JP2005269509A - Image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus capable of shortening recording time certainly, even when a read transfer is carried out while performing a plurality of write transfers. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus is provided with a plurality of write means for writing image data in a memory, a write start address is set for each of the write means, and write of image data in the memory is started from a write start address corresponding to a selected write means. After that, the numbers of lines written in the memory and the numbers of read lines are totaled. If the cumulative total value of the numbers of the read lines reaches the cumulative total value of the numbers of written lines, read processing is suspended. After the read processing is suspended, the read processing is resumed if the difference between the cumulative total value of the numbers of the written lines and the cumulative total value of numbers of the read lines is larger than a predetermined value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that reads and records data as needed while accumulating image data in a page memory.

  In an image processing apparatus that processes image data, such as a digital copying machine, a printer, a scanner, or a multifunction machine that integrates these functions, image data read by the image processing apparatus or image data input from an external device Some of them have a function of performing image processing for rotating the image 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise, image processing for enlarging or reducing, and the like.

  Image processing in a conventional image processing apparatus is performed as follows using a page memory. In other words, image data read by the image processing device or image data input from an external device is temporarily stored in a buffer, and when a predetermined page of image data is stored in the buffer, later reading is considered. The image data for one page stored in the buffer is processed and developed at a predetermined address of the page memory calculated in this way, and the developed image data is read out and sent to the recording unit.

Image data writing processing (hereinafter referred to as write transfer) to the page memory and image data reading processing (hereinafter referred to as read transfer) from the page memory are performed independently. Therefore, in order to shorten the first copy output time (FCOT), shorten the accumulation time in the image memory, etc., when performing the read transfer in parallel while performing the write transfer, the software prevents the read transfer from overtaking the write transfer. It is necessary to perform control so that a read transfer start instruction is issued after a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of write transfer or after a predetermined number of lines of write transfer has been performed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). ).
JP 2001-094793 A JP-A-6-187235

  However, in the conventional image processing apparatus, in order to prevent the read transfer from overtaking the write transfer, for example, after a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the write transfer, or after a predetermined number of lines of the write transfer has been performed, a read transfer start instruction Therefore, it is necessary to constantly monitor the number of read transfer lines and the number of write transfer lines with software until the read transfer is completed, and it is difficult to reduce the processing load. There was a problem.

  In addition, a method of performing read transfer for a predetermined number of lines when write transfer for a predetermined number of lines is completed is used, but read transfer is performed until write transfer for a predetermined number of lines is completed. However, there is a problem that there is a limit to shorten the recording time on the paper, such as shortening the FCOT.

  Further, when there are a plurality of writing means for performing write transfer to the page memory, for example, including a CODEC input from an external computer in addition to a scanner input, it is distinguished which writing means is performing the write transfer. There is a problem that it is difficult to accurately determine whether or not the read transfer is overtaking the write transfer.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of reliably reducing the recording time even when performing read transfer while performing a plurality of write transfers. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an image processing apparatus in which image data expanded two-dimensionally is written in a memory and read in parallel after a predetermined time point. The image data is stored in the memory. A plurality of writing means for writing, a means for selecting the writing means, a writing start address is set for each of the plurality of writing means, and the image data is stored in the memory from the writing start address corresponding to the selected writing means. Means for accumulating the number of lines written to the memory and the number of lines read out, and whether or not the cumulative value of the number of lines read by the means has reached the cumulative value of the number of lines written And a means for temporarily stopping the reading process when it is determined that the accumulated value of the number of lines read by the means has reached the accumulated value of the number of lines written. And wherein the door.

  The image processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of writing means for writing image data into the memory, sets a writing start address for each of the plurality of writing means, and starts the memory from the writing start address corresponding to the selected writing means. After starting the writing of the image data, the number of lines written to the memory and the number of lines read are accumulated, and when the accumulated value of the read lines reaches the accumulated value of the number of lines written, the reading process is performed. Pause. As a result, the cumulative value of the number of lines written to the memory is compared with the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory, and when the cumulative value of the number of lines read exceeds the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory, Since image data cannot be read out, recording on paper such as shortening FCOT by controlling so that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is always larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read out. Time can be shortened.

  Further, since the write start address to the memory is determined for each of the plurality of writing means, the cumulative value of the number of lines written in the memory and the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory are described for each writing means. It is possible to control so that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is always larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read.

  An image processing apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention is an image processing apparatus for writing image data expanded two-dimensionally in a memory and reading it in parallel after a predetermined time point, and a plurality of writing means for writing the image data in the memory , A means for selecting the writing means, and a writing start address is set for each of the plurality of writing means, and after writing the image data to the memory from the writing start address corresponding to the selected writing means, Means for accumulating the number of lines written and the number of read lines in the memory, and whether or not the accumulated value of the number of read lines has reached a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the accumulated value of the number of lines written. A means for suspending the reading process when it is determined that the cumulative value of the number of lines read by the means and the cumulative number of lines read by the means has reached a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the cumulative value of the number of lines written. Characterized in that it comprises and.

  In the image processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, after the writing of the image data expanded two-dimensionally into the memory is started, the number of lines written into the memory and the number of lines read out are accumulated, and the accumulated value of the number of lines read out is When it is determined that a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the cumulative value of the number of lines written is reached, the reading process is temporarily stopped. Thus, when the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory reaches the value obtained by subtracting the predetermined value from the cumulative value of the number of lines written to the memory, the cumulative value of the number of lines written is Judging that the possibility of exceeding the cumulative value has increased, in order to avoid the situation where the image data cannot be read from the memory, the reading process is suspended, and the cumulative value of the number of lines written By controlling the direction so that it always becomes larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read out, it becomes possible to shorten the recording time on the paper, such as shortening the FCOT. In addition, it is possible to shorten the time until the reading process is resumed after the reading process is temporarily interrupted.

  Furthermore, since the write start address to the memory is determined for each of the plurality of writing means, the cumulative value of the number of lines written to the memory and the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory are described for each writing means. It is possible to control so that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is always larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read.

  The image processing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the image processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the difference between the cumulative value of the number of lines written and the cumulative value of the number of lines read is greater than a predetermined value after the reading process is temporarily stopped. And means for resuming the reading process when it is determined that the difference between the cumulative value of the number of lines written by the means and the cumulative value of the number of lines read is greater than a predetermined value. It is characterized by that.

  In the image processing apparatus of the third invention, after the reading process is temporarily stopped, when it is determined that the difference between the accumulated value of the number of lines written and the accumulated value of the number of lines read is larger than a predetermined value, the reading process is resumed. To do. As a result, after the reading process is temporarily stopped, the reading process can be started when a sufficient number of lines are accumulated in the memory for the reading process. When hardware monitoring is performed for the number of lines, once a read processing start instruction is given, continuous monitoring by software becomes unnecessary until all read processing is completed.

  According to the present invention, the cumulative value of the number of lines written in the memory is compared with the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory, and the cumulative value of the number of lines read out exceeds the cumulative value of the number of lines written. Since the image data cannot be read from the memory, the FCOT can be shortened by controlling the accumulated value of the number of written lines to be always larger than the accumulated value of the number of read lines. It is possible to shorten the recording time.

  Further, since the write start address to the memory is determined for each of the plurality of writing means, the cumulative value of the number of lines written in the memory and the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory are described for each writing means. It is possible to control so that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is always larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read.

  Further, for example, when the number of read transfer lines and the number of write transfer lines are monitored by hardware using a counter, once a read processing start instruction is issued, continuous monitoring by software is not required until all read processing is completed. .

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings showing the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a scanner / copy combined apparatus (MFP) 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The scanner / copy combined apparatus 20 includes a control unit 1, a reading unit 2, a recording unit 3, a display unit 4, an operation unit 5, a ROM 6, a RAM 7, a codec unit 8, an image memory 9, a page memory 10, a buffer 11, and a PC interface unit. 12 etc. The scanner / copy combined apparatus 20 reads a document by the reading unit 2 to acquire image data, reads the image data, receives image data by facsimile communication, or receives image data from an externally connected PC. A recording function for recording the corresponding image in the recording unit 3 and a transfer function for transferring the read image data or the received image data to the outside are provided.

  Specifically, the control unit 1 is constituted by a CPU, and is connected to the above-described hardware units of the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20 via the bus 13 and controls the above-described hardware units. In accordance with the control program stored in the ROM 6, various software functions are executed. The reading unit 2 reads a document using a CCD image sensor, for example, and outputs the read image data. Specifically, the optical unit irradiates and scans the document fed to the platen glass, and the reflected light from the document is captured into a CCD image sensor via a mirror, a lens, etc., and the scanned document image data is captured. Read. The read image data is output after, for example, shading processing.

  The recording unit 3 is an electrophotographic printer device, and displays images corresponding to image data of a document read by the reading unit 2, image data received by facsimile communication, image data sent from an external PC, and the like. Print on paper. The display unit 4 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display device or a CRT display, displays the operating state of the scanner / copy composite device 20, displays a screen prompting the user to input an operation, or reads the image data of the read document Image data transmitted from other facsimile machines and PCs are displayed.

  The operation unit 5 includes character keys, numeric keys, various function keys, and the like necessary for operating the scanner / copy combined apparatus 20. In addition, the display part 4 can substitute for a part or all of the various keys of the operation part 5 by making the display part 4 into a touch panel system. The ROM 6 stores in advance various software programs necessary for the operation of the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20. The RAM 7 is composed of SRAM, flash memory, etc., and stores temporary data generated when software is executed. The codec unit 8 encodes and compresses the image data and decodes the encoded and compressed image data. The image memory 9 stores image data obtained by reading and encoding a document. In the present embodiment, the encoding format is not particularly limited.

  The page memory 10 is composed of SDRAM, and stores one page of image data read by the reading unit 2 and one page of image data received from another facsimile apparatus or PC. The image data for one page accumulated and developed in the page memory 10 is read to the recording unit 3, and an image corresponding to the read image data is recorded. The buffer 11 has 24 flip-flops for every 16 pixels configured in a 4 × 4 matrix, and multi-value data including 8 flip-flops as a set is converted into R, G, and B data. Hold as value. Data can be written or read between the page memory 10 and the buffer 11 with 4 × 4 16-pixel data in the page memory 10 as one unit.

  The PC interface unit 12 is connected to an external PC via a LAN communication line L, for example, and transmits / receives data to / from the PC. Various image data created and edited by an external PC are transmitted to the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20 (PC interface unit 14) via the communication line L, and an image corresponding to the transmitted image data is scanned by the scanner / copy device. The copy composite apparatus 20 (recording unit 3) prints out the paper.

  The operation of the recording process in the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20 having the above-described configuration will be described below. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of read transfer processing in the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an accumulation state of image data in the page memory 10. .

  In FIG. 3, hatched portions indicate image data accumulated by write transfer, and are provided with two scanner inputs (reading unit 2) and CODEC input (PC interface unit 12) as writing means. A white arrow indicates an address (line) for starting write transfer / read transfer by a scanner input and an address for starting write transfer / read transfer, and a black arrow indicates a line on which read transfer is executed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 1 initializes the accumulation counter and the read counter in the RAM 7 to '0' (step S201). The user selects the writing means. The control unit 1 determines the selected writing unit (step S202), and when it is determined that the selected writing unit is the reading unit 2, the selected writing unit for the image data read by the reading unit 2. Is image data received from another facsimile machine or PC, write transfer to the page memory 10 is started for each image data acquired by the PC interface unit 12 (step S203, FIG. 3A). The control unit 1 sets an image data write start address to the page memory 10 according to the selected writing means, and increments the accumulation counter by “1” every time one line of image data is accumulated from the image data write address. The number of accumulated lines is accumulated (step S204).

  When receiving the read transfer start instruction signal, the control unit 1 starts the read transfer (step S205, FIG. 3B). The control unit 1 increments the read counter by “1” every time one line of image data is read from the page memory 10, and accumulates the number of read lines (step S206, FIG. 3C).

  The control unit 1 determines whether or not the cumulative value of the number of accumulated lines is larger than the cumulative value of the number of lead lines (step S207). When the control unit 1 determines that the accumulated value of the accumulated line number is larger than the accumulated value of the read line number (step S207: YES), the write transfer is continued to accumulate the accumulated line number (step S208). Continue read transfer.

  When the control unit 1 determines that the accumulated value of the accumulated number of lines and the accumulated value of the number of read lines match (step S207: NO), that is, all the image data accumulated in the page memory 10 is read out. In this case, since the image data to be read-transferred is not written and transferred to the page memory 10, no further read-transfer can be performed. Therefore, the control unit 1 temporarily suspends the read transfer (step S209, FIG. 3 (d)).

  The write transfer continues while the read transfer is temporarily suspended. Therefore, the accumulated value of the accumulation counter continues to be incremented. The control unit 1 determines whether or not the number of lines sufficient for read transfer, for example, 16 lines of image data has been accumulated, that is, the difference between the accumulated number of accumulated lines and the accumulated number of read lines is greater than a predetermined value. When it is determined whether or not the difference is larger (step S210), and the control unit 1 determines that the difference between the accumulated value of the accumulated lines and the accumulated value of the lead lines is larger than a predetermined value (step S210: YES), the control is performed. The unit 1 resumes the read transfer (step S211, FIG. 3E).

  The control unit 1 determines whether or not the cumulative value of the number of lead lines has reached a predetermined value (step S212), and the control unit 1 determines that the cumulative value of the number of lead lines has reached a predetermined value. If so (step S212: YES), the read transfer process is terminated. That is, when the read transfer for the number of lines in one page is completed, the above-described processing is ended, and the same processing is executed in units of pages for the second and subsequent pages.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the cumulative value of the number of lines written in the memory is compared with the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory, and the cumulative value of the number of lines written is the read line. By controlling so that it is always larger than the cumulative value of the numbers, it is possible to shorten the recording time on the paper, such as shortening the FCOT. Further, since the write start address to the memory is determined for each of the plurality of writing means, the cumulative value of the number of lines written in the memory and the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the memory are described for each writing means. It is possible to control so that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is always larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of read transfer processing in the scanner / copy composite apparatus 20 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an accumulation state of image data in the page memory 10. . In FIG. 5, the shaded portion indicates image data accumulated by write transfer, and has two scanner inputs (reading unit 2) and CODEC input (PC interface unit 12) as writing means. A white arrow indicates an address (line) at which write transfer / read transfer is started by a scanner input and an address at which write transfer / read transfer is started, and a black arrow indicates a line on which read transfer is being executed. Since the configuration of the scanner / copy combined apparatus (MFP) 20 according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, detailed description thereof will be omitted by attaching the same reference numerals.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the control unit 1 initializes the accumulation counter and the read counter in the RAM 7 to “0” (step S <b> 401). The user selects the writing means. The control unit 1 determines the selected writing unit (step S402), and when it is determined that the selected writing unit is the reading unit 2, the selected writing unit for the image data read by the reading unit 2. Is image data received from another facsimile machine or PC, write transfer to the page memory 10 is started for each image data acquired by the PC interface unit 12 (step S403, FIG. 5A). The control unit 1 sets an image data write start address to the page memory 10 according to the selected writing means, and increments the accumulation counter by “1” every time one line of image data is accumulated from the image data write address. The number of accumulated lines is accumulated (step S404).

  When receiving the read transfer start instruction signal, the control unit 1 starts the read transfer (step S405, FIG. 5B). The control unit 1 increments the read counter by “1” every time one line of image data is read from the page memory 10, and accumulates the number of read lines (step S406, FIG. 5C).

  The control unit 1 determines whether or not a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the accumulated value of the number of accumulated lines is larger than the accumulated value of the number of lead lines (step S407). That is, as shown by 51a and 51b in FIGS. 5B to 5E, values 51a and 51b obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the accumulated value of the number of accumulated lines and a judgment reference value that is larger or smaller than the accumulated value of the number of lead lines By doing so, the cumulative value of the number of lead lines is prevented from reaching the cumulative value of the number of accumulated lines. Note that 51a indicates a determination reference value in the case of scanner input (reading unit 2), and 51b indicates a determination reference value in the case of CODEC input (PC interface unit 12).

  When the control unit 1 determines that a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the accumulated value of the accumulated line number is larger than the accumulated value of the read line number (step S407: YES), the write transfer is continued and the accumulated line number is accumulated. At the same time (step S408), the read transfer is continued.

  The control unit 1 determines that the value obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the accumulated value of the accumulated lines matches the accumulated value of the lead lines, that is, the accumulated value of the lead lines is a value obtained by subtracting the predetermined number from the accumulated value of the accumulated lines. If it is determined (step S407: NO), the control unit 1 temporarily suspends the read transfer without performing any further read transfer (step S409, FIG. 5D).

  The write transfer continues while the read transfer is temporarily suspended. Therefore, the accumulated value of the accumulation counter continues to be incremented. The control unit 1 determines whether or not the number of lines sufficient for read transfer, for example, 16 lines of image data has been accumulated, that is, the difference between the accumulated number of accumulated lines and the accumulated number of read lines is greater than a predetermined value. When it is determined whether or not the difference is larger (step S410), and the control unit 1 determines that the difference between the accumulated value of the accumulated lines and the accumulated value of the lead lines is larger than a predetermined value (step S410: YES), the control is performed. The unit 1 resumes the read transfer (step S411, FIG. 5E).

  The control unit 1 determines whether or not the cumulative value of the number of lead lines has reached a predetermined value (step S412), and the control unit 1 determines that the cumulative value of the number of lead lines has reached a predetermined value. If so (step S412: YES), the read transfer process is terminated. That is, when the read transfer for the number of lines in one page is completed, the above-described processing is ended, and the same processing is executed in units of pages for the second and subsequent pages.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the cumulative value of the number of lines of image data written in the page memory is compared with the cumulative value of the number of lines read from the page memory, and the cumulative value of the number of lines written. Is controlled so that it always becomes larger than the cumulative value of the number of lines read out, so that the writing process to the page memory and the reading process from the page memory are performed in parallel, for example, shortening the FCOT, etc. It is possible to shorten the recording time on the paper.

  In the first and second embodiments, the scanner / copy combined apparatus is described as an example. However, the present invention is applied to all apparatuses that perform some image processing on acquired image data, such as a facsimile machine, a digital copying machine, and a printer. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied.

  In the scanner / copy combined apparatus according to the first and second embodiments, an example in which the cumulative value of write transfer and the cumulative value of read transfer are monitored by software has been described. However, the present invention is limited to monitoring by software. You may monitor with hardware instead of something. In this case, once the read process is instructed, it is not necessary to constantly monitor the software until all the read processes are completed, the calculation processing load can be reduced, and the apparatus can be reduced in size and weight. It becomes possible.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a scanner / copy combined apparatus (MFP) according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of read transfer processing in the scanner / copy composite apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; It is a figure which shows the accumulation | storage state in the page memory of image data. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of read transfer processing in the scanner / copy composite apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the accumulation | storage state in the page memory of image data.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Reading part 3 Recording part 5 Operation part 6 ROM
7 RAM
10 page memory 11 buffer 12 PC interface section

Claims (3)

  A plurality of writing means for writing the image data into the memory; and a means for selecting the writing means in an image processing apparatus for writing image data expanded two-dimensionally in a memory and reading the image data in parallel after a predetermined time point; A writing start address is set for each of the plurality of writing means, and writing of the image data to the memory is started from a writing start address corresponding to the selected writing means, and then the number of lines written to the memory and reading are started. Means for accumulating the number of lines read, means for determining whether or not the accumulated value of the number of lines read by the means has reached the accumulated value of the number of lines written, and the accumulated value of the number of lines read by the means An image processing apparatus comprising: means for temporarily stopping the reading process when it is determined that the cumulative value of the number of lines written is reached.   A plurality of writing means for writing the image data into the memory; and a means for selecting the writing means in an image processing apparatus for writing image data expanded two-dimensionally in a memory and reading the image data in parallel after a predetermined time point; A writing start address is set for each of the plurality of writing means, and writing of the image data to the memory is started from a writing start address corresponding to the selected writing means, and then the number of lines written to the memory and reading are started. Means for accumulating the number of lines read, means for judging whether or not the accumulated value of the number of read lines has reached a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the accumulated value of the number of lines written, and reading by the means Means for temporarily stopping the reading process when it is determined that the cumulative value of the number of lines has reached a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the cumulative value of the number of lines written. Processing apparatus.   Means for determining whether or not the difference between the accumulated value of the number of lines written and the accumulated value of the number of lines read is temporarily greater than a predetermined value after the reading process is temporarily stopped; and the number of lines written by the means 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for restarting the reading process when it is determined that the difference between the total value and the total value of the number of lines read is greater than a predetermined value.

Images