JP2009070171A - Image forming device, display device, screen display method, and screen display program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide: an image forming device capable of displaying a display screen at high speed; a display device; a screen display method; and a screen display program. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device 100 including a display device 21 comprises: a retention means 41 for retaining a first image 52 composed of a first image area 52b having an opaque parameter value as the transparency parameter showing the transparency of a pixel and a second image area 52a having a translucent parameter value; and a composition means 42 for superimposing and composing the first image 52 retained by the retention means 41 over a second image 51b displayed on the display device 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function setting screen and a display screen for displaying status information, a display device, a screen display method, and a screen display program.

  In an image forming apparatus having a plurality of applications such as a copy, a printer, a facsimile, and a scanner, the operation state of the image forming apparatus such as an application window for performing setting for each function and a system window for displaying state information of the entire apparatus It is equipped with a window system that displays multiple windows on the display screen in response to user requests. Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus that “speeds up screen switching when changing display contents, drawing speed when switching applications, key search processing when the touch panel is pressed, operation screen drawing, and key search processing”. A window management method is disclosed.

  In such an image forming apparatus, for example, when there is no paper during printing or a paper jam occurs, a system window for notifying the user of the status information of the apparatus is superimposed on the application window displayed on the display screen. And display. At this time, the image forming apparatus displays a semi-transparent application window by using an image processing technique called alpha blending in order to notify that the function setting button displayed in the application window cannot be used.

  Alpha blending is used to display a transparent or translucent image, and is a technique for realizing display effects such as fading in and fading out and blurring the outline of the image. Alpha blending uses a color channel that is a color component of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), and an alpha channel that is a transparent component of each pixel to superimpose a foreground image on a background image. Synthesize. The alpha channel generally has the same number of bits as the color component. For example, in the case of an 8-bit alpha channel, 256 levels of transparency from 0 (transparent) to 255 (opaque) can be expressed.

In the current image forming apparatus, by using the image processing technique as described above, a display screen that has excellent visibility and can effectively transmit information is provided.
JP 2005-25345 A

  However, the alpha blending used for the display screen rendering process in the image forming apparatus is a software process for calculating the pixel value of the display image, and all pixels of the color components must be calculated. Is big.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a drawing example of a conventional display image by alpha blending. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, in the conventional screen display method, first, alpha channel processing with a predetermined alpha channel value is performed on the entire image on the application window 51b displayed on the display screen (reference numeral in the figure). 51b). Next, based on predetermined arrangement coordinates in the coordinate space on the display screen, a display image 53 including a translucent image region 61 that informs that the system window 51f is superposed is superimposed on the system window 51f to indicate that it cannot be used. Is displayed.

  As described above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, alpha blending is performed on all the pixels of the background image 51b, so that the processing load is large and it takes time to display the display image 53.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, a display apparatus, a screen display method, and a screen display program capable of displaying a display screen at high speed in view of the above-described problems of the prior art.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a display device, wherein a transparency parameter indicating a transparency of a pixel has a non-transparent parameter value and a semi-transparent Holding means for holding a first image composed of a second image area having a parameter value, and the first image held by the holding means on the second image displayed on the display device And a combining means for superimposing and combining.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an image generating unit that generates the first image including the first image region and the second image region. The synthesizing unit superimposes and synthesizes the first image generated by the image generating unit on the second image.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that, in the image generating unit, the first image region is different when the first image and the second image have different image region sizes. And the second image area are generated.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in the synthesis unit, the first image is added to the second image based on the transparency parameter of each pixel of the first image. Are superimposed and synthesized.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes the first image area having a parameter value in which the transparency parameter (alpha channel) indicating the transparency of the pixel is opaque, and the second image area having a semi-transparent parameter value. With the configuration in which the first image to be configured is superimposed and synthesized on the second image displayed on the display screen, the number of pixels to be processed by the alpha channel processing is reduced, and the display screen can be displayed at high speed. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a screen display method of the present invention includes a display device, a first image region having a parameter value in which a transparency parameter indicating the transparency of a pixel is opaque, and a second image having a semi-transparent parameter value. A screen display method in an image forming apparatus having a storage device for storing a first image composed of an image region, wherein the second image displayed on the display device is stored in the storage device It has a synthesis procedure for superposing and synthesizing the first image.

  In order to achieve the above object, the screen display method of the present invention includes an image generation procedure for generating the first image composed of the first image region and the second image region, In the synthesis procedure, the first image generated by the image generation procedure is superimposed on the second image and synthesized.

  In order to achieve the above object, the screen display method of the present invention provides the first image area when the image area size of the first image and the second image is different in the image generation procedure. And the second image area are generated.

  In order to achieve the above object, the screen display method of the present invention is configured such that, in the synthesis procedure, the first image is added to the second image based on the transparency parameter of each pixel of the first image. Are superimposed and synthesized.

  As a result, the screen display method of the present invention includes a first image region having a parameter value in which the transparency parameter (alpha channel) indicating the transparency of the pixel is opaque, and a second image region having a semi-transparent parameter value. By superimposing and synthesizing the configured first image on the second image displayed on the display screen, the number of pixels to be processed by the alpha channel processing can be reduced, and the display screen can be displayed at high speed. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a screen display program of the present invention includes a display device, a first image region having a parameter value in which a transparency parameter indicating the transparency of a pixel is opaque, and a second image having a semi-transparent parameter value. A screen display program in the image forming apparatus having a storage device for storing a first image composed of an image area, wherein the storage device stores the computer as a second image displayed on the display device. The first image stored in the above is functioned as a combining means for superimposing and combining the first images.

  As a result, the screen display program of the present invention causes the computer to display the first image area having the parameter value in which the transparency parameter (alpha channel) indicating the transparency of the pixel is opaque, and the second image having the semi-transparent parameter value. The first image composed of the area can be made to function so as to be superimposed on the second image displayed on the display screen.

  Therefore, the screen display program of the present invention can realize a screen display function that can display a display screen at high speed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus, a display apparatus, a screen display method, and a screen display program that can display a display screen at high speed.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
<Hardware configuration>
The hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment and the operation panel 21 included in the image forming apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[Image forming apparatus]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an operation panel 21, a storage medium I / F 22, a controller 23, a data communication I / F 24, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 209, a scanner 25, and a plotter 26. Are connected to each other.

  The operation panel 21 includes an input device 201 and a display device 202. The input device 201 includes hardware keys and the like, and is used to input each operation signal to the image forming apparatus 100. The display device 202 is configured by a display or the like, and displays, for example, various types of information related to the image forming operation. The data communication I / F 24 includes an interface device 208, and is an interface that connects the image forming apparatus 100 to a data transmission path such as a network. The HDD 209 stores various data such as received document data and read image data handled by the image forming apparatus 100. Also, the HDD 209 manages these various data by a predetermined file system or DB (Data Base).

  The various data stored in the HDD 209 includes electronic data recorded by an external device such as a digital camera. In such a case, it is provided to the image forming apparatus 100 by a recording medium 204 such as a memory card or uploaded through a network or the like that is a data transmission path. The recording medium 204 is set in the drive device 203 included in the storage medium I / F 22, and various data is stored in the HDD 209 from the recording medium 204 via the drive device 203.

  The controller 23 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 205, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 206, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 207. The ROM 205 is executed when the image forming apparatus 100 is activated. Program and various data are stored. The RAM 206 temporarily stores various programs and data read from the ROM 205 and the HDD 209. Further, the CPU 207 executes a program temporarily stored in the RAM 206. For example, when the controller 23 receives print data via the data communication I / F 24, the CPU 207 loads a program (PDL parser) that can read a page description language (PDL) read from the ROM 205 onto the RAM 206. Execute and interpret the print data to generate a bitmap image.

  The scanner 25 has an image reading device 210 and optically reads a document placed on a reading surface and generates image data. The plotter 26 has a printing device 211, and prints a bitmap image on a recording sheet by, for example, an electrophotographic process method.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment realizes a plurality of functions such as a copy, a printer, a facsimile, and a scanner by the above hardware configuration.

[Operation panel (display device)]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the operation panel 21 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a dedicated CPU 1 independent of the CPU 207 on the controller 23 which is a main body control board is mounted on the control board A of the operation panel 21.

  The operation panel control and the main body control are connected by communication means 10 such as a synchronous serial, and are configured to be capable of bidirectional data communication such as drawing commands and key input information. The dedicated CPU 1 of the operation panel 21 is connected with a control program including a screen display program according to this embodiment, a ROM 2 storing screen data such as an application window and a system window, and a RAM 3 used as a work area. ing.

  In addition, an LCD controller 4 that controls an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) module 6, a touch panel 7 that is arranged on the LCD module 6, a driver 9 of a key board 8, and the like are connected.

  Furthermore, it is possible to read / write to a video RAM that holds display pixel data to the LCD module 6 via the LCD controller 4, or an SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) 5 called VRAM for short. It is also possible to control the backlight of the key switch, LED (Light Emitting Diode) 8 and LCD module 6 on the key board 8.

  The LCD controller 4 performs refresh processing of the SDRAM 5 and display data transfer (display signal output) from the SDRAM 5 to the LCD module 6, but the output 11 of this signal can be suppressed by setting in the internal register.

  The LCD controller 4 also has a touch panel I / F function. When the touch panel 7 is pressed, the LCD controller 4 interrupts the CPU 1.

  Further, on each control board, connecting means (for example, a card slot) of an external recording medium (such as a flash memory) such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card is added, so that data can be read from the external recording medium. It has a possible configuration. The detailed configuration of the controller 23 is omitted.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment displays an application window for setting for each function such as a copy, a printer, a facsimile, and a scanner, and status information of the entire apparatus by the above hardware configuration. A system window or the like is displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 21.

<Software configuration>
Next, a software configuration of the operation panel 21 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the operation panel 21 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Operation panel (display device)]
The software configuration of the operation panel 21 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment mainly operates immediately after the image forming apparatus 100 is started up. The boot loader 31 is activated by reading out the basic software for controlling the operation panel 21 from the ROM 205. OS (Operating System) which is basic software, a driver 32 for the OS to control peripheral devices (for operating peripheral devices), and a plurality of windows such as application windows and system windows are managed. A window system 33 that provides a Graphical User Interface) environment, an application program 34 that implements a plurality of functions of the operation panel 21 including the screen display program according to the present embodiment, and screen data such as application windows and system windows. Which display contents 35 are included.

  The OS / driver 32, the window system 33, and the application program 34 (programs related to display processing of the operation panel such as the screen display program according to the present embodiment) are stored in the RAM 3 arranged on the control board A of the operation panel 21. It is read and executed by the CPU 1.

[Operation overview]
The operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment has the above-described software configuration, and displays screens such as application windows and system windows according to the following procedure. The procedure described below shows a processing procedure for screen display when the image forming apparatus 100 is turned on.

(Display Procedure 1) Activation of Operation Panel When the image forming apparatus 100 is powered on, the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment executes the boot loader 31 stored in the ROM 2 by the CPU 1 of the control board A, and the boot loader 31 Is executed, the OS 32 stored in the ROM 2 is read out on the RAM 3 and activated.

(Display Procedure 2) Activation of Window System When the OS 32 is activated, the operation panel 21 activates a window system 33 that operates on the OS 32.

(Display Procedure 3) Execution of Screen Display Program When the window system 33 is activated, the operation panel 21 reads a screen display program, which is one of the application programs 34, from the ROM 2 to the RAM 3 and executes it by the CPU 1. As a result, on the operation panel 21, the screen data that is the display content 35 stored in the ROM 2 is read to the SDRAM 5 and displayed on the LCD module 6 via the LCD controller 4.

  As described above, the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment realizes the “screen display function” for displaying the screen data as the display content 35 on the display screen by the above (display procedure 1) to (display procedure 3). Yes.

<Function>
Next, the configuration of the “screen display function” of the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the operation panel 21 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

<< Overview of functional configuration >>
The operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment mainly includes a foreground image holding unit 41 (holding unit) that holds screen data of a system window displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 21 according to the state of the image forming apparatus 100. An alpha blending unit 42 (compositing means) that superimposes and synthesizes a system window on an application window.

  Below, each said function part is demonstrated easily.

  The foreground image holding unit 41 displays the display screen of the operation panel 21 at high speed, and performs high-speed image areas that cover the application window 51b, which is a background image, subjected to predetermined image processing for each state of the image forming apparatus 100. The conversion foreground image 52 (an image including the system window) is held in a predetermined storage area. The foreground image holding unit 41 is a function realized by the ROM 2 of the operation panel 21. Further, the “predetermined image processing” referred to here is a value of a transparency parameter (hereinafter referred to as “alpha channel value”) indicating the transparency of the pixel of the high-speed foreground image 52, and is different for each specific image region. Means to set a value.

  The alpha blending unit 42 performs alpha channel processing on the background image 51b and the speed-up foreground image 52 based on the alpha channel value of each pixel of the speed-up foreground image 52 held in the foreground image holding unit 41. The foreground image 52 for acceleration is superimposed on the background image 51b and synthesized. The alpha blending unit 42 is a function realized by a screen display program stored in the ROM 2 of the operation panel 21 being read out on the RAM 3 and executed by the CPU 1.

<< Overview of functional operation >>
Next, the operation of displaying the system window 51f on the application window 51b in the “screen display function” of the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment by the function units described above will be described with reference to FIGS. The outline will be described below.

(Operation 1) Display of Application Window FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of an application window display according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows an example of an application window 51b regarding the copy function of the image forming apparatus 100 displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 21. In the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment, the screen display program is executed by the CPU 1, the screen data stored in the ROM 2 is read onto the SDRAM 5, and the application window 51 b as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the LCD via the LCD controller 4. Display on module 6.

(Operation 2) Device Status Detection and Screen Data Acquisition FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a system window display according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 shows an example of a system window 51f displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 21 when the detected state of the image forming apparatus 100 is “cover open”. When the operation panel 21 informs the user of the detected state of the image forming apparatus 100, the system window as shown in FIG. 6 corresponding to the detected state among the screen data stored in the ROM 2 by the screen display program. The screen data for displaying 51f is read onto the SDRAM 5.

(Operation 3) Generation of Display Image FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the operation panel 21 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 shows an example of a display image 53 generated by superimposing and synthesizing the system window 51f (foreground image) in the “cover open” state on the application window 51b (background image) of the copy function. The operation panel 21 is a system displayed by screen data read out on the SDRAM 5 based on the spatial coordinates on the display screen of the LCD module 6 (two-dimensional spatial coordinates in this embodiment) as shown in FIG. A display image 53 generated by superimposing and synthesizing the window 51f on the currently displayed application window 51b is displayed on the LCD module 6. At this time, the LCD module 6 displays a display image 53 including a system window 51f that is an opaque image region and a semitransparent image region 61 positioned around the system window 51f. The translucent image area 61 is an image area having a display effect for notifying that the function setting button or the like on the application window 51b cannot be used.

<Details of screen display function>
Returning to FIG. 4, in the “screen display function” of the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment, “how the high-speed drawing of the display screen is performed” in the above display operation is described in detail. Explained.

  In the present embodiment, in order to perform high-speed screen display on the operation panel 21, a foreground image 52 for acceleration different from the conventional system window 51f is held in advance, and based on this foreground image 52 for acceleration, An alpha blending unit 42 (to be described later) performs alpha channel processing, and a display image 53 is generated by superimposing and synthesizing the foreground image 52 for acceleration on the application window 51b, thereby realizing high-speed screen display.

<< Data structure >>
First, details of the acceleration foreground image 52 held by the foreground image holding unit 41 described briefly in FIG. 4 will be described.

  The high-speed foreground image 52 is subjected to predetermined image processing, and as shown in FIG. 4, image regions 52a (shaded portions in the drawing) and 52b (outlined portions in the drawing) having mainly two types of characteristics. ).

  Specifically, it is composed of a first image region 52b having an opaque alpha channel value and a second image region 52a having a translucent alpha channel value.

  Usually, the foreground image stored in the ROM 2 by the operation panel 21 is the screen data itself of the system window 51f. However, in the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment, predetermined image processing is performed on the system window 51f that is normally used, and the operation panel 21 is configured to include the first image area 52b and the second image area 52a. A foreground image 52 is generated and held in the foreground image holding unit 41.

  The predetermined image processing applied to the system window 51f is, for example, processing as described below.

(A) Generating a provisional foreground image including a system window First, a white image having an image area that covers the application window 51b as a background image (in the case of additive color mixture, the color component of each pixel value is “R = 255, G = 255, B = 255 ") and the system window 51f to be the foreground image are combined to generate a temporary foreground image.

(B) Setting the alpha channel value Next, when the alpha channel value ranges from 0 to 255, an opaque alpha channel is assigned to each pixel corresponding to the image area of the system window 51f in the image area of the temporary foreground image. A value (alpha value = 255) is set, and a semi-transparent alpha channel value (alpha value = 128 when the transmittance is 50%) is set for each pixel other than the image area of the system window 51f.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, a predetermined image processing software is used to configure the first image region 52b having an opaque alpha channel value and the second image region 52a having a semitransparent alpha channel value. The speed-up foreground image 52 including the system window 51 f to be generated is generated and stored in a predetermined storage area of the foreground image holding unit 41.

  The predetermined image processing described above is an example of image processing for generating the high-speed foreground image 52, and is not limited to this method. Any image processing method may be used as long as it can generate the acceleration foreground image 52 including the system window 51f and including the first image region 51b and the second image region 51a.

<< Alpha channel processing >>
Hereinafter, alpha channel processing performed by the alpha blending unit 42 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the display image 53 is generated using alpha blending according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The alpha blending unit 42 according to the present embodiment superimposes and combines the acceleration foreground image 52 on the application window 51b based on the acceleration foreground image 52 held by the foreground image holding unit 41.

  FIG. 8 shows a copy function application window 51b, an image area 52b of the system window 51f at the time of “cover open” in which an opaque alpha channel value is set, and an image area 52a in which a translucent alpha channel value is set. Based on the foreground image 52 for speeding up composed of the hatched portion in the figure), the system window 51f at the time of “cover open” and the translucent image area 61 located around the system window 51f An example is shown in which a configured display image 53 is generated.

  At this time, the alpha blending unit 42 performs alpha channel processing based on the alpha channel value of each pixel of the acceleration foreground image 52 read to the SDRAM 5 according to the state of the image forming apparatus 100. The foreground image 52 for acceleration is superimposed on the application window 51b displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 21 and synthesized.

  In the alpha channel processing according to the present embodiment, the alpha channel value, the application window 51b, and the acceleration foreground image 52 of each pixel of the acceleration foreground image 52 are expressed by the following equations (1) and (2). The color component value (RGB value) of each pixel is substituted, and the calculation result is used as the color component value of each pixel of the application window 51b.

[Calculation of alpha channel processing]
In the alpha channel processing according to the present embodiment, in order to realize a high-speed screen display, the expression (in the case where the alpha channel value of a pixel is a translucent alpha channel value and an opaque alpha channel value) The processing is divided into 1) and equation (2). Specifically, for a pixel having a semi-transparent alpha channel value, calculation is performed using Equation (1), and for a pixel having an opaque alpha channel value, calculation is performed using Equation (2). To do.

上記式（１）及び式（２）に用いられている変数名の意味を以下に示す。また、この中で「前景」とは、本実施形態の場合、システムウィンドウ５１fを意味し、「背景」とは、アプリケーションウィンドウ５１bを意味する。
Rs(x,y) ： 前景の座標(x,y)に位置する色成分Rの画素値
Gs(x,y) ： 前景の座標(x,y)の位置する色成分Gの画素値
Bs(x,y) ： 前景の座標(x,y)の位置する色成分Bの画素値
Rd(x,y) ： 背景の座標(x,y)の位置する色成分Rの画素値
Gd(x,y) ： 背景の座標(x,y)の位置する色成分Gの画素値
Bd(x,y) ： 背景の座標(x,y)の位置する色成分Bの画素値
α(x,y) ： 座標(x,y)のアルファ値：0≦α(x,y)≦255
上記の式（２）から明らかなように、本実施形態に係るアルファチャンネル処理では、不透明なアルファチャンネル値をもつ画素に対して、表示画面上の座標空間において対応する高速化用前景画像５２の画素値をアプリケーションウィンドウ５１bの画素値に代入するだけの処理となる。

The meanings of the variable names used in the above formulas (1) and (2) are shown below. In the present embodiment, “foreground” means the system window 51f, and “background” means the application window 51b.
Rs (x, y): Pixel value of color component R located at foreground coordinates (x, y)
Gs (x, y): Pixel value of color component G located at foreground coordinates (x, y)
Bs (x, y): Pixel value of color component B located at foreground coordinates (x, y)
Rd (x, y): Pixel value of color component R located at background coordinates (x, y)
Gd (x, y): Pixel value of the color component G at the background coordinate (x, y)
Bd (x, y): Pixel value of the color component B where the background coordinates (x, y) are located α (x, y): Alpha value of the coordinates (x, y): 0 ≦ α (x, y) ≦ 255
As is apparent from the above equation (2), in the alpha channel processing according to the present embodiment, the acceleration foreground image 52 corresponding to the pixel having an opaque alpha channel value in the coordinate space on the display screen is displayed. The processing is simply to substitute the pixel value into the pixel value of the application window 51b.

  Therefore, in the alpha blending unit 42 according to the present embodiment, when performing alpha channel processing, the foreground image 52 for speeding up that reduces the calculation shown in Expression (1) is stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 in advance. It has a configuration to keep.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the number of pixels to be processed by the alpha channel processing stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 in advance by the configuration of each functional unit described above. The high-speed foreground image 52 is read onto the SDRAM 5, and the alpha blending unit 42 performs alpha channel processing, so that the read high-speed foreground image 52 is superimposed on the application window 51b displayed on the display screen. is doing. As a result, the image forming apparatus 100 realizes a “screen display function” that can display the display screen of the operation panel 21 at high speed.

<Processing procedure>
A specific processing procedure of alpha blending in the “screen display function” according to the present embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIG. The processing procedure described below is mainly the processing procedure of the alpha blending unit 42 performed by the screen display program executed by the CPU 1 of the operation panel 21.

<< Alpha blending process >>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an alpha blending processing procedure according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment refers to the pixel values of all the pixels in the Y direction based on the spatial coordinates (x, y) of the accelerated foreground image 52 read from the foreground image holding unit 41 onto the SDRAM 5. It is determined whether or not (step S101).

  If it is determined that all the pixels in the Y direction have been referred to (operation S101 is YES), the operation panel 21 ends the process. Further, when it is determined that all the pixels in the Y direction are not referred to (when Step S101 is NO), it is determined whether or not the pixel values of all the pixels in the X direction are referred to (Step S102).

  When it is determined that all the pixels in the X direction have been referred to (when step S102 is YES), the operation panel 21 updates the Y coordinate (step S108), proceeds to step S101 again, and coordinates (x, y +). The subsequent processing is repeated for the pixel located at 1). If it is determined that all the pixels in the X direction are not referred to (when step S102 is NO), the alpha channel value α (x, y) of the pixel located at the coordinate (x, y) being referred to is Whether it is 0 (transparent alpha channel value) or not is determined (step S103).

  If it is determined that the alpha channel value α (x, y) is 0 (step S103 is YES), the operation panel 21 proceeds to the process of step S107. If it is determined that the alpha channel value α (x, y) is not 0 (step S103 is NO), the alpha channel value α (x, y) is 255 (whether it is an opaque alpha channel value). It is determined whether or not (step S104).

  At this time, if it is determined that the alpha channel value α (x, y) is not 255 (NO in step S104), the alpha channel value α (x, y) of the pixel located at the coordinate (x, y) being referred to is determined. y) and the color component values [Rs (x, y), Gs (x, y), Bs (x, y)] and the color components of the pixels of the background image 51b located at the same coordinates (x, y). Based on the values [Rd (x, y), Gd (x, y), Bd (x, y)], the color component values [Rd (x, y) of the pixels of the application window 51b are obtained according to the equation (1). ), Gd (x, y), Bd (x, y)] is updated to the value of the calculation result (step S105).

  If it is determined that the alpha channel value α (x, y) is 255 (YES in step S104), the value of the color component of the pixel located at the coordinate (x, y) being referenced [Rs ( x, y), Gs (x, y), Bs (x, y)] and the color component values [Rd (x, y), Gd of the pixel of the application window 51b located at the same coordinates (x, y). Based on (x, y), Bd (x, y)], the pixel value of the acceleration foreground image 52 is substituted into the pixel value of the application window 51b according to the equation (2) (step S106).

  The operation panel 21 updates the X coordinate (step S107), proceeds to step S102 again, and repeats the subsequent processing for the pixel located at the coordinate (x + 1, y).

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the processing target of the alpha channel processing is set as a limited image region (only the image region that requires the alpha channel processing), and thereby the application that is the background image Compared to the conventional screen display in which the alpha channel processing of Expression (1) is performed on all the pixels of the window 51b, the display screen can be displayed at a higher speed.

<Summary>
As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the first image region 52b having an opaque alpha channel value and the translucent alpha channel value. A foreground image holding unit 41 that holds a foreground image 52 for acceleration that includes a second image area 52 a and the foreground for acceleration from the foreground image holding unit 41 according to the state of the image forming apparatus 100. The image 52 is read, and the alpha blending unit 42 generates the display image 53 by superimposing the read acceleration foreground image 52 on the application window 51b displayed on the display screen.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can provide a “screen display function” that can reduce the number of pixels to be processed by the alpha channel processing and display the display screen at high speed.

[Second Embodiment]
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an apparatus having a foreground image generation function for generating a speed-up foreground image 52 in the “screen display function”.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, the foreground image holding unit 41 is configured to hold the acceleration foreground image 52 generated in advance. However, in the present embodiment, in addition to the foreground image holding unit 41 described in the first embodiment, it has a function of generating a foreground image 52 for acceleration, and the high-speed operation is performed according to the image feature of the system window 51f. For example, even in a low-end image forming apparatus 100 with a small capacity of a storage device (for example, ROM 2 of the operation panel 21) that stores screen data, the display of the operation panel 21 is generated. The screen can be displayed at high speed.

  Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The technical matters similar to those of the first embodiment are not described in the present embodiment by using the drawings and reference numerals described in the first embodiment.

<Details of screen display function>
Among the constituent elements of the “screen display function” of the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment, a foreground image generation unit 43 different from the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

<< Foreground image generation processing >>
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the operation panel 21 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is an example of the foreground image generation for acceleration according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

  The foreground image generation unit 43 included in the operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment generates a high-speed foreground image 52 based on the system window 51f. At this time, the system window 51f referred to by the foreground image generation unit 43 is stored in the foreground image holding unit 41, and as shown in FIG. 11, the stored system window 51f is read onto the SDRAM 5 to obtain an opaque alpha A speed-up foreground image 52 composed of a first image region 52b having a channel value and a second image region 52a having a semi-transparent alpha channel value is generated. Here, the generation of the acceleration foreground image 52 performed by the foreground image generation unit 43 performs, for example, the same processing as the predetermined image processing (A) and (B) described in the first embodiment. .

  In addition, the foreground image holding unit 41 according to the present embodiment includes a high-speed foreground image 52 that has undergone predetermined image processing on the system window 51f and a pre-predetermined image process for the following reasons. Two types of screen data are held with the system window 51f itself.

(Reason) A problem related to the capacity of the foreground image holding unit for storing the screen data The size of the image areas of the system window 51f and the application window 51b (for example, values calculated based on the vertical and horizontal widths of the image). In comparison, for example, if the system window 51f has an area size that is half or less than that of the application window 51b, when the predetermined image processing is performed and the foreground image 52 for acceleration is generated from the screen data of the system window 51f, the system window 51f The data amount becomes about twice or more, and as a result, the storage area allocated to the foreground image holding unit 41 for the system window 51f is exceeded. As a result, if the image forming apparatus 100 is a low-end model and has few hardware resources, storing it in the foreground image holding unit 41 in the state of the foreground image 52 for speeding up will reduce the storage capacity and consume extra. Become.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, in consideration of the above points, the system window 51f with a small data amount is stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 based on the comparison result of the area sizes of the system window 51f and the application window 51b. When screen display is performed, the foreground image generation unit 43 internally generates a speed-up foreground image 52.

  Therefore, the foreground image generation unit 43 reads the screen data of the system window 51f from the foreground image holding unit 41 and generates the acceleration foreground image 52 when the following (generation conditions) are satisfied.

(Generation conditions) When the image areas of the system window 51f and the application window 51b are different, the foreground image generation unit 43 matches the area sizes of the system window 51f and the application window 51b displayed on the display screen according to the state of the image forming apparatus 100. If it is determined that the determination result is “not coincident (different)”, the acceleration foreground image 52 is generated.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the above (generation conditions) are not satisfied (when the region sizes match in the generation conditions), as described in the first embodiment, the foreground image holding unit The foreground image 52 for acceleration is read from 41.

  For example, when the application window 51b is not rectangular (for example, an image with a rounded outline), a second image region 52a having a semi-transparent alpha channel value is added in advance using predetermined image processing software. A rectangular system window 51 f is generated and stored in a predetermined storage area of the foreground image holding unit 41. Accordingly, the speed-up foreground image 52 is generated and stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 during the above operation. In such a case, the area sizes of the system window 51f and the application window 51b match.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, due to the configuration of each functional unit described above, the high-speed foreground image 52 (first image) with a small number of pixels to be processed by the alpha channel processing is provided. Image) is generated on the SDRAM 5 by the foreground image generation unit 43 according to the image characteristics of the system window 51f, and alpha channel processing is performed by the alpha blending unit 42, so that the application is a background image displayed on the display screen. The generated acceleration foreground image 52 is superimposed on the window 51b (second image) and combined. As a result, even in the image forming apparatus 100 with few hardware resources, a “screen display function” capable of displaying the display screen of the operation panel 21 at high speed is realized.

<Processing procedure>
A specific processing procedure of the “screen display function” according to the present embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIG. The processing procedure described below is a procedure performed by a screen display program executed by the CPU 1 of the operation panel 21 as in the first embodiment.

<< Screen display processing >>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a screen display processing procedure according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation panel 21 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the sizes of the image areas of the application window 51b and the system window 51f match (step S201).

  When it is determined that the area sizes of the images match (when step S201 is YES), the operation panel 21 selects the image forming apparatus out of the acceleration foreground images 52 stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 in advance. The speed-up foreground image 52 corresponding to the state of 100 is acquired (step S202).

  If it is determined that the image areas do not match (different) (NO in step S201), the foreground image generation unit 43 uses the system window 51 stored in the foreground image holding unit 41 in advance. The speed-up foreground image 52 is generated from the screen data of the system window 51f corresponding to the state of the image forming apparatus 100 (step S203).

  The operation panel 21 performs alpha channel processing based on the acceleration foreground image 52 acquired in step S202 or the acceleration foreground image 52 generated in step S203 (step S204).

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the processing target of the alpha channel processing is set as a limited image region (only the image region that requires the alpha channel processing), and thereby the application that is the background image Compared to the conventional screen display in which the alpha channel processing of Expression (1) is performed on all the pixels of the window 51b, the display screen can be displayed at a higher speed.

<Summary>
As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the first image region 52b having an opaque alpha channel value and the translucent alpha channel value. A foreground image generation unit 43 that generates a speed-up foreground image 52 composed of a second image area 52a, and the foreground image generation unit 43 uses a system window 51f corresponding to the state of the image forming apparatus 100. The foreground image 52 for acceleration is generated according to the image characteristics of the image, and the generated foreground image 52 for acceleration is superimposed on the application window 51b which is the background image displayed on the display screen by the alpha blending unit 42 and synthesized. A display image 53 is generated.

  Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can provide a “screen display function” that can display a display screen at high speed even in an apparatus with few hardware resources.

  Up to this point, the present invention has been described based on the first and second embodiments. The “screen display function” of the image forming apparatus 100 according to each embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 12. It can be realized by executing the screen display program including each processing procedure shown in FIG. Therefore, the screen display program according to each embodiment of the present invention can be stored in the recording medium 204 that can be read by the image forming apparatus 100.

  Therefore, the screen display program according to each embodiment can read these recording media 204 by being stored in the recording media 204 such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a CD (Compact Disc), and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). It is possible to install the image forming apparatus 100 from the recording medium 204 via the drive device 203. Further, since the image forming apparatus 100 includes the interface device 208, it is also possible to download and install a screen display program using an electric communication line such as the Internet.

  Finally, the present invention is not limited to the requirements shown here, such as combinations of other elements with the shapes listed in the above embodiments. With respect to these points, the present invention can be changed within a range that does not detract from the gist of the present invention, and can be appropriately determined according to the application form.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an operation panel included in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the application window display which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the system window display which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen displayed on the operation panel which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the operation panel which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display image drawing using the alpha blending which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the alpha blending which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the operation panel which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the foreground image generation for acceleration which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the screen display which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a drawing of the conventional display image.

Explanation of symbols

1 CPU (CPU for operation panel control)
2 ROM
3 RAM
4 LCD controller 5 SDRAM
6 LCD module 7 Touch panel 8 Key board SW / LED
9 Driver 10 Communication means (for example, USB)
21 Operation panel 22 Storage media I / F
23 Controller 24 Data communication I / F
25 Scanner 26 Plotter 31 Boot loader 32 OS / Driver 33 Window system 34 Application program 35 Display content 41 Speed-up foreground image holding unit 42 Alpha blending unit 43 Speed-up foreground image generation unit 51b Application window (background image)
51f System window (foreground image)
52 Foreground image for acceleration 52a Image area with translucent alpha value 52b Image area with opaque alpha value 53 Display image 61 Translucent image area 100 Image forming apparatus 201 Input apparatus 202 Display apparatus 203 Drive apparatus 204 Recording medium 205 ROM
206 RAM
207 CPU (main body control CPU)
209 HDD
210 Image reader (scanner)
211 Printing device (plotter)
A Control panel control board

Claims (10)

An image forming apparatus having a display device,
Holding means for holding a first image composed of a first image area in which a transparency parameter indicating the transparency of a pixel has an opaque parameter value, and a second image area having a semi-transparent parameter value;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a combining unit that superimposes and combines the first image held by the holding unit on the second image displayed on the display device. Image generating means for generating the first image composed of the first image region and the second image region;
The synthesis means includes
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image generated by the image generation unit is superimposed on the second image and synthesized. The image generating means includes
When the image area size of the first image and the second image are different,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first image including the first image area and the second image area is generated. The synthesis means includes
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first image is superimposed on the second image and synthesized based on the transparency parameter of each pixel of the first image. 5. Image forming apparatus. Holding means for holding a first image composed of a first image area in which a transparency parameter indicating the transparency of a pixel has an opaque parameter value, and a second image area having a semi-transparent parameter value;
A display device comprising: a combining unit that superimposes and combines the first image held by the holding unit on the second image displayed on the display device. A display device;
A storage device for storing a first image composed of a first image region having a parameter value whose transparency parameter indicating the transparency of the pixel is opaque and a second image region having a parameter value which is translucent; A screen display method in an image forming apparatus,
A screen display method comprising: a composition procedure for superimposing the first image stored in the storage device on the second image displayed on the display device. An image generation procedure for generating the first image composed of the first image region and the second image region;
The synthesis procedure is:
The screen display method according to claim 6, wherein the first image generated by the image generation procedure is superimposed and synthesized on the second image. The image generation procedure includes:
When the image area size of the first image and the second image are different,
The screen display method according to claim 7, wherein the first image including the first image region and the second image region is generated. The synthesis procedure is:
9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the first image is superimposed on the second image and synthesized based on the transparency parameter of each pixel of the first image. 10. Screen display method. A display device;
A storage device for storing a first image composed of a first image region having a parameter value whose transparency parameter indicating the transparency of the pixel is opaque and a second image region having a parameter value which is translucent; A screen display program in the image forming apparatus,
Computer
A screen display program that functions as a combining unit that superimposes and combines the first image stored in the storage device with the second image displayed on the display device.

Images