JP2016107570A - Control device, control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control device, a control method, and a program that can more certainly reduce the time required for image processing operations.SOLUTION: A control device includes: a receiving unit 211 that receives print data; and a plurality of image processing units 230 each of which assigns and executes a plurality of image processing operations on the received print data to a plurality of CPUs 231 to 233. The control device determines whether to transfer a first image processing operation on first print data, which is assigned to a first CPU of a first rendering unit, to a first CPU of a second rendering unit. The control device determines to transfer the operation if the first image processing operation on the first print data can be completed before execution of a first image processing operation on print data that will be subsequently executed by the first CPU of the second rendering unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a control apparatus, control method, and program for image processing means having a plurality of image processing units.

  In a printing apparatus typified by a printer or the like, a method for shortening image processing time by assigning a print job to a plurality of processors and generating images in parallel in the plurality of processors is known. At this time, since the processing content assigned to each processor is different, the operating time of the processor assigned the processing content having a smaller processing amount is reduced as compared with the processor assigned the processing content having a larger processing amount.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, in an image forming apparatus in which image data processing of a print job is divided into a plurality of processing processes (hereinafter also referred to as “stages”) and processed by a plurality of processors, the processing sharing is performed among the plurality of processors. Is disclosed. Specifically, by assigning the processing of another stage to a processor that has finished processing of a certain stage, a processor with a small amount of processing allocated can be operated without pausing.

JP 2004-326307 A

  However, Patent Document 1 does not mention a case in which each processor executes a plurality of types of image processing and a plurality of processors that execute specific image processing are used. Note that when the method described in Patent Document 1 is applied to an image processing apparatus that uses a plurality of image processing units including a plurality of processors that execute specific image processing, the image processing may not be accelerated. When using a plurality of image processing units, a problem that occurs when processing of another stage is assigned to a processor that has finished processing of a certain stage will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16.

  FIG. 15A is a configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus that performs image processing of a print job in parallel with a plurality of processors (CPUs). Here, the number of CPUs is three, and an image correction stage, a ripping (RIP) stage, and an imposition stage are processed, respectively. FIG. 15B shows the processing contents of each CPU when a plurality of print jobs are input to the image processing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 15B, jobs A, B, and C are input to the image processing apparatus, and stages 1 (image correction), 2 (RIP), and 3 (imposition) of each job are assigned to CPUs 1, 2, 3 is processed. Specifically, first, the processing of stage 1 of job A is performed by the CPU 1, and the processing result is held in the buffer. The CPU 2 acquires the processing result of the stage 1 from the buffer and performs the processing of the stage 2. After finishing the processing of stage 1 of job A, CPU 1 starts the processing of stage 1 of job B. In this way, the processing time can be increased because the three CPUs process different jobs in parallel. Here, when the processing time of each stage in each CPU does not vary among CPUs as shown in FIG. 15B, the CPU can continue to operate as long as jobs continue to be submitted. However, since the elements that make up a print job actually differ from job to job, the time taken to process each stage varies from job to job.

  FIG. 16A shows an operation example when three jobs whose processing in stage 1 is heavier than those in stage 2 and stage 3 are input. Since the CPU 2 cannot start the stage 2 process until the stage 1 process ends, the CPU 2 is operating after the job A stage 2 process is completed and before the job B stage 2 process is started. There is no time. Here, a case where there is an image processing apparatus 2 that operates in parallel with the image processing apparatus 1 of FIG. FIG. 16B is a diagram illustrating an operation example when three jobs with heavy processing in the stage 2 are input to the image processing apparatus 2. In the image processing apparatus 2, as in the image processing apparatus 1, after the processing of the stage 3 of the job D is completed, the CPU 6 has a period of not operating until the processing of the stage 3 of the job E is started. Therefore, when processing of an unprocessed stage is assigned to a CPU that is not operating, the result is as shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 shows the image processing apparatuses 1 and 2 when the processing of the job F that is scheduled to be performed by the CPU 5 of the image processing apparatus 2 is allocated when the CPU 2 of the image processing apparatus 1 is not in operation after finishing the processing of the job A. It is an operation example. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the image processing apparatus 2 allocates the processing of the stage 2 with a high processing load to the image processing apparatus 1, thereby shortening the processing end time. On the other hand, the image processing apparatus 1 performs processing of the stage 2 of the image processing apparatus 2 during the non-operating time of the CPU 2. As a result, the start of processing of job B of CPU 2 that was supposed to start after CPU 1 completed processing of job B is delayed due to processing of interrupted job F, and as a result, the end time of job B is not interrupted. It will be delayed compared to the case. In this way, simply assigning a process to a CPU that is free at a certain timing delays the start of the process that was scheduled to be performed in the past. In particular, in a printing apparatus that performs image processing for the next printing while printing a raster image that has been drawn, the printing apparatus stops when the processing is not completed as scheduled, and productivity is significantly reduced.
In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control device, a control method, and a program that can more reliably reduce the end time of image processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, a control device according to the present invention includes: a receiving unit that receives print data; and an image process that sequentially executes a plurality of image processes on the print data received by the receiving unit by different processing units. And a determination unit that determines whether or not to delegate the first image processing of the first print data assigned to one image processing unit to another image processing unit. When the processing unit to which the first image processing is assigned in the image processing means can complete the first image processing of the first print data before executing the first image processing of the print data scheduled to be executed next, Determine to delegate.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of image processing units that sequentially execute a plurality of image processes by different processing units are used, the end time of the image processing can be more reliably shortened.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of control in the printing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of control in the printing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the controller part which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of each rendering part which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the load monitoring part which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the processing load management table which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the 1st process of the process transfer determination which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 1st operation example which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd operation example which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd operation example which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of control in the printing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the communication speed information between the rendering parts which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the 2nd process of the process transfer determination which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the example which processes a some stage process in parallel with a some processor. It is a figure which shows the condition at the time of processing a several stage process in parallel between several processors. It is a figure which shows the condition at the time of delegating a stage process between several processors.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the relative arrangement of the constituent elements described in this embodiment, the device shape, and the like are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited thereto.

  In the present embodiment, a printing apparatus including a control device will be described as an example. In this specification, “printing apparatus” is not limited to a dedicated machine specialized for printing functions, but includes a multifunction machine that combines printing functions and other functions, a manufacturing apparatus that forms images and patterns on recording paper, and the like. Shall be.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, a communication unit 104, a recording unit 105, an operation unit 106, and a display unit 107. These are connected to each other via a system bus.

  The CPU 101 controls the RAM 103, the communication unit 104, the recording unit 105, the operation unit 106, and the display unit 107 in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 102.

  The ROM 102 stores various control programs executed by the CPU 101 and fixed data necessary for various operations of the printing apparatus 100. For example, a program for executing a recording (printing) process of the printing apparatus 100 is stored.

  The RAM 103 is used as a work area for the CPU 101, used as a temporary storage area for various received data, and stores various setting data. Record data (print data) sent from the external device 10, that is, record data recorded (printed) by the recording unit 105 is temporarily stored in the RAM 103.

The communication unit 104 controls communication between the external apparatus and the printing apparatus 100.
The recording unit (printing unit) 105 has a printer engine unit described later.
The operation unit 106 includes various buttons such as a power button and a reset button, and is used when the user operates the printing apparatus 100.

  The display unit 107 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display such as a touch panel, and displays the state of the printing apparatus 100 and various settings. The user can also input various settings via the display unit 107. The display unit 107 receives an operation instruction and displays an apparatus state.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a control configuration in the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The printing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment includes a controller unit 210, a printer engine 220, and a plurality of rendering units 230. Each of these components may be realized, for example, as hardware implemented in the printing apparatus 100 in FIG. 1, or may be realized in cooperation with hardware and software.

  The printing apparatus 100 that prints an image based on the data receives print job data (also referred to as print data) such as PDL from the Host PC 300. The printing apparatus 100 generates image data (bitmap data) by performing image processing on the print job data, and performs printing on a print medium such as cut paper or continuous paper based on the image data.

  The controller unit 210 includes a receiving unit 211 that receives print data and the like from an external device, a spooler 212 that stores the received print data, and a communication unit 213 that communicates with the rendering unit. The controller unit 210 receives the print job data 102 received from the Host PC 300 at the reception unit 211 and stores it in the spooler 212. For the print job data once held, commands and data are created based on the contents of the print job and instructions from the user interface unit 140. In addition, the controller unit 210 transmits the created command and data to the rendering unit 230 described later via the image device communication unit 213. When the rendered bitmap data is received from the rendering unit 230, the received bitmap data is transmitted to the printer engine unit 220.

  The rendering unit 230 performs rendering processing based on the command and data created by the controller unit 210, and generates bitmap data for printing. The printing apparatus 100 includes a plurality of rendering units 230, and each rendering unit 230 includes one or more processors (CPU in this embodiment). As illustrated in FIG. 2, the rendering unit 230 includes three CPUs (CPUs 231 to 233), a buffer provided in front of the CPU, a buffer provided in the subsequent stage of the CPU, a load monitoring unit 234, and a processing load management table. 235 and a communication control unit 236. In the present embodiment, each rendering unit 230 has the same configuration, but some of the rendering units 230 may have different configurations.

  In the present embodiment, each CPU (CPU 231 to 233) of the rendering unit 230 is different from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 1, and performs image processing (also referred to as drawing processing) according to a program stored in a RAM (not shown). Run. Specifically, input data is acquired from a buffer arranged in the preceding stage of the CPU, a specific process (stage process) is performed, and the processing result is output to the subsequent buffer. Here, the stage processing is, for example, image correction processing, RIP processing, and imposition processing. Note that the RIP process can be performed on the data that has undergone the image correction process, and the imposition process can be performed on the data that has been subjected to the RIP process. In this embodiment, each CPU is assigned (assigned) a process of a different stage. Although details will be described later in this embodiment, the CPU 231 of the rendering unit 1 causes the CPU 231 to execute image correction processing, the CPU 232 to execute RIP processing, and the CPU 233 to execute imposition processing.

  The processing result output from the CPU becomes input data for the next stage, and the CPU that processes the next stage performs stage processing in the same manner as described above. When all the stage processes are performed on the print job data, bitmap data is generated. In this embodiment, the processing result of the image correction processing of the CPU 231 is input data of the CPU 232, the processing result of the RIP processing of the CPU 232 is input data of the CPU 233, and the processing result of the image correction processing of the CPU 233 is a bitmap. It becomes data.

  The load monitoring unit 234 monitors the process start timing and process end timing of each CPU, and records the results in the process load management table 235. That is, the start timing is updated every time processing of a predetermined unit (job unit in this embodiment) of each processor is started, and every time processing of a predetermined unit (job unit in this embodiment) of each processor is completed. The processing end timing is updated.

  The communication control unit 236 receives print job data from the controller unit 210 and stores it in a buffer provided in the preceding stage of the CPU 231. Further, the communication control unit 1236 obtains the processing result of the CPU 233 from a buffer provided at the subsequent stage of the CPU 233, and transmits it to the controller unit 210 as bitmap data. Further, in the present embodiment, the communication control unit 236 acquires the processing result of a specific CPU from a buffer provided at the subsequent stage of the CPU, transmits the result to another rendering unit 230, and performs the stage processing of the specific CPU on the other CPU. Delegate to the CPU of the rendering unit. Details of the process stage delegation method will be described later.

  The printer engine unit 220 is included in the recording unit 105. The printer engine unit 220 includes, for example, a recording unit including an inkjet recording head, each color ink, a carriage, and a recording paper conveyance mechanism, and an electric circuit including an ASIC that generates a recording pulse based on the recording data. Including. When receiving the bitmap data, the printer engine unit 220 prints an image on a sheet based on the bitmap data. At the time of printing, the printer engine unit 220 performs conversion processing on bitmap data to CMYK, which is a color space handled by the printer engine, and binarization processing as necessary.

  The Host PC 300 is an apparatus connected to the outside of the printing apparatus 100 and serving as a supply source of print job data for causing the printing apparatus 100 to perform printing, and issues various print job orders. In this embodiment, the Host PC 300 is a general-purpose personal computer (PC). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another type of data supply device may be used. As another type of data supply device, there is an image capture device that captures an image and generates image data. The image capture device is a reader (scanner) that reads an image on a document and generates image data, a film scanner that reads a negative film or a positive film, and generates image data. Other examples of the image capture device include a digital camera that captures a still image and generates digital image data, and a digital video that captures a moving image and generates moving image data. In addition, a photo storage is installed on the network, or a socket for inserting a removable portable memory is provided, and an image file stored in the photo storage or the portable memory is read and generated as image data for printing. It may be a thing. Further, instead of a general-purpose PC, various data supply devices such as a terminal dedicated to a printing device may be used. These data supply apparatuses may be components of the printing apparatus 100 or may be other apparatuses connected to the outside of the printing apparatus 100.

  A processing flow of the controller unit 210 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart in FIG. 4 shows the flow of processing performed by the CPU 101 in FIG. 1 loading the control program stored in the ROM 102 into the RAM 103 and executing it.

  First, when print job data is received from the Host PC 300 in step S301, the print job data is held in the spooler 212.

  Next, in step S302, print job data is transmitted to a rendering unit 230 to request rendering processing. When there are a plurality of rendering units 230, there are various methods for determining which rendering unit to request (allocate) for processing. Although there is no particular limitation, in this embodiment, the rendering unit with the oldest time for which processing has been requested. 230 is requested for processing. For example, when there are two rendering units 230, processing of four print jobs is requested in the order of rendering units 1, 2, 1, and 2. As other allocation methods, a method of monitoring the processing performance of each rendering unit 230 and allocating it to the one with the highest processing performance, and a method of monitoring the processing load of each rendering unit 230 and allocating it to the one with the lowest processing load. Is mentioned.

  In step S303, the controller unit 210 receives bitmap data via the communication unit 213 (step S303). Specifically, the rendering unit 230 generates bitmap data by rendering the requested print job data, and receives the data when transmitted to the controller unit 210 via the communication control unit 236.

  In step S304, the received bitmap data is transmitted to the printer engine unit 220. The printer engine unit 220 prints the received bitmap data on a print medium (also called a recording medium) such as paper.

  In step S305, it is determined whether print job data is input from the Host PC 300. If a print job has been input (Yes in S305), the process returns to step S301, and the above processing is repeated. If not, the controller unit 210 ends the process and prepares for the next print job data input. If print job data is input during the execution of S302 to S304, the processes of S301 to S304 are executed in parallel.

  The processing flow of the rendering unit 230 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart in FIG. 4 shows the flow of processing performed by the CPU 101 in FIG. 1 loading the control program stored in the ROM 102 into the RAM 103 and executing it.

  In step S401, when print job data is received from the controller unit 210, it is held in a buffer.

  The rendering unit 230 includes one or more processors (CPUs), and processes each stage for one print job data. The following S403 to S409 are repeated for the number of CPUs of the rendering unit. The stage processing performed by each CPU differs for each CPU, but the processing flow is the same.

  First, in step S403, the processing load management table 235 is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the rendering unit 230 is to delegate the process to be executed. Here, the process delegation means that a process assigned to one rendering unit is transferred to another rendering unit and executed. Details of this process in step S403 will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In step S404, it is determined whether or not the stage process is delegated in step S403. If it is determined that the process has been delegated (Yes in S404), the process returns to step 402 and proceeds to the next CPU stage process. For example, when the processing of the image correction stage is delegated to another rendering unit (Yes in S404), the process proceeds to the RIP processing loop (S402). If it is determined that the processing is not delegated (No in S404), the process proceeds to step S405. In step S405, monitoring of the processing load is started. Details of this process will be described later.

  In step S406, the CPU acquires data from the buffer arranged in the previous stage. This data is the print job data received from the controller unit 210 in the case of the CPU that performs the first stage processing, and the data after the stage processing by the preceding CPU in the case of the CPU that performs the subsequent stage processing. is there.

  In step S407, the CPU performs stage processing assigned to each CPU on the data acquired from the buffer.

  In step S408, the CPU holds the processing result in a buffer provided in the subsequent stage.

  In step S409, the monitoring of the processing load ends.

  Steps S402 to S410 are the process flow of one CPU. As described above, when the CPU completes its own stage processing, it can perform the next print job data stage processing without waiting for the completion of all the stage processing of the print job data including the stage processing. Thereby, a plurality of print jobs can be processed in parallel by a plurality of CPUs. When the final stage processing is completed, bitmap data is generated, and the bitmap data is transmitted to the controller unit 210 in step S411.

  In step S412, it is determined whether new print job data is input from the controller unit 210. If new print job data has been input (Yes in step S412), the process returns to step S401 and the above-described processing is repeated. If new print job data has not been input (No in step S412), the rendering unit 230 finishes the process and prepares for input of the next print job data.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the load monitoring unit 234. The flowchart of FIG. 6 shows the flow of processing performed when the CPU 101 loads the control program stored in the ROM 102 into the RAM 103 and executes it. The flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is for explaining the processing of steps S405 and S409 in FIG. 4 in detail.

  In step S <b> 501, the time when the processing of the CPU 231 starts is acquired and stored in the processing load monitoring table 235. In step S <b> 502, the time when the processing of the CPU 231 is completed is acquired and stored in the processing load monitoring table 235. In step S503, the processing load management table 235 is updated, and the process ends. Specifically, as will be described later, the average processing time, average waiting time, processing delegation request flag, and other job processable flag of each CPU processing stage are updated. The load monitoring unit 234 repeats the same processing every time the processing of each CPU starts and ends.

  Here, information management of the process management table will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of the processing load management table 235. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7B, the rendering unit 230 includes three CPUs 1, 2, 3 (231, 214, 215, respectively), and image correction, ripping (RIP), and imposition, respectively. Perform stage processing. Bit map data is completed by performing all the above-described three stage processes for one print job. The processing load management table 235 includes a processing stage processed by each CPU, an average processing time of the processing stage, an average waiting time, a processing delegation request flag, and another job processing enable flag.

  The average processing time is an average value of the processing time of each stage for a certain print job. Specifically, it is a value obtained by averaging the processing times specified based on the processing start time acquired in step S501 and the processing end time acquired in step S502. For example, if the processing time taken by the image correction stage of the CPU 1 for two print jobs is 70 msec and 90 msec, respectively, the average processing time of the CPU 1 is 80 msec. In the present embodiment, the average of all jobs submitted so far is calculated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the average of the number of neighboring jobs may be calculated. Here, for example, in the case of a commercial printing apparatus that continuously prints albums or a commercial printing apparatus that continuously prints catalogs, jobs of the same data size are often continuously input. Therefore, by specifying the average processing time, the processing time of data scheduled to be processed can be predicted.

  The average waiting time is the average waiting time for each print job. Specifically, it is the average time of the difference between the stage processing end time acquired in step S502 of the previous print job and the stage processing start time acquired in step S501 of the current print job. For example, if the time when the image correction stage of the CPU 1 finishes the processing of the first print job is 12:00 and the time when the processing of the next job is finished is 12:00:10, the waiting time is 10 seconds. It becomes. As described above, for example, in the case of a commercial printing apparatus that continuously prints albums or a commercial printing apparatus that continuously prints catalogs, jobs having the same data size are often continuously input. . Therefore, by specifying the average waiting time, it is possible to predict the time until the start of processing of data scheduled to be processed.

  The processing delegation request flag is a flag that is turned ON when the average processing time of the CPU is larger than a set threshold value compared to the average processing time of other CPUs. In view of communication and data copy costs when delegating processing to other CPUs, it may be advantageous in terms of speed to not delegate processing if there is no significant difference in average processing time. For this reason, in this embodiment, by providing a threshold value, when the difference in the average processing time is small, the delegation is not performed. The threshold value may be set in advance in the rendering unit 230, may be set by the user, or may change a value set in advance in the rendering unit 230. In this embodiment, it is assumed that there is no communication or data copy cost, and threshold = 0.

  The other job processable flag is a flag that is turned on when the average waiting time of the CPU is larger than a set threshold value compared to the average waiting time of the other CPU. The reason why the threshold is provided is that, as in the case of the process delegation request flag, it may be advantageous in speed not to delegate the process. However, in this embodiment, it is assumed that there is no cost for communication and data copying, and threshold = 0.

  In FIG. 7A, the average processing time (80 msec) of CPU 1 is 60 msec, which is different from the average processing time (20 msec) of CPU 2 and the average processing time (20 msec) of CPU 3, and is larger than threshold 0. Therefore, the processing delegation request flag is turned ON. The average waiting time (30 msec) of the CPU 2 is 30 msec, which is different from the average waiting time (0 msec) of the CPU 1 and is larger than the threshold 0. Therefore, the other job processable flag is ON.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing delegation determination. The flowchart of FIG. 8 shows the flow of processing performed when the CPU 101 loads the control program stored in the ROM 102 into the RAM 103 and executes it. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the processing of step S403 in FIG. 4 in detail.

  In step S701, information on the average processing time of each CPU and information on the processing delegation request flag of each CPU are acquired from the processing load management table 235.

  In step S702, it is determined whether the processing delegation request flag for the stage processing of each CPU is ON. If the process delegation request flag is OFF (No in S702), the process delegation determination is terminated. If the processing delegation request flag is ON (Yes in S702), an inquiry is made to the communication control unit 236 of the other rendering unit 230 in step S703, and the process proceeds to S704. Specifically, an inquiry is made to another rendering unit 230 as to whether the other job processable flag of the CPU that processes the same stage as the CPU whose processing delegation request flag is ON is ON. In response to the inquiry, the other rendering unit 230 acquires information on the other job processable flag from the processing load management table 235.

  In step S <b> 704, it is determined whether there is a CPU that processes the same stage as the processing stage whose processing delegation request flag is ON in the target rendering unit 230, and whose other job processing enable flag is ON. If none of the above-described CPUs exist in the other rendering units 230 (No in step S704), the process delegation determination ends. If there is a corresponding CPU in the other rendering unit 230 (Yes in step S704), the process proceeds to step S705.

  In step S <b> 705, the processing of the data to be delegated can be completed before the CPU to which the process for which the delegation request flag is ON is assigned in the other rendering unit 230 executes the process of the print data to be executed next. To determine. In this embodiment, the average processing time of the stage processing of the CPU whose processing delegation request flag is ON is equal to or less than the average waiting time of the stage processing of the CPU whose processing enable flag of the other rendering unit 230 is ON. judge. This is because if the average processing time is longer than the average waiting time, the stage processing originally assigned to the rendering unit 230 may be delayed.

  If it is determined that the average processing time is greater than the average waiting time (No in S705), the process delegation determination is terminated.

  When it is determined that the average processing time is equal to or less than the average waiting time (Yes in S705), in S706, the stage processing is transferred to the CPU whose processing enable flag of the other rendering unit 230 is ON. Specifically, data that is scheduled to be staged by the CPU whose processing delegation request flag is ON is acquired from the buffer and transmitted to the other rendering unit 230 via the communication control unit 236. Although not shown, other rendering units 230 hold the transmitted data in a buffer in the previous stage of the CPU, perform stage processing, and return the processed data to the rendering unit 230 that transmitted the pre-processing data. .

  In step S707, the data that has been processed by the other rendering unit 230, that is, the processed data returned from the other rendering unit 230 is received and stored in a buffer subsequent to the CPU.

  Finally, in step S708, the processing load management table 235 is updated, and the processing delegation request flag is turned OFF.

  An actual operation example when delegating the process will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram more specifically showing the block diagram of FIG. 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the printing apparatus 100 includes two rendering units, which are a rendering unit 1 (230a) and a rendering unit 2 (230b), respectively. The rendering unit 1 (230a) has three CPUs 1, 2, and 3 (231a, 232a, and 233a, respectively), and performs each stage process of image correction, ripping (RIP), and imposition, respectively. Bit map data is completed by performing three stage processes for one print job. Similarly to the rendering unit 1 (230a), the rendering unit 2 (230b) includes three CPUs 4, 5, and 6 (231b, 232b, and 233b, respectively), and image correction, ripping (RIP), and imposition stages, respectively. Processing shall be performed. The buffer provided in the subsequent stage of the CPU 1 also serves as a buffer provided in the previous stage of the CPU 2, and the buffer provided in the subsequent stage of the CPU 2 also serves as a buffer provided in the previous stage of the CPU 3.

  The configuration other than the rendering unit of the printing apparatus 100 in FIG. 3 is the same as that in FIG.

  FIG. 9 is an example showing the processing status of the rendering unit 1 (230a) and the rendering unit 2 (230b) in the configuration of FIG. 3 at the time shown in the drawing (denoted as “current time” in the drawing). . In FIG. 9A, the horizontal axis indicates the processing time, and as the processing time progresses, which job is being processed by each CPU. Note that the time up to the current time is the actual time taken for processing, and the time after the current time is the expected time.

  Jobs A, B, and C are input to the rendering unit 1 (230a). Currently, the first stage of job C is being processed by the CPU 1 (231a), and the second stage of job B is being processed by the CPU 2 (232a). is there. Jobs A, B, and C all take time for processing in stage 1, and the processing in stages 2 and 3 is dragged by this, and there is a time until the next processing starts. That is, there is a time during which the CPUs 2 (232a) and 3 (233a) are not operating by the “current time” in the figure.

  Jobs D, E, F, and G are input to the rendering unit 2 (230b). Currently, the CPU 4 (231b) processes the first stage of the job G, and the CPU 5 (232b) processes the second stage of the job E. It is in. Jobs D, E, F, and G all take time for stage 2 processing, and stage 3 processing is dragged by this until the next processing starts, and CPU 6 (233b) is operating. There is no time. The processing load management table at this “current time” is shown in FIG. In the rendering unit 1 (230a), since the average processing time of the CPU 1 (231a) is longer than that of the CPUs 2 (232a) and 3 (233a), the processing delegation request flag is ON. Since the CPU 2 (232a) is dragged by the processing time of the CPU 1 (231a) and the start time of the stage processing is delayed and the average waiting time is increased, the other job processable flag is ON. In the rendering unit 2 (230b), the processing delegation request flag is ON because the average processing time of the CPU 5 (233b) is longer than that of the CPUs 4 (231b) and 6 (232b). Further, the CPU 6 (233b), although not shown, has a longer average waiting time for jobs received before the job D because the processing time of the stage 3 is relatively short like the job D. Therefore, the other job processable flag is ON.

  Consider a job G that is being processed by the rendering unit 2 (230b) at this point. First, at the time when the job G is submitted, the CPU 4 (231b) performs the image correction process delegation determination in step S403 in FIG. In step S702 of FIG. 8, the image correction processing delegation request flag in the processing load management table 235 of the rendering unit 2 shown in FIG. 9B is confirmed (S701). Since the processing delegation request flag for image correction in the processing load management table 235 of the rendering unit 2 is OFF (No in S702), the processing delegation determination process is finished, and the rendering unit 2 (230b) performs the process without delegating the process. . Next, the process delegation determination of the RIP process of the CPU 5 (232b) of the job G is performed. In step S702 of FIG. 8, the processing delegation request flag of the RIP process is confirmed (S701). Since the process delegation request flag is ON (Yes in S702), the process proceeds to step S703. In the rendering unit 1 (230a), the other job processing possible flag for the RIP process is ON (Yes in S704), and the process proceeds to step S705. The average processing time of the CPU 5 (232b) trying to delegate processing is 50 msec, which is longer than the average waiting time of 30 msec of the CPU 2 (232a) of the rendering unit 1 (231a) trying to accept the delegation processing. Therefore, it is determined that the process delegation is impossible, and the process delegation determination is terminated. Therefore, the RIP processing of job G is processed by the rendering unit 2 (230b) without delegation.

  A case where the RIP processing of job G is transferred to the rendering unit 1 (230a) will be described. In this case, in the rendering unit 1 (230a), even when the image correction processing of the job C is finished, the RIP processing of the delegated job G does not end, and the job that can be immediately processed when the job G is not delegated C's RIP processing is awaited. Since the RIP processing of job C is delayed, the supply of the bitmap data of job C from the controller unit 210 to the printer engine unit 220 may be delayed, and the operation of the printer engine unit 220 may be stopped. On the other hand, in this embodiment, it is possible to suppress a delay in the supply of bitmap data based on the determination in S705.

  FIG. 10 is an example showing the processing status of the rendering unit 1 (230a) and the rendering unit 2 (230b) in the configuration of FIG. 3 at the time shown in the drawing (denoted as “current time” in the drawing). . In FIG. 10A, the horizontal axis indicates the processing time, and as the processing time advances, which job is being processed by each CPU. Note that the time up to the current time is the actual time taken for processing, and the time after the current time is the expected time.

  In FIG. 10A, jobs A, B, and C are input to the rendering unit 1 (230a), and the first stage of job C is currently being processed. Jobs A, B, and C all take time for image correction processing, as in the example shown in FIG. 9, but the average processing time for image correction is longer than that in FIG. Jobs D, E, F, and G are input to the rendering unit 2 (230b), and the situation is the same as in FIG. The processing load management table at this “current time” is shown in FIG. In the rendering unit 1 (230a), since the average processing time (average processing time for image correction) of the CPU 1 (231a) is longer than that of the CPUs 2 (232a) and 3 (233a), the processing delegation request flag is ON. Since the CPU 2 (232a) is dragged by the processing time of the CPU 1 (231a) and the start time of the stage processing is delayed and the average waiting time is increased, the other job processable flag is ON. In the rendering unit 2 (230b), since the average processing time of the CPU 5 (233b) is longer than that of the CPUs 4 (231b) and 6 (232b), the processing delegation request flag is ON. Further, since the CPU 6 (233b) has a longer average waiting time, the other job processable flag is ON.

  The delegation of the RIP processing of the job G of the rendering unit 2 (230b) at the “current time” will be described. Since the processing flow up to step S705 in FIG. 8 is the same as that in FIG. 9, the description thereof is omitted. In step S705, the average processing time of the CPU 5 (232b) trying to delegate processing is 50 msec, which is shorter than the average waiting time of 60 msec of the CPU 2 (232a) of the rendering unit 1 (233a) attempting to accept the delegation processing. Therefore, it is determined that the processing can be transferred, and the RIP stage processing of the job G of the rendering unit 2 (230b) is transferred to the rendering unit 1 (230a).

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the processing status when a predetermined time has elapsed after delegation of the RIP processing of job G. In FIG. 11, the RIP processing for job G is transmitted from the rendering unit 2 (230b) to the rendering unit 1 (230a) at the same time as the image correction processing is completed. The CPU 2 (232a) of the rendering unit 1 (230a), after finishing the RIP processing of the job B, performs the RIP processing of the delegated job G and returns the processing result to the rendering unit 2 (230b). Thereafter, the CPU 2 (232a) performs the RIP process for job C. At this time, the start time of RIP processing for job C is the same as when job G processing is not delegated, and the end time of job C is not delayed. Since the rendering unit 2 (230b) delegates the RIP processing of the job G to the rendering unit 1 (230a), the CPU 5 (233b) can start the RIP processing of the job H after finishing the RIP processing of the job F. Become. Also, the job G process delegation increases the RIP processing end time of the job G and the imposition processing start time of the job G in the CPU 6 (233b). As a result, the CPU 6 (233b) shortens the non-operation time and increases the end time of the job G.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of image processing units (rendering unit 1 and rendering unit 2) are provided, and processing of different image processing units (rendering unit 2) is executed on CPU 2 included in one image processing unit (rendering unit 1). Let Specifically, processing is delegated by comparing the average processing time of a CPU (image processing unit) that desires processing delegation with the average waiting time of a CPU (image processing unit) that enables processing of other jobs. To determine. As a result, the processing time of the rendering unit including the CPU desiring to transfer the processing is changed without changing the end time of the print data of the job originally assigned to the CPU (image processing unit) that can process other jobs. It can be shortened.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, a CPU that wishes to transfer processing is provided without changing the end time of print data of a job originally assigned to a CPU (image processing unit) that can process other jobs. Processing time of the rendering unit can be shortened. That is, compared with the case where the processing is not passed to another image processing unit, the end time of the image processing delegated to the other image processing unit can be shortened, and the overall processing speed of the received print job data can be increased. Can be improved.

(Embodiment 2)
In the present embodiment, it is determined whether to perform delegation in consideration of the data communication speed between image processing units (rendering units). Note that the hardware configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus the description of the hardware configuration is omitted. Although the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12, the same components as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

  The printing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment includes a controller unit 210, a printer engine 220, and a plurality of rendering units 230. Since the controller unit 210 and the printer engine 220 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The rendering unit 1230 performs rendering processing based on commands and data created by the controller unit 1210, and generates printing bitmap data. The printing apparatus 100 includes a plurality of rendering units 1230, and each rendering unit 1230 includes one or more CPUs. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the rendering unit 1230 includes three CPUs (CPUs 231 to 233), a buffer, a buffer, a load monitoring unit 234, a processing load management table 235, and a communication control unit 1236. Note that the three CPUs (CPUs 231 to 233), the buffer, the load monitoring unit 234, and the processing load management table 235 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted. In the present embodiment, each rendering unit 1230 has the same configuration, but some of the rendering units 1230 may have different configurations.

  The communication control unit 1236 according to the present embodiment holds communication speed information 1237 between rendering units. Further, the communication control unit 1236 receives the print job data from the controller unit 210 and stores it in the buffer. In addition, the communication control unit 1236 acquires the processing result of the CPU 233 from the buffer at the subsequent stage of the CPU 233 and transmits it to the controller unit 210 as bitmap data. Further, in the present embodiment, the communication control unit 236 acquires a processing result of a specific CPU from a buffer provided at a subsequent stage of the CPU, transmits the result to another rendering unit 1230, and performs the stage processing of the specific CPU on the other CPU. Delegate to the CPU of the rendering unit.

  The process delegation determination process of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 13 shows the flow of processing performed when the CPU 101 loads a control program stored in the ROM 102 into the RAM 103 and executes it. FIG. 13 explains the process in step S403 in FIG. 4 in detail.

  Up to step S704, the processing flow is the same as that in FIG. If YES in step S704, the data size of the stage process whose process delegation request flag is ON is acquired from the buffer in step S1301. In the present embodiment, the data size is acquired by acquiring the size of the processed data after the stage processing preceding the stage processing whose processing delegation request flag is ON. The acquisition of the data size is not limited to this, and even if the previous stage processing has not been completed, even if the average value of the data size of the stage processing in which the processing delegation request flag of the number of neighboring jobs is ON is acquired. Good.

Next, in step 1302, the communication control unit 1236 refers to the communication speed information 1237 between the rendering units, and calculates a transfer time necessary for transmitting the data size to the other rendering units 1230. In this embodiment, the transfer time is calculated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the transfer time may be acquired based on a data size and transfer time table held in a buffer or the like. An example of communication speed information 1237 between rendering units is shown in FIG. FIG. 13 shows communication speed information 1237 when the communication control unit 236b of the rendering unit 2 (1230b) uses another rendering unit as a communication partner. As shown in FIG. 13, when the communication partner is the rendering unit 1 (1230a), the rendering unit 2 has a communication speed of 100 Mbps. Since there is no communication with itself, there is no communication speed information with the rendering unit 2 (1230b). In this embodiment, the printing apparatus 100 having two rendering units 1230 will be described as an example. However, when the printing apparatus 100 has three or more rendering units 1230 or when another rendering unit is used, Holds communication speed information for the rendering unit. In step S1302, the data transfer time is calculated using communication speed information 1237b between rendering units as shown in FIG. For example, when the data size of the stage process to be transferred is 10 Mbytes, the time taken to transmit / receive the data between the rendering unit 2 and the rendering unit 1 is
10 MByte / 100 Mbps / 8 bit × number of communications 2 = 0.025 sec = 25 msec. Note that the number of times of communication is two times, the first time is transmission of data before processing, and the second time is reception of print data after processing.

  In step S1303, the total time of the stage processing average processing time of the CPU whose processing delegation request flag is ON and the transfer time derived in step S1302 is the stage in which the other job processing enable flag of other rendering units is ON. It is determined whether it is below the average waiting time for processing. For example, when the rendering units 1 (1230a) and 2 (1230b) are in the processing state shown in FIG. 10, the average processing time of the CPU 5 (232b) trying to delegate processing is 50 msec, and the data transfer time is The street is 25 msec. The sum of 75 msec is larger than the average waiting time of 60 msec of the CPU 2 (232a) that is about to accept the delegation process (No in S1303). Therefore, it is determined that the process delegation is not possible, and the process delegation determination ends. In this case, the RIP processing of job G is processed by the rendering unit 2 (1230b) without delegation. If the RIP process of job G is delegated to the rendering unit 1 (1230a), the RIP process of the delegated job G is being executed in the rendering unit 1 (1230a) even when the image correction process of the job C is completed. Become. Therefore, when the job G is not delegated, the RIP processing of the job C that can be immediately processed is awaited. Since the RIP processing of job C is delayed, the supply of the bitmap data of job C from the controller unit 210 to the printer engine unit 220 may be delayed, and the operation of the printer engine unit 220 may be stopped. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress a delay in the supply of bitmap data based on the determination in S1303. In this embodiment, a plurality of rendering units manage the processing status of a plurality of stages being processed, and processing is performed by delegating processing that has a heavy processing load between the plurality of rendering units within a range that does not affect other processing. Speed can be improved. As a result, the user can obtain a rendering result at a higher speed.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the rendering unit is all included in the printing apparatus, but a part or all of the rendering unit may be included in an external apparatus connected to the printing apparatus. In this case, in the processing load management table, the threshold may be set in consideration of the communication speed.

  In the above-described embodiment, a case where a job is distributed to a plurality of rendering units when a plurality of print jobs (print job data) is received has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of processes are performed. The present invention can also be applied to image processing of print job data having units. Specifically, for example, when one print job data has a plurality of pages, the print job data may be divided and distributed to each rendering unit by several pages.

  In the embodiment described above, it is determined whether to delegate processing based on the average processing time of the stage of the rendering unit that desires processing delegation and the average waiting time of the stage of the rendering unit that can process other jobs. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The rendering unit that is the delivery destination may be anything as long as it can determine whether the processing of the data desired to be delivered from the rendering unit that is desired to be delegated can be performed during the processing time of the CPU of the rendering unit that is the delivery destination. That is, it is only necessary to be able to determine whether or not the processing of the print data to be delivered can be completed before the CPU of the rendering unit that is the delivery destination starts the processing of the print data that is scheduled to be executed. For example, based on the data size of the data to be transferred, the processing time of the data to be transferred in the rendering unit that is the transfer destination may be calculated and compared with the time until the start of the next process of the rendering that is the transfer destination. . In this case, the time until the start of the next processing of rendering that is a delivery destination may be calculated based on the data size of the data being processed, for example.

  In the above-described embodiment, each rendering unit includes a plurality of CPUs. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any stage processing unit that can execute each stage process may be used. For example, hardware dedicated to stage processing may be used, or a GPU or the like may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, each rendering unit 230 includes the load monitoring unit 234 and the processing load management table 235. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the load monitoring unit 234 common to the plurality of rendering units 230 may be used, or the processing load management table 235 common to the plurality of rendering units may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where two rendering units are used has been described, but the same applies to the case where three or more rendering units are used.

  In the above-described embodiment, the CPU 101 performs the process delegation determination. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and each rendering unit may include a determination unit.

  The above-described embodiment can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. Further, the program may be executed by one computer or may be executed in conjunction with a plurality of computers. Further, it is not necessary to implement all of the above-described processing by software, and part or all of the processing may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC. Further, the CPU is not limited to the one that performs all the processing by one CPU, and a plurality of CPUs may perform the processing while appropriately cooperating.

100 Printing apparatus 101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
210 Controller unit 220 Printer engine unit 230 Rendering unit

Claims (10)

Receiving means for receiving print data;
Image processing means for sequentially executing a plurality of image processing on the print data received by the receiving means by different processing units;
Determining means for determining whether or not to delegate the first image processing of the first print data assigned to one image processing means to another image processing means;
The determination unit includes the first printing until the processing unit to which the first image processing is assigned in another image processing unit executes the first image processing of print data to be executed next. A control device that determines to delegate when the first image processing of data can be completed.   The determination unit determines whether to delegate based on an average processing time of the first image processing of one image processing unit and an average waiting time of the first image processing of another image processing unit. The control apparatus according to 1.   The determination unit determines to delegate when the average processing time of the first image processing of one image processing unit is equal to or less than the average waiting time of the first image processing of another image processing unit. The control device according to claim 2.   The determination means includes an average processing time of the first image processing of one image processing means, an average waiting time of the first image processing of other image processing means, and the one image processing means and the other image processing means. 4. The control device according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether to perform delegation based on a data transfer time between the two. A management unit that manages the processing status of each processing unit of each image processing unit;
The control device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether to delegate based on the processing status managed by the management unit.   6. The control according to claim 5, wherein the management unit includes a management table for managing a processing status of each processing unit, and updates the management table every time a predetermined unit of processing of each processing unit is completed. apparatus.   The control device according to claim 1, wherein the content of image processing to be executed by each processing unit is determined in advance.   The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit that performs printing based on data processed by the image processing unit. A control method for an apparatus including a plurality of image processing means for sequentially executing a plurality of image processing on print data by different processing units,
A determination step of determining whether to delegate the first image processing of the first print data assigned to the first image processing means to another image processing means;
In the determination step, the processing unit to which the first image processing is assigned in another image processing unit executes the first image processing of the first print data before executing the first image processing of the print data to be executed next. A control method characterized in that when image processing can be completed, it is determined to delegate. The program which makes a computer function as each means of the control apparatus of any one of Claims 1-8.

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