JP6539022B2 - PRINTING APPARATUS, PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to processing techniques for generating an image from data received from an external device.

  With the development of digital printing, variable data printing (hereinafter referred to as VDP) as a form taking advantage of its features has attracted attention. A printing mode in which a part of a printed matter is changed as variable data for each copy is to maximize the characteristics of a digital printer such as an electrophotographic picture. In early VDP, various VDP languages were used as a printer description language, but at present, PPML as a standard language is defined and widely used.

  In PPML, there are two elements to draw a page: reusable objects that are referenced repeatedly and local objects that are referenced only once. Reusable objects are used to arrange a single drawing object at multiple locations within a page, between pages, or between jobs. Usually, drawing objects such as local objects and reusable objects are described as source drawing data in PostScript (registered trademark, hereinafter abbreviated as PS) or PDF.

  These source drawing data are placed on the page after being rasterized through RIP processing. If it is clear that it will be reused like a PPML reusable object, cache the raster image of the result of RIP processing from the source drawing data. As a result, extremely fast drawing processing is possible. However, a raster image has a very large size in the case of high resolution and high gradation color data. Therefore, a large capacity memory is required. Therefore, there is also a method of generating a display list (intermediate data) before conversion into a raster image from source drawing data and caching this. While this method requires time to render the display list, it can significantly reduce the amount of memory required for caching.

  By the way, there is known a job parallel processing method in which a plurality of jobs are simultaneously RIPped in parallel using a CPU in which a plurality of CPU cores are accumulated in a single package. However, looking at only a single job, RIP processing time is the same as when executed with a single core.

  As another method, there is known a page parallel processing method in which a plurality of pages in a single job are simultaneously RIP-processed. In Patent Document 1, as a parallel processing method specialized for VDP, a record parallel processing method is proposed in which a job is divided into records defined by VDP and RIP processing is performed in parallel for each record in parallel. For the purpose of VDP, one person's worth of VDP data in manufacturing personalized printed matter for realizing One to One marketing is called a record. Further, Patent Document 2 proposes a method of sharing a cache memory in one device in order to improve the utilization efficiency of a storage device such as a cache memory even in the page parallel method.

JP, 2009-172913, A JP, 2012-200955, A

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, if one reusable object is simultaneously referred to by a plurality of pages subjected to RIP processing simultaneously and in parallel, the efficiency decreases. This is because there is a possibility that a process of generating intermediate data by overlapping reusable objects with a plurality of print control devices may be performed.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the possibility that the cache memory runs short is high. As a result, it takes time to delete and regenerate intermediate data and save to another storage device, and the entire RIP process takes time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing technique capable of efficiently executing data drawing processing.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is:
A first rendering unit that performs the generation processing and rendering of the intermediate data based on the first unit data, and a generation process and rendering process of the intermediate data based on the second unit data different from the first data blocks A plurality of rendering units including a second rendering unit to perform ;
And managing means for managing processing states of a plurality of drawing objects included in the first unit data and the second unit data ,
In the case where each of the first unit data and the second unit data includes a first drawing object and a second drawing object different from the first drawing object,
The second rendering unit is responsive to indicate that both the generation process of the intermediate data based on the first drawing object and the generation process of the intermediate data based on the second drawing object are in a processed state. When acquired from the management means, the second rendering unit is configured to use the intermediate data based on the first drawing object processed in the first rendering unit and the intermediate data based on the second drawing object also in the second rendering unit. Obtaining intermediate data based on one drawing object and intermediate data based on the second drawing object,
The second rendering unit indicates that the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object is in processing, and the process of generating the intermediate data based on the second drawing object is not processed. When a response indicating that there is a response is acquired from the management means, the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object in the state being processed by the first rendering unit is not waited until it is processed. And generating the intermediate data based on the second drawing object in an unprocessed state .

  According to the present invention, data drawing processing can be performed efficiently.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of control in a printing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the job processing in a control part. It is a flowchart which shows the rendering process in a rendering part. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of print data corresponding to a print job. It is an explanatory view showing the situation of rendering processing. It is a figure which shows the communication response in the middle of a rendering process, and the information hold | maintained after a rendering process. It is a flowchart which shows the process which updates the reservation frequency of the object in an object arbitration part. It is a flowchart which shows the process which deletes a display list based on the number of times of reservation in a rendering part. It is a figure which shows the information hold | maintained during a rendering process.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the relative arrangement of components described in this embodiment, the device shape and the like are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to them.

  In the present specification, the “printing device” is not limited to a dedicated device specialized for the printing function, but is a multifunction device combining the printing function and other functions, and a device such as a manufacturing device that forms an image or pattern on recording paper. Shall also be included.

First Embodiment
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of control in the printing apparatus.
The printing apparatus 102 includes a control unit 103, a plurality of rendering units 104, an object arbitration unit 115, a user interface unit 105, and a printer engine unit 106. The printing apparatus 102 for printing an image processes job data from an external apparatus 101 such as a personal computer which is an information processing apparatus, and performs printing on a recording medium such as a roll sheet.

  The control unit 103 includes a reception unit 107, a division unit 108, a rendering management unit 109, a CPU 118, a memory 119, and a spool unit 110. The control unit 103 analyzes job data, which is received data from the external apparatus 101, and creates commands and data to be transmitted to the rendering unit 104 based on the analysis result and an instruction from the user interface unit 105. The control unit 103 also receives data after rendering processing from the rendering unit 104, transmits the data to the printer engine unit 106, and performs printing.

  The CPU 118 controls various components of the printing apparatus 102. The memory 119 includes program memory, work memory, and flash memory. The program memory is a memory such as a ROM that stores data such as a program code read by the CPU 118. The work memory is a memory such as a RAM for temporarily storing or buffering data such as image data to be used when various processes of the printing apparatus 102 are executed. The flash memory is a non-volatile memory capable of storing transmission source information of job data received by the receiving unit 107. The CPU 118 can realize various processes described later by executing the program stored in the program memory on the work memory.

  The user interface unit 105 receives an operation instruction and displays the apparatus state. The user interface unit 105 includes, for example, a display unit and an operation unit. The operation unit is configured by a switch or a touch panel for receiving various operations from the user.

  The printer engine unit 106 performs image processing such as color conversion on data after rendering processing (here, bitmap data) sent from the control unit 103, and then prints on a recording medium such as a roll sheet. Do. As a printing method of the printer engine unit 106, various printing methods such as an inkjet method, an electrophotographic method, and a thermal transfer method can be used.

  In the control unit 103, the receiving unit 107 receives job data from the external apparatus 101 and stores the received job data. The reception unit 107 may be realized by, for example, a serial interface such as USB, or may be realized by a network interface of a wired network / wireless network. The job data is, for example, configured by PDL data, which is a page description language.

  The dividing unit 108 analyzes the received job data, divides the received job data into predetermined unit data (for example, page data) instructed to the rendering unit 104, and determines the printing order thereof. More specifically, the dividing unit 108 distributes assigned page data to a plurality of rendering units 104 for parallel processing in units of page data, for example, and render units corresponding to print data including the respective page data Transfer to 104. In this case, the dividing unit 108 distributes the processing of each page data to the different rendering units 104 in order from the top page data of the print data.

  This distribution may be a method of distributing page data to the rendering units 104 in a predetermined fixed order. In addition, the rendering unit 104 notifies the dividing unit 108 to that effect each time the processing of the distributed page data is completed, and the dividing unit 108 responds to the notification to render the first page data not processed yet as the notification source The control may be distributed to 104. Note that these are merely examples, and other distribution methods may be used.

  The dividing unit 108 may be built in (for example, installed as a program) in the external device 101, or may be built on a computer device other than the plurality of rendering units 104.

  In the present embodiment, there are a plurality of rendering units 104, and each rendering unit 104 can perform rendering processing in parallel. Each rendering unit 104 includes a rendering control unit 111, an object ID generation unit 112, a PDL interpreter 113, a cache storage unit 114, an inquiry result storage unit 116, and a renderer 117.

  The rendering management unit 109 instructs the rendering control unit 111 of the rendering unit 104 to perform rendering processing in accordance with the printing order instructed by the dividing unit 108. The rendering management unit 109 may be built in (for example, installed as a program) in the external apparatus 101, or may be built on another external apparatus. The rendering control unit 111 instructs the PDL interpreter 113 to interpret job data, and acquires a list of drawing objects. The rendering control unit 111 instructs the object ID generation unit 112 to generate an object ID that is information for identifying each object included in the list of drawing objects, and acquires an ID list of drawing objects. The method of generating the object ID will be described later.

  The object ID generation unit 112 generates an object ID as information for identifying each object in accordance with an instruction from the rendering control unit 111.

  The rendering control unit 111 inquires the cache storage unit 114 and the object arbitration unit 115 to determine whether or not to generate a display list which is intermediate data of the drawing object, using the ID list of the drawing object. The rendering control unit 111 causes the inquiry result holding unit 116 to hold the inquiry result from the object arbitration unit 115. The rendering control unit 111 interprets job data when generating a drawing object, and generates a display list.

  The cache storage unit 114 caches drawing objects in the form of a display list. When the drawing object can be reused, the drawing object is reused in conjunction with the cache storage unit 114 or the object arbitration unit 115. The determination method in the rendering control unit 111 and the reuse method of the drawing object will be described later. The rendering control unit 111 instructs the renderer 117 to generate bitmap data when the necessary display list is complete.

  The object arbitration unit 115 manages the processing state for each object ID generated by the object ID generation unit 112. That is, it manages the processing state of each object. Here, the processing state means unprocessed, during processing, processed, etc. The object arbitration unit 115 may be built in (for example, installed as a program) in the external device 101, or may be built on another external device. The inquiry result holding unit 116 holds the inquiry result from the object arbitration unit 115.

  The renderer 117 executes rendering processing including image correction and rasterization processing on job data to be processed based on an instruction to generate bitmap data from the rendering control unit 111. As a result, the renderer 117 creates bitmap data and status information on the bitmap data. The status information is information indicating whether the job data has been rendered normally or whether an error has occurred. This status information can be used to display job status on the user interface unit 105. At the same time, the spool unit 110 holds, as a rendered data holding unit, bitmap data as a rendering processing result and status information on the bitmap data.

  The external device 101 includes a CPU 201, a disk device 202, an external disk reader 203, a memory 204, a display unit 205, an operation unit 206, a network communication unit 207, and a USB communication unit 208. The external apparatus 101 can realize various types of processing by installing predetermined software in an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose PC, for example.

  The CPU 201 controls various components of the external apparatus 101, which are mutually connected via a signal line 209. The disk device 202 installs programs such as an application program and an OS (Operation System) read by the CPU 201, and stores data such as various files. The external disk reader 203 is a device for reading the contents of an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM. The memory 204 is a memory for the CPU 201 to perform processing such as temporary storage and buffering of data as needed. The CPU 201 can realize various types of processing by executing various programs stored in the disk device 202 on the memory 204.

  The CPU 201 executes a software setup program for using the printing apparatus 102 from the external apparatus 101, whereby various programs are installed in the external apparatus 101. The various programs stored in the disk device 202 include various device drivers such as a printer driver for using the printing apparatus 102. Furthermore, a polling application for inquiring the status (presence or absence of an event, etc.) of the printing apparatus 102 and various applications such as management software (button monitor) for managing the status (status) of the printing apparatus 102 are included.

  The display unit 205 is configured by a display device including an LCD and the like, and displays various information. The operation unit 206 includes input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel, and receives an operation from a user. A network communication unit 207 connects the external apparatus 101 to a network and performs various communications. The network communication unit 207 corresponds to at least one of a wired network and a wireless network. The specific form takes necessary functions and forms according to the network corresponding to the reception unit 107 built in the printing apparatus 102. The USB communication unit 208 communicates with various peripheral devices via a USB interface.

  Thus, the printing apparatus 102 and the external apparatus 101 can be configured as a processing system connected via a network. This network is, for example, a Local Area Network (LAN). Further, although the following description deals with a network configured of a network that is a wired network cable, the present invention is not limited to this. The aspect of the network is the same whether it is a wireless network or a network in which a wired network and a wireless network are mixed.

  Next, job processing in the control unit 103 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is realized by the control unit 103 reading and executing a program stored in the memory 119 according to an instruction of the CPU 118 of the printing apparatus 102.

  First, in step S201, the receiving unit 107 receives job data from the external apparatus 101, and the dividing unit 108 analyzes the job data, divides the data into units instructing one or more rendering units 104, and prints the unit. Determine the order. In step S202, the rendering management unit 109 instructs the rendering unit 104 to execute the rendering process, and executes the rendering process. In step S <b> 203, the rendering management unit 109 receives the bitmap data and the status information as the rendering processing result, and holds them in the spool unit 110. In step S204, the rendering management unit 109 acquires bitmap data from the spool unit 110 in the print order, transmits the bitmap data to the printer engine unit 106, and instructs printing.

  The rendering process in the rendering unit 104 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. This process is realized by controlling the rendering unit 104 by the control unit 103 reading and executing a program stored in the memory 119 according to an instruction of the CPU 118 of the printing apparatus 102.

  First, in step S301, the rendering control unit 111 receives an instruction for rendering processing from the rendering management unit 109, and the PDL interpreter 113 acquires a list of drawing objects of job data. In step S302, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object ID generation unit 112 to generate an object ID of each object included in the list of drawing objects, and acquires the list of drawing object IDs.

  The object ID can be determined as the same object in job data generated from the same PDL data, and different objects are given different ones. When the dividing unit 108 changes the content of PDL data, when the dividing unit 108 divides job data, information for identifying PDL data before division and information for identifying an object in the PDL data before division give.

  The information identifying PDL data before division may be a hash value calculated from a hash function such as MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5) or SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) for PDL data. Alternatively, the information identifying PDL data before division may be a job ID which is information identifying job data. Furthermore, the information for identifying an object in PDL data before division may be an object ID used in PDL data. Note that these pieces of information are merely examples, and other pieces of information may be used.

  In step S303, the rendering control unit 111 determines whether the display list of the drawing object of the corresponding job data has been stored in the cache storage unit 114. If it has been stored (YES in step S303), the rendering control unit 111 extracts the stored display list from the cache storage unit 114 in step S304. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S305.

  On the other hand, if it has not been stored (NO in S303), the rendering control unit 111 determines in S305 whether or not processing for all drawing objects of the corresponding job data has been completed. If the processing for all drawing objects has not been completed (NO in S305), the rendering control unit 111 inquires the object arbitration unit 115 about the state of the drawing object of the corresponding job data in S306. Thereby, the rendering control unit 111 acquires the state of the drawing object of the corresponding job data from the object arbitration unit 115.

  In step S307, the rendering control unit 111 determines whether the “unprocessed” drawing object is included in the response to the inquiry. If the “unprocessed” drawing object is included (YES in S307), the rendering control unit 111 extracts one “unprocessed” drawing object in S308. In step S309, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to set the state of the extracted drawing object to "processing in progress". In step S310, the rendering control unit 111 causes the PDL interpreter 113 to generate a display list corresponding to the extracted drawing object.

  In step S311, the rendering control unit 111 stores the generated display list in the cache storage unit 114. Note that if the storage of the display list can not be executed because the capacity of the cache storage unit is insufficient at S311, the rendering control unit 111 deletes the other display list. Then, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to set the state of the drawing object corresponding to the deleted display list to “unprocessed”.

  In step S312, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to set the state of the drawing object extracted in step S309 to "processed" along with access information for extracting the drawing object from another rendering unit. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S305.

  The access information for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit may be a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), an IP address or port information. These are merely examples, and other information may be used. The object arbitration unit 115 links and manages the state of a drawing object and access information for extracting the drawing object from another rendering unit.

  In S307, when the response does not include the “unprocessed” drawing object (NO in S307), in S313, the rendering control unit 111 determines whether or not the “processed” drawing object is included in the response. Do. If a “processed” drawing object is included (YES in step S313), in step S314, the rendering control unit 111 extracts the “processed” drawing object and the drawing objects from other rendering units as a result of the inquiry in step S306. Get information for. Thereby, the rendering control unit 111 extracts the display list of the “processed” drawing objects from the other rendering units. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S305.

  If the response does not include the “processed” drawing object (NO in step S313), in step S315, the rendering control unit 111 determines whether the response includes the “in process” drawing object. If a drawing object “in process” is included (YES in S315), the rendering control unit 111 extracts one drawing object “in process” in S316. In step S317, the rendering control unit 111 waits for the state of the extracted drawing object to be "processed". Thereafter, when “processed” is obtained, the process proceeds to step S314.

  Note that this waiting may be a method in which the rendering control unit 111 inquires the object arbitration unit 115 about the state of the drawing object after a predetermined time has elapsed. Alternatively, the object arbitration unit 115 may be requested to monitor, and if the state of the object is changed, the object arbitration unit 115 may notify the rendering control unit 111 to that effect. These schemes are merely examples, and other waiting schemes may be used.

  On the other hand, if the response does not include the “in process” drawing object (NO in S315), the process proceeds to S305.

  If the processing for all drawing objects is completed (YES in step S305), the rendering control unit 111 executes rendering processing in the renderer 117 in step S318, and creates bitmap data from the display list.

  FIG. 4 is an example of print data corresponding to a print job based on job data. As shown in FIG. 4A, in the print job 400, JobID, which is information uniquely identifying a job, is set to “1”. The print job 400 includes a plurality of (here, two) records 410 and 420 that constitute print data. The record 410 includes a plurality of (here, three pages) pages (page 411, page 412, page 413). The record 420 includes a plurality of (here, three pages) pages (page 421, page 422, page 423). Object A 431, Object B 432, Object C 433 and Object D 434 indicate drawing objects included in the page. The page 412 includes Object A 431, Object B 432, and Object C 433. The page 422 includes Object A 431, Object B 432, and Object D 434. Thus, there are drawing objects shared / shared among a plurality of pages.

  FIG. 4B is an example of a data structure representing the print data of FIG. 4A. The job data is divided into a job header portion 441 and a document data portion 442. The job header portion 441 includes information such as print instruction content and Job ID. The document data unit 442 includes PDL data. For example, in the PDF format, the document data unit 442 further includes a header 443, a body 444, a cross reference table 445, and a trailer 446.

  The header 443 contains information such as the version of the PDF specification conforming to the PDF document. The body 444 contains information on drawing objects and pages, and each object is managed by a unique ObjectID. The cross reference table 445 contains in-file location information of each object. The trailer 446 includes an object called catalog, which stores document structure information, and in-file position information of the cross reference table 445. In 447, it is shown that Page 102 refers to ObjectA, ObjectB and ObjectC. 448 indicates that Page 202 refers to Object A, Object B, and Object D. In 449, the positions in the file of ObjectA, ObjectB, ObjectC and ObjectD are represented.

  Next, an example in the case where the rendering process is performed with the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the print data of FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows the passage of time from left to right.

  Reference numeral 501 denotes processing content in the rendering control unit 111 (first rendering control unit) for processing the page 412, and the rendering control unit 111 belongs to the first rendering unit among the plurality of rendering units 104. ing.

  A column 502 indicates the timing at which the rendering control unit 111 inquires the object arbitration unit 115 about the state of the drawing object of the corresponding job data by a horizontal arrow. A column 503 indicates the timing of processing regarding Object A 431 by a horizontal arrow. A column 504 indicates the timing of processing for Object B 432 by a horizontal arrow. A column 505 indicates the timing of processing regarding ObjectC 433 by a horizontal arrow.

  Reference numeral 506 denotes communication into the object arbitration unit 115 by a vertical arrow.

  Reference numeral 511 denotes a rendering control unit 111 different from 501, and the processing content in the rendering control unit 111 (second rendering control unit) that processes the page 422. The other rendering control unit 111 belongs to the second rendering unit among the plurality of rendering units 104.

  A column 512 indicates the timing at which the rendering control unit 111 inquires the object arbitration unit 115 about the state of the drawing object of the corresponding job data by a horizontal arrow. A column 513 indicates the timing of processing regarding Object A 431 by a horizontal arrow. A column 514 shows the timing of processing for Object B 432 by a horizontal arrow. A column 515 indicates the timing of processing regarding Object D 434 by a horizontal arrow.

  First, at timing 541, processing of the page 412 and processing of the page 422 are started. At timing 541, nothing is stored in the cache storage unit 114, and no information is stored in the object arbitration unit 115. At this time, in accordance with the flowchart of FIG. 4, the inquiry 521 is issued by the first rendering control unit (501) in S306. At timing 542, the inquiry result of the inquiry 521 is held by the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6A shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 521. 601 to 603 are data fields. An object ID 601 is generated by the object ID generation unit 112. 602 is the state of the drawing object. Reference numeral 603 denotes a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. In the query result of the query 521, the state of all drawing objects (ObjectA to C) is "unprocessed". Therefore, the display list generation 522 is started for Object A in S308 to S311. In particular, in S309, the state of Object A of the object arbitration unit 115 is changed from "unprocessed" to "processing".

  Next, in step S306, the second rendering control unit (511) performs an inquiry 523. At timing 543, the inquiry result of the inquiry 523 is held by the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6B shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 523. The query result of the query 523 is that the state of Object A is “in process”, and the states of Object B and Object C are “unprocessed”. Therefore, the display list generation 524 of S308 to S311 is started for Object B, and in particular, the state of Object B of the object arbitration unit 115 is changed from "unprocessed" to "processing" in S309.

  Next, when the generation 522 of the display list is completed, the first rendering control unit (501) changes the state of Object A of the object arbitration unit 115 from "processing in progress" to "processed" in S312. Furthermore, the first rendering control unit (501) records a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. Next, an inquiry 525 is made, and at timing 544, the inquiry result is held in the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6C shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 525. In the query result of the query 525, the state of Object C is "unprocessed". Therefore, generation 526 of the display list of S308 to S311 is started for ObjectC, and in particular, at 309, the state of ObjectC of the object arbitration unit 115 is changed from "unprocessed" to "processing".

  In the present embodiment, among the drawing objects to be the query target, processed drawing objects are deleted from the query result holding unit 116. The drawing object to be inquired about may be a method of excluding drawing objects for which a display list has been generated by the first rendering control unit (501) from all drawing objects at the time of inquiry. In addition, all drawing objects may be inquired at the time of inquiry, and the first rendering control unit (501) may exclude the drawing objects for which the display list has been generated at the time of response.

  Next, when the generation 524 of the display list is completed, the second rendering control unit (511) changes the state of Object B of the object arbitration unit 115 from "in process" to "processed" in S312. Furthermore, the second rendering control unit (511) records a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. Next, an inquiry 527 is made, and at timing 545, the inquiry result is held in the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6D shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 527. In the query result of the query 527, the state of Object D is "unprocessed". Therefore, the display list generation 528 of S308 to S311 is started for ObjectD, and in particular, the state of ObjectD of the object arbitration unit 115 is changed from "unprocessed" to "processing" in S309.

  Next, when the generation 526 of the display list is completed, the first rendering control unit (501) changes the state of Object C of the object arbitration unit 115 from "processing" to "processed" in S312. Furthermore, the first rendering control unit (501) records in the object arbitration unit 115 a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. Next, an inquiry 529 is made, and at timing 546, the inquiry result is held in the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6E shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 529. In the query result of query 529, the state of Object B is "processed". Therefore, the display list extraction 530 of S <b> 313 to S <b> 314 is performed on Object B. Next, since it is determined in S305 that all drawing objects have been processed, bitmap data is generated in S318.

  Next, when the generation 528 of the display list is completed, the second rendering control unit (511) changes the state of Object D of the object arbitration unit 115 from "in process" to "processed" in S312. Further, the second rendering control unit (511) records in the object arbitration unit 115 a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. Next, an inquiry 531 is made, and at timing 547, the inquiry result is held in the inquiry result holding unit 116. FIG. 6F shows the contents of the inquiry result holding unit 116 after the inquiry 531. The query result of the query 531 is that the state of Object A is “processed”. Therefore, the display list extraction 532 of S313 to S314 is performed on Object A. Next, since it is determined in S305 that all drawing objects have been processed, bitmap data is generated in S318.

  At timing 548 when a series of processing in FIG. 6 is completed, the object arbitration unit 115 holds the information shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, if each rendering object in the print job has been processed by another rendering unit, the processing result is used, and if the rendering object is not processed, the processing is executed. And make the processing result available to other rendering units. As a result, it is possible to prevent the common data processing from being redundantly executed, and processing efficiency can be improved.

  If another rendering unit is processing a rendering object in the print job, control is performed to process the other rendering objects with priority. In this way, it is possible to process another drawing object while waiting for the processing result of another rendering unit, and processing efficiency can be improved.

  Furthermore, the processing results of the drawing object are not held in a single rendering unit, but are held in a distributed manner in a plurality of rendering units. As a result, a large amount of processing results can be held, and the probability of using the drawing object without processing can be increased.

  As described above, processing efficiency and processing results of objects and pages can be shared by a plurality of rendering units, and processing efficiency can be increased by preventing duplicate processing of common data from being executed. Furthermore, a large number of processing results can be held by distributing and holding the processing results in a plurality of rendering units.

Second Embodiment
In the second embodiment, an example of processing in the case of holding the number of reservations defining the number of queries of drawing objects with the same configuration as the first embodiment will be described. Description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of updating the number of reservations of a drawing object in the object arbitration unit 115, which is a process performed by the object arbitration unit 115 in S306 of the rendering process in the rendering unit 104 of FIG. is there.

  First, at S306 in FIG. 3, the rendering control unit 111 turns on a flag for reserving an inquiry to the object arbitration unit 115 as to the state of the drawing object of the corresponding job data, and transmits it.

  In response to this, the object arbitration unit 115 receives an inquiry about the state of the drawing object from the rendering control unit 111 in S701. In S702, the object arbitration unit 115 determines whether the flag for reservation of the received inquiry is on. If the flag for reservation is not on (NO in S702), the process ends. On the other hand, if the flag for reservation is on (YES in S702), the object arbitration unit 115 extracts one drawing object from all the received drawing objects in S703.

  In step S704, the object arbitration unit 115 determines whether the rendering control unit 111 as the inquiry source is included in the reserved data field of the extracted drawing object. If the rendering control unit 111 of the inquiry source is included in the reservation data field (YES in step S704), the process advances to step S705.

  On the other hand, when the rendering control unit 111 of the inquiry source is not included in the reservation data field (NO in S704), the object arbitration unit 115 adds the rendering control unit 111 of the inquiry source to the reservation data field in S706. Thereafter, the process transitions to step S705.

  In S705, the object arbitration unit 115 determines whether the processing for the drawing objects in all the inquiries has been completed. If not completed (NO in S705), the process returns to S703. On the other hand, if it has been completed (YES in step S705), the object arbitration unit 115 returns the state of drawing objects in all the inquiries to the rendering control unit 111 in step S707.

  In addition, when the rendering control unit 111 extracts the display list of the “processed” drawing objects from the other rendering units in S <b> 314 of FIG. 3, the following process is performed. That is, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to delete the information of the rendering control unit from the reserved data field of the drawing object to be taken out.

  Similarly, also in S312 of FIG. 3, when the rendering control unit 111 generates the display list, it instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to delete the rendering control unit 111 from the reserved data field of the generated drawing object.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of deleting the display list based on the number of reservations in the rendering control unit 111, and is a process corresponding to S311 of the rendering process in the rendering unit 104 of FIG.

  In step S801, the rendering control unit 111 determines whether the capacity necessary for storing the generated display list in the cache storage unit 114 is sufficient. If the capacity is sufficient (YES in step S801), the rendering control unit 111 stores the generated display list in the cache storage unit 114 in step S802.

  On the other hand, when the capacity is insufficient (NO in S801), in S803, the rendering control unit 111 causes the object arbitration unit 115 to turn off the flag for reservation about the state of drawing objects of all the stored display lists. Ask and ask. In step S804, the rendering control unit 111 determines from the response to the inquiry whether there is a drawing object in which the rendering control unit is not included in the reserved data field. If there is a drawing object (YES in S804), in S805, the rendering control unit 111 deletes all display lists of drawing objects for which a reserved control field is not included in the reserved data field from the cache storage unit 114. On the other hand, if there is no drawing object (NO in S804), the rendering control unit 111 deletes one display list of drawing objects in S806.

  In step S807, the rendering control unit 111 instructs the object arbitration unit 115 to set the state of the drawing object in the display list deleted in step S805 or S806 to "unprocessed". Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S801.

  FIG. 9 shows information (management table) held by the object arbitration unit 115 at the time of the inquiry 545 in FIG. 901 to 904 are data fields. An object ID 901 is generated by the object ID generation unit 112. 902 is the state of the drawing object. Reference numeral 903 denotes a URL for extracting a drawing object from another rendering unit. A reservation data field 904 stores reservation information, and stores information for identifying a plurality of rendering control units. The information for identifying the rendering control unit may be an IP address or a MAC address. Note that these are merely examples, and other information may be used.

  In FIG. 9, the object including the rendering control unit in the reserved data field is ObjectA. Objects for which the reserved data field does not include a rendering control unit are Object B, Object C, and Object D. Therefore, when the capacity necessary for saving in the cache saving unit 114 is insufficient in the renderer 1 which is the rendering control unit, the display list of Object B is deleted.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when the rendering unit does not have enough capacity to hold the processing result, the processing result that is not scheduled to be used by another rendering unit is preferentially deleted. This makes it possible to lower the probability of deleting the processing result to be used, and to increase the probability of using the drawing object without processing it.

(Other embodiments)
The basic configuration of the present invention is not limited to the one described above. For example, in the embodiment described above, one printing apparatus is provided and a plurality of rendering units are provided, but a plurality of printing apparatuses may be provided. For example, each printing device may include one or more rendering units. Also in this case, by sharing the processing status and the processing result of objects and pages with a plurality of printing apparatuses, it is possible to suppress duplicate processing of common data from being executed. By distributing cache data to a plurality of printing apparatuses, it is possible to reduce the memory capacity of one cache data, and to hold data of a large capacity.

  The functions of the above embodiments can also be realized by the following configuration. That is, program code for performing the processing of this embodiment is supplied to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus executes the program code. In this case, the program code itself read out from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code also implements the functions of the present embodiment.

  Further, the program code for realizing the functions of the present embodiment may be executed by one computer (CPU, MPU), or may be executed by cooperation of a plurality of computers. It is also good. Furthermore, the program code may be executed by a computer, or hardware such as a circuit for realizing the function of the program code may be provided. Alternatively, part of the program code may be implemented by hardware, and the remaining part may be executed by a computer.

  101: external device, 102: printing device, 103: control unit, 104: rendering unit, 105: user interface unit, 106: printer engine unit, 115: object arbitration unit

Claims (8)

A first rendering unit that performs the generation processing and rendering of the intermediate data based on the first unit data, and a generation process and rendering process of the intermediate data based on the second unit data different from the first data blocks A plurality of rendering units including a second rendering unit to perform ;
And managing means for managing processing states of a plurality of drawing objects included in the first unit data and the second unit data ,
In the case where each of the first unit data and the second unit data includes a first drawing object and a second drawing object different from the first drawing object,
The second rendering unit is responsive to indicate that both the generation process of the intermediate data based on the first drawing object and the generation process of the intermediate data based on the second drawing object are in a processed state. When acquired from the management means, the second rendering unit is configured to use the intermediate data based on the first drawing object processed in the first rendering unit and the intermediate data based on the second drawing object also in the second rendering unit. Obtaining intermediate data based on one drawing object and intermediate data based on the second drawing object,
The second rendering unit indicates that the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object is in processing, and the process of generating the intermediate data based on the second drawing object is not processed. When a response indicating that there is a response is acquired from the management means, the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object in the state being processed by the first rendering unit is not waited until it is processed. Starting generation processing of the intermediate data based on the second drawing object in an unprocessed state,
A printing apparatus characterized by The second rendering unit determines whether the response acquired from the managing unit includes that the generation process of the intermediate data is not processed, and as a result of the determination, determines that it is included. In this case, based on the second drawing object in the unprocessed state, without waiting for the generation processing of the intermediate data based on the first drawing object in the processing state by the first rendering unit to be processed. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein generation processing of the intermediate data is started. It said management means, printing according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in the further management to Turkey the access information for the plurality of rendering unit respectively acquires the intermediate data based on the drawing object status processed apparatus. It said management means according to claim 3, wherein the first with the passage of the drawing object and the second drawing picture object in each process, and to update the process state of the respective drawing objects are managed Printing device. In the plurality of rendering unit their respective, the intermediate data if the intermediate data generated is removed by the generation process of the management unit, and to update the process state of the corresponding drawing object The printing apparatus according to claim 4 . It said management means further manages inquiries reservation of the drawing object from the plurality of rendering unit respectively,
When the capacity of the cache storing the intermediate data generated by the generation process of the intermediate data is insufficient, each of the plurality of rendering units is based on the presence or absence of the reservation for the drawing object managed by the management unit. Delete the intermediate data generated by the generation process of the intermediate data from the cache
The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , characterized in that: A first rendering unit that performs the generation processing and rendering of the intermediate data based on the first unit data, and a generation process and rendering process of the intermediate data based on the second unit data different from the first data blocks And a second rendering unit to perform the processing method executed by the printing apparatus including the plurality of rendering units.
A management step of managing processing states of a plurality of drawing objects included in the first unit data and the second unit data ,
In the case where each of the first unit data and the second unit data includes a first drawing object and a second drawing object different from the first drawing object,
In the second rendering unit, a response indicating that both the generation processing of the intermediate data based on the first drawing object and the generation processing of the intermediate data based on the second drawing object are in a processed state When acquired in the management step, the second rendering unit is configured to use the intermediate data based on the first drawing object processed in the first rendering unit and the intermediate data based on the second drawing object also in the second rendering unit. Obtaining intermediate data based on one drawing object and intermediate data based on the second drawing object,
The second rendering unit indicates that the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object is in processing, and the process of generating the intermediate data based on the second drawing object is not processed. When a response indicating that there is a response is acquired in the management process, the process does not wait for the process of generating the intermediate data based on the first drawing object in the process being processed by the first rendering unit. Starting generation processing of the intermediate data based on the second drawing object in an unprocessed state,
A processing method characterized by The program for functioning a computer as each means of the printing apparatus of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6 .

Images