JPH03253977A - Suffering system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the high-speed processing by buffering data after converting plural kinds of picture data different in data form to run length data of a standardized form. CONSTITUTION:Vector data is inputted to a vector/run length converting means 2 through an interface circuit 1 and is converted to run length data by this means 2, and scanner data outputted from an image scanner or the like is inputted through an interface circuit 3, and FAX data is inputted to a compressed data/run length converting means 5 through an interface circuit 4 in a form of MH, MR, MMR, or the like, and run length data outputted from the vector/run length converting means 2, the interface circuit 3, and the compressed data/run length converting means 5 are systematically stored in a run length buffer 6. The output of a sort/merge means 7 is supplied to a run length/ bit map converting means 8 and is given to a raster type printer 9. Thus, the high-speed processing is possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Fields] The present invention is applicable to inputting image data output from various image output devices such as CAD, FAX, and scanners, and outputting it to a rask-type output device, etc. Regarding buffering methods.

[Prior Art] In recent years, systems for creating and editing drawings, documents, etc., storing them in the form of electronic information, or printing them out have become extremely popular. Some systems of this type include CAD1
Devices have also been developed that allow image data provided from various image output devices such as image scanners and FAXs to be taken in and saved or output as one file data.

Incidentally, the formats of image data provided by these various image output devices are usually different.

For example, image data from a CAD system is vector data, image data from an image scanner is bitmap data, and image data from a FAX is MH.

The data is compression encoded data such as MR.

Therefore, when importing multiple types of image data with different data formats and uniformly saving and outputting them,
It is necessary to unify data formats.

For this reason, conventionally, for example, all of these image data are converted into bitmap data, buffered once in a bitmap memory, and then outputted to a rask-type output device or the like.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional buffering method described above, it is necessary to provide a conversion means for converting each image data into bitmap data for each data format. Also,
There are problems in that it takes time to convert to bitmap data, and a large amount of bitmap data must be provided in order to buffer the converted bitmap data.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a buffering method that can simplify conversion means, perform high-speed processing, and reduce the capacity of a buffer memory.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The buffering method according to the present invention converts a plurality of types of image data with different data formats into run-length data in a unified format, and uniformly stores the data in a run-length buffer. After that, the data is output to a predetermined processing device.

[Operations] According to the present invention, multiple types of image data with different data formats, such as vector data, bitmap data, and compression-encoded data such as MHlMR, are all converted into run-length data in a unified format. . In this case, it is extremely easy to convert data generated based on raster data, such as bitmap data and compression-encoded data such as MHlMR, into run-length data. Conversion to data can be performed with fewer writes to the run-length buffer, allowing high-speed processing.

By converting image data in various formats into run-length data in this way and uniformly storing it in the run-length buffer, subsequent processing can be unified, and the overall configuration of the conversion means can be simplified. It can be simplified.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since buffering is performed in units of run-length data, the buffer capacity can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional method of buffering in bitmap data.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a data conversion device to which a buffering method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

Vector data output from a CAD or the like is input to a vector run length conversion means 2 via an interface circuit 1. The vector/run length conversion means 2 converts input vector data into run length data. Further, scanner data output from an image scanner or the like is inputted via the interface circuit 3 in the form of run-length data, for example. Furthermore, the FAX data is sent to the interface circuit 4 in the format of MHlMR, MMR, etc.
The compressed data is inputted to the compressed data/run length converting means 5 via. The compressed data/run length conversion means 5 is comprised of a known compression/expansion processor (CEP), and converts the input compressed encoded data into run length data. Then, vector run length conversion means 2, interface circuit 3, and compressed data run length conversion means 5
The run-length data outputted from each of the run-length data are unified and stored in the run-length buffer 6.

The run length data stored in the run length buffer 6 is supplied to a sorting/merging means 7. The sorting/merging means 7 sorts and merges the run range data to make it suitable for raster scanning. The output of the sorting/merging means 7 is supplied to a run length/bitmap converting means 8. The run-length bitmap conversion means 8 sequentially converts the run-length booter into raster data according to the reference clock. The output of the run-length/bitmap data converting means 8 is applied to a raster type printer 9 such as an electrostatic plotter, a thermal printer, a laser beam printer, a CRT display device, or the like.

In the above configuration, the vector/run length conversion means 2, the sort/merge means 7, and the run length/bitmap conversion means 8 may be configured only by hardware or may be configured by a microcomputer and software. good.

Next, the operation of this apparatus configured as described above will be explained.

The vector data is transferred to the vector via the interface circuit 1.
When input to the run-length conversion means 2, the vector/run-length conversion means 2 converts the vector data into run-length data according to the following algorithm.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are flowcharts showing this algorithm, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a dot array corresponding to run length data generated by this algorithm. Note that here, the Y-axis direction is set to the rask direction.

First, as vector data, two points P as shown in Fig.
1. When the coordinate values (xzyt) and (X21Y2) of P2 are given, the vector run length conversion means 2 calculates the distances dx and dy in the X-axis direction and Y-axis direction between the two-legged species (St) .

In the example of FIG. 3, dx=5 and dy=16 are calculated.

If dX is not O, slope d=d'5'/d
Calculate x S2. S3), if d has a decimal part, set n s = d N n 2 = d + 1,
If d has no decimal part, set n+ = n2 = d (
S3. S4. S5). Also, if dx is O,
In order to generate run length data of length dy extending in the Y-axis direction, nt = n2 = dV (S2.
S.). In the example of Fig. 3, dx=5, dY=16, so d=1615=3.2, n I=3, n*=
It becomes 4. Therefore, in this case, unless both ends of the vector are excluded, run length data of three consecutive dots or four consecutive dots is sequentially written.

Therefore, first, run length data at the starting point is generated. At both end points P, . That is, nl.

While subtracting n2 by one, the coordinate values Xs+yt of the starting point P1 are respectively substituted for XIY (S7), and (n2+1)/2 is substituted for the number of dots (S8). Then, it is determined whether the number of dots K is too long using the following discriminant (S8).

2.dx@K>dY (1) If the number of dots is too long, reduce K by one to correct the error (Sso). In the example in Figure 3, X=O+ y=o+
K=2 is assigned to each.

Then, +1 run length data is output in the y direction from the position (x+y) (S□1). In addition, in FIG. 2, such a run length output command is referred to as “Pixe”.
As a result, a run length of 2 dots is generated at the starting point P1 in FIG. 3, and run length data (0, 0, 2 ) is written. When the run length data is written, X is incremented by one and y is incremented by +1 (St□).

Next, a run length in the middle of the vector is generated. First, substitute n2 for K (S2□), and use the following discriminant to determine whether the number of dots K is too long (823
).

2・dx (y+K)>ciy (2・X+1)...
(2) Only when it is determined that the dot row K is too long, nl is substituted for K (S24). Next, (x,
+1 run length data is output in the y direction from the position Y) (S25). In the example in Figure 4, (1, 2)
A run length of 3 dots is generated from the position of , and the run length data (1, 2, 3) is stored in the run length buffer 6.
is written. Once the run length data has been written,
increments by one and increments y by +1 (
S2e). In the intermediate part, this process is repeated until X reaches X2 (S21).

Finally, at the end point position, y2-y is substituted into the dot row K (82□), and run length data of +1 is output in the y direction from the position (XI y) (828).

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a run length of 2 dots is generated from the position (5, 15), and run length data (5, 15, 2) is written to the run length buffer 6.

By performing the above processing, the run length buffer 6
Run-length data as shown in FIG. 4 will be written in . In addition, the data in Fig. 3 is converted into the conventional D D
A (digital differential)
When converting using the Nalyzer) algorithm, it is necessary to write data to the bitmap memory 16 times, but according to the algorithm of this embodiment, the conversion process is completed by writing data to the run-length buffer 6 six times. can do. In particular, significant effects can be expected for vector data that includes many horizontal lines, straight lines with small slopes, thick lines, and the like.

On the other hand, run length data from the scanner is directly stored in the run length buffer 6 via the interface circuit 3.

Furthermore, compressed encoded data from FAX is compressed data.
It is converted into a run length stator by the run length conversion means 5 and stored in the run length buffer 6.

As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. Run length data as shown in FIG. 6(a) is stored.

Therefore, the contents of the run-length buffer 6 are sorted by the sort/merger means 7 in the coordinate order along the scanning line, and the overlapping portions are merged and sequentially supplied to the run-length/bitmap converter 8. be done.

The run-length bitmap conversion means 8 includes, for example, the seventh
It can be configured with a circuit as shown in the figure. That is,
The run length data provided in coordinate order along the scan line is F I F O (FirstIn Flrst
out) After being stored in the memory 11, it is input to the dot string generation circuit 12. The dot row generation circuit 12 is supplied with the output of a pixel counter 14 that counts up in response to a reference clock signal from a clock generation circuit 13. The dot string generation circuit 12 compares the output of the pixel counter 14 with the run occurrence position data in the run length data to determine black and white, thereby outputting a dot string signal synchronized with the reference clock. This dot string signal is converted into, for example, 32-bit parallel data in a serial-parallel conversion circuit 15, and outputted to a Rask type printer 9 or the like via a FIFO memory 16.

In this manner, according to this embodiment, vector data, scanner data, and FAX data are all converted into run-length data in a unified format. Among these, conversion from vector data to run-length data can be realized with a small number of writes to the run-length buffer 6, so high-speed conversion processing is possible. Furthermore, other data formats can be converted to run-length buffers very easily using known techniques. Moreover, in this case, since buffering is performed uniformly in the form of run-length data, the capacity of the buffer memory can be significantly reduced.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, a small-capacity bitmap memory capable of holding several lines of data may be provided after the run-length bitmap conversion means 8.

It is also possible to use an SRAM (static RAM) with a capacity for one scanning line to sort and merge the data in the run-length buffer γθ and simultaneously convert it into raster data. This process is shown in FIG. That is, for each scanning line indicated by X, run length data (x+:L*) (where * is an arbitrary value) of the corresponding line is extracted from the run length buffer 6 (S34). The extracted data is (x + y +
m), dot data is written to address y to address y0m-1 of SRAM.<(835)
.

When all the run length data of the corresponding line has been written to the SRAM in the form of a bitmap (S33), S
Converts the contents of RAM to raster data and outputs it (S
,,). Do this for all scanlines (
S3-9S3□) allows run-length bitmap conversion to be performed using one to several lines of memory.

Note that the format of the run length data is not limited to the one illustrated, but may also be one that specifies the starting and ending positions of the dot array. Regardless of the format, in the case of A4 to AO practical drawings, run length data can be expressed in 32 bits = 1 word, and can be processed by a general-purpose CPU.

Further, the image data to be captured may be image data from another storage medium. Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable to an input section of an image data filing system.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, multiple types of image data with different data formats are converted into run-length data of a unified format and buffered, so the bit Compared to the conventional method of buffering map data, this method enables high-speed processing and significantly reduces buffer capacity.

In addition, by converting image data in various formats into run-length data and storing the data uniformly in the run-length buffer in this way, subsequent processing can be unified, and the configuration of the conversion means can be simplified. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conversion device applying a buffer method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a vector run-length conversion procedure in the same device, and FIG.
The figure is a schematic diagram showing a dot string generated by the same conversion procedure, Figure 4 is a diagram showing run length data generated by the same conversion procedure and stored in the run length buffer, and Figure 5 is a diagram showing the intersection of multiple straight lines. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing run-length data before and after processing by the sorting/merging means in the same device. FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram of the run-length/bitmap converting means in the same device. 8
The figure is a flowchart showing a run-length raster conversion procedure in a conversion apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 1.3, 4; interface circuit; 2; vector run length conversion means; 5; compressed data run length conversion means; 6; run length buffer; 7; sorting and merging means; 8; run length bitmap conversion means; 9; Raster type printer, 11° 18; FIFO memory, 12;
Dot row generation circuit, 13; Clock generation circuit, 14; Pixel counter, 15; Serial-to-parallel conversion circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A buffer characterized by converting multiple types of image data with different data formats into run-length data in a unified format, storing the data uniformly in a run-length buffer, and then outputting the data to a predetermined processing device. Ring method.