JP2000255122A - Printing processing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing processing apparatus capable of efficiently executing developing processing in a constitution for executing developing processing by a hardware to output printing. SOLUTION: In constitution executing the developing processing due to a developing processing part 5 wherein a plurality of processings are enabled by constitutional alteration, a memory address of a drawing element and a developing processing constitution ID are allowed to correspond to each other to be stored in a table. An address having the same developing processing constitution ID is successively selected by table scanning and the drawing pixel is taken out to perform developing processing. After the completion of the table scanning and developing processing related to one developing processing ID, the table scanning and developing processing related to the next developing processing constitution ID is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a print processing apparatus and a print processing method. More specifically, in a configuration in which drawing data described by a predetermined drawing command is input, the input drawing data is converted into intermediate data, and the drawing processing is executed by hardware to perform print output, the drawing processing is performed efficiently. The present invention relates to a print processing apparatus and a print processing method that can be executed in a flexible manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of an electrophotographic page printer suitable for small, high-speed digital printing, images, figures, characters, and the like, which have escaped from the conventional printing of mainly character information, are handled in the same manner. 2. Description of the Related Art A printing processing apparatus using a description language in which enlargement, rotation, deformation, and the like of an image can be freely controlled has been widely used. A typical example of such a description language is PostScript (Adobe System).
s), Interpress (trademark of Xerox), Acrobat (trademark of Adobe Systems), GDI (Graphics Device I)
Internet, trademark of Microsoft Corporation) and the like are known.

[0003] Print data created in a description language is:
It is composed of commands and data strings in which drawing commands and data for expressing images, figures and characters at arbitrary positions in a page are arranged in an arbitrary order. In order to print with the page printer according to the present invention, before printing, Print data must be rasterized. Rasterization is the process of developing a raster scan line by developing it into a series of individual dots or pixels that traverse a page or portion of a page, and generating successive scan lines below the page.

In a conventional page printer, print data of the entire page is rasterized before printing and stored in a page buffer memory. However, storing raster data for an entire page requires a large amount of memory. In particular, in the latest electrophotographic color page printer, C (Cyan), M (Magenta), Y
Raster data corresponding to four color toners (Yellow) and BK (Black) is required, and image quality is required more than a black and white page printer. Yes, and requires more memory.

Recently, a band memory technology has emerged as a technology for reducing memory requirements from the viewpoint of cost reduction in response to the need for a large amount of memory. Band memory technology can rasterize print data created in a description language faster than rasterizing print data, instead of rasterizing all print data for one page before printing by a page printer. Convert to relatively simple intermediate data,
This technique divides a page into a plurality of adjacent areas (bands), stores intermediate data corresponding to each band, sequentially transfers the intermediate data to a raster development processing unit, and develops the data in a buffer memory corresponding to the band.

In the band memory technology, a memory for storing intermediate data is newly required, but it is possible to reduce a buffer memory which requires a large capacity for raster data. However, in general band memory technology, by the time the printing of raster data of a certain band is completed,
It is necessary to finish developing raster data from intermediate data for the next band. When the print data includes a complicated graphic drawing instruction or an image drawing instruction with a large amount of data to be handled, or when a specific band in one page includes a complicated graphic drawing instruction or an image drawing instruction, There is a possibility that a situation may occur where the development of the intermediate data into the raster data is not in time.

In order to speed up the process of developing the intermediate data into raster data, it has been considered to use dedicated hardware. As described above, objects to be drawn in a page include images, figures, and characters, and these require special processing according to the type of each object. For example, in the case of an image, resolution conversion, affine conversion, interpolation accompanying these processes, color processing, and the like are performed. In the case of a figure, coordinate conversion, vector / raster conversion,
Filling processing is required. In the case of a character, conversion of outline coordinates, hint processing, vector / raster conversion, filling processing, and the like are required. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare dedicated hardware corresponding to all of these processes one by one. However, in this case, even if the memory amount can be reduced, there is a problem that the amount of dedicated hardware to be added increases and the entire system becomes expensive. In addition, H /
W can be used only when the intermediate data is converted into a bitmap, and there is a problem that it is extremely wasteful to prepare dedicated hardware corresponding to the processing in parallel in view of the usage rate. .

Conventionally, as an attempt to solve such a problem, instead of providing hardware in parallel for all the expansion processing functions, the functions are changed by reconfiguring the hardware programmability or the structure to reduce the number of hardware. Attempts have been made to realize many functions in hardware at high speed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 6-131155 and Hei 10-278361 disclose conventional techniques relating to the present invention having such a concept.

[0009]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
5 reconfigures the means for generating an address for the data storage area and reconfigures the arithmetic means for the data in the data storage area obtained by the means for generating the address, thereby performing various image processing with a small amount of hardware. What we are trying to achieve. However, this configuration can reconstruct image processing that is significant in address information, but cannot cope with vector processing such as graphics and characters. Also, since image processing is always performed by performing reconstruction, PDL (Page D
When various images appear arbitrarily, as in the case of the script language (page description language),
There is also a problem that the reconstruction time is increased. Furthermore, unless the rewriting process is a process of substantially the same size, the rewriting unit is matched to the largest process, and there is a problem that reconfiguration of processes of various sizes causes waste.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-278361 discloses a technique in which reconfiguration hardware is used to perform expansion processing for outputting input print data to an output device, thereby reducing the required amount of hardware and providing print data to be processed. The throughput is improved by adopting an optimal hardware configuration accordingly. For example, judging the overlap of drawing elements included in the print data, and rearranging the drawing elements of the print data based on the determination information and the contents of the print data, thereby causing the reconfiguration hardware units to operate in parallel. By reducing the number of changes in the configuration of the reconfiguration hardware means, it is possible to speed up the expansion processing by the reconfiguration hardware means. However, this configuration has a problem in that it takes time for preprocessing of the developing means, such as determination of overlapping of drawing elements and rearrangement of drawing elements, and the overall throughput is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and rewrites the reconfiguration of hardware used for expansion processing at least according to the contents of print data including images, figures, and characters. An object of the present invention is to enable high-speed and resource-saving print processing by using the same hardware resource by efficiently performing both the number of times and the scale of rewriting.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a print processing apparatus and a print processing method for achieving the above object. That is, the print processing apparatus according to the present invention has at least one of a character, a figure, and an image drawing element, and inputs drawing data described by a predetermined drawing command, and a drawing input to the input means. A conversion unit that adds expansion processing configuration information in accordance with the drawing element included in the drawing data based on the data to generate expansion processing configuration information-added intermediate data; Expansion processing means capable of performing a plurality of processes in accordance with the expansion processing means, changing the configuration in accordance with the expansion processing configuration information, and executing expansion processing in the order of drawing elements having common expansion processing configuration information; Output means for outputting expanded data expanded by the means.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The expansion processing means can be changed to a plurality of configurations, and is constituted by reconfigurable hardware capable of performing a plurality of processes in accordance with the changes.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The conversion means has a configuration for generating a correspondence table between each object data storage address in an input buffer for storing object data indicating a rendering element and identification information indicating development processing configuration information of the rendering element. , The table is scanned, drawing elements having identification information indicating common development processing configuration information are extracted, and the development processing is sequentially performed.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The expansion processing means has a configuration in which scanning of the table is repeated at least as many times as the number of types of identification information indicating different expansion processing configuration information included in the table.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The expansion processing means is configured to change the expansion processing configuration based on the identification information indicating the different expansion processing configuration information when shifting to the expansion processing of the drawing element corresponding to the identification information indicating the different expansion processing configuration information. It is characterized by.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The expansion processing means has a configuration code storage unit storing a plurality of configuration codes corresponding to the configurations of the plurality of changeable expansion processing means, and based on identification information indicating the expansion processing configuration information associated with the drawing element. By selecting a configuration code corresponding to the identification information from the configuration code storage unit and performing reconfiguration of the expansion processing unit according to the selected configuration code,
The present invention is characterized in that the configuration is changed to a configuration in which the expansion process according to the expansion process configuration information can be executed.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The expansion processing means has a configuration for executing at least a part of the intermediate data generation processing in the conversion means, and the expansion processing means performs the expansion processing based on the identification information indicating the expansion processing configuration information for executing the intermediate data generation processing. The present invention is characterized in that the means is changed to a configuration capable of executing intermediate data generation processing, and the intermediate data generation processing is executed.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention,
The intermediate data generation processing executed by the expansion processing means is either data compression processing or data expansion processing.

Further, the print processing method according to the present invention has an input step of inputting drawing data which has at least one of a character, a figure, and an image drawing element and is described by a predetermined drawing command. Based on the data, a conversion step of adding expansion processing configuration information in correspondence with the drawing element included in the drawing data to generate expansion processing configuration information-added intermediate data; and a plurality of configurations can be changed. In a development processing unit capable of performing a plurality of processes in accordance with the configuration, the configuration is changed according to the development processing configuration information, and the development processing step of executing the development processing in the order of the drawing elements having the common development processing configuration information; And an output step of outputting the expanded data.

Further, in the print processing method of the present invention,
The conversion step includes a step of creating a table in which each object data storage address in the input buffer storing the object data indicating the drawing element and identification information indicating the expansion processing configuration information of the drawing element are created. Is characterized by including a step of scanning a table, extracting drawing elements having identification information indicating common development processing configuration information, and sequentially executing the development processing.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a print processing apparatus and a print processing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0023]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a print processing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the print processing apparatus includes a drawing data spool unit 2, a drawing data interpretation unit 3, a conversion processing unit 4, a development processing unit 5, an output device control unit 6, and an output device 7. I have. Less than,
The outline and operation of each component of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

In FIG. 1, drawing data 1 is described in a description language that can be processed by a print processing apparatus, and is created by an application program that processes document creation and editing on a personal computer or workstation (not shown). Generated from the document data. The description language targeted in this embodiment is, for example, G
Although it is DI, PDF (P
convertable Document Format),
A page description language represented by PostScript (P
DL).

The drawing data spool unit 2 stores the drawing data 1
And a function of temporarily storing drawing data until the drawing data is output to the drawing data interpreting unit 3.

The drawing data interpreting section 3 cuts out the drawing data input from the drawing data spooling section 2 as tokens in accordance with a predetermined description language syntax, interprets the tokens, and converts them into internal commands and their arguments. I do. The internal commands include a drawing command for executing drawing of characters / graphics / images and a drawing state command for setting information necessary for drawing such as color and line attribute. The drawing command is transferred to the conversion processing unit 4.

The conversion processing unit 4 converts the input drawing data into intermediate data that can be expanded into print data in the expansion processing unit 5. The purpose of converting to intermediate data is
The purpose is to enable high-speed expansion processing in the expansion processing unit 5. Further, a hardware configuration ID which is an identifier for the configuration data written to the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 of the expansion processing unit 5 is added to the intermediate data as information regarding the expansion processing. The details of the conversion processing unit 4 and the intermediate data will be described later.

The expansion processing unit 5 reads out the intermediate data output from the conversion processing unit 4 in band units,
The output image data is created in the output buffer memory inside.
That is, it receives the intermediate data output from the conversion processing unit 4 and expands it into data that can be output by the output device 7.

The input data includes images, figures, and characters, which require special processing according to the type of each object. For example, in the case of an image, resolution conversion, affine conversion, interpolation accompanying these processes, color processing, and the like are performed. In the case of a graphic, coordinate conversion, vector / raster conversion, filling processing, and the like are performed. For characters, convert outline coordinates, hint processing, vector / raster conversion,
Filling processing is required. Expansion processing unit 5 of the present invention
Has a reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 that changes functions by reconfiguring hardware programmability or structure and realizes many functions at high speed with a small amount of hardware. Various development processes are enabled by 50. Reconfigurable expansion processing unit 5
0 will be described in detail later. For example, a field programmable
There is a gate array (FPGA).

The data expanded in the expansion processing unit 5 is alternately stored in two output buffer memories in the expansion processing unit 5. As will be described later, the output device 7 used in this embodiment is a color page printer, and the output image data alternately stored in the buffer memory is converted into print data of the recording color printed in the output process 7. Yes, it is.
Subsequently, the output image data stored in the output buffer memory is alternately output to the output device in response to a data request from the output device 7. Details of the development processing unit 5 will be described later.

The output device control unit 6 transfers output image data in the output buffer memory in the expansion processing unit 5 to the output device 7, and executes state control and management of the output device 7.

The output device 7 outputs an image. For example, in a case where the output device 7 is a color page printer using an electrophotographic system of a laser scanning system capable of outputting a full-color image by repeating exposure, development, and transfer for each of CMYBK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) colors. Under the control of the output device control section 6, the output image data output from the output buffer memory is received, printed on recording paper, and output.

Next, an outline of a processing flow in the image processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. When the drawing data 1 including characters / graphics / images is input to the drawing data spool unit 2, intermediate data divided in band units is generated via the drawing data interpretation unit 3 and the conversion processing unit 4 (step S21). ). In the generated intermediate data, one table including the hardware configuration ID of each drawing object is included in each band. Then, the conversion processing unit 4 outputs the intermediate data in response to a request from the development processing unit 5.

The expansion processing section 5 scans the table added to the intermediate data input from the conversion processing section 4 and, if necessary, from the configuration data management section 52 according to the hardware configuration ID included in the table data. The configuration data relating to the hardware configuration is input, and the reconfiguration control unit 51
The function of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 is rewritten by the control of (step S22).

Next, the intermediate data is received in band units and converted into output image data output by the output device 7 (step S23). It is checked whether the processing of all the intermediate data in the band is completed (step S24). If the processing is not completed, the expansion processing is repeated while rewriting the function of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 as necessary. When the expansion processing of all the intermediate data in the band is completed and the cycle of the output device 7 is completed or the output preparation is completed, the output image data is output from the output buffer memory to the output device 7 in accordance with the recording speed of the output device 1. Transferred line by line (step S2
5).

Next, it is checked whether the processing of all the bands in the page has been completed (step S26). If the processing has not been completed, while the output image data of one output buffer memory is being output, the expansion processing of step S22 and subsequent steps is repeatedly executed for the next band, and is output to one output buffer memory as output image data. Store. That is, the expansion processing unit 5 performs expansion processing on output image data and the output device 7.
Is repeated for each color or simultaneously for four colors until output image data for one page is processed. If completed, the development process for one page is completed. If the output image data is composed of a plurality of pages, the above process is repeated until the output of all pages is completed.

The outline of the printing process according to the present invention has been described above. Next, details of a main part of the print processing apparatus will be described.

First, the conversion processing unit 4 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 3, the conversion processing unit 4 includes an instruction execution unit 40, a drawing state instruction storage unit 41, an image processing unit 42
, A vector processing unit 43, a list generation unit 44, a band division management unit 45, and an intermediate data storage unit 46.

The command execution unit 40 executes the internal command sent from the drawing data interpretation unit 3. The commands executed here mainly include a drawing command and a drawing state command. For example, there are three types of drawing commands as shown in Table 1,
Information necessary for each drawing is shown. Of these, information with an underline is given as an argument in the drawing command, and other information is stored in the drawing command state storage unit 41 in advance by initial setting or a preceding command. To execute the drawing command, the received drawing command is transferred to the vector processing unit 43 as it is except for drawing an image. In the case of image drawing, the received drawing command is transferred to the image processing unit 42 and the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image header are transferred to the vector processing unit 43. For the drawing state command, the command is transferred to the drawing state command storage unit 41.

[0040]

[Table 1]

The drawing state command storage unit 41 stores the command execution unit 4
For example, the value of the information without underline shown in Table 1 is set with the value of the argument included in the instruction received from 0, and the values are stored. Further, the image processing unit 42,
In accordance with requests from the vector processing unit 43, the band division management unit 45, and the like, those values are transferred.

The image processing unit 42 receives the input image header and the input image data which are the arguments of the command input from the command execution unit 40, and if a compressed image is input based on the compression ID added to the header. Is subjected to affine transformation using the transformation matrix acquired from the drawing state command storage unit 41. Further, in some cases, the processed image is compressed, an output image header and output image data are generated, and transferred to the band division management unit 419. For this compression, it is usual to use a compression method that originally compressed image data on the PDL side, but this need not be the case. For example, if the data is compressed by DCT (discrete cosine transform) on the PDL side, it may be compressed by DCT, may be compressed by LZW, or may not be compressed. In the affine transformation to be performed, in order to reduce the amount of memory in the intermediate data buffer,
Affine transformation may be performed on purpose for a resolution smaller than the resolution of the output device.

The vector processing unit 43 uses the command and argument sent from the command execution unit 40 and the value of the drawing state command storage unit 41 to generate vector data for new drawing except for solid drawing. I do. First, the case of character drawing will be described. The character code given by the argument and the font ID obtained from the drawing state command storage unit 41 are transferred to the font management unit to obtain character outline data. Since the acquired outline data does not include information on the drawing origin (current point), the target vector data is generated by adding the offset of the current point acquired from the drawing state command storage unit 41 to the outline data. . In the case of image drawing, a rectangular vector corresponding to the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image header given by the argument is generated, and the offset of the current point acquired from the drawing state command storage unit 41 is added to obtain the target vector data. Generate In the case of stroke drawing, the vector given by the argument and the drawing state command storage unit 4
An outline vector of a line having a thickness is generated from the various line attributes acquired from step 1. The vector generated in this manner (in the case of solid drawing, the vector directly received from the instruction execution unit 40) is subjected to matrix conversion, and if there is a curved vector in the vector, converted to a short vector composed of all straight lines. I do. The generated vector is transferred to the list generation unit 44.

From the vector generated by the vector processing unit 43, the list generation unit 44 generates, for each drawing object, header information, the starting point, inclination, and direction of the vector forming the drawing object, and the intersection of the vector and the scanning line. A list composed of edge information including numbers is generated. The generated list data is transferred to the band division management unit 45.

The band division management section 45 includes an image processing section 42
In addition, of the image data and the list data each including the header information input from the list generation unit 44, the data over a plurality of bands is divided for each band. Further, intermediate data is generated by adding additional information to the data divided for each band.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the intermediate data. The intermediate data includes drawing object data: OD divided for each band as described above, and BID, OID, PI as additional information.
D is added.

The additional information is composed of management information for managing the intermediate data and a development processing ID representing the contents to be processed by the reconfigurable development processing unit 50. The management information includes a band ID (BID) for indicating to which band the object belongs, and an object ID (OID) which is an identification number assigned to one drawing command. The development processing ID (PID) is an ID as identification information indicating the type of a development processing hardware configuration for performing the development processing by the reconfigurable development processing unit 50 on the drawing object.

As shown in FIG. 4, the additional information of the BID, OID, and PID includes image data including header information and list object drawing object data: OD for each band generated by the drawing command. Prepended. Here, the image data as the intermediate data may be stored in a compressed form because of its large capacity. The image header information also includes the type of color conversion processing and the type of compression method, in addition to the parameter indicating the size of the image. The intermediate data is a set of data for such a drawing object.

The intermediate data, which is the aggregate data of each drawing object divided for each band by the band division management unit 45, is sent to the intermediate data storage unit 46. In the intermediate data storage unit 46, each drawing object data is stored in the band ID and the object ID in the additional information of each drawing object.
Are interpreted, collected for each band, and further stored in the drawing order. When the command execution unit 40 interprets a page output command, EOP (End Of Page)
e) is sent to the intermediate data storage unit 46 via the band division management unit 45, and the final data of each band stored in the intermediate data storage unit 46 has EOD (End Of Da
ta) is added to clarify the end of the band data. This EOP is also sent to the expansion processing unit 5 to activate the processing of the expansion processing unit 5.

When an intermediate data transfer request is received from the intermediate data transfer control unit 62, the intermediate data storage unit 46 transfers the intermediate data to the input buffer in the expansion processing unit 5 in band units. At this time, in the intermediate data storage unit 46, as shown in FIG. 5, the head address indicating the location on the input buffer where one piece of drawing object data is stored, and the development processing ID of the drawing object can be actually reconfigured. One table is created for each band as a set of data obtained by converting the hardware configuration ID corresponding to the hardware configuration of the expansion processing unit 50 on a one-to-one basis. The end of the table is terminated with NULL.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a table created in the intermediate data storage unit 46 of the conversion processing unit 4. The input buffer shown on the left side of FIG. The input buffer stores intermediate data for each band. The data for each band has a data array as shown in the center of FIG. ADR0, ADR1, AD
R2. . . Is a start address indicating a location on the input buffer where each drawing object data is stored. As indicated by arrows in FIG. 5, ADR0, ADR1,
ADR2. . . Indicates the corresponding object data OD0, OD1, OD2. . . Indicates the storage start address on the buffer. Where OD0, OD1, O
D2. . . Are image data including header information and drawing object data which are list data as described with reference to FIG.

The head addresses ADR0, ADR1, ADR2. . . HWID1, HWID2, HWID added corresponding to each of
3. . . Is a drawing processing I for each drawing object.
D (PID: see FIG. 4) is a hardware ID converted into a hardware configuration ID corresponding to the actual hardware configuration of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 on a one-to-one basis. For example, it is shown that the expansion processing of the object data OD0 specified by ADR0 is executed by organizing the hardware configuration of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 into the hardware configuration specified by the hardware configuration ID: HWID1. I have. Hereinafter, similarly, the expansion processing of the object data OD1 designated by ADR1 is performed by the hardware configuration ID: HW
ADR2, the hardware configuration specified by ID0
It can be seen that the expansion processing of the object data OD2 specified by the above may be executed with the hardware configuration specified by the hardware configuration ID: HWID1.

Next, the expansion processing section 5 will be described in detail. FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 included in the expansion processing unit 5. The intermediate data for each output generated by the conversion processing unit 4 is read by the intermediate data transfer control unit 62 and is stored in the input buffer A 650 of the memory unit 65.
Alternatively, the data is written to the input buffer B651. The reconfiguration hardware unit 60 reads the intermediate data from the input buffer A650 or the input buffer B651, expands it, and outputs it to the output buffer A652 or the output buffer B6.
Draw on 53.

The output image data transfer control unit 63 is provided with an output buffer A 652 or an output buffer B 653 which has been rendered.
The output image data expanded from is read, and the read image data is converted into serial data for each read word.
And outputs it to the output device 7 in synchronization with the serial output clock signal.

The refresh controller 61 includes an input buffer A 650, an input buffer B 651, and an output buffer A 65
2. The refresh of the memory unit 65 including the output buffer B 653 and the work area 654 is controlled. When the refresh control unit 61, the intermediate data transfer control unit 62, the output image data transfer control unit 63, the reconfiguration hardware unit 60, and the reconfiguration control unit 51 access the memory unit 65, the arbitration unit 64 Arbitration control is performed according to the access priority assigned to the block.

A method of using the input buffer and the output buffer will be described. FIGS. 7A and 7B show the use states of the buffers while intermediate data is being input to the input buffer A and the input buffer B, respectively. FIG.
In (a), intermediate data corresponding to band i is being input to input buffer A, and intermediate data corresponding to band (i-1) has already been input to input buffer B. The reconfiguration hardware unit 60 reads the intermediate data stored in the input buffer B, expands the intermediate data, and draws the intermediate data in the output buffer B. The output buffer A stores output image data as a result of developing and rendering the intermediate data corresponding to the band (i-2), and the output image data transfer control unit 63 reads this to the output device 7.

In FIG. 7B, band (i + 1)
Is being input to the input buffer B, and the intermediate data corresponding to the band i has already been input to the input buffer A. The reconfiguration hardware unit 60 includes:
The intermediate data stored in the input buffer A is read, expanded, and drawn in the output buffer A. The output buffer B stores output image data as a result of developing and rendering the intermediate data corresponding to the band (i-1), and the output image data transfer control unit 63 reads this to the output device 7.

The work area 654 is used as a temporary work area as necessary when the expansion processing section 5 expands the intermediate data input from the conversion processing section 4.

The reconfigurable expansion processing section 50 expands the intermediate data using the table shown in FIG. 5 created for each band by the conversion processing section 4. The reconfiguration control unit 51 receives table data from the input buffer and controls the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in S81 shown in FIG. 8, one set of table data is read from a table (see FIG. 5), one for each band stored in the input buffer. For example, the table data is read sequentially downward from the data set of ADR0, which is the first address data, and HWID1, which is the hardware configuration identifier, in the table of FIG.

In S82 shown in FIG. 8, it is checked whether the read table data is NULL or not.
If it is ULL, the process proceeds to S88, and if it is not NULL, the process proceeds to S83. As understood from the table shown in FIG. 5, NULL indicates the end of the table data, and there is no table data after NULL.

If the table data read in S82 is not NULL, it means that valid data has been read, and the hardware configuration ID (HWID) in the table data read in S83.
The configuration data is read from the configuration data management unit 52 and written to the reconfiguration hardware unit 60.

For example, if the first table data is read in the example of the table shown in FIG. 5, since HWID1 is classified as the first hardware configuration ID, H
In order to enable processing by the hardware configuration of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 associated with WID1, HWI
The configuration data corresponding to the hardware configuration ID of D1 is written to the reconfiguration hardware unit 60. By this writing processing, the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 is rewritten to the configuration specified by HWID1, and the corresponding object data, in this case, ADR0 at the top of the table data
This makes it possible to perform the expansion processing of the OD0 accessed by the above.

At S84, the reconfiguration hardware unit 6
When the reconfiguration of 0 is completed, the top address information storing the data in the table data is transferred to the reconfiguration hardware unit 60, and an expansion processing start signal is sent. When the first table data in FIG. 5 is read, the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 executes a process of expanding the object data OD0 indicated by the first address data ADR0.

In the hardware configuration determined by the hardware ID: HWIDn specified in a set of table data, the specified address data: A
When the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 completes the process of expanding the object data accessed by DRn, it receives a process end signal and reads the next table data from the input buffer in S85.

At S86, NULL as in S82.
Check if it is. S if NULL
If not, the process proceeds to S87.

In S87, it is checked whether the hardware configuration ID in the read table data is the same as the hardware configuration ID indicating the configuration data currently written in the reconfiguration hardware unit 60. If they are the same, the process proceeds to S84; if not, the process proceeds to S85 to read the next table data. That is, FIG.
As shown in (1), in one table scan, control is performed so that data having the same hardware configuration ID registered in the table is selected and processed.

A specific example will be described with reference to the table data shown in FIG. In the table of FIG. 5, the first data is [ADR0, HWID1], and the processing at the end of the data expansion processing will be described. Currently, the hardware configuration ID indicating the configuration data written in the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 corresponds to HWID1 in the first data [ADR0, HWID1]. As shown in FIG. 5, the hardware configuration ID of the next table data [ADR1, HWID0] is HWID0, and the HWI in the first data is HWID0.
D1 is an ID different from the hardware configuration ID indicating the configuration data currently written in the reconfiguration hardware unit 60. Therefore, the determination in S87 is No, and
The process moves to S85, and the next table data is read.

In the table shown in FIG. 5, the third table data is [ADR2, HWID1], which is HWID1 in the first data, ie, the hardware data indicating the configuration data currently written in the reconfiguration hardware unit 60. It has the same ID as the configuration ID: HDID1. Therefore,
The determination in S87 is Yes, the process moves to S84, and the expansion processing is performed. This expansion process is performed on the object OD2 accessed by the third table data [ADR2, HWID1] shown in FIG. 5 according to the hardware configuration defined by HWID1.
Therefore, the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 does not perform rewriting and continues to change the different object data OD0 and OD2.
Can be expanded.

According to the flow shown in FIG. 8, the object data having the same hardware configuration ID is selected, and the different object data expansion processing is continuously executed without changing the hardware configuration. Becomes possible.

Next, the flow of FIG. 8 will be described. S
In step 82 or S86, N
If the ULL has been read, the process proceeds to S88. As described above, the present invention is configured to skip and scan only data having the same hardware configuration ID in the table in the input buffer. In S88, another hardware configuration ID registered in the table is further skipped. Check whether there is data with. If there is unprocessed data having another hardware configuration ID registered in the table, the process proceeds to S81 and the above process is repeated. If there is no data having another hardware configuration ID in the table, it is determined that the expansion processing of all data in the table has been completed, and the data processing in that table is ended.

The above-described control in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 is performed by the reconfiguration control unit 51, thereby reconfiguring the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 necessary for expanding the intermediate data in the input buffer. The number of times, that is, the hardware rewriting process for changing the hardware configuration and changing to hardware that can execute different expansion processes,
The number is reduced to the same number as the number of hardware configuration IDs registered in the table. Therefore, as compared with a system in which a drawing object to be processed is simply taken out according to a drawing order and a hardware configuration is sequentially changed according to a development processing configuration required by the taken out drawing object as in a conventional system, the processing is significantly performed. The number of times of hardware reconfiguration in the unit can be reduced. Therefore, according to the system of the present invention, it is possible to achieve a reduction in the development processing time, and a reduction in the image data drawing processing and the printing processing time accompanying the development processing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining scanning of a table in the print processing apparatus according to the present invention, and is a diagram for explaining a process of extracting object data to be expanded from the table. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a table created when data after the expansion processing is stored in the output buffer.

As shown in FIG. 10, the reconstruction control unit 51 stores the table in the output buffer in the same registration order as the input buffer table registered in accordance with the drawing order in order to maintain the drawing order of the drawing objects. create. The registered table data is stored in the reconfiguration hardware unit 60.
Is the head address value in the output buffer in which the output image data after the expansion processing according to is stored. The output image data is stored in the order in which the image data has been expanded by the reconfiguration hardware unit 60. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the data is stored in the order in which the table of the input buffer is skipped and scanned. The output image data transfer control unit 63 sequentially sets the table data of the table in the output buffer to NULL.
While scanning to L, the output image data is transferred to the output device 7 under the control of the output device control unit 6. By doing as described above, it is possible to maintain the order interpreted by the drawing data interpreting unit 3, that is, the drawing order of the objects.

A specific processing example will be described with reference to FIGS. The first data in the table of FIG. 9 is [ADR0, HWID1]. First, the data expansion processing is executed. When the data expansion processing is completed, the table is scanned and the current reconfiguration hardware unit 60 is scanned. Search for data that can be expanded by the configuration of The current reconfigurable hardware unit 60 has a configuration corresponding to HWID1, and the third table data [ADR2, HWID1] is extracted as hit data in the table shown in FIG. 9, and the object data OD2 is determined based on the table data. Is accessed to perform the expansion processing.
This expansion process is performed without rewriting the reconfigurable hardware unit 60.

Referring to FIG. 10, the storage sequence of the data after the completion of the expansion processing will be described. The input buffer on the left side of FIG. 10 is the same as that shown in FIG. According to the above description, the object data is sequentially extracted from the input buffer, subjected to the expansion processing, and stored in the output buffer shown on the right side of FIG. 10 in order from the processed data. At this time, the address data described in the upper part of the output buffer is written into the output buffer together with the object data subjected to the expansion processing (stored in the lower part in the output buffer of FIG. 10). Here, the address data in the output buffer is written according to the output order. The developed data is written to the output buffer in the developing order, so the data storage order in the original input buffer differs, but the address data is written in order from ADR0. ADR0 in the output buffer is the head address of the object data OD0 in the output buffer, A
DR1 is the object data OD in the output buffer
ADR2, the head address of 1, indicates the object data OD2 in the output buffer. The output from the output buffer to the output device can be properly output in the output order by scanning the address table of the buffer from the head.

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the configuration data management unit 52. The conversion table 110 receives the hardware configuration ID, and stores the address calculation unit 1 in the configuration code storage area 111.
12, the start address CFADR (Config)
uration Address) and data size CFS
It is a table for outputting ISE (Configuration Size). The configuration code storage area 111
An area in which configuration data corresponding to an actual hardware configuration ID is stored, and each entry is of variable length.

A control unit 113 includes a read control unit 114 and an addition / update unit 115. Read control unit 114
Inputs the readout signal and the hardware configuration ID from the reconfiguration control unit 51 and outputs the hardware configuration ID to the conversion table 110 to input the head address and the data size of the configuration data in the configuration code storage area 111 I do. Next, the read control unit 114 outputs the input head address to the configuration code storage area 111, reads configuration data corresponding to the hardware configuration ID of the data size from the configuration code storage area 111, and executes the reconfiguration control. Output to the unit 51.

An addition / update unit 115 is a control unit for adding / updating configuration data sent via a host computer or the like (not shown). The addition / update unit 115 includes entries in the conversion table 110 and configuration data in the configuration code storage area 111. , Add, delete, and update. The configuration code storage area 111 includes configuration data corresponding to various circuit configurations for processing a single function, configuration data corresponding to a parallel circuit configuration having a plurality of the same functions, and parallel data having a plurality of different functions. Configuration data corresponding to various circuit configurations, and configuration data corresponding to a pipeline-like circuit configuration having a plurality of different functions.

Next, a specific configuration of the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 will be described with an example. The reconfiguration hardware unit 60 is a processing block that can change functions by writing configuration data managed and stored by the configuration data management unit 52 under the control of the reconfiguration control unit 51.
Typically, the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 can be configured by a field programmable gate array (FPGA). As the FPGA, for example, an FPGA manufactured by XILINX or an equivalent component can be adopted.

Embodiment 2 Next, a second embodiment of the print processing apparatus and print processing method of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is an example in which the expansion processing unit 5 is used as an accelerator. In the first embodiment, the intermediate data generation processing is described to be processed by the conversion processing unit 4. However, the intermediate data generation processing can be performed by changing the hardware configuration of the expansion processing unit 5. 50.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the second embodiment according to the present invention. Instruction execution unit 40 of conversion processing unit 4
, The LZW-compressed image is input to the image processing unit 42 in the configuration of the first embodiment.
, A matrix operation is performed, the data is compressed by LZW, and sent to the band decomposition management unit 45. In the second embodiment, this processing is performed by the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 of the expansion processing unit 5 instead of the image processing unit 42.

The hardware configuration for performing such compression / decompression processing is the same as the hardware configuration I of the first embodiment.
D is registered in advance. The reconfiguration data related to the compression / decompression processing is registered in advance in the configuration data management unit 52 together with the hardware configuration ID, and the image processing unit 42
When the image to be processed is input, the image processing unit 42 interprets the content of the processing and sends the hardware configuration ID and the input image data to the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50.

The reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 acquires the configuration data from the configuration data management unit 52 based on the sent hardware configuration ID, and reconfigures the internal reconfigurable hardware unit 60. At this time, if an ID for a configuration for which compression or decompression processing is to be performed is obtained, configuration data corresponding to the obtained ID is obtained from the configuration data management unit 52, and the configuration of the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 is changed. Change to a configuration that allows compression or decompression processing.

Then, the received input image data is
Processing is performed by the reconfiguration hardware unit 60 according to the image processing procedure, and image data created as a result of the processing is sent back to the image processing unit 42. With such a configuration, the reconfigurable resources of the reconfigurable expansion processing unit 50 can be effectively used.

The present invention has been described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments. However, it is obvious that those skilled in the art can modify or substitute the embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention. That is, the present invention has been disclosed by way of example, and should not be construed as limiting. In order to determine the gist of the present invention, the claims described at the beginning should be considered.

[0087]

As described above, according to the print processing apparatus and print processing method of the present invention, a plurality of processes can be performed by changing the configuration of the expansion process in the expansion processing means for outputting to the output device. Since it is configured to be executed by the possible expansion processing unit, the required expansion processing configuration is associated with the drawing element, and the object data that can be processed by the same expansion processing configuration is sequentially processed. It is possible to reduce the number of rewriting processes of the expansion processing unit to the required minimum number of times, and it is possible to drastically reduce the rewriting process of the expansion processing unit that has been frequently executed in the conventional system, and it is possible to greatly reduce the processing time Become.

Further, according to the print processing apparatus and the print processing method of the present invention, the rendering processing configuration to be individually executed for the drawing elements included in the input drawing data in correspondence with the storage addresses of the respective drawing elements. Is added to the table as an expansion processing configuration ID and stored in a table, and the table is scanned to sequentially extract object data that can be processed by the same expansion processing configuration from the input buffer. Object data can be input to the means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a print processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of overall processing of the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a conversion processing unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of intermediate data in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a table created by a conversion processing unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a reconfigurable development processing unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of using an input buffer and an output buffer in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of control of a reconfiguration hardware unit by a reconfiguration control unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating scanning of a table in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a table created in an output buffer in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a configuration data management unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the print processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 drawing data 2 drawing data spooling unit 3 drawing data interpreting unit 4 conversion processing unit 5 expansion processing unit 6 output device control unit 7 output device 40 command execution unit 41 drawing state command storage unit 42 image processing unit 43 vector processing unit 44 list generation Unit 45 band division management unit 46 intermediate data storage unit 50 reconfigurable expansion processing unit 51 reconfiguration control unit 52 configuration data management unit 60 reconfiguration hardware unit 61 refresh control unit 62 intermediate data transfer control unit 63 output image data transfer control Unit 64 arbitration unit 65 memory unit 110 conversion table 111 configuration code storage area 112 address calculation unit 113 control unit 114 read control unit 115 addition / update unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An input unit having at least one of a character, a graphic, and an image drawing element and inputting drawing data described by a predetermined drawing command, based on the drawing data input to the input unit. A conversion means for adding expansion processing configuration information in correspondence with the drawing elements included in the drawing data to generate expansion processing configuration information-added intermediate data; Expansion processing means capable of performing the following processing, changing the configuration in accordance with the expansion processing configuration information, performing expansion processing in the order of drawing elements having common expansion processing configuration information, and the expansion processing means An output unit that outputs the expanded data. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said expansion processing means can be changed to a plurality of configurations, and is constituted by reconfigurable hardware capable of performing a plurality of processes in accordance with said changes. Print processing device. 3. A structure for generating a correspondence table between each object data storage address in an input buffer for storing object data indicating the drawing element and identification information indicating expansion processing configuration information of the drawing element. Wherein the rasterization processing means scans the table to extract drawing elements having identification information indicating common rasterization configuration information, and sequentially performs rasterization processing. Item 3. The print processing device according to item 1 or 2. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said developing means repeats scanning of said table at least a number of times corresponding to the number of types of identification information indicating different developing process configuration information included in said table. The print processing device according to claim 3. 5. The development processing means according to claim 1, wherein, when shifting to rendering processing of a drawing element corresponding to the identification information indicating said different development processing configuration information, said development processing means performs development processing based on said identification information indicating said different development processing configuration information. The print processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the configuration is changed. 6. The expansion processing means has a configuration code storage unit storing a plurality of configuration codes corresponding to the configuration of a plurality of changeable expansion processing means, and includes expansion processing configuration information associated with the drawing element. A configuration code corresponding to the identification information is selected from the configuration code storage unit based on the identification information indicating the configuration information, and the reconfiguration processing unit is reconfigured in accordance with the selected configuration code. The print processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the configuration is changed to a configuration capable of executing the expanded processing. 7. The expansion processing means has a configuration for executing at least a part of the intermediate data generation processing in the conversion means, and the expansion processing means has an identification indicating expansion processing configuration information for executing the intermediate data generation processing. 7. The print processing according to claim 1, wherein the expansion processing means is changed to a configuration capable of executing intermediate data generation processing based on the information, and the intermediate data generation processing is executed. apparatus. 8. The print processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the intermediate data generation processing executed in the expansion processing means is one of a data compression processing and a data expansion processing. 9. An input step having at least one of a character, a figure, and an image drawing element, and inputting drawing data described by a predetermined drawing command, and based on the input drawing data, A conversion step of adding expansion processing configuration information in correspondence with the drawing elements included in the image data to generate expansion processing configuration information-added intermediate data; and a plurality of configurations can be changed, and a plurality of processes corresponding to the change can be performed. In the expansion processing means, the expansion processing step of changing the configuration in accordance with the expansion processing configuration information and executing the expansion processing in the order of the drawing elements having the common expansion processing configuration information; And an output step of outputting. 10. The conversion step creates a table in which each object data storage address in an input buffer for storing the object data indicating the drawing element is associated with identification information indicating expansion processing configuration information of the drawing element. The rendering processing step includes scanning the table to extract drawing elements having identification information indicating common development processing configuration information, and sequentially executing the rendering processing. The print processing method according to claim 9.