JP2001324975A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processor capable of performing a plotting processing having high-image quality at high speed and correctly. SOLUTION: After an inputted plotting command is interpreted in a plotting command interpreting part 1, whether the inputted command is impossible to be instantly plotted or even when it is instantly plot able, a plotting command whose plotting area is overlapped is stored in a plotting command storage part 5 or not is judged in a plotting command judging part 2. When these conditions are satisfied, a processing by a plotting command composing part 4 is performed. At first, the part 4 extracts the plotting command inputted from the part 2 and the plotting command whose plotting part is overlapped from the part 5 and inspects whether these command group constitutes a specific sequence or not to executes a corresponding processing. When these command group is a plotting command string performing the plotting with a mask accompanied by, for example, an XOR (exclusive OR) operation and an AND operation, the part 4 generates a copy plotting command in which masked image data are used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for generating output image data by sequentially executing a drawing command including an inter-pixel operation between an already drawn image and an input image. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of electronic technology, the conventional monochrome character display is no longer used in office automation equipment such as personal computers, and color graphic display has become mainstream. In a system using a color graphic, not only simple character display but also display and printing of data such as figures and images have been required.

[0003] By the way, in general, R and R are used for displaying figures and images.
OP (Raster Operation) or B
itBlt (BIT BLOCK Transfer)
May be used. This performs a logical operation between the pixel value of the image on the memory and the pixel value of the specified image, assuming that the already displayed image is stored on the memory,
In the era when monochrome was the mainstream, it was used for inverted display of selected areas.

[0004] Such a ROP operation is currently used for a different purpose than before. One example is drawing with a mask for a color image. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of drawing with a mask. FIGS. 9A to 9F show image data, in which pixels are indicated by rectangles and pixel values of each pixel are described in hexadecimal. The image data shown in FIG. 9A shows a background image immediately before executing drawing with a mask, the image data shown in FIG. 9B shows an input image drawn with a mask, and FIG. The illustrated image data indicates a mask image. FIG.
The image data shown in (D) and (E) is a background image temporarily generated in the course of the processing described below, and is shown in FIG.
The image data shown in (F) is the background image immediately after executing the drawing with the mask, and this image data is the output image.

[0005] The drawing with a mask shown in FIG.
9 and a mask image shown in FIG. 9C for designating a target area in the input image, and only the target area is drawn on the background image shown in FIG. This is processing for generating an output image shown in F). The target area is shown in FIG.
Pixels indicated by “00” in the mask image shown in (C) are indicated by hatching. The input image is S,
If the mask image is M and the background image is D, drawing with a mask can be realized by the following calculation. D: = D xor S (1) D: = D and M (2) D: = D xor S (3)

In FIG. 9, the xor operation is shown by adding a circle to “+”, and the and operation is shown by “*”. FIG.
In the example shown in FIG. 9, the calculation shown in equation (1)
The intermediate image shown in FIG. 9D is generated from the background image shown in FIG. 9A and the input image shown in FIG. The intermediate image shown in FIG. 9E is generated from the generated intermediate image shown in FIG. 9D and the mask image shown in FIG. Finally, an output image shown in FIG. 9F is generated from the generated intermediate image shown in FIG. 9E and the input image shown in FIG.

When an image is displayed on a display device such as a display, the displayed image is generally stored in a memory, has a low resolution, and is connected to a system via a high-speed bus. Therefore, it is easy to execute such an operation. However, for example, when outputting to a printer or the like, output is performed at a very high resolution as compared to when displaying on a display device such as a display. Therefore, the amount of memory for storing the image data becomes large, and it takes a very long time to execute the above-described calculation between pixels. Of course, processing can be performed if a large-capacity memory capable of holding image data for printer output of the entire page is mounted, but the cost is increased. Also, if the data is compressed and stored in the memory, the amount of memory can be reduced.However, it is necessary to perform a time-consuming process such as decompressing the compressed image data, performing an inter-pixel operation, and then performing recompression. There is a problem that it does not.

Further, in a printer or the like, there are few cases where multiple gradations can be expressed for each pixel as in a display or the like, and there are cases where the gradation of each pixel is reduced or a binarization process is performed. is there. It is difficult to perform the inter-pixel operation on such image data as it is.

Furthermore, since output to a display device such as a display is normally assumed, the color space of image data is assumed to be an RGB color space. However, for example, a CMYK color space is used in a printer or the like. , The color space is different. Therefore, there is also a problem that the operation between pixels cannot be executed as it is. For example, if image data is RG
It is also conceivable that the color space is held in the B color space and color space conversion processing is performed for each pixel after all the drawing processing is completed.
It takes time for the color space conversion process for each pixel. The image data held in the CMYK color space is converted to RGB data.
Although it is conceivable to execute an inter-pixel operation after re-conversion to a color space, there is a problem that image quality is reduced.

As a method of avoiding such a reduction in processing speed and an increase in the amount of memory and realizing the ROP processing at a relatively high speed and at a low cost, for example, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-7364 has been proposed. ing. This technology detects a drawing process in an area where no drawing is performed, that is, a blank area, and when an inter-pixel operation is requested for the blank area, for example, performs drawing without performing an operation. Is executed based on the calculation result corresponding to.

With this technique, some of the operations between pixels can be avoided, so that the processing speed can be expected to be increased by the amount of avoidance of the operations. However, when performing a drawing process involving a plurality of inter-pixel calculations on the same area as in the above-described drawing with a mask, the calculation cannot be avoided.
This technique has little effect. Furthermore, in the drawing processing on a printer or the like, considering that most of the drawing processing involving inter-pixel calculation is drawing with a mask, as a result, the above-described technique has almost no effect on the drawing processing of the printer.

On the other hand, for example, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-263674, a drawing processing sequence for realizing the above-described drawing with a mask, ie, xor, and,
xor is converted into a clipping process using a mask image to convert R
The purpose is to avoid the inter-pixel operation involved in the OP processing. Specifically, the drawing process in the following three steps is executed. When a drawing process involving 1 xor operation is detected, the drawing process is discarded. 2. Image data specified in a drawing process subsequent to a drawing process involving an xor operation is stored in a mask buffer. (3) The drawing process involving the subsequent xor operation is converted into a clipping process using the mask stored in the mask buffer and executed, and the contents of the mask buffer are discarded.

With the above processing, the drawing with the mask is emulated, and the drawing processing sequence involving the calculation between pixels is executed as the clipping processing. Since the clipping process itself does not require an operation on the pixel value of each pixel, processes such as re-conversion of the image data converted to the CMYK color space to the RGB color space and restoration of the compressed and binarized image data are not performed. This is unnecessary, and high-speed drawing processing can be performed without deteriorating the image quality due to the calculation between pixels. Further, as described above, since most of the drawing involving the inter-pixel operation is the processing of drawing with a mask, the effect of speeding up by converting such processing is great.

[0014] In a situation in which drawing with a mask is actually executed, there is a gradation output as well as a cutout output for cutting out an object in an image using a mask for designating the object. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an example of gradation output using drawing with a mask. The gradation output using the drawing with the mask is a method of cutting out a plurality of figures having slightly different colors with a single mask and outputting the cut out figures. As shown in FIG. 10, first, for a plurality of input images (1-1) expressing gradation colors, x
The drawing command using the or operation is continuously executed. Subsequently, a drawing instruction of the mask image (1) is performed, and then, xor
A rendering command using the xor operation is executed on the same plurality of input images (1-2) as those on which the operation was performed. Thereby, the output image (1) is drawn. In FIG. 10, similarly, x for a plurality of input images (2-1)
An output image (2) is drawn by a drawing command using an or operation, a drawing command of a mask image (2), and a drawing command using an xor operation on a plurality of input images (2-2).

Considering the case where the gradation output as described above is processed by the above-described technique, discarding the xor drawing command appearing before the mask drawing can be easily realized. It becomes difficult to limit the target for replacing the xor drawing command with drawing with a mask. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when a plurality of gradation outputs are continuously performed, an input image (1-2) for performing a first gradation output and an input image (1-2) for performing a subsequent gradation output are used. Since the input image (2-1) is continuously input, the input image (2-1) must be classified.

In order to cope with such a case, the number of xor drawing commands preceding the drawing command of the mask image is counted, for example, as indicated by circled numbers in FIG. After execution, a method of processing the same number of xor drawing commands as the xor drawing command preceding the mask image drawing command is conceivable. In the example shown in FIG.
The input image (1- 1) preceding the drawing instruction of the mask image (1)
Since the number of 1) is four, it is sufficient to process the four input images (1-2) after executing the drawing instruction of the mask image (1). In this way, the input image (1-2) corresponding to the mask image (1) and the input image (2-1) corresponding to the mask image (2) can be distinguished.

However, x in the masked drawing
The or operation can be performed in any order within a certain range. FIG.
1 and FIG. 12 are explanatory diagrams of another example of gradation output using drawing with a mask. The example shown in FIG. 11 shows an example in which two different gradation figures are drawn in different areas as shown in FIG. When drawing a gradation figure in a different area as described above, the input image (1- 1) for drawing the output image (1) is used.
1), mask image (1), input image (1-2), and
An input image (2-1) for drawing an output image (2),
The drawing commands of the mask image (2) and the input image (2-2) need not be consecutive. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the input image (2-1) and the mask image (2) are provided between the drawing instruction of the mask image (1) and the input image (1-2).
Has been inserted.

[0018] Such a complicated drawing sequence cannot be coped with by the control of only the number as described above. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 11, when the determination based on the number described above is performed, it is determined that the number of the input images (1-1) is 3 and the mask image (2) subsequent to the mask image (1).
There is a problem in that three input images (2-1) corresponding to (1) are determined to be input images corresponding to the mask image (1), and erroneous drawing processing is performed.

[0019]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an image processing apparatus capable of performing high-speed and accurate high-quality drawing processing. It is.

[0020]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for sequentially executing a drawing command including an inter-pixel operation to generate output image data. In accordance with the content of the command, it is determined whether to use the output image data as it is or to give it to the drawing command combining means. For example, if the input drawing command is a command that can be drawn immediately and the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage unit does not overlap with the drawing area, the input drawing command is used as output image data as it is. In other cases, the drawing command input to the drawing command synthesizing means can be given. With respect to the drawing command given to the drawing command synthesizing means, one or more drawing commands having the same drawing area based on the drawing command and the drawing range of the previous drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means. Processing, for example, storage of a given drawing command in the drawing command storage means, deletion of the drawing command in the drawing command storage means, and processing of combining a drawing command in the drawing command storage means with a given drawing command Can be performed.

As described above, the contents of the drawing command and the drawing region are determined and the processing for the drawing command is performed. For example, a drawing command for another drawing region is inserted between drawing commands of a predetermined sequence for the same drawing region. However, a predetermined sequence of drawing commands for the same drawing area can be accurately detected. For this reason, the processing speed is increased by generating a drawing command that does not perform an inter-pixel operation and deleting unnecessary drawing commands from the drawing command storage unit, for example, for a detected drawing command of a predetermined sequence. It is possible.

The predetermined sequence includes a first drawing command involving an xor operation, a second drawing command for writing a pixel value 0 in an area overlapping with the first drawing instruction, and the first drawing command involving an xor operation. The drawing command sequence in which the third drawing command for writing the same color or image data as the first drawing command in the same area as the drawing command of the third drawing command may be executed in this order. When such a drawing command sequence is detected, the area specified by the second drawing command is used as a mask, and the color or image data specified by the first drawing command is stored in the area specified by the first drawing command. Is generated, and the first drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means is deleted from the drawing command storage means. If the drawing command with the xor operation in which the drawing area and the drawing area overlap each other is not stored in the drawing command storage means before the second drawing command, the second drawing command is stored in the second drawing command storage means. Processing can be performed to delete the instruction. As a result, the inter-pixel operation can be reduced, and the processing speed can be improved.

When the processing relating to the drawing command is performed as described above and the drawing command is stored in the drawing command storage means,
It is conceivable that the capacity of the drawing command storage means is insufficient.
In order to effectively use the drawing command storage means, for example, when a plurality of drawing commands have the same information on one or more drawing elements, the drawing commands are shared and stored at least for the same component. Can be configured. Alternatively, the drawing command or a component of the drawing command can be compressed and stored.

[0024]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a drawing command interpreting unit, 2 denotes a drawing command determination unit, 3 denotes an intermediate data generation unit, 4 denotes a drawing command synthesis unit, and 5 denotes a drawing command storage unit.
The rendering command interpreter 1 interprets the input rendering command,
It facilitates the subsequent processing, and performs processing such as adding clip information and color information to be applied to the drawing command to the drawing command. Of course, if the input drawing command is in a format suitable for internal processing, the drawing command interpreting unit 1 may not be provided. The drawing command processed by the drawing command interpretation unit 1 is input to the drawing command determination unit 2.

The drawing command judging section 2 refers to the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage section 5 and judges whether or not the inputted drawing command conforms to a predetermined sequence described later, and determines the drawing command. Output to the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 or the intermediate data generating unit 3. The details of the determination by the drawing command determination unit 2 will be described later.

The intermediate data generator 3 generates and outputs output image data from the drawing command input from the drawing command determiner 2 or the drawing command synthesizer 4. The format of the output image data is arbitrary. For example, compress drawing commands as needed,
Encoded intermediate data may be used. As the intermediate data, those similar to a generally known printer language can be used. Of course, data in other formats such as a raster image may be used.

The drawing command synthesizing unit 4 processes one or more drawing commands having the same drawing area from the drawing command input from the drawing command determination unit 2 and the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage unit 5. For example, the composition of the drawing command, the storage of the drawing command in the drawing command storage unit 5, and the drawing command storage unit 5
Perform a delete from. Details of the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 will be described later.

The drawing command storage unit 5 stores the drawing commands input from the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 so as to preserve the order. By storing the drawing command passed from the drawing command synthesizing unit 4, generation of the drawing command in the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 is delayed, and the drawing command is generated until a drawing command group forming a specific sequence for synthesizing the drawing command is completed. Play the role of remembering. When storing the drawing command, the drawing command may be stored after being converted into a format suitable for storage.

Depending on the contents of the drawing, the drawing command becomes very large, and the amount of memory required for the drawing command storage unit 5 may become enormous. In such a case, for example, by compressing and holding some of the components of the drawing command and reducing the data amount, it is possible to suppress an increase in the capacity of the drawing command storage unit 5. For example, it is suitable for defining the shape of a drawing command having a complicated shape.

As another method, when the information of the constituent elements is the same for a plurality of drawing commands, a data structure that shares them can be used. The information on the components of the drawing command includes, for example, a drawing area, a mask, a clip,
Information such as color and image data. This method is suitable, for example, when storing a plurality of drawing commands sharing clips having complicated shapes and image data.

Of course, other storage methods may be used, and these methods may be used in an appropriate combination. Furthermore, in order to compare the sameness of the drawing contents, a parity calculated from the drawing contents data is added to the drawing command so that a high-speed comparison can be performed even when the components of the drawing command are compressed. be able to. Also,
In order to speed up the inspection of the area, information on the rectangle circumscribing the drawing area of each drawing command is added, and by comparing the circumscribed rectangles of the drawing commands, the overlap judgment of the drawing areas can be speeded up. Can be

An example of the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The sequence of the drawing command input to the image processing apparatus of the present invention includes a simple sequence of simply drawing the drawing command as it is, a sequence of realizing the drawing with a mask that has been mentioned several times, There are several drawing sequences.
Here, the case where the above-described drawing with a mask is realized will be taken as an example, and the operation thereof will be described.

The sequence for realizing the above-described drawing with a mask is as follows. In other words, this corresponds to a sequence in which a rendering command for setting the pixel value of a pixel in the rendering region to 0 is sandwiched between rendering commands for performing an operation between two xor pixels having the same rendering region and rendering content. In this case, first, the drawing area of the drawing command in which the pixel value of the pixel in the drawing area is set to 0 is converted into mask image data or a clip. Further, a rendering command for performing an xor pixel-to-pixel operation is converted into a normal copy rendering command using the converted mask image data or clip. by this,
A drawing command that does not include an inter-pixel operation is generated. At this time, two drawing commands for performing the xor operation are not required, but the drawing command used as the mask image data must be held as long as the above sequence can be maintained.

In order to realize the processing corresponding to the sequence of the drawing command, the image processing apparatus of the present invention performs the following operation. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. When a drawing command is input, the drawing command is interpreted by the drawing command interpreter 1, converted into a format suitable for internal processing, and passed to the drawing command determiner 2. Drawing command determination unit 2
Determines whether the input drawing command conforms to a predetermined sequence. Here, in S11, the input drawing command is distinguished from those that can be drawn immediately and those that cannot be drawn immediately by inter-pixel calculation. . FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the calculation between pixels and the possibility of immediate drawing. In FIG. 3, S
Indicates an input image accompanying the drawing command, and D indicates an image that has already been drawn. Here, the criterion for determining whether or not immediate drawing is possible is whether or not it is necessary to read a pixel value of an already drawn image, that is, a pixel value of a background image, and perform an operation on the pixel value. For example, if it is a drawing command that overwrites the input image (S), the calculation with the background image is unnecessary, and the drawing can be performed immediately. In the example shown in FIG. 3, only the calculation between pixels between one input image and the background image is handled. However, the determination can be made based on the same determination criterion even when a plurality of input images are handled.

In the case where the input drawing command cannot be drawn immediately, for example, in the case of a drawing command for performing an inter-pixel operation indicating that immediate drawing is not possible in FIG. Since there is a possibility that it is part of the sequence of the drawing command, it is output to the drawing command synthesizing unit 4.

If the input drawing command is capable of immediate drawing, for example, a drawing command for performing an inter-pixel operation indicating that immediate drawing is possible in FIG. 3, the drawing command storage is further performed in S12. It is checked whether each drawing command stored in the section 5 and the drawing area of the input drawing command overlap. If the input drawing command can be drawn immediately and the drawing command storing unit 5 does not store a drawing command that overlaps the drawing area, the drawing command is passed to the intermediate data generation unit 3 as it is, and the output image Data is output. As described above, the drawing command determination unit 2 determines whether or not the input drawing command performs rewriting of the background image, the immediate drawing property, the drawing area of the input drawing command and the drawing command in the drawing command storage unit 5. By judging the overlap of the drawing areas, it is confirmed that no problem occurs even if the inputted drawing command is immediately executed, and the output image data is generated as it is for the confirmed drawing command.

Even if the input drawing command can be drawn immediately, if a drawing command that overlaps the drawing area is stored in the drawing command storage unit 5, the drawing command is part of a specific drawing command sequence. Therefore, the drawing command is output to the drawing command synthesizing unit 4.

In step S14, if the input drawing command cannot be drawn immediately, or if the drawing command overlapping the drawing area is stored in the drawing command storage unit 5 even if the drawing command can be drawn immediately, The processing by the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 is performed. The drawing command synthesizing unit 4 first extracts, from the drawing command storage unit 5, a drawing command that overlaps the drawing command input from the drawing command determination unit 2 with the drawing area, and determines whether or not those commands form a specific sequence. And executes the corresponding processing.

The following is an example of a sequence to be inspected by the drawing command synthesizing section 4. In the case where the rendering command for setting the pixel value of the pixel in the rendering region to 0 is interposed between the rendering commands for performing the operation between two xor pixels having the same rendering region and rendering content as described above, One of the sequences. In this case, the drawing area of the drawing command in which the pixel value of the pixel in the drawing area is set to 0 is converted into mask image data or a clip, and the mask image data or the clip obtained by converting the drawing command for performing an xor pixel-to-pixel operation is used. And outputs it to the intermediate data generation unit 3. At this time, the rendering command for performing the corresponding xor pixel-to-pixel operation stored in the rendering command storage unit 5 is deleted from the rendering command storage unit 5. Further, if the drawing command for performing the xor pixel-to-pixel operation is not stored before the drawing command for setting the pixel value of the pixel in the drawing area to 0 used here, there is no target for mask drawing. Are also deleted from the drawing command storage unit 5.

When a drawing command for setting the pixel value of a pixel in the drawing area to 0 is input, a drawing command for performing an xor inter-pixel operation having a drawing area overlapping the drawing command is stored in the drawing command storage unit 5. If so, the input drawing command is output to the intermediate data generating unit 3, and the drawing command is stored in the drawing command storage unit 5.

When such a drawing command that does not form a specific sequence is input from the drawing command determination unit 2, the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 stores the drawing command if the drawing command is valid as a part of the specific sequence. When an invalid command is input, the drawing command is output to the intermediate data generation unit 3 without conversion together with the drawing command in the drawing command storage unit 5 having an overlapping drawing area.

As described above, in the present invention, when the drawing command synthesizing unit 4 detects a specific drawing command sequence for the input drawing command, the drawing area is determined. Therefore, for example, not only when a specific drawing command sequence is continuous as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, even when another drawing command is inserted in a certain drawing command sequence for a certain drawing area, a specific drawing command sequence can be accurately detected.

In the above description, the drawing command synthesizing section 4 deals only with a sequence that can be converted into a drawing process using mask image data. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
It is applicable to various drawing processes.

Hereinafter, an example in which the image processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a printer will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a printer system to which the image processing apparatus of the present invention is applied. In the figure, 21 is a host system, 22 is a print engine, and 23 is a cable. The printer system shown in FIG. 4 includes a host system 21 and a print engine 22 and is directly connected by a cable 23. Of course, besides connecting both with the cable 23, for example, LAN
Or the like may be connected via a network.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the host system. In the figure, 31 is a CPU, 32 is a memory, 3
3 is a video controller, 34 is a video memory, 35 is a display interface, and 36 is a printer interface. The host system 21 includes, for example, a CPU 31, a memory 32, a video controller 33, a video memory 34, a display interface 35, a printer interface 36, and other members (not shown) as shown in FIG. For example, the image processing apparatus of the present invention can be applied to the printer interface 36.

To display an image in the memory 32, the CPU 31 passes a drawing command to the video controller 33, and the video controller 33 performs drawing using the video memory 34 corresponding to the display screen, and connects the display interface 35. An image is displayed on a display device such as a display via the display. In the case of display, the video memory 34
Has a one-to-one relationship with the pixels of the display device, and holds image data in a color space (usually using RGB) assumed by a drawing command based on the operating system and its rules. Therefore, the rendering process is completed only by instructing the video controller 33 to execute the specified inter-pixel operation. In the inter-pixel operation at this time, the display resolution is low, the original image is stored in the video memory 34,
The operation between pixels can be performed at high speed.

On the other hand, when an image in the memory 32 is recorded by the printer engine 22, the CPU 31 passes a drawing command to the printer interface 36, and in the image processing apparatus of the present invention as described above,
The output image data in a format to be transferred to the print engine 22 is generated, and the output image data is transferred to the print engine 22.

The host system 21 can be constituted mainly of software by using a personal computer generally used. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a host system. In the figure, 41 is an application program, 42 is an operating system, 43 is a printer driver, 44 is a printer interface driver, 4
5 is a video driver. In the host system 21,
For example, under an operating system 42 such as Windows (registered trademark) or UNIX (registered trademark), one or a plurality of application programs 41 such as a word processor and a spreadsheet operate.

A printer driver 43, a printer interface driver 44, and a video driver 4 which operate as if they were part of the operating system 42
5 and the like. The video driver 45 receives a drawing command from the application program 41 via the operating system 42 and controls the video controller 33, the video memory 34, the display interface 35, and the like shown in FIG. indicate. The printer driver 43 similarly converts a drawing command received from the application program 41 via the operating system 42 into intermediate data. The printer interface driver 44 is a printer driver 4
Operating system 4 for the intermediate data generated by
2 and controls the printer interface 36 shown in FIG.

In such a software configuration, it is possible to incorporate software for realizing the image processing apparatus of the present invention into the printer driver 43. In response to the drawing command passed from the operating system 42 to the printer driver 43, the above-described operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention may be executed, and the generated output image data may be output as intermediate data. For example, when rendering with a mask is performed, the operating system 42 gives the printer driver 43 as a sequence of rendering commands for performing an xor operation or an operation. By executing the function of the image processing apparatus of the present invention in the printer driver 43, the image data is converted into a drawing command without inter-pixel operation such as xor operation and and operation, and the print engine 2 is converted into intermediate data.
2 can be output.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the print engine. In the figure, 51 is a CPU, 52 is a memory,
53 is a host system interface, 54 is a marking engine interface, and 55 is a marking engine. As shown in FIG. 7, the print engine 22
It comprises a PU 51, a memory 52, a host system interface 53, a marking engine interface 54, a marking engine 55, and the like.

The intermediate data input from the host system 21 through the host system interface 53 is C
Processing is performed by the PU 51, and image data is generated on the memory 52. The image data on the memory 52 is sent to the marking engine 55 through the marking engine interface 54 and is recorded on a medium such as paper.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of the print engine. In the figure, 61 is a host interface driver, 62 is a spooler, 63 is an imager, 64 is a marking engine driver, and 65 is a system control unit. The host system interface 53 in FIG. 7 is controlled by the host interface driver 61, and upon receiving the intermediate data from the host system 21, the spooler 62 temporarily stores the intermediate data. Then, the imager 63 extracts the intermediate data from the spooler 62 and generates an image based on the extracted intermediate data. Further, the marking engine driver 64 controls the marking engine interface 54 and the marking engine 55 shown in FIG. 7 to record the image generated by the imager 63 on a medium such as paper. The system control unit 65 controls these operations.

For example, as described above, by installing the image processing apparatus of the present invention or software for realizing the functions of the image processing apparatus of the present invention in the host system 21,
The intermediate data passed to the print engine 22 is generated so as not to use the inter-pixel operation as much as possible. For example, with respect to the drawing processing with mask, xor operation and an
Although a sequence of drawing commands with d operation is output, the sequence is converted into a copy drawing command using mask image data by executing the function of the image processing apparatus of the present invention in the printer driver 43. The imager 63 uses the mask image data and the input image data to copy the pixel value of the pixel of the input image data at the position corresponding to the pixel having the pixel value of 1 to the image data to be output. Should be performed. This processing can be performed much faster than the case where the inter-pixel operation is performed a plurality of times, and can be performed independently of the color space.
There is no deterioration in image quality due to color space conversion or the like.

As described above, in the print engine 22, an image can be generated only by performing a minimum necessary inter-pixel operation, processing can be performed at high speed, and the time until the end of image recording can be shortened. In addition, the data amount of the intermediate data is also reduced by performing the above-described rendering command synthesizing process, the data amount transferred from the host system 21 to the print engine 22 is small, and the intermediate data is transferred in a short time. It is possible.

In the description of an example of the printer system described above, the host system 21 has been described as being equipped with the image processing apparatus of the present invention or software for realizing the functions of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, the print engine 22 can be equipped with the image processing apparatus of the present invention or software for realizing the functions of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. For example, it is possible to provide a processing unit that executes the function of the image processing apparatus of the present invention as the function of the imager 63 in FIG. 8 or before or after the spooler 62 to reduce the processing of the inter-pixel calculation.

[0057]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the contents and the drawing area of the inputted drawing command and the drawing command stored so far are determined, and the drawing command is determined. The processing for is performed. Therefore, for example, even if a drawing command for another drawing region is inserted between drawing commands of a predetermined sequence for the same drawing region,
It is possible to accurately detect a drawing command of a predetermined sequence for the same drawing area and perform processing. For example, by generating a drawing command that does not perform an inter-pixel calculation from a detected drawing command of a predetermined sequence involving an inter-pixel calculation, it is possible to increase processing speed without deteriorating image quality. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the calculation between pixels and the possibility of immediate drawing.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a printer system to which the image processing device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a host system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a host system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a print engine.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a print engine.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an operation of drawing with a mask.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an example of gradation output using drawing with a mask.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another example of gradation output using drawing with a mask.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a drawing result in another example of gradation output using drawing with a mask.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Drawing command interpretation part, 2 ... Drawing command determination part, 3 ... Intermediate data generation part, 4 ... Drawing command synthesis part, 5 ... Drawing command storage part, 21 ... Host system, 22 ... Print engine,
23 ... cable, 31 ... CPU, 32 ... memory, 33 ...
Video controller, 34 ... Video memory, 35 ... Display interface, 36 ... Printer interface, 41 ... Application program, 42 ... Operating system, 43 ... Printer driver, 44 ...
Printer interface driver, 45 ... Video driver, 51 ... CPU, 52 ... Memory, 53 ... Host system interface, 54 ... Marking engine interface, 55 ... Marking engine, 61 ... Host interface driver, 62 ... Spooler, 63 ... Imager, 64 ... Marking engine driver, 65 ... System control unit.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 1/387 G06T 3/00 300 // G06T 3/00 300 G09G 5/36 520M F-term (reference) 2C087 AA15 AA16 AB05 BB10 BC02 BC04 BD01 BD07 BD35 BD40 BD42 BD46 BD53 CB03 5B057 AA11 CA01 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB01 CB08 CB12 CB16 CC03 CE08 CG01 5B069 CA02 DD01 5C076 AA03 AA14 AA19 BA03 BA06 5C082 AA01 CAA23 CA02 CB02

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for sequentially executing a drawing command including an inter-pixel operation to generate output image data, comprising: a drawing command storage means for storing a drawing command; and a drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means. Drawing command synthesizing means for performing processing for one or more drawing commands having the same drawing area based on the drawing range of the command and the given drawing command;
A drawing command determining unit configured to determine whether the input drawing command is to be used as the output image data or to be given to the drawing command synthesizing unit according to an area where the drawing command is drawn and the content of the command. Image processing apparatus. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing command determining unit determines that the input drawing command is a command that can be drawn immediately and that the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage unit does not overlap with the drawing area. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rendered drawing command is directly used as the output image data, and otherwise, the inputted drawing command is given to the drawing command synthesizing means. 3. The drawing command synthesizing means stores the given drawing command in the drawing command storage means, deletes the drawing command in the drawing command storage means, and stores the drawing command in the drawing command storage means. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a process of synthesizing a drawing command from the given drawing command is executed. 4. The drawing command synthesizing means, wherein a drawing command given from the drawing command determination means and a drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means having the same drawing area as the drawing command are stored in a predetermined sequence. In the case of configuring the drawing sequence, the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage unit forming the predetermined sequence and the drawing command given from the drawing command determination unit are combined to generate a drawing command, and the output command is generated. 4. The drawing command storage device according to claim 1, wherein the drawing command stored in the drawing command storage unit is deleted from the drawing command storage unit, the drawing command being unnecessary by generation of the combined drawing command. 2. The image processing device according to claim 1. 5. The drawing command synthesizing means, wherein a drawing command given from the drawing command judging means and a drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means having the same drawing area as the drawing command are stored in a predetermined sequence. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when not configuring, the drawing command given from the drawing command determination unit is stored in the drawing command storage unit. 6. The drawing command synthesizing means, as the predetermined sequence, a first drawing command accompanied by an xor operation,
A second drawing instruction for writing a pixel value 0 in an area overlapping with the first drawing instruction, and a same color as the first drawing instruction for the same area as the first drawing instruction with xor operation. Alternatively, when the third drawing command for writing image data detects a drawing command sequence to be executed in this order, the area specified by the first drawing command is used as a mask using the region specified by the second drawing command. Generating a drawing command to write the color or image data designated by the first drawing command to the first drawing command, deleting the first drawing command stored in the drawing command storage means from the drawing command storage means, If the drawing command including the xor operation whose drawing area overlaps with the second drawing command is not stored in the drawing command storage means before the second drawing command, the drawing command storage means The image processing apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5, characterized in that to remove the second drawing command. 7. The drawing command storage means, when storing a drawing command, holds information on components including information on a drawing area for the drawing command, and stores one or more drawing elements for a plurality of drawing commands. 7. If the information is the same, at least the information of the same constituent element is shared and stored.
An image processing apparatus according to the item. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing command storage unit compresses the drawing command or a component of the drawing command when storing the drawing command. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1.