JPH0965022A - Image information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image information processor with which printing speed can be prevented from being decelerated even in the case of complicated image information. SOLUTION: This device is composed of a control part 1, image information dividing part 5, image information processing parts 21 -2n, VRAM 31 -3n and output part 4. The image information is divided for each block by the image information dividing part 5 and independently stored in the VRAM 31 -3n, and printing processing at the output part 4 is parallelly performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information processing apparatus for printing input image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional image information processing apparatus, in which a host computer A serving as an external apparatus,
Control unit 11 for controlling the entire apparatus, host computer A
Image information processing unit 1 for processing image information input from
2. VRAM (video RAM) 1 for storing image information
3. Output unit 1 for printing image information in VRAM 13
It consists of 4.

For example, in the laser beam printer, the image information input from the host computer A, that is, the character code, the print control data, etc., is temporarily stored in the VRAM 13, and the output section 14 stores the image information stored in the VRAM 13. Sequential reading, converting to dot data according to the character code, modulation control of the laser beam to ON / OFF signal according to the converted dot data, forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum, developing agent such as toner Develop by
The toner image is transferred onto the conveyed recording paper, the toner image transferred onto the recording paper is thermally fixed, and the printing process is completed.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image information processing apparatus, there is only one VRAM 13 which is a storage unit. For this reason, when the output unit 14 prints complicated image information such as a picture, which takes time to process the image,
There is a problem that the image information input from the host computer A cannot be processed continuously and the print processing speed becomes slow.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in an image information processing apparatus for printing input image information, a control unit for controlling the entire apparatus and an image information The image information processing apparatus is configured by a plurality of storage units that store the image information, a division unit that sends image information to any of the storage units, and an output unit that performs print processing.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an image information processing apparatus of the present invention, which includes a control unit 1, an image information dividing unit 5, image information processing units 2 ₁ to 2 _n , VRAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n, and an output unit. 4 and up. The image information processing unit and the VRAM
Need only be provided in the required number.

The control unit 1 controls the entire image information processing apparatus. For example, the print processing status of the output unit 4, the usage status of the image information processing sections 2 ₁ to 2 _n , the usage status of the VRAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n , and the image By grasping the output destination situation of the information division unit 5 and the like, the image information division unit 5 controls to which of the image information processing units 2 ₁ to 2 _{n the} image information is output.

The image information division unit 5 divides the image information from the connected host computer A into a plurality of blocks that can be independently processed, and the image information processing units 2 ₁ to 2 _n designated by the control unit 1 are divided. Output to any of.

The image information processing units 2 ₁ to 2 _n process the input image information and output it to the subsequent VRAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n .

The VRAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n store and store the input image information.

The output unit 4 is a VRAM designated by the control unit 1.
Image information is received from any of 3 _{1 to} 3 _n and printing processing is performed.

According to the present invention, since a plurality of VRAMs (n in this embodiment) for storing image information are provided, the image information can be divided into a plurality of blocks and stored independently.
Even when the output unit 4 is processing the image information for one block stored in _one VRAM (for example, 2 ₁ ), the operation of storing the remaining blocks in another VRAM (for example, 2 ₂ to 2 _n ) is performed. You can do it. Therefore, the printing processes can be performed in parallel, and the printing speed can be prevented from decreasing even when complicated image information is printed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the image information processing apparatus of FIG. First, it is determined whether image information from the host computer A is input (st
If the image information is input, the image information dividing unit 5 divides the image information into a plurality of independent blocks (step 1).
2). Next, i = 1 is set (step 3), and the control unit 1 determines whether or not the image information processing unit 2 _i (that is, 2 ₁ ) is opened (step 4). If it is not released, it is judged whether i = n (step 5), and if n, s
Return to step 3, and if not n, add 1 to i (s
After step 6), the process returns to step 4. If the image information processing unit 2 _i is opened in Step 4, the image information is input to the image information processing unit 2 _i (Step 7), and it is determined whether or not another block remains in the image information dividing unit 5 ( st
ep8). If it does not remain, the operation is ended, and if it remains, it is determined whether i = n (step 5). If it is n, the process returns to step 3, and if it is not n, 1 is added to i (step 6) and then the process returns to step 4.

After all of these operations have been completed or during operation, the control unit 1 grasps the usage status of each unit and the VR
The output unit 4 starts the printing process in order from the image information stored in AM3 ₁ .

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following may be considered as another embodiment of the above FIG. 1 and FIG.

(1) In the above operation, i was started from 1, but i
Is randomly determined, and the control unit 1 connects the output unit 4 with V
The order of the RAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n may be designated in the image information input order.

In this way, VRs having different storage capacities
By using AM3 _{1 to} 3 _n , the image information division unit 5 can select VRAMs 3 _{1 to} 3 _n having an appropriate storage capacity for independent blocks.

(2) When a plurality of terminals are connected to the host computer A, each terminal and each VRAM 3
The ₁ to 3 _n is a one-to-one correspondence, the image information dividing unit 5 may output the image information to the VRAM 3 ₁ to 3 _n corresponding to each of the terminals.

(3) The block unit divided by the image information dividing unit 5 may be set for each page unit for printing.

By doing so, parallel processing can be performed for each page unit.

(4) The unit of division by the image information division unit 5 may be one command unit.

In this way, parallel processing can be performed for each command.

[0023]

As described above, according to the image information processing apparatus of the present invention, since a plurality of storage sections are provided, it is possible to perform print processing in parallel and print complicated image information. However, it is possible to prevent the printing speed from decreasing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an image information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional image information processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,11: control unit 2 ₁ ~2 _n, 12: image processing unit _{3 1 ~3 n, 13: VRAM} 4,14: Output section 5: Image information dividing unit A: Host computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an image information processing apparatus for printing input image information, a control unit for controlling the entire apparatus,
It is characterized by comprising a plurality of storage units for storing image information, an image information division unit for dividing the input image information and sending the image information to any one of the storage units, and an output unit for printing processing. Image information processing device.