JP4646703B2 - 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, a controller 100 for controlling a conventional MFP is shown in FIG. 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 113 and raster image data rendered by the RIP 113 as image data.

The page raster / tile raster conversion unit 114 divides raster data once stored in the system memory 104 into rectangular blocks (tiles) of a predetermined size and converts them into tile raster data. The converted tile raster data is once stored in the system memory 104 again. The tile raster data once stored in the system memory 104 can simultaneously process a plurality of tiles in the image processing unit 110. As a result, speeding up by parallel operation of image processing is realized.
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 shown in FIG.

  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.

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above-described problems has the following configuration. 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;
A block size of a block including an object in raster image data is set, and a block size larger than a predetermined size among the set block sizes is divided and set to a block size equal to or smaller than the predetermined size, and the raster image data Is converted into blocks each having a block size equal to or less than the set predetermined size , and a vectorization process is performed on each block, thereby converting into block vector image data;
First storage means for storing block vector image data;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
Second storage means for storing data output from the expansion means;
The raster image data input from the input means is converted into block vector image data by the first conversion means, and the converted block vector image data is stored in the first storage means and stored in the first storage means. the block vector image data is stored in the second storage means to expand the raster image data in the expansion unit, the raster image data stored in said second storage means so as to output from said output means, Image data transfer control means for controlling transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus.

Preferably, a block having a size including an object in the page vector image data is set, and a block having a size exceeding the upper limit size among the set blocks is divided into blocks having the upper limit size or less. A second conversion means for converting the page vector image data into block vector image data for each block equal to or smaller than the set upper limit size ,
When the image data input from the input means is page vector image data, the image data transfer control means causes the second conversion means to convert the input page vector image data into block vector image data , the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the first storage means.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises third conversion means for converting the block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page,
The image data transfer control means includes:
The format of image data to be outputted from said output means when it is determined that the raster image data form, extract block vector image data stored in said first storage means into raster image data by the expansion means Storing in the second storage means, outputting the raster image data stored in the second storage means from the output means,
If the format of the image data to be outputted from the output means determines that the vector image data format, developed in the page vector image data block vector image data stored in said first memory means by said third converting means Then, the page vector image data stored in the first storage means and stored in the first storage means is output from the output means.

  Preferably, the image data transfer control means is connected to each means via a bus and adjusts the bus used for transferring the image data to be processed according to the format of the image data to be processed. Bus arbitration means is provided.

  Preferably, the first conversion unit or the second conversion unit prohibits generation of corresponding block vector image data when an object is not included in a block obtained by dividing the image data to be processed.

Preferably, the first conversion means sets the block size of the block containing the at least two objects when the ratio of the overlapping portion of the block containing each of the at least two objects is a predetermined value or more. If the ratio of the overlapping portion is smaller than the predetermined value , a block size for dividing the at least two objects into a plurality of blocks is set.

In order to solve the above problems, a method for controlling an image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is,
A control method of an image processing apparatus for executing processing on input image data,
The first conversion means of the image processing device sets a block size of a block containing an object in the input raster image data, and a block size larger than a predetermined size among the set block sizes is equal to or less than the predetermined size set by dividing the block size, the raster image data, by dividing each block of the set following block size the predetermined size, by executing the vectorized process to each block, the block vector image is converted into the data, a first conversion step of the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the first storage means of the image processing apparatus,
The expansion means of the image processing apparatus expands the block vector image data stored in the first storage means into raster image data, and stores the expanded raster image data in the second storage means of the image processing apparatus. Development process,
An output step in which the output means of the image processing apparatus outputs raster image data stored in the second storage means;
Is provided.

A program according to the present invention for solving the above-described problems has the following configuration. That is,
Computer
Set the block size of the block containing the object in the input raster image data, and set the block size larger than the predetermined size among the set block sizes by dividing the block size to the block size equal to or smaller than the predetermined size, the raster image data, by dividing each block of the set predetermined size following the block size, by executing the vectorized process in each block is converted into block vector image data, the transformed block vector First conversion means for storing image data in the first storage means ;
Expansion means for expanding the block vector image data stored in the first storage means into raster image data and storing the expanded raster image data in the second storage means;
Output means for outputting raster image data stored in the second storage means;
To function as.

  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.

  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.

  A 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 / 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, the 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 14 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 sets a block (tile) having a size including an object in the image data, and divides the object in the image data into blocks having the 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 13 sets a block (tile) having a size including an object existing in the page vector data, and divides the object into blocks having the 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.

(Step S52: tile size determination process)
For each separated area, the size of the object in each area is further determined, and a tile size that can contain each object is determined (set) based on the determination result.

  A specific example will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of tile size determination processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In the raster data 600 shown in FIG. 6, there are two objects 601 and 602. When the block selection process in step S51 is executed on the raster data 600, the object 601 is recognized as a character area and the object 602 is recognized as a graphic area.

  When tile size determination processing is executed on this processing result, the raster data 600 is divided into tiles 701 to 709 having different sizes as shown in FIG. 7, for example. Here, the tile 704 is set to a size that can contain the object 601. The tile 707 is set to a size that can contain the object 602.

  Further, the tiles 701, 702, 704, 705, 706, 708, and 709 are blank tiles in which no object exists.

(Step S53: tile size determination process)
Next, the size (size) of each tile determined in step S52 is determined.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 7, the size of the created tiles 701 to 709 is determined. This determination is executed for the following reason.

  In other words, when the tile size once determined in step S52 is large, when tile vector data is expanded in parallel by the μRIPa 18a to μRIP 18d in the RIP 18, if one tile size is too large, the processing speed is increased by parallel operation. It becomes difficult. Therefore, in order to prevent this, each tile size is determined, and a tile larger than a predetermined size is divided into smaller size tiles.

  If the tile 707 in FIG. 7 containing the object 602 is larger than the predetermined size, the tile 707 is changed to four tiles 801, 802, 803, and 804 having a size smaller than the size, as shown in FIG. To divide. When all the tiles are smaller than the predetermined size, page vector data is converted into tile vector data based on the individual tile sizes by the following vectorization process.

(Step S54: Vectorization processing)
By the vectorization process, the image data of each attribute area is converted to vector data (vectorized). Examples of vectorization methods include (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.

  (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 (b) and (c) is fitted with a Bezier function or the like and converted into function information.

  (E) From the contour information of the graphic object of (c), the shape of the graphic is recognized and converted into graphic 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 S55: Tile vector data generation process)
In step S54, it is determined whether or not the data converted into the command definition format information such as format code information, graphic information, and function information (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 a vector type to be performed and a 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 S56: 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 S56), the process returns to step S51. On the other hand, if there is no raster data to be processed (YES in step S56), 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. 9 shows an example of document data transferred from the network according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 9, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 1101 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is the “Y” direction. The document data 1101 may be composed of any of page vector data, tile vector data, page vector data including tile data representation (tile vector data), or raster data.

  Here, when the document data 1101 is page vector data, a description example constituting the content will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a description example of page vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 10, reference numeral 1201 denotes a document setting command part related to the setting of the entire document data, 1202 denotes a character drawing command part, and 1203 denotes a graphic drawing command part.

  Details of each drawing command portion will be described.

  In the document setting command part 1201, 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 1202 and the graphic drawing command portion 1203 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 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}. 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 (A) 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 1101 is tile vector data will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of tile vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of tile vector data (document data 1300) obtained by dividing the document data 1101 (page vector data) of FIG. 9 in units of blocks (tiles) as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 11, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 1300 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is “Y”.

  Here, when the document data 1300 is tile vector data, a description example constituting the contents will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a description example of tile vector data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1401 denotes a document setting command part related to the setting of the entire document data, 1402 denotes the entire drawing command part, and 1403 to 1406 denote drawing command parts of tiles 1301, 1303, 1308, and 1309, respectively.

  Details of each drawing command will be described.

  In the document setting command part 1401, 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 1402 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 a drawing command for the tile 1301 in FIG. Here, two parameters in TileStart (0, 0) indicate information on the top position of the tile (for example, the position of the upper left corner of the tile) in the document data. C8 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command of the tile 1301. Two parameters in TileEnd (100, 20) indicate information on the end position of the tile (for example, the position of the lower right corner of the tile) in the document data. When there is no object in the tile as in the tile 1301, only commands indicating the start and end of the tile are described.

  C9 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command for the tile 1303 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 (A) to be actually drawn. C15 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command of the tile 1303.

  C100 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command for the tile 1308 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 of the tile 1308.

  C120 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command for the tile 1309 in FIG. C121 to C125 are commands for designating the surface of the figure, the color of the line, the position, and the like according to the drawing command of the figure as in the commands of C100 to C105. C126 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command of the tile 1309.

  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. 13 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 S901)
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. 10 or FIG. 12 are analyzed.

(Step S902)
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 S902), the process proceeds to step S903 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 S902), the process proceeds to step S910 and subsequent steps, and tile vector → page vector conversion is executed.

(Step S903)
Reads a command sequence that describes an object from page vector data.

(Step S904)
The command sequence read in step S903 is analyzed, and it is determined whether or not the size of the described object exceeds the upper limit size (predetermined size) of the tile. That is, it is determined whether further division of the object is necessary.

  If the size of the object does not exceed the upper limit size of the tile (NO in step S904), step S905 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S906. On the other hand, if the size of the object exceeds the upper limit size of the tile (YES in step S904), the process proceeds to step S905.

(Step S905)
Here, the input object is divided.

  For example, in the page vector data of FIG. 10, when the figure described by the commands C17 to C21 of the figure drawing command portion 1203 exceeds the upper limit size of the tile, the upper limit size of the tile is not exceeded. The tiles are divided into tiles 1307, 1308, 1309, and 1310 as shown in FIG. To divide the figure, first, a tile that contains the original graphic object is set once, and then this tile is set to tiles 1307, 1308, 1309, and 1310 obtained by dividing the tile into four equal sizes.

(Step S906)
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.

  Also, as indicated by commands C9, C15, etc. in FIG. 12, for each tile, the top of the tile from the upper left of the page and the coordinates of the end position of the tile are calculated, and where the tile is placed on the page. Whether or not can be determined from the command.

(Step S907)
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 S907), the process returns to step S903, and the processes in steps S903 to S907 are repeated for the next command. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S907), the process proceeds to step S908.

  Note that the command C7 shown in FIG. 12 is used for each rectangular area in a place where the object does not exist, for example, for areas such as tiles 1301, 1302, 1304, 1305, 1306, 1311, and 1312 in FIG. , C8, etc., a command having information on the head position and end position of the tile is generated, and the process proceeds to step S908.

(Step S908)
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 S905 and S906.

  Next, an object description is added to the coordinate tile where the command processed in steps S903 to S907 exists. For example, the tile 1303 in FIG. 11 is described by a drawing command portion 1404 (FIG. 12) including commands C9 to C15.

(Step S909)
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 S909), the process returns to step S903. On the other hand, when the processing is completed (YES in step S909), the processing is ended.

  On the other hand, the case where the document data type is tile vector data in step S902 will be described.

(Step S910)
Reads a command sequence that describes an object from tile vector data.

(Step S911)
The command sequence read in step S910 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 S911), step S912 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S913. On the other hand, if the connection is possible (YES in step S911), the process proceeds to step S912.

  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 S912)
Executes object merge processing. This processing is basically realized by reversing the processing procedure of step S905.

(Step S913)
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 S914)
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 S914), the process returns to step S910, and the processes in steps S910 to S913 are repeated for the next command. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S914), the process proceeds to step S915.

(Step S915)
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 S912 and S913.

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

(Step S916)
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 S916), the process returns to step S910. On the other hand, when the process is completed (YES in step S916), the process proceeds to step S917.

(Step S917)
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 S917), the process returns to step S910. On the other hand, if the process is completed (YES in step S917), the process ends.

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

(Step S101)
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 S102)
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 S102), the process waits until any of them can be developed.

(Step S103)
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 S104)
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 S104), the process proceeds to step S105. On the other hand, if it is a paper discharge command (NO in step S104), the process proceeds to step S106.

(Step S105)
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 S106)
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 S106), the process waits until the other μRIP processing ends, 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 S106), the process proceeds to step S107.

(Step S107)
If there is an empty area in the tile raster area, the drawing object generated in step S105 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 S108)
When command analysis or drawing processing for one tile vector data is completed in step S105 or step S107, 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 S108), the process returns to step S102, 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 S108), the process proceeds to step S109.

(Step S109)
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 S109), the process returns to step S101, 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 S109), 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.

  In addition, when generating tile vector data, it is possible to generate tile vector data with a more appropriate size by generating variable-size tile vector data adapted to the size of the object instead of fixed-size tiles. it can. Thereby, the data amount of the whole tile vector data can be reduced.

  Furthermore, in order to prevent the parallel processing performance from degrading when the tile size of individual tile vector data becomes too large, for tiles larger than the predetermined tile size, the tiles are subdivided and new tiles are created. Set the tile. Thereby, the efficiency of parallel processing can be improved.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, when converting from raster vector data to tile vector data, or when converting page vector data to tile vector data, even if the tile does not exist (blank tile), the command of FIG. A command having only information of the head position and the end position of the tiles indicated by C7 and C8 is generated.

  On the other hand, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, with respect to a blank tile, vector data is not generated (that is, generation of vector data is prohibited), and only when an object exists, a tile vector is generated. Data may be generated.

  That is, in FIG. 15, the drawing command portion corresponding to the drawing command portion 1403 in FIG. 12 is omitted, and only the drawing command portions 1101, 1104, 1105, and 1106 corresponding to the drawing command portions 1401, 1404, 1405, and 1406 in FIG. Is described.

  Thus, by omitting blank tile information from tile vector data, the amount of data handled in the MFP can be further reduced.

  In the case of the configuration of the second embodiment, the process for the blank tile is omitted in the process of step 907 in the flowchart of FIG.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the first embodiment, the data amount of tile vector data can be further reduced.

[Embodiment 3]
The third embodiment is an application example of the first embodiment.

  In particular, in the third embodiment, a rectangular area (tile) that includes each of a plurality of objects in image data is set once, and then a more appropriate tile is reset based on the ratio of overlapping portions between the rectangular areas ( A configuration to be combined / divided will be described.

  First, a data flow related to a copy operation in the image processing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Here, only the part of the different processing contents in the processing contents in the copying operation of the first embodiment will be described. Particularly, in the third embodiment, the processing content of (S22) in the first embodiment is different.

[copy]
(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.

  Here, first, the raster / tile vector conversion unit 14 temporarily sets a rectangular area that includes an object in the image data. If the rectangular areas containing each of the plurality of objects do not overlap in the image data, a block (tile) having the size of the rectangular area is determined for each object, and the image is displayed on the block of that size. Split objects in the data.

  On the other hand, when the rectangular areas containing each of the plurality of objects overlap, especially when the overlapping ratio (duplication degree) is larger than a predetermined value, the size of the rectangular area containing the plurality of objects is larger. A block (tile) is set, and a plurality of objects in the image data are divided into blocks of that size. On the other hand, if the degree of overlap is smaller than a predetermined value, a block (tile) of the size of the rectangular area that encloses each object is set, and each object of multiple objects in the image data is divided into blocks of that size To do.

  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.)
Next, a data flow relating to a printing operation in the image processing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Here, only the part of the different processing contents in the processing contents in the copying operation of the first embodiment will be described. Particularly, in the third embodiment, the processing content of (S32) in the first embodiment is different.

[Print]
(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.

  Here, first, the tile / page vector conversion unit 13 once sets a rectangular area containing an object for each object existing in the page vector data. If a plurality of objects do not overlap in the page vector data, a block (tile) having the size of this rectangular area is determined for each object, and the block of that size is stored in the page vector data. Split an object.

  On the other hand, when a plurality of objects overlap, especially when the overlapping ratio (duplication degree) is larger than a predetermined value, a block (tile) having a size of a rectangular area including the plurality of objects. Is set, and a plurality of objects in the page vector data are divided into blocks of that size. On the other hand, when the degree of overlap is smaller than the predetermined value, a block (tile) of a rectangular area containing each object is set, and each object of a plurality of objects in the page vector data is set in the block of that size. To divide.

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

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by the raster / tile vector conversion unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 16, the same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. 5 of the first embodiment are denoted by the same step numbers, and the details thereof are omitted.

(Step S52a: tile overlap portion calculation process)
Next, for each separated region, the ratio (overlap degree) of the overlapping portion between the regions is calculated.

  A specific example will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of tile overlap portion calculation processing according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In the raster data 1600 shown in FIG. 17, there are two objects 1601 and 1602. When the block selection in step S51 is executed for the raster data 1600, the object 1601 is recognized as a character area and the object 1602 is recognized as a graphic area.

  When tile overlap portion calculation processing is executed on this processing result, rectangular areas 1701 and 1702 including the respective objects are set as objects 1601 and 1602 in the raster data 1600 as shown in FIG. 18, for example. .

  Next, the area of the overlapping portion 1703 of the rectangular areas 1701 and 1702 is calculated. At this time, the ratio of the area of the overlapping portion 1703 to the area of each of the rectangular regions 1701 and 1702 is calculated.

(Step S52b: tile overlap portion ratio determination process)
Next, it is determined whether or not the area ratio of the overlapping portion 1703 calculated in step S52a is greater than a predetermined value α. If it is less than the predetermined value α (NO in step S52b), the process proceeds to step S52c. On the other hand, if it is greater than the predetermined value α (YES in step S52b), the process proceeds to step S52d.

(Step S52c: tile division processing)
When the area ratio of the overlapping portion 1703 is less than the predetermined value α, tile division processing for re-dividing the regions (tiles) including the rectangular regions (tiles) 1701 and 1702 forming the overlapping portion is executed.

  By this tile division processing, pages including rectangular areas (tiles) 1701 and 1702 are divided into areas (tiles) 1801 to 1807 in FIG. 19, for example. In this case, an area 1805 that includes all of the object 1602 is generated, and a part of the object 1601 is included therein. On the other hand, the area 1804 includes only a part of the object 1601.

  As described above, when the ratio of overlapping portions between rectangular areas including an object is less than a predetermined value α, tile division processing is executed to set a tile having a more appropriate size and Improve.

(S52d: tile combination processing)
When the ratio of the area of the overlapping portion 1703 is larger than the predetermined value α, tile combining processing is performed for combining the regions including the rectangular regions (tiles) 1701 and 1702 forming the overlapping portion.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 20, when rectangular areas (tiles) 1701 and 1702 that contain objects almost overlap (when the ratio of overlapping parts is relatively large), that is, the ratio of overlapping parts 1901 in both areas Is larger than the predetermined value α, the areas (tiles) 1001 to 1005 in FIG. 21 are set on the page including the rectangular areas (tiles) 1701 and 1702. In this case, an area (tile) 1003 that includes both the objects 1601 and 1602 is set.

  As described above, when the ratio of the overlapping portions of the rectangular areas included in the object is larger than the predetermined value α, speeding up by parallel processing of tiles cannot be expected. Therefore, in such a case, tiles including a plurality of objects are generated (set) in order to reduce the amount of tiles constituting the page and reduce the data amount of the entire page.

[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. 22 shows an example of document data transferred from the network according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 22, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 2201 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is the “Y” direction. The document data 2201 may be composed of any one of page vector data, tile vector data, page vector data including raster data representation (tile vector data), or raster data. Here, when the document data 2201 is page vector data, a description example constituting the content will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a description example of page vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 23, reference numeral 2301 denotes a document setting command part related to setting of the entire document data, 2302 denotes a character drawing command part, and 2303 denotes a graphic drawing command part.

  Details of each drawing command portion will be described.

  In the document setting command part 2301, 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 C22 constituting the character drawing command portion 2302 and the graphic drawing command portion 2303 are various commands for outputting document data.

  Note that the commands constituting the character drawing command portion 2302 and the graphic drawing command portion 2303 are different from each other in the drawing position of the character and the graphic, respectively, except that the drawing position of the character and the graphic are different from each other. The contents are the same as those described in detail in the portion 1203.

  On the other hand, a case where the document data 2201 is tile vector data will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of tile vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  24 shows an example of tile vector data (document data 2400) obtained by dividing the document data 2201 (page vector data) of FIG. 22 in units of blocks (tiles) as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 24, a device coordinate system is defined in which the lateral direction of the document data 2400 is the “X” direction and the longitudinal direction is “Y”.

  Here, when the document data 2400 is tile vector data, a description example constituting the contents will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a description example of tile vector data according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 25, reference numeral 2501 denotes a document setting command part related to setting of the entire document data, 2502 denotes a whole drawing command part, and 2503 to 2505 denote drawing command parts of tiles 2401, 2404, and 2405, respectively.

  Details of each drawing command will be described.

  In the document setting command portion 2501, 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 C500 constituting the drawing command portion 2502 are various commands for outputting document data.

  Here, the drawing command portion 2503 is the same as the details described in the drawing command portion 1403 of FIG.

  C9 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command for the tile 2404 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 page as the origin. In this case, the drawing of characters is set to start from the position {40, 150} on the page. C14 is a command indicating a character string (A) to be actually drawn. C15 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command of the tile 2404.

  In the third embodiment, the start position for drawing a character existing in the tile 2404 is also based on the upper left of the page, similarly to the start position for drawing the tile 2404. This is because the character string (A) straddles the tile 2404 and the tile 2405, and it is necessary to draw only the portion of the character string included in each tile.

  That is, the tile 2404 draws the character string (A) only within the range to be drawn inside the tile 2404 from the position information of the rectangular area indicated by the drawing commands C9 and C15 and the position information on the page of the character string. There is a need to. Therefore, in the third embodiment, a coordinate system based on the upper left of the page is also used as the starting position for drawing characters existing in the tile.

  C100 is a command indicating the start of a drawing command of the tile 2405 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 to C110 are commands for designating the surface of the figure, the color of the line, the position, etc. by the drawing command of the figure, as in the commands of C101 to C105.

  C111 to C114 are commands for drawing a part of the character string (A) described in the tile 2404 with the tile 2405. Here, in particular, from the coordinates of the start position for drawing a part of the character string (A) set by the command C113 and the tile area information set by C100 and C115, one character string (A) is obtained. Draw a part.

  C115 is a command indicating the end of the drawing command of the tile 2405. 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. 26 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the tile / page vector conversion unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

(Step S1101)
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. 23 or FIG. 25 are analyzed.

(Step S1102)
Since this corresponds to step S902 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1103)
Since this corresponds to step S903 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1104)
The command sequence read in step S1103 is analyzed, a rectangular area including the described object is calculated, and it is determined whether or not the calculated rectangular areas overlap among a plurality of objects. That is, it is determined whether to combine rectangular areas (tiles) that contain objects or to perform further division.

  If the ratio of overlapping rectangular areas is greater than the predetermined value (YES in step S1104), the process advances to step S1105 to execute tile combination processing. On the other hand, if the ratio of overlapping rectangular areas is less than the predetermined value (NO in step S1104), the process advances to step S1106 to execute tile division processing.

(Step S1105)
In this step, the tiles that contain the objects are combined.

  For example, in the character drawing command portion 2302 and the graphic drawing command portion 2303 in the page vector data of FIG. 23, the ratio of the overlapping portion 1901 of the areas 1701 and 1702 that respectively include the character and the graphic drawn by both are predetermined values. If it is larger (in the case of the state of FIG. 20), even if the region (tile) is subdivided and processed in parallel, the overlapping portion of the region including each character and graphic is difficult to perform distributed processing.

  That is, in such a case, since speeding up by distributed processing cannot be expected, in order to reduce the data amount of the entire vector data, as described with reference to FIG. Tiles), and an area including the combined area and including both characters and graphics is generated (set).

(Step S1106)
In this step, a tile division process including the object is performed.

  For example, in the character drawing command portion 2302 and the graphic drawing command portion 2303 in the page vector data of FIG. 23, the ratio of the overlapping portions 1703 of the areas 1701 and 1702 including the character and the graphic drawn by both of them is a predetermined value. If it is less (in the case of the state of FIG. 18), it is determined that the speed can be increased by dividing the area (tile) and processing the characters and graphics in parallel.

  In other words, in such a case, as shown in FIG. 24, areas 1701 and 1702 each including characters and graphics are divided into two tiles, a tile 2404 and a tile 2405, respectively. By this division, the tile 2405 includes all of one object (graphic object) and includes a part of the other object (character object). Further, when an object straddles a plurality of tiles as in the tile 2404, a part of the object is included in the tile.

(Step S1107)
Since this corresponds to step S907 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

  In addition, for a place where an object does not exist, for example, an area such as tiles 2401, 402, 2403, 2406, and 2407 in FIG. 24, commands C7 and C8 in FIG. After generating a command having information on the start position and end position of the tile shown, the process advances to step S1108.

(Step S1108)
Since this corresponds to step S908 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

  Next, a description of the object is added to the tile of the coordinate where the command processed in steps S1103 to S1107 exists. For example, the tile 2404 in FIG. 24 is described by a drawing command portion 2504 (FIG. 25) including commands C9 to C15.

(Step S1109)
Since this corresponds to step S909 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

  On the other hand, the case where the document data type is tile vector data in step S1102 will be described.

(Step S1110)
Since this corresponds to step S910 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1111)
The command sequence read in step S1110 is analyzed, and it is determined whether or not the described object has data duplicated with tiles read before that time. Then, it is determined whether or not the tile and the object can be combined according to the presence or absence of the duplicate data. If it cannot be combined (NO in step S1111), step S1112 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S1114. On the other hand, if they can be combined (YES in step S1111), the process advances to step S1112.

  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. For example, in the drawing command portion 2505 of FIG. 25, information on the commands C111 to C114 is already included in the tile information defined by the drawing command portion 2504. Therefore, in such a case, the operation is performed so as to eliminate the duplicated data.

(Step S1112)
Since this corresponds to step S912 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1114)
Since this corresponds to step S914 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1115)
When the description conversion of all commands is completed, writing to the system memory 5 is executed as a page vector. The page vector data is described in a format in which commands indicating the start and end of tiles are deleted from the commands described in steps S1105 and S1106.

  First, at the time of writing a command described in the first tile in the page, page vector data in which no object is present in the system memory 5 is generated. This is a page described only by commands C1 to C6 and C22, using the description of FIG. Next, a description of the object processed in steps S1110 to S1112 is added. If described with reference to the description of FIG. 23, commands C7 to C11 of the drawing command portion 2302 correspond to this.

(Step S1116)
Since this corresponds to step S916 in FIG. 13, the description thereof is omitted.

(Step S1117)
This corresponds to step S917 in FIG.

  The details of the image data development unit 18 in the controller 1 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, in addition to the effect described in the first embodiment, a rectangular area (tile) that has been set once is reproduced based on the ratio of overlapping portions of rectangular areas that contain objects. Set (combine / split).

  As a result, tile vector data composed of rectangular regions of a more appropriate size can be generated, and the efficiency of parallel processing of tile vector data can be improved.

[Embodiment 4]
The fourth embodiment is an application example of the third embodiment. The fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that when tile vector data is generated, if the overlapping portion of the rectangular area for each object is less than a predetermined value in the rectangular area containing the object, the tile is divided more. This is done in detail, making it easier to increase the speed by distributed processing.

  For example, when converting the raster data shown in FIG. 17 into tile vector data in the flowchart of FIG. 16, in the process of step S52c, as shown in FIG. 18, rectangular areas (tiles) 1701 and 1702 containing each object are shown. When the area ratio of the overlapping portion 1703 is less than a predetermined value, tile division processing for re-dividing the tiles 1701 and 1702 is executed. By this tile division processing, a page including rectangular areas (tiles) 1701 and 1702 is divided into areas (tiles) 1801 to 1808 in FIG. 27, for example.

  Here, a difference from the division method by the tile division processing of FIG. 19 is a tile 1805a, and an overlapping portion of rectangular areas including a plurality of objects is generated as an independent tile. The other tiles are divided into tiles such that the single object is included in the tile, such as the tile 1804 or the tile 1805b.

  As described above, when the ratio of the overlapping portion of the rectangular area including the object is less than the predetermined value, speeding up by parallel processing can be expected. Therefore, for example, when the ratio of overlapping rectangular areas (tiles) that contain two objects is small, a total of 3 tiles that contain two single objects and tiles that contain both partial objects. By dividing into tiles, the tiles are subdivided to facilitate parallel processing.

  As described above, data can be processed in the same processing flow as in the third embodiment except that the tiles are further subdivided.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, in addition to the effects described in the third embodiment, the efficiency of parallel processing of tile vector data can be further improved.

  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 figure) 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, 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 is also included in the present invention.

  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 the 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 realized by the processing.

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. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile size determination process of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile size determination process of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile size determination process of Embodiment 1 of this invention. 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 example of description of the tile vector data of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the raster / tile vector conversion part of Embodiment 3 of this invention performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile duplication part calculation process of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile duplication part calculation process of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile division | segmentation process of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile coupling | bonding process of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile coupling | bonding process of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It shows an example of document data transferred from the network according to the third embodiment of the present 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 the tile 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 flowchart which shows the process which the tile / page vector conversion part of Embodiment 3 of this invention performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the tile division | segmentation process of Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional image processing system.

Explanation of symbols

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 (8)

An image processing apparatus that executes processing on input image data,
Input means for inputting image data;
An output means for outputting image data;
A block size of a block including an object in raster image data is set, and a block size larger than a predetermined size among the set block sizes is divided and set to a block size equal to or smaller than the predetermined size, and the raster image data Is converted into blocks each having a block size equal to or less than the set predetermined size , and a vectorization process is performed on each block, thereby converting into block vector image data;
First storage means for storing block vector image data;
Expansion means for expanding block vector image data into raster image data;
Second storage means for storing data output from the expansion means;
The raster image data input from the input means is converted into block vector image data by the first conversion means, and the converted block vector image data is stored in the first storage means and stored in the first storage means. the block vector image data is stored in the second storage means to expand the raster image data in the expansion unit, the raster image data stored in said second storage means so as to output from said output means, An image data transfer apparatus comprising: image data transfer control means for controlling transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus. A block having a size including an object in page vector image data indicating the entire page is set, and a block having a size exceeding the upper limit size among the set blocks is divided into blocks equal to or smaller than the upper limit size. A second conversion means for setting and converting the page vector image data into block vector image data for each block equal to or smaller than the set upper limit size ,
When the image data input from the input means is page vector image data, the image data transfer control means causes the second conversion means to convert the input page vector image data into block vector image data , the image processing apparatus according to the transformed block vector image data to claim 1, characterized in that Ru is stored in the first storage means. A third converting means for converting the block vector image data for one page into page vector image data indicating the entire page;
The image data transfer control means includes:
The format of image data to be outputted from said output means when it is determined that the raster image data form, extract block vector image data stored in said first storage means into raster image data by the expansion means Storing in the second storage means, outputting the raster image data stored in the second storage means from the output means,
If the format of the image data to be outputted from the output means determines that the vector image data format, developed in the page vector image data block vector image data stored in said first memory means by said third converting means Controlling the transfer of image data to be processed in the apparatus so that the page vector image data stored in the first storage means is output from the output means. the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in. The image data transfer control means is connected to each means via a bus,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a bus arbitration unit that executes adjustment control of the bus used for transferring the processing target image data according to a format of the processing target image data. The first conversion unit or the second conversion unit prohibits generation of corresponding block vector image data when an object is not included in a block obtained by dividing image data to be processed. Item 3. The image processing apparatus according to Item 2 . The first conversion means sets the block size of the block containing the at least two objects when the ratio of the overlapping part of the block containing each of the at least two objects is a predetermined value or more. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the ratio is smaller than the predetermined value, a block size for dividing the at least two objects into a plurality of blocks is set. A control method of an image processing apparatus for executing processing on input image data,
The first conversion means of the image processing device sets a block size of a block containing an object in the input raster image data, and a block size larger than a predetermined size among the set block sizes is equal to or less than the predetermined size set by dividing the block size, the raster image data, by dividing each block of the set following block size the predetermined size, by executing the vectorized process to each block, the block vector image is converted into the data, a first conversion step of the transformed block vector image data Ru is stored in the first storage means of the image processing apparatus,
The expansion means of the image processing apparatus expands the block vector image data stored in the first storage means into raster image data, and stores the expanded raster image data in the second storage means of the image processing apparatus. Development process,
An output step in which the output means of the image processing apparatus outputs raster image data stored in the second storage means;
An image processing apparatus control method comprising: Computer
Set the block size of the block containing the object in the input raster image data, and set the block size larger than the predetermined size among the set block sizes by dividing the block size to the block size equal to or smaller than the predetermined size, the raster image data, by dividing each block of the set predetermined size following the block size, by executing the vectorized process in each block is converted into block vector image data, the transformed block vector First conversion means for storing image data in the first storage means ;
Expansion means for expanding the block vector image data stored in the first storage means into raster image data and storing the expanded raster image data in the second storage means;
Output means for outputting raster image data stored in the second storage means;
Program to function as.

Images