JP2006229862A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously output image data to a plurality of different output destinations even without being provided with a plurality of transfer means. <P>SOLUTION: The respective pages of the first part are developed to a main memory 12 (S1). After that, a DMA 18 reads image data developed to the main memory 12 (S2). The read image data is written in a HDD 14 and an engine output control circuit 20 (S4). In the second part and afterward, the DMA 18 reads the image data from the HDD 14. The read image data is written in the engine output control circuit 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that forms a plurality of images based on image data.

  Conventionally, when forming a plurality of images based on image data, the image data is first stored in the main memory, and when forming the first image, the image data read from the main memory is stored. It is output to the engine output control circuit and stored in the hard disk.

  When the second and subsequent images are formed, the image data is read from the hard disk, read out, and the image data is output to the main memory, and is output from the main memory to the engine output control circuit.

  As described above, when a plurality of images are formed by the conventional image forming apparatus, in the first part, reading from the main memory always occurs twice by writing to the hard disk and outputting to the engine output control circuit. To do.

  When the second and subsequent images are formed, writing to the main memory from the hard disk and access to the main memory for output from the main memory to the engine output control circuit always occur twice.

  As described above, since the image data is output to two different output destinations in both the first part and the second part and thereafter, two DMA (dynamic memory access) circuits are required.

  By the way, in Patent Document 1, a memory (temporary storage memory) for temporarily storing image data to be sent to an engine output control circuit is connected to an ASIC that connects a bus bridge (chipset) and an AGP I / F. . When printing multiple copies (referred to as electronic sort function), the image data stored in the hard disk is always transferred to the temporary storage memory connected to the ASIC, and then the engine output control circuit via the PCI bus. Transferred to and printed.

Also in this case, writing to the memory from the hard disk and access to the memory for output from the memory to the engine output control circuit always occur twice. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when high-speed printing is performed, image data is transferred to the engine output control circuit via the PCI bus. In a high-speed printer that requires a data transfer rate higher than the transfer rate of the PCI bus, whiteout or the like occurs. Problems also arise.
JP 2002-264442 A

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of simultaneously outputting image data to a plurality of different output destinations without providing a plurality of transfer units.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is an image forming means for forming an image based on input image data, and a first storage means and a second storage for storing each image data. And the image data is input from the first storage means when the first image of the plurality of images is formed, and the input image data is input to the second storage means and the image formation. Single transfer means for outputting to each means.

  That is, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image forming unit that forms an image based on input image data, a first storage unit and a second storage unit for storing each image data, and a single unit. And a transfer means.

  When forming the first image of the plurality of images, the transfer means inputs image data from the first storage means, and inputs the input image data to the second storage means and the second storage means. Output to the image forming means.

  As described above, the single transfer unit outputs the image data input from the first storage unit to the second storage unit and the image forming unit, respectively. Therefore, the image data is different even without a plurality of transfer units. You can output to multiple output destinations simultaneously.

  Further, when forming the second and subsequent images, the transfer means inputs image data from the second storage means and outputs the input image data to the image forming means, as in claim 2.

  In this way, the single transfer unit inputs the image data from the second storage unit and outputs the input image data to the image forming unit, so that writing to one storage unit and reading from the storage unit are performed. The image data can be output simultaneously to a plurality of different output destinations without providing a plurality of transfer means.

  As described above, when forming the first image of a plurality of images, the transfer means inputs the image data from the first storage means, and the input image data is converted into the first image data. When the second storage unit and the image forming unit output the second and subsequent images, the transfer unit inputs the image data from the second storage unit and forms the input image data into the image forming unit. Therefore, the image data can be transferred by using the first storage means and the second storage means without forming a plurality of transfer means, and a plurality of images can be formed.

  Incidentally, the data input speed from the second storage means may be slower than the speed required by the image forming means. In this case, the image formation may be adversely affected.

  Accordingly, a third storage unit for storing image data is further provided as in claim 3, and the transfer unit outputs the image data to the image forming unit via the third storage unit. You may make it do.

  Note that image data to be processed in the image forming apparatus is not particularly limited to being input from a specific output destination. For example, as described in claim 4, the first storage unit reads a document. The image data obtained in this way may be stored.

  In addition, as described in claim 5, the transfer unit includes an input unit that inputs the image data, a storage unit that stores the image data input by the input unit, and the image stored in the storage unit. A plurality of output units for outputting data.

  As described above, in the case of forming a first image of a plurality of images, the input unit inputs image data from the first storage unit, and the storage unit stores the image data. The plurality of output units read out the image data from the storage unit and output the image data to the second storage unit and the image forming unit, respectively.

  When forming the second and subsequent images, the input unit inputs image data from the second storage unit, the storage unit stores the image data, and any of the plurality of output units is The image data is read from the storage unit and output to the image forming means.

  The input destination and timing of the input unit, and the output destination and timing of the output unit are set in advance.

  As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of image formation of the first part, the single transfer unit transfers the image data input from the first storage unit to the second storage unit and the image forming unit. Since these are output, image data can be output simultaneously to a plurality of different output destinations without providing a plurality of transfer means.

  Further, according to the present invention, when the second part of the image is formed, the single transfer unit inputs the image data from the second storage unit and outputs the input image data to the image forming unit. Writing to one storage unit and reading from the storage unit are not required, and image data can be simultaneously output to a plurality of different output destinations without providing a plurality of transfer units.

  Therefore, a plurality of images can be formed by transferring image data using the first storage means and the second storage means without providing a plurality of transfer means.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a CPU 10, a main memory 12 as a first storage unit, and a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as an HDD) 14 as a second storage unit. I have. A bus bridge 16 having a DMA 18 as a single transfer unit is connected to the CPU 10, main memory 12, and HDD 14. An engine output control circuit 20 is connected to the bus bridge 16, and a printing engine 22 as an image forming unit is connected to the engine output control circuit 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the DMA 18 includes a reading unit 24 as an input unit, a memory 26 as a storage unit connected to the reading unit 24, and a first writing unit as an output unit connected to the memory 26. 28 and the second writing unit 30 are connected.

  Note that the input destination address and input timing of the reading unit 24 and the output destination addresses and output timing of the first writing unit 28 and the second writing unit 30 are set in advance by the CPU 10.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, as shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 10 develops each page of the first part in the main memory 2 (S1). Thereafter, the reading unit 24 of the DMA 18 reads the image data developed in the main memory 12 (S2). The read image data is stored in the memory 26, and then the first writing unit 28 reads the image data from the memory 26 and writes it to the HDD 14 (S3). At the same time, the second writing unit 30 reads the image data from the memory 26 and writes it to the engine output control circuit 26 (S4).

  As described above, the DMA 18 reads data from one place (main memory 12) and writes data to two places (HDD 14 and local memory).

  After the second part, as shown in FIG. 4, the reading unit 24 of the DMA 18 reads image data from the HDD 14 (S5). The read image data is stored in the memory 26, and then the second writing unit 30 reads the image data from the memory 26 and writes it to the engine output control circuit 20 (S6).

  By adopting the above configuration and the flow of image data, first, it is possible to make one DMA necessary for transferring image data. In this regard, conventionally, two were required. Therefore, the number of DMAs can be reduced and the apparatus can be simplified.

  In the first part, image data can be read from the main memory once. In this regard, the conventional method requires two times. Thus, the transfer process can be simplified.

  Further, in the second and subsequent copies, writing and reading of image data to the main memory can be eliminated. In this regard, in the past, writing was performed once and reading was performed once, which required two times in total. Thus, the transfer process can be simplified.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since the present embodiment has the same components as those of the second embodiment described above, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and different portions will be described.

  In the first embodiment, there may be a case where image data transfer to the engine output control circuit 20 is not in time. The reading speed of data from the HDD 14 is generally slow and may not be able to keep up with the request from the printing engine 22. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a local memory 32 is connected to the engine output control circuit 20 for temporarily storing the image data and then outputting it to the printing engine 22.

  Next, as an operation of the present embodiment, an image data transfer operation using the local memory 32 will be described.

  In this embodiment, when the local memory 32 is connected to the engine output control circuit 20 as shown in FIG. 5, each page of the first part is developed in the main memory 12 (S1), and then the developed image data is displayed. Writing to the HDD (S2, S3) and temporarily storing in the local memory 32 via the engine output control circuit 20 (S2, S4A), and printing engine from the local memory 32 via the engine output control circuit 20 The image data is transferred to 22 (S4B).

  Note that writing from the main memory 12 to the HDD 14 and storage in the local memory 32 are performed by the DMA 18 in the bus bridge 16. The DMA 18 reads data from one place (main memory 12) and writes data to two places (HDD 14 and local memory).

  In the second and subsequent copies, as shown in FIG. 6, the image data from the HDD 14 is temporarily stored in the local memory 32 via the engine output control circuit 20 (S5, S6A), and the engine output control circuit 20 from the local memory 32 is stored. The print engine 22 image data is transferred via the route (S6B). Transfer from the HDD 14 to the local memory 32 is performed by the DMA 18 described above. In this case, data is written only in one place (local memory only).

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since the present embodiment has the same components as those of the second embodiment described above, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and different portions will be described.

  In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to a copying machine (copy) provided with a scanner 34 and a scanner input control circuit 36 as shown in FIGS. That is, in the case of a copying machine (copy), a scanner 34 is connected to the engine output control circuit 20 via the scanner input control circuit 36 as shown in FIGS.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

  The image data from the scanner 34 is written into the main memory 12 by the DMA 38 of the scanner input control circuit 36 via the engine output control circuit 20 (S10). Subsequent writing from the main memory 12 to the HDD 14 (S2, S3) and writing from the main memory 12 to the local memory 32 (S4A) are performed simultaneously. The output to the printing engine 22 is the same as that in the second embodiment described above (S4B). As shown in FIG. 8, the second and subsequent copies are the same as those in the second embodiment described above (S5, S6A, S6B).

  As described above, in each embodiment, the number of accesses to the main memory is reduced during multi-copy printing (copying), so the load on the main memory can be reduced.

  As a result, the efficiency of accessing the main memory from other functions such as the CPU is improved, and the performance of the entire system can be improved.

1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. It is a block diagram of DMA. It is explanatory drawing explaining the effect | action of the image formation of the 1st part. It is explanatory drawing explaining the effect | action at the time of forming the image after the 2nd part. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment, and an image forming operation of a first part will be described. It is explanatory drawing explaining the effect | action of the image formation after the 2nd part. FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment, and an image forming operation of a first part will be described. It is explanatory drawing explaining the effect | action of the image formation after the 2nd part.

Explanation of symbols

12 Main memory (first storage means)
14 HDD (second storage means)
18 DMA (Transfer means)
24 Reading section (input section)
36 Memory (storage unit)
28 First writing unit (output unit)
30 Second writing unit (output unit)
32 Local memory (third storage means)

Claims (5)

Image forming means for forming an image based on the input image data;
First storage means and second storage means for storing each image data;
When forming a first image of a plurality of images, image data is input from the first storage means, and the input image data is input to the second storage means and the image forming means. A single transfer means for each output;
An image forming apparatus.   2. The transfer unit according to claim 1, wherein when the second and subsequent images are formed, the transfer unit inputs image data from the first storage unit and outputs the input image data to the image forming unit. Image forming apparatus. A third storage means for storing image data;
The transfer unit outputs the image data to the image forming unit via the third storage unit;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein image data obtained by reading a document is stored in the first storage unit. 5. The transfer means includes
An input unit for inputting the image data;
Storage means for storing the image data input by the input unit;
A plurality of output units each for outputting the image data stored in the storage means;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

Images