JP2010282489A - Image forming device, control method, and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly parallelize image processing for executing an image formation output, and improving processing efficiency, in an image forming device that has a plurality of calculation means. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming device 1 can perform image processing by either a first core 11 or a second core 12. The device includes a PDL analyzing part 210 which analyzes page information for outputting a drawing command, drawing information generating parts 222 and 226 for generating drawing information based on the drawing command, a load distribution deciding part 224 which distributes the processing for generating drawing information so that either the first core 11 or the second core 12 controls it, and an intermediate data processing part 222 which determines a processing amount for generating the drawing information based on the drawing command. If it is determined that there is a large amount of processing for generating drawing information, the generation processing for drawing information is distributed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a control program, and more particularly, to image processing when drawing information generation processing for executing image forming output can be executed by a plurality of arithmetic units.

  In recent years, there has been a tendency to digitize information, and image processing apparatuses such as printers and facsimiles used for outputting digitized information and scanners used for digitizing documents have become indispensable devices. Such an image processing apparatus is often configured as a multifunction machine that can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, or a copier by providing an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like.

  Among such image processing apparatuses, a printer used for outputting digitized information performs image processing for generating drawing information for the print engine to execute image formation output based on the input image information. Is called. This image processing is executed by a calculation means such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) operating according to software.

  With the recent development of information processing equipment, computing equipment such as a multi-core CPU including a plurality of computing means has become widespread. In a multi-core CPU, since a plurality of cores operate independently, the processing time can be shortened by parallelizing the processing. Accordingly, it is desired that the above-described image processing is also made more efficient by making it compatible with a multi-core CPU. In order to efficiently demonstrate the performance of the multi-core CPU, it is necessary to appropriately wait for one core during the operation of one core, that is, to prevent a wait from occurring, by appropriately allocating processing to each core. There is.

  As a method for utilizing a multi-core environment in an image forming apparatus, a method has been proposed in which the above-described image processing is divided into two stages and each of the two stages is executed by different CPUs (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ). In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, pipeline parallel execution is enabled by passing the processing result of the first core using a drawing object queue. In order to distribute the load between the two stages, it is determined at which stage the color conversion process is executed according to the number of standby drawing objects in the drawing object queue.

  Here, the above-described image processing is mainly divided into a PDL (Page Description Language) analysis process and a rendering process. The PDL analysis process is a process of analyzing PDL information configured in a page description language and converting it into a data format that can be processed by a module at a later stage. On the other hand, the rendering process is a process for generating drawing information for the print engine to execute image formation output based on the information converted by the PDL analysis.

  As a load distribution mode corresponding to the multi-core CPU, a mode in which the PDL analysis process and the rendering process are executed by different CPUs can be considered. However, the amount of PDL analysis processing and rendering processing varies depending on the data, and efficient parallelization cannot always be realized depending on this aspect.

  In the case of the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to secure a memory area in order to provide a drawing object queue, and the amount of memory that can be used for processing is limited. Also, since it is intended only for color conversion processing, it is less effective for drawing monochrome pages with little color processing. Furthermore, there is data already waiting for processing at the time when the queue is generated, and parallel processing is not suitably performed.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and in an image forming apparatus having a plurality of calculation means, appropriately parallelizes image processing for executing image forming output, and improves processing efficiency. Objective.

  In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus capable of executing image processing for executing image forming output by a plurality of arithmetic units, and includes page information configured by a page description language. A page information acquisition unit that acquires the page information analysis unit that analyzes the acquired page information and outputs a drawing command for executing the image formation output, and outputs the image formation output based on the drawing command. A drawing information generation unit that generates drawing information to be executed, and a processing distribution unit that executes distributed processing to distribute the processing for generating the drawing information so that any of the plurality of arithmetic units controls the processing, When the processing distribution unit determines a processing amount when generating the drawing information based on the output drawing command and determines that the processing amount when generating the drawing information is large Characterized by distributing the generation processing of the drawing information to control any of the plurality of operation means.

  Here, the processing distribution unit calculates the processing amount as numerical information, and determines that the processing amount when generating the drawing information is large by comparing the calculated numerical value with a predetermined threshold value. it can. Alternatively, the processing distribution unit can determine that the amount of processing when generating the drawing information is large when a Bezier curve is included in the drawing command.

  In addition, the image processing apparatus further includes a processing amount calculation unit that calculates a processing amount of processing for generating the drawing information executed based on the drawing command, and the processing distribution unit includes the drawing information based on the calculated processing amount. It is preferable to distribute the generation process.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the processing amount calculation unit calculates the processing amount as a load index corresponding to the calculation capability of the plurality of calculation means.

  In addition, the processing amount calculation unit calculates the load index based on a variable element that varies according to the content of the drawing command and a fixed element that is determined by the performance of hardware configuring the image forming apparatus. It is preferable.

  Further, the processing amount calculation unit calculates the variation element so that the contribution rate to the entire variation element differs for each of the plurality of types of processing included in the drawing command according to the contents of the plurality of types of processing. It is preferable to do.

  In addition, the page information acquisition unit, the page information analysis unit, the drawing information generation unit, the processing amount calculation unit, and the processing distribution unit are controlled by a first calculation unit among the plurality of calculation units, and the drawing An information generation unit is controlled by one of the first calculation unit and the second calculation unit among the plurality of calculation units according to the result of the distributed processing, and the first of the generated drawing commands And an intermediate information storage unit controlled by the first calculation unit so as to store the remaining drawing commands processed by the calculation information generation unit by controlling the drawing information generation unit, and the second calculation The drawing information generation unit controlled by the means executes the drawing information generation processing based on the drawing command stored in the storage medium, and the page information acquisition unit, the page information analysis unit, The image information generation unit, the processing amount calculation unit, and the processing distribution unit, in parallel with the processing of the drawing information generation unit controlled by the second calculation means, after the acquisition of page information for the next page The processing distribution unit executes the processing, and the distribution information for the next page is controlled by the second calculation unit that is executed in parallel based on the calculated processing amount in the distribution processing for the next page It is preferable that the drawing information generation process is distributed so that any one of the plurality of calculation units controls according to the amount of the generation process.

  Further, in the distribution processing for the next page, the processing distribution unit performs the drawing information generation processing according to the information amount of the drawing command stored in the storage medium by any one of the plurality of calculation means. It is preferable to disperse in a controlled manner.

  Further, the processing distribution unit is configured to perform the drawing information according to a processing state of the drawing information generation processing controlled by the second calculation unit being executed in parallel in the distributed processing for the next page. It is preferable that the generation process is distributed so that any one of the plurality of calculation means controls.

  In addition, the processing distribution unit is configured to reduce the minimum processing amount that can be processed by the control by the first calculation unit in a process other than the drawing information generation process, and the drawing information controlled by the second calculation unit. It is preferable to assign as a generation process of drawing information to be executed by the generation unit.

  Further, it is preferable that the processing distribution unit divides a scan line conversion process for converting a Bezier curve included in the drawing command into drawing information and distributes it so as to be controlled by any of the plurality of arithmetic units.

  The scan line conversion process is a process of converting the Bezier curve into drawing information through a plurality of stages of processing, and the processing distribution unit is configured to divide the scan line conversion by dividing at any one of the plurality of stages. Is preferably divided.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method for an image forming apparatus capable of executing image processing for executing image formation output by a plurality of arithmetic means, wherein the page information acquisition unit is configured by a page description language. The page information analysis unit outputs the drawing command for analyzing the acquired page information and executing the image formation output, and the processing amount determination unit outputs the drawing information When determining the processing amount when generating the drawing information for executing the image forming output based on the command, and when the processing distribution unit determines that the processing amount when generating the drawing information is large, The drawing information generation process is distributed so that any one of the plurality of calculation units controls, and the drawing information generation unit controls the drawing by controlling any one of the plurality of calculation units according to the result of the distribution. information And controlling so as to generate.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control program for causing an information processing apparatus to operate as an image forming apparatus that can execute image processing for executing image forming output by a plurality of arithmetic units, and the information processing apparatus uses a page description language. Obtaining the configured page information; analyzing the obtained page information; issuing a drawing command for executing the image forming output; and forming the image based on the output drawing command Determining the amount of processing when generating drawing information for executing output, and determining that the amount of processing when generating the drawing information is large; The drawing information is generated by controlling one of the plurality of calculating means according to the step of distributing so that any of the calculating means controls and the result of the dispersion That the steps, characterized in that to be executed by the information processing apparatus.

  According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus having a plurality of computing units, it is possible to appropriately parallelize image processing for executing image forming output and improve processing efficiency.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the function contained in the image process part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the printing information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function contained in the drawing core module which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the PDL application which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which compares and shows the parallel processing which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the parallel processing which concerns on a prior art. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the PDL application which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the scan line conversion process which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present exemplary embodiment, an image forming apparatus as an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) including functions of a printer, a scanner, a copier, and the like will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an engine that executes image formation in addition to the same configuration as an information processing terminal such as a general server or a PC (Personal Computer). That is, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, an engine 40, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 50, and an I / O. F60 is connected via the bus 90. Further, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 70 and an operation unit 80 are connected to the I / F 60.

  The CPU 10 is a calculation unit and controls the operation of the entire image forming apparatus 1. The CPU 10 according to the present embodiment is a dual core CPU and includes a first core 11 and a second core 12. Since the first core 11 and the second core 12 operate independently, parallel processing is possible, and processing time can be shortened. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 10 processes information. The ROM 30 is a read-only nonvolatile storage medium and stores a program such as firmware. The engine 40 is a mechanism that actually executes image formation in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The HDD 50 is a non-volatile storage medium that can read and write information, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like. The I / F 60 connects and controls the bus 90 and various hardware and networks. The LCD 70 is a visual user interface for the user to check the state of the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 80 is a user interface for a user to input information to the image forming apparatus 1 such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  In such a hardware configuration, a program stored in a recording medium such as the ROM 30 or the HDD 50 or an optical disk (not shown) is read out to the RAM 20 and operates according to the control of the CPU 10 to constitute a software control unit. A functional block that realizes the functions of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured by a combination of the software control unit configured as described above and hardware.

  Next, the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 100, an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 110, a scanner unit 120, a paper discharge tray 130, a display panel 140, and a paper feed table. 150, a print engine 160, a paper discharge tray 170, and a network I / F 180.

  The controller 100 includes a main control unit 101, an engine control unit 102, an input / output control unit 103, an image processing unit 104, and an operation display control unit 105. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as a multifunction machine having a scanner unit 120 and a print engine 160. In FIG. 2, the electrical connection is indicated by solid arrows, and the flow of paper is indicated by broken arrows.

  The display panel 140 is an output interface that visually displays the state of the image forming apparatus 1 and is an input when the user directly operates the image forming apparatus 1 or inputs information to the image forming apparatus 1 as a touch panel. It is also an interface (operation unit). The network I / F 180 is an interface for the image forming apparatus 1 to communicate with other devices via the network, and uses an Ethernet (registered trademark) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface.

  The controller 100 is configured by a combination of software and hardware. Specifically, a control program such as firmware stored in a ROM 30, a nonvolatile memory, and a nonvolatile recording medium such as the HDD 50 or an optical disk is loaded into a volatile memory (hereinafter referred to as a memory) such as the RAM 20, and is controlled by the CPU 10. The controller 100 is configured by a software control unit configured according to the above and hardware such as an integrated circuit. The controller 100 functions as a control unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus 1.

  The main control unit 101 plays a role of controlling each unit included in the controller 100, and gives a command to each unit of the controller 100. The engine control unit 102 serves as a drive unit that controls or drives the print engine 160, the scanner unit 120, and the like. The input / output control unit 103 inputs a signal or a command input via the network I / F 180 to the main control unit 101. The main control unit 101 also controls the input / output control unit 103 to access other devices via the network I / F 180.

  The image processing unit 104 generates drawing information based on the print information included in the input print job, under the control of the main control unit 101. The drawing information is information for drawing an image to be formed in the image forming operation by the print engine 160 as an image forming unit. Also, the print information included in the print job is information converted into a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 by a printer driver installed in an information processing apparatus such as a PC, and is described by PDL (Page Description Language). Information. In other words, the print information is page information in which information on a page to be imaged and output is described. In this embodiment, the case where PDL is used as the page description language is taken as an example, but another language may be used.

  The gist of the present embodiment is that the drawing information generation processing by the image processing unit 104 is suitably allocated to the first core 11 and the second core 12 of the multi-core CPU 10. The function of the image processing unit 104 will be described in detail later. The operation display control unit 105 displays information on the display panel 140 or notifies the main control unit 101 of information input via the display panel 140.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 operates as a printer, first, the input / output control unit 103 receives a print job via the network I / F 180. The input / output control unit 103 transfers the received print job to the main control unit 101. When receiving the print job, the main control unit 101 controls the image processing unit 104 to generate drawing information based on the print information included in the print job.

  When drawing information is generated by the image processing unit 104, the engine control unit 102 executes image formation on a sheet conveyed from the paper feed table 150 based on the generated drawing information. That is, the print engine 160 functions as an image forming unit. As a specific mode of the print engine 160, an image forming mechanism using an ink jet method, an image forming mechanism using an electrophotographic method, or the like can be used. The document on which the image has been formed by the print engine 160 is discharged to the discharge tray 170.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 operates as a scanner, the operation display control is performed according to a user operation on the display panel 140 or a scan execution instruction input from an information processing terminal for an external client via the network I / F 180. The unit 105 or the input / output control unit 103 transfers a scan execution signal to the main control unit 101. The main control unit 101 controls the engine control unit 102 based on the received scan execution signal.

  The engine control unit 102 drives the ADF 110 and conveys the document to be imaged set on the ADF 110 to the scanner unit 120. Further, the engine control unit 102 drives the scanner unit 120 and images a document conveyed from the ADF 110. If no original is set on the ADF 110 and the original is set directly on the scanner unit 120, the scanner unit 120 images the set original according to the control of the engine control unit 102. That is, the scanner unit 120 operates as an imaging unit.

  In the imaging operation, an imaging element such as a CCD included in the scanner unit 120 optically scans the document, and imaging information generated based on the optical information is generated. The engine control unit 102 transfers the imaging information generated by the scanner unit 120 to the image processing unit 104. The image processing unit 104 generates image information based on the imaging information received from the engine control unit 102 according to the control of the main control unit 101. Image information generated by the image processing unit 104 is stored in a storage medium attached to the image forming apparatus 1 such as the HDD 40. That is, the scanner unit 120, the engine control unit 102, and the image processing unit 104 work together to function as a document reading unit.

  The image information generated by the image processing unit 1104 is stored as it is in the HDD 40 or the like according to a user instruction, or is transmitted to an external device via the input / output control unit 103 and the network I / F 180. That is, the scanner unit 120 and the engine control unit 102 function as an image input unit.

  Further, when the image forming apparatus 1 operates as a copying machine, the image processing unit 104 generates drawing information based on imaging information received by the engine control unit 102 from the scanner unit 120 or image information generated by the image processing unit 104. To do. Based on the drawing information, the engine control unit 102 drives the print engine 160 as in the case of the printer operation.

  In such an image forming apparatus 1, the gist of the present embodiment lies in the division and parallel processing of processing when the image processing unit 104 generates drawing information. Hereinafter, functions and operations of the image processing unit 104 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating functions included in the image processing unit 104 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the image processing unit 104 according to the present embodiment includes a PDL application 200 configured by a PDL analysis unit 210 and a drawing core module 220.

  The PDL analysis unit 210 acquires print information described in PDL and converts it into a format that can be processed by the drawing core module 220. The converted format information is processed as a rendering command in the PDL application 200. That is, the PDL analysis unit 210 functions as a page information acquisition unit and a page information analysis unit. Here, the content of the print information described in PDL is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the print information described in PDL includes text information, image information, vector information, and drawing setting information.

  The drawing core module 220 generates drawing information for the print engine 160 to execute image formation output based on the drawing command converted by the PDL analysis unit 210. Among the functions of the image processing unit 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, the PDL analysis unit 210 is processed only by the first core 11. On the other hand, the drawing core module 220 is distributed by the first core 11 and the second core 12. That is, the function of the drawing core module 220 is one of the gist according to the present embodiment.

  The function of the drawing core module 220 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating functions included in the drawing core module 220. As shown in FIG. 5, the drawing core module 220 according to the present embodiment includes a drawing module I / F 221, an intermediate data processing unit 222, a load index calculation unit 223, a load distribution determination unit 224, an intermediate data storage unit 225, and a drawing process. Part 226 and a drawing information output part 227. Among the components included in FIG. 4, the drawing module I / F 221, the intermediate data processing unit 222, the load index calculation unit 223, and the load distribution determination unit 224 are controlled by the first core 11, and the drawing processing unit 226 and the drawing information The output unit 227 is controlled by the second core 12. Each functional block controlled by the first core 11 and the second core 12 is a module constituting a drawing core module 220 realized as a software program.

  The drawing module I / F 221 acquires converted information from the PDL analysis unit 210. The intermediate data processing unit 222 stores information acquired by the drawing module I / F 221 in the intermediate data storage unit 225. That is, the intermediate data processing unit 222 functions as an intermediate information storage unit. Further, the intermediate data processing unit 222 transfers information acquired by the drawing module I / F 221 to the load index calculation unit 223, and causes the load index calculation unit 223 to execute a load index calculation process. Further, the intermediate data processing unit 222 causes the load distribution determination unit 224 to execute load distribution processing based on the load index calculation result by the load index calculation unit 223.

  Also, the intermediate data processing unit 222 according to the present embodiment, when the load distribution determining unit 224 executes the load distribution process, the drawing information generation process is assigned to the first core 11 as well. Execute. That is, the intermediate data processing unit 222 functions as a first drawing information generation unit that executes a drawing process before storing the intermediate data in the intermediate data storage unit 225.

  The load index calculation unit 223 calculates a load index for generating drawing information based on the information input from the intermediate data processing unit 222, that is, print information converted from the PDL format. The load index is a numerical value indicating the processing amount for the drawing information generation processing, and is a numerical value in which the processing capacity of hardware such as the CPU 10 and the RAM 20 is added to the amount of information to be processed, that is, the processing amount. That is, the load index calculation unit 223 functions as a processing amount calculation unit. The calculation mode of the load index according to this embodiment will be described below.

  In the present embodiment, the Bezier curve control points in the vector data, the data size of the image data, the size of the drawing area, and the performance of the drawing processing means are used as parameters when calculating the load index of the drawing information generation process. In a Bezier curve, line segments (paths) are generated by dividing between control points. Therefore, the larger the number of control points, the more division processing occurs. Therefore, the processing amount is proportional to the number of control points of the Bezier curve.

  In the case of image drawing, input data is expressed by RGB (Red Green Blue) 24-bit or Index data, and each pixel of the data is subjected to processing such as color matching processing and rotation processing. That is, the larger the data size, the more processing described above occurs. Therefore, the processing amount is proportional to the data size of the input image.

  Even if the image size of the input data is small, if the area to be drawn using the image is large, the cost required for calculation and memory access increase. This is because it is necessary to perform calculation and writing for each drawing destination pixel. Therefore, the processing amount is proportional to the size of the drawing area.

  In addition, when using a homogeneous multi-core CPU, the performance is the same as each other, but in the case of a heterogeneous multi-core CPU, the performance differs depending on the core, so the weight differs depending on which core is used for processing. . The same applies when a core or hardware accelerator specialized for scanline conversion is used. Here, the scan line conversion is a process of converting the above-described Bezier curve in the vector data into raster data, that is, a bitmap.

Based on these parameters, the load index calculation unit 223 calculates the load index W using the following equation (1). In equation (1), “B” is the number of control points of the Bezier curve, “D” is the input data size, “S” is the size of the drawing area, and these are the fluctuation factors of the load index W. . “P” is the performance of the drawing processing means, which is a fixed factor of the load index W. “P” according to the present embodiment is a relative performance of the second core 12 with respect to the first core 11, and may be a negative value. “A” to “b” are respective weighting factors. Depending on the weighting factor, the contribution rate to the value of the load index W differs for each item such as “B”, “D”, and “S”.

  The load distribution determination unit 224 determines a distribution mode for distributing the drawing information generation process to the first core 11 and the second core 12 based on the load index calculated by the load index calculation unit 223. When determining the distribution mode, the load distribution determination unit 224 refers to the performance of the drawing processing unit described above so that even when the performance differs between the first core 11 and the second core 12, processing is suitably allocated. The distribution mode is determined.

  Examples of load distribution by the load distribution determining unit 224 include division of scan line conversion processing of vector data, division of color matching processing and rotation processing of image data, division of text data rasterization (bitmap) processing, and the like. It is done.

  The intermediate data storage unit 225 is a storage medium for transferring data being processed from the module controlled by the first core 11 to the module controlled by the second core 12. In the present embodiment, as described above, drawing information generation processing is also executed by the intermediate data processing unit 222 according to the result of the load distribution processing. Accordingly, the intermediate data storage unit 225 stores print information converted from the PDL format by the intermediate data processing unit 222 and also stores drawing information generated by the intermediate data processing unit 222.

  The drawing processing unit 226 includes, among information stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225, information that has not yet been drawn for image formation output, that is, among drawing commands output by the PDL analysis unit 210, intermediate data processing. The unit 222 generates drawing information based on the remaining drawing commands for which the drawing process has been executed. That is, the drawing processing unit 226 functions as a second drawing information generation unit.

  The drawing information output unit 227 outputs the drawing information generated by the drawing processing unit 226 to the page memory. As described above, the drawing processing unit 226 and the drawing information output unit 227 are controlled by the second core 12. That is, the drawing processing unit 226 and the drawing information output unit 227 can operate in parallel with a period in which the first core 11 stores the intermediate data in the intermediate data storage unit 225 and executes the PDL analysis process for the next page. . Thereby, processing can be distributed to the first core 11 and the second core 12, and processing time can be shortened by parallel processing.

  Next, the operation of the PDL application 200 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the PDL application 200 according to this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating a parallel operation and a conventional parallel operation in the PDL application 200 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 shows an example in which print information for three pages is input.

  When the image processing unit 104 acquires print information in the PDL format, the PDL application 200 starts operating. First, the first core 11 controls the PDL analysis unit 210 to analyze the input PDL data and convert it into a data format that can be processed by the drawing core module 220 (S601). The information converted by the PDL analysis unit 210 is input to the intermediate data processing unit 222 via the drawing module I / F 221.

  Next, the first core 11 controls the load index calculation unit 223 to execute a load index calculation process (S602). The process of S602 according to the present embodiment is executed according to the above-described equation (1). When the load index is calculated by the process of S602, the first core 11 controls the intermediate data processing unit 222 to compare the calculated load index with a predetermined threshold (S603).

  The predetermined threshold is a predetermined value. For example, after the information in the PDL format is input to the PDL application 200, the intermediate data is stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225 until the first core is stored. 11 is a predicted value of the minimum processing amount that occurs in 11. As a result, it is possible to suitably determine whether or not load distribution is necessary so that parallel processing is suitably executed in subsequent processing. The predicted value of the minimum processing amount that occurs in the first core 11 is, for example, processing that occurs regardless of the determination result of S604, and is the total of the processing amounts of S601, S602, S603, S606, and S607.

  If the load index is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold as a result of the processing of S603 (S603 / Yes), the intermediate data processing unit 222 determines that load distribution is necessary. That is, the intermediate data processing unit 222 functions as a processing amount determination unit. In this case, the first core 11 controls the load distribution determining unit 224 to execute the load distribution process (S604). That is, in the present embodiment, the intermediate data processing unit 222, the load index calculation unit 223, and the load distribution determination unit 224 function as a processing distribution unit in conjunction with each other. When the load distribution process is completed, the first core 11 controls the intermediate data processing unit 222 to execute the generation process of the drawing information assigned to the first core (S605).

  Further, the load distribution determining unit 224 stores the processing amount of the drawing information generation processing assigned to the second core 12 in S604 (hereinafter referred to as parallel processing amount). In S604, the load distribution determining unit 224 allocates a processing amount at least equal to or greater than the threshold value in S603 to the second core 12. Thereby, subsequent parallel processing can be made efficient.

When the process of S605 is completed, the first core 11 controls the intermediate data processing unit 222, and the information generated by the process of S605 and the information that has not yet been processed, that is, the rendering process is executed by the intermediate data processing unit 222. The remaining drawing commands are stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225 (S606). On the other hand, if it is determined in S603 that the load index is less than the predetermined threshold (S603 / No), the intermediate data processing unit 222 determines that load distribution is not necessary, and is input from the PDL analysis unit 210. The information is stored as it is in the intermediate data storage unit 225 (S606). The processing so far corresponds to the period “t ₁ ” shown in FIG.

When the processing up to S606 is completed, subsequent processing for the page is taken over by the second core 12, and the first core 11 executes processing for the next page in parallel with the operation of the second core 12. It will be. Therefore, the PDL application 200 determines whether or not the last page has been completed for the input print information (S607). If the processing of the last page has been completed (S607 / Yes), the first core 11 ends the processing as it is. On the other hand, if the processing of the last page has not been completed (S607 / No), the first core 11 repeats the processing from S601 in parallel with the processing after S608 by the second core 12. Here, it corresponds to a period shown in FIG. 7 _"t 2".

  Returning to S601, the first core 11 executes the processes of S601 to S607 described above for the second page. Here, in S604 of the second week, the load distribution determination unit 224 determines that the parallel processing amount stored in S605 of the first week and the processing amount processed by the first core 11 are the same. Processing is assigned to each of the core 11 and the second core 12.

  Here, the parallel processing amount is the processing amount of the drawing information generation processing assigned to the second core 12 in S604 of the first week. That is, in S604 after the second week, the load distribution determination unit 224 causes the processing amount of processing executed by the first core 11 to be the same as the processing amount of processing executed in parallel by the second core 12. Then, the process is divided.

  Further, regarding the division of the above processing, the parallel processing amount and the processing amount assigned to the first core 11, that is, the processing amount in S605 is not the same, but S601 already executed in the second week, The total processing amount including the processing amount of S602, S603, and S604 and the processing amount of the intermediate data storage processing of S606 and the processing amount of the parallel processing amount are the same, and the processing is performed so that both of them complete the processing substantially simultaneously. Assign.

  Note that, as described above, in S604 of the first week, the second core 12 is assigned a processing amount of a process that occurs at the minimum in the first core 11. Therefore, when the load index is less than the threshold value in S603 in the second week, the processing of S604 and S605 is not executed, but even in that case, the processing amount of the first core and the second core is not greatly different. Parallel processing can be made efficient. Further, since it is assumed that the load index is less than the threshold value in S603, even if a waiting time occurs, it is a short time and does not cause any adverse effect on the efficiency of parallel processing.

  That is, one of the gist according to the present embodiment is that load distribution is executed only when the processing amount of drawing information is large, and when the waiting occurs in one of the cores, the processing efficiency is greatly impaired. If not, cancel the load distribution. As a result, when the effect is small even if load distribution is performed, the processing efficiency does not deteriorate by executing the processing of S604 and S605 shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, the second core 12 that has started the operation by storing the intermediate data in the intermediate data storage unit 225 controls the drawing processing unit 226 in parallel with the processing of the first core 11 to generate drawing information. Is executed (S608). In step S608, the drawing processing unit 226 reads the information stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225 in step S606 described above, and generates drawing information for print information for which drawing information has not been generated.

  When the processing of S608 is completed, the second core 12 controls the drawing information output unit 227 and stores the generated drawing information in the page memory of the engine control unit 102 (S609). As a result, the engine control unit 102 can control the print engine 160 to execute image formation output.

When the process of S609 is completed, the PDL application 200 controlled by the second core 12 determines whether or not the final page is completed (S610). Then, if the final page is completed (S610 / Yes), the processing is terminated as it is, and if the final page is not completed (S610 / No), the processing from S608 is repeated. The processing so far corresponds to the period “t ₂ ” shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, since the processing amount by the first core 11 and the processing amount by the second core 12 are the same during the period “t ₂ ”, as shown in “Prior Art” in FIG. No “wait” occurs in the second core 12. This is because the load distribution determination unit 224 has allocated the processing amounts of the first core 11 and the second core 12 to be the same.

Specifically, in the “prior art” shown in FIG. 7, the processing amount of page 2 executed by the first core 11 is “120”, whereas page 1 executed by the second core 12. Since the processing amount of “80” is “80”, the core 12 is waiting for “40”. On the other hand, in “in this embodiment”, the processing amount executed by the first core 11 is set to “80” in accordance with the processing amount executed by the second core 11, and therefore, in the period t ₂ , “Waiting” does not occur in the second core 12, and parallel processing is made efficient.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the processing amount of page 2 executed by the first core 11 is set to “80”, so that the processing amount of page 2 executed by the second core 12 is “prior art”. Increases from “80” to “120”. On the other hand, the load distribution determination unit 224 assigns the processing amount of page 3 executed by the first core 11 from “150” to “120”, and assigns the difference “30” as the processing of the second core 12. Thus, the parallel processing is made efficient in the period “t ₃ ”.

  As a result of such processing, as in the prior art shown in FIG. 7, parallel processing is efficiently executed so that “wait” does not occur, and the time until page 3 is completed is shortened compared to the prior art. Can do.

  As described above, in principle, the PDL application 200 according to the present embodiment executes the PDL analysis processing by the PDL analysis unit 210 and the intermediate data storage processing in the intermediate data storage unit 225 by the first core 11, and the intermediate data storage unit 225. The second core 12 executes a drawing information generation process based on the intermediate data stored in. If the processing amount of the drawing information generation process is large, and it is determined that the first core 11 waits if the process is executed as a rule, a part of the drawing information generation process is assigned to the first core 11. As a result, the processing amounts of the first core and the second core are adjusted, and parallel processing is made efficient. In the prior art of FIG. 7, the wait occurs in the second core 12 instead of the first core 11, as a general processing mode in the prior art, in the drawing information generation processing, scan line conversion is performed. This is because the process is executed in the first core 11 before the intermediate data is stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, image processing for executing image forming output is appropriately performed in the image forming apparatus having a plurality of calculation units by the module included in the PDL application 200. It becomes possible to improve the processing efficiency.

  In the above-described embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the case where a dual-core CPU 10 is used has been described as an example. However, the present invention may be applied to a CPU having a plurality of cores such as a triple core and a quad core.

  Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the intermediate data processing unit 222 that generates the drawing information by the control by the first core 11 and the drawing process that generates the drawing information by the control by the second core 12. Part 226 is shown as a separate block. However, the drawing information generation process is the same regardless of which of the first core 11 and the second core 12 is executed, and the software program for realizing the intermediate data processing unit 222 and the drawing processing unit 226 is as follows. Can be the same. Furthermore, the module included in the software program includes only a single module. Depending on which one of the first core 11 and the second core 12 controls, the intermediate data processing unit 222 or the drawing processing unit 226 is used. It can also be configured to function as. Even in this case, since the functions are realized in parallel by being controlled by the first core 11 and the second core 12, the first drawing information generating unit and the second drawing information generating unit 1 are provided inside the image forming apparatus 1. A drawing information generation unit is configured.

  In the above embodiment, the load distribution determination unit 224 stores the parallel processing amount in S604 of FIG. 6, and the distribution mode is determined in S604 of the next cycle based on the parallel processing amount as an example. . In addition, the load distribution determination unit 224 may refer to the information amount of the drawing command stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225 instead of storing the parallel processing amount. Since the intermediate data storage unit 225 stores drawing commands for drawing processing to be executed by the drawing processing unit 226 under the control of the second core 12, the information amount is a value corresponding to the parallel processing amount. Also by this, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 6, when the load distribution determining unit 224 determines the distribution mode in S604, the drawing processing unit 226 already controlled by the second core 12 is already executing the drawing process. Therefore, the load distribution determination unit 224 may determine the distribution mode according to the progress of the drawing processing by the drawing processing unit 226 at the time of S604, that is, the processing state.

Embodiment. 2
In the first embodiment, an example is given in which the load index calculation unit 223 calculates the processing amount required to generate drawing information for the entire print information, and the load distribution determination unit 224 divides the drawing information generation processing for the entire print information. As explained. In the present embodiment, a mode in which ease of mounting and simplification of processing is realized while reducing the efficiency of parallel processing by narrowing down the determination and division targets to vector data will be described.

  As described above, the process of generating the drawing information based on the information converted by the PDL analysis includes the scan line conversion process. This scan line conversion process is a process for generating bitmap information based on a Bezier function that represents a curve with end points and control points, and generally has a high calculation cost. In particular, in PostScript, etc., there is a case where data having a large coordinate value and a large number of end points and control points may be processed. Therefore, most of the drawing information generation processing may be occupied by the scan line conversion processing. is there. In other words, a case where the print information includes a Bezier curve is an example of a case where the load amount of the drawing information generation process increases. In the present embodiment, in consideration of such a situation, a bezier curve is included in the PDL-converted information instead of calculating the load index of the drawing process as in S603 according to FIG. 6 of the first embodiment. Whether or not the drawing process needs to be distributed is determined based on whether or not the drawing process is distributed.

  The functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is substantially the same as that described in the first embodiment with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 5, and detailed description thereof is omitted. In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the operation of the PDL application 200 is different from that of the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the PDL application 200 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the PDL application 200 according to the present embodiment, and corresponds to FIG. 6 of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, when the PDL application 200 starts operation, the first core 11 controls the PDL analysis unit 210 and executes the PDL analysis processing (S801), as in S601 in the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, when the process of S801 is completed, the load index calculation process is not executed as in the first embodiment, but the first core 11 controls the intermediate data processing unit 222 to perform PDL conversion. It is determined whether or not the information includes a Bezier curve (S802). As described above, in the present embodiment, the processing amount for generating the drawing information is determined based on whether or not a Bezier curve is included in the print information. That is, in the present embodiment, the intermediate data processing unit 222 functions as a drawing processing amount determination unit.

  If the result of the determination in S802 is that a Bezier curve is included (S802 / Yes), the intermediate data processing unit 222 determines that the amount of processing when generating the drawing information is large and load balancing is necessary. In this case, the first core 11 controls the load index calculation unit 223 to calculate the load index in order to determine the load distribution distribution mode (S803). The process of S803 is executed in the same manner as S602 of the first embodiment.

  When the process of S803 is completed, the first core 11 next controls the load distribution determining unit 224 to execute the load distribution process (S804). In the first embodiment, as load distribution by the load distribution determination unit 224, vector data scanline conversion processing division, image data color matching processing and rotation processing division, text data rasterization (bits) In the present embodiment, the division is performed by focusing on the scan line conversion process.

Here, with reference to FIGS. 9A to 9E, a specific example of the scan line conversion process and a division mode of the process according to the present embodiment will be described. FIGS. 9A to 9E are diagrams showing each stage of the scan line conversion process constituted by a plurality of stages. As described above, the Bezier curve is constituted by coordinate data of end points and control points. FIG. 9A is a plot example in the case of having end points P ₀ and P ₃ and control points P ₁ and P ₂ as points constituting a Bezier curve.

  FIG. 9B is a diagram in which curved paths are drawn for the end points and control points as shown in FIG. The method of drawing a curved path from the end points and control points is a known method and will not be described in detail. However, as shown by a broken line in FIG. A point on the path is obtained by drawing a point by dividing the line and finding a point at which the line segment connecting the points is further divided at the same rate. A point indicating a curved path is drawn by repeating the same processing while changing the arbitrary ratio. The process shown in FIG. 9B is a path creation process that is the first stage of the scan line conversion.

  When the path creation process is completed, a conversion process from a vector data path to a bit path is executed as shown in FIG. The process shown in FIG. 9C is a bit path conversion process which is the second stage of the scan line conversion.

  When the bit pass conversion process is completed, next, as shown in FIG. 9D, a pixel fill process is executed. Here, the necessity of painting is determined based on the FILL setting of the original vector data, and if it is set to perform painting, an image in which the inside of the path is painted as shown in FIG. 9D is generated. The The process shown in FIG. 9D is a FILL process that is the third stage of the scan line conversion.

  When the FILL process is completed, an image clipping process is executed based on the set clip, as shown in FIG. The process shown in FIG. 9E is a clipping process which is the third stage of the scan line conversion.

  When dividing the scanline conversion process shown in FIGS. 9A to 9E, for example, the path generation process and the bit bus conversion process are allocated to the first core 11, and the FILL process and the clipping process are allocated to the second core 12. Thus, the processing can be simplified by dividing the processing according to the stage of processing.

  If the processing is divided for each end point and control point included in the vector data, it is necessary to hold allocation information indicating which core performs processing for each point, and the amount of information to be processed increases. Because it does. On the other hand, when dividing according to the stages as described above, for example, data in a state where the path generation process and the bit path conversion process are completed is stored in the intermediate data storage unit 225, and the subsequent processing is executed by the second core 12. Therefore, as described above, it is not necessary to hold allocation information indicating which part is to be executed by which core, and this can be realized by simple processing.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 8, in step S804, the load distribution determination unit determines at which stage of the scan line conversion to divide as described in FIG. That is, up to which stage is assigned to the first core 11 is determined. At this time, as described in the first embodiment, the load distribution determination unit 224 determines that the processing amount of the drawing information generation processing to be processed in the second core 12 is at least the processing amount that is generated at least in the first core 11. The process is divided as described above. As in the first embodiment, the load distribution determining unit 224 stores the processing amount assigned to the second core 12 as a parallel processing amount.

  In addition, in the processing of S804 in the second week, the load distribution determination unit 224 causes the processing amount of processing executed by the first core 11 to be close to the processing amount of processing executed in parallel in the second core 12. The process is divided into Here, in the present embodiment, since the process is divided by dividing the stages as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9E, the fine processing amount is not adjusted, and the first core 11 and the first core 11 It is difficult to make the amount of processing with the two cores 12 the same. Therefore, the load distribution determining unit 224 divides the processing so that the processing amount of the processing executed by the first core 11 is “close to” the processing amount of the processing executed in parallel in the second core 12. . In this case, some waiting time occurs in either the first core 11 or the second core 12, but since the processing amount of both is close, the waiting time is extremely small and efficient parallel processing is performed. It is possible to realize. Further, as described above, this embodiment has an advantage that it is easy to mount.

  As in the first embodiment, the processing executed by the first core 11 does not indicate only the processing executed in the next S805, but S801 already executed in the second week. This is the total processing including the processing amount of S802, S803, and S804 and the intermediate data storage processing of S806. From S806 onward, processing is executed in the same manner as S606 onward in the first embodiment.

  As described above, in this embodiment, attention is paid to the fact that the processing amount of scan line conversion is particularly large in the drawing information generation process, and the process is divided only when the print information includes the scan line conversion process. Also, with regard to the division of processing, the processing is divided by focusing on scan line conversion and dividing the stage of scan line conversion. According to such an aspect, it is possible to realize the ease of mounting and the simplification of processing while leaving the effect of improving the efficiency of parallel processing.

  In S804 according to the above embodiment, the load distribution determination unit 224 causes the processing amount of the process executed by the first core 11 to be close to the processing amount of the process executed in parallel by the second core 12. Then, the process is divided. In this case, as described above, the load distribution determining unit 224 stores the parallel processing amount, and dynamically divides the scan line conversion stage according to the parallel processing amount. In addition, the load distribution determining unit 224 may divide the scan line conversion stage based on the load index calculated in S803, for example.

As a method for dividing the stage of scanline conversion based on the load index calculated in S803, for example, the load distribution determining unit 224 may be configured according to a comparison result between a predetermined threshold and the load index calculated in S803. Stages can be separated. Specifically, the load distribution determining unit 224 stores four types of threshold values as threshold values for the calculated load index. These four types of threshold values are S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , and S _{4 in} ascending order. The calculated load index (hereinafter referred to as W) is larger than S _4, the load distribution determining unit 224 determines that the processing amount of generation processing of the drawing information other than the scan line conversion is also large, first The core 11 is assigned up to the clipping process shown in FIG.

_Since, in the case of _S 3 <W ≦ _{S 4,} until FILL process shown in FIG. 9 _(d), in the case of _S 2 <W ≦ _{S 3,} until bit path conversion shown in FIG. 9 (c), _{S 1} <for W ≦ _{S 2,} up path generating process shown in FIG. 9 (b), assigned respectively the first core 11. In addition, when W <S ₁ , scan line conversion processing is not assigned to the first core 11. Even with such processing, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing performed in parallel between the first core 11 and the second core 12 and to execute parallel processing efficiently.

  In the description of FIG. 8, the drawing information generation process that can be assigned to the first core 11 has been described by taking only scanline conversion as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, division of rotation processing and rasterization (bitmap conversion) processing of text data may be assigned. The gist of the present embodiment is to allocate the scan line conversion process to the first core 11 and the second core 12 in view of the very large amount of scan line conversion. Therefore, it is not necessary for the second core 12 to execute all other drawing processes, and the drawing process may be executed also in the first core 11.

  Specifically, there may be a case where image data, vector data, and text data are mixed in one page. In this case, the drawing information generation process is executed for each object such as the image data, vector data, and text data. Here, the order in which drawing processing is executed for each object generally follows the description order in information describing the page (hereinafter referred to as page description information). Accordingly, in the page description information, when the first described object is image data or text data, the drawing process of the object is performed by the first core 11 and is allocated among the subsequent vector data processing. It is possible for the first core 11 to perform the processes up to the above. Even in this case, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing performed in parallel between the first core 11 and the second core 12 and to execute parallel processing efficiently.

  Further, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be combined. In the first embodiment, whether or not the drawing process needs to be divided is determined based on the load index calculated by the load index calculation unit 223, and the target of the division process is not limited to the scanline conversion process. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, whether or not the drawing process needs to be divided is determined based on whether or not the information subjected to the PDL analysis includes a Bezier curve, and the target of the dividing process is only the scan line changing process.

  As a combination of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, for example, it is determined whether or not the drawing process needs to be divided based on whether or not the PDL-analyzed information includes a Bezier curve. The case where it is not restricted to a line conversion process can be considered. Further, it may be considered that the necessity of dividing the drawing process is determined based on the load index calculated by the load index calculating unit 223, and only the scan line changing process is the target of the process to be divided.

  Further, in determining whether or not to divide the drawing process, it is determined whether or not a Bezier curve is included in the information previously analyzed by PDL, and when the Bezier curve is included, the load index calculation unit 223 calculates it. It may be determined whether or not the drawing process needs to be divided based on the load index. Accordingly, it is possible to cope with a case where the processing amount of the drawing information generation process is small while including a Bezier curve.

1 image forming apparatus,
10 CPU,
11 First core,
12 Second core,
20 RAM,
30 ROM,
40 engines,
50 HDD,
60 I / F,
70 LCD,
80 operation unit,
90 bus,
100 controller,
111 main control unit,
112 engine control unit,
113 Input / output control unit,
114 image processing unit,
115 operation display control unit,
110 ADF,
120 scanner unit,
130 paper output tray,
140 display panel,
150 paper feed table,
160 print engine,
170 paper output tray,
180 Network I / F,
200 PDL applications,
210 PDL analysis unit,
220 drawing core module,
221 Drawing module I / F,
222 Intermediate data processing unit,
223 load index calculation unit,
224 load distribution determination unit,
225 intermediate data storage unit,
226 drawing processing unit,
227 Drawing information output unit

JP 2007-73005 A

Claims (15)

An image forming apparatus capable of executing image processing for executing image formation output by a plurality of arithmetic means,
A page information acquisition unit for acquiring page information configured by a page description language;
A page information analysis unit that analyzes the acquired page information and outputs a drawing command for executing the image formation output;
A drawing information generating unit that generates drawing information for executing the image forming output based on the drawing command;
A processing distribution unit that executes distributed processing for distributing the processing for generating the drawing information so that any of the plurality of calculation units controls the processing,
The processing distribution unit
Determining the processing amount when generating the drawing information based on the output drawing command;
An image forming apparatus, wherein when it is determined that the amount of processing for generating the drawing information is large, the processing for generating the drawing information is distributed so as to be controlled by any of the plurality of calculation units.   The processing distribution unit calculates the processing amount as numerical information, and compares the calculated numerical value with a predetermined threshold to determine that the processing amount when generating the drawing information is large. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing distribution unit determines that the processing amount when generating the drawing information is large when a Bezier curve is included in the drawing command. A processing amount calculation unit that calculates a processing amount of processing for generating the drawing information executed based on the drawing command;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing distribution unit distributes the drawing information generation processing based on the calculated processing amount.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing amount calculation unit calculates the processing amount as a load index corresponding to the calculation capability of the plurality of calculation units.   The processing amount calculation unit calculates the load index based on a variable element that varies according to the content of the drawing command and a fixed element that is determined by the performance of hardware that constitutes the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is characterized.   The processing amount calculation unit calculates the variation element so that the contribution ratio to the entire variation element differs for each of a plurality of types of processing included in the drawing command according to the content of each of the plurality of types of processing. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: The page information acquisition unit, the page information analysis unit, the drawing information generation unit, the processing amount calculation unit, and the processing distribution unit are controlled by a first calculation unit among the plurality of calculation units,
The drawing information generation unit is controlled by one of the first calculation unit and the second calculation unit among the plurality of calculation units according to the result of the distributed processing,
Intermediate information controlled by the first calculation means so that the first calculation means among the generated drawing instructions stores the remaining drawing instructions processed by controlling the drawing information generation unit in a storage medium. A storage unit;
The drawing information generation unit controlled by the second calculation means executes the drawing information generation processing based on a drawing command stored in the storage medium,
The page information acquisition unit, the page information analysis unit, the drawing information generation unit, the processing amount calculation unit, and the processing distribution unit are in parallel with the processing of the drawing information generation unit controlled by the second calculation unit. Execute the process after obtaining the page information for the next page,
The processing distribution unit is a processing of the drawing information generation process controlled by the second calculation unit that is executed in parallel based on the calculated processing amount in the distributed processing for the next page The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the drawing information generation process is distributed according to the amount so that any one of the plurality of calculation units controls.   The processing distribution unit controls the drawing information generation processing by any one of the plurality of calculation means according to the information amount of the drawing command stored in the storage medium in the distribution processing for the next page. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image forming apparatus is dispersed as described above.   The processing distribution unit generates the drawing information according to the processing state of the drawing information generation process controlled by the second calculation means being executed in parallel in the distributed processing for the next page. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processing is distributed so that any one of the plurality of calculation units controls.   The processing distribution unit is configured to control a minimum processing amount that can be processed by the control by the first calculation unit in a process other than the drawing information generation process, and the drawing information generation unit controlled by the second calculation unit. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image forming apparatus is assigned as a process for generating drawing information to be executed.   The processing distribution unit divides a scan line conversion process for converting a Bezier curve included in the drawing command into drawing information, and distributes the divided so as to be controlled by any of the plurality of arithmetic units. The image forming apparatus according to any one of 1 to 11. The scanline conversion process is a process of converting the Bezier curve into drawing information through a plurality of stages of processing,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processing distribution unit divides the scan line conversion by dividing at any one of the plurality of stages. An image forming apparatus control method capable of executing image processing for executing image formation output by a plurality of arithmetic means,
The page information acquisition unit acquires page information configured by the page description language,
A page information analysis unit analyzes the acquired page information and outputs a drawing command for executing the image formation output,
A processing amount determining unit determines a processing amount when generating drawing information for executing the image forming output based on the output drawing command;
When it is determined that the processing distribution unit generates a large amount of processing when generating the drawing information, the processing for generating the drawing information is distributed so that any one of the plurality of calculation units controls,
A control method for an image forming apparatus, wherein the drawing information generation unit performs control so as to generate the drawing information by control of any of the plurality of arithmetic units according to the result of the dispersion. A control program for causing an information processing apparatus to operate as an image forming apparatus capable of executing image processing for executing image formation output by a plurality of arithmetic units,
Obtaining page information configured in a page description language;
Analyzing the acquired page information and issuing a drawing command for executing the image forming output;
Determining a processing amount when generating drawing information for executing the image forming output based on the output drawing command;
When it is determined that the amount of processing when generating the drawing information is large, the generation processing of the drawing information is distributed so as to be controlled by any one of the plurality of calculation units;
A control program for causing the information processing apparatus to execute the step of generating the drawing information by the control of any of the plurality of arithmetic means according to the result of the distribution.

Images