JPH10173886A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously operate plural jobs with maintenance of performance of each job by managing the job numbers and a selected storage means with correspondence secured between them. SOLUTION: When a scan data storage job is received, the job number is issued. This job number and the numbers of available storage parts 308-1 to 308-N are registered in the corresponding management table. Then a command is given to a control part A 303 to send the scan data to an image storage part A 304, and a command is given to a control part B 307 to send the data sent from the part A 303 to a storage part corresponding to a registered storage part number. Then an original is stored in an image storage part 304. If a data storage job is received during the operation of the scan data storage job, a new job number is issued and a storage part to be used is acquired and registered in the management table. The part A 303 is set to send the external data to the part 304, and the part B 307 is set to store the data sent to the part 304 in the parts 308-1 to 308-N corresponding to the job numbers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a storage device for storing image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, images of all documents to be copied are read, the image data is temporarily stored in a memory such as a hard disk, and image data of an arbitrary document is repeatedly read out from the memory and printed out. A digital copying machine having an electronic sorting function is known.

With such a configuration, it is possible to discharge copy sheets in a sorted state without providing a sorter device having a plurality of bins.

Further, such an apparatus has two independently operable DRAMs, and transfers and stores one DRAM to a hard disk (HD), and another memory while storing the data on the hard disk. High-speed storage has been performed by performing double buffer control for storing data for the next storage in the DRAM.

[0005]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned prior art, the next image data cannot be accessed from the hard disk until the access to one image data to the hard disk is completed. If a job for storing data and a job for storing print data from a computer are received at the same time, there is a problem that the double buffer cannot be used effectively and the performance drops.

Further, while data is stored in the hard disk, data cannot be read, and it may not always be possible to provide optimum performance to a multi-function that operates a plurality of jobs simultaneously. .

When operating a plurality of jobs at the same time, it is particularly important to improve performance.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus which can operate simultaneously for a plurality of jobs while maintaining performance.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising: a storage control means for inputting image data and storing the input image data in a storage means; In an image processing apparatus having at least two or more storage units, a job number issuance unit that issues a job number when a job is received, and a job identified by the job number It is characterized by having a selecting means for selecting a storing means to be used, and a managing means for managing the job number and the selected storing means in association with each other.

The image processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of storage units in the image processing apparatus can operate independently.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of the structure of an image forming section of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, a recirculating automatic document feeder (RDF) 180 is provided on the upper surface of the copying apparatus main body 100. The inside of the copying apparatus main body 100 has the following configuration.

The document table 101 includes a platen glass on which a document is placed. The scanner 102 reads a document placed on the document table 101 and outputs image data. It comprises a lamp 103, a scanning mirror 104 and the like. Then, the scanner 102 is reciprocally scanned in a predetermined direction by a motor (not shown), and the reflected light of the original is transmitted through the lens 108 via the scanning mirrors 104 to 106 to form an image on the CCD image sensor 109.

The exposure control unit 107 is composed of a laser, a polygon scanner, and the like.
The laser beam 129 is irradiated on the photosensitive drum 110 based on an image signal converted into an electric signal and subjected to predetermined image processing described later.

Around the photosensitive drum 110, a primary charger 112, a developing device 121, a transfer charger 118, a cleaning device 116, and a pre-exposure lamp 114 are provided. In the image forming unit 126, the photosensitive drum 110 is rotated by a motor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and is charged to a desired potential by the primary charger 112. Is irradiated, and an electrostatic latent image is formed.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 110 is developed by the developing device 121 and is visualized as a toner image. On the other hand, pickup rollers 133 and 134 from the upper cassette 131 or the lower cassette 132.
Transfer paper fed by the paper feed rollers 135 and 136
Is transferred to the transfer belt by the registration roller 137, and the visualized toner image is transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer charger 118. After the transfer, the photosensitive drum is cleaned of residual toner by a cleaner device 116, and residual charges are erased by a pre-exposure lamp 114.

The transfer paper on which the image has been transferred is separated from the transfer belt 130, the toner image is recharged by the pre-fixing chargers 139 and 140, and then sent to the fixing device 141 to be pressed and heated. The toner is fixed, and is discharged out of the main body 100 by the discharge roller 142.

The attraction charger 138 attracts the transfer paper sent from the registration roller to the transfer belt 130, and the transfer belt roller 139 is used to rotate the transfer belt 130, and at the same time, the attraction charger 138 The transfer paper is adsorbed and charged on the transfer belt 130 in pairs.

The main body 100 is equipped with a deck 150 capable of storing, for example, 4000 transfer papers. The lifter 151 of the deck 150 rises according to the amount of transfer paper so that the transfer paper always contacts the paper feed roller 152. Further, a multi-bypass unit 153 capable of storing 100 transfer papers is provided.

Further, the paper discharge flapper 154 switches the path between the double-side recording side or the multiple recording side and the paper discharge side. The transfer paper fed from the paper discharge roller 142 is switched by the paper discharge flapper 154 to a double-sided recording side or a multiple recording side. In addition, the lower transport path 158 is
The transfer paper sent out from 2 is turned upside down and guided to the re-feed tray 156 via the reversing path 155.

The multiplex flapper 157 switches the path between double-sided recording and multiplexed recording. When the flapper is tilted to the left, the transfer paper does not pass through the reversing path 155.
It leads directly to the lower transport path 158.

The paper feed roller 159 feeds the transfer paper to the photosensitive drum 126 through a path 160.
The discharge roller 161 is disposed near the discharge flapper 154, and discharges the transfer sheet switched to the discharge side by the discharge flapper 154 to the outside of the apparatus.

At the time of double-sided recording (double-sided copying) or multiple recording (multiple copying), the discharge flapper 154 is raised upward, and the copied transfer sheet is turned over via the transport paths 155 and 158 to re-feed the tray. 156. At this time, at the time of double-sided printing, the multiplex flapper 157 is tilted to the right, and at the time of multiplex printing, the transfer sheets stored in the re-feed tray 156 are fed one by one from the bottom by the feed roller 159 via the path 160. It is guided to a registration roller 137 of the main body.

When the transfer sheet is inverted and discharged from the main body, the discharge flapper 154 is raised upward, and the flapper 157 is discharged.
Is tilted to the right, the copied transfer paper is transported to the transport path 155 side, and after the rear end of the transfer paper passes through the first feed roller 162, it is transported by the reversing roller 163 to the second feed roller side. The transfer paper is turned over by the discharge rollers 161 and discharged outside the apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the image reading unit 201 includes:
A lens 108, a CCD sensor 109, an analog signal processing unit 202, and the like.
The original image formed on the D sensor 109 is converted by the CCD sensor 109 into an analog electric signal.

The converted image information is input to an analog signal processing unit, where sample and hold, dark level correction and the like are performed, and then analog-to-digital conversion (A / D)
Conversion). The digitized signal is input to the electronic sorter unit 203 after shading correction (variation of a sensor for reading a document and correction of light distribution characteristics of a document illumination lamp) and scaling processing.

The external I / F processing unit 209 expands image information input from an external computer, and inputs the image information to the electronic sorter unit 203 as image data.

The electronic sorter unit 203 performs correction processing necessary for an output system such as γ correction, smoothing processing, edge enhancement, other processing, processing, and the like.
Is output to

The printer unit 204 includes, as shown in FIG.
Exposure control section 120 composed of laser or the like, image forming section 12
6. It is composed of a transfer control unit for the transfer paper, and records an image on the transfer paper according to the input image signal.

Further, the CPU circuit unit 205
6, the ROM 207, the RAM 208, and the like, and controls the image reading unit 201, the electronic sorter unit 203, the printer unit 204, and the like, and controls the sequence of the apparatus in a comprehensive manner.

FIG. 3 shows an electronic sorter unit 2 according to this embodiment.
It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of No. 03.

The image sent from the image reading unit 201 is input as Black luminance data,
Sent to conversion section 301. A log converter 301 converts an input luminance data into an LU for converting the input luminance data into density data.
T is stored, and the luminance data is converted into density data by outputting a table value corresponding to the input data.

Thereafter, the density data is sent to the binarizing section 302. The binarization unit 302 binarizes the multi-valued density data, and the density value becomes “0” or “255”. The binary 8-bit image data is “0” or “1”.
And the amount of image data stored in the memory is reduced.

However, when the image is binarized, the number of gradations of the image is changed from 256 gradations to two gradations. Therefore, binarization of image data having a large number of halftones such as a photographic image generally causes deterioration of the image. Remarkable. Therefore, it is necessary to perform pseudo halftone expression using binary data. Here, an error diffusion method is used as a method for pseudo-halftone expression using binary data.

According to this method, when the density of a certain image is larger than a certain threshold value, the density data is determined to be "255", and when the density is equal to or less than a certain threshold value, the density data is determined to be "0". In this method, the difference between the actual density data and the binarized data is distributed to surrounding pixels as an error signal.

The distribution of the error is performed by multiplying a weight coefficient on a matrix prepared in advance with the error generated by the binarization, and adding the result to surrounding pixels.
As a result, the density average value of the entire image is stored, and the halftone can be represented in a pseudo binary manner.

The binarized image data is supplied to the control unit A30.
Sent to 3. The image data from the computer input from the external I / F processing unit 209 is processed as binary image data by the external I / F processing unit 209, and thus is sent to the control unit A303 as it is.

The control unit A 303 selects a bus connecting the control unit B 307 in accordance with a command from the main body, temporarily stores all images of the original to be copied in the image storage unit 304, and stores image data from the image storage unit 304. Are sequentially read and output.

The image storage unit 304 includes a plurality of storage units 308 each having a SCSI controller and a hard disk (memory), and a control unit B307. Each of the plurality of storage units 308 can operate independently of the other storage units 308.

Then, in response to a command from the main unit, the control unit B
307 accesses the designated storage unit 308, and
The image data is written to the hard disk according to a command from the I controller. The plurality of image data stored on the hard disk are output in an order according to the editing mode specified by the operation unit of the copying machine.

For example, in the case of sorting, the original is read in order from the last page to the first page of the bundle of documents by the RDF 180, and is temporarily stored in the hard disk. Then, the image data of the document once stored is read from the hard disk in order from the last page to the first page, and this is repeated a plurality of times and output. This allows
It can play the same role as a sorter with multiple bins.

The image data called from the image storage unit 304 is sent to the smoothing unit 305. Smoothing unit 3
In step 05, first, 1-bit data is converted to 8-bit data, and the image data signal is set to "0" or "255".

The converted image data is replaced with a weighted average value obtained by summing the values obtained by multiplying the coefficients on the predetermined matrix by the density values of the neighboring pixels. As a result, the binary data is converted into multi-valued data in accordance with the density value of the neighboring pixels, and an image quality closer to the read image can be reproduced.

The smoothed image data is supplied to the γ correction unit 30.
6 is input. When outputting the density data, the γ correction unit 306 performs conversion using an LUT in consideration of the characteristics of the printer, and adjusts the output according to the density value set by the operation unit.

Next, the operation for receiving a plurality of jobs will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Here, the job types are stored in a storage unit, such as a scan data storage job for scanning and storing a document, a data storage job for storing data from an external I / F such as a print from a computer, and the like. It is assumed that there is a print job that prints the data that is stored.

First, when a copy start is instructed by the operation unit or the like, a scan data storage job is accepted in S401, and a new job is determined in S402.
Issues a job number. Here, it is assumed that the job number 1 is issued for the scan data storage job.

Next, in S404, it is determined whether or not there is a usable storage device (storage units 308-1 to 308-N). If there is a usable storage device, the number of the storage device and the job number are registered in the corresponding management table.

Next, in step S406, the control unit A303 is instructed to set the scan data to be transferred to the image storage unit 304.
At 07, the control unit B 307 is instructed to transfer the data from the control unit A 303 to the storage device corresponding to the storage device number registered at S405. After the above operation, the document is stored in the image storage unit 304 in accordance with the above-described image processing and page order.

Next, if a data storage job for storing print data is received from the computer while the scan data storage job is operating, a new job number is issued by the above-described operation (for example, job number 2). Seeking a storage device to use in the data storage job,
Registered in the management table, set in the control unit A303 to pass external data to the image storage unit 304, and control unit B307 to store the data in the storage units 308-1 to 308-N corresponding to the job number 2. Set. While storing the scanned data in this manner, the print data can be stored at the same time without deteriorating the performance.

Next, it is assumed that the scan data storage job has been completed and a print job 1 for printing the stored data has been issued. In S402, it is determined that the job has already been registered. In S408, the management table is referred to, and
In step 9, it is determined whether the storage device for job number 1 is available, and the process waits until it becomes available.

When it becomes available, in S406,
The control unit A303 is set to send the data from the image storage unit 304 to the smoothing unit 305.
The storage unit 308 corresponding to the job number 1 with respect to 307
A setting for connecting the control unit A303 to the control unit A303 is made. After the above operation, data is read from the image storage unit 304 and printed according to the above-described image processing and page order. Also,
After print job 1 is completed, print job 2 can be printed in a similar manner.

In the above example, the scan data storage job is completed before the data storage job. However, if the data storage job is completed before, for example, the print job 2 can be issued.

In this case, as described above, the storage unit 308 corresponding to print 2 is referred to by referring to the management table.
If the data is printed from the obtained storage units 308-1 to 308-N, it is possible to store and print the print data from the computer at the same time that the scan data is being stored without deteriorating the performance. it can.

[0056]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the image processing apparatus according to the above, in the image processing apparatus having at least two or more storage units, a job number is issued when a certain job is received, and the storage used for the job identified by the job number is stored. Means is selected, and a management means for managing the job number and the selected storage means in association with each other is simply configured. For example, a storage device in which the job is uniquely stored for the job number is stored. The image data can be input and stored in the storage unit, and the data can be read from the storage unit and printed.

According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the storage means in the image processing apparatus can operate independently of each other, so that they can operate simultaneously for multi-jobs. Can be performed without sacrificing performance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration example of an image forming unit of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an electronic sorter unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a plurality of jobs are received in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201: image reading unit, 203: electronic sorter unit, 204: printer unit, 205: CPU circuit unit, 206: CPU, 207: ROM, 208: RAM, 303, 307: control unit, 304: image storage unit, 308 ... Storage unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a storage control unit for inputting image data and storing it in a storage unit; and a print control unit for reading data from the storage unit and printing the data, and having at least two storage units. A job number issuing unit for issuing a job number when a certain job is received; a selecting unit for selecting a storage unit to be used for the job identified by the job number; Management means for managing the storage means in association with each other. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of storage units in the image processing apparatus can operate independently.