JPH11254762A - Method and device for image processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer an image data by a format without the loss time such as seek time so as to be fit for an output device in a short time in the case the image is recorded by a plurality of light beams per one main scanning operation of the output device. SOLUTION: In the case of recording simultaneously three lines of image data of raster image data type, the data order is converted at the time of storage into line buffers or at the time of reading out of the line buffers so that a first image data of the three lines appears first to eliminate the reduction of speed generated by the seek time (mechanical operation time) required for taking out the required data at the time of reading the image data out of a hard disk 112. Also DRAM 200A, 200B and 200C, the number of which corresponds to the number of simultaneous record scanning lines, are provided to carry out the burst transfer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises an output device for simultaneously scanning a plurality of main scanning lines and storing an image on a recording material. The output device converts the image data stored in a raster image data format into an output device. The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for transferring image data to an image processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When image data is obtained from an input source such as a scanner or a host computer and printed out by a printer after various editing operations, for example, image data input from a host computer or a hard disk is temporarily buffered. And transfer the necessary image data to the printer.

[0003] The buffer is a RAM (random access memory), and a DRAM is generally applied. It is also possible to apply an SRAM which has a small storage capacity but allows high-speed access.

In any case, by interposing a RAM, image data can be transferred to an output device such as a printer at a high speed without a seek time (mechanical operation time) required for a hard disk or the like.

Incidentally, in recent printers, a plurality of light beams are simultaneously scanned to shorten the image recording time. Here, the simultaneous scanning of a plurality of light beams means that the light beams are arranged in the main scanning direction and are not arranged in the main scanning line but arranged in the sub-scanning direction. Sometimes a plurality of main scanning lines are recorded.

As described above, when a plurality of lines are simultaneously recorded, necessary image data is stored in a format (raster image data format) stored in a hard disk.
And different.

That is, if the image data sequentially arranged for each line is read as it is, the necessary image data is discontinuous and does not conform to the format on the printer side.

Therefore, when image data is sent from a hard disk or the like to a buffer, the format must be converted.

[0009]

However, in the hard disk, as described above, there is a seek time, and when searching and outputting discrete image data, a great loss time is created, and the image recording time is greatly reduced. Will decrease.

The present invention takes the above facts into consideration, and the output device is:
An image processing method and an image processing method capable of transferring image data in a short time without loss time such as seek time when recording an image with a plurality of light beams during one main scanning operation. The purpose is to get the device.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an output device for simultaneously scanning a plurality of main scanning lines and recording an image on a recording material, and is stored in a raster image data format. An image processing method for transferring image data from said image data to said output device, said image data being transferred to said output device when an image is recorded with a plurality of light beams during one main scanning operation of said output device. Before the transfer, in a buffer for storing image data for one main scanning line, the data is converted into a data order suitable for the image recording order by the output device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for simultaneously scanning a plurality of main scanning lines and transferring image data to an output device for recording an image on a recording material. A main storage medium for storing image data for one image in a format based on a raster image data format; and image data for one main scan line provided between the main storage medium and the output device, and scanning at least simultaneously. A line buffer having a storable storage capacity, and at least one of storing image data in the line buffer or transmitting image data from the line buffer, the image data is suitable for the order of image recording by the output device. Conversion control means for converting the data in order.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, in the raster image data, one line of image data, such as the first line of image data, the second line,. Are stored in order from the upper left pixel to the lower right pixel.

This is the case of CMY color image data, and addresses are schematically shown in Table 1 below. The first number is a row (row address), the last number is a column (column address), N is the last pixel address of each line, and L is the last line address.

[0015]

[Table 1]

On the other hand, in the output device applied to the present invention, a plurality of lines are simultaneously recorded to shorten the image recording. For example, when recording three lines at a time from the beginning, image data (0C0, 1C0, 2C) with an underline among the raster image data shown in Table 1 above.
0) is needed first.

Therefore, in the image processing method according to the first aspect, before transferring the image data to the output device, the buffer for storing the image data for one main scanning line may have a format based on the raster image data format. The data is converted into a data order suitable for the image recording order by the output device.

Further, in the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, the format conversion control means may store the raster image in at least one of storing the image data in the line buffer or transmitting the image data from the line buffer. A format based on the data format is converted into a data order suitable for the image recording order by the output device.

This eliminates the need for format conversion in a main storage medium such as a hard disk for storing image data of at least one image, thereby eliminating delay due to seek time and speeding up image recording.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the line buffer comprises a number of RAMs corresponding to the plurality of light beams, and the plurality of RAMs have a common row address and independent column addresses. A format instruction is received from the format conversion control means via a signal line, and burst transfer for each RAM is enabled by the format conversion control means.

According to the third aspect of the invention, generally,
When transferring raster image data, burst transfer is performed. Burst transfer is means for transferring image data by holding RAS (row address strobe) and sequentially switching CAS (column address strobe), and sets RAS together with CAS for each pixel. It is possible to transfer image data at a higher speed.

However, if this burst transfer is applied as it is, when format conversion as in the present invention is performed, RAS is held on the contrary, which has the opposite effect.

Therefore, a number of RAMs corresponding to the number of light beams to be simultaneously scanned are provided as line buffers. At this time, the signal lines are wired so that the row address of each RAM is common and the column address is independent.

Here, looking at only one RAM, RA
Even if S is held, the same effect as the burst transfer can be obtained by sequentially switching the CAS. By transmitting the output of the CAS to each RAM with a time delay based on the order required for the output device, it is possible to achieve both burst transfer and format conversion.

[0025]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for transferring image data to an image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

In this system, the host computer 100 and the host computer 1 as image data generation sources
An image data input / output control unit 102 for controlling the transfer of image data from image data 00 and an image recording apparatus main body 104. (Host Computer 100) Host Computer 10
What is applied as 0 may be a so-called server or a personal computer. Further, the drive may be a drive in which a recording medium such as a floppy disk, a CD, a CD-R, or a DVD can be loaded, and may have a function of outputting image data from the recording medium.

Further, a configuration may be employed in which image data is transferred between the host computer 100 and the input / output control unit 102 via a communication line such as the Internet or Ethernet or a network such as a LAN. . (Input / output control unit 102) As shown in FIG. 1, an I / F 106 is provided at an input end of the input / output control unit 102, and an I / F 106 corresponding to an input form to be connected is set. .

The I / F 106 is a SCSI port or RS2
32C is a typical example, but if a plurality is provided in accordance with the image data input system to be connected, the versatility of the input / output control unit 102 is enhanced.

The I / F 106 is connected to the first buffer 108. The storage capacity of the first buffer 108 is 3 MB. This first buffer 108
Is connected to a hard disk (HDD) 112 via a SCSI port 110. That is, I / F
The image data input to 106 is stored in the first buffer 10
8 is temporarily stored in the hard disk 112 (see the dotted line A in FIG. 1).

The storage capacity of the hard disk 112 is 4 G
B and four blocks (1 GB × 4) 1
The image data is divided into 12A to 12D, and image data of one image (one frame) is recorded in one block. Therefore, this hard disk 112 has a maximum of 4
Image data for a frame can be recorded.

The one stored in the hard disk 112
Image data for an image is stored in a raster image data format, and each pixel is stored in order from the first line to the last line (see Table 1).

The hard disk 112 includes the SC
A second buffer 114 as an output buffer is connected via the SI port 110. Second buffer 11
Reference numeral 4 is connected to the image recording apparatus main body 104, and has a function of reading image data from the hard disk 112 and transferring the image data to the image recording apparatus main body 104 (see a dotted line B in FIG. 1).

The first buffer 106 and the second buffer 114 are connected to a bus 118 of a controller 116 for controlling the input / output control unit 102, and the flow of image data is controlled according to an instruction from the controller 116. It is controlled.

The controller 116 includes a CPU 120, R
An AM 122 and a ROM 124 are provided, and these are connected by the bus 118 such as a control bus and a data bus. (Image Recording Apparatus Main Body 104) FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image recording apparatus main body 104 according to the present embodiment.

In the image recording apparatus 104, the photosensitive material 1
The light beam emitted from the laser units 128, 130, 132 is scanned and exposed on the light source 26, and the photosensitive material 126 is wound around the drum 134 and positioned. The drum 134 is a motor 1
It rotates at a high speed by the driving force of 40, and this rotation direction is the main scanning direction.

Around the drum 134, a pair of guide shafts 135 parallel to the axis of the drum 134 are provided. The sub-scanning optical system 136 is supported by the guide shaft 135.

An external thread is formed on one side of the guide shaft 135, and the guide shaft 135 on which the external thread is formed is rotated by the driving force of the driving means 138 to move along the guide shaft 135 (sub-scanning movement). A) The sub-scanning optical system 136 moves in the axial direction of the drum 134 (sub-scanning direction).

The sub-scanning optical system 136 includes the laser units 128, 130 and 132. The casing of the sub-scanning optical system 136 has an arc surface along the peripheral surface of the drum 134, and the laser units 128, 130, and 132 are arranged along the arc surface. That is, when the laser unit 128 is in the initial position, it corresponds to the first line of the image recording line to be recorded on the photosensitive material 126 positioned on the drum 134, the laser unit 130 corresponds to the second line, and the laser unit 132 This corresponds to the third line, and when these start image recording at the same time, recording is performed simultaneously on one photosensitive material 126 by three lines.

The laser units 128, 130, 1
32, three lasers (C (cyan), M
(Magenta) and Y (yellow)) are arranged side by side in the main scanning direction, and a color image can be recorded. The scanning of each color scans the same main scanning line at the same time.
Due to the mechanical arrangement restriction of the lasers, their positions are slightly shifted, and the position shift is compensated for by a delay circuit (not shown) or the like.

Laser units 128, 130, 132
Are the drivers 148A-C, 150A-C, 1
52A-C, it is connected to the color separation signal units 154A-C. That is, the color separation signal units 154A to 154C
It has the function of separating the signals into the signals for each color based on the image data.

The color separation signal units 154A to 154C are connected to a frame memory 158 built in the controller 156 to obtain image data.

The controller 156 includes the color separation signal units 154A-C, drivers 148A-C, 150A-C,
In addition to controlling the motors 152A to 152C, the motor 140 for rotating the drum 134 and the driving means 138 for moving the sub-scanning optical system 142 are controlled.

The frame memory 158 receives image data divided for each main scanning line from the second buffer 114 of the input / output control unit 102, and performs scanning exposure in synchronization with the input. It has become.

Here, the image data recorded in the second buffer 114 is stored in a state where it has been converted in the data order optimal for simultaneous recording of three lines of the image recording apparatus main body 104.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the second buffer 114. The second buffer 114 has 3
The DRAMs 200A, 200B, and 200C are provided. This DRAM is provided corresponding to the number of simultaneous recording lines in the image recording apparatus main body,
As a result, in the present embodiment, three DRAMs 200
A, 200B and 200C.

These DRAMs 200A, 200B, 20
0C is the RAS output from the address generator 202.
A signal and a CAS signal are input, and image data sent from the hard disk 112 is stored by being distributed to predetermined addresses.

The address generating unit 202 controls the image data distribution position by the CPU 120 based on the recording method of the image recording apparatus main body 104 (number of simultaneous recording lines, address of each line).

Here, the address generation unit 202 stores image data in each DRAM 200 by a burst transfer method.
A, 200B, and 200C, and a signal line 202 for transmitting a common RAS signal is connected to each of the DRAMs 200A, 200B, and 200C.

In the verse transfer method, the CAS signal is sequentially switched while the RAS signal is held, and the image data is transferred.

Here, each of the DRAMs 200A, 200B,
Signal lines 206A, 206B, and 206C for transmitting independent CAS signals are connected to 200C. This CAS signal is a sequential signal, and the DRAM 200A → D
RAM200B → DRAM200C → DRAM200A
DRAMs 200A, 200B, 200C
Are output in order to repeat the above.

In response to this signal, the hard disk 112
, Image data in a raster image data format is sent from each of the DRAMs 200A, 200B, and 200C, and the image data for each line, that is, the image data is stored in an order according to the raster image data format. .

Therefore, when each of the DRAMs is viewed independently, the result is that the transfer method is equivalent to the burst transfer method.

On the other hand, each of the DRAMs 200A, 20A
0B and 200C are output from DRAM 200A → DR
AM200B → DRAM200C → DRAM200A ・
Since the order is in accordance with the CAS signal as in
Image data required for simultaneous line recording is transferred to the image recording apparatus main body 104 first.

That is, the image data of Table 1 is transferred to the image recording apparatus main body 104 in the order shown in Table 2 below.

[0055]

[Table 2]

In Table 2, pixels with an underline (3 colors × 3 lines = 9 pixels) are recorded simultaneously at the same time. ,Make it not exist).

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. When performing image recording in the image recording apparatus main body 104 based on the image data stored in the host computer 100, first, the intention to transmit the corresponding image data is sent to the input / output device 102.

Here, the image data from the host computer 100 is transferred to the first buffer 10 via the I / F 106.
4 and then the image data is sent from the first buffer 108 to the hard disk 112. The hard disk 112 has a storage capacity of 4 GB, which is divided into four blocks in advance, and one frame of image data is recorded in one block regardless of the amount of image data of one frame. Therefore, in the hard disk 112 of the present embodiment, the image data for four frames becomes the maximum.

Here, when the image recording apparatus main body 104 operates, the image data is transferred from the hard disk 112 to the second buffer 114. At this time, the image data amount for one main scanning line is transferred as one unit. However, since the image recording apparatus 104 of the present embodiment records three lines at the same time, the image recording apparatus 104 is most suitable for recording three lines at the same time. Converting format to state.

That is, from the hard disk 112,
The image data is output in the order according to the raster image data format (see Table 1).

At this time, as shown in FIG.
A common RAS signal is transmitted to the RAMs 200A, 200B, and 200C, and each DRA is transmitted dot-sequentially (pixel unit).
The CAS signal is sent to MAs 200A, 200B, and 200C.

As a result, the first pixel of the first line (0C0 in Table 1) is input to the DRAM 200A, and the first pixel of the second line (Table 1) is input to the DRAM 200B.
1C0), and then the first pixel of the third line (2C0 in Table 1) is input to the DRAM 200C. Thereafter, the second pixel of the first line (0M0 in Table 1) is input to the DRAM 200A. By repeating this, each DRAM 200A, 200
When B and 200C are viewed independently, it is equivalent to burst transfer.

On the other hand, the output of the image data to the image recording apparatus main body 104 follows the dot sequence of the CAS signal.
Since the three DRAMs 200A, 200B, and 200C are sent out while being rotated, as shown in Table 2, the image recording apparatus main body 104 can receive image data in an optimal sequence for simultaneous recording of three lines.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the format of the raster image data format image data recorded on the hard disk 112 is
In No. 4, the data is converted into a format most suitable for the image recording apparatus main body 104. For example, in the case of simultaneous recording of three lines, the format conversion is performed so that the first image data of the three lines comes first, so that it is necessary to extract necessary data when reading image data from the hard disk 112. It is possible to eliminate a decrease in speed due to a given seek time (mechanical operation time).

The number of DRAMs 200A, 200B, 200C corresponding to the number of simultaneous recording scanning lines is provided.
Since image data is sent while rotating the AM 200A, 200B, and 200C in a dot-sequential manner (pixel unit), when each DRAM is viewed independently, burst transfer becomes possible, and the processing speed is further increased. Can be.

In the present embodiment, the second buffer 114 (three DRAMs 20)
0A, 200B, and 200C), the format conversion was performed when the image data was transferred to the second buffer 1.
The format conversion may be performed when the image data is transferred from the image processing apparatus 14 to the image recording apparatus main body 104. Further, both of them may be used in combination. Further, although the three lines are used simultaneously, the present invention can obtain the object, operation and effect in any of a plurality of lines.

Further, in the present embodiment, the image data is transferred by using the burst transfer method to increase the speed.
Without holding the S signal, the RAS signal and C
The AS signal may be set to store the image data in the second buffer 114. However, in this case, the processing speed is slightly slower than the burst transfer, but the processing speed is dramatically improved compared to the seek time of the hard disk 112.

Further, in the present embodiment, three consecutive lines are used for simultaneous recording of three lines. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the recording paper 126 is separated to the head position of each of the three divided recording papers 126. And the laser units 128 and 13
0 and 132 may be arranged.

[0069]

As described above, the image data processing method and apparatus according to the present invention have no loss time such as seek time when the output device records an image with a plurality of light beams during one main scanning operation. A format compatible with this output device has an excellent effect that image data can be transferred in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image data transfer control system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image recording apparatus main body applied in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram centering on a second buffer.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing a state in which an image is recorded in each DRAM of a second buffer.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an image recording apparatus main body in a case where simultaneous main scanning write lines are dispersedly arranged.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 host computer 102 input / output control unit 104 image recording apparatus main body (image recording / scanning system) 107 data conversion / editing unit 108 first buffer 112 hard disk (main storage medium) 114 second buffer 116 controller 120 CPU (format conversion control) Means) 200A-C DRAM (line buffer) 202 Address generation unit (format conversion control means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Scanning a plurality of main scanning lines simultaneously,
An image processing method for transferring image data from image data stored in a raster image data format to the output device, comprising an output device for storing an image on a recording material, wherein one main scan of the output device is performed. When an image is recorded by a plurality of light beams during operation, before transferring the image data to the output device, in a buffer for storing image data for one main scanning line, data suitable for the order of image recording by the output device. An image processing method characterized in that: 2. Scanning a plurality of main scanning lines simultaneously,
An image processing device for transferring image data to an output device for recording an image on a recording material, comprising: a main storage medium that stores at least one image of image data in a format based on a raster image data format; A line buffer provided between a main storage medium and the output device and having a storage capacity capable of storing image data for at least one main scanning line that scans at least simultaneously; and when storing image data in the line buffer, or A conversion control unit configured to convert the image data into a data sequence suitable for the image recording order of the output device, at least during transmission of the image data from the line buffer. 3. The line buffer comprises a number of RAMs corresponding to the plurality of main scanning lines, and the plurality of RAMs have the same row address and the column address are independent signal lines. An image processing apparatus comprising: receiving an instruction from a control unit; and enabling a burst transfer for each RAM by the conversion control unit.