JP2003196044A - Image processing method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem of increasing a cost of a system requiring a memory for storing a large quantity of image data. <P>SOLUTION: The image data read by a scanner 2070 is divided into a plurality of tiles. The image data of the respective tiles is compressed by tile compressing parts 1 to 3, and is stored in an image memory 2123. The compressed image data of the respective tiles stored in the image memory 2123 is extended by tile extending parts 1 and 2. The extended image data is arranged according to the order of the respective tiles, and is outputted to a printer 2095 to form an image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for processing image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing an image based on image data generated by reading an original image with an image scanner or the like, the read image data for one page is once expanded in a memory as a raster image. , The developed image data is read out, output to a printer and printed.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems.

For example, multi-valued image data for high image quality, which has 4 bytes of data in 1 pixel, has a resolution of 600 dp.
In the case of raster expansion with i and A4 (297 mm × 210 mm), the data amount of the image data is a huge amount of about 140 megabytes. Therefore, a memory is required to store such a large amount of image data. Therefore, in the configuration including such a large capacity memory, the cost of the system is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of outputting a high-quality image while suppressing the memory capacity for expanding the image data to be small. .

It is another object of the present invention to efficiently encode and store image data for each predetermined amount, read it, decode it, and output it in units of a predetermined amount, thereby reducing the memory capacity for storing the image data. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus that can suppress and output a high-quality image.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of high speed decoding by providing a plurality of decompression units.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, dividing means for dividing the image data into a plurality of blocks, compression means for compressing the image data for each block divided by the dividing means, and compressed image data compressed by the compression means for each block. Storage means for storing in order, a plurality of decompression units, decompression means for decompressing the compressed image data for each block stored in the storage means using the plurality of decompression units,
Image forming control means for controlling so that the image data expanded by the expanding means is arranged and imaged according to the order.

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a dividing step of dividing the image data into a plurality of blocks, a compression step of compressing the image data for each block divided in the dividing step, and the compressed image data compressed in the compressing step for each block. A storage process of sequentially storing in the memory,
A decompression step of decompressing the compressed image data for each block stored in the memory by a plurality of decompression units, and the image data decompressed by each of the plurality of decompression units are arranged in the order to form an image. And an image forming control step of controlling the above.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Entire System] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of an entire network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1001 denotes an image processing apparatus (copier) according to the present embodiment, which has a scanner 2070 (FIG. 2) and a printer 2095 (FIG. 2), and an image read from the scanner is read by a local area network. 101
0 (hereinafter referred to as LAN), or an image received from the LAN 1010 can be printed out by a printer. In addition, the image read by the scanner is displayed on a FAX (not shown).
The transmission means transmits to another communication device via the PSTN or ISDN 1030, or the PSTN or ISDN1.
The image data received via 030 can be printed out by the printer. A database server 1002 manages a binary image and a multivalued image read by the copying machine 1001 according to the present embodiment as a database.

Reference numeral 1003 denotes a database server 1002.
The image data stored in the database server 1002 can be browsed / searched by the database client of. An electronic mail server 1004 can receive an image read by the copying machine 1001 according to the present embodiment as attached information of an electronic mail. Reference numeral 1005 denotes an e-mail client, which is an e-mail server 1004.
You can receive and view the emails received by and send emails. 1006 is an HTML document for LA
The WWW server provided to the N1010 can print out the HTML document provided by the WWW server 1006 by the copying machine 1001 according to the present embodiment. 100
A router (DNS server) 7 connects the LAN 1010 to the Internet / Intranet 1012. The database server 1002, the WWW server 1008, the electronic mail server 1004, and the copying machine 10 according to the present embodiment are added to the Internet / Intranet 1012.
The same devices as 01 are connected as a copying machine 1020, a database server 1021, a WWW server 1022, and an electronic mail server 1023, respectively.

On the other hand, the copying machine 1001 according to the present embodiment.
Can communicate with the facsimile apparatus 1031 via the PSTN or ISDN 1030.

A printer 104 is connected to the LAN 1010.
0 is also connected, and the image data read by the copying machine 1001 can be transmitted to the printer 1040 to be printed out.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a copying machine (data processing device) 1001 according to this embodiment.

The control unit 2000 is connected to a scanner 2070 which is an image input device and a printer 2095 which is an image output device, and is also connected to a LAN 1010 and a public line (WAN) 1030 so that image information and device information can be displayed. It controls input / output and image development of PDL data. The CPU 2001 is a processor that controls the entire apparatus according to the present embodiment. In this embodiment, an example using two CPUs is shown. These two CPUs 2001 are connected to a common CPU bus 2126 and further connected to the system bus bridge 2007. The system bus bridge 2007 is a bus switch, and includes a CPU bus 2126 and a RAM controller 21.
24, ROM controller 2125, I / O bus 1 (2
127), sub-bus switch 2128, I / O bus 2
(2129), image ring interface 1 (214
7), the image ring interface 2 (2148) is connected.

The sub-bus switch 2128 is a second bus switch, and includes an image DMA1 (2130) and an image DMA.
2 (2132), the font decompression unit 3134, the sort circuit 2135, and the bit map trace unit 2136 are connected to arbitrate memory access requests output from these DMAs and connect to the system bus bridge 2007.

The RAM 2002 is a system work memory for the CPU 2001 to operate and also an image memory for temporarily storing image data. In this embodiment, an example in which a direct RD-RAM controlled by the RAM controller 2124 is adopted is shown. ROM2
A boot ROM 003 stores a system boot program. The reading of data from the ROM 2003 is controlled by the ROM controller 2125.

The image DMA1 (2130) is the image compression unit 3
The image compression unit 2131 is connected to the image processing unit 131 and controls the image compression unit 2131 based on the information set via the register access ring 2137 to read the uncompressed data in the RAM 2002, compress the data, and rewrite the compressed code data. In this embodiment, JP is used as the compression algorithm.
EG is adopted. The image DMA2 (2132) is connected to the image decompression unit 2133, controls the image decompression unit 2133 based on the information set via the register access ring 2137, reads the compressed data stored in the RAM 2002, and decompresses the compressed data. In the present embodiment in which the decompressed data is written back, an example in which JPEG is adopted as the decompression algorithm is shown.

The font decompression unit 2134, based on the font code included in the PDL data externally transferred via the LAN controller 2010, etc., the ROM 200
3 or the compressed font data stored in the RAM 2002 is expanded. In this embodiment, an example in which the FBE algorithm is adopted has been shown. The sort circuit 2135 is
This is a circuit for rearranging the order of the objects in the display list generated at the stage of expanding the PDL data.
The bitmap / trace circuit 2136 is a circuit for extracting edge information from bitmap data. The I / O bus 1 (2127) is a kind of internal I / O bus, and is connected to a USB bus controller which is a standard bus, a USB interface 2138, a general-purpose serial port 2139, an interrupt controller 2140, and a GPI / O interface 2141. . In addition, I / O bus 1 (2
127) includes a bus arbiter (not shown). The operation unit interface 2006 includes an operation unit (UI) 20.
The interface unit 12 outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 2012 to the operation unit 2012. In addition, the information input by the user from the operation unit 2012 is changed to the CP
It serves to convey to U2001.

The I / O bus 2 (2129) is a kind of internal I / O bus, and the general-purpose bus interfaces 1 and 2 are provided.
The LAN controller 2010 is connected to (2142). This I / O bus 2 (2129) has a bus arbiter
(Not shown) is included. General-purpose bus interface 21
42 consists of two identical bus interfaces,
It is a bus bridge that supports a standard I / O bus. In this embodiment, an example in which the PCI bus 2143 is adopted is shown. The HDD 2004 is a hard disk drive that stores system software and image data. This HD
The D2004 is connected to one PCI bus 2143 via the disk controller 2144. The LAN controller 2010 includes a MAC circuit 2145 and a PHY / PMD.
It is connected to the LAN 2011 via the circuit 2146 to input / output information. The modem 2050 is a public line 1
It is connected to 030 and inputs and outputs information.

Image ring interface 1 (214
7) and image ring interface 2 (2148)
Is a DMA controller that connects the system bus bridge 2007 and the image ring 2008 that transfers image data at high speed, and transfers the compressed data after tile formation between the RAM 2002 and the tile image processing unit 2149. The image ring 2008 is configured by a combination of a pair of unidirectional connection paths (image ring 1 and image ring 2).
In the tile image processing unit 2149, the image ring 2008 includes the tile expansion units 2103 and 2151 and the command processing unit 210 via the image ring interface 3 (2101) and the tile image interface 4 (2102).
4, status processing unit 2105, tile compression units 1 to 3
(2106). In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which two sets of tile expansion units 2103 and three sets of tile compression units are mounted.

In addition to the connection to the image ring interface 2101, the tile decompression unit 2103 includes a tile bus 2
A bus bridge that is connected to the image processing unit 107, expands the compressed image data input from the image ring 2008, and transfers the expanded image data to the tile bus 2107. The present embodiment shows an example in which JPEG is adopted as multi-valued data and Packbits is adopted as decompression algorithm for binary data.

In addition to the connection to the image ring interface 2102, the tile compression unit 2106 has a tile bus 2
The image data before being compressed connected to the tile bus 2107 is compressed by the image ring 2008.
It is a bus bridge to transfer to. In this embodiment, JPEG is used for multi-valued data and Packbits is used for binary data as a compression algorithm.

In addition to the connection to the image ring interface 2102, the command processing unit 2104 is connected to the register setting bus 2109 and sends to the register setting bus 2109 a register setting request issued from the CPU 2001 that is input via the image ring 2008. Write to the corresponding block to be connected. Further, based on the register read request issued by the CPU 2001, the register setting bus 21
The information is read from the corresponding register via 09 and transferred to the image ring interface 4 (2102). The status processing unit 2105 monitors information of each image processing unit, generates an interrupt bucket for issuing an interrupt (interrupt) to the CPU 2001, and outputs the interrupt bucket to the image ring interface 2102.

In addition to the above blocks, the following functional blocks are connected to the tile bus 2107. These functional blocks are the rendering unit interface 211.
0, an image input interface 2112, an image output interface 2113, a multi-value conversion unit 2119, and a binary conversion unit 2
118, a color space conversion unit 2117, an image rotation unit 2030,
The resolution conversion unit 2116. These functions will be described below.

Rendering unit interface 2110
Is an interface for inputting a bitmap image generated by the rendering unit 2060 described later. The rendering unit 2060 and the rendering unit interface 2110 are connected by a general video signal 2111. Rendering unit interface 2110
In addition to the tile bus 2107, the memory bus 2108,
The tile bus is connected to the register setting bus 2109, and the structure of the input raster image is converted into a tile image by a predetermined method set via the register setting bus 2109, and at the same time, clock synchronization is performed. 2107
Output to.

The image input interface 2112 is
Raster image data corrected and image-processed by a scanner image processing unit 2114, which will be described later, is input, and structural conversion into a tile image and clock synchronization are performed by a predetermined method set via a register setting bus 2109. , To the tile bus 2107. The image output interface 2113 inputs the tile image data from the tile bus 2107, performs conversion to a raster image and changes the clock rate, and outputs the converted raster image to the printer image processing unit 2115. The image rotation unit 2030 rotates image data. Resolution converter 21
16 changes the resolution of the image. Color space conversion unit 211
7 performs color space conversion of color and gray scale images. The binarization unit 2118 binarizes a multivalued (color, grayscale) image. The multi-value conversion unit 2119 converts the binary image into multi-value data.

The external bus interface section 2120 is
Image ring interface 1, 2, 3, 4 (214
7, 2148, 2101 and 2102), the command processing unit 2104, and the register setting bus 2109,
This is a bus bridge that outputs the write and read requests issued by 001 to the external bus 3 (2121).
In this embodiment, the external bus 3 (2121) is used as the printer image processing unit 2115 and the scanner image processing unit 2.
It is connected to 114.

The memory controller 2122 has a memory bus 21.
08, and according to the request of each image processing unit, by preset address division, image data writing and reading to and from the image memory 1 and the image memory 2 (2123), and refreshing if necessary. Take action. In the present embodiment, SD is stored in the image memory 2123.
An example using a RAM is shown. Image processing unit for scanner 21
At 14, the image data scanned by the scanner 2070, which is an image input device, is subjected to corrected image processing. The printer image processing unit 2115 performs corrected image processing for output to the printer 2095, and outputs the result to the printer 2095. The rendering unit 2060 uses P
Expand the DL code or intermediate display list into a bitmap image.

[Tile image (packet) format]
Control unit 20 of copying machine 1001 according to the present embodiment
At 00, the input of image data, the command by the CPU 2001, and the interrupt information issued from each block are transferred in a packetized format.

In this embodiment, three different types of packets are used: the data packet shown in FIG. 3, the command packet shown in FIG. 4, and the interrupt packet shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the data structure of a data packet. In the present embodiment, an example in which the image data is divided into tile pixel image data 3002 of 32 pixels × 32 pixels and handled is shown.

The header information 3001, image data 3002, image additional information, etc. 3 required for this tile-based image
003 is added to form a data packet.

The information contained in the header information 3001 will be described below.

The type of packet is header information 3001.
It is distinguished by a packet type (Pckt Type) 3004 inside. This packet type 3004 includes a repeat flag, and when the image data of the data packet is the same as the image data of the data packet transmitted immediately before,
Set the repeat flag. Chip ID 3
005 indicates the ID of the chip that is the target for transmitting the packet. The data type (Image Type) 3006 is
Indicates the type of data. Page ID 3007
Indicates a page, and Job ID 3008
Stores a job ID to be managed by software. The tile number is the tile coordinate in the Y direction (Packet ID Y
-coordinate) 3009 and tile coordinate in X direction (Packet ID
It is represented by Yn and Xn in combination with the X-coordinate) 3010.

The data packet may be compressed image data or may be uncompressed. In this embodiment, as the compression algorithm, JPEG is adopted in the case of multi-value color (including multi-value gray scale), and Packbits is adopted in the case of binary. The compression flag (Compress Fla
g) Shown with 3017 on / off. Process instruction
Instruction) 3011 is left-justified and is set in processing order.
After processing each processing unit, Process Instruction30
11 is shifted to the left by 8 bits. Process Instruction
3011 is a unit ID (Unit ID) 3019 and mode
Eight pairs of (Mode) 3020 are stored. The unit ID (Unit ID) 3019 specifies each processing unit,
A mode (Mode) 3020 specifies an operation mode in each processing unit. As a result, one packet can be continuously processed by eight units.

Packet Byte Length 3
012 indicates the total number of bytes of the packet. Image Data Byte Length 3015
Is the number of bytes of image data, Z Data Byte Length 301
6 represents the number of bytes of the image additional information, and includes image data offset (Image Data Offset) 3013 and Z Data Offs.
et3014 represents the offset from the beginning of the packet of each data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data format of the command packet.

This packet format is for accessing the register setting bus 2109.
By using this packet, the CPU 2001 can also access the image memory 2123.

In the figure, 4001 is a header, and 4002.
Indicates a command. The chip ID 4004 includes an image processing unit 214 that is a destination of the command packet.
An ID representing 9 is stored. Page ID 40
07 and a job ID (Job ID) 4008 store a page ID and a job ID to be managed by software. The packet ID 4009 is represented one-dimensionally and uses only the X-coordinate of the data packet. A packet byte length (Packet Byte Length) 4010 is fixed at 128 bytes. The command data section 4002 can store a maximum of 12 commands, with a set of an address (Address) 4011 and data (Data) 4012 as one command. The command type of write (write) or read (read) is the command type (Cmd
Type) 4005, and the number of commands is indicated by a command number (Cmd num) 4006.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the data format of the interrupt packet.

The format of this packet is header 5
001 and interrupt data 5002, and the packet format is from the image processing unit 2149 to the CPU 2001.
For notifying an interrupt to. After transmitting the interrupt packet, the status processing unit 2105 must not transmit the interrupt packet until the next transmission is permitted.

Packet Byte Len
gth) 5006 is fixed at 128 bytes. The interrupt data 5002 stores status information (Module Status) 5007 of each internal module of the image processing unit 2149. The status processing unit 2105 is the image processing unit 2
The status information of each module in 149 can be collected and sent to the system control unit 2150 collectively. The chip ID 5004 stores an ID representing the system control unit 2150 that is the transmission destination of the interrupt packet, and the internal chip ID (Int Chip ID) 5005 stores the image that is the transmission source of the interrupt packet. Processing unit 2149
Is stored.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of the packet table.

Each packet has this packet table 60.
It is managed by 01. Packet table (Pcket
table) 6001 is as follows. When 5 bits of "0" are added to the values in the table, the start address of the packet (Packet Address Pointer) 60
02, and the packet byte length (Packet Length) 6005. Packet Address Pointer
ter) (27 bits) + 5b00000 = packet start address, packet length (11 bits) + 5b00000 =
It is assumed that the packet byte length, the packet table 6001 and the chain table 6010 are not divided.

The packet table 6001 is always arranged in the scanning direction, and Yn / Xn = 000 /, 000,000 /
They are arranged in the order of 001/002, ...
The entry of this packet table 6001 uniquely indicates one tile. The entry next to Yn / Xmax becomes Yn + 1 / X0.

When the packet has exactly the same data as the previous packet, the packet is not written in the memory 2123, and the entry of the packet table 6001 stores the same packet address pointer and packet length as the first entry. To do. In this way, one packet data is
It looks like one table entry. In this case, the repeat flag (r) 6 of the second table entry
003 is set.

When the packet is divided into a plurality of pieces by the chain DMA, a division flag (Divide Flag) (d) 600
4 is set and the chain table number (Chain Table N) of the chain block containing the beginning of the packet
o.) Set 6006. Chain table 6010
Entry is a chain block address (Chain Block
Address) 6011 and chain block length (Chain Bloc)
k Length) 6012 and table 6010
"0" is stored as the chain block address and the chain block length in the last entry of.

[Image Processing Operation] Next, the image processing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a case in which an image is read by the scanner 2070 to generate image data, and tile image data is generated from the image data and stored in the RAM 2002 in the copying machine 1001 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing in the image processing unit 2149. Note that, in this figure, portions common to those in FIG. 2 described above are denoted by the same symbols.

When an image is read by the scanner 2070 and image data is generated, the image data is sequentially sent to the image processing unit for scanner 2114 as raster data. The scanner image processing unit 2114 performs necessary image processing on the input image data in the order of raster data, and transfers the processed image data to the image input interface 2112. The image input interface 2112 transfers the image data transferred in the raster order to the memory control unit 212 via the memory bus 2108.
Transfer to 2. The memory control unit 2122 develops this image data in the image memory 1 (2123) in a raster format. The image memory 1 (2123) has a data capacity of at least 32 lines of raster data.
In this way, image data for 32 lines is stored in the image memory 1 (2
123), the image input interface 2
Reference numeral 112 starts reading from the image memory 2123 in units of tile image data of 32 pixels × 32 lines.
The memory control unit 212 reads the tile image data.
2, through the memory bus 2108.

Next, the image input interface 2112
For the tile bus 2107.
06) request to connect. When the tile bus 2107 is connected to the tile compression unit 1 (2106), the image input interface 2112 transfers the tile image data to the tile compression unit 1 (2106). As a result, the tile compression unit 1 (2106) performs JPEG compression on the tile image data. The JPEG-compressed block of image data is transferred to the image ring interface 4 (2102) and transferred to the system control unit 2150 via the image ring 2008. In the system control unit 2150,
The tile image data thus transferred is stored in the RAM 20.
Stored in 02. In this way, tile data is created from the image data read by the scanner 2070, each tile data is compressed, and the RA of the system control unit 2150 is calculated.
The operation of storing in M2002 is performed.

FIG. 8 shows a copying machine 100 according to this embodiment.
Image reading by the scanner 2070 in No. 1,
9 is a flowchart showing a process of compressing the read image data and storing it in a RAM 2002.

First, in step S1, the scanner 2070 reads a document image to generate image data and inputs the image data. Then, in step S2, for example, when image data for 32 lines is generated and input, step S3
The image memory 2123 stores the image data for 32 lines. Next, in step S4, the step 32
The image data for each line is divided into tile images each composed of 32 pixels × 32 lines. Then step S
5, the tile compression unit 21 stores the tile image data.
06, and each compressed tile image data is RA
Store in M2002. This process is repeated in step S7 until all the original images are read and the process is completed. As a result, the image data of the original image read by the scanner 2070 is stored in the RAM 2002 in a format compressed in tile units.

Next, the RAM 2 of the system controller 2150
The operation of printing by the printer 2095 based on the tile image data stored in 002 will be described.

FIG. 9 is a path through which data in the image processing unit 2149 flows when the printer 2095 prints based on tile image data stored in the RAM 2002 of the system control unit 2150 according to this embodiment. In the figure, the parts common to those in FIG. 2 are indicated by the same symbols.

RA under the control of the system controller 2150
The compressed tile image data output from M2002 is input to the image ring interface 3 (2101) via the image ring 2008. At this time, the tile image data is output according to the order for forming an image. The image ring interface 3 (2101) is
The received compressed tile image data is selected from one of the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2152) and transferred to it. The tile decompression unit 1 (2103) is selected according to the process instruction 3011 of the packet format described above. At this time, the image ring interface 3 (21
The tile image data transferred to 01) is transferred in the order of image formation as described above, but the tile expansion unit 1 (2103) and the tile expansion unit 2 (2151) are selected alternately by Process Since the Instruction 3011 is generated, the order may change depending on the expansion processing.

That is, the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151) convert the tile image data to JPE.
After decompressing G, the image data is converted into uncompressed image data, and when each tile decompression unit completes the decompression process of the tile data, the image output interface 211 for the tile bus 2107.
Make a connection request to No. 3. This allows the tile bus 2107
Is connected to the image output interface 2113, the tile expansion unit 1 (2103) and the tile expansion unit 2 are connected.
(2151) transfers the tile image data to the image output interface 2113. Here the tile extension 1
The expansion processing times of (2103) and the tile expansion unit 2 (2151) differ depending on the compression ratio of the compressed image data. Therefore, the tile image data transferred to the image output interface 2113 via the tile bus 2107 may be out of the order of image formation.

Therefore, the image output interface 2113 that receives the decompressed tile image data checks the position of the tile image when transferring the tile image data to the memory control unit 2122 via the memory bus 2108. Perform processing to arrange in order. The memory control unit 2122 expands the tile data thus transferred to the image memory 2 (2123). This image development is performed in tile units, but is performed in the image memory 2 (2123) in the form of raster data.

In FIG. 10, tile data is stored in the image memory 2.
It is a figure which shows the state expanded to (2123).

In FIG. 10, 7001, 7002, 7
Each of 003 and 7004 indicates tile image data. (0,0) of each tile image data, (0,
1), (0, 2), (0, 3) indicate the coordinates in the entire image formed by the tile image data, respectively (Y coordinate, X coordinate). . In this way, tile image data of the same Y coordinate is developed in the format of one band. At this time, as described above, the order of the expanded tile image data received by the image output interface 2113 may not be the order of the X coordinate. This is the tile extension 1 as described above.
Due to the difference in processing speed between (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151), the order of decompressed data output from the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151) is exchanged, and the order of the X coordinate is lost. This is because it may occur. For example, when the tile image decompression process can be performed only by the tile decompression unit 1 (2103), only the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) is used, and tile image data is acquired from the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) in the order of the X coordinate. When the tile image data is transferred and expanded in that order from the left in FIG. 10, one band of image data can be formed in accordance with the order. However, when the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151) are operated in parallel to improve the processing speed, the order of the decompressed tile image data may differ due to the difference in the processing speed between the tile decompression units. May disappear in the order of the X coordinate. In such a case, the tile data needs to be rearranged, but the order is the packet IDY-coordinate (Packe
t IDY-coordinate) 3009, packet IDX-coordinate (Pa
cket ID X-coordinate) 3010.

Therefore, the image output interface 211
3, the tile image data is expanded in the band as shown in FIG. 10 according to the Y coordinate and the X coordinate. In this way, when all the raster data is developed as raster data for 32 lines output by the printer 2095, the image output interface 2113 starts reading data in this raster order. The reading of the raster data is performed by the memory control unit 2122 and the memory bus 210.
8 through. The image output interface 2113 that has thus read the data in raster order transfers the image data to the printer image processing unit 2115. The printer image processing unit 2115 outputs the raster data to the printer 2095, and the printer 2095 prints an image based on the raster data.

In this operation, since the tile image data which can be expanded by the image output interface 2113 has the same Y coordinate, the processable Y coordinate information is always used as signal information for the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile. It is transmitted to the extension part 2 (2151). The tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151) monitor Y coordinates that can be received by the image output interface 2113, and if the tile data has Y coordinates that the image output interface 2113 cannot receive. The transfer is stopped, and the transfer and the process are restarted when the image output interface 2113 becomes receivable.

The tile image data read by the scanner 2070 described with reference to FIG.
Printing the image data read by the scanner 2070 by performing an image printing operation of the tile image data stored in the RAM 2002 of the system control unit 2150 described in FIG. 9 by the printer 2095 after the operation of storing the image data in the M2002. You can

FIG. 11 shows the RAM described with reference to FIG.
The tile image data of 2002 is expanded and the printer 209
6 is a flowchart showing a process of outputting to 5 and printing.

First, in step S11, the compressed tile image data is read from the RAM 2002 in the order of image formation (raster order). Next, in step S12, the read tile image is set to the tile decompression unit 1 (2
103) or the tile expansion unit 2 (2151). Next, in step S14, the order of the expanded tile images is checked. If the order is different from the original raster order, the original raster order is rearranged and the image memory 2
It is stored in 123. Then, in step S15, the tile image data in band units stored in the image memory 2123 is sequentially read and output to the printer 2095 for printing.

FIG. 12 shows the scanner 20 using DMA.
6 is a flowchart showing an operation control for printing the image data read in by a printer 2095. Hereinafter, description will be given according to this flowchart.

First, in step S101, the scanner DMA is activated. Next, in step S102, the scanner 2070 is activated to start reading an image. The image data generated by reading the image in this way is divided into tile data by the image input interface 2112 and transferred to the tile compression unit 3 (2106). The tile compression unit 3 (2106) performs JPEG compression in units of tile data. Tile compression unit 3 (210
The tile data JPEG-compressed in 6) is sequentially transferred to the system control unit 2150. System control unit 215
0 indicates the transferred tile data in the RAM 200.
Store in 2.

Next, in step S103, the scanner 2
The scanning of the image in 070 is completed, and it is determined whether all tile data is stored in the RAM 2002. When the image input from the scanner 2070 is completed, the process proceeds to step S104 to activate the print DMA. Next, in step S105, the printer 2
Start 095. Thus, the tile data to be printed is sequentially transferred from the RAM 2002 to the image processing unit 2149 by the DMA activated in step S104. The image processing unit 2149 receives the transferred tile data by the image ring interface 3 (2101). And image ring interface 3
(2101) alternately transfers the received tile data to the tile decompression unit 1 (2103) and the tile decompression unit 2 (2151). The tile expansion unit 1 (2103) and the tile expansion unit 2 (2151) transfer the tile data subjected to the JPEG expansion process to the image output interface 2113. The image output interface 2113 performs image data band expansion according to the position of the tile data,
When one band of raster image data is completed, the band data is output to the printer 2095. This allows
The printer 2095 forms an image based on the transferred image data.

The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.) or an apparatus including one device (for example, a copying machine, (For example, a facsimile machine).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) recording a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or an apparatus, and to supply the system or apparatus with the storage medium (or the recording medium). It is also achieved by the computer (or CPU or MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer is executed based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes a case where some or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted in the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code. It also includes a case where a CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the compressed image data is expanded and output to the printer device for printing has been described, but the compressed image data is expanded and displayed on the display device for output. Is also good.

The input image data is not limited to the image data read by the scanner, but may be image data input from a LAN or a communication line, or may be stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD. It may be image data that has been processed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the output of image data is necessary, the decompression processing of a plurality of tile data is operated in parallel, and the order of the tile image data output from each is changed. Even in such a case, it is possible to provide an image processing system capable of efficiently performing image print processing by aligning the images in the original order and developing the images.

[0078]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to output a high quality image while suppressing the memory capacity for expanding the image data.

According to the present invention, the image data is efficiently encoded and stored for each predetermined amount, and the read and decoded image data is output in a predetermined amount unit, thereby reducing the memory capacity for storing the image data. There is an effect that a high quality image can be output while suppressing.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that high-speed decoding can be made possible by providing a plurality of decompression units.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a network system including an image processing apparatus (copier) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data format of an image packet used in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data format of a command packet used in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data format of an interrupt packet used in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data format of a packet table used in this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating a process of reading a document image and storing it in a memory in the copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of reading a document image and storing it in a memory in the copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram illustrating an image print process in the copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining expansion of tile data in an image band memory.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an image print process in the copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows a DMA in the copying machine according to the present embodiment.
6 is a flowchart showing a copy process for reading and printing an image by the method.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C087 AB05 BB10 BC02 BD40 BD53                       CA13                 5B021 AA01 AA05 AA19 DD00                 5B057 AA20 CA16 CB20 CG01 CH01                       CH11 CH14 CH16                 5C073 AA04 BB02 BB03 CE02

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A dividing unit that divides image data into a plurality of blocks, a compressing unit that compresses image data for each block divided by the dividing unit, and compressed image data that is compressed by the compressing unit. A storage unit that stores each block in order; a decompression unit that has a plurality of decompression units and that decompresses the compressed image data for each block stored in the storage unit by using the plurality of decompression units; An image processing apparatus, comprising: an image forming control unit configured to arrange the image data expanded by the expanding unit according to the order to form an image. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image input means for reading a document image and inputting the image data. 3. The image forming control means according to claim 1, wherein the image forming control means controls the expanded image data to be arranged in raster order to form an image as image data in band units. Image processing device. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image formation control unit arranges the expanded image data in raster order and outputs the expanded image data as band-based image data to a printer device. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores the compressed image data together with address information of each block. 6. A dividing step of dividing the image data into a plurality of blocks, a compressing step of compressing the image data for each block divided in the dividing step, and a step of compressing the compressed image data compressed in the compressing step. A storage step of sequentially storing each block in a memory, a decompression step of decompressing compressed image data for each block stored in the memory by a plurality of decompression units, and an image decompressed by each of the plurality of decompression units And an image forming control step of controlling so as to form an image by arranging data according to the order. 7. The image processing method according to claim 6, further comprising an image input step of reading a document image and inputting the image data. 8. The image forming control step according to claim 6, wherein the expanded image data is arranged in a raster order so as to form an image as image data in band units. Image processing method. 9. The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the image formation control step, the expanded image data is arranged in raster order and output as image data in band units to a printer method. 10. The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein in the storing step, the compressed image data is stored in the memory together with address information of each block. 11. A program for executing the image processing method according to any one of claims 6 to 10. 12. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing the image processing method according to claim 6.