JP4630082B2 - Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, drawing command information generation method, drawing command information generation program, and recording medium recorded with drawing command information generation program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that generates a drawing command from a PDL, an image forming apparatus, a drawing command generation method, a drawing command generation program, and a recording medium that records the drawing command generation program.

  An image forming device such as a printer interprets PDL (Page Description Language) to convert from high-level drawing information to low-level drawing information, and finally generates a bitmap image and forms the image. To do.

  Here, the high level drawing information and the low level drawing information will be described. The high-level drawing information is drawing information that is close to the command from the host, such as parameters necessary for the drawing command, and requires a lot of conversion until the final bitmap image. Low-level drawing information refers to drawing information that can be easily developed into a final bitmap image. Specific examples of these high-level drawing information and low-level drawing information will be described later.

  First, an example of the PDL processing unit is shown in FIG. A PDL processing unit 11 shown in FIG. 1 interprets PDL data and writes a bitmap image of a page image generated by drawing processing according to the description to a frame memory or the like.

  The PDL processing unit 11 includes a PDL interpretation unit 14, a drawing processing unit 15, a DL (Display List) generation unit 20, and a DL drawing unit 21.

  The PDL interpretation unit 14 interprets and analyzes codes written in PDL such as PostScript and PCL, and extracts high-level drawing information about graphics, text, image, and color drawing components. This high-level drawing information refers to drawing information that has not been rasterized. Low level drawing information refers to rasterized drawing information.

  The drawing processing unit 15 performs drawing processing based on the high-level drawing information extracted by the PDL interpretation unit 14 and converts it into low-level drawing information. In general, this conversion processing is complicated, and the time required for this processing occupies a large proportion of the total processing time required by the PDL processing unit 11.

  The drawing processing unit 15 further includes a graphic processing unit 16, a text processing unit 17, an image processing unit 18, and a color processing unit 19. These processing units perform conversion processing from high-level drawing information to low-level drawing information for the drawing components corresponding to the respective processing units. Specific processing contents of these processing units will be described later.

  The DL generation unit 20 converts the low-level drawing information converted by the drawing processing unit 15 into drawing data in an intermediate storage data format called DL, and accumulates one or more pages of DL in the RAM.

  Since DL is information (low level) that is easy to develop into a final bitmap image written in the frame memory, its data amount is much larger than that of high level information, and DL for one or a plurality of pages. The amount of memory for storing data is often required in megabytes.

  The DL drawing unit 21 reads the DL stored in the RAM, performs pattern processing, gradation conversion, mask (CLIP), ROP (Raser OPeration), and the like to generate a final bitmap image, and Write to memory.

  Note that tone conversion refers to processing for converting high-gradation pixel values into low-gradation pixel values by dithering or error diffusion techniques. ROP refers to logical operation processing when the pixel values of the source, destination, and pattern are superimposed.

  Also, depending on the apparatus, in order to reduce the memory amount, the DL rendering unit 21 performs the above-described processing for a region called a band obtained by dividing the frame memory for one page into strips parallel to the main scanning direction. is there.

  Here, processing contents executed by each processing unit of the drawing processing unit 15 and specific examples of the high-level drawing information and the low-level drawing information will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the processing contents of the graphic processing unit 16 are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the graphic processing unit 16 performs processing such as path generation, coordinate conversion, straight line segmentation (straight line approximation), straight line contour path generation, scanning line conversion, and rectangle / trapezoid extraction.

  Next, the processing contents of the text processing unit 17 are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the text processing unit 17 performs processing such as acquisition of character outline data (a sequence of coordinates of straight line end points and curve control points) from outline font data, and painting by graphic processing.

  The processing content of the image processing unit 18 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing unit 18 performs processing such as data decompression, rotation, scaling, color conversion by the color processing unit 19, gradation conversion (dither, error diffusion), and the like.

  The processing contents of the color processing unit 19 are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the color processing unit 19 performs color matching, complementary color conversion (conversion from RGB to CMY), black correction (BG) / under color removal (UCR) / gray conversion, CIE to XYZ intermediate color conversion, Processing such as XYZ to CMYK rendering color conversion, gamma correction, and total amount regulation is performed.

  Next, an example of DL will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 shows a DL for displaying the rectangle 503. This DL consists of upper left coordinates 501 and lower right coordinates 502. FIG. 7 shows a DL for displaying the trapezoid 517. This DL includes an upper side y-coordinate 511, left and right x-coordinates 512, a height 513, and a change amount 514 per left and right pixels. The amount of change 514 per pixel on the left and right corresponds to the slope, as shown in the enlarged views 515 and 516. FIG. 8 shows a DL for displaying a run 523. This DL is composed of the y coordinate of the run, the coordinates at which the run is started, and the coordinates at the end.

  The DL shown in FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 is an example of a graphic DL. Next, an example of text DL will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows a DL for displaying the text 536. This DL includes an upper left coordinate 531, a width 532, a height 533, the number of bytes 534 in one row, and bitmap data 535.

  Next, an example of an image DL will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows a DL for displaying an image 548 composed of CMYK. The DL includes an upper left coordinate 541, a width 542, a height 543, the number of bytes 544 in one line, the total number of bytes 545, a color format 546, and bitmap data 547.

  Next, an example of color DL will be described with reference to FIG. This DL is composed of a Cyan component 551, a Magenta component 552, a Yellow component 553, and a K component 554.

  The above is an example of each DL. By the way, a software module that can receive drawing information at a certain level and perform drawing processing and writing to the frame memory at a higher speed by using an algorithm method superior to the conventional technique and a drawing accelerator implemented by hardware such as ASIC. Or hardware modules or combinations thereof have been developed. Hereinafter, such a module is referred to as a high-performance drawing unit and corresponds to high-performance drawing means.

  FIG. 12 shows a conventional example in which the high-performance rendering unit is incorporated in the PDL processing unit in order to increase the speed of the existing PDL processing unit 11. The difference from FIG. 1 is that a high performance drawing unit 23 and a drawing command conversion unit 22 are newly added in place of the DL drawing unit 21 of FIG.

  This is stored in the intermediate storage data format in FIG. 1 due to the ease of incorporation when using such a high-performance drawing unit (the effort of modification, the small number of man-hours and the small influence range of the modification). This is because the drawing command conversion unit 22 and the high-performance drawing unit 23 that read out the DL, convert it to a drawing command (data) that can be received by the high-performance drawing unit 23, and the high-performance drawing unit 23 are replaced with the conventional DL drawing unit 21.

  On the other hand, most of the drawing information that can be processed by such a high-performance drawing unit 23 has been low-level until now, but recently, high-level drawing information can be received and processed at a higher speed than before. Things are starting to appear.

  Examples of drawing commands supported by such a high-performance drawing unit 23 are shown in FIGS. The drawing commands shown in FIGS. 13 to 16 are expressed in C or C ++ language. FIG. 13 shows a drawing command for drawing a square. This drawing command is expressed by a function including the coordinates of two vertices on the diagonal as arguments. FIG. 14 shows a drawing command for painting a square in blue and a triangle in red. The four lines of code following the variable declaration are drawing instructions for drawing a square in which the first two lines are filled with blue, and the drawing instruction for drawing a triangle in which the next two lines are filled with red.

  FIG. 15 shows a drawing command for drawing an image. This drawing command is expressed by a function including as arguments the width of the input image and the coordinates of the two vertices on the diagonal line of the output image.

FIG. 16 shows a drawing command for drawing characters. In this drawing command, the first line is a function including a character size or font as an argument, and the second line is a function including a character code as an argument.
JP2004-034636 JP 2000-011169 A JP2000-013601 JP-A-9-062851

  However, when the above-described high-performance drawing unit 23 is incorporated and used, the processing contents that the high-performance drawing unit can perform are different (for example, high-level drawing information cannot be processed), the upgrade of the high-performance drawing unit, It was not possible to cope with a change due to a model change of an image forming apparatus equipped with a high-performance rendering unit.

  In addition, in order to speed up the drawing process, high-performance drawing processing means are incorporated, and drawing commands and drawing data may be passed at a higher level of drawing information. There is a possibility that the image quality may be slightly different from the formed image, depending on whether the processing has been performed until the level drawing information is reached or when the high-performance drawing unit is incorporated and transferred with the high-level drawing information. I couldn't keep it.

  However, when the high-performance rendering unit 23 is incorporated and used, it may be slightly different from an image formed by another image forming apparatus, and compatibility may not be maintained.

  In view of such a problem, the present invention can flexibly cope with a change in specifications of a high-performance drawing unit and an image forming apparatus even if a high-performance drawing unit is incorporated, and an image formed as compared with a case where it is not incorporated. It is an object to provide an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a drawing command generation method, a drawing command generation program, and a recording medium on which a drawing command generation program is recorded.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention classifies and extracts PDL data into drawing information for each drawing attribute of one or more of graphic, text, image, and color, and a drawing means for each drawing attribute. In a drawing processing apparatus that outputs a processable drawing command, the PDL is input, and high-level drawing information that requires a plurality of steps of conversion is drawn until the final bitmap image is drawn by interpreting the PDL. by converting the PDL interpretation unit, the extracted the high level drawing information sequentially lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, low level drawing from the high level drawing information The high-level drawing information and the output information of the plurality of processing units that are converted into a plurality of stages of conversion level drawing information that are different levels of drawing information up to the information And a drawing processing means for outputting the drawing command that can be processed by the drawing means to the drawing means by the drawing command conversion means, and the drawing processing means outputs to the drawing means based on specific image processing. It is characterized in that the level of the drawing command is determined.

  In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized in that the drawing processing means includes: graphic drawing information generating means corresponding to graphic drawing information; text drawing information generating means corresponding to text drawing information; One or more of image drawing information generation means corresponding to drawing information and color drawing information generation means corresponding to color drawing information are included.

In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, the conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages is further drawing information obtained by generating a path from the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by converting coordinates from the drawing information. Quasi-high-level drawing information, medium-level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by dividing a curve and a straight line from the quasi-high-level drawing information or generating a contour of the line, and drawing information obtained by converting a scanning line from the medium-level drawing information or And low-level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by extracting a rectangle or a trapezoid from the drawing information .

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized in that the conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained from outline data of the high level drawing information, The quasi-high level drawing information includes low level drawing information that is drawing information that has been subjected to a painting process by graphic processing .

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized in that the conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages is further drawing information obtained by compressing and decompressing the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by rotating an image of the drawing information. High-level drawing information, drawing information obtained by scaling the image of the quasi-high-level drawing information, or medium-level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by converting the image of the drawing information by the color drawing information generation unit, and the medium-level drawing And low-level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting the tone of the information image .

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized in that the conversion level drawing information of the plurality of steps is further drawing information obtained by performing color matching processing on the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by performing complementary color conversion on the drawing information. High level drawing information, drawing information obtained by converting the semi-high level drawing information into BG / UR / Gray, drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from CIE to XYZ intermediate colors, or drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from XYZ to CMYK rendering colors Medium-level drawing information that is information, drawing information obtained by performing gamma correction on the medium-level drawing information, or low-level drawing information that is drawing information in which the total amount of the drawing information is regulated .

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention includes the drawing processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 and the drawing unit , wherein the drawing unit receives a bit from the drawing command. A map image is output.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a PDL processing device according to claim 7 , print engine means for forming an image based on a bitmap image output from the PDL processing device, and the PDL processing device. And a control means for controlling the print engine means.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention classifies and extracts PDL data into drawing information for each drawing attribute of one or more of graphic, text, image, and color, and draws for each drawing attribute. A drawing command generation method of a drawing command that can be processed by the means, wherein the PDL is input, and high-level drawing information that requires a plurality of steps of conversion before the PDL is interpreted and a final bitmap image is drawn by converting the PDL interpretation step of extracting, the extracted the high level drawing information sequentially lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, and from the high level drawing information Converted into a plurality of stages of conversion level drawing information, which is drawing information having different levels up to low level drawing information, and the input high level drawing information and output information of the plurality of processing units A drawing processing stage for outputting the drawing command that can be processed by the drawing means to the drawing means by the drawing command conversion means. In the drawing processing stage, the drawing command is output to the drawing means based on specific image processing. It is characterized in that the level of the drawing command is determined.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention classifies and extracts PDL data into drawing information for each drawing attribute of one or more of graphic, text, image, and color, and draws for each drawing attribute. A drawing command generation program for drawing commands that can be processed by the means, wherein the PDL is input, and high-level drawing information that requires a plurality of steps of conversion before the PDL is interpreted and a final bitmap image is drawn by converting the PDL interpretation procedure for extracting, the extracted the high level drawing information sequentially lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, and from the high level drawing information Converted into a plurality of stages of conversion level drawing information, which is drawing information with different levels up to the low level drawing information, and the inputted high level drawing information and the plurality of processing units A drawing processing procedure for outputting, to the drawing unit, the drawing command that can be processed by the drawing command from the force information to the drawing unit. In the drawing processing procedure, the drawing unit receives the drawing command based on specific image processing. It is characterized in that the level of a drawing command to be output is determined.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized by a recording medium on which the drawing command generation program according to any one of claims 15 to 20 is recorded.

  According to the present invention, even if a high-performance rendering unit is incorporated, it is possible to flexibly cope with changes in specifications of the high-performance rendering unit and the image forming apparatus, and the compatibility of the image quality of the image formed compared to the case where it is not incorporated is improved. An image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a drawing command generation method, a drawing command generation program, and a recording medium recording the drawing command generation program can be provided.

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

  FIG. 17 shows a configuration example of the image forming apparatus in the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an operation panel 2, a host I / F 3, a controller device 10, a ROM 5, a RAM 6, a frame memory 7, a nonvolatile storage device 8, a drawing accelerator 9, and a print engine device 4. It is shown.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to the host computer 13 via, for example, a network, and performs printing with, for example, the print engine apparatus 4 according to an instruction from the host computer 13.

  The operation panel 2 shown in FIG. 17 is composed of a touch panel, for example, and performs an interface with the user. The controller device 10 performs overall control of the image forming apparatus 1. The controller device 10 includes a PDL processing unit 11 and a device control unit 12. The PDL processing unit 11 interprets the PDL transmitted from the host computer 13, and writes a bitmap image of the page image generated by drawing processing according to the description to the frame memory 7 via the device control unit 12. Include.

  The print engine device 4 is an engine for actually printing on paper. The ROM 5 stores a program for the image forming apparatus 1 and the like. The RAM 6 is a memory in which programs and image data are developed. The frame memory 7 is written with a bitmap image as described above. The nonvolatile storage device 8 stores, for example, settings of the image forming apparatus. The drawing accelerator 9 is hardware that performs drawing processing at high speed. The host I / F device 3 is an interface with the host computer 13.

  Next, details of the PDL processing unit 11 will be described with reference to FIG. The PDL processing unit 11 is roughly composed of an image processing device 24 and a high performance drawing unit 23.

  The image processing device 24 includes a PDL interpretation unit 14 and a drawing processing unit 15. The PDL interpretation unit 14 interprets and analyzes codes written in PDL such as PostScript and PCL, and extracts high-level drawing information about graphics, text, image, and color drawing components. The drawing processing unit 15 passes a drawing command to the high-performance drawing unit 23 based on the high-level drawing information extracted by the PDL interpretation unit 14.

  The drawing processing unit 15 further includes a graphic processing unit 16, a text processing unit 17, an image processing unit 18, and a color processing unit 19.

  The graphic processing unit 16 in the present embodiment does not perform all or part of the conversion processing shown in FIG. 2 on the high-level drawing information received from the PDL interpretation unit 14, and uses the processed information as high performance. The drawing command is converted to a drawing command suitable for the drawing unit 23.

  As a result, the content of the graphic drawing command that the drawing processing unit 15 passes to the high-performance drawing unit 23 includes high-level drawing information, that is, straight lines, polygons, curved control points, parameters, and graphics representing the contour shape of the figure. Parameters for specifying the drawing method (painting the inside of the outline, drawing the outline as a line, clip area, etc.), drawing attributes (line width, line type, end point shape, connection shape, fill) Rules, fill patterns, etc.).

  Next, the text processing unit 17 will be described. The text processing unit 17 does not perform all or part of the conversion processing as shown in FIG. 3 on the high-level drawing information received from the PDL interpretation unit 14, and sends the processed information to the high-performance drawing unit 23. Convert to an appropriate drawing command.

  As a result, the text rendering command and data contents that the rendering processing unit 15 passes to the high-performance rendering unit 23 include high-level rendering information, that is, typeface ID, character ID, and rendering attributes (character size, rendering start position, Parameters that specify the style, rotation angle, special effects such as white shading, etc.).

  Next, the image processing unit 18 will be described. The image processing unit 18 does not perform all or part of the conversion processing as shown in FIG. 4 on the high-level drawing information received from the PDL interpretation unit 14, and sends the processed information to the high-performance drawing unit 23. Convert to an appropriate drawing command.

  As a result, the image rendering command and data contents that the rendering processing unit 15 passes to the high-performance rendering unit 23 include high-level rendering information, that is, high gradation bitmap data, compression method, rendering attributes (bitmap width). , Height, drawing start position, rotation angle, scaling factor, and the like).

  Next, the color processing unit 19 will be described. The color processing unit 19 does not perform all or part of the conversion processing as shown in FIG. 5 on the high-level drawing information received from the PDL interpretation unit 14, and uses the processed information as the high-performance drawing unit 23. It is converted into a drawing command that applies to and issued.

  As a result, the color drawing command and data contents that the drawing processing unit 15 passes to the high-performance drawing unit 23 are high-level drawing information, that is, specific colors in the RGB, CMY, CMYK, or CIE color space with high gradation. It includes parameters for specifying parameters, parameters for specifying gradation, and attributes for color conversion (color matching, BG / UCR / γ, total amount regulation, gradation conversion, etc.).

  Next, each processing unit of the drawing processing unit 15 provides several conversion levels before converting the high-level drawing information into a drawing command and calling the high-performance drawing unit 23. A configuration capable of performing processing in stages will be described.

  First, regarding to which stage to perform, this stage is determined for each process based on a specific drawing process. For example, when the positional relationship between graphics is slightly different from when printing with another printer, an appropriate stage is determined by changing the stage in various ways. The setting at the determined stage may be performed on the operation panel 2 corresponding to the setting means, or the setting content may be fixed in advance by a program.

  As Example 1, an example of a graphic processing unit will be described. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the graphic processing unit 16-2 in the above configuration. The graphic processing unit 16-2 includes a path generation unit 30, a coordinate conversion unit 31, a curved line division unit 32, a straight line outline generation unit 33, a scanning line conversion unit 34, a rectangular trapezoid extraction unit 35, and a drawing. And an instruction conversion unit 36.

  With this configuration, when the graphic processing unit 16-2 receives the high-level drawing information, the path generation unit 30 generates a path, the coordinate conversion unit 31 performs coordinate conversion, and the drawing command conversion unit 36 is called. It becomes possible. Here, the composition is such that semi-high level drawing information is generated and the drawing command conversion unit is called.

  In order to further reduce the low-level drawing information, the graphic processing unit 16-2 divides the curve and the straight line by the curved line dividing unit 32, and generates the contour of the portion divided into the curves by the linear contour generating unit 33. However, the drawing command conversion unit 36 can be called here. Here, the composition is such that intermediate level drawing information is generated and the drawing command conversion unit is called.

  In order to further reduce the low-level drawing information, the graphic processing unit 16-2 converts the scanning line by the scanning line conversion unit 34, extracts a rectangle and a trapezoid by the rectangular trapezoid extraction unit 35, converts it into low-level drawing information, and draws it. The command conversion unit 36 can also be called.

  It should be noted that it is possible not to apply this conversion level uniformly to all graphic data, but to determine how far to convert according to the data type.

  For example, the same result as the drawing result of the conventional drawing processing unit 15 (see FIG. 1) can be obtained when a graphic solid line is drawn using the high-performance drawing processing unit 23 shown in FIG. That is, in this case, there is compatibility, but there is a case where compatibility is not obtained when a graphic broken line is drawn.

  In this case, for the drawing of the solid line, information is passed to the drawing command conversion unit 36 using the semi-high level drawing information shown in FIG. 19, and for the drawing of the broken line, the medium level is drawn by the straight line contour generation unit 33 shown in FIG. It is possible to take measures such as dropping the drawing information and calling the drawing command conversion unit 36.

  Similarly, the graphic processing unit 16-2 does not have the function of the graphic processing unit 16-2 or has the same function as that of the conventional drawing processing unit 15 in the graphic designation such as the run cap and the join type. Even if there is a difference, drawing processing can be performed with compatibility maintained.

  As Example 2, an example of a text processing unit will be described. The configuration of the text processing unit 17-2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The text processing unit 17-2 includes a character outline extraction processing unit 37 from outline data, a graphic fill processing unit 38, and a drawing command conversion unit 36.

  With this configuration, the text processing unit 17-2 receives high-level drawing information (information such as typeface ID, character ID, and character attributes), and after applying the character outline data acquisition processing unit 37 from the outline data, performs graphic processing. The paint processing unit 38 is executed, converted into lower level drawing information (here, the text data is converted into a binary bitmap image), and the drawing command conversion unit 36 is called.

  As Example 3, an example of an image processing unit will be described. The configuration of the image processing unit 18-2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The image processing unit 18-2 includes a compression / decompression unit 39, a rotation unit 40, a scaling unit 41, a color conversion unit 42 using a color processing unit, a gradation conversion unit 43, and a drawing command conversion unit 36. .

  In the series of conversion steps in FIG. 21, the image processing unit 18 can also call the drawing command conversion unit 36 after the end of each step. Specifically, the process executed by the image processing unit 18-2 is divided into processes performed by the compression / decompression unit 39, the rotation unit 40, the scaling unit 41, the color conversion unit 42 by the color processing unit, and the gradation conversion unit 43. Is done.

  For example, in the case of drawing with rotation in units of 90 degrees (0/90/180/270 degrees), the image processing unit 18-2 performs image data as it is in the high-performance drawing unit 23 after the compression / decompression unit 39 executes processing. Is transferred as quasi-high level drawing information, but for other rotations, rotation processing is executed using the rotation unit 40 on the PDI side, and the image data scaled using the scaling unit 41 is created, It can be passed to the high performance drawing unit 23 as medium level drawing information.

  That is, the level at which the high-performance rendering unit 23 is used can be determined based on specific image processing. Alternatively, in the case of scaling, when the enlargement is an integral multiple or the reduction is a fraction of an integer, the high performance drawing unit 23 executes the rotation process in the rotation unit 40 and then directly transfers the image data to the high performance drawing unit 23. give. In the case of zooming other than that, the high-performance rendering unit 23 executes rotation processing using the rotation unit 40 on the PDI side, and creates data of the image subjected to scaling processing using the scaling unit 42. Can be passed to the high-performance rendering unit 23.

  As a fourth embodiment, an embodiment regarding a color processing unit will be described. The configuration of the color processing unit 19-2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The color processing unit 19-2 includes a color matching processing unit 44, a complementary color conversion processing unit 45, a BG / UCR / gray conversion processing unit 46, a CIE to XYZ intermediate color conversion processing unit 47, and an XYZ to CMYK rendering color conversion process. Unit 48, gamma correction processing unit 49, and total amount regulation processing unit 50.

  In FIG. 22, when the input color information is RGB color, the steps of CIE to XYZ intermediate color conversion processing unit 47 and XYZ to CMYK rendering color conversion processing unit 48 are unnecessary. When the input color information is CIE color, the steps of the color matching processing unit 44, the complementary color conversion processing unit 45, and the BG / UCR / gray conversion processing unit 46 are unnecessary.

  By configuring the color processing unit 19-2 in this way, it is possible to achieve optimum performance by distributing the processing in the high-performance drawing processing unit 23 and the load.

  The graphic processing unit 16-2 described above corresponds to the graphic drawing information generation unit, the text processing unit 17-2 corresponds to the text drawing information generation unit, and the image processing unit 18-2 corresponds to the image drawing information generation unit. The color processing unit 19-2 corresponds to an image drawing information generating unit. The drawing processing unit 15 corresponds to a drawing processing unit.

  In this way, the drawing information generating means can generate drawing information at a plurality of levels, so that the level is set in accordance with the performance of other image forming apparatuses, thereby maintaining compatibility with the image forming apparatus. be able to.

It is a figure which shows the prior art example of a PDL process part (the 1). It is a figure which shows the processing content of a graphic process part. It is a figure which shows the processing content of a text process part. It is a figure which shows the processing content of an image process part. It is a figure which shows the processing content of a color process part. It is a figure which shows the rectangular DL example. It is a figure which shows the trapezoid DL example. It is a figure which shows the DL example of a run. It is a figure which shows the example of DL of a text. It is a figure which shows the example of DL of an image. It is a figure which shows the example of color DL. It is a figure which shows the prior art example of a PDL process part (the 2). It is a figure which shows the drawing command in the case of drawing a square. It is a figure which shows the drawing command in the case of painting with a color. It is a figure which shows the drawing command in the case of drawing an image. It is a figure which shows the drawing command in the case of drawing a character. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the image processing apparatus in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a graphic process part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a text processing part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an image process part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a color processing part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Operation panel 3 Host I / F apparatus 4 Print engine apparatus 5 ROM
6 RAM
7 Frame memory 8 Non-volatile storage device 9 Drawing accelerator 11 PDL processing unit 14 PDL interpretation unit 15 Drawing processing unit 16, 16-2 Graphic processing unit 17, 17-2 Text processing unit 18, 18-2 Image processing unit 19, 19 -2 Color processing unit 20 DL generation unit 21 DL drawing unit 22 Drawing command unit 23 High performance drawing unit 24 Image processing device 30 Path generation unit 31 Coordinate conversion unit 32 Curve straight line division unit 33 Linear contour generation unit 34 Scan line conversion unit 35 Rectangular trapezoid extraction unit 36 Drawing command conversion unit 37 Character outline extraction processing unit from outline data 38 Graphic painting processing unit 39 Compression / decompression unit 40 Rotation unit 41 Scaling unit 42 Color conversion unit by color processing unit 43 Tone conversion unit 44 Color Matching processing unit 45 Complementary color conversion processing unit 46 BG / UCR / Gray change Processing unit 47 CIE to XYZ intermediate color conversion processing unit 48 XYZ to CMYK rendering color conversion processing unit 49 Gamma correction processing unit 50 Total amount restriction processing unit 501 Upper left coordinate 502 Lower right coordinate 503 Rectangle 511 Upper side y coordinate 512 Left and right x coordinate 513 High Length 514 Change per pixel 515, 516 Enlarged view 517 Trapezoid 521 y coordinate 522 Start and end x coordinate 523 Run 531 Upper left coordinate 532 Width 533 Height 534 Number of bytes in one line 535 Bitmap data 536 Text 541 Upper left Coordinate 542 Width 543 Height 544 Number of bytes per line 545 Total number of bytes 546 Color format 547 Bitmap data 548 Image 551 Cyan component 552 Magenta component 553 Yellow component 554 K component

Claims (21)

In a drawing processing apparatus that classifies and extracts PDL data into drawing information for each one or more drawing attributes of graphics, text, images, and colors, and outputs drawing commands that can be processed by the drawing means for each drawing attribute. ,
PDL interpretation means for extracting high-level drawing information that requires a plurality of steps of conversion until the PDL is input and the final bitmap image is drawn by interpreting the PDL;
By converting the extracted the high level drawing information successively lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, between the said high-level drawing information to a low level drawing information The drawing that can be processed by the drawing means by the drawing command converting means from the inputted high-level drawing information and the output information of the plurality of processing units, converted into conversion level drawing information of a plurality of stages which are drawing information of different levels Drawing processing means for outputting a command to the drawing means;
The drawing processing unit determines a level of a drawing command to be output to the drawing unit based on specific image processing.   The drawing processing means includes: graphic drawing information generating means corresponding to graphic drawing information; text drawing information generating means corresponding to text drawing information; image drawing information generating means corresponding to image drawing information; The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising at least one of color drawing information generation means corresponding to the drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes drawing information obtained by generating a path from the high level drawing information or quasi high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting coordinates from the drawing information, and the quasi high level drawing information. Middle level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by dividing a curve and a straight line or generating a contour of a straight line, drawing information obtained by converting a scanning line from the middle level drawing information, or drawing information obtained by extracting a rectangle or a trapezoid from the drawing information The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising low-level drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained from the outline data of the high-level drawing information, and a filling process by graphic processing is performed on the quasi-high level drawing information. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising low-level drawing information that is broken drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by compressing and decompressing the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by rotating an image of the drawing information, and an image of the quasi-high level drawing information. Medium level drawing information which is the drawing information obtained by scaling the drawing information or the image of the drawing information converted by the color drawing information generating means, and the low level which is the drawing information obtained by converting the tone of the image of the medium level drawing information The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising drawing information.   The multi-level conversion level drawing information further includes drawing information obtained by performing color matching processing on the high-level drawing information or quasi-high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by performing complementary color conversion on the drawing information, and the quasi-high level drawing information as BG. / UR / Gray converted drawing information, drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from CIE to XYZ intermediate color, medium level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from XYZ to CMYK rendering color, and the intermediate level drawing information 2. The drawing processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: gamma-corrected drawing information or low-level drawing information which is drawing information in which the total amount of the drawing information is restricted. The drawing processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Said drawing means,
The PDL processing apparatus, wherein the drawing means outputs a bitmap image from the drawing command. A PDL processing device according to claim 7,
Print engine means for forming an image based on the bitmap image output by the PDL processing device;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the PDL processing device and the print engine unit. This is a drawing command generation method for drawing commands that can be extracted by classifying and extracting PDL data into drawing information for each drawing attribute of one or more of graphics, text, images, and colors, and for each drawing attribute. And
A PDL interpretation stage that receives the PDL and extracts high-level drawing information that requires multiple stages of conversion before the PDL is interpreted to draw a final bitmap image;
By converting the extracted the high level drawing information successively lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, between the said high-level drawing information to a low level drawing information The drawing that can be processed by the drawing means by the drawing command conversion means from the inputted high-level drawing information and the output information of the plurality of processing units, converted into conversion level drawing information of a plurality of stages which are drawing information of different levels A drawing processing step of outputting a command to the drawing means;
A drawing command generation method characterized in that, in the drawing processing step, a level of a drawing command to be output to the drawing means is determined based on specific image processing.   The drawing processing step includes: a graphic drawing information generation step corresponding to graphic drawing information; a text drawing information generation step corresponding to text drawing information; an image drawing information generation step corresponding to image drawing information; The drawing command generation method according to claim 9, further comprising any one or more of color drawing information generation steps corresponding to the drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes drawing information obtained by generating a path from the high level drawing information or quasi high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting coordinates from the drawing information, and the quasi high level drawing information. Middle level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by dividing a curve and a straight line or generating a contour of a straight line, drawing information obtained by converting a scanning line from the middle level drawing information, or drawing information obtained by extracting a rectangle or a trapezoid from the drawing information The drawing command generation method according to claim 9, further comprising low-level drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained from the outline data of the high-level drawing information, and a filling process by graphic processing is performed on the quasi-high level drawing information. The drawing command generation method according to claim 9, further comprising: low-level drawing information that is broken drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by compressing and decompressing the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by rotating an image of the drawing information, and an image of the quasi-high level drawing information. Medium level drawing information which is the drawing information obtained by scaling the drawing information or the image of the drawing information converted by the color drawing information generating means, and the low level which is the drawing information obtained by converting the tone of the image of the medium level drawing information The drawing command generation method according to claim 9, further comprising drawing information.   The multi-level conversion level drawing information further includes drawing information obtained by performing color matching processing on the high-level drawing information or quasi-high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by performing complementary color conversion on the drawing information, and the quasi-high level drawing information as BG. / UR / Gray converted drawing information, drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from CIE to XYZ intermediate color, medium level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from XYZ to CMYK rendering color, and the intermediate level drawing information 10. The drawing command generation method according to claim 9, further comprising: gamma-corrected drawing information or low-level drawing information which is drawing information in which the total amount of the drawing information is restricted. This is a drawing command generation program for drawing commands that can be extracted by classifying and extracting PDL data into drawing information for each drawing attribute of one or more of graphics, text, images, and colors, and for each drawing attribute. And
A PDL interpretation procedure for extracting high-level drawing information that requires a plurality of steps of conversion until the PDL is input and the PDL is interpreted to draw a final bitmap image;
By converting the extracted the high level drawing information successively lower drawing information by a plurality of processing portions provided hierarchically to each drawing attribute, between the said high-level drawing information to a low level drawing information The drawing that can be processed by the drawing means by the drawing command conversion means from the inputted high-level drawing information and the output information of the plurality of processing units, converted into conversion level drawing information of a plurality of stages which are drawing information of different levels A drawing processing procedure for outputting a command to the drawing means;
In the drawing processing procedure, a drawing command generation program for determining a level of a drawing command to be output to the drawing means based on specific image processing.   The drawing processing procedure includes: a graphic drawing information generation procedure corresponding to graphic drawing information; a text drawing information generation procedure corresponding to text drawing information; an image drawing information generation procedure corresponding to image drawing information; 16. The drawing command generation program according to claim 15, comprising any one or more of color drawing information generation procedures corresponding to the drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes drawing information obtained by generating a path from the high level drawing information or quasi high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting coordinates from the drawing information, and the quasi high level drawing information. Middle level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by dividing a curve and a straight line or generating a contour of a straight line, drawing information obtained by converting a scanning line from the middle level drawing information, or drawing information obtained by extracting a rectangle or a trapezoid from the drawing information 16. The drawing command generation program according to claim 15, further comprising low-level drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained from the outline data of the high-level drawing information, and a filling process by graphic processing is performed on the quasi-high level drawing information. 16. The drawing command generation program according to claim 15, further comprising low-level drawing information that is broken drawing information.   The conversion level drawing information of the plurality of stages further includes quasi-high level drawing information that is drawing information obtained by compressing and decompressing the high-level drawing information or drawing information obtained by rotating an image of the drawing information, and an image of the quasi-high level drawing information. Medium level drawing information which is the drawing information obtained by scaling the drawing information or the image of the drawing information converted by the color drawing information generating means, and the low level which is the drawing information obtained by converting the tone of the image of the medium level drawing information 16. The drawing command generation program according to claim 15, further comprising drawing information.   The multi-level conversion level drawing information further includes drawing information obtained by performing color matching processing on the high-level drawing information or quasi-high level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by performing complementary color conversion on the drawing information, and the quasi-high level drawing information as BG. / UR / Gray converted drawing information, drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from CIE to XYZ intermediate color, medium level drawing information which is drawing information obtained by converting the drawing information from XYZ to CMYK rendering color, and the intermediate level drawing information 16. The drawing command generation program according to claim 15, further comprising: gamma-corrected drawing information or low-level drawing information that is drawing information in which the total amount of the drawing information is restricted.   The recording medium which recorded the drawing command generation program of any one of Claims 15-20.

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