JPH1131052A - Document processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the overhead that is caused by the parallel drawing processes and to fast process a document by converting plural 1st intermediate data to generate plural 2nd intermediate data and combining the 2nd intermediate data in every page to generate the image data which can be printed out. SOLUTION: The drawing elements of every page of a document that is stored in a document storage means 203 are successively outputted to a document data generation means 205 from an intermediate data generation means 204. The means 204 sorts the characters, graphic forms and the drawing elements of images which construct a page and generates plural intermediate data consisting of the characters, graphic forms or images. The means 205 combines the inputted intermediate data to generate the document data. As a result, the drawing elements included in every page of the document can be processed simultaneously and in parallel with each other by plural processors and accordingly the document data can be fast converted into the printed images.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document editing apparatus for generating and editing a document by inputting predetermined document configuration information such as a personal computer and a word processor, and for converting document data generated by the document editing apparatus into image data. The present invention also relates to a document processing system including a print processing device that prints and outputs on an output medium such as paper.

[0002] Further, the present invention relates to a print processing device for converting document data input from a document editing device such as a personal computer or a word processor into image data and printing and outputting the image data on a medium such as paper.

A document processing system and a print processing apparatus according to the present invention are particularly suitable for a network system in which a large number of document editing apparatuses are connected via a network and high-speed output of a large amount of documents is required. It is.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a document editing apparatus such as a word processor or a personal computer which creates and edits a document uses a high-speed print processing apparatus connected via a network from a form in which each device has a print processing apparatus. The network processing system type is being shared and used by devices.

In a document processing system including such a document editing device and a print processing device, a page description language (PDL) is widely used when outputting document data from the document editing device to the print processing device over a network. I have.

A PDL represented by PostScript (trademark) developed by Adobe Systems
Is configured such that characters, figures, images, and the like to be drawn on each page constituting a document are described in the form of a program, and a document image of each page is obtained as a result of executing the program. One purpose of the PDL is to reduce the amount of data between the document processing apparatus and the printer by describing the data of each page as a program.

Conventionally, the processing capability of a personal computer or the like is low, making it difficult to create a complicated document, and the performance of a print engine for printing on a medium such as paper is low, and high-speed printing cannot be performed. Because of that, PD
The processing speed of a raster image processor (RIP) that interprets a program described in L and generates image data has not been required to be so high.

However, in recent years, the rapid development of microelectronics technology has made it possible to create incomparably complicated and sophisticated documents with personal computers and other generally popular devices.
Due to advances in print engine technology such as color laser xerography, the lack of RIP processing speed has become noticeable.

As a technique for compensating for the shortage of the processing speed of RIP, Adobe Systems Inc.'s Adobe Sus
pr white paper as the document data output by the document editing device, as in the conventional PostScript.
A transition from PDL having no break between pages represented by pt to PDL which can be processed and converted as independent data in page units represented by PDF has been proposed.

In addition, a method of dividing document data into pages and creating image data of each page by a plurality of computers on a network as in a print system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-67822, Kaihei 8-16
344, a method of dividing document data into pages and printing the data by a plurality of printers has been proposed.

[0011]

These prior arts all aim to improve throughput by dividing document data into pages and processing a plurality of pages simultaneously.

[0012] However, the parallel processing in page units has the effect of increasing the output throughput under the condition that the print job is sufficiently supplied and the print engine operates without rest. However, the RIP processing of each page is required. Even if a print job is output to a printer in an idle state, the output starts after the completion of the RIP processing of the first page because the same processing time as in the related art is required. Does not contribute to shortening the output start time.

In a conventional PDL generation process, a display list is sequentially generated from individual drawing objects and drawn in a page memory. For a complicated document having a large number of drawing objects, a display list generation process is performed. The number of times has increased, and as a result, the time required for drawing processing has increased.

The process of generating a display list from a drawing object and the process of rendering a display list in a page memory are separate processes, and can be executed independently of each other.
It is possible to try to reduce the processing time by executing However, the processing for generating a display list from a drawing object and the processing for drawing a display list in a page memory are greatly different from each other, so that the processing cannot always be performed in parallel. For example, if the process of generating the display list from the drawing object requires more time than the process of drawing the display list in the page memory, the process of drawing in the page memory cannot receive the supply of the display list. As a result, a case may occur in which processing cannot be performed in parallel.

The process of generating a display list from drawing objects can be executed independently for each drawing object. Therefore, by parallelizing the display list generation processing, it is possible to speed up drawing. However, the process of rendering the display list in the page memory needs to be executed in the same page memory in order, and thus it is generally difficult to realize parallel processing. For this reason, even if the generation of the display playlist becomes faster, the processing may be delayed at the time of drawing the display list.

Further, the process of generating a display list from drawing objects requires a relatively short time, and the problem of the length of drawing processing time is more serious in a complicated document having a large number of drawing objects. From both points of view, in the case of data having a large number of objects to be processed, parallelization of the number of objects in units of drawing objects has a size that the overhead required for parallelization cannot be ignored.

In consideration of such overhead, for example, the time required to convert the i-th drawing object among a plurality of drawing objects into a display list is represented by T (i) as follows. .

[0018]

T (i) = T0 + T1 (i) where T0 is the overhead associated with parallelization, T1
(I) is the conversion time of the i-th drawing object to the display list.

In the above equation, T0 is a fixed time irrespective of the drawing object. Therefore, if the number of drawing objects increases, that is, if the document becomes complicated, the proportion of T0 in the entire processing increases, and T0 increases. Processing efficiency will be reduced.

A document processing system and a print processing apparatus according to the present invention solve the problem of an increase in processing time such as the drawing processing in the printing processing as described above, and perform processing for drawing a display list in a page memory in parallel. In order to avoid the reduction in efficiency due to the parallel processing, the granularity of the processing drawing element, that is, the size at which the drawing processing is executed, is controlled, and the generation of overhead due to the parallel processing of the drawing processing is reduced. Enable processing.

[0021]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention estimates the time to generate a display list from each drawing object, and groups a plurality of drawing objects so that efficient processing can be performed. The accompanying overhead is reduced and the parallelization efficiency is improved. Further, when grouping the drawing objects, the drawing objects that do not overlap each other are extracted and set as separate groups, and the drawing of these separate groups in parallel to the page memory is executed. In addition, a partial image is generated for a group of drawing objects, and the drawing is distributed to the page memory by combining the partial image with the page memory.

In order to achieve the above object, a document processing system according to the present invention creates and edits a document by inputting document information including at least one of a character, a figure, and an image to generate document data, and In a document processing system having a document editing device that outputs the document data to a printer and a print processing device that converts the document data output from the document editing device into image data and prints out the image data on a predetermined output medium, the document editing device generates Intermediate data generating means for generating a plurality of first intermediate data having drawing elements such as characters, graphics, and images constituting each page of the generated document data,
Document data generating means for generating document data to be output to the print processing apparatus by combining the plurality of first intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating means, wherein the print processing apparatus receives the input from the document editing apparatus. Document data dividing means for dividing the document data into a plurality of first intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating means, and each of the plurality of first intermediate data divided by the document data dividing means to a plurality of drawing means Intermediate data distributing means for distributing, a plurality of drawing means operable in parallel for converting a plurality of first intermediate data distributed by the intermediate data distributing means to generate a plurality of second intermediate data, and a plurality of drawing means And synthesizing means for generating printable image data by combining a plurality of second intermediate data output from the means in units of pages.

Further, in the document processing system of the present invention, the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means in the print processing device includes data obtained by converting the first intermediate data into image data, and the effective data among the image data. It is configured as a set of bitmaps indicating a certain pixel, and the synthesizing means is configured to generate image data that can be printed and output for one page by synthesizing image data of pixels validated by the bitmap. And

Further, in the document processing system of the present invention, the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means in the print processing apparatus is constituted by a display list obtained by converting the first intermediate data, and the synthesizing means It is characterized by having a configuration for generating image data that can be printed out by drawing a display list.

In the document processing system according to the present invention, the document editing apparatus may be configured such that the drawing means in the print processing apparatus converts the first intermediate data including at least one of a character, graphic, and image drawing element into second intermediate data. A rendering time estimating means for estimating a rendering time required to convert the image data into an image, wherein the intermediate data generating means of the document editing apparatus performs a rendering process based on the rendering time estimated by the rendering time estimating means. Is determined, and the second intermediate data is generated in the drawing unit based on the determined combination of the drawing elements.

In the document processing system according to the present invention, the document editing device may be configured such that the drawing means in the print processing device converts the first intermediate data including at least one of a character, graphic, and image drawing element into a second intermediate data. Drawing time estimation means for estimating the drawing time required to convert the image data into the image data, and synthesis time estimating means for estimating the synthesis time required for synthesizing the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means with the page image. The intermediate data generating means of the document editing apparatus includes: a rendering time estimating means and a synthesizing time estimating means for converting a plurality of first intermediate data included in each page into second intermediate data and estimating an end time of the synthesizing processing. On the basis of,
The drawing element for executing the drawing process of each page is so set that the generation of the subsequent second intermediate data is ended by the drawing means in accordance with the synthesis process end time of the second intermediate data at which the synthesis process ends earlier. It is characterized by having a configuration for determining a combination.

Further, in the document processing system according to the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the intermediate data generating means is executed so that a group is set for each type of drawing object.

Further, in the document processing system according to the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the intermediate data generating means is such that the area of the drawing area of the group generated by the plurality of drawing objects becomes equal to or less than a predetermined reference area. It is characterized by setting a group as follows.

In the document processing system of the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the intermediate data generating means is performed in consideration of the overlap between the drawing objects, and the drawing elements having no overlap are combined as another group. It is characterized by having done.

In the document processing system according to the present invention, the intermediate data generating means of the document editing apparatus classifies each drawing element of a character, a figure, and an image constituting a page, and only one type of the character, figure, or image is provided. The first consisting of
Characterized by having a configuration for generating a plurality of intermediate data.

Further, the print processing apparatus of the present invention converts a document data containing at least any one of a character, a graphic, and an image input from an external device into image data, and prints out the image data on a predetermined output medium. In the apparatus, document data conversion means for converting input document data in page units to generate a plurality of first intermediate data, and converting each of the plurality of first intermediate data converted by the document data conversion means into a plurality of pieces. And a plurality of first data distributed by the intermediate data distribution means.
A plurality of drawing means operable in parallel to convert the intermediate data of the above and generate a plurality of second intermediate data, and a plurality of the second intermediate data outputted from the plurality of drawing means are combined in a page unit and printed out Combining means for generating possible image data.

In the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means indicates data obtained by converting the first intermediate data into image data and valid pixels in the image data. It is configured as a set of bitmaps, and the synthesizing means is configured to generate image data that can be printed and output for one page by synthesizing image data of pixels validated by the bitmap.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means is constituted by a display list obtained by converting the first intermediate data, and the synthesizing means draws the display list. , Which generates image data that can be printed out.

In the print processing apparatus according to the present invention, the print processing apparatus may be configured such that the drawing means converts the first intermediate data including at least one of a character, a graphic, and an image into a second intermediate data. The document data conversion unit converts the input document data into a drawing element string including any one of a character, a graphic, and an image, and includes a drawing time prediction unit that predicts a required drawing time. Determining a combination of drawing elements in the drawing element sequence based on the conversion time of each drawing element sequence predicted by the drawing time prediction means, wherein the drawing means is configured based on the determined combination of drawing elements. And generating the second intermediate data.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the print processing apparatus may be configured so that the drawing means converts the first intermediate data including at least one of a character, graphic, and image drawing element into second intermediate data. Document data conversion means, comprising: drawing time prediction means for predicting a required drawing time; and synthesis time prediction means for predicting a synthesis time required for combining the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means with a page image. Converts input document data into a drawing element string including any of drawing elements of characters, graphics, and images, and converts a plurality of pages included in each page by a drawing time prediction unit and a synthesis time prediction unit. Based on the conversion processing from the first intermediate data to the second intermediate data and the prediction of the synthesis processing end time, the second processing in which the synthesis processing ends earlier
In accordance with the intermediate data synthesis processing end time, a configuration of determining a combination of rendering elements for performing rendering processing of each page so that the subsequent second intermediate data generation is terminated by the rendering unit, The drawing means generates the second intermediate data based on the determined combination of the drawing elements.

Further, in the print processing apparatus according to the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the document data conversion means is executed so as to set a group for each type of drawing object. I do.

In the print processing apparatus according to the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the document data conversion means is such that the area of the drawing area of the group generated by the plurality of drawing objects becomes equal to or smaller than the preset reference area. It is characterized by setting a group as follows.

In the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the document data conversion means is performed in consideration of the overlap between the drawing objects, and the drawing elements having no overlap are combined as another group. It is characterized by having done.

In the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the drawing means includes at least a figure drawing means for converting a figure drawing element, a character string drawing means for converting a character string drawing element, and an image drawing means for converting an image drawing element. And a general-purpose drawing means for converting each drawing element of a character, a figure, and an image. If the drawing means includes a figure drawing means, the document data conversion means A drawing element sequence is generated from the graphic drawing elements in the drawing elements constituting the image, and if there is a character string drawing means, a drawing element sequence is generated from the character string drawing element, and if there is an image drawing means, the image drawing is performed. A drawing element sequence is generated from the element, and the intermediate data distribution unit determines the drawing element sequence based on the usage of each of the graphic drawing unit, the character string drawing unit, and the image drawing unit in the previous drawing unit. Drawing means to execute drawing means image processing, string drawing means, or with any of the image drawing means, or characterized by determining a general purpose drawing means.

Further, in the print processing apparatus of the present invention, the document data conversion means determines, at the time of generating the first intermediate data, a state of overlap of each drawing element in the page with another drawing element of the page. Having a configuration for selecting a drawing element that can be executed with priority in drawing processing without overlapping.
In the drawing processing means, the drawing processing of the selected preferentially executable drawing element is preferentially executed.

[0041]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a document processing system and a print processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of the document processing system of the present invention. A document processing system according to the present invention includes a document editing apparatus 101 that creates and edits a document according to an input from a user or an external device, and a print processing apparatus that prints out document data input from the document editing apparatus on a medium such as paper. 1
02, the document editing apparatus 101 and the print processing apparatus 102
And a network 103 for executing data transfer
It is composed of Further, a plurality of document editing devices, print processing devices, storage devices, and other peripheral devices can be connected to the network 103.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed configuration of the document editing apparatus 101 shown in FIG. The document editing apparatus 101 of the present invention includes an input unit 201 for receiving an input from a user or an external device.
An editing means 202 for executing a document creation / editing process in accordance with an input / instruction from an input means 201; a document storage means 203 for storing a document created / edited by the processing of the editing means 202; Intermediate data generating means 204 for generating a plurality of intermediate data by combining respective drawing element sequences of character strings, graphics, and images constituting each page of the document stored in 203;
Data generating means 205 for generating document data by combining a plurality of intermediate data generated by the above, and a network interface 206 for outputting the document data generated by the document data generating means 205 to the print processing apparatus 102 via the network 103 It is composed of

The creation and editing of a document by the document editing apparatus 101 are the same as the creation and editing of a document by a general word processor, personal computer, or the like. Word processor or document input program used by the user,
A user inputs characters, figures, and other document information using a predetermined input means in accordance with a figure editing and image editing program, and creates a predetermined document. The generated data including data such as characters, graphics, images, etc. is stored in the document storage means 203 according to a user's instruction, and the intermediate data generation means 204, the document data generation means 20
5. The print data is sent to the network via the network interface 206 and is printed by the print processing apparatus 102 connected to the network. Hereinafter, the operations of the document storage unit 203, the intermediate data generation unit 204, and the document data generation unit 205 when the edited document is printed out will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an edited document, and FIG. 4 shows an expression of data stored and held in the document storage means 203 of the edited document. The document shown in FIG. 3 has a rectangular graphic drawing element (a1), two circular graphic drawing elements (b2 and b3), and three character string drawing elements (b1 and c1,
c2) are arranged, and the character string drawing element (b1) and the graphic drawing elements (b2 and b3) are the graphic drawing element (a1).
On top of. Furthermore, the character string drawing elements (c1 and c2) overlap the graphic drawing elements (a1, b2, b3).

The edited document shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the document storage means 203 in the data form shown in FIG. The page entries 401 and 402 indicating each page of the document form a list, and are connected by a link from the page entry 401 indicating a certain page to the list of drawing element entries 403 to 406 indicating the drawing elements included in the page. It has been done.

Each drawing element entry has its type, (graphic,
Character strings, images) and their contents and figure drawing elements are stored. For example, if the drawing element entry 403 indicates the graphic drawing element (a1) in FIG. 3, the type is “graphic”, the element is “rectangle”, and the coordinates and color of each vertex are the drawing element entry 4.
03 is stored.

The intermediate data generation means 204 generates intermediate data by combining the document information in the document storage means 203 shown in FIG. 4 for each drawing element.

FIG. 5 shows an operation flow of the intermediate data generating means 204. Note that the intermediate data in FIG. 5 are all first intermediate data and not second intermediate data described later. One important point of the processing executed in the flow of FIG. 5 is grouping of drawing objects. The basic conditions for this grouping are as follows.

A) Group drawing objects of the same type. This is based on the fact that different types of drawing objects such as graphics, characters, and images have different processing methods, and are not in the same group. In the drawing process, a graphic processor dedicated to a graphic object, an image processor dedicated to an image object, or the like may be used. Classifying and processing each object leads to an increase in processing efficiency. Therefore, when the types of drawing objects are different, they are set to different groups.

B) A group in which the area of a region to be drawn is smaller than a predetermined value. Considering the process of generating a partial image from a group of drawing objects and synthesizing the generated partial image in the page memory, if the generated partial image is large, the time spent in synthesizing to the page memory increases, resulting in As a result, the efficiency is lowered. Also,
There is also a problem that the amount of memory used for the partial image increases. Therefore, when the area is larger than the predetermined area, the groups are different.

C) Objects that do not overlap the area where the drawing object is drawn are in different groups. For areas that do not overlap each other, it is possible to perform independent partial image generation processing and parallel processing for synthesis processing to the page memory. If these are grouped into a single group, the degree of parallelism of processing is reduced, and the efficiency is reduced. Therefore, if a drawing object that does not overlap with the group being generated is detected,
Create a new group.

The grouping of the drawing objects is executed according to the above criteria. Hereinafter, the processing will be described according to the flow of FIG. First, a drawing element is read in step 501. The drawing elements constituting each page of the document are stored in the document storage unit 203, and are stored in the intermediate data generation unit 2
Reference numeral 04 reads a drawing element by accessing the document storage unit 203.

Subsequently, in step 502, it is determined whether or not the conversion of all the drawing elements in the page into the first intermediate data has been completed. If the conversion has been completed for all the drawing elements in the page, the process proceeds to step 518.

In step 503, the type of the read drawing element is determined. If the read drawing element is a graphic drawing element, step 504 is executed. If the read drawing element is a character string or image drawing element, a process predetermined for each element is executed. Note that the processing for each drawing element of a character string and an image is not essentially different from the processing for a graphic drawing element, and a description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the processing when the read drawing element is a graphic drawing element will be described. explain.

In step 504, an area (bounding box) in which the input graphic drawing element is drawn is calculated. This generates, for example, a rectangle circumscribing the figure or a set of rectangles from the figure shape of the figure drawing element and the coordinates of each control point.

Subsequently, step 505 is followed by step 50.
It is determined whether or not the drawing area calculated in 4 overlaps with the drawing area of the first intermediate data composed of the character string drawing element.
If they overlap, it is determined in step 506 whether or not they do not overlap the drawing area of the first intermediate data composed of the image drawing elements.

If it is detected in steps 505 and 506 that the drawing area of the graphic drawing element under consideration overlaps with both the drawing area of the character string intermediate data and the drawing area of the image intermediate data, the process proceeds to step 507 and step 506. In step 508, image intermediate data and character string intermediate data are output. In step 509, graphic intermediate data is output.
In step 510, new drawing intermediate data is generated by adding the drawing element read in step 501, and the drawing area of the drawing element is set in step 511.
Is registered as a drawing area of the graphic intermediate data. Thereafter, the flow returns to step 501 to read the next drawing element stored in the document storage unit 203.

If it is clear in step 506 that the drawing area of the image intermediate data does not overlap, then in step 505 the drawing area of the character string intermediate data and the drawing area of the graphic drawing element input in step 501 overlap. Since the character string intermediate data is output in Step 508, the output of the graphic intermediate data, the addition of the drawing element, and the update of the drawing area are performed in Steps 509, 510, and 511. Generate the graphic intermediate data, and return to step 501.

If it is determined in step 505 that the drawing area of the graphic drawing element does not overlap the drawing area of the character string intermediate data, the process proceeds to step 512, where the drawing area of the image intermediate data and the drawing area of the graphic drawing element are compared. Execute the overlap judgment between them. If it is determined in step 501 that the drawing area of the graphic drawing element read and the drawing area of the image intermediate data overlap each other, the output of the image intermediate data is executed in step 513, and the output of the graphic intermediate data after step 509 is performed. According to the addition of the drawing element and the update of the drawing area, new graphic intermediate data is generated. The output of the image intermediate data in step 513 and the output of the image intermediate data in step 507 can be realized by the same processing. When the intermediate data of the image and the character string is output in steps 507, 508, and 513, the drawing area of the corresponding intermediate data is cleared.

If it is determined in steps 505 and 512 that the graphic drawing element input in step 501 does not overlap with both the character string intermediate data drawing area and the image intermediate data drawing area, step 51 is executed.
In step 4, the graphic drawing element is added to the graphic intermediate data. In step 515, it is determined whether the size of the graphic intermediate data has reached a predetermined amount.

If it is determined in step 515 that the size of the graphic intermediate data has reached the predetermined amount, step 5
The graphic intermediate data is output in step 16, the drawing area of the graphic intermediate data is cleared in step 517, and the process returns to step 501 to read the next drawing element stored in the document storage unit 203.

If it is determined in step 515 that the size of the graphic intermediate data has not reached the predetermined amount, the flow returns to step 501 to read the next drawing element stored in the document storage means 203.

If it is determined in step 502 that all drawing elements in the page have been processed, step 5
Output of image intermediate data is executed at 18, output of character string intermediate data is executed at step 519, and graphic intermediate data is output at step 520, and the process returns to step 501. Also in this case, the drawing area of each intermediate data is cleared.

By the above processing, the drawing elements of each page of the document stored in the document storage means 203 are sequentially output from the intermediate data generation means 204 to the document data generation means 205. As described above, the intermediate data generating means 204 classifies each drawing element of characters, graphics, and images constituting a page and generates a plurality of first intermediate data composed of any of characters, graphics, or images. Have.

FIG. 6 shows the intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating means 204 from the documents shown in FIGS. The six drawing elements (a1) to (c2) constituting the page 302 in FIG. 3 are combined by the intermediate data generating means 204 to form four intermediate data A, B1, B2,
C. The process will be described below.

First, the intermediate data generating means 204 reads the graphic drawing element (a1) from the document storage means 203 and generates graphic intermediate data A.

Next, the intermediate data generation means 204 reads the character string drawing element (b1) from the document storage means 203. As shown in FIG. 3, since the graphic intermediate data, that is, the graphic drawing element (a1) and the character string drawing element (b1) overlap each other, the intermediate data generating means 204 outputs the graphic intermediate data and outputs the intermediate data A, 603. And

Subsequently, the intermediate data generating means 204 sequentially reads the graphic drawing elements (b2, b3) and sets them as graphic intermediate data. Since these graphic drawing elements do not overlap with the character string intermediate data, that is, the character string drawing element (b1),
When these graphic drawing elements (b2) and (b3) are converted into graphic intermediate data, two intermediate data of character string intermediate data and graphic intermediate data are held.

Next, when the intermediate data generation means 204 reads the character string drawing element (c1) from the document storage means 203,
Since the character string drawing element c1 overlaps the graphic intermediate data, that is, the graphic drawing elements (b2 and b3), the graphic intermediate data is output as intermediate data B1 and 604, and then the character string intermediate data is output as intermediate data B2 and 605. .

Finally, the intermediate data generating means 204 adds the character string drawing element (c2) to the character string intermediate data, and since no drawing element remains on the page, the held character string intermediate data is added to the intermediate data. C is output to the document data generation unit 205, and the processing of the page 301 is completed, and the processing of the next page is started.

The intermediate data generated as described above is shown in FIG. In addition, as shown in FIG.
By linking the intermediate data list from the page entry, management on a page basis becomes easy.

The intermediate data shown in FIG. 6 is given to the document data generating means 205. The purpose of the document data generation means 205 is to generate document data by combining the input intermediate data.

FIG. 7 shows an example of document data generated from the intermediate data shown in FIG. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates document data generated by the document data generation unit 205. The intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating means 204 is expressed in the form of a block in the document data using, for example, a symbol such as “｛｝”.

By the way, since the blocks B1 and B2 do not overlap each other, they are put together into one block called a block B, and their contents are processed in parallel, that is, the contents are stored in a second block in the drawing means described later. Indicates that the conversion process into the intermediate data can be executed in parallel. The detection of the blocks having no overlap can be detected by the intermediate data generating means.

The grouping of the drawing objects is executed according to the above procedure. However, the size of drawing objects grouped according to such a criterion varies, which makes it difficult to control the processing time. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the size of the group.

For adjusting the size of the group, a predicted value of the processing time required for drawing each drawing object is used. Regarding the prediction of the drawing time, see, for example, JP-A-6-2
No. 74608, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-274640, based on a multi-processor image processing apparatus having a configuration in which a drawing processing routine has a processing time estimation mode. And the parallel processing granularity is determined by the number of drawing instructions of the program generation device described in JP-A-7-109487, and is determined by the number of drawing instructions of the program generation device described in JP-A-7-104988. Parallel processing granularity determination and load balancing configuration, JP-A-8-234949
There is a configuration in which an image processing apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-19710 stores and refers to a table of display list drawing processing time.

The document editing apparatus 101 performs a drawing process required for a conversion process from the first intermediate data to the second intermediate data, which is executed by the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) in the print processing device 102 described later. The document editing apparatus 101 has drawing time prediction means for predicting time, and the generation of the first intermediate data in the intermediate data generation means 204 described above is performed based on the drawing time predicted by the drawing time prediction means. A combination of drawing elements constituting a page is determined, and a first drawing element according to the determined combination of drawing elements is determined.
Execute the intermediate data generation.

The prediction of the drawing time by the drawing time predicting means is executed by a device according to the above-mentioned known technology. One example is the following method. First, it is determined whether the drawing element data for performing the drawing process is a character, a figure, or an image. If it is a character, the drawing processing amount R is obtained by performing the calculation according to the following equation if it is a figure or an image based on the number of characters constituting the character.

[0080]

## EQU00002 ## Graphic: R = (ah + bS) Image: R = (ah + cS)

To explain the above equation, assuming that the drawing processing amount for one line in the process of obtaining the left / right coordinates of the trapezoid by DDA (Digital Differential Analyzer) is a, the left / right sides of the trapezoid with height h The drawing processing amount required for calculating the coordinates is ah. Further, assuming that the drawing processing amount for one pixel of the processing for drawing the inside of the trapezoid is b, the drawing processing amount required for drawing the trapezoid having the area S is bS. The drawing processing amount b per pixel is large in the case of character / graphic data in which the same pixel value is drawn and in the case of image data in which a different pixel value is drawn for each pixel while referring to the original image data. Since they are different, it is configured such that a character / figure and an image are determined, and in the case of an image, a different coefficient c is used. These coefficients a, b, and c are set in advance in a coefficient table that can be accessed by the document editing apparatus 101, and are read out and used as needed when performing the prediction processing.

In the above description, the trapezoidal drawing processing amount is obtained by weighted addition of the trapezoidal height h and the trapezoidal area S, but this is determined depending on the trapezoidal drawing processing method. It is necessary to determine an appropriate calculation method based on the drawing processing method to be executed.

Next, a method of predicting the drawing processing time T based on the drawing processing amount R will be described. The drawing time prediction unit predicts the processing time based on the processing amount of the drawing processing and the processing configuration of the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) in the print processing apparatus 102. Drawing means (904-9 in FIG. 9)
07) is calculated using the following equation (1) with respect to the processing amount R.

[0084]

## EQU3 ## T = p × R

Here, p is the processing time of one independent drawing processing resource for one unit of processing amount. On the other hand, assuming that the processing in the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) operates in parallel, the processing prediction time T is calculated with respect to the processing amount R by the following formula.

[0086]

T = p × R × q / r

Here, p is a processing time of one independent processing resource for one unit of processing amount, and r is a processing resource that operates in parallel, for example, a processing resource such as an LSI or a processor that executes actual drawing processing. As will be described later, the processor includes a graphic processor dedicated to processing graphic drawing elements, a character processor dedicated to character drawing elements, an image processor dedicated to image drawing elements, and a general-purpose processor capable of processing all elements of characters, figures, and images. A processor and the like are included. q is a correction coefficient indicating a decrease in parallel operation performance caused by waiting for each processing resource in parallel operation. The above correction coefficient q
Is statistically calculated. In order to reduce the value of the correction coefficient q, it is effective to make the size of the basic figure of the print data uniform.

The estimated rendering processing time obtained by the above-described method is tabulated for each page, and the intermediate data generation means 204 performs rendering processing based on the processing time predicted by the rendering time prediction unit. Is determined. Note that the prediction of the drawing time is not limited to the method described above.
Various methods are applicable.

When the drawing time is predicted, group formation is executed based on the predicted time. For example, if the sum of the predicted values of the processing time required for drawing the drawing objects included in a certain group exceeds a preset reference value, the group is divided so that the value is within the reference value. .

If the sum of the processing times of the drawing objects included in a certain group is significantly smaller than the reference value, that is, is equal to or less than the lower limit set separately from the reference value, the group is regarded as another group. Combined,
Reconstruction by group integration is performed so that the drawing processing time of the group approaches the reference value.

When the groups are integrated, the following points are taken into consideration.

There is no overlap of other groups between groups to be integrated. This is because the group to be integrated is synthesized as a single partial image, and there is a possibility that the vertical relationship between groups may be destroyed under conditions where other groups overlap.

Even groups having different types of drawing objects are to be integrated. A small group having a small drawing area and a small number of drawing objects is judged to have little performance degradation even when drawing with a general-purpose processor. For this reason, small groups to be integrated are integrated regardless of the type of drawing object,
It becomes possible to execute processing by a general-purpose processor.

Under such conditions, a plurality of groups as small as possible that can be drawn in a predetermined processing time are formed, and the parallel processing is executed based on the overlapping order between the groups. Compositing based on the overlapping order of images becomes possible.

In the integration of groups that do not satisfy the lower limit of the drawing time, more efficient processing is possible by forming the groups by giving priority to those that are in contact with and overlap with each other.

The document editing apparatus 101 performs the drawing processing required for the conversion processing from the first intermediate data to the second intermediate data executed by the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) in the print processing apparatus 102. Along with the prediction of the time, the combining time required to combine the second intermediate data generated by the drawing unit with the page image is also predicted, and the combination of the drawing elements is determined in consideration of these prediction processing times. Is also good. The prediction of the combination time is performed based on the number and size of the second intermediate data to be combined.

As described above, it is necessary to predict the drawing processing time required for the conversion processing from the first intermediate data to the second intermediate data and to combine the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means with the page image. By estimating the required synthesizing time, synthesizing means in the print processing apparatus (908 in FIG. 9)
In accordance with the time at which the synthesis processing of the preceding second intermediate data ends, the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) of the print processing apparatus performs the drawing processing as the generation processing of the subsequent second intermediate data. If the combination of the drawing elements is determined so as to end, and the second intermediate data generation of the determined combination of the drawing elements is performed, the print processing apparatus can perform the print processing without time loss such as waiting for data. Become.

The document data including the first intermediate data generated through the above-described process as an element is output from the network interface 206 to the print processing apparatus 102 via the network 103, and the print processing is executed. Become. Subsequently, details of the operation of the print processing apparatus 102 will be discussed.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of a print processing apparatus in the document processing system of the present invention. The print processing apparatus of this example receives document data from the document editing apparatus 101 via the network 103.

As shown in FIG. 8, the print processing apparatus of the present invention comprises n general-purpose CPUs, l graphic processors, m character processors, k image processors, an input interface, a print engine interface, and a print engine. , And a main storage device.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the print processing apparatus of the present invention including software. Document data from an external device (not shown) such as a personal computer or a word processor is input to the document data conversion unit 902 via the input interface 901. Some of the general-purpose CPUs 1 and 801 to 803 and 803 shown in FIG.

The document data conversion means 902 converts the input document data into intermediate data composed of a drawing element sequence. FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the document data conversion means 902. As shown in FIG. 10, document data conversion means 902
Are a document data interpreting unit 1001 and a dividing unit 1002
Having. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the document data interpretation unit 1001 in the document data conversion unit 902.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the division unit 1002 in the document data conversion unit 902, and FIG. 14 is a processing flow of the division unit 1002.

The document data input from the input interface 901 is interpreted by the document data interpreter 1001.
Converted to a sequence of drawing elements. Here, the rendering element refers to an element which constitutes a document, such as a character string having the same typeface and size, a single figure, a single image, and the like, which can be rendered by a single process.

Hereinafter, the operation of the document data interpreting unit 1001 of the print processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The input document data is, for example, Adobe PostSc.
A program for numerical / logical operation is included like “ript”, or has a macro function like PCL5 of Hewlett-Packard. The document data interpretation processing (step 1302) performs processing such as executing such numerical and logical operations, developing macros, and executing coordinate conversion so as to conform to the standard coordinate system of the print processing apparatus, and drawing. If there is content to be created, a drawing element is generated.

In step 1301, when document data is input via the input interface, a page boundary is detected in the document data interpretation process (step 1302). If all the drawing elements in the page have been output (step 1303), the document data interpretation unit outputs the page edge to the division unit 1002 (step 1306).

Document data interpretation processing (step 1302)
If the contents to be drawn are detected and a drawing element is generated (step 1304), the generated drawing element is output to the dividing unit 1002 (step 1305).
The document data interpreting unit 1001 sequentially executes the process of interpreting the document data until all the document data are interpreted. The dividing unit 1002 combines the document elements input from the document data interpreting unit 1001 to generate a document element sequence, and outputs the generated document element sequence to the distribution unit 903.

FIG. 11 is a detailed block diagram of division section 1002.
Shown in The input determining unit 1101 determines the type of the drawing element and the like of the document element and the page edge input from the document data interpreting unit 1001, and performs the corresponding processing.

For example, when a graphic drawing element is input from the document data interpreting section 1001 to the input determining section 1101, the input determining section 1101 outputs the graphic drawing element input to the drawing area calculating section 1102 and outputs the graphic drawing element. Lets you determine the area where the element will be drawn.

As an example, the drawing area calculation unit 1102 calculates a rectangle circumscribing the figure from the type of the figure and the coordinates of the control point for the figure drawing element, and sets it as the drawing area of the figure drawing element.

The drawing area of the graphic drawing element determined by the drawing area calculation section 1102 is input to the drawing area comparison section 1103 and the drawing area update operation processing section 1104. The drawing area comparison unit 1103 includes two areas: a area stored in the character string drawing element string area memory 1108 at the time when the drawing area of the graphic drawing element is input, and an area stored in the image drawing element string area memory 1110. Compare the region with the input drawing region and check if there is any overlap between them.

If the drawing area comparison unit 1103 determines that there is no overlap between the drawing areas, the input determination unit 110
1 is added to the drawing element string stored in the figure drawing element string buffer 1105, and the area stored in the figure drawing element string area memory 1106 by the drawing area update arithmetic processing unit 1104. And the bounding rectangle of both the and the drawing area of that drawing element are calculated,
It is stored in the graphic drawing element sequence area memory 1106 as a new area.

Further, a graphic drawing element sequence buffer 1105
When the size of the drawing element sequence stored in the drawing element sequence exceeds a predetermined value, the drawing element sequence stored in the graphic drawing element sequence buffer 1105 is output to the distribution unit 903 by the drawing element sequence output processing unit 1111. The area stored in the graphic drawing element sequence area memory is cleared.

If the drawing area comparison unit 1103 detects that there is an overlap between the drawing area of the figure drawing element input and the area stored in the character string drawing quantity element string area memory 1108, the drawing area The comparison unit 1103 instructs the drawing element sequence output processing unit 1111 to output the drawing element sequence stored in the character string drawing element sequence buffer 1107 where the overlap between the regions occurs to the distribution unit 903, The area stored in the character string drawing element string area memory 1108 is cleared.

Similarly, if it is detected that the drawing area of the graphic drawing element and the area stored in the image drawing element string area memory 1110 overlap, the drawing data stored in the image drawing element string buffer 1109 The element sequence is output to the distribution unit 903 by the rendering element sequence output processing unit 1111, and the area stored in the image rendering element sequence area memory 1110 is cleared.

When an overlap is detected between the drawing area of the graphic drawing element and the area stored in the character string / image drawing element string area memory, the graphic drawing element is stored in the graphic drawing element string buffer 1105. In addition to the stored drawing element sequence, the drawing area update operation processing unit 1104 updates the area stored in the figure drawing element string area memory.

By the above operation, each drawing element recorded in the document data input from the external device is stored in the dividing unit 1002 as a drawing element sequence for each type.
The image data is sequentially output to the distribution unit 903 while being controlled so that the overlap between the drawing element arrays does not occur.

When the input drawing element is a character string drawing element or an image drawing element, the same processing is performed.
The character string drawing element string buffer 1107 and the image drawing element string buffer 1109 are updated. When a page end is input from the document data interpretation unit 1001 to the division unit 1002, the input determination unit 1101 instructs the drawing element sequence output processing unit 1111 to execute a graphic drawing element string buffer 1105, a character string drawing element string buffer. 1107, the drawing element strings stored in the respective buffers of the image drawing element string buffer 1109 are output to the distribution unit 903, and the figure drawing element string area memory 1106, the character string drawing element string area memory 1107, and the image drawing element string area memory The area stored in each area memory 1110 is cleared. As a result, the output of the drawing element sequence at the end of the page is reliably performed.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the division unit.
This shows an operation when the dividing unit 1002 is realized by software. The division unit receives the drawing element sequence or page edge output from the document data interpretation unit 901 in step 1401.

Subsequently, in step 1402, it is determined whether a page edge or a drawing element has been input.
If a drawing element has been input, step 1403 is executed, and if a page edge has been input, step 1418 is executed.

In step 1403, the type of the drawing element is determined. If the input drawing element is a graphic drawing element, step 1404 is executed. If the input drawing element is a character string or image drawing element, appropriate processing is executed. Note that the processing for each drawing element of a character string and an image is essentially the same as the processing for the graphic drawing element, and thus the description is omitted, and the processing for the graphic drawing element will be described below.

In step 1404, an area in which the input graphic drawing element is drawn is calculated. This generates a rectangle or a set of rectangles circumscribing the figure from the figure shape of the figure drawing element and the coordinates of each control point.

Subsequently, Step 1405 proceeds to Step 1
It is determined whether or not the drawing area calculated in 404 overlaps with the drawing area of the character string drawing element sequence.
At 06, it is determined whether or not it overlaps the drawing area of the image drawing element sequence.

If it is detected in steps 1405 and 1406 that the drawing area overlaps with both the drawing area of the image drawing element string and the drawing area of the character string drawing element string, the process proceeds to steps 1407 and 1408. Output the sequence and the character string drawing element sequence, and
After outputting the graphic drawing element sequence in step 09, step 141
At step 0, the input drawing element is registered in the graphic buffer, and the drawing area of the drawing element is registered at step 1411 as the drawing area of the graphic drawing element sequence. afterwards,
The process returns to step 1401 to wait for the next input from the document data interpretation unit 1001.

If it is determined in step 1406 that the drawing area of the image drawing element string does not overlap, it is determined in step 1405 that the drawing area of the character string drawing element string and the drawing area of the figure drawing element overlap. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 1408 to output a character string drawing element sequence, and then, steps 1409, 1410,
In step 1411, the output of the graphic drawing element sequence and the update of the graphic drawing element sequence buffer are performed, and the process returns to step 1401.

If it is determined in step 1405 that the drawing area of the graphic drawing element does not overlap the drawing area of the character string drawing element sequence, the flow advances to step 1412 to draw the image drawing element sequence drawing area and the graphic drawing element drawing area. Is performed. If it is determined that the input drawing area of the graphic drawing element and the drawing area of the image drawing element string overlap with each other, the output of the image drawing element string is executed in step 1413, and the output of the graphic drawing element string after step 1409 is performed. The update of the graphic drawing element string buffer is executed.
The output of the image drawing element sequence in step 1413 and the output of the image drawing element sequence in step 1407 can be realized by the same processing. Step 1407, step 14
08, when the image and character string drawing element strings are output in step 1413, the drawing area of the corresponding drawing element string is cleared.

Steps 1405 and 1412
In step 1414, if it is determined that the input image drawing element does not overlap with both the character string drawing element string drawing area and the image drawing element string drawing area, the graphic drawing element is registered in the graphic drawing element string buffer. Then, in step 1415, it is determined whether or not the figure drawing element string buffer has reached a predetermined amount.

If it is determined in step 1415 that the size of the graphic drawing element sequence registered in the graphic drawing element sequence buffer has reached a predetermined amount, in step 1416 the graphic drawing element sequence registered in the graphic drawing element sequence buffer In step 1417, the drawing area of the graphic drawing element string is cleared.
The next input from 001 is received.

If it is determined in step 1415 that the size of the graphic drawing element sequence registered in the graphic drawing element sequence buffer has not reached the predetermined amount, the process returns to step 1401 and the next document data interpretation unit 1001 Receive input.

If it is determined in step 1402 that the page end has been input from the document data interpretation unit 1001, the image drawing element string is output in step 1418, the character string drawing element string in step 1419, and the graphic drawing element string in step 1420. The output of step 140
Return to 1. Also in this case, the drawing area of each drawing element row is cleared.

By the above processing, the document data interpreter 10
01 are sequentially output from the division unit 1002 to the distribution unit 903.

Next, details of the distribution means 903 will be described. The distribution unit 903 is a division unit 10 of the document data conversion unit 902.
02 is stored in a plurality of general-purpose CPUs (80
1 to 803), graphic processor (804 to 80)
6), a character processor (807 to 809), and a drawing unit (9) realized by an image processor (810 to 812).
04 to 907).

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the distribution means 903. The distribution unit determines whether the input drawing element sequence is a graphic, a character string, or an image.
1. A plurality of graphic drawing means 9 as output destinations of graphic drawing elements
05 or the graphic drawing element sequence output destination selection unit 1202 for selecting the output destination of the graphic drawing element sequence received from the general-purpose drawing unit 904, a plurality of character string drawing units 906 or the general-purpose drawing unit 904 which are the output destinations of the character string drawing element. A character string drawing element string output destination selection unit 1203 for selecting an output destination of a character string drawing element received from a plurality of image drawing means 907 or a general-purpose drawing means 90 which is an output destination of an image drawing element
4, an image drawing element sequence selection unit 1204 for selecting an output destination of the image drawing element sequence received from 4, a graphic drawing unit output queue 1205 for temporarily storing a drawing element sequence output to the graphic drawing unit, and outputting to a character string drawing unit. A character string drawing unit output queue 1206 for temporarily holding a drawing element sequence to be drawn, an image drawing unit output queue 1207 for temporarily holding a drawing element sequence to be output to an image drawing unit, and a drawing element sequence to be output to a general-purpose drawing unit. A general-purpose drawing means output queue 1208 which is temporarily stored.

The drawing element string input from the document data conversion means 902 is determined by the drawing element string type determination unit 1201 as a graphic, character string, or image. It is output to the column output destination selection unit 1202. If it is a character string drawing element sequence, it is output to the character string drawing element sequence output destination selection unit 1203. Furthermore, in the case of an image drawing element sequence, the image drawing element sequence output destination selection unit 12
04 is output.

The graphic drawing element sequence output destination selecting unit 1202 selects an output destination from the data amounts of the graphic drawing means output queue 1205 and the general purpose drawing means output queue 1208 and the execution status of the graphic drawing means 905 and the general purpose drawing means 904. If it is determined that the use of the drawing means is valid, the drawing element is stored in the graphic drawing means output queue 1205, and if it is determined that the use of the general-purpose drawing means is valid, the drawing element is stored in the general-purpose drawing means output queue 1208. Output a column.

Similarly, the character string drawing element string output destination selecting section 12
03 selects the output destination of the character string drawing element from the character string drawing means output queue 1206 and the general purpose drawing means output queue 1208, and the image drawing element string output destination selection unit 1204 sets the output destination of the image drawing element string to the image drawing means output. A queue is selected from a queue 1207 and a general-purpose drawing unit output queue 1208.

The graphic drawing means output queue 1205 sequentially outputs a graphic drawing element string held by a plurality of graphic drawing means 905 which have not performed the drawing processing.

Similarly, the character string drawing means output queue 120
6. The image drawing unit output queue 1207 and the general-purpose drawing unit output queue 1208 are the drawing element strings held for the character string drawing unit 906, the image drawing unit 907, and the general-purpose drawing unit 904 that have not performed the drawing process, respectively. Is output.

The distribution means is a general-purpose CPU (801 to 80).
It is processed by any one of 3) or some of them. FIG. 15 shows a processing flow of the distribution means. In step 1501, the distribution unit receives a drawing element string input from the document data conversion unit.

At step 1502, the distribution means determines the type of the input drawing element sequence. If the input drawing element sequence is a graphic drawing element sequence, the process proceeds to step 1503, and if the input drawing element sequence is a character string drawing element sequence or an image drawing element sequence, the corresponding steps are executed. It should be noted that the processing for the character string drawing element sequence and the image drawing element sequence does not differ greatly from the graphic drawing element sequence, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In step 1503, the size of the input drawing element sequence is determined, and if the size of the input drawing element sequence is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, step 1504 is executed. If not, step 1508 is executed.

In step 1504, it is determined whether or not the graphic processor (804 to 806) can be used based on the use status of the graphic drawing means 905. If the graphic processor is available, the graphic drawing element sequence is output to the graphic processor in step 1505, and the process returns to step 1501 to wait for the input of the next graphic element sequence.

If it is determined in step 1504 that the graphic processor is not available, step 15
At 06, the usage status of the general-purpose drawing means 904 is checked to determine whether the general-purpose processors (801 to 803) can be used. If the general-purpose processor (801 to 803) is available, the graphic drawing element sequence is output to the general-purpose processor in step 1507, and the general-purpose processor (801 to 803) is output.
If is not available, step 1505 is the next best thing
Executes output to the graphics processor. Regardless of which processor is selected, the process returns to step 1501 after the graphic drawing element sequence is output.

If it is determined in step 1503 that the size of the input drawing element string is less than the predetermined value, an output destination is selected so that the general-purpose processor is preferentially used. First, in step 1508, the use status of the general-purpose drawing means (processor) is checked. If a general-purpose processor is available, step 1509 is executed. If it is determined that the general-purpose processor is not available, step 1511 is executed.

In step 1509, to effectively use the general-purpose processor, it is determined whether or not the document data conversion means has already generated the next drawing element sequence. If the next drawing element sequence has been generated, the process proceeds to step 1510. In step 1507, the drawing element sequence is generated by combining the two drawing element sequences, and is output to the general-purpose processor in step 1507.

If it is determined in step 1508 that the general-purpose processor is not available, the use status is checked with the graphic processor in step 1511. If the graphic processor is available, the process proceeds to step 1505, and the graphic processor is transferred to the graphic processor. The drawing element sequence is output, and if the graphic processor is not available, step 1509 and subsequent steps are executed to output the graphic drawing element sequence to the general-purpose processor.

The drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) converts the plurality of first intermediate data distributed by the distribution means 903 to generate a plurality of second intermediate data.

The drawing means is constituted by a plurality of drawing means capable of operating in parallel, and the plurality of second intermediate data outputted from the plurality of drawing means can be combined and printed in page units by the synthesizing means 908 to be printed out. Image data is generated and printed out by the print engine 909.

The drawing time estimating means in the document editing apparatus 101 may be provided in the print processing apparatus 102. In this case, the document data converting means 9 shown in FIG.
The conversion to the first intermediate data performed at 02 is as follows:
A combination of drawing elements constituting a page is determined based on the drawing time predicted by the drawing time prediction means, and the received document data is converted into first intermediate data according to the determined combination of drawing elements.

The prediction of the drawing time can be executed by the same method as that executed in the above-mentioned document editing apparatus.

The grouping of the drawing elements can be configured to be executed by the document data conversion means in the print processing apparatus in the same manner as that executed by the intermediate data generation means in the editing apparatus. In this case, as the basic conditions for the grouping described above, a) drawing objects of the same type are grouped. b) A group in which the area of a region to be drawn is smaller than a predetermined value. c) The areas where the drawing objects are not overlapped in the drawing area are classified into different groups. Grouping is performed based on such conditions.

The print processing apparatus 102 estimates the drawing processing time required for the conversion processing from the first intermediate data to the second intermediate data, which is executed by the drawing means (904 to 907 in FIG. 9). The combination time required to combine the second intermediate data generated by the means with the page image may also be predicted, and the combination of the drawing elements may be determined in consideration of the prediction processing time.

By such a prediction of the drawing processing time and a prediction of the synthesis time of the second intermediate data, the synthesizing means (908 in FIG. 9) of the print processing apparatus completes the synthesis processing of the preceding data. At the same time, the document data conversion unit 902 determines a combination of drawing elements so that the drawing unit (904 to 907 in FIG. 9) of the print processing apparatus ends the drawing processing of the subsequent data. If the first intermediate data of the combination of elements is configured to be generated, the print processing apparatus 102 can perform print processing without time loss such as waiting for data.

The second intermediate data output from the drawing means may be, for example, a set of a bitmap (mask data) indicating an effective pixel and image data. In this case, the synthesizing unit 908 can generate a page image by sequentially synthesizing the image data included in the page according to the mask data.

The second intermediate data output from the drawing means (904 to 907) may be a display list. In this case, the combining unit 908 can generate a page image by sequentially processing the display list included in the page.

The drawing element sequence output from the distribution unit 903 is converted into image data by each of the general-purpose drawing unit 904, the graphic drawing unit 905, the character string drawing unit 906, and the image drawing unit 907, and synthesized by the synthesis unit 908. One page of image is printed out on paper by the created print engine 909.

The synthesizing means includes general-purpose CPUs 801 to 803.
Or an image processor (810 to 812). When an image processor is used for the synthesizing unit 908, the image drawing element sequence output destination selection unit 1204 of the distribution unit 903 is configured to consider a change in the usage status of the image processor due to the synthesizing process.

The first intermediate data generation processing may be executed by either the document editing apparatus or the print processing apparatus, or may be executed by both the document editing apparatus and the print processing apparatus. It may be configured to execute a process of generating the first intermediate data based on the above-described criterion according to data received from various client devices.

The embodiment of the print processing apparatus according to the present invention has been described above. A general-purpose CPU,
Although a configuration in which a plurality of graphic processors, character string processors, and image processors are provided is shown, a configuration in which only one is implemented may be considered. Further, there may be a configuration in which one or some of a graphic processor, a character string processor, and an image processor are not provided.

Even with such a configuration, it is possible to easily implement the print processing apparatus of the present invention by modifying each drawing element string output destination selection unit of the print processing apparatus shown in this embodiment.

In the print processing apparatus of this embodiment, when outputting the drawing element strings to each drawing means, only the case where the drawing element strings are sequentially combined is shown. It is also possible to easily realize a configuration in which the processing after step 1509 in FIG. With this configuration, the synthesizing means 208
The generation of the page image data by the localization of the combining process in is more efficient.

As described above, the document processing system of the present invention can operate a plurality of drawing units of the print processing apparatus in parallel within each page of the document data, as described in the description of the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention. Since it is possible, each page of the input document data can be converted into image data at high speed and output through a print engine.

In the document processing system of this embodiment, only a print processing apparatus having a plurality of drawing means is shown. However, the document data output by the document editing apparatus shown in the present embodiment is a print processing apparatus having only a single drawing means. The apparatus can print out without any problem, and even in an environment where a low-speed / low-priced print processing apparatus and a high-speed print processing apparatus coexist, it is possible to use the print processing apparatuses as needed.

[0163]

As described above, the document processing system according to the present invention can process drawing elements present on each page in a document at the time of printing by a plurality of processors simultaneously and in parallel. This enables high-speed execution of conversion of document data, which occupies much of the output time of a conventional print processing apparatus, into a print image. This is particularly effective for printing including high quality data of high resolution color.

Further, the print processing apparatus of the present invention can process each drawing element existing on the document data simultaneously and in parallel by a plurality of processors. The conversion of the document data, which occupied the data, into the print image can be executed at high speed. This is particularly effective for printing including high quality data of high resolution color.

Further, the document processing system and the print processing apparatus of the present invention provide a rendering processing unit for executing parallel processing when rendering elements of each page of document data are converted into second intermediate data by rendering means capable of operating in parallel. When determining the combination of elements, the second intermediate data
The processing time required for processing the intermediate data is estimated, a combination of drawing elements is configured based on the estimation, and the combination is distributed to drawing means configured by a parallel processor or the like. By setting in advance a combination of drawing elements that requires less time,
Efficient drawing processing can be performed.

Further, the document processing system and the print processing apparatus of the present invention estimate the drawing processing time of each page of the document data, and estimate the time required for the combining processing for combining the drawing data drawn by the drawing means. By setting a combination of drawing elements in consideration of both the drawing processing time and the synthesizing processing time, it is possible to perform printing processing without time loss in data transfer between each processing, and to efficiently use processing resources. It can be used for

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a document processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a document editing device in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a document for which processing is performed in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a document storage device in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation flow of an intermediate data generation unit in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of intermediate data generated in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of document data generated in the document processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a print processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block diagram of a print processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block diagram of a document data conversion unit of the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block diagram of a division unit of the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block diagram of a distribution unit of the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of a document data interpretation unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of a division unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of a distribution unit in the print processing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Document Editing Device 102 Print Processing Device 103 Network 201 Input Means 202 Editing Means 203 Document Storage Means 204 Intermediate Data Generating Means 205 Document Data Generating Means 206 Network Interface 301 Page a1 Graphic Drawing Element b1 Character String Drawing Element b2 Graphic Drawing Element b3 Graphic Drawing element c1 character string drawing element c2 character string drawing element 401 page entry 402 page entry 403 drawing element entry 404 drawing element entry 405 drawing element entry 406 drawing element entry 601 page entry 602 page entry 603 intermediate data entry 604 intermediate data entry 605 intermediate Data entry 606 Intermediate data entry 607 Drawing element entry 608 Drawing element entry 609 Drawing element entry 610 drawing element entry 611 drawing element entry 612 drawing element entry 801 general-purpose CPU 1 802 general-purpose CPU 2 803 general-purpose CPU n 804 graphic processor 1 805 graphic processor 2 806 graphic processor 1 807 character processor 1 808 character processor 2 809 character processor m 810 image Processor 1 811 Image processor 2 812 Image processor k 813 Input interface 814 Print engine interface 815 Print engine 816 Main storage device 901 Input interface 902 Document data conversion means 903 Distribution means 904 General-purpose drawing means 905 Graphic drawing means 906 Character string drawing means 907 Image Drawing means 908 Synthesis means 909 Print engine 1001 Document data interpreter 002 division unit 1101 input determination unit 1102 drawing area calculation unit 1103 drawing area comparison unit 1104 drawing area update operation processing unit 1105 graphic drawing element string buffer 1106 graphic drawing element string area memory 1107 character string drawing element string buffer 1108 character string drawing element string Area memory 1109 Image drawing element row buffer 1110 Image drawing element row area memory 1111 Drawing element row output processing section 1201 Drawing element row type determination section 1202 Graphic drawing element row output destination selection section 1203 Character string drawing element row output destination selection section 1204 Image Drawing element string output destination selection unit 1205 Graphic drawing means output queue 1206 Character string drawing means output queue 1207 Image drawing means output queue 1208 General-purpose drawing means output queue

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A document editing apparatus that generates and edits a document by inputting document information including at least one of a character, a graphic, and an image to generate document data, and outputs the document data to a print processing apparatus. A print processing device that converts the output document data into image data and prints out the image data on a predetermined output medium, wherein the document editing device includes a character forming each page of the generated document data. An intermediate data generating unit that generates a plurality of first intermediate data having drawing elements such as graphics, images, and the like as constituent elements; and combining the plurality of first intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating unit. Document data generating means for generating document data to be output to a print processing device, wherein the print processing device is configured to output document data input from the document editing device. Document data dividing means for dividing the plurality of first intermediate data generated by the intermediate data generating means into a plurality of first intermediate data; and rendering a plurality of each of the plurality of first intermediate data divided by the document data dividing means Intermediate data distributing means for distributing the plurality of first intermediate data distributed by the intermediate data distributing means to generate a plurality of second intermediate data; A document processing system, comprising: combining means for combining a plurality of second intermediate data output from the plurality of drawing means on a page basis to generate printable image data. 2. The second intermediate data generated by the drawing means in the print processing apparatus includes: data obtained by converting the first intermediate data into image data; and bits indicating valid pixels in the image data. The image processing apparatus is configured as a set of maps, wherein the synthesizing unit generates image data that can be printed out for one page by synthesizing image data of pixels validated by the bit map. Item 7. The document processing system according to Item 1. 3. The second intermediate data generated by the drawing unit in the print processing apparatus is constituted by a display list obtained by converting the first intermediate data. 2. The document processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration for generating image data that can be printed out by drawing. 4. The document editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing means in the print processing apparatus converts the first intermediate data including at least one of a drawing element of a character, a graphic, and an image into second intermediate data. A rendering time prediction unit that predicts a required rendering time, wherein the intermediate data generation unit of the document editing apparatus performs a rendering process based on the rendering time predicted by the rendering time prediction unit. Decide,
4. The document processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration for executing second intermediate data generation in said drawing means based on the determined combination of drawing elements. 5. The document editing device, wherein the drawing means in the print processing device includes at least a character,
Drawing time prediction means for predicting a drawing time required to convert first intermediate data composed of a drawing element of one of a figure and an image into second intermediate data; and second intermediate data generated by the drawing means And a synthesis time estimating means for estimating a synthesis time required for synthesizing a page image with the page image. The intermediate data generating means of the document editing apparatus includes: Based on the conversion processing from the plurality of included first intermediate data to the second intermediate data and the prediction of the synthesis processing end time, it is adjusted to the synthesis processing end time of the second intermediate data whose synthesis processing ends earlier And determining a combination of drawing elements for executing a drawing process of each page so that the subsequent second intermediate data generation is ended by the drawing unit. Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in bets
Document processing system according to any of the above. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the intermediate data generating means is executed so as to set a group for each type of drawing object. Document processing system as described. 7. The determination of a combination of drawing elements by the intermediate data generating means includes setting a group such that an area of a drawing area of the group generated by a plurality of drawing objects is equal to or smaller than a predetermined reference area. 6. The document processing system according to claim 4, wherein: 8. The determination of a combination of drawing elements by the intermediate data generation means, in which overlapping of drawing objects is considered, and drawing elements having no overlapping are combined as another group. 6. The document processing system according to claim 4, wherein: 9. An intermediate data generating means of the document editing apparatus classifies each drawing element of a character, a figure, and an image constituting a page, and generates a first data composed of only one type of a character, a figure, or an image. 4. The document processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration for generating a plurality of intermediate data. 10. A print processing apparatus for converting document data containing at least one of characters, graphics, and images input from an external device into image data and printing out the image data on a predetermined output medium. For each page, and a plurality of first intermediate data generated by the document data conversion unit, and each of the plurality of first intermediate data converted by the document data conversion unit is distributed to a plurality of drawing units. Intermediate data distributing means; a plurality of parallel operable drawing means for converting the plurality of first intermediate data distributed by the intermediate data distributing means to generate a plurality of second intermediate data; Synthesizing means for generating printable image data by combining a plurality of second intermediate data output from the drawing means on a page-by-page basis. Printing apparatus for treating symptoms. 11. The second intermediate data generated by the drawing unit is configured as a set of data obtained by converting the first intermediate data into image data and a bitmap indicating valid pixels in the image data. 11. The printing method according to claim 10, wherein the synthesizing unit generates image data that can be printed and output for one page by synthesizing image data of pixels validated by the bitmap. Processing equipment. 12. The second intermediate data generated by the drawing means is constituted by a display list obtained by converting the first intermediate data, and the synthesizing means can print out by drawing the display list. 11. The print processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the print processing apparatus has a configuration for generating simple image data. 13. The print processing apparatus predicts a drawing time required for the drawing means to convert first intermediate data composed of at least one of a character, a figure, and an image into second intermediate data. The document data conversion means converts the input document data into a drawing element string including any one of a character, a figure, and an image, and converts the input document data into a drawing element string. Means for determining a combination of drawing elements in the drawing element string based on the conversion time of each of the drawing element strings predicted by the means, wherein the drawing means is configured to determine the combination of the determined drawing elements. 13. The print processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second intermediate data is generated by executing the second intermediate data. 14. The print processing apparatus predicts a drawing time required for the drawing unit to convert first intermediate data composed of at least one of a character, a graphic, and an image into second intermediate data. Drawing time prediction means; and synthesis time prediction means for predicting a synthesis time required for synthesizing the second intermediate data generated by the drawing means with a page image. The document data is converted into a drawing element sequence including any of drawing elements of characters, graphics, and images, and a plurality of first elements included in each page by the drawing time prediction unit and the synthesis time prediction unit. Based on the conversion processing from the intermediate data to the second intermediate data and the prediction of the synthesis processing end time, the synthesis processing of the second intermediate data in which the synthesis processing ends in advance In time therewith, a configuration is provided in which a combination of drawing elements for executing a drawing process for each page is determined so that the subsequent second intermediate data generation is terminated by the drawing means. 13. The print processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second intermediate data is generated based on a combination of the rendered drawing elements. 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the document data conversion unit is performed so that a group is set for each type of drawing object. Document processing system as described. 16. The determination of a combination of drawing elements by the document data conversion means is performed by setting a group so that the area of a drawing area of the group generated by a plurality of drawing objects is equal to or smaller than a predetermined reference area. 15. The document processing system according to claim 13, wherein: 17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the combination of the drawing elements by the document data conversion unit is performed in consideration of the overlap between the drawing objects, and the drawing elements having no overlap are combined as another group. 15. The document processing system according to claim 13, wherein: 18. The drawing means includes at least one of a graphic drawing means for converting a graphic drawing element, a character string drawing means for converting a character string drawing element, and an image drawing means for converting an image drawing element. And a general-purpose drawing unit for converting each drawing element of a character, a figure, and an image. The document data conversion unit includes, when the drawing unit includes a figure drawing unit, drawing of the page. A drawing element sequence is generated from the graphic drawing element in the element, a drawing element sequence is generated from the character string drawing element when there is a character string drawing unit, and a drawing element is generated from the image drawing element when there is an image drawing unit. The intermediate data distributing means generates a drawing process of each of the generated drawing element strings based on the use status of each of the graphic drawing means, the character string drawing means, and the image drawing means in the drawing means. 13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the execution drawing unit is determined to be one of a graphic drawing unit, a character string drawing unit, an image drawing unit, and a general-purpose drawing unit. Print processing device. 19. The document data converting means according to claim 1, wherein
When generating the intermediate data of the above, for each of the drawing elements in the page, a state of overlapping with other drawing elements of the page is determined, and a drawing element having no overlap and capable of performing a drawing process with priority is selected. 19. The print processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the drawing processing unit executes drawing processing of the selected drawing element that can be executed with priority.