JPH09326005A - Information reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accelerate restoring processing in an information reader optically reading a code from a recording medium recording data as an optically readable code and restoring it to optically readable multimedia information so as to output. SOLUTION: This reader is provided with a preprocessing part 2 optically reading the recording medium by means of an optically reading part 1 and extracting a digital code, data processing parts 4, 5 processing the digital code to restore to multimedia information and a multi-port memory 3 temporarily storing transfer data between the preprocessing part and the data processing parts. Then, the reader parallelly executes the operation of the preprocessing part 2 and that of the data processing parts 4 and 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording in which multimedia information including at least one of audio information, video information and digital data converted into a digital code is recorded as an optically readable code. The present invention relates to an information reading device that optically reads the code from a medium, restores the read digital code into multimedia information, and outputs the multimedia information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an information reading apparatus for optically reading a code from a recording medium on which multimedia information is recorded as an optically readable code and restoring the code to output the information is shown in FIG. A structure as shown in FIG. 6 is known. This conventional example is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, in a device having two different processing systems (CPU and host computer), a data buffer memory for temporarily holding data is used to transfer data between the processing systems. The data buffer memory has a double buffer structure in this conventional example. That is, when one data buffer memory (1) 101 sends and receives data to and from the first device (CPU) 103, the other data buffer memory (2) 102 sends and receives data to and from the second device (host computer) 104. It is designed to send and receive.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-265939 discloses a structure as shown in FIG. In this conventional example, a single device (CPU) 201 and a second device (host computer) 20 are provided in a single data buffer memory 203.
5 is set to access. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 202 is a timing arbitration circuit, and 204 is an interface circuit. The information reading device having such a configuration,
As shown in the timing chart of FIG. 8, the CPU 201 and the host computer 205 time-divisionally access the data buffer memory 203 while performing bus arbitration and transfer data. As a result, each processing system operates in parallel and transmits / receives data.

[0004]

By the way, in the prior art, no consideration is given to the viewpoint of shortening the processing time. That is, in the second conventional example shown in FIG. 7, the bus arbitration time is required for data transfer, and the processing system stops its operation during this time, so the processing time is long. The invention described in claim 1 is made in view of this point, and an object thereof is to provide a high-speed information reading device.

Further, in the prior art, when the order of data transfer by the first processing system and the order of processing by the second processing system are different, no consideration is given to rearranging the data. Not done. That is, when the first processing system transfers data in time series and the second processing system processes data in a different order from the time series,
An operation to rearrange the data is required. The invention described in claim 2 is made in view of this point, and an object thereof is to provide an information reading device in which the second processing system performs processing in a desired order at high speed. is there.

Further, in the prior art, no consideration has been given to the operational relationship between the two processing systems and the viewpoint of performing the overall processing at high speed. That is, when the first processing system transfers data in time series and the second processing system starts processing by transferring a predetermined amount of data, the second processing system transfers data. Need to start. The invention described in claim 3 has been made in view of this point of view, and an object thereof is to provide an information reading device which speeds up the operation of the entire processing system.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 provides multimedia information including at least one of audio information, video information and digital data converted into a digital code. In an information reading device that optically reads the code from a recording medium recorded as an optically readable code, restores the read digital code into multimedia information, and outputs the multimedia information, the recording medium is optically read. Between the pre-processing unit that extracts the digital code that has been read and recorded, the data processing unit that processes the digital code and restores it to multimedia information such as voice and images, and between the pre-processing unit and the data processing unit. A multi-port memory that temporarily stores transfer data is provided, and the operation of the pre-processing unit and data processing It constitutes a behavior to be performed in parallel.

Since the multiport memory capable of simultaneously reading and writing different addresses is used in this manner, the writing of the multiport memory performed by the pre-processing unit and the reading of the multiport memory performed by the data processing unit are asynchronous. The processing can be speeded up by eliminating the time required for arbitration of the operations of both processing units, which is required when the single port memory is used.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information reading apparatus according to the first aspect, the code recorded on the recording medium is composed of a plurality of blocks of digital code, and is uniquely determined for each block. The multiport memory stores the read block-unit digital code in the order of restoration by associating the block address with the address of the multiport memory. At the time of restoration, the address of the multiport memory is stored. It is configured to restore according to.

The recorded block data may not be read from the recording medium in the same order as the restoration order. In this case, it is necessary to restore the block address order. In the present invention, the digital code is read in block units by the pre-processing unit, and the block address is also read at the same time, and the read block information is stored in the address of the multiport memory corresponding to the block address. The data processing unit restores the data stored in the multiport memory by reading the data in the order of addresses. This eliminates the need for the process of rearranging the data in the order of block addresses at the time of restoration, so that the restoration process can be performed at high speed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information reading apparatus according to the second aspect, the data processing unit is configured to restore the multimedia information in units of a frame composed of a plurality of blocks. The pre-processing unit outputs the block address of the block stored at the time of storing the block-by-block digital code to the multi-port memory to the data processing unit, and the data processing unit stores the blocks constituting the frame from the block address. It is configured so that it is determined that the process is started and the process is started immediately after the determination.

In the present invention, the digital code is made up of a plurality of blocks which are recording units to form a frame which is a unit of restoration. The pre-processing unit outputs the block address to the data processing unit when storing the data in the multi-port memory. The data processing unit discriminates the input block address, and when the blocks forming the group are arranged, the data in units of frames is read out from the multiport memory and restored. The data processing unit stores the digital code sufficient for forming a frame by the pre-processing unit and restores it at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time from reading the data to restoring the digital code and speed up the process. Becomes

[0013]

Next, an embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an information reading device according to the present invention. An information reading apparatus according to this embodiment is an optical reading unit 1 that reads an image signal from a recording medium, and a pre-processing that processes an image signal input from the optical reading unit 1 and reads a recorded digital code. A digital code is written from the unit 2, a pre-processing unit 2, a multi-port memory 3 having at least two or more ports and capable of simultaneously reading and writing different addresses, and a digital code from the multi-port memory 3. And data processing units 4 and 5 for reading out audio data, video information, digital data and the like.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described based on the timing chart shown in FIG. The optical reading unit 1 optically reads an image signal from a recording medium and outputs the image signal to the pre-processing unit 2 for each screen. The pre-processing unit 2 processes the image signal for each screen, extracts a digital code, and writes the digital code in the multi-port memory 3. The data processing units 4 and 5 read the digital code written by the pre-processing unit 2 from the multiport memory 3,
The audio information, the video information, and the digital data are restored by performing the processing for each fixed number of data required for the restoration.

As described above, the pre-processing unit 2 operates in synchronization with the image signal output from the optical reading unit 1 in the preceding stage,
The data processing units 4 and 5 operate in synchronization with audio information, video information, and digital data in the subsequent stages, which are not shown in this embodiment. That is, the pre-processing unit 2 and the data processing units 4 and 5 operate asynchronously. As described above, since the pre-processing unit 2 and the data processing units 4 and 5 transfer data by the multi-port memory 3, it is not necessary to arbitrate the bus of the memory, and the holding time of each processing unit regarding the bus arbitration is long. It can operate at high speed because it does not exist.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a code used in this embodiment. This code is a position marker
11, a block 12 has an address code indicating the restoring order, and data dots 13 are recorded information. In this way, the data dots 13 surrounded by the markers 11 form a block, and the block address added to each block is recorded in the portion sandwiched by the markers 11. In such a code, the order of recording (reading) and the order of restoring data may not match in order to prevent continuous data from being lost when the recording medium is lost, for example. In such a case, the address code is used, the read data is temporarily stored, and the data is restored in the order of the address code.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the pre-processing section 2 and the I / F section of the multiport memory 3. The pre-processing unit 2 includes a code reading unit 2-1 and a memory control unit 2-2, and the code reading unit 2-1 reads a block address and block information from image data. The memory control unit 2-2 writes the block information to the address of the multiport memory 3 corresponding to the block address. As a result, the restoration order and the addresses are stored in the multiport memory 3 so that the restoration order matches the addresses. I do. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the data processing units 4 and 5 perform processing according to the address of the multi-port memory 3, so that processing such as block address comparison is not necessary, and data is restored at high speed. be able to.

Further, the digital code is processed in units of frames composed of a fixed number of data. In this embodiment, a frame is composed of a plurality of blocks. The data processing unit 5 inputs the address of the read block from the pre-processing unit 2 and starts the processing when the blocks forming the frame are aligned.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart for explaining the operation of the data processing section 5. In this embodiment, a frame counter is provided for each frame, each frame counter is counted when a block address corresponding to the frame is input, and when the value of the frame counter reaches the number of blocks to restore the corresponding frame, the data processing unit 5
Restores the frame. By the above operation, the data processing unit 5 can start the processing at the same time as the necessary data is prepared in the multi-port memory 3, so that the time from the reading of the digital code to the restoration can be shortened. Become.

[0020]

As described above based on the embodiments, according to the invention described in claim 1, the writing of the multi-port memory performed by the pre-processing unit and the reading of the multi-port memory performed by the data processing unit are performed. Since the processing can be performed asynchronously and the time required for arbitration of the operations of both processing units can be saved, the processing speed can be increased. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the process of rearranging the data in the order of block addresses at the time of restoration is unnecessary, and the restoration process can be performed at high speed. Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, since the restoring operation is performed at the same time when the digital code is stored, the time from reading the data to restoring the digital code can be shortened and the processing speed can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an information reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a code used in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram showing configurations of a pre-processing unit and a multiport memory in the embodiment shown in FIG.

5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the data processing unit in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional information reading device.

FIG. 7 is a block configuration diagram showing another configuration example of a conventional information reading device.

8 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the conventional example shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Optical reading unit 2 Pre-processing unit 2-1 Code reading unit 2-2 Memory control unit 3 Multiport memory 4,5 Data processing unit 11 Marker 12 Address code 13 Data dot

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A code from a recording medium in which multimedia information including at least one of audio information, video information and digital data converted into a digital code is recorded as an optically readable code. In an information reading device that optically reads, restores the read digital code into multimedia information, and outputs the information, a pre-processing unit that optically reads the recording medium and extracts the recorded digital code, and processes the digital code. However, a data processing unit that restores multimedia information such as voice and images, and a multi-port memory that temporarily stores transfer data between the pre-processing unit and the data processing unit are provided. An information reading device characterized in that the operations of the data processing units are configured to be performed in parallel. Place. 2. The code recorded on the recording medium is composed of a plurality of blocks of digital code, and an address uniquely determined is added to each block, and the multiport memory reads the code. The block-unit digital code is stored in the order of restoration by associating the block address with the address of the multi-port memory, and is restored according to the address of the multi-port memory at the time of restoration. 1. The information reading device described in 1. 3. The data processing unit is configured to restore the multimedia information in units of frames made up of a plurality of blocks, and the pre-processing unit is configured to digitally store the blocks in a multiport memory. The block address of the block stored at the time of storing the code is output to the data processing unit, and the data processing unit determines from the block address that the block forming the frame has been stored, and starts processing immediately after the determination. The information reading device according to claim 2, wherein the information reading device is provided.