JP2008160866A - Image processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To add alternative information for setting a page before coupling when coupling image data on a plurality of pages into one page and printing the one page, as image characteristic information of extended image data when forming images of the image data or the like by designating the alternative information. <P>SOLUTION: Image data containing first image characteristic information for each predetermined unit are divided for each predetermined unit. The divided image data for each predetermined unit are then compressed and stored in a storage device. The compressed image data stored in the storage device are then extended. Furthermore, second image characteristic information for setting a page before coupling when coupling image data on a plurality of pages into one page and printing the one page is designated. When outputting image data, as image characteristic information of the extended image data, the second image characteristic information is set and the extended image data are output. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for preferably compensating for missing image characteristic information.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image processing apparatus including an image data compression apparatus that compresses image data read from an image input apparatus and a data storage apparatus that stores image data compressed by the image data compression apparatus is known.

  Among such image processing apparatuses, in an image processing apparatus that performs variable-length code image compression, the amount of image data transmitted from the image data compression apparatus exceeds the storage capacity of the data storage device that stores the image data. In such a case, it is necessary to input the image again and compress the image again at a higher compression rate than the previous time. Alternatively, the data storage device counts the data amount of the image data transmitted from the image data compression device, and stops transmitting the image characteristic information when the transmitted image data amount exceeds a certain value. In order to avoid the re-input of the image, the storage capacity is not exceeded. However, if the transmission of the image characteristic information is stopped, the image characteristic information is lost, so that the image processing inside the image processing apparatus and the corrected image processing at the time of printing are not optimally performed, and the desired image processing result There was a possibility that it could not be obtained.

  For this reason, some image processing systems have compensated for missing image characteristic information by adding alternative information as header information when transferring image data.

  However, only by adding substitution information (image characteristic information) at the time of image data compression, the substitution information is determined for each data transfer unit of the image data compression apparatus. Therefore, when image data is newly transferred, There is a concern that switching of alternative information within a page may occur and image quality degradation may occur. Further, there is a concern that the alternative information value to be set cannot be determined as one depending on the user's preference.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, can provide appropriate image characteristic information according to the operation mode, and can arbitrarily switch the priority of the image characteristic information to be added. An image processing method and an image processing apparatus capable of realizing preferable image processing are provided. Further, when the image data of the image data is formed by specifying alternative information for setting the page before combining when printing the image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page, the image of the expanded image data A technique for adding the substitute information as characteristic information is provided.

In order to solve this problem, the image processing method of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A dividing step of dividing the image data including the first image characteristic information for each predetermined unit into the predetermined units;
A compression step of compressing the divided image data for each predetermined unit;
A storage step of storing the compressed image data in a storage device;
A decompression step of decompressing the compressed image data stored in the storage device;
A designation step for designating second image characteristic information for setting a page before combining when outputting image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page;
A replacement step of setting the second image characteristic information as the image characteristic information of the decompressed image data at the time of outputting the image data;
And outputting the decompressed image data.

According to the present invention, it is possible to specify alternative information for setting a page before combining when printing image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page, and the image data is decompressed when an image is formed. The substitute information can be added as the image characteristic information of the image data.

  Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus that executes an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Overview of network system]
FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of the entire network system including the image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 12, an image processing apparatus 2001 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a scanner and a printer as components, and flows an image read from the scanner to a local area network (LAN) 2002 or receives it from the LAN 2002. The printed image can be printed out by a printer. Further, an image read from the scanner can be transmitted to PSTN or ISDN 2003 by a FAX transmission device (not shown), and an image received from PSTN or ISDN 2003 can be printed out by a printer.

  The database server 2004 manages the binary image and multi-valued image read by the image processing apparatus 2001 as a database. A database client 2005 is a client-side device for the database server 2004, and can browse / search image data stored in the database 2004.

  The e-mail server 2006 can receive an image read by the image processing apparatus 2001 as an e-mail attachment file. The e-mail client 2007 can receive and browse the e-mail received by the e-mail server 2006 and can send e-mail. A WWW server 2008 is a WWW server for providing an HTML document to the LAN. Then, the HTML document provided from the WWW server 2008 can be printed out by the image processing apparatus 2001.

  A router 2009 connects the LAN 2002 to the Internet / intranet 2010. An apparatus similar to the database server 2004, the WWW server 2008, the e-mail server 2006, and the image processing apparatus 2001 according to the present embodiment is connected to the Internet / intranet 2010, respectively, the database server 2011, the WWW server 2012, the e-mail server 2013, The image processing apparatus 2000 is connected. On the other hand, the image processing apparatus 2001 according to the present embodiment can transmit and receive with the FAX apparatus 2014 via the PSTN or ISDN 2003. A printer 2015 is connected to the LAN 2002 so that an image read by the image processing apparatus 2001 according to the present embodiment can be printed out.

[Overview of Image Processing Apparatus 2001]
FIG. 13 is an overall configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 13, a controller unit 1001 is connected to a scanner 1002 that is an image input device and a printer 1003 that is an image output device, and is also connected to a LAN 1004 and a public line (WAN) 1005. Thus, it is a controller for performing input / output of image information and device information and image development of PDL data.

[Overview of system control unit]
FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of the system control unit 2150 in the controller unit 1001. In FIG. 14, a CPU 1006 is a processor for controlling the entire system. In this embodiment, an example in which two CPUs are used is shown. These two CPUs 1006 are connected to a common CPU bus 1007 and further connected to a system bus bridge 1008.

  A system bus bridge 1008 is a bus switch to which a CPU bus 1007, a RAM controller 1009, a ROM controller 1010, an IO bus 1011, a sub-bus switch 1012, an IO bus 1013, an image ring interface 1014, and an image ring interface 1015 are connected.

  The sub bus switch 1012 is a second bus switch, and is connected to the image DMA 1016, the image DMA 1017, the font decompression unit 1018, the sort circuit 1019, and the bitmap trace circuit 1020, and arbitrates memory access requests output from these image DMAs. Then, connection to the system bus bridge 1008 is made.

  A RAM 1021 is a system work memory for the CPU 1006 to operate, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data. The RAM 1021 is controlled by the RAM controller 1009. In this embodiment, an example in which a direct RDRAM is employed is shown. A ROM 1022 is a boot ROM that stores a system boot program. The ROM 1022 is controlled by the ROM controller 1010.

  The image DMA 1016 is connected to the image compression unit 1023, and controls the image compression unit 1023 based on information set via the register access ring 1024, reads out uncompressed data on the RAM 1021, compresses, and stores the compressed data. Write back. In this embodiment, an example in which the JPEG method is adopted as a compression algorithm is shown.

  The image DMA 1017 is connected to the image decompression unit 1025 and controls the image decompression unit 1025 based on the information set via the register access ring 1024 to read out the compressed data on the RAM 1021 and write the decompressed data. Perform the return. In this embodiment, an example in which the JPEG method is adopted as the decompression algorithm is shown.

  The font decompression unit 1018 decompresses the compressed font data stored in the ROM 1022 or the RAM 1021 based on the font code included in the PDL data transferred from the outside via the LAN controller 1026 or the like. In this embodiment, an example in which the FBE algorithm is adopted is shown.

  The sort circuit 1019 is a circuit that rearranges the order of objects in the display list generated at the stage of developing PDL data. Further, the bitmap trace circuit 1020 is a circuit that extracts edge information from bitmap data.

  The IO bus 1011 is a kind of internal IO bus, and is connected to a standard USB bus controller, a USB interface 1027, a (general purpose) serial port 1028, an interrupt controller 1029, and a GPIO interface 1030. The IO bus 1011 includes a bus arbiter (not shown).

  An operation unit interface (I / F) 1031 is an interface unit with the operation unit (UI) 1032, and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 1032 to the operation unit 1032. Also, it plays a role of transmitting information input from the operation unit 1032 by the system user to the CPU 1006.

  The IO bus 1013 is a kind of internal IO bus, and a general-purpose bus interface 1033 and a LAN controller 1026 are connected to the IO bus 1013. The IO bus 1013 includes a bus arbiter (not shown). The general-purpose bus interface 1033 is a bus bridge that includes two identical bus interfaces and supports a standard IO bus. In this embodiment, an example in which a PCI bus 1034 is employed is shown.

  An external storage device (HDD) 1035 is a hard disk drive, and stores system software, image data, page information corresponding to each image data, job information, and the like. The HDD 1035 is connected to one PCI bus 1034 via the disk controller 1036. The LAN controller 1026 is connected to the LAN 1004 via the MAC circuit 1037 and the PHY / PMD circuit 1038, and inputs and outputs information. A modem 1039 is connected to the public line 1005 and inputs / outputs information.

[Overview of image processing unit]
FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the image processing unit 1041 in the controller unit 1001. In FIG. 15, the image ring 1040 is configured by a combination of a pair of unidirectional connection paths. The image ring 1040 is connected to the tile expansion unit 1044, the command processing unit 1045, the status processing unit 1046, and the tile compression unit 1047 via the image ring interface 1042 and the image ring interface 1043 in the image processing unit 1041. .

  The tile decompression unit 1044 is a bus bridge that is connected to the tile bus 1048 in addition to the connection to the image ring interface 1042, decompresses the compressed image data input from the image ring 1040, and transfers it to the tile bus 1048. . The tile bus is a bus that divides image data of one page into unit blocks of a predetermined size (referred to as “tiles”), and performs data processing and transfer in units of tiles. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which JPEG is used as multivalued image data and Pacbits are used as decompression algorithms for binary image data.

  The tile compression unit 1047 is a bus bridge that is connected to the tile bus 1048 in addition to the connection to the image ring interface 1043, compresses the uncompressed image data input from the tile bus 1046, and transfers the compressed image data to the image ring 1040. . In this embodiment, an example is shown in which JPEG is used as multi-valued image data and Pacbits are used as compression algorithms for binary image data.

  The command processing unit 1045 is connected to the register setting bus 1049 in addition to the connection to the image ring interface 1043, and the register setting request issued from the CPU 1006 input via the image ring 1040 is connected to the register setting bus 1049. Write to the corresponding block. Further, based on a register read request issued by the CPU 1006, information is read from the corresponding register via the register setting bus 1049 and transferred to the image ring interface 1043.

  The status processing unit 1046 monitors information on each image processing block, generates an interrupt packet for issuing an interrupt to the CPU 1006, and outputs the generated interrupt packet to the image ring interface 1043. In addition to the above blocks, the following functional blocks are connected to the tile bus 1048.

  That is, the rendering unit interface 1050, the image input interface 1051, the image output interface 1052, the multi-value processing unit 1053, the binarization processing unit 1054, the color space conversion unit 1055, the image rotation unit 1056, the resolution conversion unit 1057, and the image characteristic information This is a replacement unit 1058. The tile bus 1048 in the figure also includes a bus controller.

  The rendering unit interface 1050 is an interface for inputting a bitmap image generated by a rendering unit 1067 described later. The rendering unit 1067 and the rendering unit interface 1050 are connected by a general video signal 1059. The rendering unit interface 1050 has a connection to the memory bus 1060 and the register setting bus 1049 in addition to the tile bus 1048, and the input raster image is converted into a tile image by a predetermined method set via the register setting bus 1049. At the same time, the clock is synchronized and output to the tile bus 1048.

  The image input interface 1051 receives the scan image data from the scanner 1002, converts the structure into a tile image and changes the clock rate, and outputs the result to the image processing unit 1041.

  The image output interface 1052 receives tile image data from the tile bus 1048, performs structural conversion into a raster image and changes the clock rate, and outputs the raster image to the print image processing unit 1061.

  Image rotation units 1056 and 1057 rotate image data. Also, the resolution conversion unit 1055 converts the resolution of the image. Further, the binarization processing unit 1054 binarizes the multi-value (color and gray scale) image, and the multi-value processing unit 1053 converts the binary image into multi-value data. Furthermore, the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 converts the received image characteristic information into alternative characteristic information and transmits it to another block.

  The external bus interface unit 1062 converts a write / read request issued by the CPU 1006 to the external bus 1063 via the image ring interfaces 1014, 1015, 1042, 1043, the command processing unit 1045, and the register setting bus 1049. It is. In this embodiment, the external bus 1063 is connected to the print image processing unit 1061 and the scanner image processing unit 1064.

  The memory control unit 1065 is connected to the memory bus 1059, and in accordance with a request from each image processing unit, image data is written to and read from the image memory 1066 by preset address division, and refreshing or the like is performed as necessary. Perform the action. In this embodiment, an example in which an SDRAM is used as an image memory is shown.

  The scanner image processing unit 1064 corrects image data scanned by the scanner 1002 serving as an image input device. In addition, the print image processing unit 1061 performs image data correction processing for printer output, and outputs the result to the printer 1003.

  The rendering unit 1067 expands the PDL code or the intermediate display list into a bitmap image.

  That is, in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, first, image data including first image characteristic information is input for each predetermined unit via the scanner 1002 and the image input I / F 1051. The input image data is divided into predetermined units by the tile bus 1048, and the tile compression unit 1047 compresses the divided image data for each predetermined unit. The compressed image data is stored in a memory such as the RAM 1021. At this time, if the compressed image data exceeds a predetermined amount (for example, the storage capacity of the memory), the first image characteristic is stored. Image data excluding information is stored. Next, the compressed image data stored in the memory is decompressed by the tile decompression unit 1044. On the other hand, when the second image characteristic information is specified by the UI 1032 or the CPU 1006 and image data is output to the image output I / F 1052 for printing by the printer 1003, the first image characteristic information is not included. Second image characteristic information is set by the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 as the image characteristic information of the decompressed image data.

  In the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the data amount of the image data stored in the memory is counted by the data amount counting unit 208. When the CPU 1006 or the like determines whether the data amount of the image data counted by the data amount counting unit 208 exceeds a predetermined amount, and determines that the data amount of the image data exceeds the predetermined amount, The storing operation of the image characteristic information of 1 in the memory is stopped.

[Packet format]
Next, the data format in this embodiment will be described in detail.

  In the controller unit 1001 described above, image data, commands from the CPU 1006, interrupt information from each block, and the like are transferred in a packetized form. In the present embodiment, three different types of packets are used: a data packet shown in FIG. 16, a command packet shown in FIG. 17, and an interrupt packet shown in FIG.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an outline of the structure of a data packet used in this embodiment. In the present embodiment, image data is handled by being divided into 32 pixel × 32 pixel tile-unit image data (Image Data) 3002. A packet in which necessary header information (header) 3001 and image characteristic information (Z Data) 3003 are combined with the image data 3002 in units of tiles is referred to as a “data packet”. Hereinafter, information included in the header information 3001 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 16, a packet is classified into a data packet, a command packet, and an interrupt packet according to the value of a packet type ID (Packet Type ID) 3023 in a packet type (Pckt Type) 3004 in the header information 3001. In this embodiment, Packet Type ID 3023 is 3 bits,
001b or 101b: Data packet 010b: Command packet 100b: Each is assigned like an interrupt packet.

  The packet type 3004 includes a repeat flag 3022. If the image data of the data packet, the image characteristic information 3003, and the predetermined information in the header information 3001 are the same as the data packet transmitted immediately before, 1 is set in the repeat flag 3022. In this case, only the header information 3001 is transferred.

  A chip ID (Chip ID) 3005 indicates an ID of a target chip that transmits a packet. An image type 3006 indicates the type of image data. In the present embodiment, the image data type is defined as follows using the upper 2 bits of the 8-bit image type 3006.

00b: 1 pixel image data is represented by 1 bit 01b: 1 pixel image data is represented by 8 bits and 1 component 10b: 1 pixel image data is represented by 8 bits and 3 components, a total of 24 bits 11b: 1 pixel image The data is represented by 8 bits, 4 components, 32 bits in total.

A page ID (Page ID) 3007 indicates a page including a data packet, and a job ID (Job ID) 3008 stores a job ID for management by software. The order of arrangement of data packets on the page is a combination of a tile coordinate (Packet ID Y-coordinate) 3009 in the Y direction and a tile coordinate (Packet ID X-coordinate) 3010 in the X direction, and X _n Y _n expressed.

  The process instruction 3011 is left-justified and set in the processing order every 8 bits, and each processing unit (Unit) shifts the processed process instruction to the left by 8 bits (Shift). In this embodiment, the process instruction 3011 stores eight sets of a unit ID 3024 and a mode 3025. A unit ID 3024 designates each processing unit of the image processing unit 2149, and a mode 3025 designates an operation mode in each processing unit. Thus, one packet can be processed continuously up to eight units.

  A packet byte length 3012 indicates the total number of bytes of the packet. An image data byte length (Image Data Byte Length) 3015 represents the number of bytes of image data, an image characteristic information byte length (Z Data Byte Length) 3016 represents the number of bytes of image characteristic information, and an image data offset (Image Data Offset) 3013, An image characteristic information offset (Z Data Offset) 3014 represents a value of an offset (Offset) from the head of the packet for each data.

  In the data packet, there are a case where image data and image characteristic information included in the packet are compressed and a case where the packet is not compressed. In the present embodiment, as the compression algorithm, an example is shown in which the JPEG method is used when the image data is multi-valued color (including multi-value grayscale), and the pack bitz method is used for binary and image characteristic information. ing.

  The distinction between the case where the image data and the image characteristic information are compressed by the above-mentioned method relating to the image compression and the case where the image characteristic information is not compressed is the image data (Image Data) 3026 and the image in the Compress Flag 3017, respectively When the characteristic information (Z data) 3027 is 1, it indicates compressed data, and when it is 0, it indicates non-compressed data.

  Also, in the compression flag (Compress Flag) 3017, a Q table ID (Q-Table ID) 3028 for storing the type of the quantization table used when performing the compression processing by JPEG is prepared. When there are a plurality of tables, the quantization table to be used is switched by referring to this value when compressing and decompressing data.

  A source ID 3018 indicates a source in which image data and image characteristic information are generated. A Z type 3020 indicates an effective bit width in the image characteristic information, and image characteristic information other than the bits indicated in the Z type 3020 is invalid information. If the Z type 3020 is 0, it indicates that all the input image characteristic information is invalid.

  A Z dummy (Zdummy) 3033 is set with an alternative value of image characteristic information when a later-described CompressFail flag is set.

  Thumbnail data 3021 stores values representative of image data of data packets (hereinafter referred to as “thumbnail values”). In the present embodiment, the thumbnail data (thumbnail data) 3021 can store a maximum of four thumbnail values.

  The misc 3019 stores necessary information in addition to the above information. In the present embodiment, a character flag (Char-flag) 3029 and a Q table cell (Q-Table Sel) 3030 are prepared. The character flag 3029 stores an area signal to which the data packet belongs. The Q table cell 3030 stores information for changing the quantization table used at the time of compression and decompression by the JPEG method. Both the character flag and the Q table cell count the number of pixels having a predetermined image characteristic indicated by the image characteristic information in the packet, and the flag is turned on / off based on the count result.

  A CompressFail 3032 is a flag that is set when the amount of data after compression exceeds a predetermined value.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an outline of the structure of a command packet used in the present embodiment. This packet format is for accessing the register setting bus 1049. By using this packet, the CPU 1006 can also access the image memory 1066.

  A chip ID (Chip ID) 4004 stores an ID representing the image processing unit 1041 that is a transmission destination of the command packet. A page ID (Page ID) 4007 and a job ID (Job ID) 4008 store a page ID and a job ID for management by software. Here, a packet ID (Packet ID) 4009 is represented in one dimension. That is, only the X coordinate (X-coordinate) of the data packet is used.

  The packet byte length 4010 is fixed at 128 bytes. The packet data section 4002 can store a maximum of 12 commands with a set of an address 4011 and data 4012 as one command. The header portion 4001 also includes a command type (Cmd Type) 4005 and a command number (Cmd num) 4006 for writing or reading.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an outline of the structure of the interrupt packet used in this embodiment. This packet format is for notifying an interruption from the image processing unit 1041 to the CPU 1006. When the status processing unit 1046 transmits an interrupt packet, the status processing unit 1046 must not transmit the interrupt packet until the next transmission is permitted. The packet byte length 5006 is fixed at 128 bytes.

  The packet data portion (Int Data) 5002 stores status information (Module Status) 5007 of each internal module of the image processing unit 1041. The status processing unit 1046 can collect status information of each module in the image processing unit 1041 and send it to the system control unit 2150 in a batch.

  A chip ID (Chip ID) 5004 stores an ID representing the system control unit 2150 that is the transmission destination of the interrupt packet. An Int Chip ID (Int Chip ID) 5005 stores an ID representing the image processing unit 1041 that is the transmission source of the interrupt packet.

  When the packet data is stored in the memory, it is managed in the form of a packet table. FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which packet data is stored in the RAM 1021. The components of the packet table 6001 are as follows. That is, when 5 bits of 0 are added to the value of the table, the packet start address 6002 and the packet byte length 6005 are obtained.

Packet Address Pointer (27bit) + 5b00000 = Packet top address
Packet Length (11bit) + 5b00000 = Packet Byte Length
Note that the packet table 6011 is always arranged in the scanning direction. That is, they are arranged in the order of Y _n / X _n = 000 / 000,000 / 001,000 / 002. An entry of the packet table 6001 uniquely indicates one tile. The next entry after Y _n / X _max is Y _{n + 1} / X ₀ .

  When a packet in which a repeat flag 3002 in the header information 3001 is set is input, the packet is not written on the memory, but is stored in an entry (Entry) of the packet table. The same packet address pointer (Packet Address Pointer) and packet length (Packet Length) as the first entry are stored. Thereby, one packet data (Packet Data) is indicated by two table entries (Table Entry). In this case, a repeat flag 6003 of the second table entry (Table Entry) is set.

  Packets can also be stored discretely in the memory. In that case, packets are managed using a chain table. The packet table is also allowed to divide packet data in the middle.

  When a packet is divided into a plurality of parts, a divide flag 6004 is set, and a chain table number (Chain Table No.) 6006 of a chain block (Chain Block) containing the head portion of the packet is set. Set. Note that the packet table 6001 and the chain table 6010 are not divided.

  An entry of the chain table 6010 includes a chain block address 6011 and a chain block length 6012. The last entry of the table (Table) includes 0 is stored in both the address and the length.

  In the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, alternative information (second image characteristic information) may be included in the header information set for each predetermined unit of image data. Further, the substitute information (second image characteristic information) may be a representative value of the image characteristic information in the image data.

[Overview of scanner image processing block]
Next, the scanner image processing unit in this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an internal block of the scanner image processing unit 1064 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 20, the image (R, G, B) input from the scanner 1002 is frequency-converted by the input I / F unit 7001 to clock synchronization of the image processing block. Here, when the scanner 1002 is a three-line sensor, there is an interline delay between RGB, and in this case, the interline delay correction unit 7002 corrects the delay between lines of each color. The sub-scanning offset correction unit 7003 corrects offset in the sub-scanning direction due to chromatic aberration of the optical system.

  The image characteristic determination unit 7004 detects the edge of image data based on the type of document, determines the presence or absence of characters or the color of the input image, and outputs characteristic information together with RGB image data. To do.

  A gamma correction unit 7005 and an input direct mapping processing unit 7006 correct and output image data according to the input characteristics of the scanner 1002. For example, the gamma correction unit 7005 corrects the dynamic range for each color, and the direct mapping processing unit 7006 corrects the color of the scanner.

  The image output from the direct mapping processing unit 7006 is input to the MTF correction unit 7007 and the specific image determination unit 7012. The MTF correction unit 7007 performs arithmetic processing for correcting the numerical aperture and chromatic aberration of the optical system in the main scanning direction. The specific image determination unit 7012 determines image data that is prohibited from being printed under laws such as securities by pattern matching or the like.

  A spatial filter processing unit 7008 performs spatial filter processing such as edge enhancement and smoothing on the input image. This filtering process is adaptively performed according to the determination result of the image characteristic determination unit 7012 described above. For example, when the input image is determined to be a character, the edge is emphasized, and when it is determined to be a continuous tone image such as a photograph, smoothing is performed.

  A histogram calculation / ND conversion unit 7009 obtains a histogram of the input image and converts the chromatic RGB input image into an achromatic ND image. Further, the trimming / masking unit 7010 performs processing of a print image area such as frame erasing of input image data and book frame erasing. Further, the output I / F unit 7011 performs frequency conversion of image data and characteristic information from the scanner image processing clock to the system clock synchronization and outputs the result.

[Tile compression section]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration inside the tile compression unit 1047 in the controller unit 1001 of the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the tile bus interface unit 201 performs handshaking with the tile bus 1048, acquires header information, image data, and image characteristic information input from the tile bus 1048, and sends each of the processing blocks connected to the subsequent stage to each of the processing blocks. Output the data.

  Further, the tile bus interface unit 201 analyzes header information sent from the tile bus 1048, and if there is a contradiction in the header information, outputs an interrupt signal corresponding to the contradiction content to a register setting unit 206 described later. The operation is stopped until a reset signal (not shown) is input.

  On the other hand, if there is no contradiction in the header information, the header information is output to the header information generation unit 202 connected in the subsequent stage, and then the image data and the image characteristic information are acquired from the tile bus 1048, and the header information image In accordance with a type (Image Type) 3006, a first compression processing unit 203 (in this embodiment, compression processing by the JPEG method) and a second compression processing unit 204 (in this embodiment, compression processing by the Packbits method are performed). ) Output image data or image characteristic information to each.

  Specifically, when the upper 2 bits of the image type in the header information are 00b representing 1-bit image data, the first compression processing unit 203 does not use the image data and the second compression processing unit. To 204.

  If the upper 2 bits of the image type are other than 00b, the image data is output to the first compression processing unit 203 and the image characteristic information is output to the second compression processing unit 204. However, when the Z type 3020 is 0, the input image characteristic information is invalid, so the image characteristic information is not output to the second compression processing unit 204, and the compression processing by the second compression processing unit is not performed. Not performed.

  The header information generation unit 202 generates header information while the first compression processing unit 203 and the second compression processing unit 204 are performing compression processing of image data and image characteristic information. In addition, the header information generation unit 202 outputs information necessary for compression processing from the stored header information to the first compression processing unit and the second compression processing unit.

  In this embodiment, the first compression processing unit 203 represents a JPEG compression processing unit that performs JPEG compression. The first compression processing unit 203 performs image data compression processing when the image data has a multi-bit configuration. The first compression processing unit 203 has a buffer for storing the input image data for one tile, and holds the image data of the packet processed immediately before the next packet of image data is input. Thus, the image data input from the tile bus interface unit 201 is compared with the image data stored in the buffer. The comparison result is sent to an image ring output unit described later, and is referred to when a repeat flag (Repeat Flag) 3022 is generated.

  If an operation abnormality is detected while the first compression processing unit 203 is performing compression processing, the first compression processing unit 203 sends an interrupt signal corresponding to the content of the abnormal operation to the register setting unit 206. Operation is stopped until a reset signal (not shown) is input.

  In the present embodiment, the second compression processing unit 204 performs a compression process using an information loss-free compression method, specifically, a pack bits method. In the second compression processing unit 204, image data is input when the image data of the packet input to the tile compression unit has a 1-bit configuration, and an image is displayed when image characteristic information exists (that is, the Z type 3020 is not 0). The characteristic information is compressed by the pack bits method.

  Similarly to the first compression processing unit 203, the second compression processing unit 204 also has a buffer for storing the input image characteristic information for one packet, and the 1-bit image data or image characteristic input immediately before is stored. By holding the information, the image or image characteristic information input from the tile bus interface unit 201 is compared with the data stored in the buffer. Then, the comparison result is sent to an image ring output unit to be described later, and is referred to when a repeat flag (Repeat Flag) 3022 is generated.

  If an operation abnormality is detected while the second compression processing unit 204 is performing compression processing, the second compression processing unit 204 sends an interrupt signal corresponding to the content of the abnormal operation to the register setting unit 206. Operation is stopped until a reset signal (not shown) is input.

  The image ring output unit 205 acquires processing information, image data, and image characteristic information from the header information generation unit 202, the first compression processing unit 203, and the second compression processing unit 204. Then, after setting a predetermined value for the header information, the data packet shown in FIG. 16 is generated and output to the image ring interface 2102.

  The register setting unit 206 performs settings regarding processing in the tile compression unit 2106. Here, in order to cause the tile compression unit 1047 to perform predetermined compression processing, it is necessary to set a predetermined value in the register setting unit 206. These settings are performed by sending a command packet from the system control unit 2150 to the command processing unit 1045 of the image processing unit 1041 and from the command processing unit 1045 to the tile compression unit 1047 via the register setting bus 1049. .

  The value set in the register setting unit 206 is sent to the first compression processing unit 203 and the second compression processing unit 204, and both compression processing units perform processing determined by referring to these setting values.

  In addition to setting a value to the register setting unit 206 using a command packet, it is also possible to output a setting value held by the register setting unit 206 to the system control unit 2150 using a command packet. .

  Furthermore, the register setting unit 206 has a register corresponding to the interrupt signal input from the tile bus interface unit 201, the first compression processing unit 203, and the second compression processing unit 204, and an interrupt signal is input from any block. Are set, and an interrupt signal notifying the status processing unit 1046 that an interrupt has occurred and a status signal indicating in which block the interrupt has occurred are output.

  The register setting bus interface unit 207 converts the address and setting value input from the register setting bus 1049 to the tile compression unit 1047 into a format that can be received by the register setting unit 206 and sends the converted data. The register setting bus interface unit 207 not only receives the register setting value from the register setting bus 1049, but also reads out the setting value corresponding to the address indicated by the register setting bus 1049 from the register setting unit 206 to the register setting bus 1049. It is also possible to output.

  The data amount counting unit 208 counts the data amount of the image data and image characteristic information sent from the first compression processing unit 203 and the second compression processing unit 204 to the image ring output unit 205, and when the predetermined amount is exceeded. A flag signal is output to the header information generation unit 202.

[First compression processing unit]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the first compression processing unit 203 in FIG. In the present embodiment, a case where the image data has an 8-bit configuration, a 24-bit configuration, or a 32-bit configuration, that is, a case where the image data is compressed by the first compression processing unit 203 will be described.

  In FIG. 1, the first data buffer 101 stores the image data sent from the tile bus interface unit 201. When a predetermined amount of data is sent, the first data buffer 101 is connected to the JPEG compression unit 110 connected in the subsequent stage. Image data is output in a predetermined order. Here, an image type 3006 of header information is input from the header information generation unit 202 to the first data buffer 101, and the order of image data output to the JPEG compression unit 110 depends on the image type 3006. Be controlled.

  Hereinafter, the order of image data input to the image type 3006 and the JPEG compression unit 110 will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of image data for one tile handled in the present embodiment. The image data of FIG. 3 is when the upper 2 bits of the image type (Image Type) 3006 are 01b, that is, when the image data representing the image data of one pixel by 8 bits of one component is input from the tile bus interface unit 201. The image data for one tile, and the image data composed of 1024 pixels of 32 pixels × 32 pixels in the main / sub scanning.

  In order to output to the JPEG compression unit 110, first, these pixels are divided into 16 blocks in units of 64 pixels of 8 pixels × 8 pixels as a unit of JPEG compression processing. Then, the data is output to the JPEG compression unit 110 for each block. In FIG. 3, image data of one pixel is indicated by a thin line, blocks divided into JPEG compression processing units are indicated by a thick line, and numbers 0 to 15 are assigned in order of transmission to the JPEG compression unit 110.

  FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the pixels included in the block 0 located at the upper left of the divided block in the image data of FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, there are 64 pixels of image data in this block, and each pixel is represented by a number from 0 to 7 in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction.

  In the block shown in FIG. 4, the order of output to the JPEG compression unit 110 is (0, 1) → (0 , 2) →... → (0, 7). Next to the pixel data of (0, 7), one line is moved in the sub-scanning direction, and the process proceeds (1, 0) → (1, 1) →... → (1, 7). When the lower (7, 7) image data is output, the output of the block image data is terminated. When the image data of block 0 shown in FIG. 3 is output, the image data is similarly output in the order as described above from the upper left (0, 8) of block 1.

  FIG. 5 is a second diagram for explaining the image data for one tile handled in the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, the upper 2 bits of the image type (Image Type) 3006 are 10b, that is, one tile when a total of 24 bits of image data is input from the tile bus interface unit 201 to 8 bits and 3 components. Represents the image data of the minute. In FIG. 5, each pixel is not shown, but is displayed in block units shown in FIG. 3, which is a JPEG compression processing unit. In addition, each image data is displayed by being divided into component 1, component 2, and component 3 for each component, not for each pixel.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the order in which the image data shown in FIG. 5 is output to the JPEG compression unit 110. The order in which the image data is output in each block shown in FIG. 6 is the same as that described above with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, first, the image data of the component 1 of the block 0 is output from the first data buffer 101. When all the image data of the component 1 of the block 0 is output, the image data of the component 2 of the block 0 is output, and then the image data of the component 3 of the block 0 is output. All image data is output.

  When all the image data of block 0 is output, the image data of component 1 of block 1 is next, followed by component 2 of block 1 → component 3 of block 1 → component 1 of block 2 →. Finally, when the output of the image data of the component 1 of the block 15 → the component 2 of the block 15 → the component 3 of the block 15 is finished, the output of the image data for one tile is finished.

  It should be noted that the upper 2 bits of the image type (ImageType) 3006 are 11b, that is, when 8-bit 4-component image data of 32 bits in total is input to one pixel from the tile bus interface unit 201 as shown in FIGS. It is the same. That is, first, image data of each component of a predetermined block is output in the order of component 1 → component 2 → component 3 → component 4, and then the process proceeds to output of image data of the next block.

  In this way, in the present embodiment, one tile of image data is divided into blocks of 8 pixels in the main scanning direction × 8 pixels in the sub-scanning direction, and is input to the JPEG compression unit 110 for each block unit for compression processing. Is done. In addition, when there are a plurality of image data (having a plurality of components) in each block, the image data of each component in the block is compressed and the compression of the next block is performed after compressing all the components Do.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the JPEG compression unit 110 compresses image data using the JPEG method. There are three more processing blocks in the JPEG compression unit 110.

  First, the DCT conversion unit 102 receives 64 pieces of data from the data buffer 101 and performs discrete cosine transformation (DCT) on the input data to convert it into frequency components. At this time, the DC component value generated by the discrete cosine transform is output to the thumbnail generation unit 107 described later together with the latch signal. The discrete cosine transform is performed every time 64 pieces of data are input, and a latch signal and a DC component value are output to the thumbnail generation unit 107 each time. Also, the DCT conversion unit outputs an error interrupt signal to the register setting unit 206 when an error occurs during the calculation of the discrete cosine transform.

  Next, the quantization unit 103 quantizes the frequency component output from the DCT conversion unit 102 using a predetermined quantization value to generate quantized data. The quantization value is input from a quantization table described later, and the quantization value to be used is determined by analyzing header information from the header information generation unit 202. The quantization unit 103 outputs an error interrupt signal to the register setting unit 206 when the result of the quantization becomes a value other than a predetermined value.

  Further, the Huffman encoder 104 performs predetermined encoding on the quantized data output from the quantizer 103 to generate encoded data, and outputs the encoded data to the second data buffer 105. In addition, when data that cannot be encoded is input, the Huffman encoding unit 104 outputs an error interrupt signal to the register setting unit 206.

  The second data buffer 105 is a buffer for storing the encoded data encoded by the Huffman encoding unit 104. When the encoded data for one tile is acquired from the Huffman encoding unit 104, Is output to the image ring output unit 205 as the data byte length 1 (Data Byte Length 1). The second data buffer 105 outputs the encoded data stored in the buffer to the image ring output unit 205 in accordance with a request from the image ring output unit 205.

  The data comparison unit 106 compares the image data input from the tile bus interface unit 201 with the image data stored in the first data buffer 101. At this time, the data comparison unit 106 stores the image data sent from the tile bus interface unit 201 in the first data buffer 101, and simultaneously stores the image data stored in the portion where the image data is stored. Make a comparison.

  That is, the first data buffer 101 stores the image data sent to the first compression processing unit 203 immediately before the tile input from the tile bus interface unit 201. Here, the data comparison unit 106 compares the image data sent from the tile bus interface unit 201 with the image data of the previous tile sent to the first compression processing unit 203 by the above operation. Is called.

  When the comparison of the image data for one tile is completed by the data comparison unit 106, a comparison result (Compare result 1) is output from the data comparison unit 106 to the image ring output unit 206.

  On the other hand, the thumbnail generation unit 107 acquires a DC component value in synchronization with the latch signal output from the DCT conversion unit 102, generates a thumbnail value for each tile by performing calculation and normalization, and outputs an image ring. The data is output to the unit 205. The thumbnail generation unit 107 receives an image type 3006 from the header information generation unit 202. Therefore, the thumbnail generation unit 107 detects the order of the DC component values sent from the DCT conversion unit 102 by referring to an image type 3006, and generates a thumbnail value for each component.

  The generated thumbnail value is output to the image ring output unit 205, and is stored in a predetermined format in the thumbnail data 3021 of the header information acquired from the header information generation unit 202 in the image ring output unit 205. . Thereafter, together with the image data compressed by the first compression processing unit 203 and the image characteristic information compressed by the second compression processing unit 204, the data packet is output to the image ring interface 2104.

  The quantization table unit 109 stores a quantization value for the quantization unit 103 to perform quantization. A plurality of quantization tables are stored in the quantization table unit 109 in the present embodiment, and a predetermined quantization table is selected by a selection signal input from the quantization table selection unit 108 described later, and the quantization unit 103 is selected. Output the quantized value to.

  The quantization table selection unit 108 outputs a quantization table selection signal to the quantization table unit 109, whereby a predetermined quantization table is selected from a plurality of quantization tables stored in the quantization table unit 109. To select.

  An image type 3006, a mode 3025, a character flag 3029, and a Q table cell 3030 are input to the quantization table selection unit 108 from the header information generation unit 202. The quantization table selection unit 108 determines a quantization table to be used from these header information. When the quantization table to be used is determined, the quantization table selection unit 109 outputs a quantization table selection signal to the quantization table unit 109 so as to select the determined quantization table and represents the selected quantization table. The Q table ID (Q-Table ID) is output to the image ring output unit 205.

[Second compression processing unit]
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the second compression processing unit 204 in the present embodiment shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, a first data buffer 701 is a buffer for storing image characteristic information sent from the tile bus interface unit 201. When a predetermined amount of data is sent, the pack data compression connected to the subsequent stage is performed. Data is output to the unit 702 according to a predetermined order. The pack bits compression unit 702 performs pack bits compression on the image characteristic information stored in the first data buffer 701.

  The second data buffer 703 is a buffer for storing the compressed data compressed by the Packbits compression unit 702. When the compressed data for one tile is acquired from the Packbits compression unit 702, the data stored in the buffer is stored in the second data buffer 703. Is output to the image ring output unit 205 as a data byte length (Data Byte Length 2). The second data buffer 703 outputs the compressed data stored in the buffer to the image ring output unit 205 in accordance with a request from the image ring output unit 205.

  The data comparison unit 704 compares the image data input from the tile bus interface unit 201 with the data stored in the first data buffer 701. That is, the data sent from the tile bus interface unit 201 is stored in the first data buffer 701, and at the same time, the data comparison unit 704 performs a comparison with the data stored in the first data buffer 701.

  At this time, the image data information sent to the second compression processing unit 204 is stored in the first data buffer 701 before the tile input from the tile bus interface unit 201. The data comparison unit 106 compares the image characteristic information sent from the tile bus interface unit 201 with the image characteristic information of the previous tile in the second compression processing unit 204.

  When the comparison of the image characteristic information for one tile is completed by the data comparison unit 704, a comparison result (Compare result 2) is output from the data comparison unit 704 to the image ring output unit 206.

[Control of image characteristic information by counting data amount]
Next, an operation procedure of the tile compression unit 1047 whose detailed block diagram is shown in FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation related to the data count processing of the tile compression unit 1047 according to this embodiment.

  First, when compression processing is started in the tile compression unit 1047, the data counter value (DataCount) is set to 0 (step S801). Next, when the compression processing is completed in the first compression processing unit 203 and the second compression processing unit 204, the respective compressed data amounts (Data Byte Length1, Data Byte Length2) are output to the data amount counting unit 208, and these are converted into data. It is added to the counter value (DataCount) (step S802).

  Next, the data counter value (DataCount) is compared with a preset limit value to (step S803). As a result, when it is determined that the data counter value exceeds the limit value (Yes), the transmission of the image characteristic information from the second data buffer 703 is stopped (step S804). Then, a compression fail signal is output to the header information generation unit 202 and the register setting unit 206 to notify that the data amount has been exceeded (step S805).

  The register setting unit 206 outputs an interrupt signal to the status processing unit 1046 upon receipt of a compress fail signal. When the CPU 1006 receives the interrupt packet from the status processing unit 1046 and determines that the cause of the interrupt is the data amount counting unit 208, the CPU 1006 registers that the data amount has exceeded the page information of the page corresponding to the image data. To do.

  Subsequently, the data amount counting unit 208 sets Data Byte Length2 to 0 and outputs the data to the image ring output unit 205 (step S806). Also, the header information generation unit 202 refers to the data value of the first pixel of the data stored in the first data buffer 701 in the second compression processing unit, and sets the substitute value of the image characteristic information whose transmission has been stopped as a Z dummy (Zdummy). ) 3033 (step S807).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S803 that the data counter value does not exceed the limit value (No), the image characteristic information and Data Byte Length2 stored in the second data buffer 703 are directly input to the image ring output unit 205. Output (step S808).

  Then, after the processing in step S807 or step S808, the data amount counting unit 208 transmits the image data and Data Byte Length1 stored in the second data buffer 105 to the image ring output unit 205 as they are (step S809). . Further, it is finally determined whether or not the processing for one page has been completed (step S810). As a result, if it has not been completed yet (No), the process returns to step S802 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, when it is determined that the processing for one page has been completed (Yes), the data counting process is terminated.

  As described above, when compression processing is performed, control is performed so that the image data does not exceed a certain amount, so that re-reading of the image data is suppressed, and missing image characteristic information is compensated for as much as possible. Less image processing can be performed.

[Overview of image characteristic information]
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of image characteristic information supplied to the printer image processing unit 1061. In the present embodiment, the image characteristic information is composed of 4-bit data having different contents depending on the image data supply source (input source). In FIG. 9, image attribute information when the input source is PDL data or the like transferred from the host via the LAN is represented by input source 0, and the image attribute information for the scanned image data read from the scanner by the input source. Is represented by the input source 1.

  In the image characteristic information in the case of the input source 0, bit0 is information (image type information) for identifying the type of data type such as whether each image data is a raster image or font data. Bit 1 is information (image type identification information) indicating an image type for identifying whether the data is character data or photo data. Further, bit2 is information (color identification information) representing a color determination result for identifying grayscale data or color data. Bit3 is an empty bit.

  On the other hand, in the image characteristic information in the case of the input source 1, bit0 is surface information for identifying a page before combination when printing two or more pages on one sheet. In addition, bit1 represents an image type for identifying whether each image data is continuous gradation data such as a photograph or image data formed with area gradation represented by a screen or a dither matrix. Image type identification information. Further, bit2 is information representing an image type for identifying whether each image data is character area data. Furthermore, bit3 is information for identifying the operation mode of the printer engine.

  By including area information related to the layout in the image characteristic information as in bit 0 in the present embodiment, an effect is obtained that image processing settings for each page can be set independently when performing bookbinding processing for a plurality of pages. It is done.

  Note that the input source type of each image is stored in the external storage device 1035 (for example, a hard disk) shown in FIG. 13, and is read from the hard disk by the CPU 1006 at the start of printing, and image processing corresponding to each type is performed. Is given.

  As described above, in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, alternative information (second image characteristic information) for setting a page before combining when printing image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page. , And the alternative information (second image characteristic information) can be added as image characteristic information of the decompressed image data when the printer 1003 forms an image of the image data.

[Overview of image characteristic information replacement unit]
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 10, 10001 is a tile bus interface unit, 10002 is a register setting bus interface unit, and 10003 is a data replacement unit.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an operation procedure of the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 in the present embodiment. First, in the present embodiment, the operation mode of the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 is set in advance before entering the page processing operation (step S11001). Next, the operation mode set at the start of page processing is confirmed (step S11002).

  As a result, when the operation mode is set to the priority mode that prioritizes image characteristic information replacement (Yes), the register Zsel for selecting the image characteristic information replacement method prepared in the register setting bus interface 10002 is set. Further, a value to be fixed for each bit is set to the register Zfix prepared in the register setting bus interface 10002 for fixing the image characteristic information for each bit (step S11003).

  On the other hand, when the operation mode gives priority to the image characteristic information set by the data compression unit (No), the operation mode Zsel is reset (step S11004).

  After the processing in steps S11003 and S11004, page processing is started (step S11005). As a result, an image is input from the tile bus 1048 to the image characteristic information replacing unit 1058, and the image characteristic information and the Z dummy (Compress Fail) flag of the header information are extracted from the tile bus interface 10001, and the data The data is output to the replacement unit 10003.

  In addition, when Zsel is reset, the data replacement unit 10003 refers to the compression fail (Compress Fail) flag. When the compression fail is set, the value of the Z dummy (Zdummy) is included in the image characteristic information. Is transferred to the tile bus interface 10001.

  The tile bus interface 10001 refers to the CompressFail flag returned from the data replacement unit 10003. When the Compress Flag is set, the tile bus interface 10001 merges the image characteristic information with the input image data. Then, set the data length in Data Byte Length2 of the header information. Then, the image data is transferred to the image output interface 1052 via the tile bus 1048 and further transferred to the printer image processing unit 1061.

  In this way, even if image characteristic information is lost due to an excessive amount of data during data compression, it is possible to regenerate and transfer image characteristic information in units of packets to the printer image processing unit 1061. The image processing according to the image characteristics can be executed.

  On the other hand, in the sequence in which Zsel is reset in step S1102, the image characteristic information may be replaced with Z dummy from the middle of the page, and discontinuity due to switching of image processing in the middle of the page. May adversely affect the output image. In such a case, processing with Zsel set is performed. If Zsel is set, the CPU 1006 confirms whether or not a packet that has exceeded the data amount is included from the page information stored at the time of data transfer. If it is included, the image characteristic information is replaced in units of packets from the top of the page in which the data amount over is set, regardless of the compress fail flag. In this case, in the data replacement unit 10003, the image characteristic information is replaced with Zfix instead of Z dummy.

  The replacement process described above is repeatedly executed until all the packets in the page are transferred (step S11006).

  As described above, it is possible to output a preferable image by including the data replacement unit 10003 as in the present embodiment. Further, the setting of Zsel and Zfix may be arbitrarily set as to which image characteristics the user himself / herself prioritizes by providing a user mode or the like and opening it to the user. This allows the user to obtain the most favorable image output.

  That is, in the image processing apparatus according to this embodiment described above, alternative information (second image characteristic information) that can be specified by the user is stored, and new image characteristic information set by the image characteristic information replacement unit 1058 is stored. As an operation mode using the stored alternative information or an operation mode using the alternative information (third image characteristic information) included in the header information set for each predetermined unit of the image data. You may make it specify.

[Overview of printer image processing unit]
Next, the printer image processing unit 1061 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the printer image processing unit 1061 according to the present embodiment. Image data RGB and CMYK output from the image processing unit 1041 shown in FIG. 13 and the like are input to printer image processing units 8001 and 8002 in the printer image processing unit 1061, respectively. Each of the printer image processing units 8001 and 8002 includes image processing blocks for two colors, and each block corresponds to an image request from a tandem engine printer (printer 1003) including a printer engine for each color. It can operate in synchronization with each printer engine.

  FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration in the printer image processing units 8001 and 8002. As shown in FIG. 22, the interior is largely divided into two systems, and image data corresponding to the printer engine for two colors is generated.

  In FIG. 22, reference numerals 9001 and 9002 denote input I / F units, which convert the frequency of image data input from the system to print image processing clock synchronization. Reference numerals 9003 and 9004 denote background removal and ND conversion units, which skip background colors of input image data or convert RGB chromatic color data to achromatic ND data in accordance with image characteristic information.

  Reference numerals 9005 and 9006 denote luminance density conversion units, which perform luminance density conversion of input data according to image characteristic information. Reference numerals 9007 and 9008 denote direct mapping processing units that convert RGB input data into C / M / Y / K color components of the printer engine in accordance with image characteristic information. Reference numerals 9009 and 9010 denote output color selection units.

  Reference numerals 9011 and 9012 denote color balance correction units, which finely adjust the color of an output image in accordance with image characteristic information. Reference numerals 9013 to 9018 denote output gamma correction units that correct the dynamic range and tone curve of the output image. In this embodiment, three types of gamma corrections A to C are performed simultaneously for each color and output.

  Reference numerals 9019 to 9024 denote halftone processing units that quantize the image data and perform gradation conversion of the output image. In the present embodiment, 8-bit data input to the print image processing units 8001 and 8002 is converted into 4-bit data. In general, screen processing, error diffusion processing, and the like are widely known as halftone processing methods, but in this embodiment, arbitrary three types of halftone processing are performed for each color.

  Reference numerals 9025 and 9026 denote halftone processing selection units, which select an optimum processing result for the output image processed by the above three types of halftone processing units according to image characteristic information. Reference numerals 9027 and 9028 denote smoothing processing units, which perform pattern matching processing that reduces shakiness such as character edges in accordance with image characteristic information.

  9029 and 9030 are specific information adding units that perform processing for superimposing image information that can specify an output device in output image data. Reference numeral 9031 denotes an output selection unit, which can switch to which printer engine the data processed by the two image processing units described above is output.

  Reference numerals 9032 and 9034 denote inter-drum delay control units, and 9033 and 9035 denote inter-drum delay memories. The image data output from the image processing unit 1041 in FIG. 12 is processed by four image processing units at the same time by the processing from the input I / F units 9001 and 9002 to the output color selection units 9009 and 9010 described above. . The inter-drum delay control units 9032 and 9034 output the image data output from the image processing unit 1041 and processed by the print image processing unit 1061 until the output request from the printer 1003 is received. To accumulate. In this way, image data can be output in synchronization with each printer engine (printer 1003).

  Reference numerals 9036 and 9037 denote output I / F units, which perform frequency conversion for outputting an image in synchronization with the printer I / F clock.

  In the above-described embodiment, the print image processing unit 1061 corresponding to the tandem engine printer has been described. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, a configuration of an image processing unit for a single engine may be used, and one image processing unit may include image processing blocks for four colors.

  Note that the present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but a device (for example, a copier, a facsimile machine, etc.) composed of a single device. You may apply to.

  Also, an object of the present invention is to supply a recording medium (or storage medium) in which a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or CPU) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, this can also be achieved when the MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the recording medium, program code corresponding to the flowchart described above is stored in the recording medium.

It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the 1st compression process part 203 in this embodiment shown by FIG. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration inside a tile compression unit 1047 in the controller unit 1001 of the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 13. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the structure of the image data for 1 tile handled by this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of pixels included in a block 0 located at the upper left of a divided block in the image data of FIG. 3. It is a 2nd figure for demonstrating the image data for 1 tile handled by this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an order in which the image data illustrated in FIG. 5 is output to the JPEG compression unit 110. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the 2nd compression process part 204 in this embodiment shown by FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement regarding the data count process of the tile compression part 1047 which concerns on this embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of image characteristic information supplied to a printer image processing unit 1061. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the image characteristic information replacement part 1058 in this embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement procedure of the image characteristic information replacement part 1058 in this embodiment. It is a block diagram of the whole network system provided with the image processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of a system control unit 2150 in a controller unit 1001. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of an image processing unit 1041 in a controller unit 1001. FIG. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structure of the data packet used in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structure of the command packet used in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structure of the interrupt packet used in the embodiment. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which packet data is stored in a RAM 1021. FIG. It is a figure which shows the internal block of the image processing part 1064 for scanners shown by FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a printer image processing unit 1061 according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration in printer image processing units 8001 and 8002. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

201 tile bus interface unit 202 header information generation unit 203 first compression processing unit 204 second compression processing unit 205 image ring output unit 206 register setting unit 207 register setting bus interface unit 208 data amount counting unit 1001 control unit 1002 scanner 1003 printer 1021 RAM
1032 UI
1041 Image processing unit 1044 Tile decompression unit 1047 Tile compression unit 1048 Tile bus 1058 Image characteristic information replacement unit

Claims (6)

A dividing step of dividing the image data including the first image characteristic information for each predetermined unit into the predetermined units;
A compression step of compressing the divided image data for each predetermined unit;
A storage step of storing the compressed image data in a storage device;
A decompression step of decompressing the compressed image data stored in the storage device;
A designation step for designating second image characteristic information for setting a page before combining when outputting image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page;
A replacement step of setting the second image characteristic information as the image characteristic information of the decompressed image data at the time of outputting the image data;
And an output step of outputting the decompressed image data. The second image characteristic information is
Data type identification information for identifying the type of data type including raster image and font data;
Image type identification information for identifying whether it is character data or photo data,
The image processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: color identification information for identifying whether the data is grayscale data or color data. The second image characteristic information is
Surface information for identifying a page before combining when outputting image data of a plurality of pages on one sheet;
Image type identification information for identifying whether each image data is continuous gradation data or image data formed with area gradation, and
The image processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: information for identifying an operation mode of the output unit. Input means for inputting image data including the first image characteristic information for each predetermined unit;
A dividing unit that divides the image data input by the input unit into the predetermined units;
Compression means for compressing the image data for each predetermined unit divided by the dividing means;
Storage means for storing compressed image data;
Decompression means for decompressing the compressed image data stored in the storage means;
Output means for outputting the decompressed image data;
Designating means for designating second image characteristic information for setting a page before combining when outputting image data of a plurality of pages combined into one page;
An image processing apparatus comprising: replacement means for setting the second image characteristic information as image characteristic information of the decompressed image data when the image data is output by the output means. The second image characteristic information is
Data type identification information for identifying the type of data type including raster image and font data;
Image type identification information for identifying whether it is character data or photo data,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: color identification information for identifying whether the data is grayscale data or color data. The second image characteristic information is
Surface information for identifying a page before combining when outputting image data of a plurality of pages on one sheet;
Image type identification information for identifying whether each image data is continuous gradation data or image data formed with area gradation, and
The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: information for identifying an operation mode of the output unit.

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