JP3906600B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image data output apparatus, an image data output method, and a recording medium suitable for use in a copying machine, a printer, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printers that receive data in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL data) and perform image formation are known. In these printers, for example, in order to output image data captured by a digital camera or the like (hereinafter referred to as image data), it is necessary to convert a color space such as an RGB format into a color space such as a KYMC format.
[0003]
Such color space conversion processing is generally performed on the printer side in order to reduce the processing burden on the host computer. The color space conversion process may be performed using a CPU used for printer control (software processing) or performed using dedicated hardware (hardware processing).
[0004]
In addition, when such a dedicated hardware unit is provided to the user as an option, there has also been proposed a technique for changing the control of the printer depending on whether or not the hardware unit exists (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8- 237491). That is, it is determined by the printer control program whether or not the hardware unit is installed. If the hardware unit is installed, hardware processing is executed by the hardware unit. The hardware process is executed.
[0005]
By the way, in any case of hardware processing and software processing, when performing color space conversion processing, the time required (start-up time etc.) regardless of the size of the image data to be processed, the image It takes a time (such as a net color space conversion processing time) that increases almost in proportion to the data size or the number of pixels. In the present specification, the former is called “non-correlation time” and the latter is called “correlation time”.
[0006]
When hardware processing is performed, a certain amount of time is required for starting up the hardware. On the other hand, when software processing is performed, a simple subroutine call or the like is sufficient. Therefore, the hardware processing is longer with respect to the decorrelation time. On the other hand, regarding the correlation time, it goes without saying that the hardware processing is generally shorter.
[0007]
In general documents, the number of image data output per page is about several to a dozen, so even if the decorrelation time is spent for hardware processing, it is more uncorrelated Time is reduced. For this reason, conventionally, it has been considered advantageous to perform hardware processing as much as possible.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, depending on the type of application program running on the host computer, there are those that output a large amount of minute image data. That is, even when the user inserts one image data into the document, the image data is divided into a plurality of minute image data according to the convenience of the application program. An example of the image data divided in this way is shown in FIG.
[0009]
According to such an application program, particularly when the ratio of the image area in one page is large, several hundreds or more of image data are transmitted from the host computer to the printer. When hardware processing is performed on the printer side, the hardware units are activated by the number of these image data, so the total non-correlation time increases, and the printing time becomes longer compared to when software processing is performed. The problem that occurred.
[0010]
The first object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of selecting an image processing means in accordance with the contents of data transmitted from a host computer. A second object of the present invention is to provide an image data output device, an image data output method, and a recording medium suitable for use with the image processing device.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, in the configuration according to claim 1, a first image processing means for performing predetermined image processing and a second image processing for performing the same image processing as the first image processing means. Means and control means for selecting and operating one of the first or second image processing means in accordance with the input image data, and the first and second image processing means comprise image processing At this time, a non-correlation time required regardless of the size of the image data to be processed and a correlation time that increases in correlation with the size of the image data are required. The first image processing means The non-correlation time is longer and the correlation time is shorter than the second image processing means, and the control means is such that the dimension of the image data in a predetermined direction is not more than a first predetermined value, In the predetermined direction of the image data The dimension in the intersecting direction is equal to or smaller than a second predetermined value, the number of the image data within a predetermined range exceeds the third predetermined value, or the number of the image data continuously arranged is the first The second image processing means is selected when at least one of the predetermined values of 4 is satisfied .
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized in that the image processing is color space conversion processing .
Furthermore, in the configuration according to claim 3, a receiving unit that receives image data and image data mode information indicating a mode of the image data, a first image processing unit that performs predetermined image processing, Second image processing means for performing the same image processing as the first image processing means, and control means for selecting and operating one of the first or second image processing means according to the image data mode information The first and second image processing means correlate with the decorrelation time required for the image processing regardless of the size of the image data to be processed and the size of the image data. The first image processing means has a longer non-correlation time and a shorter correlation time than the second image processing means, and the image data mode information is , The image data That the dimension of the predetermined direction is less than or equal to the first predetermined value, the dimension of the image data in the direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction is equal to or less than the second predetermined value, and the number of the image data within the predetermined range. It indicates whether or not at least one of a third predetermined value or a case where the number of the image data continuously arranged exceeds a fourth predetermined value is satisfied. The control means indicates that the image data received by the receiving means indicates that the image data received together with the image data aspect information satisfies at least one of the conditions. The second image processing means is selected .
Furthermore, in the configuration according to claim 4, in the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 3 , the first image processing means executes the predetermined image processing by hardware processing. The second image processing means executes the predetermined image processing by software processing, and the first predetermined value is determined when the predetermined image processing is executed by the first image processing means. The sum of the correlation time and the correlation time is set to be equal to the sum of the non-correlation time and the correlation time when the predetermined image processing is executed by the second image processing means. It is characterized by.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1. First embodiment 1.1. Configuration of Embodiment Next, the configuration of the computer system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In the figure, a host computer 200 and a printer 100 are connected via a network 300. In the host computer 200, the hard disk 25 stores an operating system, application programs, a printer driver, and the like.
[0013]
The ROM 21 stores an initial program loader or the like that is activated when the host computer 200 is turned on, whereby the operating system or the like stored in the hard disk 25 is loaded into the RAM 22. The input device 23 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like and is operated by a user. The display 24 displays various information to the user.
[0014]
The network interface 26 exchanges various data between the host computer 200 and the network 300. The CPU 20 controls the above-described components based on the operating system, application programs, and printer driver programs. For example, the application program creates data to be output and supplies it to the printer driver. The printer driver converts the supplied data into PDL data and supplies it to the printer 100 via the network interface 26 and the network 300.
[0015]
Next, in the printer 100, the network interface 18 exchanges various data with the network 300. The CPU 10 controls each component in the printer 100 based on a control program described later. The memory 12 provides a work area for the CPU 10, and the PCI-Bus Bridge 11 performs bus arbitration when the CPU 10 or other components try to access the memory 12. The hard disk 15 stores print data transferred from the host device.
[0016]
The color space conversion processing circuit 13 is a circuit that performs color space conversion processing by hardware processing, and the compression processing circuit 14 compresses print data in a predetermined compression format. The font ROM 16 stores font data for forming a character image. The printer engine 17 forms an image based on the supplied image data.
[0017]
Among the components described above, the hard disk 15 and the color space conversion processing circuit 13 can be connected as options, and the processing mode can be changed depending on the connection status. Further, the printer 100 employs a mechanism that executes processing in units of scan lines so that image data can be processed with a small amount of memory.
[0018]
The color space conversion process described above is a process for converting input image information from the RGB color system of the monitor used in the workstation or the like to the CMYK color system on the printing apparatus side. Software processing by the CPU 10 is also possible. Accordingly, when performing color space conversion processing, it is necessary to select either hardware processing or software processing. Details thereof will be described in the later-described operation.
[0019]
1.2. Layer Configuration of Printer 100 Next, a hardware and software layer configuration in the printer 100 is shown in FIG. In this layer, the lowest layer is the hardware layer 34, which includes the color space conversion processing circuit 13, the compression processing circuit 14, and the like. The second layer is an operating system (OS) 33 that is the base of the image processing system, and the third layer is provided with management software 32 for managing tasks such as various image processing on the OS 33.
[0020]
Under the management of the management software 32, the uppermost layer is constituted by the image processing software 30 or the communication software 31 that executes various image processing, and the color space conversion processing circuit 13, the compression processing circuit 14, and the like. The hardware device is activated via the management software 32 and the OS 33 in response to a request from the image processing software 30.
[0021]
1.3. Operation of Embodiment Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the printer driver of the host computer 200 supplies normal PDL data to the printer 100 in the same way as a conventional printer driver. Image data included in the PDL data is expressed in RGB format of the color system of the monitor.
[0022]
When the PDL data is supplied via the network interface 18, the contents are temporarily stored in the memory 12 or the hard disk 15. When the PDL data for one page is accumulated, the CPU 10 starts the program shown in FIG. In the figure, when the process proceeds to step SP20, the first data of the accumulated PDL data is read and its contents are interpreted.
[0023]
Next, when the process proceeds to step SP21, it is determined whether or not the PDL data is image data. The PDL data includes types such as graphic data and character data in addition to image data.
[0024]
Therefore, if the PDL data is graphic data, character data or the like, it is determined “NO”, and the process proceeds to step SP26. Here, color conversion processing or other image processing (rotation, enlargement / reduction, resolution conversion, etc.) is executed based on the PDL data. In the present embodiment, the color space conversion processing in step SP26 is executed by hardware, that is, the color space conversion processing circuit 13.
[0025]
Next, when the process proceeds to step SP27, it is determined whether or not the PDL data of the target page has been completed. If not completed yet, it is determined as “NO”, the process returns to step SP20, and the next PDL data is interpreted in the same manner as the above-described operation.
[0026]
If the interpreted PDL data is image data, “YES” is determined in step SP21, and the process proceeds to step SP22. Here, it is determined whether or not the length of the image data in the scan line direction (hereinafter referred to as “width”) exceeds a predetermined threshold L. Note that the “scan line direction” refers to the direction along the side of the image data (the arrow direction in the figure) even when the image is rotated as shown in FIG.
[0027]
If "YES" is determined in step SP22, the process proceeds to step SP23, the color space conversion processing circuit 13 is activated, and the color space conversion process by hardware is executed. Next, when the process proceeds to step SP25, various image processes (rotation, enlargement / reduction, resolution conversion, etc.) other than the color space conversion process are executed.
[0028]
On the other hand, if “NO” is determined in step SP22, the process proceeds to step SP24, and a color space conversion process is executed by a routine in the image processing software 30, that is, software. As described above, according to the present embodiment, hardware processing is employed when the width of the image data is relatively wide (when the threshold value L is exceeded), and software is used when the image data width is relatively narrow (when the threshold value L is equal to or smaller than the threshold value L). Processing is adopted.
[0029]
Note that the threshold L is preferably set to a value such that the sum of the non-correlation time and the correlation time in hardware processing and software processing is approximately equal. Hereinafter, the processes of steps SP20 to SP27 described above are repeated as much as the number of PDL data of the target page.
[0030]
Then, when the processing of the last PDL data of the page is finished, “YES” is determined in step SP27, and the processing of this routine is finished. Thereafter, raster data for each band (each area obtained by dividing the page into a plurality of areas) is generated based on the image data subjected to the image processing in step SP25 or step SP26, and sequentially supplied to the printer engine 17. As a result, the printer engine 17 forms an output image on paper or the like.
[0031]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, an appropriate one of software processing and hardware processing is selected according to the width of image data, so that color space conversion processing can be performed at extremely high speed. .
[0032]
2. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment, it is determined whether the color space conversion processing is performed by software or hardware by paying attention to the width in the scan line direction. However, the number of scan lines of image data to be processed (hereinafter, In the case where the “height” is small, the influence of overhead due to the startup time may not appear.
[0033]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, hardware processing and software processing are selected in consideration of the height of image data. The hardware configuration of this embodiment and the layer configuration of the printer 100 are the same as those of the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment, when one page of PDL data is accumulated in the memory 12, the program shown in FIG.
[0034]
The program shown in FIG. 6 is mostly the same as that shown in FIG. 2, but the processing in step SP302 is different from that in step SP22 in FIG. That is, in step SP302, “whether or not the width width of the image data exceeds a predetermined threshold value L and the height Height exceeds a predetermined threshold value M” is determined.
[0035]
If "YES" is determined here, the process proceeds to step SP303 and the hardware process is executed. If "NO" is determined, the process proceeds to step SP304 and the software process is executed. As described above, in this embodiment, since the color space conversion processing method can be determined in consideration of not only the width width but also the height height of the image data, the hardware unit is activated especially for each scan line. In some cases, a more appropriate treatment method can be selected.
[0036]
3. Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first and second embodiments, the CPU 10 of the printer 100 determines whether the color space conversion process is performed by software or hardware. However, this determination may be made on the host computer 200 side.
[0037]
Therefore, in this embodiment, the processing method is determined by the printer driver on the host computer 200 side. The hardware configuration of this embodiment and the layer configuration of the printer 100 are the same as those of the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment, when one page of data is supplied from the application program on the host computer 200 side to the printer driver, the program shown in FIG. 7 is started in the printer driver.
[0038]
In the figure, when the process proceeds to step SP500, the printer driver receives data for one page (including graphic data, character data, image data, etc.) from the application program. Next, when the process proceeds to step SP501, PDL data is created based on the received data.
[0039]
Next, when the process proceeds to step SP502, the number of image data included in the page is substituted into the variable ICNT. Next, when the process proceeds to step SP503, it is determined whether or not the number ICNT of image data exceeds a predetermined threshold value N. If “YES” is determined here, the process proceeds to step SP504, and the image processing flag is set to “0”.
[0040]
On the other hand, if “NO” is determined in step SP503, the process proceeds to step SP505, and the image processing flag is set to “1”. The image processing flag is a flag assigned to each image data included in the PDL data. “0” indicates that software processing should be performed, and “1” indicates that hardware processing should be performed. It shows that.
[0041]
That is, in the present embodiment, software processing is instructed when the number of image data is large (when the threshold value N is exceeded), and hardware processing is instructed when the number of image data is small. . In either case, the process proceeds to step SP506, where the PDL data is supplied to the printer 100 via the network interface 26.
[0042]
Next, FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a program executed by the CPU 10 on the printer 100 side in the present embodiment. The program shown in FIG. 8 is mostly the same as that shown in FIG. 2, but the processing in step SP502 is different from that in step SP22 in FIG. That is, in step SP502, “whether or not the value of the image processing flag is“ 1 ”is determined”.
[0043]
If "YES" is determined here, the process proceeds to step SP403 and the hardware process is executed. If "NO" is determined, the process proceeds to step SP404 and the software process is executed. As described above, in this embodiment, since the color space conversion processing method can be determined on the host computer 200 side, this is particularly effective when it is desired to reduce the processing load of the printer 100.
[0044]
4). Modifications The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, various modifications are possible as follows.
(1) The color space conversion process in each of the above embodiments is a conversion from the RGB color system to the CMYK color system. However, the “color space conversion process” in the present invention is not limited to this. For example, processing according to an input / output device space such as CMYK to CMYK and RGB to RGB is possible, and of course, it may be employed for temporary color space conversion processing during raster operation processing in image processing. It is.
[0045]
(2) In the third embodiment, the image processing flag is determined according to the number of image data included in one page. However, the image processing flag may be determined based on the continuity of the image data. That is, if the number of adjacent image data without a gap exceeds a predetermined threshold value P, the image processing flag is set to “1” for the series of image data, otherwise the image processing flag is set. It may be set to “0”.
[0046]
(3) In the above modification and the third embodiment, the number or continuity of the image data is determined on the host computer 200 side, but such processing may be performed on the printer 100 side. Conversely, the determination method described in the first and second embodiments (that is, determination based on the width or height of image data) is performed on the host computer 200 side, and the image processing flag is set according to the result. Also good. Further, the printer 100 or the host computer 200 may determine the processing method by combining the above determination methods. In addition, any other apparatus or method for determining a processing method based on an aspect of image data such as image data falls within the scope of the present invention.
[0047]
(4) In the above embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to a printer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to a printer, and is applicable to various image output devices such as a copying machine, a plotter, a CRT display, and a liquid crystal display. It is possible to apply.
[0048]
(5) Although the printer driver program is stored in the hard disk 25 in the third embodiment, this program may be stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM and distributed.
[0049]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, one of the first or second image processing means is selected and operated according to the image data, so that an appropriate image processing means can be selected.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of first to third embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control program of the printer 100 according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware and software layer configuration in the printer 100 according to the first to third embodiments.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of problems in the prior art.
FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a control program of the printer 100 according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a printer driver of a host computer 200 in the third embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a control program of the printer 100 according to the third embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 CPU
11 PCI-Bus Bridge
12 Memory 13 Color space conversion processing circuit 14 Compression processing circuit 15 Hard disk 16 Font ROM
17 Printer Engine 18 Network Interface 20 CPU
21 ROM
22 RAM
23 input device 24 display 25 hard disk 26 network interface 30 image processing software 32 management software 33 operating system 34 hardware layer 100 printer 200 host computer 300 network

Claims (4)

First image processing means for performing predetermined image processing;
Second image processing means for performing the same image processing as the first image processing means;
Control means for selecting and operating one of the first or second image processing means in accordance with input image data;
With
In the image processing, the first and second image processing means include a non-correlation time required regardless of the size of the image data to be processed, and a correlation time that increases in correlation with the size of the image data. The first image processing means has a longer non-correlation time and a shorter correlation time than the second image processing means,
The control means is such that the dimension of the image data in a predetermined direction is not more than a first predetermined value, the dimension of the image data in the direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction is not more than a second predetermined value, and a predetermined range The number of the image data in the image data exceeds a third predetermined value, or the number of the image data continuously arranged exceeds the fourth predetermined value, at least one condition is satisfied In this case, the second image processing means is selected .   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing is color space conversion processing. Receiving means for receiving image data and image data mode information indicating a mode of the image data;
First image processing means for performing predetermined image processing;
Second image processing means for performing the same image processing as the first image processing means;
Control means for selecting and operating one of the first or second image processing means according to the image data mode information;
With
In the image processing, the first and second image processing means include a non-correlation time required regardless of the size of the image data to be processed, and a correlation time that increases in correlation with the size of the image data. The first image processing means has a longer non-correlation time and a shorter correlation time than the second image processing means,
In the image data mode information, the size of the image data in a predetermined direction is not more than a first predetermined value, and the size of the image data in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction is not more than a second predetermined value, At least one of the conditions that the number of the image data in a predetermined range exceeds a third predetermined value or the number of the image data continuously arranged exceeds a fourth predetermined value is satisfied. Whether or not
In the control means, the image data mode information received by the receiving means indicates that the image data received together with the image data mode information satisfies at least one of the conditions. In this case, the image processing apparatus selects the second image processing means . The first image processing means executes the predetermined image processing by hardware processing, while the second image processing means executes the predetermined image processing by software processing,
The first predetermined value is the sum of the non-correlation time and the correlation time when the predetermined image processing is executed by the first image processing means. It is set to be equal to the sum of the non-correlation time and the correlation time when performing image processing.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus.

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