JP2010081549A - Image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To vectorize stored data optimally in accordance with the kind of a job in a box function of a MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) product. <P>SOLUTION: With respect to intermediate data or a bit map image stored in an image processing apparatus, vectorize processing is determined and executed on the basis of information such as the kind of a job or the kind of a page description language in the job to be stored. As a result, a resolution-free state is obtained and it is made possible to select any optional output setting for re-outputting or to shorten an overall conversion time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that executes vectorization processing on data generated by interpreting a page description language based on job types and data characteristics, a control method for the image processing apparatus, and a program for controlling the image processing apparatus. Is.

  Data generated by interpreting the page description language input by the image processing apparatus is stored as a file in a secondary storage device in the image processing apparatus. As a result, the operator (user) can select an arbitrary time and output setting and perform reprinting. It is also possible to output in an arbitrary data format. Conventionally, a technique has been developed in which a suitable data format is determined in accordance with output settings, and spooling is performed in that format (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

For the purpose of reuse, a function for saving data input to the secondary storage device of the image processing apparatus in a file format is called a box function, and a file system is called a box. The files in the box are the above-described intermediate data and bitmap images, and these files need to be vectorized in the image processing apparatus in accordance with any output setting selected by the user. In an image processing apparatus, a technique for executing a vectorization process in an idle time outside the operation time has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2001-356893 A JP 2004-355315 A

  According to Patent Document 1, for example, a case is considered in which a bitmap image is determined to be optimal at the time of transmission from the host side, and the bitmap image is stored in the secondary storage device. In this case, there is a problem that a file stored in the secondary storage device in the image processing apparatus needs to be vectorized depending on the output setting or the output data format specified by the user. That is, when the user designates enlargement printing for the file, a vectorization process that does not depend on resolution is necessary to maintain the output quality.

  Further, as in Patent Document 2, a file stored in the secondary storage device is vectorized in the image processing device during the idle time of the device operation time. However, the vectorization process largely depends on the type of page description language and the job input means, and the contents of the process vary. There is a problem that a vectorization process to be executed must be uniquely determined.

  In order to solve the above-described problem of whether or not the necessity of the rasterization process occurs or not, and the determination of the execution contents of the vectorization process and the execution time, the present invention has the following means. To do. Vectorization processing is determined and executed on the intermediate data or bitmap image stored in the image processing apparatus based on information such as the type of job or the type of page description language in the job to be stored.

  By performing the vectorization process on the intermediate data or bitmap image stored in the image processing apparatus, the resolution becomes free, and an arbitrary output setting can be selected and re-outputted.

  Also, by determining the vectorization processing configuration based on information such as the type of job and the type of page description language, the overall conversion time can be shortened.

  Next, details of the present invention will be described in accordance with the description of the embodiments.

  Hereinafter, a print process of a document stored in a box of an MFP, which is the best mode for carrying out the present invention, will be described with reference to the drawings.

  A configuration of a 1D color MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) suitable for applying this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The 1D color MFP shown in FIG. 1 includes a scanner unit, a laser exposure unit, a photosensitive drum, an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a paper feeding / conveying unit, and a printer control unit (not shown) that controls these units.

  The scanner unit is a step of creating image data by optically reading a document image by illuminating a document placed on a document table and converting the image into an electrical signal.

  The laser exposure unit causes a light beam such as a laser beam modulated according to the image data to enter a rotating polygon mirror (polygon mirror) that rotates at an equal angular velocity, and irradiates the photosensitive drum as reflected scanning light.

  The image forming unit rotates the photosensitive drum, charges it with a charger, develops the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum by the laser exposure unit with toner, and transfers the toner image to a sheet. At this time, an image is formed by executing a series of electrophotographic processes in which minute toner remaining on the photosensitive drum without being transferred is collected. At that time, each developing unit (developing station) having magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) toners is wound around a predetermined position of the transfer belt and rotated four times. ), And the above-described electrophotographic process is sequentially repeated. After four rotations, the sheet onto which the four color full-color toner images have been transferred leaves the transfer drum and is conveyed to the fixing unit.

  The fixing unit is configured by a combination of a roller and a belt, and includes a heat source such as a halogen heater, and melts and fixes the toner on the sheet on which the toner image is transferred by the image forming unit by heat and pressure.

  The sheet feeding / conveying unit has one or more sheet storages represented by sheet cassettes and paper decks, and selects one of a plurality of sheets stored in the sheet storage in response to an instruction from the printer control unit. Sheets are separated and conveyed to the image forming unit and fixing unit. The sheet is wound around the transfer drum of the image forming unit, and after four rotations, is conveyed to the fixing unit. During the four rotations, the above-described toner images of each color of YMCK are transferred to the sheet. Further, when forming an image on both sides of the sheet, control is performed so that the sheet that has passed through the fixing unit passes through a conveyance path for conveying the sheet to the image forming unit again.

  The printer control unit communicates with the MFP control unit that controls the entire MFP, executes control in accordance with the instruction, and also checks the status of each of the scanner, laser exposure, image forming, fixing, and paper feed / carrying units. While managing, give instructions to keep the whole in harmony and operate smoothly.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control unit (controller) of the MFP according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, a control unit 200 is connected to a scanner 201 that is an image input device and a printer engine 202 that is an image output device, and performs control for reading image data and printing output. Further, the control unit 200 is connected to the LAN 10 or the public line 204 to perform control for inputting / outputting image information and device information via the LAN 10.

  A CPU 205 is a central processing unit for controlling the entire MFP. A RAM 206 is a system work memory for the CPU 205 to operate, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing input image data. A ROM 207 is a boot ROM, and stores a system boot program. An HDD 208 is a hard disk drive and stores system software for various processes and input image data. The operation unit I / F 209 is an interface unit for the operation unit 210 having a display screen capable of displaying image data and the like, and outputs operation screen data to the operation unit 210. In addition, the operation unit I / F 209 serves to transmit information input by the operator from the operation unit 210 to the CPU 205. The network interface 211 is realized by a LAN card or the like, for example, and is connected to the LAN 10 to input / output information to / from an external device. Furthermore, the modem 212 is connected to the public line 204 and inputs / outputs information to / from an external device. The above units are arranged on the system bus 213.

  The image bus I / F 214 is an interface for connecting the system bus 213 and an image bus 215 that transfers image data at high speed, and is a bus bridge that converts a data structure. On the image bus 215, a raster image processor 216, a device I / F 217, a scanner image processing unit 218, a printer image processing unit 219, an image editing image processing unit 220, and a color management module 230 are connected.

  A raster image processor (RIP) 216 expands a page description language (PDL) code and vector data described later into an image. A device I / F unit 217 connects the scanner 201 and printer engine 202 to the control 200 and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data.

  The scanner image processing unit 218 performs various processes such as correction, processing, and editing on the image data input from the scanner 201. The printer image processing unit 219 performs processing such as correction and resolution conversion according to the printer engine on the image data to be printed out. The image editing image processing 220 performs various types of image processing such as image data rotation and image data compression / decompression processing. The CMM 230 is a dedicated hardware module that performs color conversion processing (also referred to as color space conversion processing) on image data based on a profile and calibration data. A profile is information such as a function for converting color image data expressed in a device-dependent color space into a device-independent color space (eg, Lab). The calibration data is data for correcting the color reproduction characteristics of the scanner unit 201 and the printer engine 202 in the color multifunction machine 3.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the image processing system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, the image processing system includes an MFP 302, an MFP 2 303, and an MFP 3 304 that are connected to each other via a LAN (Local Area Network) 301 or the like.

  Each MFP includes an HDD (Hard Disk Drive: secondary storage device). By storing the document (Document) input by the user in this HDD, the job is interrupted, and the box (BOX) function for changing the job setting and output method again and re-outputting is provided. It can be realized. Each MFP has HDDs 305, 306, and 307 that can store documents, respectively, in which various data formats and data level documents are stored. MFP1, MFP2, and MFP3 can communicate with each other using a network protocol. Note that these MFPs connected to the LAN N1 need not be limited to the physical arrangement as described above. In addition, devices other than the MFP (for example, PC, various servers, printers, etc.) may be connected to the LAN N1. Each MFP is not limited to a box function for documents in its own HDD. Through a LAN (Local Area Network) 301, a similar box function can be realized for a document in the HDD in another connected MFP. Furthermore, each MFP can implement functions such as printing and transmission to other connected MFPs by using a box function for documents in its own HDD via a LAN (Local Area Network) 301. .

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of controller software for controlling the operation of the MFP. The printer interface 401 is a means for input / output with the outside. The protocol control unit 402 is means for performing communication with the outside by analyzing and transmitting a network protocol. The data level control unit 403 is a means for controlling the data level of the data stored in the document storage unit 410 to a function that is necessary and sufficient at the time of re-output. The vectorize processing unit 404 generates (vectorizes) vector data that is a rendering description independent of resolution from a bitmap image. The rasterization processing unit 405 generates (rasterizes) a bitmap image from vector data that is a rendering description independent of resolution. This is the reverse of the vectorize process. The PDL analysis unit 406 is means for analyzing PDL (Page Description Language) and converting it into intermediate data (DisplayList) in a format that is easier to process. The intermediate data generated in the PDL analysis unit 406 is passed to the data drawing unit 407 and processed. The data drawing unit 407 develops the intermediate data into bitmap data, and the developed bitmap data is sequentially drawn in the page memory 408. The page memory 408 is a volatile memory that temporarily holds bitmap data developed by the renderer.

  The panel input / output control unit 409 controls input / output from the operation panel. The document storage unit 410 is a means for storing various data levels and data formats such as intermediate data and bitmap images in a unit (job) of an input document, and is realized by a secondary storage device such as a hard disk. This data file is referred to as “document” in this embodiment.

  The scan control unit 411 performs various processes such as correction, processing, and editing on the image data input from the scanner. The print control unit 412 converts the contents of the page memory 407 into a video signal and transfers the image to the printer engine unit 413. The printer engine unit 413 is a printing mechanism unit for forming a received video signal on a recording sheet as a permanent visible image.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the UI screen of the operation unit in the printer driver on the host PC side by the operator. The printer driver selects an MFP that stores data in the box from MFPs that are connected to the LAN and can be stored. Next, a box number to be stored is selected. By this series of operations, the box can be stored in any MFP.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of the operation unit of the local device when a document stored in the box is selected and printed. As described above, the operator can select a document stored in the box from the local device and arbitrarily select an output setting. If the stored data format is intermediate data or bitmap images, output settings that require resolution-independent data formats such as imposition and scaling cannot be changed and are grayed out as shown in the figure. Is done.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of the operation unit of the local device when a document stored in a box is selected and printed, as in FIG. By executing the vectorization process proposed in the present invention for the stored data format, the stored data format is converted into resolution-independent data. Therefore, in FIG. 6, the output settings for which a resolution-independent data format such as imposition or enlargement / reduction is desired cannot be changed and are grayed out as shown in FIG. Then, it is possible to change the setting.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of stored data. In FIG. 8A, in the page description language, a single object is formed by a plurality of rectangles. Such data cannot be said to be resolution-independent, and cannot cope with the setting for enlarging / reducing. FIG. 8B shows an object drawn by a group of curves in a page description language expressed as a polygon formed by a group of straight lines at an intermediate data level for drawing. Such data cannot be said to be resolution-independent, and cannot cope with the setting for enlarging / reducing. FIG. 8C shows an object drawn by a curve group in a page description language and is expressed by the curve group in the stored data format as it is. Such data is independent of resolution and can correspond to a setting for enlarging / reducing. The object of the present invention is to vectorize storage data and make it independent of resolution by converting and restoring data such as FIG. 8-A and FIG. 8-B into data such as FIG. 8-C. .

  FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of the processing configuration of the present invention. In the box 901, the document itself drawing data and information such as job type, PDL type, and data resolution in data storage as the determination information are simultaneously saved in the box. Reference numerals 902, 903, and 904 are diagrams showing that the image area is separated into object attributes for the drawing data 901, and the subsequent vectorization process can be different for each object attribute. Reference numeral 905 denotes selection of vectorization processing. For this selection determination, the drawing data is not analyzed, but the determination is made from information such as the job type, the PDL type, and the data resolution in the data storage stored together with the drawing data in 901. To do. An example is shown at 906. As described above, the configuration of the vectorization process varies depending on the data characteristics, and the optimum one is selected from these. Reference numerals 907, 908, and 909 indicate that different vectorization processes can be set for each object attribute.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart in which vectorization processing is performed on the box data according to the present embodiment and printing is performed. This flowchart corresponds to operations in the printer driver in the host PC (S1001 to S1003) and operations to print data stored in the box from the MFP operation screen (S1004 to S1009). This is executed by the CPU 205 of the control unit 200 of the MFP in FIG. 2 or by any unit in the control unit 200 under the control of the CPU 205. First, in step S1001, the MFP interprets the page description language sent from the host PC. In step S1002, the page description language is interpreted and converted into intermediate data in a format that is easier to process. In step S1003, the job data is saved by combining the intermediate data as is or with the rendered bitmap image and the job setting information (job type, PDL type, data resolution). In step S1004, the operator resets the stored data and instructs execution of re-output. In step S1005, it is determined whether the output setting specified in step S1004 requires vectorization processing. If it is determined that it is not necessary, the process is terminated. If it is determined that vectorization processing is necessary, the process advances to step S1006 to refer to job setting information (job type, PDL type, data resolution), and determine the configuration and combination of necessary vectorization processing. In step S1007, the necessary configuration and combination of vectorization processing are determined from the job data reference. In step S1008, the selected vectorization process is executed. In step S1009, the vectorized rendering data is additionally stored in the box, and the series of processing ends.

1 is a side sectional view showing a structure of a printing apparatus (MFP) according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the control unit of each apparatus in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the application to the system comprised by the printing apparatus with a different hardware structure in embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the controller software in embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the operation part in embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the operation part in embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the operation part in embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the input / output data format in embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the controller software in embodiment. It is a flowchart of the process which performs reprinting of the box data in an embodiment.

Claims (5)

  An image forming apparatus comprising: means for storing input data in a large-capacity storage unit for printing or conversion to electronic data; and means for applying an optimum vectorizing process based on characteristics of the input data.   The means for applying the optimum vectorization process from the characteristics of the input data is a means for characterizing information such as job type, page description language type, data resolution, and the like according to the characteristics of the input data. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for selecting an optimal vectorization processing configuration.   Means for storing input data in a large-capacity storage unit for printing or conversion to electronic data, means for selecting data by a user, means for selecting setting of data to be stored, and data to be stored as vector data The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit configured to set whether to save at a high speed without being converted into a file.   The means for setting whether to save the data to be saved at high speed without converting it to vector data means means for saving the data to be saved in a resolution-dependent state, and performs vectorization processing to make the resolution independent. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: means for storing the data in a state of selecting the data at the time of data storage.   Means for storing input data in a large-capacity storage unit for printing or conversion to electronic data, means for selecting optimization of vectorization processing from the characteristics of the input data, means for executing it, and vectorization processing 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing resolution-independent data.

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