer, an example in which only a controller not including the scanner and the printer is connected is illustrated here.

Here, the case where one printer 1, one scanner 2 and one facsimile controller 3 are used is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Needless to say, plural units may be used.

Although the printer 1, the scanner 2, the facsimile controller 3, and the network controller 5 are all connected to the network 4, the present invention is not limited to this. A printer, a scanner, a facsimile controller, a network controller, and the like are communicably connected by a dedicated cable, and can be applied to a mode in which only a network controller is connected to a network.

The printer 1, the scanner 2, and the facsimile controller 3 have independent system resources, and the former two can operate independently. The printer controller 1a and the scanner controller 2a are respectively built in dedicated hardware. It is configured. In the following, for convenience, when these controllers 1a, 2a, and 3 are collectively shown, they will be referred to as "controller 10."

Each controller 10 has a CPU 20 and a memory 30 as system resources, and is configured so that corresponding functional devices (including the printer 1 and the scanner 2) can perform predetermined functions. In particular,
The printer controller 1a (or 10a) includes a printer CPU 20a and a memory 30a, and the scanner controller 2a (or 10b) includes a scanner CPU 2a.
0b and a memory 30b, and the facsimile controller 3 (or 10c) has a facsimile CPU 20c and a memory 30c.

The memory 30 of each controller 10 has an area 32 for storing various processing programs and a work area 34 used for executing various processing.

Various processing programs are stored in the processing program storage area 32 in a predetermined code format.
In the modular image processing system, as described above, the processing programs stored in this area 32 include processing that can be commonly used among the devices (the printer 1, the scanner 2, and the facsimile controller 3). Programs (shared processing programs) may be included. This shared processing program is, for example, a processing program such as image processing such as compression / expansion, resolution conversion, and gradation conversion of image data, font rasterizer processing, and editing processing such as scaling.

The work area is, as described above, an intermediate record storage area for creating a page and a download data storage area. The work area temporarily stores the intermediate result before the program is completed, or temporarily completes before the program is completed. Is a work area used to store data in If the capacity of the work area for data transfer is insufficient, a series of processes currently being executed is terminated. Therefore, it is important to secure the capacity of the memory (particularly, the work area). In particular, in recent image processing systems, as described above, the required memory capacity has been dramatically increased with the increase in resolution and color, so that a certain limited memory capacity is required. Taking measures to avoid memory capacity shortage has become a very important issue today.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to avoid the shortage of the memory capacity of each controller 10 in the modular image processing system, if there is a possibility that the shortage of the memory capacity of each controller 10 may occur, the processing program to be used is not used. The work area is expanded by releasing the storage area and using it as a work area (efficient memory management).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a memory management processing procedure when such a memory capacity shortage occurs. This memory management process is executed by each controller 10, that is, each of the printer controller 1a, the scanner controller 2a, and the facsimile controller 3.

Each controller 10 first determines whether the work area 34 is internally short and the memory capacity is insufficient (S1). If NO, the memory management process is immediately terminated, and YES If so, the next step S
Proceed to 2.

In step S2, if it is determined in step S1 that the memory capacity is insufficient, whether or not the code area of the shared processing program exists in the area 32 of the memory 30 of the controller 10, that is, It is determined whether there is a code area of the processing program that can be shared with another controller.

If the result of this determination is NO, there is no processing program (shared processing program) that can be shared with other controllers, and it is not possible to extend the work area by sharing processing programs as described below in the first place. Therefore, an error process for terminating the series of processes currently being executed is performed (S10), and the memory management process ends. At this time, in addition to terminating the process due to insufficient memory capacity, a process of notifying the user that memory capacity is insufficient may be performed at the same time.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S2 is YES, that is, if there is a shared processing program area, on the other hand, processing that is not needed at the current time (a series of processing currently being executed) It is checked whether or not there is a program area, in other words, whether or not there is a processing program area that can be deleted (S3), and thereby, it is determined whether or not there is an unnecessary processing program area (S4).

If the result of this determination is NO, there is no processing program that can be deleted, and in this case it is impossible to extend the work area by means described later, so the error processing is performed. (S1
0), and ends the memory management process. At this time, in addition to terminating the process due to the lack of the memory capacity, the process of notifying the user that the memory capacity is insufficient may be performed at the same time as in the above case.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S4 is YES, that is, if there is a processing program that can be deleted, the same processing program as that processing program is stored in another controller 10 or secondary storage. It is confirmed whether or not there is a sharable state on the device (S
5) Thus, it is determined whether the same processing program exists (S6). Although not shown in FIG. 1, the secondary storage device here is a storage device external to each controller, and is selectively provided as appropriate. Main secondary storage devices include, for example, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a floppy disk device, a CD-ROM device, and a magnetic tape device.

If the result of the determination in step S6 is YES, that is, if a processing program identical to the processing program exists in a sharable state on another controller 10 or a secondary storage device, The program is deleted to release the code area of the processing program (S7), and the released area is allocated to the work area (S9). As a result, the processing program is shared, the code area of the processing program can be diverted as various work areas, and the work area is expanded.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S6, N
If O, that is, if a processing program identical to the processing program does not exist in a sharable state on another controller 10 or a secondary storage device, the processing program is stored in another controller 5, 10, or It is evacuated to the next storage device (a kind of processing program is shared), the code area of the processing program is released (S8), and the released area is allocated to the work area (S9). As a result, similarly to the case of steps S7 and S9, the storage area of the unused processing program is released, and the code area of the processing program can be diverted as various work areas, and the work area is expanded.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when there is a possibility that the memory capacity may be insufficient in each controller 10, the processing program is shared to release the storage area of the unused processing program, and Since it is diverted as an area, it is possible to efficiently manage the memory mounted on each device (printer 1, scanner 2, facsimile controller 3), and to expand the work area 34. Therefore, the frequency with which the memory capacity shortage occurs can be reduced.
In this case, it is not necessary to mount a large-capacity memory in each device (the printer 1, the scanner 2, the facsimile controller 3), and the production cost can be reduced.

Further, by making the processing program a component which is converted into an intermediate code, the CPUs 20 of the respective controllers 10 are made identical (compatible at the machine code level).
It is no longer necessary to select the CPU 20 that matches the required function level for each controller 10, and the cost of each controller 10 can be reduced.

Each device (printer 1, scanner 2,
The memory management processing executed by the facsimile controller 3) is performed by the CPU 20 of each controller 10 executing a predetermined program describing the above-described processing procedure shown in FIG. 2, and this predetermined program is read by a computer. It is provided by a possible recording medium (eg, floppy disk, CD-ROM, etc.). Further, the predetermined program may be provided, for example, as application software for executing the above-described processing independently, or as a function of each device (printer 1, scanner 2, facsimile controller 3). It may be incorporated in

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the capacity of the working area of the memory is insufficient, the storage area of the processing program is used as the working area.
It is possible to efficiently manage the memory mounted on each image processing apparatus, reduce the frequency of memory shortage without increasing the memory capacity, and reduce the production cost. Reduction is also achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a modular image processing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a memory management processing procedure when a memory capacity shortage occurs according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer (image processing apparatus), 2 ... Scanner (image processing apparatus), 3 ... Facsimile controller (image processing apparatus), 4 ... Network, 5 ... Network controller, 10 ... Controller, 20 ... CPU, 30 ... Memory (Storage) Means), 32: processing program storage area (first area), 34: work area (second area).

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image processing apparatus of a modular image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses, a first area for storing a processing program and a second area for work used for executing processing. Storage means having an area; first determining means for determining whether the second area has insufficient capacity; and another image processing apparatus when the second area is determined to have insufficient capacity. A second determining means for determining whether there is a processing program identical to the processing program stored in the first area, and the same as the processing program stored in the first area in another image processing apparatus. When it is determined that there is a processing program, the processing program stored in the first area is deleted to release the area where the processing program is stored, and the area is stored in the second area. The image processing apparatus characterized by comprising a control means for assigning, the. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is a printer. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is a scanner. 4. A computer-readable recording medium storing a memory management program applied to an image processing apparatus of a modular image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses, wherein the processing program is stored. It is determined whether or not the second area of the memory having one area and a second work area used for executing processing has insufficient capacity, and it is determined that the second area has insufficient capacity. In this case, it is determined whether or not another image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area. The other image processing apparatus stores the processing program in the first area. If it is determined that there is a processing program identical to the processing program, the processing program stored in the first area is deleted and the processing program is stored. Releasing the allocated area and allocating the area to the second area. 5. A memory management method applied to an image processing apparatus of a modular image processing system configured by connecting a plurality of image processing apparatuses, wherein a first area storing a processing program and a processing are executed. Determining whether the second area of the memory having the second working area to be used has insufficient capacity; and, if the second area is determined to have insufficient capacity, generating another image. Determining whether a processing device has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area; and determining whether the other image processing apparatus has the same processing program as the processing program stored in the first area. When it is determined that there is a processing program, the processing program stored in the first area is deleted to release the area where the processing program is stored, and the area is stored in the second area. Allocating to an area; and a memory management method.