JP2005141312A - Image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute drawing processing at higher speed even when a read-out sequence of picture data and mask information are irregular because a picture is divided into blocks. <P>SOLUTION: A drawing data control unit 12 outputs raster data read-out from a picture data memory 11 to a drawing processing unit 13, and informs a read-out starting address of the mask information to a mask information control unit 14. The mask information control unit 14 reads out mask information from a mask memory 15 according to the read-out starting address. When the mask information is requested, the mask information control unit 14 outputs the mask information being already read out to the drawing processing unit 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for performing a process of drawing an image by performing mask processing on image data at high speed.

  In an image processing apparatus, a technique called a pipeline is used to process a large amount of image data at high speed. According to this pipeline, the second task is started before the first task is completed, the third task is started before the second task is completed, and so on. Since these are processed one after another and processed in parallel, a large number of tasks can be processed at high speed.

Hereinafter, a state in which image data is processed using a pipeline will be described more specifically.
FIG. 5 designates image data representing a rectangular image, and a drawing area to be drawn (the elliptical area S shown in the figure) and a non-drawing area (an area other than the elliptical area S) that should not be drawn in the rectangular image. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between mask information to be performed and drawing data generated by calculating a logical product of image data and mask information. Image data is read line by line as indicated by an arrow R with the upper left corner of the rectangle as the read start address. On the other hand, as with the image data, the mask information is read line by line as indicated by the arrow R ′ with the upper left corner of the rectangle as the read start address. The image data and mask information of the first line read out in this way are transferred to the first processing step of the pipeline as the first task. Next, when the first task shifts to the second processing step of the pipeline, the image data and mask information of the second line are immediately transferred to the first processing step as the second task. That is, the image data for one line and the mask information are successively delivered as a task between successive processing steps. Such a processing method is convenient when image data and mask information are read in a regular order after the first read address is designated as shown in FIG.

Here, when the image processing apparatus performs various editing processes such as enlarging, reducing, and rotating the image, the image is divided into several block areas and edited in units of blocks. There are cases where processing is performed in such a flow that all blocks are finally combined after processing. This is because, in order to enlarge, reduce or rotate the entire image at once, it is necessary to secure a storage area of a considerable capacity in the memory. This is because it is only necessary to secure a storage area having a capacity.
When the image is divided into several blocks as described above, the reading order of the image data and the mask information becomes irregular as shown by arrows R1 and R2 in FIG. At the same time, as indicated by arrows R1 ′ and R2 ′, the reading order of the mask information must also be changed. In particular, when the image is enlarged to an arbitrary magnification, the position coordinates for drawing the image may not be determined until the reading of the image data is actually started. Therefore, after the image data is actually read out, the mask information reading process must be started, and it takes a considerable time to complete the mask information reading process.

  By the way, in recent years, various proposals for improving the pipeline processing have been made in order to meet the demand for realizing further high-speed processing. For example, in Patent Document 1, when a plurality of processing steps are performed for a certain task, information necessary for the subsequent processing step is read from the memory in advance and prepared in advance, and the task is processed in the subsequent processing step. A technique has been proposed in which the information that has been prepared is immediately used when it reaches the point. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, after a task is delivered to the first processing step of the pipeline, the task can be processed at high speed only for the task. As a matter of course, it is not possible to increase the processing speed for tasks that are not delivered to the processing step of the stage. In the example shown in FIG. 6, after both the image data and the mask information are read from the memory, they are handed over to the pipeline processing as one task for the first time. Since the problem is that it takes time, it cannot be solved by the technique described in Patent Document 1.

JP 2000-507010 Gazette

  In view of the above-described background, the present invention performs drawing processing at higher speed even when the image data and mask information are read out in an irregular order because the image is divided into blocks, for example. The purpose is to execute.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image data storage unit that stores image data representing an image divided into a plurality of storage areas in which read addresses are not continuous, and a read address in the image data storage unit. A storage area having a read address corresponding to one-to-one is specified, and mask information indicating an area where the image should be drawn or should not be drawn in the image represented by the image data is stored in the storage area. The stored mask information storage means, the address specifying means for specifying the read start address from which the image data can be continuously read from the image data storage means, the specified read start address, and the image Image data reading means for reading the image data from the data storage means, and the read image data Corresponding to the read start address specified by the address specifying means before the request by the mask information requesting means is made. A mask information reading means for starting to read the mask information from the mask information storage means by designating a read address to be output, and outputting the mask information that has already been read in response to the request, and the image data reading There is provided an image processing apparatus comprising drawing data generation means for generating drawing data by obtaining a logical product of the image data read by the means and the mask information output by the mask information reading means.

According to the present invention, the computer device can continuously read out the image data from an image data storage unit in which image data representing an image is divided and stored in a plurality of storage areas where read addresses are not continuous. Address specifying means for specifying a read start address that can be performed;
An image data reading means for reading the image data from the image data storage means by designating the specified reading start address, and an area or region in which the image is to be drawn in the image represented by the read image data Mask information requesting means for requesting the necessary mask information indicating an area that should not be drawn, and a read address corresponding to the read start address specified by the address specifying means before the request by the mask information requesting means is made The mask information is read out from the mask information storage unit by designating the mask information reading means for outputting the mask information that has already been read in response to the request, and the image data reading means. And the image data output by the mask information reading means It provides a program for functioning as the drawing data generation means for generating drawing data by obtaining a logical product of the disk information.

  According to such an image processing apparatus or program, since reading of mask information is started in advance, the mask information can be used immediately when needed, so that drawing processing is performed at high speed. Can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 100. The image processing apparatus 100 is a computer device configured by various hardware such as an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and various memories such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). Incorporated into an image forming apparatus such as a page printer or a personal computer. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 100 includes an image data memory 11, a drawing data control unit 12, a drawing processing unit 13, a mask information control unit 14, a mask memory 15, and a drawing memory 16. ing. For example, the drawing data control unit 12, the drawing processing unit 13, and the mask information control unit 14 are realized by the CPU executing a program stored in a memory such as a ROM. The image data memory 11, the mask memory 15, and the drawing memory 16 are realized by a memory such as a RAM. When the drawing data generated by the image processing apparatus 100 is output to the print engine 200, the print engine 200 prints an image on recording paper based on the drawing data.

  The image data memory 11 stores raster data. This raster data is data representing an image for a predetermined number of pixels in each of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. The raster data per pixel includes, for example, 32-bit color information. The mask memory 15 stores mask information corresponding to the above image data. This mask information indicates a drawing area in which the image is to be drawn or a non-drawing area in which the image is not to be drawn out of the image represented by the raster data. The mask information read address in the mask memory 15 and the raster data read address in the image data memory 11 have a one-to-one correspondence. The mask information is a bit string corresponding to each pixel constituting the image represented by the raster data. When the value is “0”, the corresponding pixel is not drawn, and the value is In the case of “1”, the corresponding pixel is drawn.

  The drawing data control unit 12 reads raster data from the image data memory 11 line by line and sequentially outputs the raster data to the drawing processing unit 13. When the drawing processing unit 13 receives these raster data, the drawing processing unit 13 hands over to the pipeline processing step line by line, generates drawing data for each line, and writes it to the drawing memory 16. When drawing data for one page of recording paper is thus written in the drawing memory 16, the drawing data is transferred to the print engine 200, and an image is printed on the recording paper by a predetermined image forming process.

  At this time, when a mask process for drawing only a partial area of the image represented by the raster data is necessary, the drawing processing unit 13 writes the raster data in the drawing memory 16 and then the mask information control unit. 14 is requested for necessary mask information. In response to this request, the mask information control unit 14 outputs the mask information read from the mask memory 15 to the drawing processing unit 13. Then, the drawing processing unit 13 performs a process such as obtaining a logical product of the received mask information and raster data stored in the drawing memory 16, and writes the processed raster data to the drawing memory 16 again.

  Here, when the raster data is divided into several blocks as shown in FIG. 2 by performing processing such as enlargement / rotation / reduction / extension, an irregular order as shown by an arrow R is shown. The raster data must be read out with. As described above, since the read address of the mask information in the mask memory 15 and the read address of the raster data in the image data memory 11 have a one-to-one correspondence, the read order of the mask information is also indicated by the arrow R ′ in FIG. It becomes irregular as shown.

  Therefore, the drawing data control unit 12 refers to the storage area of the image data memory 11 when accessing the image data memory 11 to read the raster data, and reads the raster data continuously read out address ( 1), (2), (3)... Are specified, and the specified read start address is notified to the mask information control unit 14. The notified read start addresses (1), (2), (3),... Are start addresses (1) ′, (2) ′, (3) ′,. Therefore, the mask information control unit 14 performs masking according to the read start addresses (1) ′, (2) ′, (3) ′. The mask information is read from the memory 15 and temporarily stored. Thereafter, when the mask information is requested by the drawing processing unit 13, the mask information control unit 14 outputs the mask information read from the mask memory 15 to the drawing processing unit 13.

The above operation will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when the raster data is read from the image data memory 11, the drawing data control unit 12 specifies a read start address from which raster data (that is, mask information) can be continuously read (processing step S1). The drawing data control unit 12 outputs the raster data read from the image data memory 11 to the drawing processing unit 13 (processing step S2), and notifies the mask information control unit 14 of the reading start address specified in the processing step S1 ( Processing step S3). Immediately in response to this notification, the mask information control unit 14 reads the mask information from the mask memory 15 according to the read start address and temporarily stores it (processing step S4).

The drawing processing unit 13 requests the mask information control unit 14 for necessary mask information after writing the raster data in the drawing memory 16 (processing step S5). In response to this request, the mask information control unit 14 outputs the mask information read from the mask memory 15 to the drawing processing unit 13 (processing step S6). The drawing processing unit 13 executes processing such as obtaining a logical product of the received mask information and raster data stored in the drawing memory 16 in accordance with a pipeline technique, and the processed raster data is again stored in the drawing memory 16. Writing is performed (processing step S7).
As described above, according to the present embodiment, before the image data and the mask information are required, the mask information is pre-read and prepared, so that the drawing process can be performed at high speed.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a program for realizing the functions of the image processing apparatus 100 is stored in the ROM in advance. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the software is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), and the software is installed on the computer using such a recording medium. Thus, the image processing apparatus 100 may be realized. Further, the image processing apparatus 100 may be realized by distributing the software via a communication network such as the Internet and installing the software in a computer.
In the above-described embodiment, the function of the image processing apparatus 100 has been described as being realized by the CPU executing a program. However, part of the function is, for example, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or ASSP (Application Specific). It may be realized using dedicated hardware other than the CPU such as Standard Product.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the image processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the order in which image data are read in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the order in which mask information is read in embodiment. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of an image processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that image data and mask information are read and drawing data are produced | generated conventionally. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the image data and mask information which were divided | segmented conventionally are read, and drawing data are produced | generated.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Image data memory, 12 ... Drawing data control part, 13 ... Drawing process part, 14 ... Mask information control part, 15 ... Mask memory, 16 ... Drawing memory, 100 ... Image processing apparatus, 200 ... Print engine

Claims (2)

Image data storage means for storing image data representing an image divided into a plurality of storage areas where read addresses are not continuous;
A storage area having a read address corresponding to a read address corresponding to the read address in the image data storage means is designated, and the storage area is an area in which the image is to be drawn or drawn in the image represented by the image data Mask information storage means for storing mask information indicating a region that should not be used;
Address specifying means for specifying a read start address capable of continuously reading the image data from the image data storage means;
Image data reading means for designating the specified read start address and reading the image data from the image data storage means;
Mask information requesting means for requesting the mask information necessary for generating drawing data using the read image data;
Before the request is made by the mask information requesting means, a read address corresponding to the read start address specified by the address specifying means is designated to start reading the mask information from the mask information storage means, and the request is made. And a mask information reading means for outputting the mask information that has already been read,
An image processing apparatus comprising: drawing data generating means for generating drawing data by obtaining a logical product of the image data read by the image data reading means and the mask information output by the mask information reading means . Computer equipment,
Address specifying means for specifying a read start address capable of continuously reading the image data from an image data storage unit that stores image data representing an image divided into a plurality of storage areas where read addresses are not continuous When,
Image data reading means for designating the specified read start address and reading the image data from the image data storage means;
Mask information requesting means for requesting the necessary mask information indicating a region where the image should be drawn or a region where the image should not be drawn in the image represented by the read image data;
Before the request by the mask information requesting unit is made, the reading of the mask information is started from the mask information storage unit by designating a reading address corresponding to the reading start address specified by the address specifying unit, and the request is made In response, mask information reading means for outputting the mask information that has already been read,
For functioning as a drawing data generating means for generating drawing data by obtaining a logical product of the image data read by the image data reading means and the mask information output by the mask information reading means. program.

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