JPH10187376A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a plotting processing by multiple clip at a high speed even when plural overlapped clip areas are set. SOLUTION: A multiple clip judging means 25 receives a clip command, and judges whether or not it is a multiple clip. When it is the first clip command, a clip area plotting means 15 plots the inside part of a clip area as '1' in a clip buffer 17, calculates a rectangular area circumscribing the clip area, and when it is the second and later clip command, the clip area plotting means 15 calculates a new rectangular area surrounding the previous clip area and this time clip area. A clip buffer access data controlling part 27 controls the clip area plotting means 15 so that '0' data can be written outside this time clip area inside the new rectangular area, and leaves a part in which the both areas are overlapped as a new clip area.

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 performing clipping in a process of filling characters and figures.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image processing apparatus that receives a PDL such as Postscript, interprets the PDL, and draws a character, graphic, or image performs a masking process separately from a preset drawing area. Therefore, the user can set an arbitrary area as a clip area. Here, FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining masking processing by a conventional image processing apparatus.

In the above image processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 6, original drawing data (characters, graphics, images)
1 and the clip data (size, shape, position, etc.) relating to the clip area 2 specified by the user, an overlapping area 3 between the drawing data 1 and the clip area 2 is calculated, which part is drawn, Whether to mask a portion is automatically determined, and only a predetermined portion is drawn. Therefore, there is an advantage that the user does not need to calculate or specify the inside / outside determination of the clip area 2. However, calculating the overlapping area 3 between the drawing data 1 and the clip area 2 requires a complicated operation, which hinders speeding up the processing. The overlapping area 3 is a part where the drawing is finally performed.

In order to solve the above problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-63609 discloses an image processing apparatus having a configuration shown in FIG. In the figure, a command processing unit 10 interprets input PDL data, supplies data such as characters, graphics, and images to a drawing unit 11 as vector data of a contour figure, and outputs clip region data to a clip region drawing unit 15. To supply. The drawing unit 11 supplies a command to the command FIFO 12, calculates coordinate data from the vector data, generates bitmap data, and supplies the bitmap data to the data FIFO 13. Command FIF
The O12 and the data FIFO 13 are so-called buffers. The command FIFO 12 sequentially supplies commands to the image composition control means 14, and the data FIFO 13
The bitmap data is sequentially supplied to the image composition control means 14.

[0005] The clip area drawing means 15 generates bitmap data from the clip area in accordance with the data of the clip area and supplies it to the clip buffer control means 16. The clip / buffer control means 16
The bitmap data of the drawn clip area is written to the clip buffer 17.

In accordance with the above command, the image composition control means 14 takes the logical product of the bitmap data of the drawing data and the bitmap data of the clip stored in the clip buffer 17 to determine whether or not to perform masking. Only the bitmap data in the portion to be selected and drawn is supplied to the frame buffer control means 18. The frame buffer control means 18 writes the bitmap data to be drawn into the frame buffer 19.
The final bitmap data written in the frame buffer 19 is supplied to an output device 20 for outputting image data.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the conventional image processing apparatus.
First, an operation when a clip command is received will be described with reference to FIG. The image processing device is a Postsc
When PDL data such as ript is received, step Sa1
When the clip command is received by the command processing means 10, the received clip command is supplied to the clip area drawing means 15 in step Sa2, and the clip area is designated. Next, in step Sa3, the coordinate values (Xmin, Ymin) and (Xmax, Ymax) of the rectangular area circumscribing the clip area are calculated by the clip area drawing means 15, and in step Sa4, whether the clip area is rectangular Determine whether or not. If the clip area is not rectangular, the process proceeds to step Sa5, where the clip buffer 17
Is being referred to.

If the clip buffer 17 is not referred to, the flow advances to step Sa6 to write "1" at the position of the clip buffer 17 corresponding to the clip area, thereby rendering the clip area. To end. On the other hand, if the clip area is not rectangular, the process proceeds to step Sa7, in which the reference flag indicating whether or not to use the clip buffer 17 is turned off, the clip buffer 17 is set not to be used, and the process ends. .

Next, an operation when a drawing command is received will be described with reference to FIG. The image processing device is Po
When PDL data such as stscript is received, step S
In step b1, when the command processing unit 10 receives a drawing command, in step Sb2, the coordinate values (X'min, Y'min), (X'max,
After calculating Y′max), it is determined in step Sb3 whether or not the clip area previously drawn in the clip buffer 17 and the rectangular area of the drawing data overlap. If they do not overlap, there is no need to perform masking, and the process ends without doing anything.

On the other hand, if the clip area and the rectangular area of the drawing data overlap, the process proceeds to step Sb4,
An execution command for the drawing process is issued, and in step Sb5,
It is determined whether or not the clip buffer reference flag is on. If the clip buffer reference flag is on, the process is executed in the clip buffer reference mode in step Sb6. That is, the logical product (AN) of the drawing data converted into the bitmap data by the image synthesis control means 14 and the data of the clip buffer 17 at the coordinates corresponding to the drawing coordinates of the drawing data.
After taking D), the data is written into the frame buffer 19.

On the other hand, if the clip buffer reference flag is off, the process is executed in a clip buffer non-reference mode in step Sb7. That is, in this case, since the clip area is not rectangular, the drawing data is stored in the frame data without referring to the clip buffer 17.
Write to buffer 19.

As described above, in the above-described conventional image processing apparatus, the bitmap data of the clip is written into the clip buffer 19, while the drawing data such as characters and graphics is converted into the bitmap data by the drawing means 11. After the image combining control unit 14 calculates the logical product (AND) of the drawing data converted into the bitmap data and the data of the clip buffer 17 at the coordinates corresponding to the drawing coordinates of the drawing data, Write to buffer 19. As a result, clip buffer 1
The masking of the clip region drawn in 7 can be performed at high speed without requiring a complicated operation.

[0013]

By the way, when the user sets a plurality of clip areas 2a and 2b without explicitly initializing, as shown in FIG. 10, the clip areas 2a and 2b are not The overlapping area becomes the new clip area 2c (hereinafter, this situation is referred to as "multiple clip"). However, in the above-described conventional image processing apparatus, a new clip area 2c with multiple clips is used.
Is set, the first clip data drawn in the clip buffer 17 is deleted, and the clip areas 2a and 2
It is necessary to calculate the overlap between b and write the new clip area 2c to the clip buffer 17 again. As a result, a complicated operation is required, which hinders the processing speed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an image processing apparatus capable of executing a drawing process using multiple clips at a high speed even when a plurality of overlapping clip regions are set. It is intended to provide.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for extracting an overlapping portion between a clip region and drawing data and drawing the drawing data of the overlapping portion. In the apparatus, storage means for storing the clip area, first data writing means for writing first data in a first clip area stored in the storage means, and a clip after a second clip area A second data writing unit that overwrites the storage unit with second data different from the first data outside the area, and a data stored in the storage unit by the second data writing unit. Clip processing means for performing a clip process on the drawing data based on the writing result.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first aspect of the present invention is provided.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an arithmetic unit configured to calculate a circumscribed rectangular area when the clip area stored in the storage unit and each of the clip areas after the second clip area are superimposed. The second data writing unit stores the first data in the storage unit within a circumscribed rectangular area calculated by the calculation unit and outside a clip region after the second clip region. It is characterized in that different second data is overwritten.

According to the present invention, the first data is written by the first data writing means into the first clip area stored in the storage means, and the clip area after the second clip area is written. Is stored in the storage means to the outside by the second data writing means.
Overwriting second data that is different from the first data, and performing clip processing on the drawing data by the clip processing unit based on the result of writing the data to the storage unit by the second data writing unit. Therefore, even when a plurality of clip regions overlapping each other are set, it is possible to obtain a final clip region in the case where the clip regions overlap each other, and to execute a drawing process using multiple clips at a high speed. Becomes possible.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. A. Configuration of Embodiment A-1. Configuration of Image Processing Apparatus FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Parts corresponding to those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. In the figure, a multiple clip determination unit 25 determines whether a plurality of overlapping clip regions are set. The circumscribed rectangular area data storage means 26 stores coordinate data (referred to as a clip path) of a rectangular area circumscribing the outline of the clip area drawn by the clip area drawing means 15. next,
The clip buffer / access data control means 27 generates a portion where a plurality of clip areas overlap as a new clip area when the determination result of the multiplex clip determination means 25 is determined to be a multiplex clip. In other words, the clip buffer / access data control unit 27 determines the corresponding one of the plurality of clip paths (the outline of the rectangular region circumscribing the outline of the set clip regions) stored in the circumscribed rectangular region data storage unit 26. X / Y axis minimum value of circumscribed rectangular area coordinate data of two clip paths
According to the maximum value, a rectangular area (new clip area) of the overlapping portion (logical sum) is set, and inside the rectangular area,
The area outside the corresponding clip path is data "0".
So that the clip area drawing means 1
5 is controlled.

B. Next, an operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus. Image processing device is Post
When receiving PDL data such as script, step Sc
In step Sc1, when the command processing unit 10 receives a clip command, in step Sc2, the multiplex clip determination unit 25 determines whether or not it is a multiplex clip, in other words, whether it is a second or later clip command. I do.

If it is not a multiplex clip, that is, if it is the first clip command, the flow advances to step Sc3 to supply the received clip command to the clip area drawing means 15 and specify the clip area C1 (FIG. 1). Here, the first clip area C
Let 1 be the position and shape as shown in FIG. Next, in step Sc4, the clip area drawing means 1
5, as shown in FIG. 3B, the clip area C1
(Xmin, Ymin) of the rectangular area S1 circumscribing
(Xmax, Ymax) is calculated. The coordinate values of the rectangular area S1 are stored in the circumscribed rectangular area data storage means 26 (FIG. 1). Thereafter, in step Sc5, it is determined whether or not the rectangular area S1 surrounding the clip area C1 is a rectangle.
If the rectangular area C1 surrounding the clip area C1 is not rectangular, the process proceeds to step Sc6, and it is determined whether the clip buffer 17 is being referred to.

Here, if the clip buffer 17 is not referred to, the process proceeds to step Sc7, where the clip area C
By writing “1” data at the position of the clip buffer 17 corresponding to “1”,
"1" data is written inside the "1" and the clip area C1
Is drawn, and the process ends. On the other hand, the clip area C
If the rectangular area S1 surrounding No. 1 is not a rectangle, step S
Proceeding to c8, the reference flag indicating whether or not to use the clip buffer 17 is turned off.
Is set not to be used, and the process ends.

On the other hand, if the received clip command is a multiplex clip, that is, if the received clip command is a second or subsequent clip command, the process proceeds to step Sc9, where the clip area drawing means 15 reads the previous circumscribed rectangular area data storage means from the circumscribed rectangular area data storage means. The coordinate value of the rectangular area S1 of the clip area C1 is read (FIG. 1). Here, when there is a page setting initialization or an explicit clearing instruction of the clip buffer 17, the contents of the clip buffer 17 are deleted. Next, in step Sc10, as shown in FIG. 4A, the coordinate values (Xmin, Ymin '), (Xmin, Ymin') of the rectangular area S2 surrounding the previous clip area C1 and the current clip area C2.
max ', Ymax). Actually, a rectangular area circumscribing the clip area C2 is obtained from the vector data of the current clip area C2, and the rectangular area and the rectangular area S1 are determined.
And a new rectangular area S2 is calculated. The coordinate value of the rectangular area S2 is supplied to the circumscribed rectangular area data storage means 26, and the data is updated (FIG. 1). Then, the multiplex clip determination unit 25 notifies the clip buffer / access data control unit 27 that the clip is a multiplex clip (FIG. 1).

In step Sc5, the clip buffer / access data control unit 27, which has received a report indicating that the clip is a multiplex clip, from the multiplex clip determination unit 25, sets the inside of the rectangular area S2 and the outside of the current clip area C2. As shown in FIG. 4B, by drawing “0” data in the clip buffer, the clip area C1 is drawn.
The non-overlapping part is erased in step and the overlapping area is left. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, only the overlapping portion between the previous clip region C1 and the current clip region C2 remains “1”. Then, the overlapping portion becomes a new clip area CNEW, and a rectangular area surrounding the clip area CNEW is stored in the circumscribed rectangular area data storage means 26.

If the command processing means 10 subsequently receives a clip command, the above-described processing is repeatedly executed. At this time, the new clip area CNEW is used as the previous clip area. As a result, each time a clip command is received, the clip area is updated.

When the drawing command is received, the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 is executed in the same manner as in the above-described conventional image processing apparatus. That is, the image composition control unit 14 calculates the logical product (AND) of the drawing data converted into the bitmap data and the clip data drawn in the clip buffer 17 and then writes the logical product into the frame buffer 19. As described above, even when a plurality of clip regions are set, a final clip region can be generated by simple processing (calculation), so that masking processing can be executed at high speed.

In the above-described embodiment, the output device is described as a printing device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a DTP
It is also effective when applied to high-speed display of high-quality fonts and complicated figures and their clippings.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the first data area is stored in the first clip area stored in the storage means. The first data is written by the writing means, and the second data writing means writes the first data to the storage means outside the clip area after the second clip area. Different second data is overwritten, and clip processing is performed on the drawing data by the clip processing means based on the data writing result to the storage means by the second data writing means. Even when multiple overlapping clip areas are set, it is possible to obtain the final clip area when they overlap each other, and to speed up the drawing process using multiple clips. Advantage that it is possible to perform is obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the clip area stored in the storage means and each of the clip areas subsequent to the second clip area are separated. The circumscribed rectangular area in the case of superimposition is calculated by the arithmetic means, and the second data writing means calculates the circumscribed rectangular area within the circumscribed rectangular area calculated by the arithmetic means and the clip area after the second clip area. Since the storage means is overwritten with the second data different from the first data on the outside, even when a plurality of clip areas overlapping with each other are set, even if a plurality of clip areas overlapping with each other are set, the storage means may be overwritten. The advantage is that the final clip area can be obtained, and the drawing processing using multiple clips can be executed at high speed. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a masking process when a single clip region is designated.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional image processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a conventional image processing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a conventional image processing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a masking process when a plurality of clip regions are designated.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 drawing means 14 image synthesis control means (clip processing means) 15 clip area drawing means (first data writing means,
Calculation means 17 clip buffer (storage means) 19 frame buffer 25 multiplex clip determination means (determination means) 26 circumscribed rectangular area data storage means (circumscribed rectangular area storage means) 27 clip buffer access data control section (second
Data writing means)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G09G 5/36 530 G06F 15/72 380

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for extracting an overlapping portion between a clip region and drawing data and drawing drawing data of the overlapping portion, wherein the storing unit stores the clip region, and the storing unit stores the clip region. First data writing means for writing the first data in the first clip area; and a second data area different from the first data in the storage means for the outside of the clip area after the second clip area. A second data writing unit that overwrites the data, and a clip processing unit that performs a clip process on the drawing data based on a result of writing the data to the storage unit by the second data writing unit. An image processing apparatus comprising: 2. An arithmetic unit for calculating a circumscribed rectangular area when a clip area stored in said storage means and each of clip areas subsequent to said second clip area are superimposed, The data writing means is different from the first data in the storage means in the circumscribed rectangular area calculated by the arithmetic means and outside the clip area after the second clip area. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data of the second data is overwritten. 3. A circumscribing rectangular area stored in the circumscribing rectangular area stored in the circumscribing rectangular area storing means, the circumscribing rectangular area being stored in the storing means. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a circumscribed rectangular area in a case where both are superimposed is obtained by calculating a logical sum of the circumscribed rectangular area of the clip area of interest. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether the plurality of clip areas are multiplex clips overlapping each other when a plurality of clip areas are supplied. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1.