JP2016021641A - Information processor and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To convert the form of data expressed in the form of indicating a gradation value in a pixel unit into the form of indicating the number of continuous pixels with the same gradation value, for image data expressed in the form of indicating the number of continuous pixels with the same gradation value and the form of indicating the gradation value in the pixel unit.SOLUTION: An image formation device 20 comprises first conversion means 21, second conversion means 22, storage means 23 and third conversion means 24. The first conversion means 21 performs processing of converting at least the partial form of data of a section expressed in the second form of indicating a gradation value in a pixel unit into the first form of indicating the number of continuous pixels with the same gradation value for image data in an intermediate format stored in the storage means 23. The second conversion means 22 performs processing of converting image data in the PDL format into the image data in the intermediate format. The third conversion means 24 performs processing of converting the image data in the intermediate format stored in the storage means 23 into image data in a bitmap format.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program.

  In an image processing apparatus, it is known to reduce the amount of image data in order to save a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk. Patent Document 1 describes a technique for reducing the amount of data after compression by dividing image data into blocks and performing color information color reduction processing when the data amount of each block exceeds a threshold value. Yes.

JP 2013-085173 A

  The present invention relates to image data expressed in a form indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value and a form indicating a gradation value in a pixel unit, and data expressed in a form indicating a gradation value in a pixel unit. The above-described form is converted into a form indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value.

  The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is expressed in a first form in which each of a plurality of sections constituting the page indicates the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value or in a second form in which the gradation value is displayed in units of pixels. The first format image data including the section data represented in the first form and the section data represented in the second form is represented in the second form among the plurality of sections. First conversion means for performing a first conversion process for converting at least a part of the section data into the first form is provided.

  An information processing apparatus according to a second aspect is the configuration according to the first aspect, wherein the first conversion means includes a data amount after the first conversion process before the first conversion process among the plurality of sections. The first conversion process is performed on a partition that is smaller than the data amount.

  An information processing apparatus according to claim 3 is the configuration according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first type and the second type are distinguished as the types of objects arranged in the page. For the image data, the data form of the section in which the first type object is arranged is converted into the first form, and the data form of the section in which the second type object is arranged 2nd conversion means which converts the image data of the 2nd form into the image data of the 1st form by performing the 2nd conversion processing converted into the 2nd form, and the 1st conversion means is the 2nd conversion The first conversion process is performed when the process is not performed.

  An information processing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the information processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the first storage unit stores the first format image data and the first storage unit stores the first format image data. Third conversion means for performing a third conversion process for converting the image data in the format into the image data in the bitmap format, and the first conversion means stores the first format image data stored in the storage means The first conversion process is performed when the third conversion process is not performed.

  The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 is the configuration according to claim 3, wherein the first conversion unit interrupts the first conversion processing when the second conversion processing is started by the second conversion unit. It is characterized by doing.

  The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 is the configuration according to claim 5, wherein the first conversion unit sequentially performs the first conversion process on the plurality of sections, and interrupts the first conversion process. When the position of the section in the first conversion process in the first format image data in the first conversion process is stored, and the second conversion process by the second conversion unit ends, the position is The first conversion process is resumed.

  The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 is the configuration according to claim 4, wherein the first conversion unit interrupts the first conversion process when the third conversion process is started by the third conversion unit. It is characterized by doing.

  An information processing apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is the configuration according to the seventh aspect, wherein the first conversion unit sequentially performs the first conversion process on the plurality of sections and interrupts the first conversion process. When the position of the section in the first conversion process in the first format image data in the first conversion process is stored and the third conversion process by the third conversion unit is completed, The first conversion process is resumed.

  An information processing apparatus according to claim 9 is the configuration according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the third conversion unit is configured to perform the first conversion process when image data of a certain first format is being performed. When the third conversion process is started for image data, the third conversion process is performed for image data of the first format in which the first conversion process is interrupted.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program according to a first aspect in which each of a plurality of sections constituting a page indicates the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value, or a second aspect in which gradation values are indicated in pixel units. Expressed in the second form among the plurality of sections, the first format image data including the section data represented in the first form and the section data represented in the second form. The step of converting at least a part of the data of the divided data into the first form is executed.

According to the first and tenth aspects of the present invention, for image data represented in a form indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value and a form indicating the gradation value in pixel units, the gradation value in pixel units. Is converted to a format indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the first conversion process from being performed on a partition in which the data amount after the first conversion process is greater than or equal to the data amount before the first conversion process.
According to the information processing apparatus of the third aspect, the first conversion process is prevented from being performed when the second conversion process is being performed.
According to the information processing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the first conversion process is prevented from being performed when the third conversion process is being performed.
According to the information processing apparatus of the fifth aspect, the first conversion process is prevented from being continued when the second conversion process is started.
According to the information processing apparatus of the sixth aspect, the interrupted first conversion process is resumed when the second conversion process is completed.
According to the information processing apparatus of the seventh aspect, the first conversion process is prevented from continuing when the third conversion process is started.
According to the information processing apparatus of the eighth aspect, the interrupted first conversion process is resumed when the third conversion process ends.
According to the information processing apparatus of the ninth aspect, the third conversion process is performed on the image data for which the first conversion process is interrupted.

Diagram showing overall configuration of communication system The figure which shows the outline | summary of the process performed in a communication system The figure which shows the image data of a PDL format, and the image data of an intermediate format The figure which illustrates the structure of data of the 1st form and data of the 2nd form Block diagram showing the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus Block diagram showing hardware configuration of image forming apparatus Flowchart showing first conversion processing by image forming apparatus The figure which illustrates the change of the structure of image data by the 1st conversion processing Time chart showing processing performed by image forming apparatus

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system 1 is a system for storing and printing image data. The communication system 1 includes a plurality of personal computers 10 (hereinafter referred to as “PC 10”) and an image forming apparatus 20. The PC 10 is an information processing apparatus that transmits image data to the image forming apparatus 20. The image forming apparatus 20 is an information processing apparatus that functions as a copying machine, a printer, a scanner, and a facsimile. The image forming apparatus 20 performs printing using the image data acquired from the PC 10. The image forming apparatus 20 incorporates a print server function that manages the use of the image forming apparatus 20 by a plurality of PCs 10. The image forming apparatus 20 temporarily stores at least a part of the image data acquired from the PC 10 in its own apparatus. When the image forming apparatus 20 receives a command for starting printing of image data stored in the image forming apparatus 20 (hereinafter referred to as a “print start command”), the image forming apparatus 20 performs printing using the image data. The print start command is transmitted from the PC 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 at the same timing as the timing at which the image data is transmitted or at a different timing. The plurality of PCs 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are connected to each other via a communication line N.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an outline of processing performed in the communication system 1. The image forming apparatus 20 acquires image data described in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as “image data in a PDL (Page Description Language) format”) from the PC 10. The image forming apparatus 20 converts the image data in the PDL format into image data (hereinafter referred to as “intermediate format image data”) in which a print image is described in a bit pattern for each line of a page to be printed. Conversion from image data in the PDL format to image data in the intermediate format reduces the amount of image data temporarily stored in the image forming apparatus 20 and converts the image data into bitmap format image data, which will be described later. Is done to reduce the burden of The image forming apparatus 20 converts intermediate image data for each color component of Y (Yellow), M (Magenta), C (Cyan), and K (Black) by converting certain PDL-format image data. Generate. The image forming apparatus 20 stores the image data converted into the intermediate format. When the image forming apparatus 20 receives a print start command from the PC 10, the image forming apparatus 20 converts the format of the image data specified by the request from the intermediate format to the bitmap format. The image forming apparatus 20 performs printing using bitmap image data.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing image data in the PDL format and intermediate format image data converted from the image data. FIG. 3A shows image data in PDL format for a certain page B1. In the image data in the PDL format, the types of objects (elements constituting the image) arranged in the page are distinguished. In the image data shown in FIG. 3A, text, graphics, and images are distinguished as object types. The text is an object that represents a character or symbol designated by a character code. A graphic is an object that represents a geometric figure such as an ellipse or a polygon. An image is an object in which gradation values such as RGB values are specified in pixel units, such as photographs and illustrations. In FIG. 3A, a text T1, a graphic G1, and an image I1 are included in the page B1. In page B1, the area other than text T1, graphic G1, and image I1 is the background.

  FIG. 3B shows intermediate format image data for the page B1. FIG. 3B shows image data for a certain color component in a certain YMCK. In the intermediate format image data shown in FIG. 3B, the region En includes a print image corresponding to the line n of the page B1 shown in FIG. In intermediate-format image data, each of a plurality of sections constituting a line of a page has a gradation indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value (hereinafter referred to as a “first aspect”) or a pixel unit. It is expressed in a form indicating a value (hereinafter referred to as “second form”). When the image forming apparatus 20 converts the image data in the PDL format into the image data in the intermediate format, first, the line of the page is divided into sections for each object. Next, the image forming apparatus 20 converts the data form of the section in which a certain type of object is arranged into the first form, and converts the data form of the section in which another type of object is arranged into the second form. To do. In the example of FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 20 includes data forms of sections (section D3 and section D4) in which text or graphics are arranged, and sections (section D0, section D2, and section D5) that configure the background of the page. ) Is converted to the first form, and the data form of the section (section D1) in which the image is arranged is converted to the second form. Therefore, in this example, the data represented in the first form and the data represented in the second form are included in the intermediate format image data. Note that the conversion rules for converting image data in PDL format into image data in intermediate format are not limited to the conversion rules exemplified here.

  In FIG. 3B, the data in the section D0 indicates that L0 pixels having the gradation value g0 are continuous. In the data of the section D1, the data of the designated area (not shown) in the image data is copied as it is for the gradation value of the pixel corresponding to the length of L1. The data in the section D2 indicates that L2 pixels having the gradation value g0 are continuous. The data in the section D3 indicates that L3 pixels having the gradation value g1 are continuous. The data in the section D4 indicates that L4 pixels having the gradation value g2 are continuous. The data in the section D5 indicates that L5 pixels having the gradation value g0 are continuous.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the structure of data in the first form and data in the second form. FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the first form. The data in the first form is fixed-length data having a region H1 and a region P1. The area H1 includes identification information for identifying the data in the first form and predetermined additional information. The area P1 includes information other than the identification information and the additional information and indicating the print image. The region P1 includes a region P11 and a region P12. The region P11 includes information indicating a gradation value, and the region P12 includes information indicating the number of continuous pixels. The data amount of the data in the first form is, for example, a total of 4 bytes including 1 byte in the area H1, 1 byte in the area P11, and 2 bytes in the area P12.

  FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the data structure of the second form. FIG. 4B shows the data structure in a state in which the gradation value is copied from the designated area in the image data. The data in the second form is variable length data having a region H2 and a region P2. The area H2 includes identification information for identifying the data in the second form and additional information. The area P2 includes information other than the identification information and the additional information and indicating the print image. The region P2 includes a region P21, a region P22, and a region P23. The area P21 is an area that is padded to match the number of bits of the area excluding the area P23 in the second form data to the number of bits of the first form data. The area P22 includes information indicating the number of pixels whose gradation value is indicated in pixel units. The area P23 includes the gradation value of each of the number of pixels indicated in the area P22. Of the data in the second form, the area excluding the area P23 has a fixed length, and the data amount of the area is, for example, 4 bytes in total including 1 byte for the area H2, 1 byte for the area P21, and 2 bytes for the area P22. is there. In addition, the data amount of the region P23 is 1 byte per gradation value for one pixel.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the data amount of the second form data is equal to or greater than the data amount of the first form data, and increases as the number of pixels indicating the gradation value in pixel units increases. Therefore, when the data format of the section in which the image is arranged is converted to the second format when converting the image data in the PDL format into the image data in the intermediate format, the data amount of the image data in the intermediate format is the entire page In contrast, pages with a larger image share tend to be larger. On the other hand, since the storage capacity of the image forming apparatus 20 is finite, there is a demand for storing image data with a smaller data amount. There is also a request to shorten the response time from when the print start command is acquired until printing is started. The image forming apparatus 20 reduces the data amount of the image data stored in the image forming apparatus 20 by converting at least a part of the data in the second form into the first form for the intermediate format image data.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 20. The image forming apparatus 20 includes a first conversion unit 21, a second conversion unit 22, a storage unit 23, and a third conversion unit 24. The first conversion unit 21 converts the form of at least a part of the data of the section represented in the second form into the first form for the intermediate-format image data stored in the storage unit 23 (hereinafter, “ Data reduction process). The data reduction process corresponds to the first conversion process in the present invention. The second conversion means 22 performs processing for converting PDL format image data into intermediate format image data (hereinafter referred to as “RIP processing”). The RIP process corresponds to the second conversion process in the present invention. The storage unit 23 stores intermediate format image data. The third conversion unit 24 performs processing (hereinafter referred to as “rasterization processing”) for converting the intermediate format image data stored in the storage unit 23 into bitmap format image data. The rasterization process corresponds to the third conversion process in the present invention.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 20. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 20 includes a control unit 201, a storage unit 202, an operation unit 203, a display unit 204, an image reading unit 205, an image forming unit 206, and a communication unit 207. And an image processing unit 208. Each unit of the image forming apparatus 20 is connected to a bus 209, and various data is exchanged via the bus 209.

  The control unit 201 is a unit that controls the operation of each unit of the image forming apparatus 20. The control unit 201 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a storage medium (main storage device) such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The CPU reads a program stored in the ROM and the storage unit 202, and executes the program using the RAM as a work area. By executing the program in this way, the control unit 201 forms (prints) an image on a sheet, reads an image from a document, generates image data, and communicates with other devices via a communication line. Realize communication.

  The storage unit 202 is means for storing data. The storage unit 202 includes a storage medium (auxiliary storage device) such as a hard disk or a flash memory, and stores data received by the communication unit 207, data generated by the image forming apparatus 20, and the like. The storage unit 202 may also include a removable storage medium (removable medium) such as a so-called memory card or USB memory, and means for reading / writing data from / to the storage medium. The storage unit 202 stores a storage program for storing image data.

  The operation unit 203 is a unit that receives a user operation. The operation unit 203 includes operation elements (buttons, keys, etc.), and supplies a control signal corresponding to the pressed operation element to the control unit 201. The operation unit 203 may include a display unit 204 and a sensor provided on the display surface of the display unit 204 so as to be configured by a touch panel that supplies a control signal corresponding to the pressed position to the control unit 201. Good.

  The display unit 204 is a means for displaying information. The display unit 204 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display as a display device. The display unit 204 displays a menu screen for operating the image forming apparatus 20 under the control of the control unit 201.

  The image reading unit 205 is a unit that reads a document and converts it into image data. The image reading unit 205 includes an image reading device that optically reads a document and generates image data representing an image of the read document. The image reading unit 205 supplies the generated image data to the image processing unit 208.

  The image forming unit 206 is a unit that forms an image on a sheet. The image forming unit 206 includes an image forming mechanism that forms a toner image of each color component of YMCK on a sheet by electrophotography. The image forming mechanism is not limited to the electrophotographic method, and other recording methods such as an ink jet method may be used.

  The communication unit 207 is a means for transmitting and receiving data. The communication unit 207 is connected to the communication line N and functions as a communication interface that communicates with the PC 10.

  The image processing unit 208 is means for executing image processing on the image data. The image processing here is, for example, color correction or gradation correction. When the print function is executed in the image forming apparatus 20, the image processing unit 208 supplies the image data subjected to the image processing to the image forming unit 206.

  In FIG. 6, the control unit 201 executing the storage program is an example of the first conversion unit 21, the second conversion unit 22, and the third conversion unit 24. The storage unit 202 controlled by the control unit 201 executing the storage program is an example of the storage unit 23.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing data reduction processing by the image forming apparatus 20. The following processing is started in a state where intermediate format image data is stored in the storage unit 202. The data reduction process is performed on the image data of each color component of YMCK.

  In step S1, the control unit 201 selects intermediate format image data (hereinafter referred to as “target data”) to be subjected to data reduction processing. The control unit 201 sets image data that has not been subjected to data reduction processing among the image data stored in the storage unit 202 to a predetermined priority (for example, the time stored in the storage unit 202 is earlier). Select according to (in order).

  The image data acquired from the PC 10 is image data stored in the storage unit 202 (hereinafter referred to as “storage-type image data”) until a command for deleting the image data (hereinafter referred to as “erase command”) is received. When printing is performed, the image data is classified into two types of image data (hereinafter referred to as “erasable image data”) that are erased from the storage unit 202 without waiting for an erase command. Information for identifying the type of image data is added to the image data acquired from the PC 10, and the image forming apparatus 20 identifies storage-type image data and erasure-type image data based on the information. . In step S1 described above, the control unit 201 selects target data from storage-type image data. As a result, it is possible to prevent the data reduction process from being executed for erasure-type image data whose storage period in the storage unit 202 is shorter than the storage-type image data.

  In step S2, the control unit 201 determines whether or not RIP processing or rasterization processing is being performed. The determination in step S2 is performed in order to prevent the data reduction process from being executed when the RIP process or the rasterization process is being executed. This prevents the RIP process and the data reduction process from competing to delay the RIP process, and the rasterization process and the data reduction process to compete to prevent the rasterization process from being delayed. Note that the rasterizing process for determining whether or not the process is executed in step S2 is not limited to the rasterizing process for the target data. When it is determined that the RIP process or the rasterizing process is being executed (S2: YES), the control unit 201 waits for the process until the RIP process or the rasterizing process is completed. When it is determined that the RIP process and the rasterization process are not executed (S2: NO), the control unit 201 moves the process to step S3.

  In step S3, the control unit 201 performs a data reduction process on the target data. In the data reduction process, the control unit 201 identifies target sections one by one from a plurality of sections included in the target data (for example, from the beginning to the rear of the target data), and When the data satisfies the conditions, the data format is converted. This condition is that (i) the data of the section is data of the second form, and (ii) the amount of data of the section including the data is converted by converting the form of the data of the second form into the first form. It becomes smaller than before conversion.

ここで、「Length」は、括弧内に示された領域のデータ量（バイト）を表す。上述の通り、第１形態のデータと、第２形態のデータのうち領域Ｐ２３を除いた領域とは固定長であるため、式（１）における右辺は固定値である。具体例として、第１形態のデータおよび第２形態のデータに含まれる各領域のデータ量が上述したデータ量である場合、式（１）に示した不等式の右辺は８バイトである。この場合、閾値Ｔｈは、Ｔｈ≧８となるように設定される。これは、第２形態で表された区画のデータにおいて、ある階調値の画素が８画素を超えて連続する場合には、これらの画素の階調値を第１形態のデータで表した方が第２形態のデータで表した場合に比べて区画内のデータ量が小さくなることを表す。 Specifically, the condition (ii) depends on whether or not the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value as the adjacent pixel exceeds the threshold value Th for the section represented in the second form in the target data. Determined. The threshold value Th is set so as to satisfy the following formula (1), for example.

Here, “Length” represents the amount of data (bytes) in the area indicated in parentheses. As described above, since the data in the first form and the area excluding the area P23 in the data in the second form have a fixed length, the right side in Expression (1) is a fixed value. As a specific example, when the data amount of each area included in the data in the first form and the data in the second form is the above-described data amount, the right side of the inequality shown in Expression (1) is 8 bytes. In this case, the threshold value Th is set so that Th ≧ 8. This is because, in the data of the section expressed in the second form, when pixels of a certain gradation value continue beyond 8 pixels, the gradation value of these pixels is represented by the data in the first form. Indicates that the amount of data in the partition is smaller than when represented by the data in the second form.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a change in the structure of the image data due to the data reduction process. The upper part of FIG. 8 shows the structure of the image data before the data reduction process, and the lower part shows the structure of the image data after the data reduction process. In this example, the image data before the reduction process indicates gradation values for 15 pixels in units of pixels. Among the gradation values for 15 pixels, the fourth to twelfth pixels (region B) from the left are the same gradation values, and the gradation values of the remaining pixels are different from each other. FIG. 8 shows that one part of the second form before conversion is obtained by converting a part of the data (fourth to twelfth pixels) of the section represented in the second form in the image data into the first form. The data is 3 of second type data (first pixel to third pixel), first type data (fourth pixel to twelfth pixel), and second type data (13th pixel to 15th pixel). It shows how the data of one section is replaced. FIG. 8 shows data reduction processing when the threshold value Th is set to 8, and one square of data corresponds to 1 byte. In this example, in the region B in the section represented by the second form before the data reduction process, nine pixels of a certain gradation value are continuous, and the data in the region B is converted to the data of the first form. Has been. Data positioned before and after the region B in the image data before the data reduction process is also expressed in the second form in the image data after the data reduction process. In FIG. 8, the amount of data is reduced from 19 bytes to 18 bytes by executing the data reduction process.

  Refer to FIG. 7 again. In step S4, the control unit 101 determines whether or not the data reduction process has been completed for the target data. When it is determined that the data reduction process has been completed (S4: YES), the control unit 101 moves the process to step S1 and selects the next target data. When it is determined that the data reduction process has not ended (S4: NO), the control unit 101 shifts the process to step S5.

  In step S5, the control unit 101 determines whether RIP processing or rasterization processing has been started. The determination in step S5 is performed in order to interrupt the data reduction process when the RIP process or the rasterization process is started while the data reduction process is being executed. This prevents the RIP process and the data reduction process from competing to delay the RIP process, and the rasterization process and the data reduction process to compete to prevent the rasterization process from being delayed. Note that the rasterization process for determining whether or not the process has been started in step S5 is not limited to the rasterization process for the target data. When it is determined that the RIP process or the rasterization process has been started (S5: YES), the control unit 201 proceeds to step S6. When it is determined that the RIP process and the rasterization process have not been started (S5: NO), the control unit 201 moves the process to step S3 and continues the data reduction process.

  In step S6, the control unit 201 interrupts the data reduction process being executed. When interrupting the data reduction process, the control unit 201 stores the position of the partition in the target data during the data reduction process in the RAM. For example, the control unit 201 uses the offset value from the top of the target data to store the position of the partition during the data reduction process in the RAM. Note that the control unit 201 may store, in the RAM, information indicating the address of the storage area in which the data of the partition during the data reduction process is stored instead of using the offset value. When the data reduction process is interrupted, the control unit 201 shifts the process to step S2, and when the RIP process and the rasterization process are completed (S2: NO), the data reduction process is restarted from the position stored in the RAM (S3). .

  As a result of the above processing, the data format of the region in which pixels having the same gradation value continue beyond the threshold Th among the data of the section represented in the second format is converted into the first format for the intermediate format image data. Is done. As a result, the amount of intermediate format image data stored in the image forming apparatus 20 is reduced. The data reduction process is executed when the RIP process and the rasterizing process are not executed, and is interrupted when the RIP process or the rasterizing process is started. Therefore, printing is started after the print start command is acquired. It is possible to prevent the response time until the data from becoming long by executing the data reduction process. Furthermore, both the image data before the data reduction process and the image data after the data reduction process are composed of the first form data and the second form data. Therefore, the same processing is performed regardless of before and after the data reduction processing, and the intermediate format image data is converted into the bitmap format image data. In addition, the image data being subjected to data reduction processing is also composed of data in the first form and data in the second form. For this reason, the same processing as that for the image data before and after the data reduction processing is performed on the image data for which the data reduction processing has been interrupted, and the intermediate format image data is converted into bitmap format image data.

  FIG. 9 is a time chart showing processing performed by the image forming apparatus 20. FIG. 9 shows a state in which data reduction processing, RIP processing, and rasterization processing are performed on image data IM1 and image data IM2. In each process, the hatched area indicates the time during which each process is executed. In the example of FIG. 9, both the image data IM1 and the image data IM2 are storage-type image data.

  At time t1, when the image forming apparatus 20 acquires the image data IM1 from the PC 10, the image forming apparatus 20 starts RIP processing on the image data IM1. When the RIP process for the image data IM1 ends at time t2, the image forming apparatus 20 stores the image data IM1 in the storage unit 202. The image forming apparatus 20 also starts data reduction processing for the image data IM1 stored in the storage unit 202. When the image data IM2 and the print start command for the image data IM2 are acquired from the PC 10 at time t3, the image forming apparatus 20 starts RIP processing for the image data IM2. The image forming apparatus 20 also interrupts the data reduction process for the image data IM1. When the RIP process on the image data IM2 is completed at time t4, the image forming apparatus 20 stores the image data IM2 in the storage unit 202. The image forming apparatus 20 also starts a rasterizing process on the image data IM2 stored in the storage unit 202.

  When the rasterization process for the image data IM2 is completed at time t5, the image forming apparatus 20 resumes the data reduction process for the image data IM1. The image forming apparatus 20 resumes the data reduction process from the position where it was interrupted at time t3. When the data reduction process on the image data IM1 ends at time t6, the image forming apparatus 20 starts the data reduction process on the image data IM2 stored in the storage unit 202. When the print start command for the image data IM2 is acquired at time t7, the image forming apparatus 20 interrupts the data reduction process for the image data IM2, and starts the rasterization process for the image data IM2 stored in the storage unit 202. To do. When the rasterization process for the image data IM2 ends at time t8, the image forming apparatus 20 resumes the data reduction process for the image data IM2. The image forming apparatus 20 resumes the data reduction process from the position where it was interrupted at time t7. When the erasing command for the image data IM2 is acquired at time t9, the image forming apparatus 20 interrupts the data reduction process for the image data IM2, and erases the image data IM2 from the storage unit 202. When the print start command for the image data IM1 is acquired from the PC 10 at time t10, the image forming apparatus 20 starts rasterizing processing for the image data IM1 stored in the storage unit 202.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made. Hereinafter, some modifications will be described. Two or more of the modifications described below may be used in combination.

  The image forming apparatus 20 may not include the print server function. In this case, in the communication system 1, a server apparatus may be provided outside the image forming apparatus 20, and the server apparatus may perform data reduction processing.

  The data reduction process, the RIP process, and the rasterization process may be executed by different information processing apparatuses. For example, when the server apparatus is provided outside the image forming apparatus 20, the PC 10 may execute RIP processing, the server apparatus may execute data reduction processing, and the image forming apparatus 20 may execute rasterization processing. In another example, the PC 10 may execute RIP processing, and the image forming apparatus 20 may execute data reduction processing and rasterization processing.

  The structure of the data in the first form and the data in the second form is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. Further, the data amount of each area included in the data of the first form and the data of the second form is not limited to the data amount described in the embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 20 may acquire bitmap format image data from the PC 10, convert the image data into intermediate format image data, and store the converted image data. In this case, when the image forming apparatus 20 converts the image data in the bitmap format acquired from the PC 10 into the image data in the intermediate format, the entire page is represented by the data in the second format. Then, the image forming apparatus 20 performs data reduction processing on the intermediate format image data in which the entire page is represented in the second form, and reduces the data amount of the image data stored in the image forming apparatus 20.

  The apparatus used in the communication system 1 is not limited to the apparatus shown in FIG. For example, an information processing apparatus such as a tablet terminal or a smartphone may be used instead of the PC 10. Further, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. If the processing shown in FIG. 7 is executed, the image forming apparatus 20 may have any hardware configuration.

  In the embodiment, the storage program executed by the image forming apparatus 20 includes a magnetic storage medium (magnetic tape, magnetic disk (HDD, FD (Flexible Disk)), etc.), optical storage medium (optical disk (CD (Compact Disk), DVD)). (Digital Versatile Disk))), a magneto-optical storage medium, a semiconductor memory (flash ROM, etc.), and the like may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The program may be downloaded via a network such as the Internet.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Communication system, 10 ... Personal computer, 20 ... Image forming apparatus, 21 ... 1st conversion means, 22 ... 2nd conversion means, 23 ... Memory | storage means, 24 ... 3rd conversion means, 201 ... Control part, 202 ... Memory | storage , 203 ... operation unit, 204 ... display unit, 205 ... image reading unit, 206 ... image forming unit, 207 ... communication unit, 208 ... image processing unit, 209 ... bus

Claims (10)

Each of the plurality of sections constituting the page is expressed in the first form indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value or in the second form indicating the gradation value in pixel units, and expressed in the first form. For image data of the first format including section data and section data represented in the second form, at least a part of the section data represented in the second form among the plurality of sections. An information processing apparatus comprising: first conversion means for performing a first conversion process for conversion into the first form. The first conversion unit performs the first conversion process on a partition in which the data amount after the first conversion process is smaller than the data amount before the first conversion process among the plurality of partitions. The information processing apparatus described in 1. As the types of objects arranged in the page, the data format of the section in which the objects of the first type are arranged for the image data of the second format in which the first type and the second type are distinguished. Is converted into the first form, and the second conversion process is performed to convert the data form of the section in which the second type of object is arranged into the second form to convert the image data in the second form. Second conversion means for converting the image data into the first format;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first conversion unit performs the first conversion process when the second conversion process is not performed. Storage means for storing image data of the first format;
Third conversion means for performing a third conversion process for converting the image data in the first format stored in the storage means into image data in the bitmap format;
4. The first conversion unit performs the first conversion process on the first-format image data stored in the storage unit when the third conversion process is not performed. 5. The information processing apparatus according to item 1. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first conversion unit interrupts the first conversion process when the second conversion process is started by the second conversion unit. The first conversion means includes
Sequentially performing the first conversion process on the plurality of sections;
When interrupting the first conversion process, the position of the section in the first conversion process in the first format image data in the first conversion process is stored,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the second conversion process by the second conversion unit ends, the first conversion process is restarted from the position. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first conversion unit interrupts the first conversion process when the third conversion process is started by the third conversion unit. The first conversion means includes
Sequentially performing the first conversion process on the plurality of sections;
When interrupting the first conversion process, the position of the section in the first conversion process in the first format image data in the first conversion process is stored,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein when the third conversion process by the third conversion unit ends, the first conversion process is restarted from the position. When the third conversion means starts the third conversion process for the image data when the first conversion process is being performed for the image data of a certain first format, the first conversion process is The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the third conversion process is performed on the interrupted first format image data. On the computer,
Each of the plurality of sections constituting the page is expressed in the first form indicating the number of consecutive pixels having the same gradation value or in the second form indicating the gradation value in pixel units, and expressed in the first form. For image data of the first format including section data and section data represented in the second form, at least a part of the section data represented in the second form among the plurality of sections. A program for executing the step of converting into the first form.

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