JP4475680B2 - Image processing apparatus, control method therefor, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that manages image data by performing image processing on input image data, a control method thereof, and a program.

  There is known an image data input / output system that is connected to a network, executes image data processing on external or internal image data, and outputs the processed image data.

  As this image data input / output system, there is a so-called MFP (Multi Function Peripheral).

  Here, FIG. 29 shows a controller 100 for controlling the conventional MFP. The controller 100 is connected to a CPU 102, a memory controller (MC) 103, a general-purpose bus 105, an image processing unit 110, and an image data development unit (RIP (Raster Image Processor)) 113 by a system bus bridge (SBB) 101.

  The general-purpose bus 105 stores image data: a hard disk controller (HDDCont) 106 that controls a mass storage unit (HDD (Hard Disk Drive)) 107, and an external device via a network 108 to which the MFP is connected. A network I / F 109 serving as an interface for transferring image data to and from the network is connected. The image data includes image data in a page vector format (PDL (page description language), PDF, SVG, etc.).

  An HDD (hard disk drive) 107 is connected to the HDDCont 106 and is used as a storage medium for image data. Similarly, a system memory (Memory) 104 is connected to the MC 103 and is used as a medium for temporarily storing image data. Generally, a DIMM is used for the system memory 104.

  A scanner 111 and a printer 112 are connected to the image processing unit 110. The image data input from the scanner 111 is input to the controller 100 after predetermined image processing is performed by the image processing unit 110. The image data stored in the controller 100 is subjected to predetermined image processing by the image processing unit 110 and is output to the printer 112.

  The image data handled by the controller 100 is interfaced in a page vector format (PDL, PDF, SVG, etc.) for input / output with an external device via the network, and in a raster data format for input / output with the scanner 111 or printer 112. . The image data in the page vector format input from the external device is interpreted by the CPU 102 as a primitive object, converted into intermediate data (DL data) called DL (DisplayList), and then input to the RIP 113.

  These image data are temporarily stored in the system memory 104 inside the controller 100. Therefore, various types of data such as raster data, page vector data (such as PDL), and DL data exist on the system memory 104.

  The HDD 107 stores image data input from the scanner 111 and raster image data rendered by the RIP 113 as image data.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-120639

  Among the image data handled by the MFP as described above, raster image data has a large data size. Therefore, many system resources such as the memory size of the system memory 104 and the bandwidth between the general-purpose bus 105 and the HDDCont 106 and the HDD 107 are consumed.

  In addition, page vector data such as PDL data is interpreted in the system and developed into DL data for generating a drawing object. At this time, since DL data is spooled in the system memory 104, the amount of memory resources consumed thereby is enormous.

  On the other hand, recently, the user demands for image quality of output images are increasing, and as one of the solutions, higher resolution (higher image quality) of image data is promoted. There is also a demand for improving the processing speed of the system in parallel with the image quality.

  For this reason, system resources necessary for satisfying the above various required specifications are enlarged. Therefore, it is an issue to make a trade-off between product cost performance.

  Apart from the cost performance issues of this product, it is also required to solve the problem of human resources for developing complicated and diversified systems. In order to satisfy this requirement, it is an issue to efficiently maintain the product lineup by configuring one basic system in a scalable form for various required specifications.

  For example, a system in which a plurality of modules such as the image processing unit 110 and the RIP 113 in FIG. 29 are mounted in a high-end model and can be distributed is required.

  On the other hand, paperlessness is progressing in offices, and there is a demand for seamlessly handling paper output and electronic data. For this purpose, even in an MFP, which is an I / F device for paper and electronic data, for example, improvement in searchability of stored image data, or conversion of raster image data into object data that can be converted into reusable object data. (Print On Demand) In order to support printing, it is necessary to have a more intelligent function such as speeding up image processing.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides an image processing apparatus, a control method therefor, and a program that can alleviate restrictions on system resources of the entire system and improve the total throughput. For the purpose.

In order to solve the above problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is,
An image processing apparatus that executes processing on input image data,
Input means for inputting image data;
An output means for outputting image data;
First conversion means for converting raster image data into block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size by dividing the raster image data into blocks of a predetermined size and executing vectorization processing When,
Storage means for storing block vector image data;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
Second conversion means for converting page vector image data indicating the entire page into block vector image data corresponding to a block of a predetermined size ;
The image data transfer control means,
When the image data input from the input means is raster image data, the first conversion means converts the image data into block vector image data,
When the image data input from the input means is the page vector image data, the second conversion means converts it to block vector image data,
Storing the block vector image data converted by using the first conversion means or the second conversion means in the storage means;
Controls transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus so that raster image data obtained by executing the expansion means on the block vector image data stored in the storage means is output from the output means. Image data transfer control means
Is provided .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus, a control method therefor, and a program that can alleviate restrictions on system resources of the entire system and improve the total throughput.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of a controller of the MFP that constitutes the image processing system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the data flow which concerns on the copy operation | movement in the image processing system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data flow which concerns on the printing operation in the image processing system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data flow which concerns on the transmission operation | movement in the image processing system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the raster / tile vector conversion part of Embodiment 1 of this invention performs. 2 shows an example of document data transferred from the network according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of description of the page vector data of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the tile vector data of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of description of the tile vector data of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the tile / page vector conversion part of Embodiment 1 of this invention performs. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the image data expansion | deployment part of Embodiment 1 of this invention performs. It is a figure which shows the data flow which concerns on the transmission operation in the image processing system of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the tile vector data of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of description of the page vector data of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of description of the tile vector data of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the tile division | segmentation of the curve object of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the division | segmentation process of the curve object of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a process of step S1802 of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a process of step S1803 of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the tile division | segmentation of the image object of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the division | segmentation process of the image object of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the division process of the image object of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the rasterization of the image object in step S77 of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the process outline | summary of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the tile vector data writing process of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the tile vector data read-out process of Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of the image data expansion | deployment part of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the font cache of Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional image processing system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment 1]
[Outline of MFP device]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing details of a controller of the MFP constituting the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The controller 1 that controls the MFP 1000 includes a system bus bridge (SBB) 2, a CPU 3, a memory controller (MC) 4, a general-purpose bus 6, a tile / page vector conversion unit 13, a raster / tile vector conversion unit 14, an image processing unit 15, An image data development unit (RIP) 18 is connected.

  Here, the RIP 18 can expand tile vector data, and a plurality of small image data expansion units (μRIP) 18a to 18d are configured therein.

  A system memory (Memory) 5 is connected to the MC 4 and is used as a medium for temporarily storing image data.

  Connected to the general-purpose bus 6 are a hard disk controller (HDDCont) 7 for controlling the HDD 8 for storing image data, an operation unit controller 9 for controlling an operation unit (for example, a touch panel including an LCD or the like) 10, and an MFP 1000. A network I / F 11 serving as an interface for transferring image data between external devices is connected to the network 12.

  Note that the operation unit 10 displays an operation screen for displaying execution instructions of various processes of the first embodiment and the respective embodiments described later, processing results, and the like. Operation can be realized.

  An image processing unit 15 is connected to the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14. A scanner 16 and a printer 17 are connected to the image processing unit 15.

  Further, the RIP 18 is connected to the SBB2. In addition, a local memory (LocalMemory) 19 that stores data output from the RIP 18 is connected to the RIP 18.

  The image data handled by the controller 1 is image data (hereinafter also referred to as vector data) in the form of vectors (PDL, PDF, SVG, etc.) for input / output with external devices, and raster input / output with the scanner 16 or printer 17. It is interfaced with formatted image data (hereinafter also referred to as raster data).

  In the controller 1, the scan data (raster data) is converted into tile vector data by the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14. Further, tile DL data obtained from the tile vector data by the processing of the RIP 18 is stored in the local memory 19 connected to the RIP 18.

  Accordingly, only two types of images of page vector data and tile vector data are stored in the system memory 5. That is, it is not necessary to store raster data and DL data having a large image size in the system memory 5. Therefore, the image data area that must be secured on the system memory 5 can be reduced.

  The DL data output from the RIP 18 is stored as tile DL data divided into tiles. Therefore, it can be stored with a very small memory capacity as compared with the conventional page DL data in page units. Therefore, the local memory 19 can be mounted on-chip, and the memory latency can be reduced. As a result, the tile data development speed can be increased.

  Further, since only tile vector data needs to be stored on the HDD 8 as image data, the bottleneck of the access speed to the HDD 8 is alleviated and the data processing can be speeded up. At the same time, by processing in tile units, the cost of the RIP 18 can be reduced.

  When higher processing capability is required, the processing capability can be made variable by mounting a plurality of μRIPs 18a to 18d provided in the RIP 18 in parallel. By doing in this way, since the processing capacity of the controller 1 can be adjusted simply, the system which can ensure the scalability easily can be constructed | assembled.

  In the present invention, the network I / F 11 and the scanner 16 function as an image input unit that inputs image data into the controller 1. The network I / F 11 and the printer 17 function as an image output unit that outputs image data.

  The data flow of various processes that can be realized by the MFP 1000 will be described below.

[copy]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data flow relating to a copy operation in the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  This data flow is realized by cooperatively operating various components constituting the MFP 1000 under the control of the CPU 3.

  In addition, arrows shown in FIG. 2 indicate various data flows. In particular, a solid line arrow indicates the data flow of raster data (raster image data), a broken line arrow indicates tile vector data (tile vector image data), and a one-dot chain line arrow indicates page vector data (page vector image data). The page vector data and tile vector data will be described in detail in the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 described later.

  (S21): When the user gives an instruction to start copying from the operation unit 10, the scanner 16 starts reading an original image. The image (R, G, B image) input from the scanner 16 to the image processing unit 15 is frequency-converted to the clock synchronization of the image processing unit 15 and, for example, the following processing is executed.

1) Correction processing of scanner characteristics such as line pitch and chromatic aberration of the CCD sensor in the scanner 16 2) Image quality correction processing of input image data such as color space correction and sharpness 3) Frame deletion of input image data, book frame deletion, etc. Image processing (S22): Image processing by the image processing unit 15 is completed, and the image data output from the image processing unit 15 is input to the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14, and tile vector conversion processing is executed. That is, the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14 divides the image data into blocks (tiles) having a predetermined size. Then, vectorization processing is executed on the raster data in each block to generate vector data (tile vector data (block vector data)) in units of blocks (tiles).

The generated tile vector data is subjected to bus arbitration by the SBB 2, acquires the bus right to the system memory 5, and is stored in the system memory 5 via the MC 4. (Note that when the data path is connected via the SBB2, the procedure for acquiring the bus right is basically taken after the arbitration of the bus, but this is omitted in the following flow description.)
(S23): The tile vector data stored in the system memory 5 is stored in the HDD 8 via the SBB 2 via the HDD Cont 7 and MC 4. By storing tile vector data in the HDD 8, sorting can be performed when copying a plurality of originals, and the pages can be output in different order, or can be stored as saved image data in the MFP 1000.

  (S24): The tile vector data stored in the HDD 8 is read out by the HDDCont 7 in accordance with the timing of the printer ready sent from the printer CPU (not shown) in the printer 17 and passes through the SBB2 and MC4. Temporarily stored in the system memory 5.

  If the read tile vector data is directly output from the HDD 8 to the printer 17, it can be guaranteed that the access speed of the HDD 8 is regulated, or that the output is synchronized with the printer 17 due to the degree of congestion of the general-purpose bus 6. Disappear. For this reason, the page vector data is spooled in the system memory 5 before data transfer is performed in synchronization with the printer 17 to guarantee real-time throughput.

  (S25): The tile vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read by the MC 4 in accordance with the activation signal sent from the printer 17 to the controller 1, and transferred to the RIP 18 via the SBB 2.

  In the RIP 18, first, tile vector data is analyzed, and a drawing object (tile DL data) in units of tiles is generated (interpreted). The generated tile DL data is temporarily stored in the local memory 19.

  The RIP 18 reads the tile DL data from the local memory 19, develops it into raster data (tile raster data) in units of tiles, and outputs the raster data.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the RIP 18 includes the four small image data expansion units (μRIP) 18a to 18d. The controller 1 can cause the tile vector data to be developed at high speed by operating the μRIP 18a to μRIP 18d in parallel.

  Here, the overall performance of the image processing system is dominated by vector data development time, and an increase in performance can be expected by increasing the number of components of this μRIP. Therefore, when the configuration as in the present invention is used, it is possible to easily construct a scalable system by increasing or decreasing the number of components or the number of components to be operated.

  (S26): The tile raster data generated by the RIP 18 is transferred to the image processing unit 15, and for example, the following processing is executed.

1) Conversion process from tile raster data to page raster data 2) Correction process of color and density of output image in accordance with printer characteristics 3) Halftone process that performs gradation conversion of output image by quantizing image data 4 ) Frequency conversion processing for outputting an image in synchronization with the printer I / F clock The raster data obtained by executing the image processing of 1) to 4) by the image processing unit 15 is transferred to the printer 17. Printed on a recording medium and output.

[Print]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data flow relating to a printing operation in the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  This data flow is realized by cooperatively operating various components constituting the MFP 1000 under the control of the CPU 3.

  (S31): The network I / F 11 connected to the general-purpose bus 6 receives the page vector data from the external device connected to the network 12. And it transfers to the system memory 5 via MC4 connected ahead of SBB2.

  (S32): The page vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read from the tile / page vector conversion unit 13, and tile vector conversion processing is executed. That is, the tile / page vector conversion unit divides an object existing in the page vector data into objects that can be contained in a block (tile) having a predetermined size. Then, tile unit vector data (tile vector data) is generated.

  (S33): The generated tile vector data is stored again in the system memory 5 via the SBB2.

  (S34): The tile vector data stored in the system memory 5 is stored in the HDD 8 via the SBB 2 via the HDD Cont 7 and MC 4. By storing tile vector data in the HDD 8, sorting can be performed when copying a plurality of originals, and the pages can be output in different order, or can be stored as saved image data in the MFP 1000.

  (S35): The tile vector data stored in the HDD 8 is read out by the HDDCont 7 in accordance with the timing of the printer ready sent from the CPU (not shown) in the printer 17, and the system is passed through the SBB2 and MC4. It is temporarily stored in the memory 5.

  When the read tile vector data is directly output from the HDD 8 to the printer 17, it cannot be guaranteed that the access speed of the HDD 8 is regulated or that the output is synchronized with the printer 17 due to the degree of congestion of the general-purpose bus 6. Therefore, before transferring data in synchronization with the printer 17, the vector image data for one page is spooled in the system memory 5 to guarantee real-time throughput.

  (S36): The tile vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read out by the MC 4 according to the activation signal sent from the printer 17 to the controller 1, and transferred to the RIP 18 via the SBB 2.

  In the RIP 18, first, tile vector data is analyzed, and a drawing object (tile DL data) in units of tiles is generated (interpreted). The generated tile DL data is temporarily stored in the local memory 19.

  The RIP 18 reads the tile DL data from the local memory 19, develops it into raster data (tile raster data) in units of tiles, and outputs the raster data.

  (S37): The tile raster data generated by the RIP 18 is transferred to the image processing unit 15 and, for example, the following processing is executed.

1) Conversion processing from tile raster data to page raster data 2) Correction processing of color and density of output image in accordance with printer characteristics 3) Halftone processing for quantizing image data and executing gradation conversion of output image 4) Frequency conversion processing for outputting an image in synchronization with the printer I / F clock The raster data obtained by executing the image processing of 1) to 4) by the image processing unit 15 is sent to the printer 17. It is transferred, printed on a recording medium, and output.

[Send]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data flow relating to a transmission operation in the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  This data flow is realized by cooperatively operating various components constituting the MFP 1000 under the control of the CPU 3.

  The data flow until image data is stored in the HDD 8 is the same as [Copy] for raster data and [Print] for page vector data input from an external device on the network 12. So I will omit the explanation.

  The process of storing the image data in the HDD 8 may be executed according to a storage instruction from the user, or may be automatically left in the HDD 8 during the [copy] or [print] process. May be. A transmission process performed when an instruction to transmit image data designated by the user from the image data stored in the HDD 8 in this way is described.

  (S41): The tile vector data stored in the HDD 8 is read from the HDD Cont 7 connected to the general-purpose bus 6 via the SBB 2 and temporarily stored in the system memory 5.

  (S42): The tile vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read from the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 and executes tile vector conversion processing. That is, the objects divided into blocks are combined to generate page vector data describing the object in the entire page. That is, page vector data indicating the vector data of the entire page is generated from tile vector data for one page.

  (S43): The generated page vector data is stored again in the system memory 5 via the SBB2.

  (S44): The page vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read from the network I / F 11 connected to the general-purpose bus 6, and transmitted and transferred to an external device connected to the network 12.

  As in the present invention, when transmitting to an external device, the tile vector data is returned to page vector data, and the number of objects constituting the data is reduced, so that the amount of transmission data can be reduced. Moreover, it can be easily converted into a general-purpose format such as PDF or SVG.

  In the present invention, raster data input from the scanner 16 can also be transmitted to an external device. In this case, it is preferable that the raster data is converted into a page vector and then transmitted to an external device.

[Raster / Tile vector converter]
Next, details of the processing of the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the raster / tile vector conversion unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S51: Block selection (area division: BS) processing)
The raster data (image data) input from the image processing unit 15 is divided into a character / line drawing area including characters or line drawings, a halftone photo area, an irregular image area, and the like. Further, the character / line drawing area is divided into a character area mainly including characters and a line drawing area mainly including tables, figures, etc., and the line drawing area is divided into a table area and a graphic area.

  In the first embodiment, connected pixels of an image to be processed are detected and separated into regions for each attribute using feature quantities such as the shape, size, and pixel density of a circumscribed rectangular region of the connected pixels. However, other region division methods may be used.

  The character area is segmented into rectangular blocks (character area rectangular blocks) as a block of clusters of character paragraphs. In the line drawing area, each object (table area rectangular block, line drawing area rectangular block) such as a table or a figure is segmented into rectangular blocks.

  The photograph area expressed in halftone is segmented into rectangular blocks for each object such as an image area rectangular block and a background area rectangular block.

  Each separated area is further divided into areas (tiles) of a predetermined size, and vectorized by the following vectorization process in units of tiles.

(Step S52: Vectorization process)
By the vectorization process, the image data of each attribute area is converted to vector data (vectorized). Examples of vectorization methods include methods (a) to (f) below.

  (A) When the attribute area is a character area, the character image code conversion is further performed by OCR, or the character size, style and font are recognized, and the character obtained by scanning the document is visually faithful. Convert to font data.

  (B) When the attribute area is a character area and cannot be recognized by OCR, the outline of the character is traced, and the outline information (outline) is converted into a format that represents the connection of line segments.

  In the first embodiment, an example in which one of the method (a) and the method (b) is used for the character area according to the OCR result is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead of using (a), only method (b) may be used for all character regions.

  (C) When the attribute region is a graphic region, the contour of the graphic object is tracked and converted into a format in which the contour information is expressed as a connection of line segments.

  (D) The outline information in the line segment format of the methods (b) and (c) is fitted with a Bezier function or the like and converted into function information.

  (E) The shape of the figure is recognized from the outline information of the figure object in the method (c), and converted into figure definition information such as a circle, a rectangle, and a polygon.

  (F) When the attribute area is a graphic area and the object is a tabular object in the specific area, the ruled line and the frame line are recognized and converted into form format information of a predetermined format.

(Step S53: Tile vector data generation process)
In step S52, whether or not the data converted into the command definition format information such as format code information, graphic information, and function information in the methods (a) to (f) is page vector data or tile vector data in the controller 1. Tile vector data to which header information for determining coordinate information such as the vector type to be determined and the coordinate position within the page of the tile is added is generated. In this way, tile vector data to which various information is added in units of tiles is output to SBB2.

(Step S54: end determination process)
The presence / absence of raster data to be processed is determined. If there is raster data to be processed (NO in step S54), the process returns to step S51. On the other hand, if there is no raster data to be processed (YES in step S54), the process ends.

[Tile / page vector converter]
Next, in describing the details of the processing of the tile / page vector conversion unit 13, document data (image data) to be processed will be described.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of document data transferred from the network according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 6, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 801 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is the “Y” direction. The document data 801 may be composed of any of page vector data, tile vector data, page vector data including raster data expressions (tile vector data), or raster data.

  Here, when the document data 801 is page vector data, a description example constituting the content will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a description example of page vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 7, reference numeral 901 denotes a document setting command part relating to setting of the entire document data, 902 denotes a character drawing command part, and 903 denotes a graphic drawing command part.

  Details of each drawing command portion will be described.

  In the document setting command part 901, C1 to C5 are commands related to the entire document. Accordingly, these commands C1 to C5 have only one place for one document.

  These commands related to the entire document data include, for example, a character set command (font specification command), a scalable font command (command to specify whether to use a scalable font), a hard reset command (previously used printer environment) Command to reset).

  Here, C1 is a document setting start command. C2 is a command indicating the output paper size of document data. In this case, A4 is set. C3 is a command indicating the direction of document data. Here, there are a portrait and a landscape. In this case, the portrait (PORT) is set.

  C4 is a command indicating the type of document data, indicating whether it is document data composed of page vectors or document data composed of tile vectors. In this case, it is set to page (PAGE). C5 is a document setting end command.

  C6 to C22 constituting the character drawing command portion 902 and the graphic drawing command portion 903 are various commands for outputting document data.

  C6 is a command indicating the start of a page. C7 is a command for selecting the font type of the character, and in this case, it is set to a font set numbered "1". C8 is a command for setting the font size. In this case, the size is set to "10 points".

  C9 is a command for setting the color of the character, and sequentially indicates the luminance of each color component of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). It is assumed that this luminance is quantized in 256 levels from 0 to 255, for example. In this case, it is set to {0, 0, 0}. C10 is a command indicating the coordinates of the start position for drawing a character. The coordinate position (X, Y) is designated with the upper left corner of the page as the origin. In this case, the character drawing is set to start from the position {10, 5} on the page. C11 is a command indicating a character string (XXXX ... YY ...) to be actually drawn.

  C12 is a command that indicates the fill color of the surface when drawing a graphic. The color designation is the same as the character color. C13 is a command for designating the line color of the figure drawing. C14 is a command indicating the coordinates of the graphic drawing position.

  C15 is a command for designating a radius for drawing an arc, and in this case, indicates a “10” coordinate unit. C16 is a command for drawing a closed arc. Two parameters in the command indicate a drawing start angle and an end angle when drawing an arc. The vertical information is assumed to be 0 degree, and in this case, an arc of 0 degree to 90 degrees is drawn.

  C17 to C21 are commands for designating a surface, a line color, and a position for drawing a figure, like the commands C12 to C16. C22 is a command indicating the end of the page.

  On the other hand, the case where the document data 801 is tile vector data will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of tile vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of tile vector data (document data 1001) obtained by dividing the document data 801 (page vector data) of FIG. 6 in units of blocks (tiles).

  In FIG. 8, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 1001 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is “Y”. In the drawing, a number sequence arranged in the X direction represents a tile ID in the X direction, and a number sequence arranged in the Y direction represents a tile ID in the Y direction. A to D indicate tile data at positions of tile ID = (0, 0), (1, 0), (2, 4), and (1, 5), respectively.

  Here, when the document data 1001 is tile vector data, a description example constituting the contents will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a description example of tile vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1101 denotes a document setting command part related to setting of the entire document data, 1102 denotes the entire drawing command part, and 1103 to 1106 denote drawing command parts of tiles A, B, C, and D, respectively. Reference numerals 1107 and 1108 respectively denote a character drawing command portion and a graphic drawing command portion of the tile D.

  Details of each drawing command will be described.

  In the document setting command part 1101, C1 to C5 are commands related to the entire document. Therefore, these commands C1 to C5 have only one place for one document.

  These commands related to the entire document data include, for example, a character set command (font specification command), a scalable font command (command to specify whether to use a scalable font), a hard reset command (previously used printer environment) Command to reset).

  Here, C1 is a document setting start command. C2 is a command indicating the output paper size of document data. In this case, A4 is set. C3 is a command indicating the direction of document data. Here, there are a portrait and a landscape. In this case, the portrait (PORT) is set.

  C4 is a command indicating the type of document data, and indicates whether there is document data composed of page vectors or document data composed of tile vectors. In this case, the tile is set to TILE. C5 is a document setting end command.

  C6 to C500 constituting the drawing command portion 1102 are various commands for outputting document data.

  C6 is a command indicating the start of a page. C7 is a command indicating the start of the drawing command for tile A in FIG. Here, two parameters in TileStart (0, 0) indicate tile IDs in the document data. C8 is a command indicating the end of the tile A drawing command. When there is no object in the tile as in the tile A, only commands indicating the start and end of the tile are described.

  C9 is a command indicating the start of the drawing command for tile B in FIG. C10 is a command for selecting the font type of the character, and in this case, it is set to the font set numbered “1”. C11 is a command for setting the font size. In this case, the size is set to "10 points".

  C12 is a command for setting a character color, and indicates the luminance of each color component of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) in order. It is assumed that this luminance is quantized in 256 levels from 0 to 255, for example. In this case, it is set to {0, 0, 0}. C13 is a command indicating the coordinates of the start position for drawing a character. The coordinate position (X, Y) is designated with the upper left corner of the tile as the origin. In this case, the drawing of characters is set to start from the position of {0, 5} on the tile. C14 is a command indicating a character string (XXXX) to be actually drawn. C15 is a command indicating the end of the tile B drawing command.

  C100 is a command indicating the start of the drawing command for tile C in FIG. C101 is a command that indicates the fill color of the surface when drawing a figure. The color designation is the same as the character color. C102 is a command for designating the color of a line for drawing graphics. C103 is a command indicating the coordinates of the position to draw the figure.

  C104 is a command for designating a radius for drawing an arc, and in this case, represents a "10" coordinate unit. C105 is a command for drawing a closed arc. Two parameters in the command indicate a drawing start angle and an end angle when drawing an arc. The vertical information is assumed to be 0 degree, and in this case, an arc of 0 degree to 90 degrees is drawn. C106 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command for tile C.

  C120 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command for the tile D in FIG. C121 to C130 are commands that specify the font type, color, size, etc. of a character by a character drawing command as in the commands of C9 to C15, and graphics drawing commands as in the commands of C100 to C106. This command specifies the surface of a figure, the color of the line, the position, and the like. C131 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command for tile D.

  C500 is a command indicating the end of the page.

  Next, details of the processing of the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the tile / page vector conversion unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The tile / page vector conversion unit 13 can perform mutual conversion between page vector data and tile vector data. Alternatively, the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 may include a conversion unit that converts page vector data to tile vector data and a conversion unit that converts tile vector data to page vector data.

(Step S601)
First, the command sequence corresponding to the header portion is read from the document data (vector data) stored in the system memory 5 and the command portion relating to the entire document data to be processed is analyzed. Specifically, the contents of portions corresponding to C1 to C5 in FIG. 7 or FIG. 9 are analyzed.

(Step S602)
Based on the analysis result, it is determined whether or not the document data type is page vector data. If it is page vector data (YES in step S602), the process proceeds to step S603 and subsequent steps, and page vector → tile vector conversion is executed. On the other hand, if it is not page vector data, that is, if it is tile vector data (NO in step S602), the process proceeds to step S610 and subsequent steps, and tile vector → page vector conversion is executed.

(Step S603)
Reads a command sequence that describes an object from page vector data.

(Step S604)
The command sequence read in step S603 is analyzed, and it is determined whether the size of the described object exceeds the tile size to be divided. That is, it is determined whether further division of the object is necessary.

  If the size of the object does not exceed the tile size to be divided (NO in step S604), step S605 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S606. On the other hand, if the size of the object exceeds the tile size to be divided (YES in step S604), the process proceeds to step S605.

(Step S605)
Here, the input object is divided.

  For example, in the page vector data of FIG. 7, a character drawing command portion 902 describes drawing commands for all character strings including “XXXX... YY. On the other hand, in the tile vector data of FIG. 9, for example, in the rendering command portion 1104 for the tile B, only the rendering command for the character string “XXXX” is described.

  Therefore, in tile vector data, when a character string spans multiple tiles, the character string is divided in the middle (tile boundary), and the divided subsequent character string is set as another character string, and the next tile. Describe in. If the description does not fit in the next tile, similarly, the character string included in the tile is divided again, and the process is repeated until all the divided character strings fit within the tile size. To determine where to cut the character string, the number of characters that fit in the tile is calculated from the type and size of the font, and that many characters are extracted.

  For example, the number of characters that can be contained in the tile is calculated as four for the character drawing command portion 902 of the page vector data in FIG. 7, and the description of the command C11 in FIG. Is converted into a description.

  Further, in the graphic drawing command portion 903, the graphic (3/4 circle in FIG. 6) described by the commands C17 to C21 does not fit in one of the tiles constituting the tile vector data in FIG. Therefore, this figure is divided into a plurality of tiles including the tile D. To divide a figure, calculate the part that touches the border area of the tile from the drawing position of the figure, the shape and size of the figure, and create a new closed area consisting of the border and the part area of the figure that is within the tile. Rewrite as a figure.

  The figure (3/4 circle in FIG. 6) described in the figure drawing command part 903 in FIG. 7 is such that the lower left partial area is like commands C126 to C130 in the figure drawing command part 1108. Converted to a 1/4 yen description. The remaining area is also converted into a 1/4 circle description of the same shape.

(Step S606)
In order to change the drawing position in the tile vector data for the input object command description, the coordinate position is converted. In the page vector data, the position from the upper left of the page is described, whereas in the tile vector data, the position is described from the upper left of the tile. By describing the drawing position with the coordinates in the tile, the data length required for coordinate calculation can be reduced.

(Step S607)
When the command description conversion for one object is completed, it is determined whether the command description conversion for all objects in the page is completed. If not completed (NO in step S607), the process returns to step S603, and the processes in steps S603 to S607 are repeated for the next command. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S607), the process proceeds to step S608.

(Step S608)
When the description conversion of all commands is completed, writing to the system memory 5 as tile vector data is executed in order from the upper left of the page for each tile in the tile vector data divided as shown in FIG. The tile vector data is described in a format in which commands indicating start and end of tiles are added to the commands described in steps S605 and S606.

  First, at the time of writing the first command on the page, a tile vector in which there is no object in the system memory 5 is generated. An example of a tile vector having no object is tile A in FIG. This tile A is described by a drawing command portion 1103 (FIG. 9) composed only of commands C7 and C8 indicating the start and end of the tile.

  Next, an object description is added to the coordinate tile where the command processed in steps S603 to S607 exists. For example, the tile B in FIG. 8 is described by a drawing command portion 1104 (FIG. 9) including commands C9 to C15. When there are a plurality of objects in the same tile, such as the tile D, an object description that forms the character drawing command portion 1107 and a graphic drawing command portion 1108 are formed as in the drawing command portion 1106. List the object descriptions to be performed.

(Step S609)
When the writing of one object to the tile vector is finished, it is determined whether or not all the descriptions of the objects on the page are finished. If not completed (NO in step S609), the process returns to step S603. On the other hand, when the processing is completed (YES in step S609), the processing is ended.

  On the other hand, the case where the document data type is tile vector data in step S602 will be described.

(Step S610)
Reads a command sequence that describes an object from tile vector data.

(Step S611)
The command sequence read in step S610 is analyzed, and it is determined whether or not the described object can be combined with tiles read before that time. If it cannot be combined (NO in step S611), step S612 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S613. On the other hand, if the connection is possible (YES in step S611), the process proceeds to step S612.

  Whether or not the objects can be combined is determined based on the coordinate position of the read command, the type of figure, and the like. In the case of a character string, the determination is made based on the font size and font type.

(Step S612)
Executes object merge processing. This processing is basically realized by reversing the processing procedure of step S605.

(Step S613)
In order to change to the drawing position in the page vector data for the input object command description, the coordinate position is converted. In the tile vector data, the position from the upper left of the tile is described, whereas in the page vector data, the position is rewritten from the upper left of the page.

(Step S614)
When the command description conversion for one object is completed, it is determined whether or not the command description conversion for all objects in the tile is completed. If not completed (NO in step S614), the process returns to step S610, and the processes in steps S610 to S613 are repeated for the next command. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S614), the process proceeds to step S615.

(Step S615)
When the description conversion of all commands is completed, writing to the system memory 5 as page vector data is executed. The page vector data is described in a format in which commands indicating start and end of tiles are deleted from the commands described in steps S612 and S613.

  First, at the time of writing the command described in the first tile in the page, a page vector in which there is no object in the system memory 5 is generated. This is a page vector described only by commands C1 to C6 and command C22, using the description of FIG.

  Next, a description of the object processed in steps S610 to S613 is added. In the case of the description in FIG. 7, the commands C7 to C11 constituting the character drawing command portion 902 correspond to this. The object in this case indicates a character string {XXXX... YY...}, Which is determined in step S612 in each tile described in the character drawing command portions 1104 and 1107 in FIG. It is a description of an object that combines character strings sequentially.

(Step S616)
When the writing of one command to the page vector is completed, it is determined whether or not the description of all the objects of the tile has been completed. If not completed (NO in step S616), the process returns to step S610. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S616), the process proceeds to step S617.

(Step S617)
When the writing of one tile vector data is finished, it is determined whether or not all the processes for the description of the tile vector data on the page are finished. If not completed (NO in step S617), the process returns to step S610. On the other hand, when the processing is completed (YES in step S617), the processing is ended.

[Image data development unit (RIP)]
Next, details of the image data development unit 18 in the controller 1 will be described.

  First, before starting processing for image data such as copy, print, and transmission, the local memory 19 is initialized and the resolution of the object to be created is set. In the first embodiment, the generation resolution is 600 dpi, and a print command specified in a unit system such as a point size or mm is converted into the number of dots using this value.

  Hereinafter, processing when tile vector data expansion is executed by the image data expansion unit 18 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the image data development unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S71)
Tile vector data input from the system memory 5 to the RIP 18 through the SBB 2 for a certain size is temporarily stored in the tile vector area of the local memory 19.

(Step S72)
When the tile vector data is stored in the local memory 19, it is determined whether any of the μRIPs 18a to 18d in the RIP 18 can develop (process) the tile vector data. When any of the μRIPs 18a to 18d is being developed (processed) in tile vector data (NO in step S72), the process waits until any of them can be developed.

(Step S73)
If any of the μRIPs 18a to 18d can expand the tile vector data, the command analysis of the tile vector data stored in the local memory 19 is executed according to a predetermined grammar.

(Step S74)
Based on the command analysis result, it is determined whether the command is a drawing command or a paper discharge command. If it is a drawing command (YES in step S74), the process proceeds to step S75. On the other hand, if it is a paper discharge command (NO in step S74), the process proceeds to step S76.

(Step S75)
When the command is a drawing command, a drawing object (DL data) is generated. If the command in the tile vector data is a character drawing command, a font object is generated based on the font type, character size, and character code specified by the command, and stored in the DL data area of the local memory 19 To do. If the command is a drawing command other than characters, that is, a drawing command for a graphic, a drawing object of a graphic (line, circle, polygon, etc.) designated by the command is generated and stored in the DL data area of the local memory 19. To do.

  If the command is print data not specified by the drawing command, print control processing such as print position movement and print environment setting is executed according to this print data, and command interpretation for one unit is completed.

  This repeats the above process until interpretation of all commands in the tile vector data is completed.

(Step S76)
If the command is a paper discharge command, the μRIP determines whether there is an empty area in the tile raster area on the local memory 19. If there is no free area (NO in step S76), the process waits until the other μRIP processes are completed, the tile raster area is released, and a free area is created. On the other hand, if there is a free area (YES in step S76), the process proceeds to step S77.

(Step S77)
If there is an empty area in the tile raster area, the drawing object generated in step S75 is read out and drawn (rasterized) in the tile raster area. At this time, if the generation resolution is 600 dpi, the tile raster area is rasterized as a 600 dpi image. Then, the tile raster image that has been drawn is output to the image processing unit 15 via the SBB 2.

(Step S78)
When command analysis or drawing processing for one tile vector data is completed in step S75 or step S77, it is determined whether or not processing has been completed for all tile vector data stored in the tile vector area. If there is unprocessed tile vector data (NO in step S78), the process returns to step S72, and processing of the next tile vector data is continued. On the other hand, if there is no unprocessed tile vector data (YES in step S78), the process proceeds to step S79.

(Step S79)
It is determined whether or not all processing has been completed for tile vector data for one page. If there is unprocessed tile vector data (NO in step S79), the process returns to step S71, the tile vector data is read from the system memory 5, and the processing is continued. On the other hand, if there is no unprocessed tile vector data (YES in step S79), the process ends.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which only the image data in two types of page vector data and tile vector data is stored in the system memory as input image data. This eliminates the need to store raster data and DL data having a large image size in the system memory. Therefore, the image data area that must be secured on the system memory can be reduced.

  Further, when transmitting image data to an external device, the amount of transmission data can be reduced by converting the tile vector data into page vector data and reducing the number of objects existing in the image data. Further, by transmitting the image data to the transmission destination as page vector data, the transmission destination can easily convert the received image data (page vector data) into a general-purpose format such as PDF or SVG.

  Further, by performing data spooling with vector data, resolution dependency of the system is eliminated, and image quality and system processing speed can be improved in parallel. That is, a system with high cost performance can be configured.

  Furthermore, handling image data in the system as vector data contributes to improving the searchability of stored image data and speeding up image processing to support POD printing in which raster data is converted into objects and reused. A more intelligent system can be realized.

  Further, by preparing a plurality of image data expansion units for expanding into vector data and operating them in parallel, the expansion of tile vector data can be accelerated. In addition, by controlling the number of image data development units to be operated, it is possible to construct a scalable system that can vary its processing function according to the application and purpose.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, when transmitting from the MFP to the external device, the tile vector data is converted into page vector data to reduce the data amount and improve the versatility of the image data. However, the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, when storing image data, not only tile vector data but also page vector data may be stored in advance. In such a configuration, page vector data can be transmitted to an external device without converting tile vector data to page vector data at the time of transmission.

The configuration of the entire system is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the details thereof will be omitted. The transmission operation in the image processing system according to the second embodiment will be described below.

[Send]
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a data flow relating to a transmission operation in the image processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  This data flow is realized by cooperatively operating various components constituting the MFP 1000 under the control of the CPU 3.

  (S131): In the second embodiment, tile vector data and page vector data are stored in association with each other in the HDD 8 for one piece of image data. At the time of transmission, the page vector data is selected and read from the HDDCont 7 connected to the general-purpose bus 6 via the SBB 2 and temporarily stored in the system memory 5.

  (S132): The page vector data stored in the system memory 5 is read from the network I / F 11 connected to the general-purpose bus 6 and transferred to an external device connected to the network 12.

  In the second embodiment, the amount of image data to be stored in the HDD 8 is larger than that in the first embodiment, but the flow during transmission is greatly simplified.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the first embodiment, tile vector data and corresponding page vector data are stored and managed in the HDD for one image data. Keep it. As a result, it is possible to output more appropriate vector data without performing the conversion process by simply selecting two types of vector data stored and managed from the HDD as appropriate.

[Embodiment 3]
In the third embodiment, an application example of the object dividing process in step S605 of FIG. 10 of the first embodiment will be described.

  In the third embodiment, a process for dividing a curve object in the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 will be described particularly when the object to be processed is a curve object.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of tile vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 13, the short direction of the document data 1401 is defined as “X” direction and the long direction is defined as “Y”. In the drawing, a number sequence arranged in the X direction represents a tile ID in the X direction, and a number sequence arranged in the Y direction represents a tile ID in the Y direction. A to C indicate tile vectors at positions of tile ID = (0, 0), (2, 3), and (3, 3), respectively.

  In particular, FIG. 13 shows an example in which curved objects straddle tiles B and C, that is, the curved objects are divided by tiles B and C.

  Here, when the document data 1401 is page vector data before tile division, a description example constituting the contents will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a description example of page vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 14, reference numeral 1501 denotes a document setting command part related to setting of the entire document data, and 1502 denotes the entire drawing command part.

  Details of each drawing command will be described.

  In the document setting command portion 1501, C1 to C5 are commands related to the entire document. Therefore, these commands C1 to C5 have only one place for one document.

  The commands related to the entire document data are the same as those described in detail with reference to FIG.

  C6 to C10 constituting the drawing command part are various commands for outputting document data.

  C6 is a command indicating the start of a page. C7 is a command for setting the color of the line (curve), and indicates the luminance of each color component of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) in order. It is assumed that this luminance is quantized in 256 levels from 0 to 255, for example. In this case, it is set to {255, 92, 128}.

  C8 is a command indicating the coordinates of the start position for drawing the curve (one end point defining the curve). The coordinate position (X, Y) is designated with the upper left corner of the page as the origin. In this case, the drawing of the curve is set to start from the position {66, 112} on the page. C9 is a command indicating the coordinates of the anchor point for drawing the curve and the end position (the other end point defining the curve). In this case, the curve drawing is set to end at the position {126, 112} through the anchor points {126, 98} and {66, 126} on the page. C10 is a command indicating the end of the page.

  On the other hand, when the document data 1401 is tile vector data after tile division, a description example constituting the contents will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a description example of tile vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 15, reference numeral 1601 denotes a document setting command part related to the setting of the entire document data, 1602 denotes the entire drawing command part, and 1603 to 1605 denote the drawing command parts of tiles A to C. Reference numerals 1606 and 1607 denote drawing command portions for the graphic (curve) of the tile B, and reference numerals 1608 and 1609 denote drawing command portions for the graphic (curve) of the tile C.

  Details of each drawing command will be described.

  In the document setting command portion 1601, C1 to C5 are commands related to the entire document. Therefore, these commands C1 to C5 have only one place for one document.

  These commands related to the entire document data are the same as the details described in FIG. 9 of the first embodiment.

  C6 to C500 constituting the drawing command portion 1602 are various commands for outputting document data.

  C6 is a command indicating the start of a page. C7 is a command indicating the start of the drawing command for tile A in FIG. Here, two parameters in TileStart (0, 0) indicate tile IDs in the document data. C8 is a command indicating the end of the tile A drawing command. When there is no object in the tile as in the tile A, only commands indicating the start and end of the tile are described.

  Here, for the tiles B and C, one curve object on the page vector data is divided into four curve objects by the tiles B and C. Of the four curved objects, two curved objects belong to tiles B and C, respectively.

  Therefore, in the drawing command portion 1604 of the tile B, the command C101, the drawing command portion 1606 (commands C102 and C103) including the start position, anchor point, and end position of each curve object as the colors constituting the two curve objects, the drawing An instruction part 1607 (commands C104 and C105) is described.

  Similarly, in the drawing command portion 1605 of the tile C, a command C121 as a color constituting the two curve objects, a drawing command portion 1608 (commands C122 and C123) including a start position, an anchor point, and an end position of each curve object, A drawing command portion 1609 (commands C124 and C125) is described.

  Next, tile division of a curved object straddling tile B and tile C will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining tile division of a curved object according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 16B, the curved object extending over one or more tiles shown in FIG. 16A first calculates a convex polygon P0-P1-P3-P2 in which the curve is contained. To do. Next, to which side of the tile of interest this curved object may intersect, tile sides 16A-16B, 16B-16D, 16D-16C, 16C-16A and line segments P0-P1, P1 -Evaluate whether or not each combination of P3, P3-P2, and P2-P1 intersects.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 16C, the intersections of the curves P0-P3 are calculated for the tile sides 16B-16D intersecting with the line segments P0-P1 and P3-P2, and the intersection points P4, P5, P6 are calculated. To get. Next, the curves P0-P3 are divided into curves P0-P4, P4-P5, P5-P6, P6-P3 with the intersections P4, P5, P6 as end points. Further, the anchor points P7, P8, P9, P10 and the like of each curve are calculated, and a command for drawing the divided curves is generated.

  As described above, a curved object straddling one or more tiles can be divided into tiles.

  Next, details of the curve object dividing process will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing details of the curve object dividing process according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  This process is executed when the processing target is a curve object in the object dividing process in step S605 of FIG.

(Step S1801)
First, it is determined whether or not the curve object to be processed is already divided by another adjacent tile. If it is divided (YES in step S1801), the flow advances to step S1809. On the other hand, if it is not divided (NO in step S1801), the flow advances to step S1802.

(Step S1802)
A convex polygon containing a curve object to be processed and its vertex are calculated.

(Step S1803)
It is evaluated which side of the tile of interest the convex polygon containing the curve object to be processed may intersect.

(Step S1804)
From the evaluation result of step S1803, it is determined whether or not there is a possibility that the convex polygon that includes the curve object to be processed intersects any side of the target tile. If there is no possibility of intersection (NO in step S1804), the process ends. On the other hand, if there is a possibility of intersection (YES in step S1804), the process proceeds to step S1805.

(Step S1805)
A target side (tile side) of a target tile that has a possibility of intersecting with a convex polygon that includes the curve object to be processed is selected, and an intersection of the tile side and the curved object is calculated. Further, the calculated intersection is stored in the system memory 5. Here, the number of intersections may be 0 to 3, for example.

  Note that this intersection point is calculated based on, for example, an equation defined based on the convex polygon and the tile side of the tile of interest.

(Step S1806)
It is determined whether or not all intersections between the convex polygon containing the curve object to be processed and the target side that may intersect are calculated. If there is an intersection of uncalculated attention sides (NO in step S1806), the process returns to step S1805. On the other hand, if there is no intersection of uncalculated attention sides (YES in step S1806), the process proceeds to step S1807.

  Here, by executing the processing of steps S1802 to S1804, the number of loops of the intersection calculation processing (steps S1805 and S1806) with a large amount of processing can be reduced.

(Step S1807)
The curve object is divided using the attention intersection of the attention tile and the attention intersection of the curve object. Further, the end points and anchor points of the divided curves are calculated and stored in the system memory 5.

(Step S1808)
It is determined whether or not the division of the curve object is completed at all the intersections between the tile sides and the curve object stored in the system memory 5. If the division has not ended (NO in step S1808), the process returns to step S1807. On the other hand, if the division is complete (YES in step S1808), the process ends.

(Step S1809)
On the other hand, when the curve object to be processed is already divided by another adjacent tile in step S1801, the curve object and the adjacent tile stored in the system memory 5 when processed by the other adjacent tile are stored. Get the intersection of

(Step S1810)
A convex polygon including a curved object and its vertex calculated with other adjacent tiles are acquired, and the process proceeds to step S1803.

  Next, details of the processing in step S1802 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of the process in step S1802 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S1901)
One vertex P0 of a quadrangle P0-P1-P3-P2 (for example, FIG. 16B) formed by the end points of the curved object and the anchor points is included in a triangle P1-P2-P3 composed of other vertices. It is determined whether or not. If included (YES in step S1901), the flow advances to step S1906. On the other hand, if not included (NO in step S1901), the process advances to step S1902.

(Step S1902)
It is determined whether one vertex P1 of the quadrilateral P0-P1-P3-P2 formed by the end points of the curved object and the anchor points is included in a triangle P0-P2-P3 composed of other vertices. If included (YES in step S1902), the process advances to step S1907. On the other hand, if not included (NO in step S1902), the process advances to step S1903.

(Step S1903)
It is determined whether or not one vertex P2 of the quadrilateral P0-P1-P3-P2 formed by the end points of the curved object and the anchor points is included in a triangle P0-P1-P3 composed of other vertices. If included (YES in step S1903), the flow advances to step S1908. On the other hand, if not included (NO in step S1903), the process advances to step S1904.

(Step S1904)
It is determined whether one vertex P3 of the quadrangle P0-P1-P3-P2 formed by the end points of the curved object and the anchor points is included in a triangle P0-P1-P2 composed of other vertices. If included (YES in step S1904), the flow advances to step S1909. On the other hand, if not included (NO in step S1904), the process advances to step S1905.

(Step S1905)
The quadrangular P0-P1-P3-P2 is a convex polygon that encloses the curved object, and P0, P1, P2, and P3 are stored in the system memory 5 as vertices thereof, and the process is terminated.

(Step S1906)
Triangles P1-P2-P3 are convex polygons that enclose a curved object, and P1, P2, and P3 are stored in the system memory 5 as vertices thereof, and the process ends.

(Step S1907)
Triangles P0-P2-P3 are convex polygons that enclose the curved object, and P0, P2, and P3 are stored in the system memory 5 as vertices thereof, and the process is terminated.

(Step S1908)
Triangles P0-P1-P3 are convex polygons that enclose a curved object, and P0, P1, P3 are stored in the system memory 5 as vertices thereof, and the process is terminated.

(Step S1909)
The triangles P0-P1-P2 are convex polygons that enclose the curved object, and P0, P1, P2 are stored in the system memory 5 as vertices thereof, and the process is terminated.

  Next, details of the processing in step S1803 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing details of the process in step S1803 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S2001)
First, it is determined whether or not the target tile is included in a convex polygon that includes a curved object. If included (YES in step S2001), the process advances to step S2002. On the other hand, if it is not included (NO in step S2001), the process proceeds to step S2003.

(Step S2002)
Information indicating that all tile sides may intersect the curved object is stored in the system memory 5, and the process is terminated.

(Step S2003)
It is determined whether or not the convex polygon that includes the curved object is included in the tile. When included (YES in step S2003), the process proceeds to step S2004. On the other hand, if it is not included (NO in step S2003), the process proceeds to step S2005.

(Step S2004)
Information indicating that there is no possibility that any tile side intersects with the curved object is stored in the system memory 5, and the processing is terminated.

(Step S2005)
One of the four tile sides is set as the target tile side.

(Step S2006)
One of the sides of the three or four convex polygons is set as the target convex polygon side.

(Step S2007)
It is determined whether or not the target tile side and the target convex polygon side intersect. When intersecting (YES in step S2007), the process proceeds to step S2008. On the other hand, if not intersecting (NO in step S2007), the process proceeds to step S2009.

(Step S2008)
Information indicating that the tile side of interest may intersect with the curved object is stored in the system memory 5.

(Step S2009)
It is determined whether or not the setting process (step S2006 and step S2007) for the target convex polygon side has been completed for all three or four convex polygon sides. If not completed (NO in step S2009), the process returns to step S2006. On the other hand, if it has been completed (YES in step S2009), the flow advances to step S2010.

(Step S2010)
For all four tile sides, it is determined whether or not the setting process (step S2005) for the target tile side has been completed. If not completed (NO in step S2010), the process returns to step S2005. On the other hand, if it is completed (YES in step S2010), the process ends.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the first and second embodiments, when converting page vector data in which a curved object exists into tile vector data, the shape of the curved object is changed. Is converted into tile vector data based on the evaluation result. Thereby, tile vector data in which the curved object is appropriately divided on the tile can be generated.

[Embodiment 4]
In the conventional system shown in FIG. 29, when page vector data is rendered into raster data by the RIP 113, the image object included in the page vector data is subjected to resolution conversion in accordance with the resolution for rendering, and then raster data. Is generated.

  When converting the resolution of an image object, scaling may be performed by a nearest neighbor method without interpolation processing, or interpolation processing such as bilinear method or bicubic method may be performed to avoid the side effects of aliasing. . In addition, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3111971, the plurality of interpolation processes are switched, and the interpolation area is expanded beyond the boundary of the image object when the interpolation process is performed.

  On the other hand, in the first embodiment, for example, the following several methods are conceivable as a method for converting page vector data including an image object into tile vector data.

  First, when dividing page vector data including an image object into tile vector data, there is a method of copying the image object itself to a plurality of tiles in which a single image object exists and embedding it in the tile. In this case, if the entire image object is embedded in each of the N tiles in which the image object exists, the data amount N-1 times the image object size increases in the entire page (image data). For this reason, in such a case, the amount of data increases with conversion to tile vector data.

  On the other hand, if an image object that spans multiple tiles is divided at the tile boundary and a method of embedding the corresponding divided image object in each tile vector data is adopted, it will accompany tile vector data conversion. An increase in the amount of data can be avoided.

  Here, when converting the resolution of the image object in accordance with the rendered resolution, it is also possible to select an interpolation process such as a bilinear method or a bicubic method. However, in this case, the image object divided at the tile boundary does not have pixels outside the tile boundary.

  Therefore, when these interpolation processes are performed, when rendering tile vector data and generating page raster data consisting of tile raster data, the discontinuity of the image object is at a position corresponding to the tile boundary on the page vector data. An area is generated and image quality is deteriorated.

  Therefore, in order to solve the problems caused by the above two methods, when dividing an image object at a tile boundary, some pixels constituting the image object are divided and overlapped, which is necessary for interpolation processing. A method of embedding pixels outside the tile boundary in the tile vector data is also conceivable.

  By using this method, it is possible to solve the problem of data increase and the problem of image quality deterioration due to interpolation processing. However, even if this method is adopted, it is necessary to have two or more identical pixels. Therefore, even with this method, although not as much as the above method, the amount of data increases with the conversion to tile vector data.

  Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, aliasing occurs particularly by suppressing an increase in the amount of data when converting page vector data including an image object to tile vector data and performing no interpolation processing that causes image quality degradation. A description will be given of image object division processing that can also suppress the above.

  In the fourth embodiment, attention is focused on the fact that the resolution of an image object is generally 300 dpi or less, and this resolution is usually lower than the print resolution of 600 dpi or more. . Further, attention is paid to the fact that the problem of aliasing becomes more prominent when the image is reduced than when it is enlarged.

  Therefore, in Embodiment 4, when the threshold resolution is defined and the same image object is divided, if the resolution of the image object is higher than the threshold resolution, peripheral pixels outside the tile boundary are overlapped with the vector tile data. Hold. On the other hand, if the resolution of the image object is lower than the threshold resolution, a configuration is adopted in which peripheral pixels outside the tile boundary are not held redundantly in the vector tile data.

  Furthermore, when rendering an image object, the resolution is converted by the nearest neighbor method if there are no surrounding pixels outside the tile boundary, and if there are surrounding pixels outside the tile boundary, interpolation processing such as bicubic method or bilinear method is used. The conversion method is adaptively switched so as to convert the resolution. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in the amount of data due to tile division of the image object and to suppress aliasing caused by not performing the interpolation process.

  In the fourth embodiment, an application example of the object dividing process in step S605 of FIG. 6 of the first embodiment will be described.

  In the fourth embodiment, the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 will be described in particular with respect to image object division processing when the object to be processed is an image object.

  First, tile division of an image object straddling one or more tiles will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining tile division of an image object according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  The image object 2000 shown in FIG. 20 is included in the page vector data, and when divided into tile vector data, exists over the tiles 1402 to 1405 from the arranged coordinates.

  In the object division processing by the tile / page vector conversion unit 13, first, the resolution of the image object 2000 is compared with a predetermined resolution (threshold resolution: for example, 600 dpi).

  Note that the predetermined resolution is normally the resolution of raster data generated by the RIP 18. If raster data with a plurality of types of resolutions can be generated, the minimum resolution may be used.

  As a result of the comparison, when the resolution of the image object 2000 is lower than the predetermined resolution, the image object 2000 existing across the tiles 1402 to 1405 is divided at the tile boundaries of the tiles 1402 to 1405. Then, the divided image objects 1406 to 1409 are embedded in the corresponding tiles 1402 to 1405, respectively.

  On the other hand, when the resolution of the image object 2000 is higher than the predetermined resolution, the image object 2000 that exists over the tiles 1402 to 1405 is part of the image object 2000 that exceeds the tile boundary of the tiles 1402 to 1405. Split to overlap each other. Then, the divided image objects 1410 to 1413 are embedded in the corresponding tiles 1402 to 1405, respectively.

  Next, details of the image object division processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing details of image object division processing according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S1501)
First, the target tile for which tile vector data is to be generated is selected.

(Step S1502)
The tile boundary of the target tile is projected onto the image coordinates that define the image object to be processed.

(Step S1503)
A convex polygon composed of the tile boundary projected on the image coordinates and the outer periphery of the image object itself is calculated. An upright rectangle circumscribing the convex polygon is calculated.

(Step S1504)
The resolution of the image object is compared with a predetermined resolution to determine whether the resolution of the image object is higher than the predetermined resolution. If the resolution is below the predetermined resolution (NO in step S1504), the process proceeds to step S1505. On the other hand, if the resolution is larger than the predetermined resolution (YES in step S1504), the process advances to step S1507.

(Step S1505)
An upright rectangle circumscribing the convex polygon is set as a boundary for dividing the image object.

(Step S1506)
Information indicating that the divided image object has no pixels outside the tile boundary is stored in the system memory 5.

(Step S1507)
On the other hand, if the resolution of the image object is larger than the predetermined resolution in step S1504, an enlarged rectangle obtained by enlarging the upright rectangle circumscribing the convex polygon by the reference area of the interpolation process is calculated.

(Step S1508)
Set the enlarged rectangle as the boundary that divides the image object.

(Step S1509)
Information indicating that the divided image object has pixels outside the tile boundary is stored in the system memory 5.

(Step S1510)
An image having the set boundary as an outer periphery is extracted from the image object to be processed.

(Step S1511)
The extracted image is assigned to the target tile as an image object, and the process ends.

  Next, a specific example of the image object division processing of FIG. 21 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a specific example of image object division processing according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  The image object 2201 has a unique image coordinate (FIG. 22A). The image object 2201 is projected onto page vector data coordinates by affine transformation on the page vector data 2202 (FIG. 22B), and is configured as an image 2203 in the page vector data 2202. When this page vector data 2202 is converted into tile vector data, the result is as shown in FIG.

  In the image object dividing process by the object dividing process (step S605 in FIG. 6), first, the target tile 2204 is selected in step S1501 (FIG. 16C).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 16D, subsequently, the target tile 2204 is projected onto the image coordinates (step S1502). Next, a convex polygon 2206 composed of the tile boundary of the tile 2205 projected to the image coordinates and the outer periphery of the image object 2201 itself is calculated, and a rectangular 2207 that circumscribes the convex polygon 2206 and is upright is calculated (step). S1503).

  Next, the resolution of the image object 2201 is compared with a predetermined resolution (step S1504). When the resolution of the image object 2201 is larger than the predetermined resolution (when the resolution is high), as shown in FIG. 22E, a rectangular 2207 that circumscribes the convex polygon 2206 and stands upright is used as a reference area for interpolation processing. An enlarged rectangle 2208 enlarged by the amount is calculated (step S1507).

  Next, an image object 2209 divided from the image object 2201 is generated with the enlarged rectangle 2208 as a boundary, as shown in FIG. 22F (step S1510). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 22G, the target tile 2210 is embedded (step S1511). The target tile 2210 has its own in-tile coordinates, and the divided image object 2209 is projected as an image object 2209 on the in-tile coordinates.

  Next, details of processing when rasterizing an image object in step S77 of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing details of rasterization of an image object in step S77 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S1701)
First, a first transformation matrix indicating the correspondence between the in-tile coordinate system and the device coordinate system is acquired. Here, the device coordinate system is a coordinate system defined for the entire page composed of tile vector data, for example, the coordinate system shown in FIG.

(Step S1702)
A second transformation matrix indicating the correspondence between the image coordinate system of the image object and the coordinates in the tile is acquired.

(Step S1703)
A third transformation matrix is generated by combining two transformation matrices, the first transformation matrix obtained in step S1701 and the second transformation matrix obtained in step S1702, and the device coordinate system and the image are generated using the third transformation matrix. Calculate the correspondence of the coordinate system.

(Step S1704)
In the device coordinate system, the pixel of interest is selected within the area where the image object is placed.

(Step S1705)
Using the third transformation matrix synthesized in step S1703, the corresponding pixel of the image coordinate of the image coordinate system is calculated from the device coordinate of the device coordinate system of the target pixel.

(Step S1706)
An interpolation method for the image object is selected based on whether or not the corresponding pixel of the image object exists outside the tile boundary. If it does not exist outside the tile boundary, the first interpolation method (nearest neighbor method) is selected as the interpolation method, and the process proceeds to step S1707. On the other hand, if there are peripheral pixels of the corresponding pixel outside the tile boundary, the second interpolation method (bicubic method) is selected as the interpolation method, and the process proceeds to step S1708.

  As the interpolation method, various interpolation methods such as a near-less tray method, a bicubic method, and a bilinear method can be used.

(Step S1707)
Get the color of the pixel.

(Step S1708)
The relevant pixel and surrounding pixels are acquired.

(Step S1709)
Interpolation processing is executed using the corresponding pixel and surrounding pixels, and the color of the processing result is acquired.

(Step S1710)
The acquired color is set as the color of the target pixel.

(Step S1711)
It is determined whether or not all the pixels on the device coordinates of the device coordinate system where the image object is arranged have been processed. If all the pixels have not been processed (NO in step S1711), the process returns to step S1704. On the other hand, if all the pixels are processed (YES in step S1711), the process ends.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the first to third embodiments, the tile division method of the image object is adaptively switched based on the resolution of the image object to be processed. Generate vector data. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in the amount of data due to tile division of the image object and to suppress the occurrence of aliasing due to not performing the interpolation process.

[Embodiment 5]
In each of the above-described embodiments, the tile vector data is generated and managed by the HDD 8 so that data handling in the image processing system can be executed at high speed that can be performed in real time. On the other hand, in the fifth embodiment, when tile vector data is stored in the HDD 8, tiles in which no object is present are managed without being written in the HDD 8.

  As a result, the data access speed of the HDD 8 can be increased, and the performance of the image processing system can be further improved.

  Hereinafter, the processing outline and processing flow in the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining an outline of processing according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing tile vector data write processing according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S2501)
In the fifth embodiment, tile vector data is generated by dividing image data (page vector data or raster data) for one page read into the system memory 5 into blocks (tiles (rectangles)) of a predetermined size. At this time, a tile ID (block identification information) for identifying the position of each tile vector data is generated and set in the header of the tile vector data.

  For example, when the page vector data 2401 shown in FIG. 24A is divided into tiles each having 8 pixels on one side, the page vector data 2401 is divided into three pieces in the X direction and three pieces in the Y direction. Let's say. As a result, the tile data is divided into a total of 9 tile vector data divided by dotted lines. Note that the number of pixels on one side, which is a unit of the size of the tile, can be changed by a user operation.

  The coordinates of each tile can be defined by setting 0, 1, 2 from the left in the X direction and 0, 1, 2 from the top in the Y direction. A combination of these coordinates can be used as a tile ID for identifying the position of each tile. For example, the upper left tile is a tile that is the start of tile vector data, and the tile ID is (X, Y) = (0, 0). The tile ID of the right tile is (X, Y) = (1, 0), and the tile ID of the lower right tile is (X, Y) = (3, 3).

(Step S2502)
Tile vector data is generated by dividing an object present in one page of page vector data read into the system memory 5 into a plurality of objects that can be contained within a tile. For this purpose, an identification flag (object identification information) for identifying the presence or absence of an object in the tile is generated and set in the header of the tile vector data.

  Specifically, the presence or absence of an object is analyzed in each tile constituting the page vector data 2401. When there is an object, the identification flag is set to “1”, and when there is no object, “0” is set.

  For example, the tile ID = (0,0), (1,0), (2,0), (0,1), (0,2) in the tile vector data 2405 has no object. Therefore, the identification flag is “0”. On the other hand, since the object exists in the remaining tile ID = (1,1), (1,2), (2,1), (3,3), the identification flag is “1”. .

(Step S2503)
Tile vector data is generated from a tile ID for identifying the position of each tile, an identification flag indicating the presence or absence of an object in the tile, and each tile vector. For this purpose, a tile table 2402 (tile management table) shown in FIG. The tile table 2402 manages tile IDs, identification flags, and object contents (no object, data, etc.) information for each tile. In this case, a tile table including tiles with tile names Tile0 to Tile8 is configured.

(Step S2504)
When the generation of the tile table 2402 for the page vector data 2401 for one page read into the system memory 5 is completed, the writing setting for starting the writing of the tile vector data from the system memory 5 to the HDD 8 is executed. . In this writing setting, a setting for starting writing from tile data of tile ID = (0, 0) for identifying a tile position is executed.

(Step S2505)
Based on the tile ID, the identification flag of the tile table 2402 of the tile to be processed is referred to. Then, it is determined whether or not the identification flag = 1. If the identification flag = 1 (YES in step S2505), since an object exists in the tile, it is determined that this tile is a write target to the HDD 8, and the process proceeds to step S2506. On the other hand, if the identification flag = 0 (NO in step S2505), since no object exists in the tile, it is determined that the tile is not a target for writing to the HDD 8, and the flow proceeds to step S2507.

(Step S2506):
Write the processing target tile to the HDD 8.

(Step S2507):
The presence / absence of unprocessed tile data is determined. If there is unprocessed tile data (YES in step S2507), the process returns to step S2504, and tile data indicated by the next tile ID is set as tile data to be processed. On the other hand, if there is no unprocessed tile data (NO in step S2507), the process ends.

  Here, a specific operation of the processing in steps S1504 to S1507 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S2504, tile ID = (0, 0) is set. Accordingly, when the identification flag of tile ID = (0, 0) is referred to in the tile table 2402, the value is “0”, and therefore it is determined that no object exists in the corresponding tile. For this reason, the tile data (Tile 0) with the tile ID = (0, 0) is not written to the HDD 8 (writing is prohibited).

  Accordingly, the processing for the tile with tile ID = (0, 0) in this case proceeds from step S2505 to step S2507. In step S2507, since there is an unprocessed tile (tile ID), the process returns to step S2504.

  In step S2504, tile ID = (1, 0) is set. Accordingly, when the identification flag of tile ID = (1, 0) is referred to in the tile table 2402, the value is “0”, and therefore it is determined that no object exists in the corresponding tile. Therefore, the tile data (Tile1) with this tile ID = (1, 0) is not written to the HDD 8 (writing is prohibited).

  Similarly, the tile data (Tile2, Tile3) of tile ID = (2, 0), (0, 1) also has an identification flag value of “0”, so that the tile data is written to the HDD 8. Is prohibited.

  When the identification flag of the next tile ID = (1, 1) is referred to in the tile table 2402, the value is “1”, so that it is determined that the object exists in the corresponding tile. Therefore, the tile data (Tile 4) with the tile ID = (1, 1) is written to the HDD 8.

  Accordingly, the processing for the tile with tile ID = (1, 1) in this case proceeds from step S2505 to step S2506. When the writing is completed, there is an unprocessed tile (tile ID), and the process returns to step S2504.

  Similarly, the tile data (Tile5) with the tile ID = (2, 1) also has an identification flag value of “1”, and thus the tile data is written to the HDD 8. Since the tile data (Tile 6) of the next tile ID = (0, 2) has the identification flag value “0”, the writing operation of the tile data to the HDD 8 is prohibited. Furthermore, since the value of the identification flag of the tile data (Tile7, Tile8) of tile ID = (1,2), (2,2) is “1”, the operation of writing the tile data to the HDD 8 is executed. To do.

  Then, when the processing for the tile ID = (2, 2) is completed, there is no unprocessed tile, so the writing processing is terminated.

  With the above processing, among the tile names Tile0 to Tile8 managed in the tile table 2402, only the tile data of the tile names Tile4, 5, 7, and 8 is stored in the HDD8. Can be saved. Further, a tile table 2404 is generated as the storage state of the tile data in the HDD 8.

  Next, read processing when reading tile vector data written in the HDD 8 to the system memory 5 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing tile vector data read processing according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S2601)
The tile ID reading setting for reading and identifying the tile data existing in the HDD 8 is executed.

(Step S2602)
With reference to the tile table 2404 stored in the HDD 8, the tile ID of the tile data actually stored in the HDD 8 is read and stored in the system memory 5.

(Step S2603)
By determining whether or not the set tile ID set in the read setting matches the read tile ID read from the HDD 8, it is determined whether or not there is a tile ID whose reading order is discontinuous. If they do not match (YES in step S2603), it is determined that there is a discontinuous tile ID, and the process proceeds to step S2604. On the other hand, if they match (NO in step S2603), it is determined that there is no discontinuous tile ID, and the process proceeds to step S2605.

(Step S2604)
If there is a discontinuous tile ID, there is no object in the interior, so tile data that has not been written to the HDD 8 exists. In this case, at the time of reading, the tile data needs to be reconfigured from the state of the tile table 2404 to the state of the tile table 2402 in order to reproduce the tile vector data including the tile data.

  Therefore, here, data relating to tile data corresponding to the discontinuous tile ID is added to the tile table 2404 with respect to the tile table 2404.

(Step S2605)
If there is no discontinuous tile ID, the tile data is read with reference to the tile table 2404 as it is.

(Step S2606):
After executing the reading of tile data, it is determined whether or not there is an unprocessed tile. If there is unprocessed tile data (NO in step S2606), the process returns to step S2601, and the tile data indicated by the next tile ID is set as tile data to be processed. On the other hand, if there is no unprocessed tile data (YES in step S2606), the process ends.

  Here, a specific operation of the processing in steps S2601 to S2606 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S2601, in order to execute reading of tile data from the HDD 8, the tile position as the reading position is set to head ID = (0, 0) (set tile ID).

  In step S2602, the tile ID is read from the HDD 8 with reference to the tile table 2404, and the read tile ID (read tile ID) is stored in the system memory 5. Since the read tile ID is used in the process of adding tile data to the tile table later, some latest read tile ID histories are stored. Here, tile ID = (1, 1) is read from the tile table 2404 stored in the HDD 8.

  In step S2603, tile IDs are compared. Here, since the read tile ID = (1, 1) with respect to the set tile ID = (0, 0), it can be seen that the tile ID read order is discontinuous, that is, the discontinuous tile ID. . The presence of a discontinuous tile ID indicates that there is tile data in which no object exists.

  Therefore, here, addition of tile data to the tile table is executed in step S2604. That is, since the object data exists in the tile data of the read tile ID = (1, 1), the discontinuous tile IDs before that (= 0, 0), (1, 0), (2, 0 ) And (0, 1), a tile table 2402 to which tile data having no object is added is created. At this time, the tile table 2402 includes tile names Tile0 to Tile3.

  Next, in step S2605, tile data of tile ID = (1, 1) is read from the HDD 8. In step S2606, since there is an unprocessed tile ID, the process returns to step S2601.

  Next, in step S2601, set tile ID = (2, 1), and in step S2602, read tile ID = (2, 1). In step S2602, since the history of the read tile ID is stored in the system memory 5, in step S2603, the previous read tile ID = (1, 1) with respect to the set tile ID = (2, 1). Compare with. Since the reading order of the tile IDs is continued this time, the process advances to step S2605 to read the tile data with the tile ID = (2, 1) from the HDD 8.

  In the same manner, the tile data is added to the tile table 2402 for the tile ID = (0, 2) by executing the process in the same manner. For the tile ID = (1, 2), (2, 2) Then, reading of tile data from the HDD 8 is executed.

  As a result, there is no unprocessed tile ID, and the reading process ends. When this reading process is completed, the same tile table 2402 as in the writing process is reproduced. By using this tile table 2402, the tile vector data 2405 can be restored (read). After the reading process is completed, the history of the reading tile ID is deleted.

  As described above, according to the fifth embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the first to fourth embodiments, when the tile vector data generated on the system memory is stored in the HDD, the tile vector data is stored in the HDD. Create a tile table that manages the tile header that identifies the position of each piece of tile data and a flag that identifies the presence or absence of an object, and for tile data that does not have an object, writing the tile data that corresponds to the HDD is prohibited To do.

  As a result, the amount of data stored in the HDD can be reduced, and the number of accesses can be reduced in writing / reading processing to the HDD, so that a system with high operating performance can be realized.

[Embodiment 6]
In the conventional system shown in FIG. 29, whether or not a font object included in the page vector data is already registered in a font cache (not shown) provided on the system memory 104 by the CPU 102 is determined. Searched. If the corresponding font object is not registered, the CPU 102 develops the font object into a bitmap and registers it in the font cache.

  If the position of the registered font data on the system memory 104 is designated and registered in the intermediate data, the position of the expanded font data on the system memory 104 is stored in the intermediate data without performing the expansion process. Instructed.

  Receiving the intermediate data, the RIP 113 develops a drawing object other than the font, reads the developed font data from the designated font cache position, creates bitmap data, and stores it in the system memory 104. Thereafter, the image processing unit 110 performs image processing via the SBB 101, and the image is sent to the printer 112 for printing.

  In such an image processing system, as a configuration for effectively using a font cache, for example, there is a configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-016319. In this configuration, a counter is provided for each font cache data, and the counter is incremented each time the font cache is hit when generating intermediate data. The counter is decremented every time the font cache hit in the image data development process is referred to. The font cache data is held until the counter reaches the initial value.

  However, in such a configuration, it is necessary to prepare counters equal to or more than the number of hits. Here, since it is usually impossible to predict how many times one character appears in the data to be processed, a sufficiently large counter is required. Usually, since the counter is prepared in the same system memory as the font cache, a larger system memory is required.

  In order to further improve the printing speed, a plurality of interpreter units and image data expansion units are provided, and when parallel processing is realized, access from a plurality of interpreter units and a plurality of image data expansion units to the counter is possible. It often occurs at the same time, and the possibility of hindering parallel processing increases.

  Therefore, in the sixth embodiment, when a plurality of small image data expansion units included in the image data expansion unit perform rasterization processing (converting vector data into bitmap data) in parallel, each small image data expansion unit refers to A configuration for reliably protecting existing font cache data will be described.

  The configuration for protecting the font cache can prevent the parallel operation of the image data expansion processing from being hindered by allowing the small image data expansion units to operate simultaneously (independently).

  In addition, the configuration for protecting the font cache only requires the number of small image data development units operating in parallel regardless of the number of appearances of the corresponding font, thereby reducing the amount of memory used. be able to.

  Hereinafter, an application example of the image data development unit 18 in the sixth embodiment will be described.

  First, a detailed configuration of the image data development unit 18 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the image data development unit according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

  The small image data development units (μRIP) 18a to 18d improve performance by developing tile vectors input in parallel. Reference numeral 2705 denotes a font cache for storing once developed character (font) data for reuse. The font cache 2705 includes a font cache memory 2706 and lock flag registers 2707 to 2710 for storing a lock flag indicating that the font cache memory 2706 is being referred to. Although not shown in FIG. 27, the font cache memory 2706 is allocated on the local memory 19 of FIG.

  Reference numeral 2711 denotes a bus for each μRIP 18a to 18d to access the common font cache memory 2706. If characters to be expanded by each μRIP 18a to 18d are registered in the font cache 2705, the expanded font data is stored in 2711. The character expansion is completed simply by reading through.

  Reference numerals 2712 to 2715 denote control signal lines for operating the lock flag registers 2707 to 2710 corresponding to the μRIPs 18a to 18d independently. The μRIP 18a is connected to the lock flag register 2707, the μRIP 18b is connected to the lock flag register 2708, the μRIP 18c is connected to the lock flag register 2709, and the μRIP 18d is connected to the lock flag register 2710.

  Reference numerals 2716 to 2719 denote examples of tile vector data to be expanded by the respective μRIPs 18a to 18d.

  In FIG. 27, four sets of μRIP and lock flag register are shown, but the number is not limited to this number, and it goes without saying that the number may be increased or decreased according to the required system performance.

  Next, an operation example of the font cache will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an operation example of the font cache according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 28 shows an example of a font cache 2705 including a font cache memory 2706 and lock flag registers 2707 to 2710.

  Reference numeral 2100 denotes a font cache management table for managing data in the font cache 2705. Reference numeral 2101 denotes a storage unit for developed font data composed of n storage units. In the font cache management table 2100, character identification information for identifying a registered character, an address (storage address) of a font cache memory storing the developed font data of the character, and small image data development There are as many lock flag registers as the number of units (μRIP).

  The expanded font data storage unit 2101 stores expanded font data of each character from the storage address shown in the font cache management table 2100.

  Hereinafter, the font development processing and font cache operation of each μRIP will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The μRIP 18a receives the tile vector data 2716. The tile vector data 2716 includes the character “A”. The μRIP 18a searches the character identification information in the font cache management table 2100, and recognizes that “a” has been registered in the data entry 2103 in the table (recognizes a hit).

  In this case, since it hits, the μRIP 18a sets “1” to the flag corresponding to the data entry 2103 of the lock flag register 2707 connected by the control signal line 2712, and indicates that the font cache memory 2706 is being referred to. Show.

  Thereafter, reading of expanded font data 1 (2109) is started from “Address 1” indicated by the storage address of the data entry 2103 in the font cache management table 2100, and expansion processing of the tile vector data 2716 is executed. When reading of the developed font data 1 (2109) is completed, the flag corresponding to the data entry 2103 of the lock flag register 2707 set previously is cleared to “0”, indicating that the reference to the font cache memory 2706 has ended. .

  The μRIP 18b receives the tile vector data 2717. The tile vector data 2717 includes the letter “A”. The μRIP 18b searches the character identification information in the font cache management table 2100, and recognizes that “A” has been registered in the two data entries 2105 in the table (recognizes a hit).

  In this case, since it hits, the μRIP 18b sets “1” to the flag corresponding to the data entry 2105 of the lock flag register 2708 connected by the control signal line 2713, and indicates that the font cache memory 2706 is being referred to. Show.

  Thereafter, reading of expanded font data 3 (2111) is started from “Address 3” indicated by the storage address of the data entry 2105 in the font cache management table 2100, and expansion processing of the tile vector data 2717 is executed. When reading of the developed font data 3 (2111) is completed, the flag corresponding to the data entry 2105 of the lock flag register 2708 set previously is cleared to “0”, indicating that the reference to the font cache memory 2706 has ended. .

  The μRIP 18c receives tile vector data 2718. The tile vector data 2718 includes the letter “A”. The μRIP 18c searches the character identification information in the font cache management table 2100, and recognizes that “A” has been registered in the data entry 2105 in the table (recognizes a hit).

  In this case, since a hit occurs, the μRIP 18c sets “1” to a flag corresponding to the data entry 2105 of the lock flag register 2709 connected by the control signal line 2714, and indicates that the font cache memory 2706 is being referred to. Show.

  Thereafter, reading of expanded font data 3 (2111) is started from “Address 3” indicated by the storage address of the data entry 2105 in the font cache management table 2100, and expansion processing of the tile vector data 2718 is executed. When reading of the developed font data 3 (2111) is completed, the flag corresponding to the data entry 2105 of the lock flag register 2709 set previously is cleared to “0”, indicating that the reference to the font cache memory 2706 has ended. .

  The μRIP 18d receives tile vector data 2719. The tile vector data 2719 includes the character “U”. The μRIP 18d searches the character identification information in the font cache management table 2100 and recognizes that “u” is unregistered (recognizes as a miss).

  In this case, since a mistake has been made, the μRIP 18d executes the character “U” expansion process. When the expansion process ends, the expanded font data of the character “U” is registered in the font cache 2705. At this time, the μRIP 18d refers to the lock flag register of the font cache management table 2100, and selects expanded font data to be replaced from those in which no flag is set, that is, those in which no other μRIP is being referred to. To work. If the contents of the lock flag register are as shown in FIG. 28, the data entries 2103 and 2105 are excluded from the replacement candidates.

  With the configuration and operation of the font cache described above, when a plurality of small image data expansion units (μRIP) perform rasterization processing (conversion of vector data to bitmap data) in parallel, each small image data expansion unit refers to Since the expanded font data (font cache data) is not set as a replacement target because the lock flag is set, there is an effect that can be surely protected.

  Further, since the lock flag register is prepared for each μRIP and can be operated independently, it is excluded from factors that hinder the parallel operation of μRIP. Furthermore, since it is sufficient to prepare as many lock flag registers as the number of μRIPs, the lock flag registers can be realized with fewer resources (memory or the like) as compared with replacement protection by a counter based on the number of appearances.

  In the sixth embodiment, the font cache is arranged on the local memory 19 in the image data development unit. However, it goes without saying that the font cache may be arranged on the system memory 8.

  As described above, according to the sixth embodiment, when a plurality of small image data expansion units included in the image data expansion unit perform rasterization processing (converting vector data into bitmap data) in parallel, each small image data The font cache data referred to by the development unit can be reliably protected.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the parallel operations of the image data expansion processing from being hindered by allowing the small image data expansion units to be operated simultaneously (independently). Further, since only the number of small image data expansion units operating in parallel need to be prepared regardless of the number of appearances of the corresponding font, the amount of memory used can be reduced.

  Although the embodiments have been described in detail above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, an apparatus, a method, a program, or a storage medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system that is configured, or may be applied to an apparatus that includes a single device.

  In the present invention, a software program (in the embodiment, a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in the drawing) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment is directly or remotely supplied to the system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus Is also achieved by reading and executing the supplied program code.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R) and the like.

  As another program supply method, a client computer browser is used to connect to an Internet homepage, and the computer program of the present invention itself or a compressed file including an automatic installation function is downloaded from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. Can also be supplied. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, the present invention includes a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer.

  In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for decryption is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install the program on a computer.

  In addition to the functions of the above-described embodiments being realized by the computer executing the read program, the OS running on the computer based on an instruction of the program is a part of the actual processing. Alternatively, the functions of the above-described embodiment can be realized by performing all of them and performing the processing.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or The CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are also realized by the processing.

1 Controller 2 System bus bridge 3 CPU
4 memory controller 5 system memory 6 general-purpose bus 7 hard disk controller 8 hard disk drive 9 operation unit controller 10 operation unit 11 network I / F
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Network 13 Tile / page vector conversion part 14 Raster / tile vector conversion part 15 Image processing part 16 Scanner 17 Printer 18 Image data expansion | deployment part 18a-18d Small image data expansion | deployment part 19 Local memory

Claims (18)

An image processing apparatus that executes processing on input image data,
Input means for inputting image data;
An output means for outputting image data;
First conversion means for converting raster image data into block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size by dividing the raster image data into blocks of a predetermined size and executing vectorization processing When,
Storage means for storing block vector image data;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
Second conversion means for converting page vector image data indicating the entire page into block vector image data corresponding to a block of a predetermined size ;
The image data transfer control means,
When the image data input from the input means is raster image data, the first conversion means converts the image data into block vector image data,
When the image data input from the input means is the page vector image data, the second conversion means converts it to block vector image data,
Storing the block vector image data converted by using the first conversion means or the second conversion means in the storage means;
Controls transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus so that raster image data obtained by executing the expansion means on the block vector image data stored in the storage means is output from the output means. Image data transfer control means
The image processing apparatus comprising: a. An image processing apparatus that executes processing on input image data,
Input means for inputting image data;
An output means for outputting image data;
First conversion means for converting raster image data into block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size by dividing the raster image data into blocks of a predetermined size and executing vectorization processing When,
Storage means for storing block vector image data;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
The raster image data input from said input means is converted into the block vector image data by the first conversion means, to the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the storage means, processed in the apparatus Image data transfer control means for controlling the transfer of the image data;
Third conversion means for converting block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page,
The image data transfer control means further includes:
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is a raster image data format, raster image data obtained by executing the expansion unit on the block vector image data stored in the storage unit Is output from the output means,
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output means is a vector image data format, the third conversion means obtained by executing the third conversion means on the block vector image data stored in the storage means An image processing apparatus, wherein transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus is controlled so that page vector image data is output from the output means. 2. The input unit includes an image processing unit that inputs raster image data from a scanner unit, and an interface unit that inputs the page vector image data transmitted from an external device. Image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit includes an image processing unit that outputs the raster image data to a printer unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the output unit includes an interface unit that outputs page vector image data indicating an entire page to an external apparatus. The image data transfer control means is connected to the respective means via a bus, and performs bus arbitration control for executing the bus arbitration control for transferring the processing target image data in accordance with the processing target image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: An image processing apparatus that executes processing on input image data,
Input means for inputting image data;
An output means for outputting image data;
First conversion means for converting raster image data into block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size by dividing the raster image data into blocks of a predetermined size and executing vectorization processing When,
Third conversion means for converting block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page;
Storage means for storing block vector image data and page vector image data ;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
The raster image data input from the input means is converted to block vector image data by the first conversion means, the converted block vector image data is converted to page vector image data by the third conversion means, and the conversion is performed. block vector image data and such that the Ru transformed in association with page vector image data is previously stored in the storage means which is an image data transfer control means for controlling the transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus With
The image data transfer control means further includes:
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is a raster image data format, raster image data obtained by expanding the block vector image data stored in advance in the storage unit by the expansion unit Is output from the output means,
If it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is a vector image data format, the page vector image data stored in advance in the storage unit is output from the output unit in the apparatus. An image processing apparatus that controls transfer of image data to be processed. When converting the page vector image data including a curved object into block vector image data corresponding to a block of a predetermined size,
The second conversion means includes
Calculating means for calculating a convex polygon containing the curve object;
Evaluation means for evaluating whether or not the convex polygon calculated by the calculation means intersects the side of the block of interest;
Based on the evaluation result of the evaluation means, an intersection calculation means for calculating an intersection between the attention side of the attention block and the curve object;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a dividing unit that divides the curved object in units of blocks based on the intersection calculated by the intersection calculating unit. When the page vector image data including an image object is divided into blocks of a predetermined size and converted into the block vector image data,
The second conversion means includes
A comparison means for comparing the resolution of the image object with a predetermined resolution;
As a result of the comparison by the comparison means, when the resolution of the image object is equal to or lower than the predetermined resolution, the image object existing across a plurality of blocks is divided at each block boundary of the plurality of blocks. Dividing means;
As a result of the comparison by the comparison means, if the resolution of the image object is greater than the predetermined resolution, the image object that exists across a plurality of blocks is replaced with the object of the image that exceeds each block boundary of the plurality of blocks. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second dividing unit that divides the image data so as to partially overlap each other. The expansion means is
1) A first interpolation method for interpolating an image object based on a pixel of interest of the image object included in the block vector image data when the block vector image data to be processed is divided by the first dividing means To develop the block vector image data into raster image data,
2) When the block vector image data to be processed is divided by the second dividing unit, the image object is interpolated based on the target pixel and the peripheral pixels of the image object included in the block vector image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the block vector image data is expanded into raster image data using a two-interpolation method. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined resolution is a resolution of raster image data generated by the developing unit. A control method of an image processing apparatus for executing processing on input image data,
The raster image data is divided for each block having a predetermined size, by a child running the vectorization processing, first conversion for converting the block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size Process,
A storage step of storing block vector image data in a storage means;
A development process of developing block vector image data into raster image data;
A second conversion step of converting page vector image data indicating the entire page into block vector image data corresponding to a block of a predetermined size ;
An image data transfer control process ,
When the input image data is raster image data, it is converted into block vector image data in the first conversion step,
When the input image data is the page vector image data, in the second conversion step, converted into block vector image data,
Storing the block vector image data converted using the first conversion step or the second conversion step in the storage means;
An image for controlling transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus so that raster image data obtained by executing the expansion process on block vector image data stored in the storage means is output from an output unit. Data transfer control process

Control method comprising: a. A control method of an image processing apparatus for executing processing on input image data,
The raster image data is divided for each block having a predetermined size, by a child running the vectorization processing, first conversion for converting the block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size Process,
A storage step of storing block vector image data in a storage means;
A development process of developing block vector image data into raster image data;
Raster the input image data is converted into block vector image data in the first conversion step, as the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the storage unit, image data to be processed in the apparatus Image data transfer control process for controlling the transfer of
A third conversion step of converting block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page,
In the image data transfer control step ,
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is the raster image data format, raster image data obtained by executing the expansion process on the block vector image data stored in the storage means Output from the output unit,
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is a vector image data format, the third conversion step obtained by executing the third conversion step on the block vector image data stored in the storage means A control method comprising: controlling transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus so that page vector image data is output from the output unit. Computer
The raster image data is divided for each block having a predetermined size, by a child running the vectorization processing, first conversion for converting the block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size Means ,
Storage means for storing block vector image data in a storage medium ;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
Second conversion means for converting page vector image data indicating the entire page into block vector image data corresponding to a block of a predetermined size ;
Control means,
When the input image data is raster image data, the first conversion means converts it to block vector image data,
When the input image data is the page vector image data, the second conversion means converts it to block vector image data,
Storing the block vector image data converted by using the first conversion means or the second conversion means in the storage medium by the storage means;
Control means for controlling the raster image data obtained by executing the developing means on the block vector image data stored in the storage medium to be output from the output unit;
Program to make it function . Computer
The raster image data is divided for each block having a predetermined size, by a child running the vectorization processing, first conversion for converting the block vector image data corresponding to each block divided into the predetermined size Means ,
Storage means for storing block vector image data in a storage medium ;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
And control means is converted into the block vector image data is controlled to the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the storage medium in the storage unit by the first conversion means raster the input image data,
A program for functioning as third conversion means for converting block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page ,
In the control means , further,
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is a raster image data format, raster image data obtained by executing the expansion unit on the block vector image data stored in the storage medium Output from the output unit,
When it is determined that the format of the image data to be output from the output unit is the vector image data format, the third conversion unit obtained by executing the third conversion unit on the block vector image data stored in the storage medium A program for controlling page vector image data to be output from the output unit. An image processing apparatus for processing input image data,
Input means for inputting page raster format or page vector format image data;
If the format of the image data input by the input means is a page raster format, the first conversion means for converting the image data in the page raster format into image data in a block vector format;
If the format of the image data input by the input means is a page vector format, second conversion means for converting the image data of the page vector format into image data of a block vector format;
Storage means for storing block vector image data converted by the first conversion means and the second conversion means;
Output means for executing a predetermined process on the image data in the block vector format stored in the storage means and outputting the image data after the predetermined process is performed. An image processing apparatus. A control method of an image processing apparatus for processing input image data,
An input process for inputting image data in page raster format or page vector format;
A first conversion step of converting the image data of the page raster format into image data of a block vector format when the format of the image data input in the input step is a page raster format;
If the format of the image data input in the input step is a page vector format, a second conversion step of converting the image data in the page vector format into image data in a block vector format;
A storage step of storing, in a storage medium, block vector format image data converted by the first conversion step and the second conversion step;
An output step of performing predetermined processing on the image data in the block vector format stored in the storage medium and outputting the image data after the predetermined processing is performed. For controlling an image processing apparatus. Computer
Input means for inputting page raster format or page vector format image data;
If the format of the image data input by the input means is a page raster format, the first conversion means for converting the image data in the page raster format into image data in a block vector format;
If the format of the image data input by the input means is a page vector format, second conversion means for converting the image data of the page vector format into image data of a block vector format;
Storage means for storing, in a storage medium, block vector format image data converted by the first conversion means and the second conversion means ;
Output means for executing predetermined processing on the image data in the block vector format stored in the storage medium and outputting the image data after the predetermined processing is executed;
Program to make it function .

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