JP4852558B2 - Composite device and memory management method in composite device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a composite device that performs a plurality of functions while storing data in a built-in memory, and a memory management method in the composite device.

  In general, a multi-function device or multi-function device has a scanner function and a facsimile function in addition to an electrophotographic printing device, and is a device configured to function as, for example, an image reading device, a facsimile device, or a copying machine. Widely used in

  By the way, when performing image output processing with predetermined image data, there is a case where data development is necessary in the printer engine unit. For this reason, for example, when print data is sent from a plurality of host computers, the received print data Data is temporarily stored in a hard disk device functioning as a buffer, and the stored print data is sequentially developed on a frame memory.

  In an example of a conventional image processing apparatus (for example, see Patent Document 1), an image development memory called a frame memory is used to execute a printing function. However, when a print job is interrupted due to an error. In addition, the data on the frame memory used by this job is saved and the frame memory is released, so that another print job can perform the printing process using the frame memory.

JP 09-071012 A

  However, in the case of a composite device, it operates so that more various functions can be exhibited on the device, so that simply releasing the frame memory may still cause insufficient memory capacity in operation. That is, a large memory area is required to process image data. The capacity of this memory area varies depending on the number of pixels and the number of colors of the image data. The larger the number of pixels and the number of colors, the larger the memory used. The capacity of will also increase. In a composite apparatus having a plurality of functions such as printing, scanning, and facsimile communication, each function requires a large-capacity memory in order to process image data when executing each function of printing and scanning. If each function uses a common memory, if you try to execute another function later while one function is running, such as scanning during printing, the total amount of memory used by each function will be stored in the device. The amount of memory installed may be exceeded. In this case, there arises a problem that the function executed later cannot be executed until the execution of the previous function is finished.

  Therefore, in view of the above technical problems, the present invention is a function in which memories are shared between different functions even in a composite apparatus having many functions such as scanning and facsimile communication as well as a printing function. Provided are a composite device capable of exhibiting other functions even when the memory is occupied, and a memory management method in such a composite device.

To solve the technical problems described above, the composite device of the present invention includes a first functional unit for performing a first image processing, different types of second image processing to the first image processing And a second functional unit, wherein the second image processing is interrupted prior to the first image processing being processed, and the data used in the first image processing being processed is A first storage unit for storing; a second storage unit for saving data stored in the first storage unit; a calculation unit for calculating a free capacity of the first storage unit; and the calculation A comparison unit that compares the free space calculated by the unit and the amount of data required for the second image processing to be interrupted by the first storage unit, and the second image processing In the case where the priority of is higher than the priority of the first image processing, When the second image processing is interrupted prior to the first image processing, the comparison unit determines that the free space is less than the amount of data required for the second image processing. When the second image processing is performed, the data stored in the first storage unit is saved in the second storage unit and the interrupt processing of the second image processing is performed, and the free space is required for the second image processing. When it is determined that the amount of data is greater than or equal to the data amount, the first image processing and the second image processing are performed without saving the data stored in the first storage unit in the second storage unit. Are processed in parallel .

  According to a preferred embodiment of the composite apparatus of the present invention, the free space calculated by the calculation unit and data required for the functional unit that performs an interrupt operation to perform processing in the first storage unit A difference calculation unit that calculates a difference in amount may be provided, and control may be performed so that the amount of data to be saved is determined based on the difference from the difference calculation unit. The first storage unit may be a volatile memory, and the second storage unit may be a non-volatile memory. Further, in the composite device of the present invention, a memory block is set in the first storage unit for each functional unit to be operated, and information indicating whether or not the memory block is an empty area and the memory in each memory block It can also be configured to store the block size. Job information corresponding to processing performed by the functional unit may be stored in accordance with the set memory block.

  Further, in order to solve the above technical problem, the memory management method in the composite device of the present invention includes a step of storing data used by an operating function unit in the first storage unit, and the function unit operates. The step of calculating the free capacity of the first storage unit in the state of being compared with the step of comparing the amount of data used in the function unit that performs the interrupt operation and the free capacity of the first storage unit When the amount of data used in the function unit that performs an interrupt operation according to the result is larger than the free capacity of the first storage unit, the data stored in the first storage unit is stored in the second storage unit. And a step of evacuating.

  According to the composite apparatus of the present invention having such a configuration, even if one function is being performed, it is possible to interrupt another function having a large memory usage, which normally exceeds the memory capacity. Therefore, even an operation that cannot be executed at the same time can be interrupted. For example, another operation such as a document reading operation can be interrupted during printing. In other words, since a plurality of functions can be exhibited at the same time without enlarging the storage unit itself, the storage unit RAM, volatile memory, etc. can be made to have a relatively small capacity, and the cost of the entire product can be reduced. It can be easily realized.

  A preferred embodiment of a multifunction machine of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction peripheral that is a multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the MFP 100 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 101 that controls the operation of the entire MFP 100, a RAM 102 that is a volatile memory that functions as a first storage unit, and stores data. ROM 103 for storing a control program, an interface 104 for connection with a host computer, a printing unit 105 for outputting required image data by an electrophotographic method, a scanner 106 capable of reading a document, a user Comprises an operation panel 107 for controlling the operation and a hard disk 108 functioning as a mass storage means for data. Depending on the type of the multi-function peripheral, a facsimile communication function may be provided.

  The CPU 101 is an arithmetic processing unit that controls the operation of the entire multifunction peripheral 100, and operates based on a control program stored in the ROM 103. A RAM 102 is a memory that functions as a work memory of the CPU 101, and a memory that functions as a first storage unit. The RAM 102 has a free area of, for example, 200 MB (bytes) when not acquired by other functional units in the system, and is used to execute processing of other functional units if necessary. That is, the RAM 102 is used for storing bitmap data for input to the printing unit 105 during printing, and is used for storing image data read by scanning during scanning. The ROM 103 stores a control program for the multifunction peripheral 100. Here, the function unit refers to each signal processing unit for realizing various functions that can be performed by the multifunction device, such as a printing unit, a scanning unit, and a facsimile transmission / reception unit. Blocks may be used in common.

  The interface 104 is a LAN interface for connecting the multifunction device 100 and the host computers 201 to 203. The host computers 201 to 203 are computers such as personal computers connected via a LAN so as to form a network. The interface 104 receives print data in a page description language (PDL) sent from any of the host computers 201 to 203. To do. The scanned image data read from the scanner can be transmitted to any one of the host computers 201 to 203. The interface 104 has a plurality of channels and can perform transmission and reception in parallel.

  The printing unit 105 functions as an electrophotographic print engine, and transfers bitmap data transferred from the RAM 102 via the bus onto a sheet on a photosensitive drum on which a latent image is formed by the electrophotographic method, and outputs it. . The scanner 106 reads a document in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 101 and transfers the scanned image data to the RAM 102 via a bus. The scanner 106 can read a plurality of document sizes and the number of colors (gray scale: one color or color: three colors). The size of the scanned image data read is proportional to the product of the document size and the number of colors.

  The operation panel 107 includes a liquid crystal display for display and buttons for input. The operation panel 107 receives an input of a document size read by the scanner 106 and a scan start request. Although not shown, facsimile transmission / reception is also possible. The hard disk 108 has an area for saving data on the RAM 102. The area for saving data is sufficiently larger than the data capacity of the RAM 102. The host computers 201 to 203 can transmit print data during printing, and can receive scan image data during scanning.

  FIG. 2 shows a memory map in the RAM 102 and an example of the area division. The RAM 102 is managed by being divided into three areas: a system area 301, a shared area 302, and a fixed size area 303. The system area 301 is used for acquiring all memories except those acquired from the following two areas.

  The shared area 302 is used to secure a large-sized memory block used for image processing. Specifically, the shared area 302 is used to secure a memory block for storing bitmap data to be input to the printing unit 105 and a memory block for storing scanned image data. The fixed size area 303 is used to allocate a fixed size memory block to a resource whose number does not change for the system. Specifically, the fixed size area 303 is used as a transmission / reception buffer of the interface 104.

  In the multifunction peripheral of this embodiment, a series of processing units is referred to as a job. In particular, a series of processes from receiving print data from the interface 104 to outputting printed paper from the printing unit 105 until receiving a scan start instruction from the print job and the operation panel 107 until transmission of image data to the host computer is completed. A series of operations is referred to as a scan job. In addition, priority is set for each job, and in this embodiment, a higher priority is set for a scan job than for a print job.

  FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram in the present embodiment. A job management unit 401 assigns an identification number to a job being processed by the multifunction peripheral 100 and manages the job. Since the identification numbers are given in the registered order, the identification numbers increase as the registered order is later. The job management unit 401 holds job information from the start to the end of the job. Here, the job information includes an identification number consisting of a number such as a serial number, a job type including the function to be executed (for example, a print job or a scan job), and a state indicating the current status (standby or operation) Middle).

  The shared memory management unit 402 acquires and releases a memory block from the shared memory 403. The following memory block information is stored for each memory block. In the initial state, the shared memory 403 can be all allocated as a free area. Here, the memory block information includes the head address including the head address of the area corresponding to the block of the shared area 302 in the previous memory map, the occupied size, and the identification number of the job that acquired the memory block (if it is an empty area) "None") and flag information indicating whether or not the area is a free area, and is referred to when a memory block is acquired or released as described later. Details of obtaining a memory block from the shared memory 403 and releasing the memory block of the shared memory 403 will be described later.

  The shared memory 403 stores bitmap data based on a print job and scanned image data based on a scan job as necessary while being controlled by the shared memory management unit 402. The shared memory 403 uses a RAM 102 that is a volatile memory that has a high access speed but is relatively expensive. The save memory 404 is a memory for temporarily saving data in the shared memory 403. As the save memory 404, a non-volatile memory having a low access speed but relatively inexpensive is used. In this embodiment, the large-capacity hard disk 108 functions as the save memory. As the hard disk 108, an internal hard disk is typically used, but an external hard disk, a USB memory, a memory card, or other storage means may be used instead. May be.

  In accordance with a command from the shared memory management unit 402, the data saving control unit 405 saves and restores the memory block on the shared memory 403 to the saving memory 404. Save block information is stored for each block saved. The save block information includes the start address on the save memory 404, the size, the start address of the memory block on the save source shared memory 403, and the identification number of the job that has acquired the save source memory block.

  When the data saving control unit 405 receives a data saving instruction from the shared memory management unit 402, the data saving control unit 405 reads the data from the shared memory 403, writes the data in the saving memory 404, and records the information on the moved block. The data saving control unit 405 reads the data from the saving memory 404 by using the recorded information at the time of restoration, and writes the data to the shared memory 403. The print data input unit 406 receives predetermined print data from the interface 104. When the print data input unit 406 starts receiving print data, it notifies the print job control unit 407 and transfers the print data to the print data development unit 408. While the print data expansion unit 408 is interrupted, the print data input unit 406 stops receiving print data from the interface 104.

  A print job control unit 407 controls the operation of the print job according to the control of the job management unit 401. The print job control unit 407 acquires the shared memory from the shared memory management unit 402 in order to execute the print job. The operation of this print job will be described later. The print data expansion unit 408 expands the print data input from the print data input unit 406, and creates bitmap data in the memory block acquired from the shared memory. The print control unit 409 controls printing of the bitmap image on the paper by reading the bitmap data from the shared memory 403 and inputting it to the printing unit 105.

  When the user inputs a scan start instruction together with the paper size and the number of colors, which are scan parameters, via the operation panel 107, the setting input unit 410 notifies the scan job control unit 411 of the input parameters and start instruction, and scans. Start the job. The scan job control unit 411 is a control unit that controls the operation of a scan job, and receives a scan job start instruction. Similar to the print job, the operation of the scan job will be described later.

  The scan unit 412 reads image data with the document size and the number of colors designated from the scanner 106, and writes the scan image data to the shared memory 403. When outputting the scan data, the scan data output unit 413 reads the scan image data from the shared memory 403 and outputs it from the interface 104 to the host computers 201 to 203 via the bus.

  The data amount calculation unit 414 calculates the data size of the scanned image data read from the scan job from the parameters of the scan job. Specifically, for example, it is obtained by the following equation (Equation 1). The unit in the parenthesis in the formula is a unit.

(Equation 1)
Data size of image data (bytes) =
Document length (inch) x Scanner horizontal resolution (dots / inch) x
Document length (inch) x Scanner vertical resolution (dots / inch) x
Quantization bit number of 1 dot (bit) / 8 x number of colors

  Next, the scan setting operation in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4, and the operation of the shared memory management unit 402 when acquiring memory from the shared memory 403 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. explain.

  FIG. 4 shows a scan setting screen in the MFP according to the present embodiment. The scan setting screen 600 includes size / color selection buttons 601 to 604, a transmission destination designation frame 605, and a scan start instruction button 606. The size / color selection buttons 601 to 604 display a combination of the paper size and the number of colors (color or monochrome) for scanning, and when selected, the paper size and the number of colors are set to a scan process to be activated. In addition, what is shown by the size and the number of colors of the size / color selection buttons 601 to 604 is an example, and other combinations may be used.

  In the transmission destination designation frame 605, the IP address of the transmission destination of the scan data is input. The address is input directly from the operation button, or the preset address is called. A scan start instruction button 606 is used for an instruction to start a scan process according to the set content. The scan setting screen 600 may be a display screen of the operation panel 107. When the scanning process is started by a command from the host computers 201 to 203, the scan setting screen 600 is displayed on the host computers 201 to 203. It can also be displayed on a monitor.

  Next, an operation for acquiring a memory block of the shared memory 403 will be described. The operation of acquiring the memory block of the shared memory 403 is an operation performed when acquiring the memory when the multi-function peripheral according to the present embodiment acquires the memory so that each functional unit performs its function. It is also a flow for processing the operation. FIG. 5 is a flow when acquiring a memory block of the shared memory 403 in this embodiment.

  First, in step S101, when the shared memory management unit 402 receives a memory block acquisition request from the job management unit 401 according to a job, the shared memory 403 determines whether there is a free area for acquiring the requested size. . If there is no previously executed function or if the memory block size acquired by the function unit that is already operating is small, the memory area is empty (Yes). Acquire and end (S106).

  If there is no space in the memory area in step S101 (No), the process proceeds to step S102, and the shared memory management unit 402 determines that a memory block already acquired by a job other than the job that requested the memory acquisition is an empty area. It is determined whether a memory block of the requested size can be acquired. If acquisition is not possible (No), the result is “acquisition failure” and the process is terminated (S108). For example, if the priority of a job that is already operating is sufficiently higher than the others, the operation cannot be performed so as to give up the memory block, and therefore the “acquisition failure” operation is performed. In this procedure Sl08, the shared memory management unit 402 notifies the requesting job that it has failed.

  If acquisition is possible in step S102 (Yes), the process proceeds to step S103, and the shared memory management unit 402 assumes that a memory block acquired by a job having a lower priority than the job that requested the memory acquisition is a free area Then, it is determined whether a memory block of the requested size can be acquired. The job priority is determined by obtaining it from the job management unit 401 using the job identification number. In this embodiment, the priority is set according to the type of job, and the priority of the scan job is set higher than that of the print job. Therefore, scan jobs can be interrupted when a print job is executed when there is no space in the memory block, but the print job interrupt is allowed when the opposite scan job is executed. It is controlled not to be done. If it cannot be acquired from the relationship of priorities, the result is determined as “currently not acquired” and the process ends (S107). In step S107, the shared memory management unit 402 notifies the requesting job that “currently unavailable”.

  If it is determined in step S103 that a memory block of the requested size can be acquired (Yes), then in step S104, the shared memory management unit 402 performs an interrupt start operation from the job that requested memory acquisition. An interruption is instructed to all jobs having a low priority and acquiring a memory block from the shared memory 403. Further, in step S105, when the interruption is completed, the shared memory management unit 402 instructs the data saving control unit 405 to save the data of the memory block that can be saved, and causes the hard disk 108 to save the data. The block that saved the data is regarded as an empty block, and the saving of the data to the hard disk 108 is executed for all the sizes while referring to the head address and the size of the memory block information.

  After this save operation, in step S106, the shared memory management unit 402 secures the requested memory block. Such acquisition of memory blocks is performed by concatenating consecutive empty blocks and then allocating a memory block of the requested size from the empty blocks. The function that started the interrupt becomes operable by acquiring the memory block, and is executed by interrupting the work interrupted by the saving.

  Next, the operation of releasing the memory block of the shared memory 403 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When there is an interrupted function, it is necessary to restore the interrupted function when the execution of the interrupted function is completed, and the shared memory management unit 402 performs control for the restoration. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for releasing a memory block of the shared memory 403 in this embodiment.

  First, at the end of the operation of the functional unit currently operating in step S201, the shared memory management unit 402 sets the memory block released from the functional unit as a free area. Subsequently, in step S202, the shared memory management unit 402 determines whether there is a standby job. If there is no waiting job (No), it means that there is no job that is interrupted and waiting for resumption, and the processing is immediately terminated.

  If there is a waiting job (Yes), the process proceeds to step S203, and the shared memory management unit 402 determines whether all the memory blocks of the common memory 403 reserved by the waiting job can be restored. Whether or not the memory block can be restored is determined based on whether or not the memory block is in use by a job having a higher priority. If the memory block is brought into use by a job with a higher priority, the memory block cannot be fully restored, and the restoration process is terminated.

  In step S204, the shared memory management unit 402 instructs the data saving control unit 405 to restore the data to the memory if it can be restored in the determination of S203. At this time, if the area on the restoration destination shared memory 403 is acquired by a job having a lower priority than the job to be restored, the job having the lower priority is interrupted after the job having the lower priority is interrupted. Is restored by restoring the saved data. The shared memory management unit 402 gives permission to resume the job whose memory block has been restored via the job management unit 401 (S205). In response to this, the execution of the job whose data is restored in the memory block is resumed. Note that the processing in steps S203 to S205 is performed in the order of high priority for all waiting jobs, and in step S204, a job having a high priority is always operated to secure a memory area first.

  Next, the operation of the print job and the operation of the scan job will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of a print job in this embodiment. When the print job starts, first, the interface 104 receives print data from the host computers 201 to 203 in step S301. Upon reception of this, the job management unit 401 starts an operation to start a print job. In step S302, the job management unit 401 sends a signal to the shared memory management unit 402, and a memory for developing bitmap data from the shared memory 403. Works to get a block.

  In this step S302, control is performed so as to acquire a memory block for developing bitmap data, but processing is performed to branch into three when successful, when unsuccessful, and when currently unavailable. The The procedure S302 is a process corresponding to S101 to S103 in the memory acquisition flow shown in FIG. If acquisition of the memory block for developing bitmap data fails, the job is canceled (S306), and the process ends. If the acquisition result of the memory block cannot be acquired at present, the job is shifted to the standby state (S303), and the acquisition of the memory block is attempted again after the restart. If it is determined that the memory block acquisition result is "currently impossible to acquire", it is possible to bring it into the memory acquisition state if the memory block used by another job is free. For example, when the shared memory 403 is largely occupied by, for example, a scan job that has priority over a print job, it means that it is currently impossible to wait for a memory block to become free. .

  If acquisition of a memory block for bitmap data development is successful, that is, if there is no memory block occupied by another job, or if there is a memory block occupied by another job If the priority is low or if there is sufficient free space even if it is occupied, a memory block for bitmap data expansion is acquired, and when the acquisition is completed, the process proceeds to step S304. In step S304, image processing for expanding the bitmap from the print data is performed, and then the expanded bitmap data is transmitted to the printing unit to print the corresponding image on the sheet (S305). When the printing of this image is completed, the memory block acquired from the shared memory 403 provided for development is released from the state reserved for the print job (S307).

  As shown in the above procedure, when starting a print job, the process of acquiring a memory block for developing bitmap data is advanced. In this case, priority is given to the job being executed or waiting. Judgment is also made on the print job, especially in the case of print jobs, when there is a large amount of free memory or when there is no other job waiting status because the priority is lower than other jobs. The block can be acquired.

  Next, the operation of the scan job in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, the user operates the operation panel 107 to give a predetermined scan instruction, and the CPU 101 or the shared memory management unit 402 receives the instruction (S401). At this time, designation of the size and the number of colors of the image to be scanned is also accepted from the operation panel 107.

  Subsequently, the job management unit 401 operates to send a signal to the shared memory management unit 402 to acquire a memory block for storing a scanned image from the shared memory 403 (S402). In this step S402, control is performed so as to acquire a memory block for storing a scanned image, but processing is performed so as to branch into three when succeeding, when failing, and when acquisition is currently impossible. . Step S402 is processing corresponding to S101 to S103 in the memory acquisition flow shown in FIG. If acquisition of the memory block for storing the scanned image fails, the job is canceled (S406), and the process ends. If the acquisition result of the memory block cannot be acquired at present, the job is shifted to a standby state (S403), and an attempt is made to acquire the memory block again after restarting.

  If it is determined in step S402 that the memory block acquisition result is “currently impossible to acquire”, the memory block used by another job can be brought into the memory acquisition state if it is free. For example, when the shared memory 403 is largely occupied by, for example, a job that has a higher priority than the scan job, it means that the memory block cannot be acquired and waits for a free memory block. To do.

  If acquisition of a memory block for storing scanned images is successful, that is, if there is no memory block occupied by another job, or if there is a memory block occupied by another job, If the priority is low or if there is sufficient free space even if the priority is occupied, a memory block for storing a scanned image is acquired, and when the acquisition is completed, the process proceeds to step S404. In step S404, the scanner reads the document, and the scan image data is stored on the acquired memory block. Subsequently, the stored scanned image data is transmitted from the interface 104 to any of the host computers 201 to 203 (S405). When the scan image data is transmitted, the memory block temporarily storing the scan image data is released from the state reserved for the scan job (S407).

  According to the flow of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 described above, for example, when the document size of the scan job is small and the total memory size on the shared memory 403 necessary for executing the scan job and the print job is smaller than the size of the shared memory 403 The print job and the scan job can be operated in parallel. However, because of the memory capacity, the print job and scan job may not operate in parallel. In this case, the scan job has a higher priority than the print job. Interrupts can be executed.

  Here, the specification regarding the memory capacity of the multifunction peripheral 100 of the present embodiment can be expressed as shown in Table 1 below.

Applying each number in the above specification, the previous number 1, the capacity of the image memory used by each job is calculated as follows. Specifically, print job (A4 color): 66 MB (= (210 × 39.37 × 10 ⁻³ ) × 600 × (297 × 39.37 × 10 ⁻³ ) × 600 × 4/8 × 4), Scan job (A4 color): 100 MB, scan job (A3 color): 199 MB. However, it is calculated with 1 KB = 1024 bytes. Therefore, when the RAM itself is 256 MB, the acquired memory block is only 66 MB even if the print job is executed. Therefore, the A4 color scan job can proceed without any problem. This is the amount of memory that cannot be processed because the memory cannot be obtained with this technology. According to the present embodiment, when a scan job and a print job conflict, priority is given to the scan job, and data in the memory block of the print job is saved even during execution of the print job, and A3 color scanning is performed. It is possible to interrupt a job.

  9 to 12 are diagrams showing management information corresponding to the memory map of each shared memory 403 of the multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is an initial stage, FIG. 10 is a stage in which a print job is operating, and FIG. 11 shows a stage where an interrupt operation is performed, and FIG. 12 shows an interrupt operation stage where the memory size is small. Reference numerals 501 to 507 are memory blocks on the shared memory 403, and reference numerals 511 to 517 are memory block information corresponding to the memory blocks 501 to 507. The save block information 522 is save block information when the memory block 502 is saved. Job information 552, 554, and 556 are job information managed by the job management unit 401.

  The following are examples of operations when a scan job using a large memory is interrupted during execution of a print job and when a scan job using a small memory is interrupted. First, in the initial state, as shown in FIG. 9, the shared memory 403 is all 200 MB of free space 501 from address 0x00000000 to address 0x0C800000. The memory block information 511 stores “0x00000000” as the head address, 200 MB as the size, “None” for the acquired job identification number, and “TRUE” as to whether it is a free area. Yes. Since it does not correspond to a job in the initial stage, the acquired job itself does not exist and “TRUE” indicates whether it is a free area or not. In this initial stage, job information and save block information are not registered.

  Next, when a print job execution command is obtained, first, the print job control unit 407 starts print job # 1 when receiving A4 color print data from the host computer 201. This operation corresponds to step S301 in FIG. 7, and for each procedure of the following print job operation, also refer to each procedure in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 10, the job management unit 401 assigns an identification number “1” to this print job, and registers “print job” as the job type and “active” as the status as job information 552.

  The print job control unit 407 requests the shared memory management unit 402 to acquire 66 MB of bitmap development memory used by the print job # 1 from the shared memory 403 (S302). The shared memory management unit 402 compares the capacity of 200 MB of the free memory block 501 with the requested 66 MB (S101), and since the comparison result has a sufficient free capacity, the memory block 502 is acquired from the comparison result (S106). It returns to the job control unit 407. The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is as shown in FIG. 10, and 66 MB is allocated to the memory block 502 of the print job # 1 from addresses 0x00000000 to 0x041FFFFF, and 134 MB is allocated to the free area 503 from addresses 0x04200000 to 0x0C800000. .

  With respect to the memory block information in the state of FIG. 10, memory block information 512 is stored as corresponding to the print job, and the content is set to “0x00000000” at the top address, 66 MB, and the acquired job The identification number is set to “1”, and the flag for the free area is set to “FALSE” which means that it is not free. At the same time, the memory block information 513 for the free area also includes predetermined data, “0x04200000” is stored as the head address, 134 MB is stored as the size, the acquired job identification number is “None”, and whether or not it is a free area Is stored as "TRUE". There is no job information corresponding to the memory block information 513.

  Next, the print job control unit 407 develops a bitmap in the acquired memory block 502 (S304). Here, a case where a scan job interrupt is required during execution of a print job will be described. When the scan job control unit 411 receives an instruction from the operation panel 107 to send, for example, A3 color scan data to the host computer 202. Scan job # 2 is activated (S401). The job management unit 401 assigns an identification number “2” to this scan job # 2, and registers job information 554.

  The scan job control unit 411 requests the shared memory management unit 402 to acquire 199 MB of bitmap development memory used for the A3 color scan from the shared memory 403 (S402). At this time, the memory capacity is calculated by the data amount calculation unit 414. Since the free memory block 503 of the shared memory 403 is 134 MB, 199 MB is insufficient (S101). However, if the memory block 502 used by the print job # 1 having a lower priority than the scan job # 2 is available, 199 MB can be acquired (S102, S103), so the shared memory management unit 402 sends the print job # to the job management unit 401. 1 is instructed to be interrupted (S104). The print job control unit 407 notifies the shared memory management unit 402 when print job # 1 stops processing and stops accessing the memory. Upon receiving the notification, the shared memory management unit 402 instructs the data saving control unit 405 to save the memory block 502 together with the data. The data saving control unit 405 stores all the contents of the memory block 502 used by the print job # 1 in the saving memory 404 so that the memory block can be handled as an empty memory (S105).

  The shared memory management unit 402 acquires 199 MB of memory from the 200 MB memory block including the memory blocks 502 and 503 (S106). The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is as shown in FIG. That is, the shared memory 403 includes a memory block 504 assigned to the A3 scan job # 2 and a free memory block 505. The memory block 504 assigned to the scan job # 2 is a block from addresses 0x00000000 to 0x0C6FFFFF, The memory block 505 thus obtained is a block from the address 0x0C70000000 to the address 0x0C800000. The job information 552 for the print job # 1 changes from “active” to “standby”. Job information 554 for scan job # 2 is added, and its state is set to “in operation”. Further, as the information for saving the memory block 502, the save block information 522 is newly registered. The contents of the save block information 522 include a head address (eg, 0x0000000) on the save memory 404, which is an address on the hard disk 108, a size, an address of the save source, and an identification number of the acquired job. In FIG. 10, since print job # 1 is saved, the size is 66 MB, the job identification number is “1”, and the save source address “0x0000000” is stored. Since the job identification number is stored, re-migration from standby to operation can be easily performed using the identification number as a key.

  The scanner 106 reads an image, and the scan job control unit 411 controls to store data corresponding to the read data in the acquired memory block 504 (S404). next. The image data on the memory block 504 is transmitted to, for example, the host computer 202 (S405), and the memory block 504 provided for the scan job # 2 is released (S407, S201). At this time, there is a print job # 1 in a standby state (S202), and when the restoration shared area 302 is checked from the save block information 522, the memory area 502 used by the print job # 1 is all free. (S203), the shared memory management unit 402 instructs the data saving control unit 405 to restore the saved data from the saving memory 404 (S204). After the restoration is completed, the shared memory management unit 402 gives permission to resume the print job # 1 to the print job management unit 407 through the job management unit 401 (S205). The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is restored as shown in FIG. 10 again, and the interrupt operation for the print job # 1 by the scanner job # 2 is completed, and the state returns to the state in which the print job # 1 is executed again. become.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 12, a description will be given of a case where an interrupt of an A4 color scan job # 3 in which the memory block occupied by the print job # 1 requires a small capacity is performed. When the scan job control unit 411 receives an instruction from the operation panel 107 to send A4 color scan data to, for example, the host computer 202, the scan job control unit 411 starts scan job # 3 (S401). The scan job control unit 411 attempts to acquire 100 MB of bitmap development memory used for A4 color scan from the shared memory 403 (S402). Since the free memory block 503 of the shared memory 403 is 134 MB and is 100 MB or more, the memory can be acquired (S101). Accordingly, the 100 MB memory block 506 is acquired and returned for the A4 color scan job # 3 (S1006). The memory block information 517 is data about a free area, and indicates that there is a free area size of 34 MB by subtracting 100 MB from 134 MB.

  The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is shown in FIG. The job information 552 for the print job # 1 is “in operation”, and job information 556 for the scan job # 3 is added thereto. Since scan job # 3 itself only occupies a 100 MB memory block, if there is a maximum free space of 200 MB of RAM, the process can proceed in a form that proceeds simultaneously with the print job. Therefore, the job information 552 and 556 are both “in operation”. The scan job control unit 411 reads an image from the scanner 106, stores it in the acquired memory block 506 (S404), transmits the image data on the memory block 506 to the host computer 202 (S405), and after the transmission is completed, the memory block 506. Is released (S407, S201). In parallel with the A4 scan job, the print job control unit 407 expands the print data to the memory block 502 as a bitmap (S304), inputs the bitmap expanded to the memory block 502 to the printing unit 105, and prints it. Later, the memory block 502 is released.

  When the memory of the print job # 1 and the scan job # 3 is released, the state of the shared memory 403 is as shown in FIG. 9, and all the 200 MB free areas are returned to the free state. At this time, the job information and the save block information are returned to the unregistered state.

  As described above, according to the MFP of the first embodiment, even when the memory is shared by different functions such as the print function and the scan function, the scan function that is another function operates while the print function is used. it can. In addition, when the required amount of memory is small, multiple functions are executed simultaneously, so high usage efficiency is obtained. When the required amount of memory is large, memory is handed over to jobs with high priority, so many jobs that have interrupted Memory can be used and high functionality is obtained.

[Second Embodiment]
The multifunction device of this embodiment is an example of a multifunction device having the same configuration as that of the multifunction device of the first embodiment, and the block configuration thereof is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 13 shows a functional block diagram of the multifunction machine of this embodiment. The same block members as those described in the multifunction machine of the first embodiment are indicated in the drawings using the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted here for simplicity.

  Here, the difference from the MFP of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 13, the shared memory management unit 701 for acquiring and releasing a memory block from the shared memory 403 includes: The system is configured to operate based on the calculation result of the insufficient capacity from the acquisition area determination unit 702. As described later, when the memory is insufficient, only the area necessary for acquisition of the memory block is saved. It is characterized by that. The shared memory management unit 701 stores memory block information for each memory block. The memory block information includes the start address consisting of the start address of the area corresponding to the block in the shared area in the previous memory map, the occupied size, and the identification number of the job that acquired the memory block ("None if free area" ") And flag information indicating whether or not the area is a free area, and is referred to when a memory block is acquired or released as described later. In the initial state, the shared memory is all allocated as a free area.

  The shared memory management unit 701 is different from the shared memory management unit 402 in the first embodiment in the operation at the time of acquiring a memory block, and saves data only in an area necessary for acquiring the memory block, particularly when the memory is insufficient. The acquisition area determination unit 702 calculates an insufficient capacity when acquiring a memory block, and determines which area on the shared memory 403 is to be allocated. The acquisition area determination unit 702 determines an area to be acquired so that an area requiring data saving becomes as small as possible. The acquisition of the memory block from the shared memory 403 will be described later in detail.

  FIG. 14 is a flow when acquiring a memory block of the shared memory 403 in the present embodiment. Compared to the flow for acquiring the memory block of the shared memory 403 of the first embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 5, new procedures S501, S502, and S102, instead of the procedures S104 and S105 in FIG. S503 is executed, and by these steps S501 to S503, control is performed so that the area requiring data saving becomes as small as possible. Note that S101 to S103 and S106 to S108 are the same as those in FIG. 5, and a duplicate description is omitted for simplicity.

  As a step before steps S501 to S503, in step S103, the shared memory management unit 402 is requested when a memory block acquired by a job having a lower priority than a job requesting memory acquisition is regarded as a free area. However, if it is determined that the memory block having the size requested in step S103 can be acquired (Yes), the process proceeds to step S501.

  In step S501, the shared memory management unit 701 inquires the acquisition area determination unit 702 about an area to be allocated as a memory block. The acquisition area determination unit 702 assumes a memory block whose boundary is the upper or lower end of each memory block of the shared memory 403, and returns a block that can be allocated and has the largest free area capacity among the assumed memory blocks. In some cases, the memory capacity may be insufficient if only the single block with the largest free space is returned. In such a case, it is possible to control multiple minimum memory blocks that satisfy the conditions. It is. If there are multiple areas with the same condition, the area with the smaller start address is returned.

  In step S502, the shared memory management unit 701 issues an interruption instruction to a job that uses the area to be allocated determined in step S501. After the suspension instruction, in step S503, when the shared memory management unit 702 completes the suspension of the job, the shared memory management unit 702 saves data so as to save the portion of the memory block used by the job that overlaps the area to be allocated. The control unit 405 is instructed, and data is saved from the shared memory 403 to the save memory 404 in accordance with an instruction from the data saving control unit 405. Note that the release of the memory block (FIG. 6) and the job flow (FIGS. 7 and 8) are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore redundant description is omitted.

  Next, the operation of the multifunction peripheral of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 to 18. 15 to 18 are diagrams showing management information corresponding to the memory map of each shared memory 403 of the multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment. FIG. 15 is an initial stage, FIG. 16 is a stage in which a print job is operating, and FIG. Reference numeral 17 denotes a stage where a print job addition operation is performed, and FIG. 18 shows a stage where one of the print jobs is stopped and the scan job is interrupted. Reference numerals 801 to 806 are memory blocks on the shared memory 403, and reference numerals 811 to 816 are memory block information corresponding to the memory blocks 801 to 806. The save block information 824 is save block information when a part of the memory block 804 is saved. Job information 852, 854, and 856 are job information managed by the job management unit 401.

  Hereinafter, an example of operation when a scan job is interrupted during execution of a print job will be described. As shown in FIG. 15, in the initial state, the shared memory 403 is an empty area 801 in which all 200 MB from address 0x00000000 to address 0x0C800000 is stored. The memory block information 811 stores “0x00000000” as the head address, 200 MB as the size, “None” for the acquired job identification number, and “TRUE” as to whether it is a free area. Yes. Since it does not correspond to a job in the initial stage, the acquired job itself does not exist and “TRUE” indicates whether it is a free area or not. In this initial state, job information and save block information are not registered.

  Next, the print job control unit 407 receives A4 color print data from the host computer 201 and starts the print job # 1 (S301). The job management unit 401 assigns an identification number “1” to the print job and registers job information 852. The print job control unit 407 requests the shared memory management unit 701 to obtain 66 MB of bitmap development memory used by the print job # 1 from the shared memory 403 (S302). In response to this request, the shared memory management unit 701 compares the capacity of 200 MB of the free memory block 801 with the requested 66 MB (S101), and obtains the memory block 802 from the comparison result because there is sufficient free capacity. (Sl06), a message to that effect is returned to the print job control unit 407. The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is shown in FIG. 16, and 66 MB is allocated to the memory block 802 of the print job # 1 and 134 MB is allocated to the free area 803. Subsequently, the print job control unit 407 develops a bitmap in the acquired memory block 802 (S304). The print job control unit 407 inputs the bitmap developed in the memory block 802 to the printing unit 105 and starts printing (S305).

  With respect to the memory block information in the state of FIG. 16, memory block information 812 is stored as corresponding to the print job, the content is set to “0x00000000” at the top address, 66 MB, and identification of the acquired job The number is set to “1”, and the flag for the empty area is set to “FALSE” which means that the number is not empty. At the same time, the memory block information 813 for the free area also includes predetermined data, “0x04200000” is stored as the head address, 134 MB is stored as the size, the acquired job identification number is “None”, and whether or not the free area is empty. Is stored as "TRUE". There is no job information corresponding to the memory block information 813.

  Next, it is assumed that another print job interrupts during execution of one print job. Specifically, when receiving the A4 color print data from the host computer 201, the print job control unit 407 starts the print job # 2 (S301). The job management unit 401 assigns an identification number “2” to this print job and registers job information 854 containing the print job.

  The print job control unit 407 requests the shared memory management unit 701 to obtain 66 MB of bitmap development memory used by the print job # 1 from the shared memory 403 (S302). The shared memory management unit 701 compares the capacity of 134 MB of the free memory block 803 with the requested 66 MB (S101), and as a result of the comparison, there is sufficient free capacity, so the memory block 804 is acquired from here (S106), It returns to the print job control unit 407. The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is as shown in FIG. 66 MB is allocated to the memory block 802 of the print job # 1, 66 MB is allocated to the memory block 804 of the print job # 2, and 68 MB is allocated to the free area 805.

  The print job control unit 407 expands the bitmap in the memory block 804 newly acquired for the print job # 2 (S304). The print job control unit 407 inputs the bitmap developed in the memory block 802 to the printing unit 105 and starts printing (S305). Further, the print job control unit 407 inputs the bitmap developed in the memory block 804 to the printing unit 105 and starts printing (S305).

  Subsequently, it is assumed that the scan job is further interrupted in a state where the print jobs # 1 and # 2 are executed in parallel as described above. When the scan job is interrupted, the scan job control unit 411 starts scan job # 3 upon receiving an instruction from the operation panel 107 to send A4 color scan data to the host computer 202 (S401). The job management unit 401 assigns an identification number “3” to this print job and registers job information 856.

  The scan job control unit 411 requests the shared memory management unit 701 to acquire 100 MB of the bitmap development memory used for the A4 color scan from the shared memory 403 (S402). At this time, the memory capacity is calculated by the acquisition area determination unit 702. Since the free memory block 805 of the shared memory 403 is 68 MB, it is insufficient for 100 MB (S101). However, if the memory block 802 used by the print job # 1 having a lower priority than the scan job # 3 and the memory block 804 used by the print job # 2 are empty, 100 MB can be acquired (S102, S103). Therefore, the shared memory management unit 701 requests the acquisition area determination unit 702 to determine the area to be acquired. The acquisition area determination unit 702 assumes a memory block having the boundary between the memory blocks 802, 804, and 805 of the shared memory 403 in the state of FIG. The assumed areas are areas 901 to 908 shown in FIG. 19, and the blocks that can be acquired are areas 901, 902, 907, and 908. Of the areas that the acquisition area determination unit 702 determines to be able to acquire, the area with the largest percentage of the free area is the area 908, so the area 908 is returned here as the area to be acquired (S501). That is, the area 908 is an area that accommodates the entire empty memory block 805, and has the largest percentage of the empty area.

  The shared memory management unit 701 instructs the job management unit 401 to interrupt the processing of the print job # 2 that uses a part of the area 908 to be acquired (S502). After the processing of the print job 102 is interrupted, the data save control unit 405 is instructed to save the second half 32 MB of the memory block 804 overlapping the acquisition scheduled area 908 in the save memory 404, and the data is saved in the save memory 404 ( S503). The shared memory management unit 701 acquires the memory block 806 by combining the area (32 MB) removed from the memory block 804 due to data saving and the free area 805, and returns it to the scan job control unit 411 (S106).

  The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is as shown in FIG. 66 MB in the memory block 802 of the print job # 1, 34 MB in the memory block 804 of the print job # 2, 32 MB that is the memory block 804 of the print job # 2, and 68 MB that is the free area 805 are newly added to the scan job. 68 MB is allocated to the memory block 806 of # 3. The job information 854 for the print job # 2 changes while the “status” is stopped. Job information 856 for scan job # 3 is added. Further, as the information for saving a part of the memory block 804, the saved block information 824 for 32 MB is registered. The address of the saving source is address 0x06400000, which is an address in the middle of the memory block 804 of the original print job # 2. The scan job control unit 411 reads an image from the scanner 106, stores it in the acquired memory block 806 (S404), and transmits the image data on the memory block 806 to the host computer 202 (S405).

  After the image data on the memory block 806 is transmitted to the host computer 202, the memory block 806 is released (S407, S201). At this time, there is a print job # 2 in a standby state (S202), and when the restore destination shared memory 403 is checked from the save block information 824, all the memory area 504 used by this print job can be restored (S203). ), The shared memory management unit 701 instructs the data save control unit 405 to restore the saved data from the save memory 404 (S204). After the restoration is completed, the shared memory management unit 701 gives permission to resume the print job # 2 to the print job management unit 407 through the job management unit 401 (S205). The state of the shared memory 403 at this time is restored as shown in FIG. 17 in which the print job # 1 and the print job # 2 are executed in parallel.

  The print job control unit 407 releases the memory block 802 when printing of the bitmap developed in the memory block 802 is completed (S307). The print job control unit 407 releases the memory block 804 when printing of the bitmap developed in the memory block 804 is completed (S307). When both the memory blocks 802 and 804 are released in this way, the state of the shared memory 403 is as shown in FIG. 15, and all return to the empty state.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, only the overlapped data can be saved, and for example, the amount of data to be saved can be minimized. The effect that time is shortened is acquired. Similarly to the first embodiment, even when the memory is shared by different functions such as a print function and a scan function, for example, the scan function that is another function can be operated while using the print function. In addition, when the required amount of memory is small, multiple functions are executed simultaneously, so high usage efficiency is obtained. When the required amount of memory is large, memory is handed over to jobs with high priority, so many jobs that have interrupted Memory can be used and high functionality can be obtained.

  In the first embodiment, the priority of the job is determined according to the type of job, and the scan job has a higher priority than the print job. However, the reverse priority or the priority specified by the user is used. Also good. In addition, although the operation of the functional unit described in each of the above-described embodiments has been mainly described with respect to the printing operation and the scanning operation, the same applies to other functions such as information processing for other image processing, copying, facsimile, and networking. It is also possible to configure so as to perform an interrupt process and a save process.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a multifunction peripheral according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a memory map in the RAM of the multifunction machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of a multifunction machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for a scan operation of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart of a memory acquisition operation of the multifunction machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart of a memory releasing operation of the multifunction machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart of an execution operation of a print job of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart of a scan job execution operation of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure about the memory map and related information of the shared memory of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and shows an initial state. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a memory map of a shared memory and related information of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which a print job is executed. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a memory map of a shared memory and related information of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing a state in which a scan job is interrupted by a print job. 2 is a diagram showing a memory map of a shared memory and related information of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which a print job and a small-capacity scan job are executed simultaneously. FIG. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of a multifunction machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart of a memory acquisition operation of the multifunction machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure about the memory map and related information of the shared memory of the multi-function peripheral according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows the initial state. It is a figure about the memory map and related information of the shared memory of the multi-function peripheral according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which a print job is executed. It is a figure about the memory map and related information of the shared memory of the multifunction peripheral concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the state performed simultaneously with two print jobs. It is a figure about the memory map and related information of the shared memory of the multi-function peripheral according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which two print jobs and a scan job are interrupted and executed. It is a schematic diagram which shows the area | region which the memory map of the shared memory of the multifunctional machine concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention and an acquisition area determination part judge that it can acquire.

Explanation of symbols

100 MFP 101 CPU
102 RAM
103 ROM
104 Interface 105 Printing Unit 106 Scanner 107 Operation Panel 108 Hard Disk 201-203 Host Computer 301 System Area 302 Shared Area 303 Fixed Size Area 401 Job Manager 402 Shared Memory Manager 403 Shared Memory 404 Save Memory 405 Data Save Controller 406 Print Data Input unit 407 Print job control unit 408 Print data development unit 409 Print control unit 410 Setting input unit 411 Scan job control unit 412 Scan unit 413 Scan data output unit 414 Data amount calculation units 501 to 507 Memory blocks 511 to 517 Memory block information 522 Save block information 552, 554, 556 Job information 600 Scan setting screens 601 to 604 Size / color selection button 605 Destination designation frame 606 Start command button 701 Shared memory management unit 702 Acquisition area determination unit 801 to 806 Memory block 811 to 816 Memory block information 824 Save block information 552, 554, 556 Job information 901 to 909 area

Claims (6)

A first functional unit for performing a first image processing, said a second functional unit performing different second image processing to the first image processing, the first image processing being processed In a composite apparatus that interrupts the second image processing prior to
A first storage unit for storing data used in the first image processing being processed;
A second storage unit for saving data stored in the first storage unit;
A calculation unit for calculating a free capacity of the first storage unit;
A comparison unit that compares the free space calculated by the calculation unit with the amount of data required for the second storage to be interrupted by the first storage unit;
With
When the priority of the second image processing is higher than the priority of the first image processing, when the second image processing is interrupted prior to the first image processing being processed, When the comparison unit determines that the free space is less than the amount of data required for the second image processing, the data stored in the first storage unit is saved in the second storage unit. If the second image processing interrupt processing is performed and it is determined that the free space is greater than or equal to the amount of data required for the second image processing, the data stored in the first storage unit The composite apparatus is characterized in that the first image processing and the second image processing are processed in parallel without causing the second storage section to save . When the data stored in the first storage unit is saved in the second storage unit and the second image processing is interrupted, the data saved in the second storage unit is the first data 2. The composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is saved only for the data size required for the interrupt processing of the second image processing. A difference calculation unit that calculates a difference between the free space calculated by the calculation unit and the amount of data required for the second image processing to be interrupted by the first storage unit;
The composite apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the data size necessary for the interrupt processing of the second image processing is determined based on a difference from the difference calculation unit. The composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first storage unit is a volatile memory, and the second storage unit is a nonvolatile memory. A memory block is set for each of the first functional unit or the second functional unit for processing in the first storage unit, and information indicating whether or not the memory block is an empty area in each memory block 2. The composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the memory block is stored. 6. The composite apparatus according to claim 5, wherein job information corresponding to processing performed by the first function unit or the second function unit is stored in accordance with a set memory block.