JPH0644352A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically recover a file storage area by automatically recovering the file storage area when the abnormality of the file storage area is detected at the time of inputting/outputting image information to a file server. CONSTITUTION:When any media error is generated in the case of the SCSI bus access of a file server 200, 'requestsense' is executed and after a defective sector is specified, the defective sector is exchanged by executing exchange (reassign). When a defective track correcting request is received from an input controller 100 or an image setter 400, the defective sector is exchanged by performing the exchange at the file server 200. When any error is generated excepting for the media error at the time of the SCSI bus access of a hard disk, processing is stopped by judging the defect of hard configuration. When the exchange is failed, the track containing the defective sector is registered on a prescribed table.

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 for reading a character image and an image of a design of a layout mount (a block mount, a rough designation paper, etc.), laying it out and outputting the file in a file system. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of automatically recovering a file storage area when an abnormality occurs by providing an area restoration function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image processing system for a printing company requiring high quality, there is no system for comprehensively integrating and editing images such as characters and pictures, or even if it exists, it has low capability and is practically used. It was not the target. In particular, the desktop publishing field is becoming possible by the page description language such as Postscript, but
Performance is low. There are systems for printers, but they are not enough to handle large amounts of data at high speed. The reason for this is that there is too much data to be processed in order to support processing by a descriptive language for collectively processing characters and images, and processing by a CPU (software), resulting in lack of performance. is there.
To output only the code data in order to create a block for printing, it is necessary to convert each character to a bit map and also to expand it into a bit map every few rasters in advance. Stores all or part of the output image in a temporary buffer and sends it to the output device. In order to reduce the memory capacity of the buffer, the output device is stored in the buffer of the output image. It is supposed to wait.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned device, characters and pictures cannot be laid out and output at the same time, and even if the character bitmap is laid out in advance on the buffer for outputting the bitmap, It has a drawback that it takes a lot of time to realize it. Alternatively, characters and pictures are output on different papers or films, and the operator cuts and pastes them on the papers or films. For this reason, a lot of repetitive work such as exposure and printing takes a lot of time, and intermediately generated photosensitive materials are wasted.

Further, it comprises an operation section, a file management section, and an image input / output section. The image input / output section receives information on the file storage area from the file management section and directly writes data to the file storage area. An image processing system for reading out has been developed in which only a file management unit has a function of restoring a file storage area. However, if an abnormality in the file storage area of the file system is detected during image input / output, automatic restoration processing of the file storage area cannot be performed. Therefore, it is necessary for the operator to instruct and check the file again.

The present invention has been made under the circumstances described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a file system in an image processing system for electronically interactively editing a large amount of character and picture image data at high speed. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of automatically recovering a file storage area in the event of an abnormality, as well as providing a file storage area restoration function.

[0006]

According to the present invention, an input controller for storing density data of an image read by an input device, a code information edited by an editing input device and a screen for displaying the image data are displayed. A workstation having a storage unit for editing, a file server connected to the input controller and the workstation, for storing the image data, the code information, and the edited data screen-edited by the workstation in a storage unit as a file. And an image setter adapted to read the edited data stored in the storage means and output an image to an image output device. The file system of the server has a file storage area restoration function. When input and output of image information to the server, when detecting an abnormality of the file storage area, is accomplished by performing the automatic recovery of the file storage area. This can also be achieved by having a hard disk status notification function for displaying a defective file list on the workstation, and making it possible to grasp the loss status of the file system at the user level. Furthermore, a file crash prevention function may be added to operate normally even if an error occurs in the file management area of the file storage area.

[0007]

The image processing system of the present invention comprises an input controller, a file server, an imagesetter and a workstation, each of which is an independent CPU.
Since it is equipped with (microprocessor, microcomputer, etc.), each part can be operated independently and in parallel, and high-speed and efficient image processing can be realized. Interactively edit etc. to make the memory capacity as small as possible,
A high-quality image can be obtained from the image output device as a hard copy or a printing block. Moreover, in this invention,
The file system of the file server is provided with a file storage area restoration function, and the file server has a restoration command so that the file storage area is automatically restored in the event of an abnormality. Furthermore, a hard disk status notification function for displaying a defective file list on a workstation and a file crash prevention function for operating normally even if an error occurs in the file management area of the file storage area are added.

[0008]

1 to 3 are block diagrams showing an image processing system which is a premise of the present invention. An input device 1 such as a scanner is used for a pattern, a character, a figure, and an original such as a layout mount.
The density data DD of the image obtained by reading the input density data DD is input to the input controller 100, and the input controller 100 inputs the above-mentioned density data DD via the built-in CPU 101.
Is converted into a halftone dot by the halftoning circuit 102, and the compression circuit 103
After it is compressed in the buffer 104, it is temporarily stored in the buffer 104, and then transferred via the SCSI bus to the magnetic tape 210 of the file server 200 or the hard disks 220, 221 ...
Store in ... The input controller 100 has a local disk (hard disk) 105 for temporarily storing data. File system file server 200
Has a CPU 201, and interfaces 202 to 205
It is connected to other devices via. Further, the code information CD such as characters obtained by the edit input device 2 such as a word processor or a typesetting machine is once stored in the floppy disk 3 and then read out and input to the workstation 300. The workstation 300 is a CR as a display means.
T301 and a keyboard 302 as an input operation means,
Mouse 306 and digitizer 303, hard disk 304 as storage means, floppy disk 305
Each of the workstations 300 is mutually connected to the file server 200 via ETHERNET. Image data, frame data, and contour display image data thinned out for CRT display, which are obtained by the input controller 100, are stored in the magnetic tape 210 or the hard disks 220, 221, ... Together with the unthinned high density data for image output. The thinned data is read out through the SCSI bus and transferred to the workstation 300 through the interfaces 204 and 202, and the control command and the like with the input controller 100 are stored in the file through the auxiliary data line 4. Transferred via the interface 200 of the server 200,
The file server 200 also has an image setter 400.
Are connected. CPU for the imagesetter 400
401 is provided, is connected to the auxiliary data line 5 of the file server 200 via an interface 402, and is connected to the SCSI bus via an interface 403. The imagesetter 400 further includes a sequencer 410 and a buffer 411 for storing necessary data. The imagesetter 400 outputs a high-quality image to the high-quality image output device 10 and a laser beam to output a relatively low-quality image. The printer 11 is connected. The hard disks 220, 221, ... Store fixed data (bitmap data) such as logos, emblems, and nets, and vector font data for character output in advance.

In the input device 1, a pattern (halftone image), a line drawing, and a character image (binary image) are digitized by density data (8 bits / pixel). The signal input at 8 bits / pixel is converted into a dot pattern by the input controller 100,
Information of 4 bits / pixel is generated. The binary image is converted into 1-bit / pixel information. Further, although characters are input as codes from the workstation 300, they may be input as images from the input device 1. Therefore, when input as an image, even a character is treated as an image (bitmap data). Although all images are output by the imagesetter 400, the code set and vector information are all converted to bitmap data in the imagesetter 400. Therefore, use image output to mean that bitmap data is output. become.

The details of the input controller 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The input controller 100 converts the density data DD input from the input device 1 into high density data for the high image quality output machine 10 and a laser beam printer. 11
For CRT3 on workstation 300
Two sets of data for displaying 01 and five sets of rough image data enough to show the contour are simultaneously generated. Overall speed can be realized by performing parallel processing at the same time.
This is because the data generation calculation load of 101 can be reduced.
That is, the high-density data for the high-quality image output device 10 is converted into a halftone dot by the halftone dot conversion circuit 1021, compressed by the compression circuit 1031, and the compressed data is temporarily stored in the buffer 1041. Further, as data for outputting an image by the laser beam printer 11 having a relatively low image quality, the density data DD is thinned out at a predetermined interval (for example, 1/3) (110), and the rough data is halftone dot circuit 1022. Compression circuit 1
It is compressed in 032 and then temporarily stored in the buffer 1042. Further, two types of coarser data to be displayed on the CRT 301 are thinned out at predetermined intervals after density data DD is thinned, and halftoned by the halftoning circuits 1023 and 1024, respectively, and temporarily stored in buffers 1043 and 1044, respectively. Further, in the case of a line drawing for creating a cutout mask from a halftone image, the image data after the Laplacian processing or the unsharp mask processing showing the contour data is thinned out (113), and then the binarization circuit 1025.
Are binarized by and are temporarily stored in the buffer 1045.

In such a configuration, the CPU 101 communicates with the input device 1 via a data line (not shown), and also the auxiliary data line 4 and the dual port RA.
It communicates with the file server 200 via M (not shown). Then, when there is a data transmission request from the input device 1, the CPU 101 sets necessary data in each circuit shown in FIG. 4, stores the setting data in the local disk 105, and further sets the setting values related to the sub-scanning. set. The density data DD from the input device 1 is input line by line, and the circuits shown in FIG.
It is stored in (1041 to 1045). CPU1 during this time
01 checks the SCSI bus switching, the data compression output buffer 1041 switching, and the presence or absence of error information from various circuits. The data once stored in the buffer 104 and the local disk 105 is sorted by a command from the CPU 101 and output to an external SCSI bus.

The configuration of the file server 200 that constitutes the file system is as shown in FIG. 2. This file server 200 has common file management functions such as file management and file sharing, and communication for network communication and unit communication. It has a control function. That is, the file server 200 is connected to the hard disk (220, 221, ...) And the magnetic tape 2 via the SCSI bus.
10 file management, having a software interface function with the workstation 300 via ETHERNET, and further providing file management information service to the input controller 100 and the imagesetter 400 and a file management utility via the SCSI bus. Perform the function. For example, font registration and garbage collection of SCSI disk (dust removal processing). There are two types of font registration here. One is registration of fonts possessed by the system. This registration stores vector fonts created by another font creation system in the form of magnetic tape in the hard disk of the image processing system. The other is the registration of external character fonts. Gaiji font is a character that does not exist in the system.
In this case, the font created in another system is registered in this system from a floppy disk or magnetic tape.

The file server 200 stores services and data for transferring data between the workstation 300, the input controller 100 and the imagesetter 400, and the input controller 100 stores the auxiliary data line 4 and the dual port RAM. Then, necessary information is obtained from the file server 200 for securing and deleting areas of various files. Input controller 100
To register the data once stored in the internal buffer 104 as a file of the image processing system, information such as the file name and the file capacity is transferred to the file server 200, and S
Access the hard disks 220, 221, ... On the CSI bus. As a result, the file server 200 manages directory communication and disk area management. Further, the file server 200 transfers file data to the workstation 300 via ETHERNET,
Receive data from workstations. At this time, in accordance with the instruction from the workstation 300, the file server 200 causes the hard disk (2
20, ...) and the magnetic tape 210, and updates necessary information such as directories. Also, imagesetter 4
The command for 00 and the command for the magnetic tape 210 are obtained, and the service is performed according to the command. Further, a predetermined command is sent to the imagesetter 400 via the auxiliary data line 5 and the dual port RAM, file management information is sent in response to a request from the imagesetter 400, and disk data on the SCSI bus is sent. As a result, the imagesetter 400 is directly accessed. Furthermore, utility information related to the entire image processing system is managed by the hard disks 220, 221, ... on the SCSI bus, and font information,
Common files on the system correspond to such information.

Next, the operation of the workstation 300 will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 5. The document data edited by the edit input device 2 and stored is read from the floppy disk 3 (step S310).
The code information CD of the document data is converted in data format (step S311). And CRT
One page of document contents is displayed on 301 (step S3
12) The image data output position of the image read from the layout mount or the like is designated by the mouse 306, the keyboard 302, and the digitizer 303 (step S313), and page description data for each page is created together with the frame of the layout mount (step S314). ). Such data creation is performed for all pages (step S315), and then an imposition instruction for creating a printing block is issued using the keyboard 302 (step S316) to create impositioned page description data (step S317). ). Then, the file server 20
The created data is transferred to 0 (step S318).
The image setter 400 is instructed to output an image, and the operation ends (step S319).

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, an operation example at the time of imposition will be described. The workstation 300 reads the image data thinned out from the hard disks 220, 221, ... Of the file server 200 (step S33).
0), read the document data from the floppy disk 3 (step S331), C of the workstation 300
Display necessary information on RT301 and mouse 30
6, the keyboard 302 and the digitizer 303 are operated to lay out images, documents and frames page by page (step S332). Then, the type of imposition registered in advance is designated by the keyboard 302 (step S33).
3) Each page is laid out and displayed on the CRT 301 together with the number of pages in the instructed imposition state (for example, A to D in the figure) (step S334). Here, the imposition registration is stored with the number of pages attached in advance in consideration of folding at the time of bookbinding of a plurality of pages, for example, 4 pages of A4 version or 8 pages of A5 version. 6A to 6D, the imposition state is determined by the number of pages (“1”, “8”, “5” in B,
It is displayed together with "4". As described above, the contents such as images and characters are not displayed, and the image setter 400 generates and outputs a bitmap according to the page description data (step S335).

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of the imagesetter 400. The sequencer 410 is connected to a CPU bus 412 and an image data bus 413, and is also connected to a logical operation circuit 420 and a first memory 421. Further, the main memory 430 for the CPU 401 is connected to the CPU bus 412, the common memory 424 is connected between the common memory 424 and the image data bus 413, and the interface 4
The outputs of 02 and 403 are input to the CPU bus 412. CPU bus 412 and image data bus 413
A buffer 433, a decompressor 440, and a third memory 423 are connected between the two, and a buffer 434, a raster image converter 431, and a second memory 422 are connected.
The buffer 435 and the output control circuit 436 are connected. The CPU bus 412 has a vector font memory 43.
2 is connected to the output control circuit 436 and the output buffer 4
The high image quality output device 10 and the laser beam printer 11 are connected via 36A. Vector font memory 4
In 32, a vector font required for generating a character bitmap by the raster image converter 431 is stored. Usually vector font is disk (22
0,221, ...), but it is inefficient to read the vector font via the SCSI bus every time the character bitmap is generated, so all the necessary vector fonts are stored in the vector font memory 432 in advance. By reading it in, the speed of character bitmap generation is improved.

In such a structure, the operation is as shown in FIG.
First, an output instruction request is output from the file server 200 to the imagesetter 400 via the auxiliary data line 5 using the file name in the hard disks 220, 221, ... As a parameter. Specifications to be output from that file are written in that file. The specifications are sequentially decoded, code data and compressed data are subjected to address calculation for each unit image, and overlay processing by logical operation is repeated for that address, The processing result is stored in the first memory 421. The imagesetter 400 calls the parameter file via the SCSI bus and repeats this operation. For example, for code data, character code and instruction information such as position, typeface, size, etc. are input via the SCSI interface 403 (step S400), and converted into a raster image by the raster image converter 431 via the buffer 434 (step S401). ), The raster image data is stored in the second memory 422 (step S402). The image data that has been compressed is input via the interface 403 via the SCSI bus (step S403), decompressed by the decompressor 440 via the buffer 433 and restored (step S40).
4) The restored image data is stored in the third memory 423 (step S405). Further, bitmap data such as logos stored in the hard disks 220, 221, ... Is input via the interface 403 (step S406) and stored in the common memory 424 (step S407). The data stored in the second memory 422 to the common memory 424 are all bitmap data, and these stored data are logically operated by the logical operation circuit 420 via the CPU 401 (step S410).
Data that has been logically operated to synthesize, edit, or image-process a picture, a document, or the like is stored in the first memory 421 (step S411). After the data is stored in the first memory 421, it is judged whether or not it is finished, that is, whether there is no correction or addition (step S412), and the above operation is continued until the logical operation such as correction is finished. The logical operation circuit 420 performs logical operations such as sum, product, difference and exclusive OR of bit map data generated from code data such as characters, bit map data obtained by expanding compressed image data, and bit map data. In collaboration with
The image information to be output to the high image quality output device 10 or the laser beam printer 11 is generated.

Here, in the above-mentioned image processing system, the hard disks 220, 221, of the file server 200.
In order to minimize the effect on the user or the like when a media error occurs in ..., The present invention adds a media restoration function, a hard disk status notification function, and a file crash prevention function. The media repair function is a function that automatically replaces a defective portion of the file storage area with a spare area when a media error occurs. Even if a media error occurs due to this media repair function, it is not necessary to replace the hard disk. The hard disk status notification function is a function for displaying a defective file list on the workstation 300. With this function, it is possible to grasp the file loss status at the user level. Furthermore, the file crash prevention function is a function that operates normally even if an error occurs in the file management area. This function avoids the risk of losing a large amount of data at one time and improves the reliability of the file system. To do.

Next, the media restoration function will be described in detail. 9 shows a process at the time of writing to the file server 200, and FIG. 10 shows a read process of the file server 200. When a media error occurs in the SCSI bus access of the file server 200 (step S1), "request sense" is executed,
After identifying the defective sector, the replacement (reasseg
By executing n), the defective sector is replaced (step S2). Here, the occurrence of the media error means that the SCSI disk access is not successful as a result of the retry of the hard disk controller itself, and the "sens" is issued on the hard disk side.
"e key" has been set as a media error. The reason why replacement is performed not only at the time of writing but also at the time of reading (step S21) is that the writing process succeeds and only the reading process has a media error. This is because there are cases where

When the defective track correction request is received from the input controller 100 or the imagesetter 400, the file server 200 replaces the defective sector by executing the replacement. SC of hard disk
When an error other than a media error occurs in the SI bus access, it is regarded as a defect in the hardware configuration and the processing is stopped. If the replacement fails in step S2, the track including the defective sector is subjected to UCT (Unc
orrectable Cluster Table)
(Step S6). Further, the block link table is replaced so that the corresponding cluster usage status map (hard disk map) is in use (step S
6). When a SCSI error occurs, the drive, scooter, and cluster information in which the error occurred is written in the file server log (step S3). The error processing (step 28) at the time of reading is

[Table 1] And error processing at the time of writing (step S10)
Is

[Table 2] Is.

The hard disk status notification function, when the file is read by the file server 200, and if it is found that the target file contains a defective sector, the management information existing for each file is marked as a defective file. (Defect marking) is performed (step S24). When the defective sector replacement fails when the file is written in the file server 200, defect marking is performed on the newly created dummy file (step S6). And imagesetter 40
0 or a defective sector repair request after reading / writing is received from the input controller 100, a file including a defective sector is searched for and defective marking is performed. When the defect marking is performed, a telop is displayed on the workstation 300 (steps S7 and S2).
5). If a media error is detected during reading, information about the bad file will be displayed, but the content of the display depends on the file type.
Edit file), system file (web file, font file), temporary file (log file,
Output file). A message prompting a file check is displayed for the user file, a message prompting for a serviceman call is displayed for the system file, and a message prompting for re-outputting is displayed for the temporary file for output.

The file crash prevention function writes the same data to the backup area when writing to the file management area. In the file management area, "drive 0 scooter 2 cluster 0"->"drive 0 cooler 26 cluster 0 '->" drive 0 scooter 26
Cluster 0 ”and backup area is“ drive 0 cooler 38, cluster 0 ”→“ drive 0 cooler 62 cluster 0. ”Also, if a media error occurs when reading the file management area, After using the repair function, the data corresponding to the track including the defective sector in the backup area is copied, and the file system continues the processing even after a media error has occurred.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, a large amount of character and picture image data can be edited at high speed, and a high-quality printing image with a layout-designated appearance can be output. In the image processing system, which can easily perform bitmap processing of vector information and image processing, processing, and editing by hardware, and can output by laying out characters and pictures, provide a restoration function to the file storage area. As a result, the file storage area can be automatically restored in the event of an abnormality. Furthermore, a hard disk status notification function for displaying a defective file list on a workstation and a file crash prevention function for operating normally even if an error occurs in the file management area of the file storage area are added. As a result, the bad file list can be displayed on the workstation, the user system can grasp the file system loss status, and normal operation can be performed even if an error occurs in the file management area of the file storage area.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram (workstation, input controller) showing a configuration example of an image processing system.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram (file server) showing an example configuration of an image processing system.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram (image setter) showing a configuration example of an image processing system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an input controller.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a workstation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an imposition operation.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an imagesetter.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a process when writing to a file.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a file reading process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input Device 2 Editing Input Device 3 Floppy Disk 10 High Quality Output Device 100 Input Controller 200 File Server 300 Workstation 301 CRT 302 Keyboard 303 Digitizer 306 Mouse 400 Imagesetter 101 CPU 201 CPU 401 CPU

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A workstation having an input controller for storing density data of an image read by an input device, and a storage section for screen-editing code information edited by an editing input device and the image data using a display means. And connected to the input controller and workstation,
A file server for storing the image data, the code information, and the edit data screen-edited by the workstation as a file in a storage unit, and the edit data stored in the storage unit is read to display an image on an image output device. In an image processing apparatus having an image setter for outputting, a file system of the file server has a file storage area restoration function, and an abnormality of the file storage area is detected when image information is input to or output from the file server. In this case, the image processing apparatus is adapted to automatically restore the file storage area. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the repair function is a function of automatically replacing a defective portion of the file storage area with a spare area when a media error occurs. 3. A workstation having an input controller for storing density data of an image read by an input device, and a storage section for screen-editing code information edited by an editing input device and the image data using a display means. And connected to the input controller and workstation,
A file server for storing the image data, the code information, and the edit data screen-edited by the workstation as a file in a storage unit, and the edit data stored in the storage unit is read to display an image on an image output device. In an image processing apparatus having an image setter for outputting, a file system of the file server has a file storage area restoration function, and an abnormality of the file storage area is detected when image information is input to or output from the file server. In this case, the file storage area is automatically restored, and a hard disk status notification function that displays a bad file list on the workstation is provided, and it is possible to grasp the loss status of the file system at the user level. An image processing device characterized by the above. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a file crash prevention function that operates normally even if an error occurs in the file management area of the file storage area.