JPH11170621A - Apparatus and method for processing image, and, recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the problem that image data read out from a hard disk are hard to output to an image-forming apparatus, that is, print out at high speed without using a page memory because the image data of CMYBk to be read out simultaneously are stored dispersedly on the hard disk. SOLUTION: When image data are to be output to an image-forming apparatus forming color images by superimposing a plurality of color component images, the image data in units of color components and lines are stored consecutively in sectors of a hard disk 7. A start position of a storage area for each color component of the image data is based on a start timing when the plurality of color component images are started to be formed in the image-forming apparatus. A memory controller 6 outputs together image data of each one line of CMYBk read out consecutively from the hard disk 7 to the image-forming apparatus.

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 and method, and a recording medium. For example, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for processing image data for forming a color image, and an image processing method for the same. It relates to the recording medium used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Color laser beam printers are roughly classified into two types. The first type has a drum for adsorbing recording paper, and a developing device for four colors of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y, and black Bk arranged so as to be in contact with the drum, and the drum rotates once for each color. This is a type in which four color toners are transferred onto a recording paper in a superimposed manner.

A second type is a transfer belt in which image forming stations for forming CMYBk four-color toner images are arranged in series, and a recording sheet is conveyed so as to be in contact with them.
This is a type in which a toner image is transferred from each image forming station in an overlapping manner in accordance with the conveyance of the recording paper.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer engine 20 in a second type color laser beam printer. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 11 to 14 denote photosensitive drums on which toner images of respective colors are formed, reference numerals 21 to 24 denote toner cartridges as developing units for holding toners of the respective colors, and reference numeral 4 denotes a recording sheet, which is recorded one by one during printing. A recording paper cassette 5 from which the paper is extracted is a transfer belt 5 that conveys the recording paper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus for generating image data. In FIG. 2, 7 is a hard disk for storing various data, and 9 is CMYB
k A page memory that holds one page of image data for each color, 6
Is a hard disk controller that controls reading and writing of the hard disk 7, 8 is a memory controller that controls reading and writing of the page memory 9, 10 is a bus for exchanging data including image data and control signals, and 111 to 114 are each to the printer engine 20. CMYBk image data to be sent.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the data structure of image data stored in the hard disk 7. The hard disk 7 usually stores data in management units called sectors. For example, line-by-line image data C1, M1, Y1, Bk1, C2,...
That is, one line of image data is divided into four colors of CMYBk and stored in different sectors.

Next, the operation inside the printer when performing color printing will be described. When printing starts
An instruction from a CPU (not shown) to the hard disk controller 6 for reading one page of image data from the hard disk 7 and an instruction to the memory controller 8 for storing the image data read by the hard disk controller 6 in the page memory 9 are given. publish. Upon receiving this instruction, the hard disk controller 6 reads the image data stored in the hard disk 7 and outputs one page of image data to the bus 10. One page of image data output to the bus 10 is processed by the memory controller 8.
The data is stored in the page memory 9 with the data structure shown in FIG.

In the data structure shown in FIG. 4, image data of the first line of the C component from address 0 of the page memory 9 is stored. The image data of the first line of the other color components MYBk are stored at addresses 100, 200, and 300 of the page memory 9, respectively.
Is stored at the beginning. Similarly, the data of the subsequent lines are stored separately for each line for each color component.

When one page of image data is stored in the page memory 9, the CPU issues a command to the memory controller 8 to output an image. At the same time, the supply of the recording paper from the recording paper cassette 4 is started and the driving of the transfer belt 5 is started, so that the conveyance of the recording paper by the transfer belt 5 is started.

Memory controller receiving image output instruction
8 reads the image data from the page memory 9 in synchronization with the position of the recording sheet to be conveyed, and reads the C component image data as the image data 111, the M component image data as the image data 112, and the Y component image data as the image data. The image data 113 and the image data of the Bk component are output as image data 114, respectively. The timing of outputting the image data is determined by the photosensitive drums 11, 12,
Determined by the intervals of 13 and 14. For example, the photosensitive drums 11, 12, 13, and 14 can be expressed as 100 image lines.
Assuming that the image data is arranged at line intervals, it is necessary to shift the image data of each color by 100 lines. Therefore, when outputting the 301st line of the C component, the 201st line of the M component, the 101st line of the Y component, and the first line of the Bk component are output simultaneously. Therefore, the image data of each line is
CMYBk is output at different timings.

Each of the image data 111 to 114 output from the memory controller 8 is input to a laser driver (not shown) via a pulse width modulator (not shown) corresponding to each color, and the image data corresponding to the image data. The photosensitive drums 11 to 14 are irradiated with a laser beam having a pulse width. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drums 11 to 14 irradiated with the laser beam. The formed electrostatic latent images are developed by attracting the toner held in the toner cartridges 21 to 24 to become toner images of respective colors. The toner images of each color are sequentially printed on the recording paper conveyed by the transfer belt 5.
Transcribed. The toner image transferred onto the recording paper is fixed by heating with a fixing device (not shown). The recording paper on which the full-color image has been formed by the above process is discharged out of the apparatus.

[0012]

However, the above technique has the following problems.

The image processing apparatus described above needs to output CMYBk image data at different timings synchronized with the conveyance of the recording paper, and temporarily stores the image data in the page memory 9.
After that, the printing process of the image data is executed. For this reason, a large amount of semiconductor memory is required as the page memory 9, and the cost of the device increases.

A method of outputting image data read from the hard disk 7 without using the page memory 9 is also conceivable. This method is advantageous in terms of device cost because a hard disk having a low unit price per storage capacity is used as an image memory, but the CMYBk image data to be read simultaneously is stored on the hard disk 7 as shown in FIG. Since the image data of each color component is stored in a distributed manner, the movement of the magnetic head of the hard disk 7 becomes large when reading out the image data of each color component, and there is a disadvantage that high-speed image data output, that is, high-speed printing is difficult.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and to provide an image processing apparatus and method capable of outputting image data to an image forming apparatus at high speed while reducing the apparatus cost, and processing thereof. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium used for a computer.

[0016]

The present invention has the following configuration as one means for achieving the above object.

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus which outputs image data to an image forming apparatus which forms a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images, and converts the image data into a color component and a segment unit. Storage means for continuously storing the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus; and output means for outputting image data continuously read from the storage means to the image forming apparatus. Writing means for writing the image data of the plurality of color-formed images into a storage area of the storage means corresponding thereto.

An image processing method according to the present invention is an image processing method for outputting image data to an image forming apparatus for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images. And store continuously,
The start position of the storage area for each color component of the image data is
The image forming apparatus writes image data of the plurality of color component images to a storage area of a recording medium based on a timing of starting formation of the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus, and starts forming the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus. Image data is continuously read from a storage area of a recording medium based on timing, and image data continuously read from the recording medium is output to the image forming apparatus.

A recording medium according to the present invention is a recording medium used for image processing for outputting image data to an image forming apparatus for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images, the image medium comprising: And the image data is successively stored in units of segments, and the starting position of the storage area for each color component of the image data is based on the timing of starting the formation of the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0021]

First Embodiment FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. Note that components that are substantially the same as the components shown in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted. Further, in the following description, the photosensitive drum 11
To are arranged at an interval equal to 100 lines of the image to be formed. That is, in an image forming apparatus that forms an image of 20 lines per cm, the photosensitive drums are arranged at 5 cm intervals. Also, the description will be made on the assumption that an image of one page is formed by 600 lines.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 12 denotes a line memory having a storage capacity of a total of four lines for holding image data for one line of each color of CMYBk. Reference numeral 15 denotes a CPU which controls the operation and processing of the image processing apparatus and the printer engine 20 according to the control and processing programs stored in the ROM 14. 13 is CPU1
5 is RAM used as work memory.

The image data held in the line memory 12 is read out by the memory controller 8 which has received the image output command, in synchronization with the position of the recording paper being conveyed. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the 301st line of the C component is output, the 201st line of the M component, the 101st line of the Y component, and the first line of the Bk component are output simultaneously. The relationship between the lines of image data to be output at the same time is uniquely determined by the interval between the photosensitive drums 11 to 14 and the resolution of the formed image in the sub-scanning direction.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of image data stored in the hard disk 7 according to the present invention.
The CPU 15 sends a bus 10 to each sector of the hard disk 7.
The image data of each color input from the outside via the CPU is divided into line units and stored. Further, the CPU 15 stores the image data of each color in a sector represented by the following equation. That is, the image data of each color is stored offset by the sector corresponding to 100 lines. In addition, in the sector where the image data to be stored is not shown in FIG. 7, data in which a latent image is not formed (in other words, data in which a laser beam is not emitted, and hereinafter, "invalid data"
) May be stored. ACi = 4 (i-1) AMi = 4 (i-1) + 401 AYi = 4 (i-1) + 802 ABki = 4 (i-1) + 1203 ACi: Sector address where C component is stored AMi: Sector address where M component is stored AYi: Sector address where Y component is stored ABki: Sector address where Bk component is stored i: Line number (1 ≦ i ≦ 600)

The sector address in the data structure shown in FIG. 3 is represented by the following equation. ACi = 4 (i-1) AMi = 4 (i-1) + 1 AYi = 4 (i-1) + 2 ABki = 4 (i-1) + 3

Next, the operation of forming a color image will be described step by step. Since the procedure after the formation of the latent image has been described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

When printing is started, a recording paper cassette
The conveyance of the recording paper extracted from 4 by the transfer belt 5 is started. When the leading edge of the conveyed recording paper reaches a predetermined position, it is a timing to start forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum 11,
The CPU 15 sends a sector to the hard disk controller 6.
Command to read image data of 1 to 4 and
It instructs the memory controller 8 to write the image data on the bus 10 to the line memory 12. Upon receiving the command, the hard disk controller 6 sequentially reads the image data of sectors 1 to 4 of the hard disk 7 and outputs the read image data to the bus 10. On the other hand, the memory controller 8 having received the instruction writes the image data on the bus 10 into the line memory 12 in order.

When the reading of the image data by the hard disk controller 6 is completed, the CPU 15 instructs the memory controller 8 to output the image data held in each line of the line memory 12. The memory controller 8 that has received the instruction outputs the image data held in each line of the line memory 12 as image data 111 to 114.

Each of the image data 111 to 114 output by the memory controller 8 is input to a laser driver (not shown) via a pulse width modulator (not shown) corresponding to each color. However, since the MYBk component of the image data read from sectors 1 to 4 is invalid data and only the C component is valid, the photosensitive drum 11 is irradiated with a laser beam having a pulse width corresponding to the C component image data. As a result, only an electrostatic latent image of the C component is formed. In this way, the image data of sectors 0 to 399 are read out in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper, and the latent images of the first to 100th lines of the C component are formed.

Subsequently, at the timing of forming the 101st line of the C component, the image data of the sectors 400 to 403 of the hard disk 7 is read out, so that the image data of the M component is also effective, and the image data of the C and M components is effective. The photosensitive drums 11 and 12 are irradiated with a laser beam having a pulse width corresponding to the data,
And an electrostatic latent image of the M component is formed. In this way, the image data of the sectors 400 to 799 are read out in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper, and the latent images of the 101st to 200th lines of the C component and the 100th to 100th lines of the M component are read out. A latent image of the line is formed.

Thereafter, the above-described procedure is repeated until the image data of the 600th line of the Bk component stored in the sector 3599 of the hard disk 7 is read and the latent image of the 600th line of the Bk component is formed.

In the above description, for simplicity, it has been described that image data is stored from sector 1 of hard disk 7. However, correctly, hard disk 7 assigned to store image data is stored in sector 1. Needless to say, the data may be stored sequentially from an arbitrary sector in the area.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, reading of image data from the hard disk 7 only involves incrementing the sector address, and movement of the magnetic head of the hard disk 7 is minimized, so that it can be performed in a short time. Image data can be read from the hard disk 7. Therefore, high-speed image data output, that is, high-speed printing can be performed by using a hard disk and a line memory for four lines without using a page memory.

[0034]

[Second Embodiment] An image processing apparatus and method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Note that, in the present embodiment, for a configuration substantially similar to that of the first embodiment,
The same reference numerals are given and the detailed description is omitted.

An image processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention uses a magnetic tape having four read / write tracks as storage means for image data. FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of the second embodiment. It is a block diagram. Note that components that are substantially the same as the components shown in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 13 denotes a tape drive controller for controlling reading and writing of data on a magnetic tape 17 on which digital data is recorded. Reference numeral 16 denotes a storage capacity for a total of four bands for holding one band of image data of each color of CMYBk. Is a band memory having The magnetic tape 17 has four tracks, and each of the tracks can record four different digital data. The following description will be made assuming that the configuration of the printer engine is the same as that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an arrangement format of the image data recorded on the magnetic tape 17. The controller 13 divides the image data of each color inputted through the bus 10 into band units, and Record. In FIG. 9, C-B1 is C
Bk-B30 is image data corresponding to band 30 of the Bk component.
Consists of lines. By adopting the arrangement format of the image data as shown in FIG. 9, CMYBk image data can be continuously read out by offsetting 100 lines each in the order shown in FIG. Further, data in which a latent image is not formed (in other words, a laser beam is not emitted) is stored in a band where no image data is stored in FIG.

Next, the operation of forming a color image will be described step by step, but since the procedure after the formation of the latent image has been described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

When printing is started, a recording paper cassette
The conveyance of the recording paper extracted from 4 by the transfer belt 5 is started. At substantially the same time, the CPU 15 instructs the tape drive controller 13 to start running the magnetic tape 17. The magnetic tape 17 runs in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper, that is, at a speed at which image data for one band (10 lines) can be read while the recording paper moves by 10 lines.

When the leading end of the conveyed recording paper reaches a predetermined position, the CPU 15 instructs the tape drive controller 13 to read out one band of image data from each track, and also instructs the memory controller 8 to read out one band. To write image data on the bus 10 to the band memory 16. Tape drive controller 13 that received the command
Reads one band of image data and outputs the read image data to the bus 10. On the other hand, the memory controller 8 receiving the instruction transfers the image data on the bus 10 to the band memory 1.
Write in 6.

When the recording paper is further conveyed and the start of forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum 11 comes, the reading of one band of image data and the writing of the read image data to the band memory 16 are completed. ing. The CPU 15 instructs the memory controller 8 to output the image data held in the band memory 16. Upon receiving the command, the memory controller 8 converts the image data for one band held in the line memory 16 from the image data 111 to the
Output as 14.

Each of the image data 111 to 114 output by the memory controller 8 is input to a laser driver (not shown) via a pulse width modulator (not shown) corresponding to each color. However, since the MYBk component of the image data for one band read first is invalid data and only the C component is valid, a laser beam having a pulse width corresponding to the image data of the C component is applied to the photosensitive drum 11. Irradiated, C
Only the electrostatic latent images of the components are formed. In this way, the image data of 10 bands is read from the magnetic tape 17 in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper, and the latent images of the first to 100th lines of the C component are formed.

Subsequently, at the timing of forming the 101st line of the C component, the image data of the M component read from the magnetic tape 17 is also effective, and the laser beam having a pulse width corresponding to the image data of the C and M components is obtained. Irradiates the photosensitive drums 11 and 12 to form electrostatic latent images of C and M components. In this manner, in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper, the image data for 10 bands is read from the magnetic tape 17, the latent images of the 101st to 200th lines of the C component, and the 1st line of the M component. To form a latent image of the 100th line.

Thereafter, the above procedure is repeated until the image data of the 60th band of the Bk component recorded on the magnetic tape 17 is read and the latent image of the 600th line of the Bk component is formed.

The size of the image data for one band is 1
The number of lines is not limited to 0, and is appropriately set according to the speed at which image data can be read from the magnetic tape 17 and the image forming speed of the printer engine 20.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the image data of each color component is recorded on each track of the magnetic tape 17 having four tracks, and the recording start position is determined by the distance between the photosensitive drums. , The image data can be read out in synchronization with the image formation of the printer engine 20. Therefore,
As in the first embodiment, an image can be formed without using a page memory. Further, since the image data can be recorded on an inexpensive magnetic tape, the cost of the image data recording medium is increased when an image represented by image data having a large data size, that is, an image having a large image size is repeatedly formed. Can be reduced.

[0047]

[Modification] In the above description, the medium for storing image data is not limited to a hard disk or a magnetic tape, but may be a magneto-optical disk, a digital video disk (D
Media such as VD-RAM) and flash ROM can also be used.

The image data may be compressed and stored in a storage medium, and may be expanded at the time of reading. As a method for compressing image data, a compression method suitable for compressing image data, such as a general LZW method or JPEG method, may be used.

Further, the image forming method is not limited to the electrophotographic process using a light beam such as a laser.
It is applicable to various image forming methods such as an electrophotographic process using D or a liquid crystal shutter, a thermal transfer method, an ink jet method, and the like.

[0050]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine) Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or a CPU or M
Needless to say, this can also be achieved by the PU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code.
It goes without saying that an (operating system) performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An image processing apparatus and method capable of outputting image data to an image forming apparatus at high speed while suppressing apparatus cost,
In addition, a recording medium used for the processing can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer engine in a color laser beam printer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus that generates image data;

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a data structure of image data stored in a hard disk shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a data structure of image data stored in a page memory shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the order of image data output from the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of the data structure of image data stored in the hard disk shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a second embodiment according to the present invention;

9 is a diagram showing an arrangement format of image data recorded on the magnetic tape shown in FIG.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for outputting image data to an image forming apparatus for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images, wherein the image data is continuously stored in units of color components and segments. Means for outputting image data continuously read from the storage means to the image forming apparatus; and storage in the storage means in accordance with the timing to start forming the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus. Writing means for writing image data of the plurality of color-formed images in an area. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data continuously read from the storage unit is output by the output unit for each predetermined segment. 3. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein the segment unit is at least one line, and data storage in the storage unit is performed in sector units.
An image processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the storage unit has a magnetic medium for storing data in the sector unit. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the segment unit is at least one line, and data storage in the storage unit is performed in track units. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said storage means has a magnetic tape medium having a plurality of said tracks. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of tracks are equal to the number of the color components. 8. An image processing method for outputting image data to an image forming apparatus that forms a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images, wherein the image data is stored continuously in units of color components and segments. The start position of the storage area for each color component of the image data is stored in a storage area of a recording medium based on the start timing of forming the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus.
Writing the image data of the plurality of color-formed images, reading the image data continuously from a storage area of a recording medium based on the start timing of forming the plurality of color component images in the image forming apparatus, and continuously reading from the recording medium An image processing method, comprising outputting read image data to the image forming apparatus. 9. The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein the image data continuously read from the storage medium is output by the output unit for each predetermined segment. 10. A recording medium used for image processing for outputting image data to an image forming apparatus that forms a color image by superimposing a plurality of color component images, wherein the image data is continuously stored in units of color components and segments. The start position of the storage area for each color component of the image data is
A recording medium based on a timing at which the image forming apparatus starts forming the plurality of color component images.