JP6156635B2 - Image processing apparatus and control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a control program.

  Patent Document 1 is composed of a plurality of memory elements that can be accessed by designating addresses independently from other memories, and pixel data in adjacent predetermined areas are allocated to the same memory element, and the predetermined An image memory in which pixel data corresponding to the same position in the region is allocated to the same address, and a processor unit that includes a plurality of processor elements corresponding to the memory elements and simultaneously processes a plurality of pixels in the image memory; An image processing apparatus comprising: is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 is characterized in that the work to be processed is divided into a plurality of pieces so that the respective processing times are substantially equal to each other according to the processing order, and the plurality of divided works are respectively assigned to different processing means. A signal processing apparatus is disclosed.

JP-A-63-201757 JP 54-90947 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and a control program capable of efficiently performing image processing using an arithmetic device.

The present invention according to claim 1
Storage means for storing setting information in accordance with the type of arithmetic device;
Calculation control means for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored by the storage means;
Have
The storage means stores, as setting information, information that specifies which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be operated by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control means controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by setting information stored by the storage means,
A measuring means for measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs;
Wherein the storage unit, information specifying remembers the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by said measuring means as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement means is an image processing device that automatically measures the calculation speed of the calculation device at a predetermined time in an environment not used for use by a user.

  The present invention according to claim 2 is the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of programs differ in the size of the storage area or the processing procedure of the image processing in the arithmetic device used in the image processing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the measurement unit measures a plurality of types of image input, and the storage unit uses a program selected based on the measured calculation speed for the calculation device. an image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein storing information specifying a program for each type of image input.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores setting information according to the execution time of the calculation, and the calculation control means corresponds to the execution time of the calculation among the setting information stored by the storage means. and an image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control to perform the calculation by the computing device in accordance with the setting information.

The present invention according to claim 5 is the image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the storage unit further stores, as setting information, a setting value that defines a processing condition in the arithmetic device.

The present invention according to claim 6 provides:
A storage step for storing setting information according to the type of the computing device;
A calculation control step for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the stored setting information;
To the computer,
The storage step stores, as setting information, information that designates which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be used by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control step controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by stored setting information,
Causing the computer to further execute a measurement step of measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs,
Said storage step, remembers the information specifying the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by the measuring step as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement step is a control program that automatically measures the calculation speed of the calculation device at a predetermined time in an environment not provided for use by a user.
The present invention according to claim 7 provides:
Storage means for storing setting information in accordance with the type of arithmetic device;
Calculation control means for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored by the storage means;
Have
The storage means stores, as setting information, information that specifies which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be operated by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control means controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by setting information stored by the storage means,
A measuring means for measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs;
Wherein the storage unit, information specifying remembers the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by said measuring means as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement unit is an image processing apparatus that measures the calculation speed of the calculation apparatus for an image for which image processing is designated in a normal job.
The present invention according to claim 8 provides:
A storage step for storing setting information according to the type of the computing device;
A calculation control step for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored in the storage step ;
To the computer,
The storage step stores, as setting information, information that designates which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be used by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control step controls the calculation based on the program specified by the setting information stored in the storage step,
Causing the computer to further execute a measurement step of measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs,
Said storage step, remembers the information specifying the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by the measuring step as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement step is a control program that measures the calculation speed of the calculation device for an image for which image processing is designated in a normal job.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, image processing using an arithmetic device can be performed more efficiently than when the present configuration is not provided, and the arithmetic device to be used is changed. In addition, the modified arithmetic device can perform image processing more efficiently compared to the case where the present configuration is not provided, and the user compared with the technology that performs measurement in an environment for use by the user. Can reduce the load on the apparatus when using the image processing apparatus, and unlike the technique of performing measurement in response to an instruction from the user, the image processing apparatus can eliminate the instruction from the user Can be provided.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, the processing speed varies depending on the size of the storage area used in the image processing or the processing procedure of the image processing. However, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus capable of improving the processing efficiency by setting suitable for the arithmetic device.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the present invention according to the first or second aspect , even when the effect varies depending on the type of image input to be processed, the image processing can be performed efficiently. An apparatus can be provided.

According to the present invention according to claim 4 , in addition to the effect of the present invention according to claim 1 or 2 , the setting conditions suitable for the time in the actual use environment compared to the case without this configuration Even if they are different, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus capable of performing image processing more efficiently than in the case without this configuration.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention , in addition to the effect of the present invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, even when the processing speed changes according to a parameter that defines processing conditions for image processing. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus capable of performing image processing more efficiently than when the present configuration is not provided.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, image processing using the arithmetic device can be performed more efficiently than when the present configuration is not provided, and the arithmetic device to be used is changed. In addition, the modified arithmetic device can perform image processing more efficiently compared to the case where the present configuration is not provided, and the user compared with the technology that performs measurement in an environment for use by the user. Can reduce the load on the apparatus when using the image forming processing apparatus, and unlike a technique for performing measurement when instructed by the user, a control program that can eliminate the instruction from the user Can be provided.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, image processing using an arithmetic device can be performed more efficiently than when the present configuration is not provided, and the arithmetic device to be used is changed. also, Ru can be performed efficiently image processing as compared with the case not having the present structure in the arithmetic unit after the change.
According to the present invention of claim 8, image processing using an arithmetic device can be performed more efficiently than when the present configuration is not provided, and the arithmetic device to be used is changed. also, Ru can be performed efficiently image processing as compared with the case not having the present structure in the arithmetic unit after the change.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a hardware structure of the image processing apparatus 2 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the image processing apparatus 2 implement | achieved by executing a control program. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the setting information according to the arithmetic unit 6 which the setting information storage part 36 memorize | stores. It is a table | surface which shows another example of the setting information according to the arithmetic unit 6 which the setting information storage part 36 memorize | stores. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the image processing apparatus 2 which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the image processing apparatus 2 when measuring the calculation speed for every kind of image, and memorize | stores the setting information used for the computing apparatus 6 for every kind of image.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image processing apparatus 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 2 transmits and receives data to and from a control device 4, a computing device 6, a storage device 8 such as a hard disk drive (HDD), and an external device via a network. A communication interface (IF) 10 and an input / output device 12. These components are connected to each other via a control bus 14.

  The control device (host) 4 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 16 and a memory 18, executes processing based on a program stored in the memory 18 or the storage device 8, and controls the operation of the image processing device 2. . In the present embodiment, an image processing program is executed to perform image processing on image data under control according to a control program described later. Here, the control device 4 uses the arithmetic device 6 to perform arithmetic operations in image processing. The arithmetic device 6 includes a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 20 and a memory 22 and performs image processing by parallel arithmetic.

  The input / output device 12 is a device that includes a display device such as a display device as a display means for displaying information, and an input reception device such as a keyboard that receives an input made by an operator.

  The hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus 2 has been described above, but the above-described control program and the like can be stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM and provided to the image processing apparatus 2.

  For example, the image processing device 2 performs image processing on image data received from a terminal device (not shown) via the communication IF 10 and transmits the image data after image processing to an image forming device (not shown).

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 2 realized by executing the control program.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus 2 includes an image data receiving unit 30, an image data output unit 32, a calculation control unit 34, a setting information storage unit 36, a measurement unit 38, and a measurement information storage unit. 40.

  The image data receiving unit 30 receives input of image data to be processed. For example, the image data receiving unit 30 receives input of image data transmitted from a terminal device (not shown). The image data output unit 32 outputs processed image data after a predetermined image processing is performed. For example, the image data output unit 32 transmits the image data after image processing to a printing apparatus (not shown).

  The calculation control unit 34 controls the image data received by the image data receiving unit 30 to perform predetermined image processing using the calculation device 6. Here, the calculation control unit 34 controls to perform calculation by the calculation device 6 in accordance with setting information stored in a setting information storage unit 36 to be described later.

  The setting information storage unit 36 stores setting information corresponding to the type of the arithmetic device 6. Here, the type of the arithmetic device refers to a classification based on specifications including hardware or operating conditions provided in the arithmetic device.

  For example, computing devices with different manufacturers, computing devices with the same manufacturer, but different product series, or computing devices with the same product series, but with different product generations, have different specifications. ing. For example, the name of the GPU card, the number of calculation units, the size of the cache, the size of the constant memory, the size of the local memory, the size of the global memory, the size of the maximum work group, the number of dimensions of the maximum work group, and the like are different. Note that a work group refers to an execution unit of arithmetic processing. For example, when the size of a two-dimensional work group is n × m, a partial image of n pixels (X direction) × m pixels (Y direction) of the image. Image processing is performed in units of.

  Here, when image processing is performed using an arithmetic device, the processing speed differs among arithmetic devices having different specifications as described above depending on the settings for the arithmetic operation. The setting information storage unit 36 in the present embodiment stores setting information that is recognized as having a higher processing speed than other settings as setting information for the arithmetic device 6 as a result of measuring the difference in processing speed due to the difference in setting information. Yes.

  In the present embodiment, as the setting information according to the type of the arithmetic device 6, specifically, for example, the size in the X direction (main scanning direction) and the size in the Y direction (sub scanning direction) in the two-dimensional work group, Processing conditions such as the size of the transfer unit of image data from the control device 4 on the host side to the computing device 6 and whether the computing device 6 may be processed in parallel based on a plurality of image processing programs. A parameter that is a set value is stored.

  In the present embodiment, the setting information according to the type of the calculation device 6 is calculated by the calculation device 6 according to any one of a plurality of different programs that perform predetermined image processing in addition to the above parameters. The information which specifies is memorized. For example, a plurality of image processing programs that produce the same result as image processing results, but have different processing steps such as different storage area sizes or image processing procedures (algorithms) in the arithmetic device 6 used for image processing Among them, information for specifying an image processing program whose processing speed is faster than other image processing programs when applied to the arithmetic device 6 is stored. As an example of the size of the storage area in the arithmetic unit 6 used for image processing, the use size of a local memory that is a high-speed memory that can be shared by a work group, the use of a private memory that is a high-speed memory for each calculation unit Size.

  The measurement unit 38 measures the processing speed in the computing device 6 for each setting information in order to search for setting information according to the type of the computing device 6. In the present embodiment, the measurement unit 38 measures the image processing speed in the computing device 6 for each measurement setting information stored in the measurement information storage unit 40, and the processing speed is included in the measurement setting information. The setting information determined to be faster than the setting information for other measurements is output to the setting information storage unit 36 as setting information for the arithmetic device 6.

  Specifically, the measurement unit 38 measures the processing speed of the image processing performed by the arithmetic unit 6 on the image data for each parameter and each image processing program, which is setting information for measurement.

  The measurement unit 38 may perform the measurement in an environment that is not used for use by the user, or may perform the measurement in an environment that is used for use by the user. Further, the measurement unit 38 may be configured to perform measurement when an instruction from the user is given, or may be configured to perform measurement automatically at a predetermined time.

  The measuring unit 38 may measure the processing speed of the predetermined image processing for the image data using the predetermined image data as the image used for the measurement, but obtain the image processing result. Measurement may be performed on a target normal job. In this case, for example, the measurement unit 38 may measure the processing speed for each piece of setting information by using a plurality of different setting information for measurement with respect to image data for which image processing has been designated in this job.

  FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of setting information corresponding to the arithmetic device 6 stored in the setting information storage unit 36. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the setting information for each of the three types of GPU_A, GPU_B, and GPU_C is stored as the type of arithmetic device, but the setting information storage unit 36 is stored in the image processing device 2. Only the setting information of the type of the mounted arithmetic device may be stored.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the setting information storage unit 36 of the present embodiment stores information for specifying a program to be used among programs for performing image processing and parameters to be used for each type of arithmetic device. doing.

  FIG. 4 is a table showing another example of setting information corresponding to the arithmetic device 6 stored in the setting information storage unit 36. The example shown in FIG. 4 is different from the example shown in FIG. 3 in that setting information is stored every time the calculation is performed. In this case, for example, the measurement unit 38 measures the processing speed for each time period, and outputs setting information for which the processing speed is the fastest for each time period to the setting information storage unit 36. In addition, the calculation control unit 34 performs control so that the calculation by the calculation device 6 is performed according to the setting information corresponding to the calculation execution time among the stored setting information.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the image processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment.

  In step 10 (S10), it is determined whether or not to measure the processing speed for each setting information. For example, when there is an execution instruction from the user or when a predetermined execution time comes, measurement is performed. If measurement is to be performed, the process proceeds to step 12, and if measurement is not performed, the process proceeds to step 28.

  In step 12 (S12), the measurement unit 38 reads the setting information group of the measurement target stored in the measurement information storage unit 40.

  In step 14 (S14), the measurement unit 38 determines the setting information to be measured among the setting information read in step 12. In this embodiment, the program and parameters to be measured are determined. The measurement unit 38 determines the setting information that has not been measured among the setting information read in step 12 as a measurement target.

  In step 16 (S16), the measurement unit 38 reads a job for performing predetermined image processing on predetermined image data from the measurement information storage unit 40.

  In step 18 (S18), the arithmetic control unit 34 controls the processing device 6 to process the job read in step 16 based on the setting information determined in step 14.

  In step 20 (S20), the measurement unit 38 measures the time from the start of processing to the end of processing in step 18 and stores it as the processing speed for the setting information.

  In step 22 (S22), the measurement unit 38 determines whether there is a measurement job in the measurement information storage unit 40 that has not yet been measured for the setting information of the measurement target selected in step 14. If it exists, the process returns to step 16, and if all have been measured, the process proceeds to step 24.

  As described above, the measurement unit 38 may measure, for example, a plurality of measurement jobs having different processing target image data. In this case, for example, the average processing speed of each measurement job may be used as the processing speed of the setting information.

  In step 24 (S24), the measurement unit 38 determines whether or not the setting information that has not been measured exists in the measurement information storage unit 40. If there is, the measurement unit 38 returns to step 14 and has been measured. In this case, the process proceeds to step 26.

  In step 26 (S26), the measurement unit 38 selects the setting information having the fastest processing speed when performing image processing using the arithmetic unit 6 among the processing speeds for each setting information stored in step 20, and performs calculation. The setting information for the device 6 is output to the setting information storage unit 36.

  On the other hand, in step 28 (S28), it is determined whether or not there is a job requesting image processing. If there is a job, the process proceeds to step 30. If not, the process returns to step 10.

  In step 30 (S30), the arithmetic control unit 34 refers to the setting information corresponding to the arithmetic device 6 stored in step 26, and uses it in image processing using the arithmetic device 6 in step 32 (S32). Determine the program and parameters.

  In step 32 (S34), the arithmetic control unit 34 executes the program determined in step 32 and controls the arithmetic device 6 to perform image processing arithmetic using the parameters determined in step 32.

  In step 36 (S36), the image data output unit 32 outputs the image data after the image processing.

  As described above, the operation is shown in the flowchart, but the measurement may be performed for each of a plurality of types of image input, and the setting information for each type of image may be stored in the setting information storage unit 36. As described above, the setting information storage unit 36 may store, for each type of image input, information that designates a program selected based on the measured calculation speed as a program to be used for the calculation device 6.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the image processing apparatus 2 when the calculation speed for each image type is measured and the setting information used for the calculation device 6 is stored for each image type. In this operation, measurement is performed for each type of image. In actual processing, a job is processed based on setting information stored for each type of image. In the following description, the description of the steps that overlap the steps shown in FIG. 5 is omitted.

  In step 27 (S27), the measurement unit 38 determines whether or not the measurement information storage unit 40 has a measurement job of an image type that has not been measured among the setting information read in step 12. If it exists, the process returns to step 14, and if all have been measured, the process proceeds to step 28. In this way, measurement is performed for each type of image, and setting information with the fastest processing speed is selected for each type of image.

  In step 29 (S29), the arithmetic control unit 34 determines the type of image data. The method of determining the type of image data is based on a known method, and may be the size of the data, the ratio of the natural image in the data, or the resolution information of the natural image. When compression is performed, the compression type may be used. Also, it may be the type of application that generated the image data, or may be identification information such as the name or network address of the workstation that generated the image data. In step 30, setting information corresponding to the type of image data determined in step 29 is referred to.

  Although the embodiment has been described above, the setting information may be only program designation information according to the specifications of the arithmetic device 6 or only parameter information according to the specifications of the arithmetic device 6.

  In the above-described embodiment, the GPU has been described as an example of the arithmetic device 6. However, the arithmetic device 6 may be applied to a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) operation such as SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions) or AVX (Advanced Vector eXtensions). Good.

2 Image processing device 4 Control device 6 Arithmetic device 8 Storage device 16 CPU
18 Memory 20 GPU
22 Memory 30 Image data reception unit 32 Image data output unit 34 Operation control unit 36 Setting information storage unit 38 Measurement unit 40 Measurement information storage unit

Claims (8)

Storage means for storing setting information in accordance with the type of arithmetic device;
Calculation control means for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored by the storage means;
Have
The storage means stores, as setting information, information that specifies which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be operated by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control means controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by setting information stored by the storage means,
A measuring means for measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs;
Wherein the storage unit, information specifying remembers the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by said measuring means as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement means is an image processing apparatus that automatically measures the calculation speed of the calculation apparatus at a predetermined time in an environment not used for use by a user. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of programs are different in a size of a storage area or a processing procedure of image processing in the arithmetic device used in image processing. The measuring means measures by a plurality of types of image input,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores, for each type of image input, information specifying a program selected based on the measured calculation speed as a program to be used for the calculation apparatus. The storage means stores setting information according to the execution time of the calculation,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculation control unit controls the calculation by the calculation device according to setting information corresponding to a calculation execution time among the setting information stored by the storage unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit further stores, as setting information, a setting value that defines a processing condition in the arithmetic device. A storage step for storing setting information according to the type of the computing device;
A calculation control step for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the stored setting information;
To the computer,
The storage step stores, as setting information, information that designates which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be used by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control step controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by stored setting information,
Causing the computer to further execute a measurement step of measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs,
Said storage step, remembers the information specifying the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by the measuring step as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement step is a control program that automatically measures the calculation speed of the calculation device at a predetermined time in an environment not used for use by a user. Storage means for storing setting information in accordance with the type of arithmetic device;
Calculation control means for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored by the storage means;
Have
The storage means stores, as setting information, information that specifies which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be operated by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control means controls to perform calculation based on a program specified by setting information stored by the storage means,
A measuring means for measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs;
Wherein the storage unit, information specifying remembers the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by said measuring means as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement means is an image processing apparatus that measures the calculation speed of the calculation apparatus for an image for which image processing is designated in a normal job. A storage step for storing setting information according to the type of the computing device;
A calculation control step for controlling the calculation by the calculation device according to the setting information stored in the storage step ;
To the computer,
The storage step stores, as setting information, information that designates which of the different programs that perform predetermined image processing is to be used by the arithmetic device according to which program,
The calculation control step controls the calculation based on the program specified by the setting information stored in the storage step,
Causing the computer to further execute a measurement step of measuring the calculation speed by the calculation device for each of the plurality of programs,
Said storage step, remembers the information specifying the program selected based on the calculated speed measured by the measuring step as a program used to the arithmetic unit,
The measurement step is a control program for measuring a calculation speed of the calculation device for an image for which image processing is designated in a normal job.

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