JPH05258026A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arbitrarily know a transferred object picture, and to easily confirm the state of picture transfer processing executed in the inside at the time when a picture processing server transfers the picture between picture input/output machines or optical disk devices in response to the request of an application in a client server system to handle the picture. CONSTITUTION:In the processor constituted of plural applications 22a,... to request the processing of the picture and picture processing servers 21a,... to control plural picture input/output machines or the optical disk devices, and execute the processing of the picture in response to the request from the application 22a,... by using these machines, the transferred object picture is displayed on a designated display area in parallel with the transfer of the picture only by designating the display area and setting a specified flag at the time of when the application 22a,... issues a picture transfer request command.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus in which a plurality of applications jointly use an image processing server to perform image processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, many systems utilize a server / client method to perform processing. The server-client system is a system in which a server and a client connected via one computer or via a communication line such as a LAN exchange information and proceed with processing. For example, engineering workstation EW
It is used by S.

A system in which such a server-client system is adopted and a plurality of clients use one server is often used. The client is an application program or application. The work is not done only by the application, but by asking the server for a small and commonly used work called a job. In other words, the application configures some of its tasks with jobs,
Perform jobs by requesting jobs from the server.

An example of this is JP-A-2-231626.
The server / client method is shown in the issue. This server controls a bitmap display which is a display device. Then, the client is shown to receive the information from the server to perform the work.

When such a client / server system is adopted and a plurality of applications cooperate to perform work, when processing an image accompanied by transfer of image data,
As a method of confirming the progress of image processing, an application for displaying on a display device is created, and the application controls both image transfer and image display confirmation.

Also, Even in the case of transfer processing that does not need to be displayed on the display device, it is necessary to create a program as an application for displaying on the display device in order to confirm and debug the image to be processed.

Therefore, conventionally, when processing such as image enlargement, reduction, rotation, and affine transformation accompanied by image transfer is carried out, in order to know and confirm the progress of the processing, the image in the middle of processing is displayed on the display device. The application to be displayed must be created separately from the originally required image processing program, and the application must control the transfer, processing, and display of the image. In addition, the flow of processing of the application has to be changed depending on whether the application is displayed or not.

[0008]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the image processing server transfers an image between the image input / output device and the image storage device in response to the request of the application, the transfer target image is arbitrarily set. It removes the disadvantage that the state of image transfer processing that is being performed internally cannot be easily confirmed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of arbitrarily knowing a transfer target image at the time of image transfer and easily confirming the state of the image transfer processing internally executed.

[0009]

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of control units for requesting image processing, and is connected to these control units as they are or via a communication line. An image processing unit that controls an output device and an image storage device and uses these devices to process an image in response to a request from the control unit.
The control unit is provided with an output unit that outputs a request to display an image to be transferred together with a request for image transfer between image input / output devices and image storage devices, and the image processing unit is configured to output from the output unit of the control unit. A receiving unit that receives an image transfer request and a display target image display request, and an image transfer between the image input / output device and the image storage device according to the image transfer request received by the receiving unit, and the transfer target image And processing means for displaying.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in the above-described structure, a plurality of control units requesting image processing are connected to these control units as they are or via a communication line. An image processing unit that controls an image storage device and uses these devices to process an image in response to a request from the control unit, wherein the control unit includes an image input / output device and an image storage device. A request to display an image to be transferred is output together with a request to transfer an image between them, and the image processing unit accepts the request to transfer the image and the request to display the image to be transferred from the control unit, and the received request for image transfer is received. According to the above, the image transfer between the image input / output device and the image storage device is executed, and the transfer target image is displayed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an image processing system according to the present invention. A plurality of image processing devices (nodes) 1 are provided.
, a, 1b, 1c, ... Are connected via a communication line 2 such as a LAN. The image processing devices 1a, ... Are devices that process and store images and other information therein.

The image processing apparatus 1a has a central control processing unit (CPU) therein, as shown in FIG. The CPU 3 controls the entire image processing apparatus 1a. In this image processing apparatus 1a, the CPU 3 is connected with a first interface 4, a main memory 5, a page memory 6, a display memory 7, an image processing unit 8, a second interface 9 and a communication interface 10 via a system bus 11. ing.

The system bus 11 transmits information between the above devices and the CPU 3. A keyboard 12, a mouse 13, and a magnetic disk device 14 are connected to the first interface 4. The first interface 4 mainly controls the input / output of devices related to the man-machine interface. The first interface 4 sends information input from the keyboard 12, mouse 13 and magnetic disk device 14 to the system bus 11.

The information sent from the system bus 11 is sent to each keyboard 12, mouse 13 and magnetic disk device 14. Further, the main memory 5 stores programs and data for controlling the image processing apparatus 1, data used temporarily, and the like. Page memory 6
The data such as the image handled by the image processing apparatus 1 is temporarily stored in. A display device 15 such as a CRT is connected to the display memory 7, and data to be displayed on the display device 15 is stored therein.

The image processing unit 8 is a unit for performing image processing such as encoding, decoding, linear density conversion, enlargement and reduction of image data handled by the page memory 6 and the display memory 7. An optical disk driver 17, a scanner 18, and a printer 19 that drive the optical disk 16 are connected to the second interface 9. The second interface 9 mainly controls input / output of image information.

The communication interface 10 controls transmission / reception of communication signals to / from the communication line 2. The main memory 5, page memory 6, display memory 7, image processing unit 8, second interface 9, and communication interface 10 that handle images are connected via an image bus 20. The image bus 20 transmits the image information for each layer replacement. Since the image information is usually enormous, the transmission and reception on the system bus 11 causes the system bus 11 to become crowded. Therefore, the image bus 20 is provided in order to efficiently transmit the image information. The image bus 20 has a bit width wider than that of the system bus 11 for strengthening. Further, the other image processing apparatuses 1b, ... Have the same configuration as the image processing apparatus 1a.

Thereafter, "a" is added to each part of the image processing apparatus 1a such as an optical disk 16a, and "b" is added to each part of the image processing apparatus 1b such as an optical disk 16b. Optical disk 16c in each part
As such, "c" is added for the description.

The image processing apparatuses 1a, ... As an example, U, which is a multi-user, multi-task OS (operation system) as an operating system, is used.
NIX (ATT trademark) is used. In addition, the communication line 2 uses Ethernet (trademark of Xerox Co., Ltd.)
It uses the CP / IP protocol.

In the image processing apparatuses 1a, ..., The program is used in the server-client method. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram (a schematic configuration diagram of software) of a program in the server client system of the image processing apparatuses 1a, ....

That is, the image processing apparatuses 1a, 1b, 1
Since c, ... Use a multi-user, multi-task OS, a plurality of programs are used at the same time. In the image processing apparatuses 1a, ..., Image processing servers 21a, 21b, 21c, ..., Application clients (applications) 22a, 22b, 22c ,.
, And the programs of the communication means 23a, 23b, 23c, ... Are operating. The application 22a,
22b, 22c, ... Respectively are the respective image processing apparatuses 1a,
Multiple may be used for each.

The image processing servers 21a, ... And the applications 22a, ... Send and receive signal information to and from the communication means 23a ,. In addition, the image processing server 21a,
... and applications 22a, ... send and receive signals to and from each other via communication means 23a ,.

The image processing server 21a (21b, ...)
This program specializes in image processing. This image processing server 21a (21b, ...)
Processing is performed by requesting image processing from 2a, 22b, .... The operation of this image processing server 21a is as follows.
The image bus 20 in the image processing apparatus 1a shown in FIG.
The activities involved in are central. The image processing server 21a,
.. have job execution units 29a, ... Which respectively execute actual jobs.

As an operation example of the image processing server 21a, an image is read by the scanner 18a and the image information is sent to the page memory 6a. Another operation is to read the image information stored in the optical disc 16a and send it to the printer 19a.

As another example, the image information stored in the page memory 6a is sent to the printer 19a, and as another example, the image is read by the scanner 18a and the image information is sent to the optical disk 16a.

As another example, the image information stored in the page memory 6a is sent to the optical disc 16a. As another example, the image information stored in the optical disk 16a is read and sent to the page memory 6a.

The above is an example of the operation of the image processing server 21a. A plurality of applications 22a may operate. An example of this application 22a is to receive input from the keyboard 12a and mouse 13a, read a specific image stored in the optical disc 16a to the image processing server 21a, and output it to the printer 19a.

Further, the image processing server 21a, ... Issuing a request for a job involving image transfer simply sets specific parameters and displays the image to be processed on the display device 15a.
It also has a function to display. That is, it has the capability of simultaneously driving a plurality of transfer paths in parallel in the execution of image transfer, and a control mechanism (monitoring function) for turning this on and off.

Further, the communication means 23a communicates with the communication means 23b, 23c, ... Of the other image processing apparatuses 1b, 1c, ... Connected on the communication line 2 via the communication line 2. The communication unit 23a communicates information with the image processing server 21a and the application 22a in the image processing apparatus 1a, and between the image processing apparatus 1a and other image processing apparatuses 1b, 1c ,. It also communicates information.

Further, the application 22a transfers the image information stored in the optical disk 16b to the printer 19.
When the image processing server 21a is requested to output to c, the image processing server 21a recognizes that the optical disk 16b and the printer 19c are in the other image processing apparatuses 1b and 1c.

As a result, the image processing server 21a sends an image output request to the image processing server 21b and the image processing server 21c. As a result, the image information stored in the optical disc 16b is sent to the image processing server 21c via the image processing server 21b, the communication means 23b, the communication line 2 and the communication means 23c. Then, the image processing server 21
It is output from the printer 19c by c.

Next, the application 22a shown in FIG.
An example of (22b, ...) Is shown. This application 2
Reference numeral 2a (22b, ...) Is a program for performing image processing, and requests the image processing server 21a (21b, ...) For an operation (job) required for specific image input processing and the like. A flow chart of an example of the operation of the application 22a (22b, ...) Is shown in FIG.

In the example of this program, the scanner 18a
This is an example in which the image read in 1 and the image read from the optical disc 16a are combined and the combined image is output from the printer 19a. The application 22a is activated by the operator operating the keyboard 12 and the mouse 13.

The application 22a is selected by the operator as data from which an image is input. Here, the operator selects the data of the scanner 18a and the image data of one page having the specific file in the optical disc 16a (ST1).

Next, the application 22a needs two jobs, a job which is an image input operation from the scanner 18a to the page memory 6a and a job which is an image input operation from the optical disc 16a to the page memory 6a. Here, the application 22a requests the two jobs to the image processing server 21a, which is a program that specializes in image processing.

First, the application 22a requests the scanner 18a to send an image to the page memory 6a (ST2). At the same time, the application 22a
Requests to send the image from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a (ST3). Here, the OS of the image processing apparatus 1 is a multi-user multi-task OS,
Since the hardware can perform parallel processing, the scanner 18
The job of reading an image from page a to the page memory 6a and the job of reading an image from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a are performed in parallel.

Therefore, step 2 and step 3 are illustrated in parallel in the flowchart of FIG. In this job, the image is read at different addresses in the page memory 6a.

Next, the application 22a knows from the image processing server 21a that the reading of the image is completed by both the scanner 18a and the optical disk 16a. Then, the application 22a synthesizes the read image next. In this image composition, an area for storing the image after the image composition is taken in the page memory 6a.

Then, the image read by the scanner 18a and the image read by the optical disk 16a are combined,
A new image is created on the page memory 6a. The operation of this application 22a is step 4.

Next, the application 22a outputs the combined image to the printer 19a. In this processing, the application 22a is a job and the image processing server 2
Ask 1a. The output from the printer 19a is processed by the image processing server 21a as a job (ST
5). After the image is output from the printer 19a, the end is confirmed (ST6), and when the process is required again, the process returns to step 1.

As described above, in the image processing apparatus 1a,
When the necessary application 22a is activated, the image processing server 21a is activated in the application 22a.
Is used. As in this example, three jobs are requested to the image processing server 21a in one application 22a.

As described above, in the server client system,
The applications 22a (22a, ...) And the image processing server 21a exist on a plurality of image processing apparatuses (nodes) 1a, ... Connected to each other by a communication line 2 such as a LAN.
Therefore, when information is transmitted and received via the communication means 23a, both the information transmission side and the information reception side
First, it is necessary to specify the target image processing apparatuses 1b, ....

A node I for identifying a specific node from a plurality of nodes 1a, ...
D (identification number) node-id is defined. If the node ID is given, the node is uniquely specified. For example, in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatuses 1a and 1b connected by the communication line 2,
1c, ... Are node IDs (1
00, 200, 300, ...).

User ID (identification number) user-id
(10, 20, 30, ...), Group ID (identification number)
The group-id (1000, 2000, 3000, ...) Is given to a user (operator) who uses the image forming apparatus (1a, ...). When the user uses the image forming apparatus (1a, ...), the image forming apparatus (1a, ...)
To the user ID and group ID.

The user IDs and group IDs of the applications (22a, ...) Are not predetermined when designing the application, but the user IDs and group IDs of the users who have executed the applications are the user IDs of the application, It becomes the group ID.

For example, users "a", "b", and "b" are assigned to two groups "A" and "B", respectively.
It is assumed that there are three users, “c” and users “x”, “y”, and “z”. (A: a, b, c,
B: x, y, z)

When the user "a" executes the search application and the user "b" executes the editing application, the search application displays the user ID of the user "a" and the group "A". User I who has ID and editing application is user "b"
It has a group ID of D and a group "A".

As described above, the two applications having the same group ID are set at the time of executing the applications so that they can work together. That is, the permissions are set so that the users can work together. Further, permissions are set for other group IDs so that they do not cooperate.

[0049]

[Table 1] In Table 1, the applications 22a, ... Are image processing servers 2
1A, ... Is an example of a command issued when requesting processing.

Commands related to start and end of use of the image processing service, commands related to image transfer request,
There are commands related to image input / output requests, commands related to job execution status inquiry, commands related to job control, and commands related to job completion notification control. Each command has job-control information parameter job-para and job return parameter job- as common parameters.
needs resp.

The job control information parameter is a node ID node-id as request source information for specifying the request source,
Group ID group-id, user ID user-id, application ID (identification number) apl-id, job ID job-id for identifying a job, job control flag job-cn
It is a structured parameter group that includes tl and other information.

The job control flag is provided with a monitoring flag. When the monitoring flag is on, a monitoring function described later operates, and when the monitoring flag is off, the monitoring function does not operate.

The job return parameter is the job ID
(Identification number) job-id, job status job-status, substatus sub-status, page memory ID (identification number) pm-key, number of input images, number of output images, and other structured information It is a parameter group.

The job status includes job acceptance completion, source device reservation completion, destination device reservation completion, page memory reservation completion, page memory release completion, input completion, output completion, job completion, and the like. The sub statuses are: request to another node, waiting, executing, waiting for interruption, interrupting, interrupting (error), waiting for cancellation,
There are suspensions, waiting for resumption, etc. The applications 22a, ... Which are going to use the image processing service issue a usage start request command Cmd-Start to the image processing servers 21a ,.

At this time, the applications 22a, ...
Image processing server 21 trying to receive image processing service
A node I that identifies its own node 1a, ...
D, a group ID for specifying a group of applications 22a, ... Which perform processing in cooperation when performing cooperative processing, and a user ID for specifying the type of work are given as job control information parameters.

The applications 22a, ... Set these parameters on the main memory 5a, ... And issue a usage start request command to the image processing servers 21a ,. Upon receiving the use start request command, the image processing servers 21a, ... Receive the above parameters from the main memory 5a ,.

The image processing servers 21a, ...
(Identification number) apl-id, job return parameter, and status are returned to the applications 22a, ....

The applications 22a, ... Which are going to end the use of the image processing service issue a use end request command Cmd-End to the image processing servers 21a ,. The use end request command has a job control information parameter and a job return parameter as parameters.

The applications 22a, ... Are node I
D, group ID, user ID and image processing server 2
Designate the application ID obtained as a response to the use start request command from 1a, .... All associated resources are released.

In principle, the commands relating to the image input / output request are the job control information parameter and the source (input side).
Information, destination (output side) information, and job return parameters.

Scanner mode setting command Cmd-Scn-Mode
Has a job control information parameter, a scanner parameter scn-para, and a job return parameter as parameters. The scanner parameter is a structured parameter group relating to the scanners 18a, ...
Device node ID (identification information) of a, ... dev-node-id
, Device type dev-type, device ID dev-id, device name dev-name, scanner mode scn-mode, and the like.

The scanner mode is a set of an identifier of a mode to be set and a value to be set, and the resolution, the gray value, and the document size are selected as the mode and the respective values are designated. How many kinds of modes are specified depends on the number of settings
Specify with.

The scanner input command Cmd-ScnPm has a job control information parameter, a scanner parameter, a page memory parameter pm-para, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The scanner parameter has the same meaning as the scanner mode setting. The page memory parameter is a structured parameter group for the page memory 6a, ..., The page memory ID pm-key, the image size pm-wid.
Specify th, pm-height, etc.

Printer mode setting command Cmd-PrnMode
Has a job control information parameter, a printer parameter prn-para, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The printer parameter prn-para is a structured parameter group relating to the printers 19a, ..., And the device node ID, device type, device ID, device name, printer mode of the printers 19a ,.
Includes prn-mode etc.

The printer mode is a set of the identifier of the mode to be set and the value to be set, and the paper size and the number of copies are selected as the mode and the respective values are designated. How many kinds of modes are specified is specified by the set count.

The printer output command Cmd-Pm-Prn has job control information parameters, page memory parameters, printer parameters, and job return parameters as parameters.

The page memory parameter is a structured parameter group relating to the page memories 6a, ...
Page memory I containing the image to be printed out
D, image size, etc. are designated. The page memory parameter has the same meaning as the printer mode setting.

The optical disk search command Cmd-Odd-Pm is used to retrieve the images searched from the optical disks 16a ,.
Store in a, ... It has a job control information parameter, an optical disc parameter odd-para, a page memory parameter, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The optical disc parameter odd-para is a structured parameter group relating to the optical discs 16a, ..., The device node IDs of the optical discs 16a, ..., The number of cabinet information cabinet-count, the number of search records record-count, Search record number including record-no etc. The page memory parameter is the optical disc 16
The page memories 6a, ... For storing the images obtained as a result of the search for a ,.

The optical disk registration command Cmd-Pm-Odd registers the images on the page memories 6a, ... On the optical disks 16a ,. Job control information parameter, page memory parameter, optical disc parameter,
It has a job return parameter.

Page memory copy transfer command Cmd-Pm-Pm
Transfers the designated partial image of the image on the page memory 6a, ... Specified by the job control information parameter to the separately designated page memory 6a ,. As a parameter, a job control information parameter, two types of first,
It has a second page memory parameter pm-para1, pm-para2 and a job return parameter. The first page memory parameter specifies the page memory ID and the image size for the copy source page memories 6a, .... The second page memory parameter specifies the page memory ID and the image size for the copy destination page memory 6a, .... The partial image can be enlarged or reduced depending on the relationship between the image sizes of the two.

Job status inquiry command Cmd-Job-Status
Is the image processing server 21.
This is a command for inquiring the execution status of the requested job for a, .... It has a job control information parameter and a job status parameter as parameters. The specified job ID, job status, sub status, etc. are returned in the job status parameter.

As for the execution status, the job status includes job acceptance completion, source device reservation completion in progress, destination device reservation completion, page memory reservation completion, input completion,
There are output completion and job completion, and the sub statuses are running, waiting, interrupted, error interrupted, interrupt wait, abort wait, restart wait, and end.

Job number inquiry command Cmd-Job-Number
Is an application 22a, ... Is the image processing server 21
This is a command for inquiring a list of requested job numbers for a, .... It has a job control information parameter and a job number job-number as parameters.

For the job number, the application 22a, which issued this command, ... Is the image processing server 21a,
The job number (Job I)
D) A list is returned. Commands related to job control are
It has a job control information parameter and a job return parameter as common parameters.

Job suspension request command Cmd-Job-Suspend
Is a command that requests the image processing servers 21a, ... To suspend the job of the specified job ID. Job ID to be interrupted by the job control information parameter
Is specified. The status of the processing result of the job suspension request command is returned to the job return parameter.

Job Cancel Request Command Cmd-Job-Cancel
Is a command that requests the image processing servers 21a, ... To cancel the job with the specified job ID. Job ID that should be canceled with the job control information parameter
Is specified. The status of the processing result of the job cancellation request command is returned to the job return parameter.

Job restart request command Cmd-Job-Restart
Is a command that requests the image processing server 21a, ... To restart the job of the specified job ID. Job ID that should be restarted with the job control information parameter
Is specified. The status of the processing result of the job restart request command is returned to the job return parameter. The procedure by which the application 22a (22b, ...) Performs image transfer is as follows. 1 Register the application in the image processing server 21a. 2 Request image transfer to the image processing server 21a. The requested content is held in the image processing server 21a as a job. 3 When the image transfer performed by the application 22a is completed, the application 22a requests the registered image processing server 21a to delete the registration. FIG. 4 shows a main memory 5 for managing registered applications.
are application management tables 24a, ...

Application management table 24a (2
4b, ...) is a storage area 30 in which an application ID is stored, a storage area 31 in which a requester ID is stored,
It is composed of a storage area 32 in which a permission as a read / write permission condition of another application 22a, ... With respect to the secured page memory 5a is stored.

The storage area 31 is composed of a storage area 33 for storing a node ID, a storage area 34 for storing a group ID, and a storage area 35 for storing a user ID.

The storage area 32 stores a read / write permission condition (permission) for all applications 22a, ..., A read / write permission condition for applications 22a ,. A storage area 37 in which a permission) is stored, a storage area 38 in which a read / write permission condition (permission) for an application having the same group ID is stored, a read / write for an application 22a having the same user ID, ... The storage area 39 stores the permission conditions (permissions). For example, if the r bit is on, it indicates read permission, and if the w bit is on, it indicates write permission. The storage area 32 includes each storage area 36, ...
39 is a 1-byte structure with 2 bits each. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing registration of data in the application management table 24a (24b, ...).

That is, the application 22a sends an application registration command to the image processing server 21a. At this time, the node ID, group ID, and user ID of the user are stored in the job control information parameter as arguments of the command.

The registration of the application in the image processing server 21a starts by receiving this usage start request command (ST11). The arguments of the usage start request command are the job control information parameter and the job return parameter. After reception, an application ID as a new identifier is generated (ST12).

The application ID is the request source ID
(Node ID, group ID, user ID) obtained by calculation, those obtained by adding time from a timer (not shown) to them, or those given in the order of registration The point is that only one application 22a and the image processing server 21a need to know the application ID.

The generated application ID is stored in the storage area 30 of the application management table 24a on the main memory 5a, and the node ID, the group ID, and the user ID as request source IDs are stored in the storage areas 33 and 3, respectively.
4 and 35, and similarly, the permission of the job control information parameter is registered in the storage areas 36, 37, 38 and 39 (ST13). After that, the image processing server 21a
Returns the application ID to the application 22a (ST14).

Further, in FIG. 6, contrary to the registration, the application 22a transmits an end request command to the image processing server 21a when the application 22a ends, and the application management table 2
4 is a flow of deleting the information of the own application 22a from 4a.

The deletion of the application in the image processing server 21a starts upon receiving this end request command (ST15). The argument of the end request command is a job control information parameter in which the requester ID of the own application and the application ID obtained by registration are stored. The image processing server 21a confirms that the request source ID and the application ID obtained from the application exist in the application management table 24a (ST16).

If it exists, the image processing server 21a
Deletes the application request source ID and each permission from the application management table 24a (S
T17). If it does not exist, the image processing server 21a
Returns an error to the requesting application 22a (ST18).

Further, the application 22a registers a job in the image processing server 21a by an input / output request,
Do business. For example, when an image is read by the scanner 18a and transferred to the page memory 6a, a job is registered in the image processing server 21a by transmitting a scanner input command to the image processing server 21a, and the job is registered as an identifier for identifying the job. A job ID is issued. FIG. 7 shows a main memory 5 for managing jobs.
a, ... A job management table 2 provided for each of the above
5a ...

Job management table 25a (25b, ...)
Is a storage area 40 in which a job ID is stored, a storage area 41 in which an application ID is stored, a request source ID
, A storage area 43 in which the status is stored, a storage area 44 in which a node ID indicating execution of a job in another node and a job ID are stored, and a storage area 45 in which a source parameter is stored, Storage area 46 for storing destination parameters, storage area 47 for storing permissions, completion notification source no
Storage area 48 where tice-from is stored, completion notification destination no
It is composed of a storage area 49 in which the tice-to is stored. FIG. 8 shows the image processing server 2 that has received a job execution request.
3 is a flowchart for registering jobs 1a, ...

The applications 22a, ... Set the request source ID and application ID in the job control information parameter for requesting the job. The requester ID is the one when the application was registered.
D is obtained by registration. Image processing server 21
The registration process of a, ... Is started by receiving a job execution request from the applications 22a ,.

The received application 22a, ...
It is checked whether or not the request source ID from the application and the application ID are registered in the same row of the application management table 24a, ... (Step 22). If the application 22a is not registered, the error that the application 22a is unregistered in step 23,
Return to ...

The registered application 22a,
If it is a request from ..., it is judged whether or not the job is possible within its own node 1a, ... (step 25), and another node 1b,
If it is a job to be executed by ..., the job is requested to the image processing server 21b, ... of an appropriate node 1b, ..., and the job ID issued by the image processing server 21b, ... is obtained (S
T26).

Whether or not the job can be executed within the own node 1a is determined by the second argument of the input / output command (source device (eg page memory 6a, ... Optical disk 16a, ... Image data such as scanner 18a, ... Transfer source) designation parameter) and a third argument (destination device (for example, page memory 6a, ... Optical disc 16a, ... Image data transfer destination such as printer 19a, ...) Designation parameter). The determination rule is in order of priority: 1) The job is executed by the node 1a, ... Having the designated device. 2) Input / output device (scanner 18a, ... Printer 1)
9a, ...) with a node 1a ,. 3) If both are input / output devices, or both are page memories 6a, ..., Destination node 1
Execute with a ... It is a thing.

For example, the page memory 6 of another node 1b
When outputting the image of b to the printer 19c of the own node 1c, the image processing server 21b of the node 1b having the page memory 6b is requested to execute the job. The argument of the command at this time is the same as the received content.

However, the application ID of the job control information parameter is deleted, the permission is a copy of the permission of the application management table 24a, ... And the image of the request source as shown in FIG. 9 as the fifth argument is the job management information. The node ID and job ID of the processing server 21a are stored and notified to the requested image processing server 21b. FIG. 10 shows the image processing server 21a.
6 is a flowchart of a process when a job request is received from another image processing server 21b.

That is, in step 31, the request source ID of the application 22a, ..., Which has requested the job from the job control information parameter of the first argument, the permission, the source device designation parameter of the second argument, the destination designation parameter of the third argument, The node ID of the request source and the job management table 2 from the job management information of the fifth argument
The job IDs of 5a, ... Are obtained (ST31).

Next, it is judged from the source device designation parameter and the destination device designation parameter whether the job can be executed in the own node 1a (ST32).
When the device cannot be found because the device cannot be found, an error is returned to the requesting image processing server 21b, ... (S
T33).

The image processing server 21 that received this error
.. returns an error to the applications 22b.
If the job can be executed, a new job ID is issued (ST34), the job management table 25b, ... Is registered, and the job execution unit 29b ,.
T35). Finally, the job ID is returned to the requesting image processing server 21a (ST36).

The applications 22a, ... Can request a job by immediate return. For this reason, the application 22a, ... Does not know the status such as the end of the job unless inquiring about the current status of the own job. In order to inquire about the job status and use commands for controlling the job, the job management table 25a,
It is necessary to obtain the job ID of ... A job to be controlled is designated by this job ID.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for the application 22a, ... To obtain the job ID. The application 22a, ... Is sent to the image processing server 21a ,.
Inquire about the job ID of the job requested by a, ....
The image processing servers 21a, ... Acquire the request source ID and application ID stored in the job status inquiry command received from the request destination (ST41).

The image processing servers 21a, ... Check whether the received request source ID and application ID are registered in the same row of the application management table 24a, .. (ST42). If not registered, an error is returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST43). If registered, the job management table 25a, ... Is searched by the application ID to obtain the job ID (ST4).
4). The job IDs are listed, stored in the job number, and returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST45).

It is possible to inquire of the image processing server about the status of the job identified by the job ID obtained in this way, whereby the job has been accepted, the source device has been secured, and the destination device has been secured.
It can be seen that the status is any of page memory reservation completion, input completion, output completion, and job completion. The applications 22a, ... Set their own request source ID, application ID, and job ID in the job control information parameters, and send a job status inquiry command to the image processing servers 21a ,. Application 22a, ...
Is the status of the job being executed from the job status of the job return parameter of the second argument of the command, the status of the job from the sub status (request of other node, waiting, executing, waiting for interruption, interruption, error interruption, waiting for cancellation) , Wait for restart, end) can be known. 12 and 13 are flowcharts in which the image processing servers 21a, ... Receive the job status inquiry command and return the status to the applications 22a ,.

That is, the image processing servers 21a, ... Obtain the request source ID, application ID, and job ID of the requested application 22a, ... From the job return parameter of the command argument (ST51). It is checked whether the request source ID and the application ID exist in the same row of the application management table 24a, ... (S
T52). If it does not exist, an error is returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST53).

If it exists, it is checked whether the application ID retrieved from the job management table 25a, ... With the received job ID is equal to the received application ID (ST54). If they are not equal, an error is returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST55). If they are equal, the status obtained by searching the job management table 25a, ... With the job ID is checked (ST56), and the other node 1
If a job is requested to b, ..., Other node 1b,
The image processing server 21b, ... Is inquired about the situation (ST57).

In the inquiry to the other nodes, a job status inquiry command is transmitted to the image processing servers of the nodes 1a, ... Designated by the node ID in the storage area 44. As the first argument of this command, step 51
By deleting the application ID from the job control information parameter obtained in step (1) and giving the job control information parameter in which the job ID obtained from the storage area 44 is set to the job ID, the job status of the other nodes 1a, ... Is stored.

The job status thus obtained is stored in the job return parameter obtained in step 51, and the status is returned to the application 22a, ... Which has requested the status. If it is a job in its own node 1a, ..., The status of the job management table 25a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
When a job status inquiry is received from a ... (ST
61), the job ID of the received image processing server 21a, ... Is searched from the job management tables 25a, ... Within the own node 1a, .., and it is confirmed that the node ID of the request source is correct (ST62), The status is returned to the requesting image processing server 21a, ... (ST63). When the node ID of the request source is incorrect, an error is returned to the application 22a, ... Of the request source (ST64).

The page memory 6a secured by the application 22a, ... Requested to the image processing server 21a ,.
... have page memory management tables 26a, ... As shown in FIG. 14, in which permissions as read / write permission conditions for other applications 22a ,.

Page memory management table 26a (26
b, ...) is a storage area 51 in which a page memory ID is stored, a storage area 52 in which an address is stored, a node I
The storage area 53 stores D, the storage area 54 stores a job ID, the storage area 55 stores a requester ID, and the storage area 56 stores a permission.

The storage area 55, as shown in FIG.
Storage areas 55a and 55b in which a node ID, a group ID, and a user ID as request source IDs are stored, respectively.
It is composed of 55c.

The storage area 56, as shown in FIG.
Lead for all applications 22a, ...
A storage area 56a in which a write permission condition is stored, a storage area 5 in which a read / write permission condition for the application 22a having the same node ID, ... Is stored.
6b, a storage area 56c for storing read / write permission conditions for applications having the same group ID, and an application 22 having the same user ID
It is composed of a storage area 56d in which a read / write permission condition for a, ... Is stored.

For example, as shown in FIG. 17, if the r bit is on, the read permission is given to the page memories 6a, ..., And if the w bit is turned on, the write permission is given to the page memories 6a ,. The storage area 56 has a 1-byte configuration in which each of the storage areas 56a to 56d has 2 bits.

The image data is the page memory 6a (6b,
...) is not used, but one portion of the page memory 6a is divided so that a plurality of image data can be handled. The applications 22a, ... Acquire and use the required size of memory from the page memory 6a. Label the memory when you acquire it. The page memory ID is
It is registered in the page memory management table 26a, ... Corresponding to the address of the page memory 6a actually acquired. The page memory 6a secured with a specific page memory ID can be specified by the page memory ID instead of its address by other applications 22a, ....

When the job secures the page memory 6a, the permissions of the job management table 25a are copied to the page memory management table 26a. Thereafter, access to the page memory 6a is managed by the page memory management table 26a. The stage specified by the page memory ID of this page memory management table 26a is
It is deleted by releasing the page memory 6a regardless of whether the job is completed. Next, a job control command will be described. Job suspension request command:

When the application 22a, ... Suspends the job with the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command, the application 22a, ...
The image processing server 21a ... With the job control information parameter storing the application ID of a ...
Ask to suspend the job. 18 and 19 are flowcharts in which the image processing server 21a, ... Stops the job.

That is, the job suspension request command is received from the applications 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. and the request source ID, application ID, and job ID are obtained from the job control information parameters of the command (ST.
71). It is checked whether the received application IDs of the applications 22a, ... And the requester ID are in the same row of the application management tables 24a ,.
2) If it does not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a, ... (ST73).

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST7
4) If not present, request application 22
An error is returned to a, ... (ST75). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job of the job ID is a job requested to another node 1a, ...
If the status is "request to another node", the process proceeds to step 77 to request the node 1a, which is recorded in the node ID, to suspend the job. If the status is not "request to another node", step 7
Go to 8.

If it is determined in step 76 that the image processing server 21b of the other node 1b, ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 71 as an argument of the command, and the job is further processed. A job control information parameter in which the job ID at the request destination from the storage area 44 is stored in the ID is prepared and the request is transmitted (ST77). Other node 1 in step 76
If the request is not for a, ..., Job management table 2
The statuses of the received job IDs of 5a, ... Are put in a waiting state for interruption, and an interruption instruction is transmitted to the job executing sections 29a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
The image processing servers 21b, ..., Which have received the request from a, ... (ST81), search the job management table 25b ,. If it is equal to ..., The interruption command is transmitted to the job execution unit 29b, ... Waiting for interruption (ST83). If they are not equal, the error is sent back to the requested application 22a, ... (ST8).
4). Job cancellation request command:

The applications 22a, ... When the job having the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command is canceled, the application 22a, ...
The image processing server 21a ... With the job control information parameter storing the application ID of a ...
Ask to suspend the job. 20 and 21 are flowcharts in which the image processing servers 21a, ... Stop the job.

That is, a job cancel request command is received from the application 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. (ST91), and from the job control information of that command,
Obtain the requester ID, application ID, and job ID. It is checked whether the received application IDs of the applications 22a, ... And the requester IDs exist in the same row of the application management tables 24a ,.
2) If it does not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a, ... (ST93).

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST9
4) If not present, request application 22
An error is returned to a, ... (ST95). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job with the job ID is a job requested to another node 1b, ....
If the status is "request to another node", the node 1 recorded in the node ID is checked (ST96).
Request a to cancel the job (ST97).

That is, when it is determined that the image processing server 21b of the other node 1b, ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 91 as an argument of the command, and the job ID is further set. Job ID at request destination from storage area 44
Prepare a job control information parameter that stores the and send the request. When it is not requested to another node in step 96, the status of the received job ID in the job management table 25a, ...
A cancel instruction is transmitted to a, ... (ST98).

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
The image processing servers 21b, ..., Which have received the request from a, ... (ST101), search the job management table 25b ,.
If D is equal to the requesting image processing server 21a, ...
A wait command is sent to the job execution units 29b, ... Waiting for the status to be stopped (ST103). If they are not equal, an error is returned to the application 22a, ... Of the request destination (ST104) Job restart request command:

The applications 22a, ... Respond to this command when restarting the job with the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command.
The image processing server 21a ... With the job control information parameter storing the application ID of a ...
Ask to restart the job. 22 and 23 are flowcharts in which the image processing servers 21a, ... Restart the job.

That is, the job restart request command is received from the applications 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. (ST111), and the request source ID, application ID, and job ID are obtained from the job control information job control information parameter of the command. .. Application received 2
It is checked whether the application IDs 2a, ... And the requester IDs exist in the same row of the application management tables 24a, .. (ST112), and if they do not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a ,.

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST1
14) If it does not exist, the application 22 is sent to the request destination.
An error is returned to a, ... (ST115). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job of the job ID is a job requested to another node 1a, ...
If the status is "request to another node", the node 1 recorded in the node ID is checked (ST116).
.. is requested to restart the job (ST117).

That is, when it is determined that the image processing server 21b of the other node 1b, ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 111 as an argument of the command, and the job ID is further set. Job I at the request destination from storage area 44
Prepare the job control information parameter storing D and send the request. If it is not requested by another node in step 116, the status of the received job ID in the job management table 25a, ... Is put in a waiting state for resuming, and a resuming instruction is transmitted to the job executing units 29a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
a, ... The image processing server 21b, ...
121), the job management table 2 with the received job ID
5b, ... Are searched (ST122), and if the node ID is equal to the requesting image processing server 21a, ..., A restart instruction is transmitted to the job execution units 29b ,. If they are not equal, the error is returned to the application 22a, ... Of the request destination (ST1).
24). Next, a specific example will be described with reference to the configuration diagram shown in FIG.

That is, the application 22a1 is an application for transferring from the scanner 18a of the node 1a to the page memory 6a in order to output a document. First, the application 22a1 is registered in the image processing server 21a. In registration, the identifier of the application 22a1 is stored in the job control information parameter and transmitted to the image processing server 21a. The image processing server 21a1 performs application registration processing (see FIG. 5).

Accordingly, the request source ID of the application 22a1 is node ID = 100, group ID = 10.
00 and user ID = 40, the application management table 24a stores "100", "1000", "4" in the storage areas 33, 34, and 35 as shown in FIG.
"0" is stored.

The permission in this example is that page memory 6a (own application 22a1) is used for applications having the same group ID (1000 in this example).
Application 2 that allows read (r) secured in step 1) or has the same user ID (40 in this example)
2a, ... to the page memory 6a (own application 22
Read / write (r, secured by a1)
w) is allowed, and nothing is allowed for other applications.

The image processing server 21a generates an application ID "11" in its own node 1a and sends the request source I
It is registered in the storage area 30 of the application management table 24a in association with D. This application ID is returned to the application 22a1.

Registered application 22a1
Uses the scanner input command to the image processing server 21a to read the image of the scanner 18a into the page memory 6a. At this time, the application 22a1 stores the application ID in the job control information parameter of the first argument of the command, turns on the immediate return bit, specifies the scanner 18a in the own node 1a as the source device specification parameter of the second argument, and Of the page memories 6a, the page memory with the page memory ID of 1 is designated and transmitted as the destination parameter designating parameter of three arguments.

Upon receiving the scanner input command, the image processing server 21a searches the application management table 24a and confirms that the application ID, node ID, group ID and user ID are in the same row. In this example, since the confirmation is successful, a job ID as a job identifier is issued in the node 1a. Scanner 1 in this example
The job ID of the image transfer job from the page memory 8a to the page memory 6a is "10".

After that, by examining the second argument and the third argument of the command, it can be understood that this job is a job that can be performed in the own node 1a because both are devices of the own node 1a. If the job can be executed within the own node 1a, it is registered in the job management table 25a. At this time, the permission from the storage area 32 of the application management table 24a is copied to the permission of the job management table 25a, and the application ID, request source ID, source parameter, and destination parameter are copied from the argument data of the command. Waiting is set in the status. When the registration in the job management table 25a is completed, the job execution unit 29a executes the job.
, And returns the job ID to the application 22a.

The job execution unit 29a secures the memory of the page memory 6a having the page memory ID "1", registers the page memory ID and the secured memory address of the page memory 6 in the page memory management table 26a, and The request source ID / permission of the job being executed is copied from the job management table 25a and registered in the page memory management table 26a.

When it is desired to suspend this job, the job suspension request command is used. Application 22a
1 stores the request source ID, the application ID, and the job ID in the job control information parameter of the first argument of the job suspension request command, and sends them to the image processing server 21a.

After receiving the command, the image processing server 21a
It is confirmed that the received application ID and the requester ID are in the same row of the application management table 24a, and the job management table 25a is searched by the job ID. Since the status of the retrieved job ID is not “execute on another node”, the job management table 25
The status of “a” is set to the suspension wait state, and the job execution unit 29a is instructed to suspend the job. The job execution unit 29a suspends the job and sets the status to suspended. The same is true when restarting a suspended job, and the job cancel request command is used when canceling, and the job cancel request command is used when canceling.

It is assumed that the application 22a2 can obtain the requester ID of the application 22a1 by some method. At this time, the application ID obtained by registering the application 22a1 in the image processing server 21a is different from the application ID obtained by the application 22a1.

Therefore, even if the application 22a
The image processing server 21a distinguishes the application and returns an error to the application 22a2 even if the job suspension is requested by the above method in order to suspend the job 1 (job ID = 11).

Now, in the application 22b, the page memory ID on the page memory 6a of the other node 1a is "1".
The image of the application ID in the memory of the own node 1b
For output to the printer 19b. The application 22b is the image processing server 21 of the own node 1b.
b, node ID = 200 as a requester ID, group I
D = 1000 and user ID = 60 are registered, and the application ID (50 in this example) is obtained.

At this time, the first argument of the command is the application ID of the application 22b and the request source I.
The image whose page memory ID of the page memory 6a of the node 1a is "1" is designated as the second argument, and the third argument is
The printer 19b of the own node 1b is designated as an argument.

The image processing server 21b checks the application ID and request source ID and generates a new job ID (see FIG. 8). Other node 1 as source device
Since the page memory 6a of a is specified, the job is requested to the image processing server 21a of the node 1a having the page memory 6a.

The command argument is the application 22b.
Use as received from. The difference is that the application ID is deleted from the job control information parameter, the application ID is not communicated to the other node 1a, the permission of the application management table 24b is copied to the permission of the job control information parameter, and the fifth is the job management information. The argument is provided.

The fifth argument is the request source node ID and the request source job ID. In this example, the node ID is "20.
The job ID is “0” and the job ID is “2”. The job ID issued by the image processing server 21a in response to this request is stored in the job ID of the job return information of the fourth argument and returned. In this example, it is "11".

When the request is made to the image processing server 21a of the other node 1a, the job is registered in the job management table 25b. That is, the job ID issued by the image processing server 21b, the request source ID, the application ID, the source parameter, and the destination parameter received from the application 22b, and the image processing server 21.
The job ID (11 in this example) received from a is registered in the status, and "running in another node" is registered in the status.
After this registration, the job ID (2 in this example) issued by the image processing server 21b in the own node 1b is returned to the application 22b.

The image processing server 21a receives the page memory 6a requested by the image processing server 21b of the other node 1b.
The process when the image transfer from the printer to the printer 19b is received is described in steps 31 to 36 of FIG.

After receiving the command, it is judged from the second and third arguments whether the job is possible within the own node 1b. A new job ID (11 in this example) if possible within its own node 1b
To issue. After issuing the job ID, the job ID is registered in the job management table 25b in step 35.

In this registration, the image processing server 21b sets the application ID to blank because it is not in the received job control information parameter, and copies the request source ID / permission from the job control information parameter of the first argument.
Copy the source parameter from the second argument, the destination parameter from the third argument, node ID, job I
D is the node ID of the job management information of the fifth argument, job I
Copy from D. After registration, the job execution unit 29b is instructed to execute the job, and in step 36, the job ID (11 in this example) is returned to the image processing server 21b.

The job executing section 29b is connected to the page memory 6a.
The permission information of the page memory 6a is obtained from the page memory management table 26a of the page memory 6a secured with the page memory ID of "1". This permission is copied from the permission from the application management table 24a, and read permission is given to the application having the same group ID (1000 in this example) of the request source of the page memory management table 26a.

The job execution unit 29b determines that the group ID of the request source ID registered corresponding to the job ID "2" in the job management table 25b is the page memory management table 26.
Since it is equal to the group ID of a, the page memory 6a at the address of the page memory management table 26a can be read. In the case of the page memory 6a, if the user IDs are the same even if the group IDs are not the same, permission is given to not only read but also write. Next, the monitoring function will be described.

The monitoring function means the image processing server 2
1a (21b, ...) Is the application 22a (22
(b, ...) Executing the “image transfer job” requested by
This is a function of displaying an image that is the target of the transfer process on the designated display device 15a (15b, ...) In parallel with the image transfer process.

When using the monitoring function, the application 22a sets the monitoring control information as the information regarding the display destination in the main memory 5a, and after setting the monitoring flag of the job control flag to ON,
An image transfer request command is issued to the image processing server 21a. The monitoring control information is
As shown in FIG. 25, the area ID, the display time, the number of frames, the width of the frame, the height of the frame, and the position of each frame.

The area ID is an ID for identifying the image display area on the display device 15a, and the application 22a creates the image display area in advance by using the function of the image processing server 21a. Is specified.

The display time is the display time per image displayed in the display area on the designated display device 15a. The image processing server 21a starts the next display each time this display time elapses, and executes the image transfer process and the image display process in parallel. Therefore, the time required for executing the image transfer job is the time when the monitoring function is used. , It changes according to this display time.

For example, when an image being processed by an image transfer job is displayed on the display device 15a for visual inspection, this parameter is set to an appropriate value for the purpose of advancing the image transfer processing after a certain time sufficient for visual inspection. Can be set to.

The number of frames is the number of divisions when the display area is divided and a plurality of images are displayed. However, the divided individual image display sizes are the same. That is, even if the number of frames is 2 or more, only one size can be designated for the frame width and the frame height. This is because the image enlargement / reduction ratio to the image display size designated by the frame width and the frame height is not changed during the execution of one image transfer job, and is executed at a higher speed by the image processing unit 8a. .. The frame width and the frame height are parameters that specify the display size of one image, and are specified as one regardless of the number of frames. Regarding the position of each frame, (x, y) coordinates in the display area are designated by the number of frames.

Image processing using the image processing server 21a having the monitoring function will be described below with reference to FIG. 26, which is a flowchart of the processing by the application 22a, FIG. 27, which is a flowchart of the processing by the image processing server 21a, and FIG. The flow of image data during image transfer will be described.

Here, the plurality of images obtained as a result of the search processing are read from the optical disc 16a and printed by the printer 19a.
An example of the monitoring function in the image transfer job between 9a will be described.

First, when the application 22a requests an image transfer job from the image processing server 21a, the application 22a designates an image to be subjected to image transfer processing (ST1).
31). That is, the numbers of a plurality of images obtained as a result of the search from the optical disc 16a are set in the main memory 42 in a decided format.

If the monitoring function is not used (ST132), the monitoring flag of the job control flag is set to OFF (ST133), and then an image transfer request is issued to the image processing server 21a (ST13).
4).

When using the monitoring function (ST13
2) After setting the monitoring control information in the main memory 5a (ST135) and turning on the monitoring flag of the job control flag (ST136), issue an image transfer request command to the image processing server 21a (ST134). ).

On the other hand, when the image processing server 21a receives the image transfer request command from the application 22a (ST141), the application 22a is previously stored.
The image transfer source information and the image transfer destination information are checked from the information related to the image transfer job set in the main memory 5a, and the optical disk 16a to the printer 19 are checked.
The optical disc 16a which is the image transfer source and the printer 19 which is the image transfer destination are known to be the image transfer request to the a.
A and the image processing unit 8a that compresses / decompresses an image at the time of image transfer are reserved and secured so that they can be exclusively used for other applications 22b ,.
T142).

Next, the monitoring flag of the job control flag is checked (ST143), and if the monitoring flag is off, only the image transfer process is executed without using the display function (ST144). The flow of image data at this time is as follows (see FIG. 28). (A) Image data compressed from the optical disc 16a
The data is transferred to the page memory 6a via the second interface 9a and the image bus 20a.

(B) In order to decompress the compressed image data on the page memory 6a, it is transferred to the image processing section 8a via the image bus 20a, and after the image processing section 8a has decompressed the image data, The data is transferred again to the page memory 6a via the image bus 20a. (C) The image data on the page memory 6a is transferred to the image bus 20.
a, the printer 19 via the second interface 9a
It is transferred to a and printed out. While the image transfer process is being performed, the status is transmitted to the application 22a (ST145).

When the monitoring flag of the job control flags is turned on in step 143, the monitoring control information is analyzed (ST146) and information on the image display area is obtained (ST147). The image display area obtained here corresponds to a specific area on the display memory 7a, and the image processing server 21a parallelizes the image transfer processing from the optical disc 16a to the printer 19a, and at the same time, executes the target image during the transfer processing. Is transferred to a specific area on the display memory 7a and displayed (ST148). The flow of image data at this time is as follows. (A) Image data compressed from the optical disc 16a
The data is transferred to the page memory 6a via the second interface 9a and the image bus 20a.

(B) In order to decompress the compressed image data on the page memory 6a, it is transferred to the image processing unit 8a via the image bus 20a, subjected to the image data decompression process by the image processing unit 8a, and then again. Transfer to the page memory 6a via the image bus 20a. (C) The image data on the page memory 6a is transferred to the image bus 2
0a printer 19 via the second interface 9a
It is transferred to a and printed out.

(D) Since the same image data on the page memory 6a is enlarged / reduced according to the size (frame width × frame height) of the specified specific area of the display memory 7a, the image is transmitted via the image bus 6a. The image data is transferred to the processing unit 8a, and the image processing unit 8a performs image enlargement / reduction processing, and then the image bus 2 again.
The data is transferred to the specified area of the display memory 7a via 0a and displayed. When there are a plurality of specific areas, the display device 1 is transferred by transferring one image to each area in order.
Images are displayed one by one in a plurality of designated areas on 5a. While the image transfer process is being performed, the status is transmitted to the application 22a (ST145). For example, a process when each parameter of the monitoring control information is set as follows will be described.

That is, for the area ID, the ID of the window under the control of the multi-window system that manages a plurality of windows operating as the image display server 21a is designated as the display area of the image to be monitored. The position and size of the area are adjusted to appropriate values in advance using the function of the image display server 21a.

As for the display time, the time during which the entire image is displayed on the display device 15a, that is, the interval from the completion of the display of one image to the start of the display of the next image is designated in seconds.

As a result, when transferring a plurality of images from the optical disk 16a to the printer 19a, the image processing server 21a divides the area on the display device 15a designated by the area ID into a plurality of partial areas. Then, the display target images are sequentially specified in the partial areas, and the common size of the frames is specified by the width and the height. For the position of each frame, the frame coordinates for the number of frames are (x,
y) Specify by coordinates. The target images for image transfer are displayed in the order specified here. For example, as shown in FIG. 29, the window W is specified as the area, the number of frames is 6, and the areas Ea to Ef are specified as the positions of the frames.
After specifying these, the monitoring flag of the job control flag is set to ON, and the image transfer request command is issued to the image processing server 21a.

Therefore, the image processing server 21a executes the processing as described above, and displays the contents of the monitoring in the areas Ea to Ef in the window W on the display device 15a, as shown in FIG.

As described above, by using the function of the image processing server, the application sets the monitoring control information and turns on the monitoring flag, so that the application can easily be targeted for the image transfer processing currently being executed. The displayed image can be displayed on the display device.

That is, the image currently being processed by the image transfer job from the optical disk 16a to the printer 19a can be displayed in the specified area on the screen of the display device 7a in the specified screen configuration, and the image transfer job is executed. It is possible to easily realize situation monitoring, adjustment of debugging at the time of program development involving image transfer, and the like, with almost no changes to the application 22a and without any programming work for the display-related portion.

Also, it is not originally displayed on the display device,
Image transfer jobs running in the background
By reducing and displaying the plurality of areas in the area on the display device, the order of the processing target images in the image transfer job can be easily confirmed from the application. Moreover,
When the monitoring function is not used, the image transfer job itself can be executed in the same manner only by setting the monitoring flag to OFF and issuing the image processing request command.

That is, the application can easily set whether or not the image to be processed is displayed on the display device by setting a specific parameter and issuing a request for a job involving image transfer to the image processing server. Moreover, the parallel operation does not reduce the processing speed. The display confirmation of the image to be processed can be easily controlled from the application. As a result, the display for confirming the display can be easily executed without burdening the application.

Note that the monitoring function does not depend on the type of job for the image processing server, and can be used in exactly the same way in all cases except for the image transfer job from the optical disk to the printer described here. ..

This is not limited to image transfer between devices such as scanners and printers that can see the image to be image processed during processing, as well as image transfer from optical disc to optical disc, and self-node It is also effective for jobs such as image transfer from the page memory to the page memory of another node where the image cannot be seen during processing. As a result, the contents of the background process can be made to appear as if it is the foreground process by a simple application switching process.

[0183]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
When the image processing server transfers images between image input / output devices and image storage devices in response to an application request, the image to be transferred can be arbitrarily known, and the status of the image transfer processing executed internally can be checked. An image processing device that can be easily confirmed can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a software configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing system according to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an example of the application of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an application management table in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing registration of data in an application management table shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing deletion of data from the application management table of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a job management table in FIG.

8 is a flowchart showing registration of data in the job management table of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating job management information.

10 is a flowchart showing registration of data in the job management table of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining a job ID inquiry operation.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a job status inquiry operation from the application of FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a job status inquiry operation from the image processing server in FIG.

14 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a page memory management table in FIG.

15 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a request source ID in the page memory management table of FIG.

16 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a permission in the page memory management table of FIG.

17 is a diagram showing the contents of the permission shown in FIG.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a job interruption operation in the image processing server in FIG. 1.

19 is a flowchart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

20 is a flowchart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

21 is a flow chart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

22 is a flowchart for explaining a job restart operation in the image processing server of FIG.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for explaining a job restart operation in the image processing server of FIG.

24 is a diagram showing a specific software configuration example of the image processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of monitoring control information.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating processing of an application.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart for explaining image processing using an image processing server having a monitoring function.

FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining the flow of image data during image transfer.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an image display area for the monitoring function of the display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b, 1c, ... Image processing devices (nodes), 2 ...
Communication lines 5a, 5b, 5c, ... Main memory, 6
a, 6b, 6c, ... Page memory, 7a, 7b, 7
c ... Display memory, 8a, 8b, 8c, ... Image processing unit, 15a, ... Display device, 16a, 16b, 16c ,.
... optical disks, 17a, 17b, 17c, ... optical disk devices, 18a, 18b, 18c, ..., scanner, 19
a, 19b, 19c, ... Printers, 21a, 21b,
21c, ... Image processing servers, 22a, 22b, 22
c, ... Application.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akinori Iwase 70 Yanagi-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa, Toshiba Yanagimachi Co., Ltd. Within

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of control units that request image processing, and are connected to these control units as they are or via a communication line to control a plurality of image input / output devices and image storage devices, An image processing apparatus comprising an image processing unit that utilizes a device to process an image in response to a request from the control unit, wherein the control unit requests the image transfer between the image input / output device and the image storage device. An output means for outputting a display request of the transfer target image is provided, and the image processing section receives the image transfer request and the transfer target image display request from the output section of the control section, and the receiving section. The image transfer between the image input / output device and the image storage device in response to the image transfer request received by the device, and the processing means for displaying the transfer target image are provided. Management apparatus.