JP2003266816A - Image data controller for image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To decrease the number of components without causing deterioration of image quality by establishing a control procedure for performing image recording through direct use of external image data being inputted sequentially without using a large scale recording medium for storing at least one page of image data. <P>SOLUTION: Since the transfer timing of image data is linked with the image processing operation through communication of a stop signal and a restart signal, image processing control of an image processing board 124 is performed only when line image data of specified number of lines is arranged on image and rearrange boards 112 synchronized each other. When the line image data is deficient, the operation is controlled to stop temporarily and image processing can be carried out without lowering the image quality even if each page is not punctuated. <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 data control apparatus for an image recording apparatus, which forms an image on a recording medium by repeating main scanning and sub-scanning the image on the recording medium based on image data. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image recording apparatus, a sheet-shaped recording material, particularly a printing plate having a photosensitive layer on a support, is used, and the printing plate is surrounded by a rotary drum. By rotating the recording head in the axial direction of this rotating drum (sub scanning) while rotating it at high speed while it is wound around the surface (main scanning), the laser beam is directly applied to the photosensitive layer (emulsion surface) of the printing plate. A technique for recording an image by means of the like has been developed (printing plate exposure device). With such a technique, it is possible to quickly record an image on a printing plate.

At the time of image recording, the rotation of the rotary drum is controlled by using a servo motor, and the image data is sent to the recording head in synchronization with the rotation of the rotary drum.

Here, the image data of the image recorded by the image recording apparatus is a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC).
Etc. from an external control device.

The image recording apparatus is equipped with a hard disk, and image recording is executed under the condition that one page of image data from the PC is stored in the hard disk. As a result, even if some trouble occurs in the transmission of the image data from the PC and the transmission of the image data is delayed, the image recording process is not interrupted within the range of one page.

However, the provision of the hard disk on the side of the image recording apparatus causes an increase in the number of parts and an increase in cost. Therefore, it is preferable to directly use the image data sent from the PC to execute the image recording processing.

In the current image recording apparatus, even if the image recording process is interrupted within the range of one page, the accuracy is such that the image quality is not deteriorated and it can be realized, but the design itself is one page. Since it is premised that there is no break within the range, the correspondence when the image data is actually cut within the range of one page has not been established.

In view of the above facts, the present invention has at least one
A control procedure is established to directly execute the image recording process by directly using the image data sequentially input from the outside without using a large-scale recording medium for accumulating the image data for pages, which causes the deterioration of the image quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image data control device for an image recording device, which can reduce the number of parts without any need.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording apparatus which forms an image on a recording medium by repeating main scanning and sub-scanning based on image data. A buffer capable of accumulating image data necessary for one main scan, a scan control means for controlling execution of the main scan and the sub-scan based on the image data accumulated in the buffer, and a sub-control in the scan control means. Stop signal output control means for outputting a stop signal when the amount of image data required for the next main scan is insufficient in the buffer by the time of the next main scan after the scan, and the stop signal output. Scanning standby control means for stopping and waiting the main scanning and sub-scanning when a stop signal is output from the means, and necessary for at least one main scanning in the buffer due to insufficient state of the image data amount. When the image data has been accumulated,
When a restart signal is output from the restart signal output control means for outputting a restart signal and the restart signal output means,
Scan restart control means for restarting the main scan and the sub scan.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the image data necessary for at least one main scan is accumulated in the buffer, the scan control means performs the main scan based on the image data accumulated in the buffer. And control to perform sub-scanning.

At this time, normally, the image data for the next main scanning is accumulated in the buffer, and the image recording for one page is completed by repeatedly executing the main scanning and the sub scanning. However, even if the image data necessary for at least one main scan is stored in the buffer, the image recording is so-called cut-off and the image data is not prepared at the next main scan.

In such a situation, the stop signal output control means outputs the stop signal. In response to the output of this stop signal, the scanning standby control means stops the main scanning and moves the sub-scanning position to the front of the next main scanning position and makes it stand by. That is, the image is in the pause state while the image of one page is being recorded.

When image data required for at least one main scan is accumulated in the buffer while waiting, the restart signal output control means outputs a restart signal. Upon receiving this restart signal, the scanning restart control means restarts the main scanning and the sub scanning.

In this way, by linking the storage of image data in the buffer and the image recording with each other by the stop signal and the restart signal, a stable image can be obtained without storing one page of image data. The recording process becomes possible, and a large-scale recording medium for accumulating one page of image data can be eliminated without degrading the image quality.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the scanning standby control means moves the sub-scanning position to a position before the next main scanning position and makes the standby, When the restart signal is output, the sub-scanning is restarted, and the main scanning is restarted when the sub-scanning position reaches the next main scanning position.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the stop signal is output, the standby of the sub-scanning position is before the next main scanning position, so that the movement before this stabilizes the movement at the time of restart. Therefore, the so-called running stroll is performed, and the deterioration of the image quality due to the speed fluctuation does not occur.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an image recording processing system according to this embodiment.

This image recording processing system includes a PC 10 as an external control device for generating and editing image data.
0 and the image data control unit 1 connected to the PC 100
02 and.

The PC 100 may be a stand-alone PC or may be connected to a network. From the PC 100 to the image data control unit 102,
Image data is transmitted via the SCSI interface 104. The SCSI interface 104 is incorporated as a part of the image data IF board 106 of the image data control unit 102.

The image data taken in via the SCSI interface 104 is sent to the data compression circuit 108 and the compression processing is executed. Although ALDC (Adaptive Lossless Data Compression) is generally used as the compression format, other compression formats such as DCLZ and JPEG may be used.

The image data compressed by the data compression circuit 108 is stored and accumulated in the buffer memory 110. Here, as the buffer memory 110 of the present embodiment, a relatively small-scale recording medium is applicable as long as it can store image data for at least one main scan. In other words, a recording medium such as a hard disk capable of accumulating image data for one page is unnecessary.

The image data stored in the buffer memory 110 is sent to the data expansion circuit 114. The data expansion circuit 114 expands the compressed image data and sends it to the output control circuit 116. A line buffer 118 is connected to the output control circuit 116. The line buffer 118 stores the expanded image data in the image data control unit 102.
The image data is edited so as to match the main scanning when scanning at. That is, the image data is replaced with the line image data.

The line image data is output to the output control circuit 116.
From the image rearrangement circuit 112 to the data transfer circuit 120.

The image data control unit 102 of this embodiment has a structure in which a plurality of lines are scanned by one main scan, and this line scan is an interlaced scan. The order of the line image data sent from the output control circuit 116 of the substrate 104 is different.

Therefore, the data transfer circuit 112 aligns the line image data necessary for one main scan, controls the array, and stores the line image data in the plurality of line buffers 122.
Each of the plurality of line buffers 122 can store image data for one line, and by collecting the line image data in the plurality of line buffers 122, the main processing of the exposure processing substrate 124 can be performed once. Scanning is possible.

In the present embodiment, the line image data of the number of lines required for one main scan is called one swath.
The data transfer circuit 112 is capable of accumulating 3 swath line image data.

The image data IF board 106, the image rearranging board 112 and the exposure processing board 124 are the main board 12
Controlled by 6.

The main substrate 126 monitors the timing of image data transmission, and the image rearranging substrate 112 is monitored.
In, when there is no image data for one swath,
A stop signal is sent to the exposure processing substrate 124 to instruct the exposure processing temporarily. At the time of sending this stop signal, a request signal for image data is sent to the image data IF board 106.

In the image data control unit 102 of this embodiment, when the stop signal is received, the image data control unit 102 stands by in a returned state before the current sub-scanning position.

When the rearrangement substrate 112 stores image data for one swath or more (three swaths in this embodiment), the exposure processing substrate 124 is instructed to restart the exposure processing. Send a restart instruction signal.

When the restart instruction signal is input to the exposure processing substrate 124, the sub-scanning which has been returned to the front is restarted, and the position for continuously recording an image is reached. That is, by returning to the front side and restarting, a stable speed is maintained at the original sub-scanning position, and speed fluctuation does not occur at the joint of image recording.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the communication protocol between the boards shown in FIG.

From PC 100 to SCSI interface 1
When the image data is input via 04 (arrow A in FIG. 2), the data compression circuit 10 of the image data IF board 106.
In 8, the image data is compressed in a predetermined compression format and stored and accumulated in the buffer memory 110.

The buffer memory 110 can store data for one line or more, and the data stored here is sent to the data expansion circuit 114.

The data expansion circuit 114 expands the image data compressed by the data compression circuit 108, and the output control circuit 116 converts the image data into line image data by using the line buffer 118 as a work area. The data is sent to the data transfer circuit 120 of the replacement board 112 (arrow B in FIG. 2).

The purpose of data compression-buffer-data expansion is to smoothly operate the exposure in the subsequent stage without lowering the productivity. In some cases, the compression / expansion circuit is eliminated and several lines or more are stored. Only buffers that can be used.

The line image data is sequentially sent to the image rearrangement substrate 112, rearranged according to the main scanning mode of the image recording apparatus, and stored in each line buffer 122.

When the line image data for 3 swaths are prepared,
Line image data for each main scan (one swath) is sent from each line buffer 122 from the image rearrangement substrate 112 to the image processing substrate 124 (arrow C in FIG. 2).

If the image data for one main scan is not available in the line buffer 122 of the image rearranging board 112 and is insufficient, the image rearranging board 112 cannot send it to the image processing board 124. . At this time, in the image rearrangement board 112, the image processing board 124
A stop signal is output to (arrow D in FIG. 2). When the image processing board 124 receives this stop signal, it stops the image processing. The stop signal is also sent to the image data IF board 106 as an image data request signal (arrow E in FIG. 2).

Here, in the image processing board 124, the movement of the sub-scanning is stopped based on the input of the stop signal, and the image processing board 124 waits with its position returned to the front.

Image data IF board 106 that has received the request
Cooperates with the PC 100 to send the line image data to the image rearrangement board 112 with priority over other processing.

As a result, when the line image data for 3 swaths are prepared on the image rearranging board 112, a restart signal is sent from the image rearranging board 112 to the image processing board 124 (arrow F in FIG. 2). Upon receiving the restart signal, the image processing board 124 restarts image processing.

Sub-scanning is started when restarted by the restart signal, but the amount returned to this side becomes the approach stroke, and when the sub-scanning position which is the original joint is reached, a stable speed is maintained. Thus, it is possible to prevent speed fluctuations at the joints of image recording.

As described above, since the transfer timing of the image data and the operation of the image processing are linked by the communication of the stop signal and the restart signal, they are synchronized with each other and a predetermined number of lines are arranged on the image rearrangement substrate 112. The image processing control in the image processing board 124 is executed only when the image data is complete, and when the line image data is insufficient, it is controlled to be temporarily stopped, and even if one page is not used as a break, Image processing can be executed without degrading the image quality.

[0045]

EXAMPLE An example of the printing plate automatic exposure device 150 as an image recording device applicable in the present embodiment will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 3, the exposure unit 14 of the printing plate automatic exposure device 150 is mainly composed of a rotary drum 16 for winding and holding the printing plate 12 around its peripheral surface.
The printing plate 12 is guided by the conveyance guide unit 18,
The rotary drum 16 is fed in from the tangential direction.

A puncher 24 is disposed above the rotary drum 16 in FIG.

The transport guide unit 18 includes the plate feed guide 2
0 and the plate discharge guide 22.

Plate feeding guide 20 of the transport guide unit 18
The relative positional relationship between the stencil sheet ejection guide 22 and the stencil sheet ejection guide 22 is a horizontal V-shape, and the stencil sheet ejection guide 22 and the plate ejection guide 22 are rotated by a predetermined angle about the center on the right end side in FIG. By this rotation, the plate feeding guide 2
0 and the plate discharge guide 22 can selectively correspond to the rotary drum 16 or the puncher 24.

The printing plate 12 is first guided by the plate feeding guide 20 and sent to the puncher 24.
A notch for positioning is formed at the tip of the.

After being processed by the puncher 24, the printing plate 12 is temporarily returned to the plate feeding guide 20 and moved to a position corresponding to the rotary drum 16.

The rotating drum 16 is driven by a driving means (not shown) to mount and expose the printing plate 12 (direction of arrow A in FIG. 3) and to remove the printing plate 12 (direction of arrow B in FIG. 3) opposite to the mounting and exposing direction. Direction).

As shown in FIG. 3, the rotary drum 16 provided in the exposure section 14 has a tip chuck 26 attached at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface thereof. Exposure unit 14
Then, when the printing plate 12 is mounted on the rotary drum 16, first, the tip chuck 26 is moved by the transport guide unit 1
Rotating drum 1 at a position (printing plate mounting position) facing the front end of printing plate 12 fed by plate feeding guide 20
Stop 6

The exposure unit 22 is provided with a mounting unit 28 facing the tip chuck 26 at the printing plate mounting position. When the telescopic rod 28A of the mounting unit 28 extends and the one end side of the tip chuck 26 is extended, the printing plate 12 can be inserted between the tip chuck 26 and the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 16.

In the exposure section 14, with the tip of the printing plate 12 inserted between the tip chuck 26 and the rotary drum 16, the telescopic rod 28A of the mounting unit 18 is pulled back to release the pressure on the tip chuck 26. Thus, the front end of the printing plate 12 is held between the front chuck 26 and the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 16 by being sandwiched.

At this time, the printing plate 12 is positioned by abutting the front end against a positioning pin (not shown) provided on the rotary drum 16.

In the exposure section 14, when the front end of the printing plate 12 is fixed to the rotary drum 16, the rotary drum 16 is rotated in the mounting exposure direction. As a result, the transport guide unit 18
The printing plate 12 fed from the plate feeding guide 20 is wound around the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 16.

In the vicinity of the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 16, the squeeze roller 3 is located downstream of the printing plate mounting position in the mounting exposure direction.
0 is placed. The squeeze roller 30 moves toward the rotary drum 16 to move the rotary drum 16.
The printing plate 12 wound on the rotary drum 16 is pressed against the rotating drum 16 to bring the printing plate 12 into close contact with the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 16.

The exposure unit 14 includes a squeeze roller 3
A rear end chuck attachment / detachment unit 32 is arranged near the upstream side of the rotation exposure direction of the rotary drum 16 with respect to zero. A rear end chuck 36 is attached to the rear end chuck attachment / detachment unit 32 at the tip of a shaft 34 protruding toward the rotary drum 16.

In the exposure section 14, the trailing edge of the printing plate 12 wound around the rotary drum 16 is the trailing edge chuck attaching / detaching unit 3
When facing 2, the shaft 34 is projected and the rear end chuck 36 is mounted at a predetermined position on the rotary drum 16. As a result, the trailing edge chuck 36 holds and holds the trailing edge of the printing plate 12 with the rotating drum 16.

In the exposure section 14, when the front end and the rear end of the printing plate 12 are held by the rotating drum 16, the squeeze roller 30
Separate. After that, in the exposure unit 14, the rotary drum 1
While rotating 6 at a predetermined rotation speed at high speed (main scanning),
The light beam modulated based on the image data is emitted from the recording head unit 37 in synchronization with the rotation of the rotary drum 16.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic structure of the recording head section 37. The recording head unit 37 includes the recording head body 3
7A is supported by the base portion 250. Base part 25
0 is mounted on a slide base 252 which is a sliding body which constitutes a ball screw mechanism, and thereby the recording head main body 37A moves together with the slide base 252.

The slide bases 252 are parallel to each other.
Along the rail 254 of the book, the rotary drum 16 (see FIG. 3) is guided in the axial direction. Also,
A connecting portion 256 for connecting to the shaft 204 of the ball screw mechanism is attached to the lower portion of the slide base 252.

The connecting portion 256 has a cylindrical portion 25 formed with a female screw which is screwed with a male screw formed on the shaft 204.
8 are provided.

A sprocket 258 is coaxially attached to one end of the shaft 204, and a belt 260 is wound around the sprocket 258. This belt 260 is used for the pulse motor 20.
The sprocket 26 attached to the rotary shaft 206A of No. 6
It is also wrapped around 2. As a result, the driving force of the pulse motor 206 (rotation of the rotary shaft 206A) is transmitted to the belt 26.
0 to the shaft 204, and the rotation speed of the pulse motor 206 can control the rotation speed of the shaft 204.

As shown in FIG. 3, the recording head main body 37A is positioned with its home position at a position off the peripheral surface at one end of the rotary drum 16 in the axial direction, and is rotated by the driving force of the pulse motor 206. By moving in the axial direction of the drum 16, the sub-scanning movement is performed.

As a result, the recording head main body 37A is moved to the shaft 204 according to the rotation (main scanning) of the rotary drum 16.
By moving (sub-scanning) along, the image based on the image data is scanned and exposed on the printing plate 12.

In the exposure section 14, when the scanning exposure of the printing plate 12 is completed, the rear end chuck 36 holding the rear end of the printing plate 12 faces the rear end chuck attaching / detaching unit 32, and the rotary drum 16 is moved. Pause the rotating drum 16
Then, the rear end chuck 36 is removed. As a result, the trailing edge of the printing plate 12 is opened.

Thereafter, the rotary drum 16 is rotated in the take-out direction of the printing plate 12, so that the printing plate 12 is discharged from the rear end side to the plate discharge guide 22 of the transport guide unit 18 along the tangential direction of the rotary drum 16. After that, it is conveyed to the developing device in the next step.

FIG. 5 shows a control system for rotation of the rotary drum 16, movement of the recording head portion 37, and image recording by the recording head portion 37 based on an image signal.

The rotary drum 16 is rotated by the driving force of the servo boat 200. The rotation speed of the servo motor 200 is controlled based on a drive signal from the drive system control unit 205 of the controller 202.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the recording head portion 37 moves in the axial direction of the rotary drum 16 by axially rotating the shaft 204 on which the male screw of the ball screw mechanism portion is formed by the pulse motor 206. . The drive speed of the motor 206 is controlled based on the drive signal from the drive system control unit 205 of the controller 202.

A rotary encoder 208 is coaxially attached to the shaft portion of the rotary drum 16 at one end portion in the axial direction.

From the rotary encoder 208, a pulse signal corresponding to the rotation speed of the rotary drum 16 is sent to a reference signal acquisition section 212 which constitutes a part of the image processing system control section 210 in the controller 202. ing.

The reference signal acquisition unit 212 is connected to the image clock generation unit 214, and when generating the image clock, based on the rotation of the rotary drum 16, every predetermined rotation (for example, one rotation). An image clock in which the main scanning start time and the like are added is generated and sent to the image writing instruction unit 216.

The image writing instruction section 216 receives image data for the number of lines that require main scanning at the same time from the image processing board 124 (see FIG. 1) of the image data control section 102, and supplies it to the light source unit 222. It is sent at a predetermined timing.

The light source unit 222 includes a plurality of light sources (L
D, etc. are provided to guide the light from each light source to the recording head portion 37 via the optical fiber 224.

The image writing instruction section 216 controls the recording head section 37 to irradiate the printing plate 12 with a light beam modulated on the basis of the input image signal, and the rotary drum 1
An image is recorded on the printing plate 12 by rotation of 6 (main scanning) and movement of the recording head unit 37 (sub scanning).

The operation of the printing plate automatic exposure device 150 is as follows.

The printing plate 12 on the plate feeding guide 20 is fed to the rotary drum 16, and the front end portion of the printing plate 12 is held by the front end chuck 26. In this state, the rotary drum 12 is held.
Is wound tightly around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 16 by rotating the paper, and then the printing plate 12 is
The rear end is held, and the preparation for exposure is completed.

In this state, the image data is read and the exposure process is started by the light beam from the recording head section 37. The exposure processing is so-called scanning exposure in which the recording head unit 37 is moved in the axial direction of the rotary drum 16 while rotating the rotary drum 16 at high speed (main scanning).

When the exposure process is completed, the transport guide unit 18 is switched (the plate discharge guide 22 is made to correspond to the rotary drum 16), and then the printing plate 12 wound around the rotary drum 16 is discharged in the tangential direction. At this time, the printing plate 12 is sent to the plate discharge guide 22.

When the printing plate 12 is sent to the plate ejection guide 22, the conveyance guide unit 18 is switched to move the plate ejection guide 2
2 is made to correspond to the discharge port, and the printing plate 12 is discharged. A developing unit is provided in the discharging direction, and the printing plate 12 is continuously developed.

In the automatic printing exposure device 150, the rotation of the rotary drum 16 is the main scanning, and the recording head section 37 is used.
The movement of A is the sub-scan, and in one main scan, 31
Interlaced scanning is performed on main scanning lines of about 87 lines from the line.

At this time, when the image data is interrupted, that is, when the stop signal is input, the pulse motor 2
The driving of No. 06 is reversed, and the recording head 37A is stopped in the state of returning to the front. The rotation of the rotary drum 16 may be continued, but the irradiation of light from the recording head portion 37A is stopped.

When the restart signal is input, the driving of the pulse motor 206 is restarted and the recording head 37A starts moving. Since the recording head unit 37A is returned to the front when the stop signal is input, an interval occurs before the main scanning is originally started. This interval becomes an approach stroke, and re-recording (start of main scanning) is performed in a state where the moving speed of the recording head 37A is stable, so that there is no deterioration in image quality due to speed fluctuations of the recording head 37A.

[0087]

As described above, according to the present invention, image recording is performed by directly using image data sequentially input from the outside without using a large-scale recording medium that stores at least one page of image data. A control procedure for executing the process is established, which has an excellent effect that the number of parts can be reduced without deteriorating the image quality.
Has excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image recording processing system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a communication protocol for transmitting image data.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a printing plate automatic exposure apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an outline of a recording head.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an outline of a controller for driving a rotary drum and a recording head.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 printing plates 14 Exposure unit 16 rotating drum 37 recording head 37A recording head body 204 shaft 206 pulse motor 202 controller 100 PC 102 image data control unit 106 image data IF board 112 Image sorting board 120 data transfer circuit 122 line buffer 124 Exposure processed substrate 126 Main board

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AQ06 HJ08 HK05 HK11                       HN24                 2C187 AC06 BF44 FC12 FC13                 2H084 AA30 AE01 AE04 AE05 AE08                       BB13 CC05

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image data control device used in an image recording device for forming an image on a recording medium by repeating main scanning and sub-scanning based on image data, which is required for at least one main scanning. A buffer capable of accumulating various image data, a scanning control means for controlling execution of the main scanning and the sub-scanning based on the image data accumulated in the buffer, and a next main scanning operation after the sub-scanning in the scanning control means. By the time of scanning, when the amount of image data required for the next main scanning is insufficient in the buffer, a stop signal output control means for outputting a stop signal, and a stop signal output from the stop signal output means When
Scan standby control means for stopping the main scanning and the sub-scanning and waiting, and a restart signal at the time when the image data necessary for at least one main scanning is accumulated in the buffer due to the insufficient amount of the image data. Image data control for an image recording apparatus, comprising: restart signal output control means for outputting apparatus. 2. The scanning standby control means moves the sub-scanning position to the front side of the next main scanning position and makes it stand by. When the restart signal is output, the sub-scanning is restarted and the sub-scanning is performed. 2. The image data control device for an image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main scanning is restarted when the scanning position reaches the next main scanning position.