JPH1145136A - Image data path switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image data path switching device which can combine devices as needed when constituting an image processing system. SOLUTION: This device is constituted by having plural bidirectional image data interface ports, plural bidirectional control data interface ports, bus switch part 20 for switching image data paths among the plural image data interface ports, and main control part 10 for exchanging control data with equipment or unit connected to the respective plural bidirectional control data interface ports together with the switching control of the bus switch part 20. When constituting the image processing system by unifying the specifications of interfaces between plural bidirectional image data and control data, the devices or units can be combined or graded up regardlessly of the interface of image data or control data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image data path switching device constituting an image forming system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an image forming system is configured by using a plurality of image forming apparatuses, the system is configured by directly connecting a plurality of digital image forming apparatuses or by using a LAN. (Network) to connect and configure.

[0003] For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-22094 of the prior art 1
The “network system” disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5 is connected to a plurality of digital copying machines via an external interface, and
It is characterized in that one print operation is shared by a plurality of digital copying machines and executed.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-251319 discloses a second conventional example.
The image forming apparatus and system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-157, is characterized in that a plurality of copying machines, stations A to D, are connected via a video interface to efficiently perform a large amount of copying.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-26324 of prior art 3
No. 0, entitled "Control Method of Multiple Printers" is characterized by comprising one main printer and one or more sub printers connected to the main printer by a high-speed data bus.

[0006]

However, in a network configuration in which a plurality of digital image forming apparatuses of the above-described conventional example are directly connected or connected via a LAN, a unit unit or a certain apparatus is required. It was impossible to upgrade some of them. In addition, since the specifications of the interface are individually determined, there is a limitation in configuring the image forming system.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an image data path switching device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of bidirectional image data interface ports connected to a plurality of external devices, and a plurality of external data devices. A plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports connected to the apparatus, a switching means for switching image data paths between the plurality of image data interface ports, a switching control of the plurality of switching means, and a plurality of bidirectional control data Control means for transmitting and receiving control data to and from an external device connected to the interface port;

In the image data path switching device of the present invention, the specifications of a plurality of bidirectional image data interfaces for transmitting and receiving image data to and from an external device may be unified.

In the image data path switching device of the present invention, the specifications of a plurality of bidirectional control data interfaces for transmitting and receiving control data to and from an external device may be unified.

[0010] In the image data path switching device of the present invention, the specifications of the image data interface used for transmitting and receiving control data to and from an external device may be unified for transmitting and receiving raw image data.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image data / path switching apparatus according to the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 7, the image data of the present invention
One embodiment of a path switching device is shown.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an image data path switching apparatus according to the present invention. The image data path switching apparatus includes six bidirectional image data interface ports and six bidirectional control data interface ports. FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a main unit which is connected to a peripheral device for forming an image described below by a bidirectional control data interface and controls switching of a bus switch unit 20 and transmits / receives data to / from the peripheral device. Control unit,
Reference numeral 20 denotes a bus switch unit that switches an image data path between a plurality of image data interface ports according to an instruction from the main control unit 10.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show an example of an interface specification signal for image data and control data used for one port in this embodiment. In FIG. 2, a T21DATA [7: 0] signal indicates an image data signal of one pixel, and “FF” indicates white and “00” indicates black. This signal is a signal output from the present device to another peripheral device. The / T21FGATE signal is a signal indicating an effective range of an image in the sub-scanning direction, and is a signal output from the present apparatus to a peripheral device. The / T21LSYNC signal indicates a main scanning synchronization signal and is a signal output from the apparatus. The / T21LGATE signal is a signal indicating the image effective range in the main scanning direction, and is a signal output from the apparatus. The T21CLOCK signal is a signal indicating an image transfer synchronization clock signal, and is output from the apparatus.

The R21DATA [7: 0] signal is
An image data signal of one pixel is shown. “FF” indicates white, and “00” indicates black. This signal is a signal input to the apparatus from a peripheral device. The / R21FGATE signal is a signal indicating an effective range of an image in the sub-scanning direction, and is a signal input from a peripheral device to the apparatus. / R21L
The SYNC signal is a signal indicating a synchronization signal in the main scanning direction, and is a signal input from the peripheral device to the apparatus. / R
The 21LGATA signal is a signal indicating an effective range of an image in the main scanning direction, and is a signal output from a peripheral device to the apparatus. The R21CLOCK signal is a signal indicating an image transfer synchronization clock signal, and is a signal input from a peripheral device to the apparatus. The above signals are all signals of the image data interface unified specification.

In FIG. 3, T11XD is a signal indicating a serial transmission data line, and is a signal output from the device to a peripheral device. R11XD is a signal indicating a serial transmission data line, and is a signal input from a peripheral device to the device. The T11CLK signal is a synchronous clock signal for control data transfer, and is a signal output from the device to a peripheral device. The / T11ST signal is a signal indicating the first byte of the control data, and is a signal output from the device to a peripheral device. The / T11ACK signal is a signal indicating a read / ride data transfer cycle, and is a signal output from the present device to the peripheral device. The / R11REQ signal is a signal indicating a control data transfer request, and is a signal input from the peripheral device to the device. The / R11INT signal is an interrupt request signal, and is a signal input from the peripheral device to the device.

The symbols I and O shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 represent the input port (I) and the output port (O) as viewed from the image data path switching device 1 side. In this embodiment, the image data interface signal and the control data interface signal shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are provided in six sets.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the two-way control data interfaces T12, R12 and r11 and t11, and the two-way image data interfaces T22, R22 and r21, t2 of the two image data path switching devices 1 and 2.
1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image data interface, a control data interface, and an image data interface when an image forming system is configured by connecting the image forming system 1 and an image forming system 1;

In FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the bus switch unit 20a of the image data path switching device 1 includes:
The IPU 200, the scanner 300, the printer unit 400, the network controller unit 500, and the like are connected by a bidirectional image data interface, and the bus switch unit 20b of the image data path switching device 2 includes a printer unit 400, a display unit 600 , FAX controller 7
00, a large-capacity memory unit 800 and the like are connected by a bidirectional image data interface.

In FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the main control unit 10a of the image data / path switching device 1 includes:
The operation unit 100, the IPU 200, the scanner 300, the printer unit 400, the network controller unit 500, and the like are connected by a bidirectional control data interface.
Main control unit 10b of image data / path switching device 2
, A printer unit 400, a display unit 600, a FAX controller unit 700, a large-capacity memory unit 800, and the like are connected by a bidirectional control data interface.

The operation unit 100 is connected to the main control unit 10a via a bidirectional control data interface (T11, R11), and is used to input a start key for instructing the start of image data transfer operation, the number of times of image data transfer, and the like. It includes a numeric keypad, a function setting key for setting functions provided in the image forming system, a liquid crystal touch panel for displaying set functions, data, and the like.

The IPU 200 communicates with the main control unit 10a and the bidirectional control data interface (T13, R1).
3) The bus switch unit 20a is connected to the bus switch unit 20a via the bidirectional image data interface (T23, R23), and if a scaling process, a processing process, or the like is specified from the operation unit 100, it is transmitted from the bus switch unit 20a. These image processings are performed on the image data based on the unified image data / interface specification and transferred to the bus switch unit 20a again as image data based on the unified image data / interface specification.

The scanner 300 has a bidirectional control data interface (T15, R1) with the main controller 10a.
5), connected to the bus switch unit 20a by a bidirectional image data interface (only R25 is used), irradiates a lamp to the original set on the contact glass, and reflects the reflected light through a mirror group, a filter, a lens, and a CCD. And amplifies and A / D converts the photoelectrically converted signal to obtain digital image data. The digital image data is subjected to predetermined shading correction, gamma correction, and the like, and is transferred to the bus switch unit 20a as image data based on an image data interface unified specification.

The printer section 400a connected to the image data path switching device 1 has a bidirectional control data interface (T14, R24) with the main control section 10a.
A printer unit 400 connected to the bus switch unit 20a via the bidirectional control data interface (T14, R14) and to the image data path switching device 2
b denotes a main control unit 10b, a bidirectional control data interface (t14, r14), a bus switch unit 20
b and the bidirectional image data interface (t24, r
24), performs gamma conversion for matching image data based on the image data interface unified specification sent from the bus switch unit 20 with characteristics unique to the printer, and performs an electrostatic latent image based on the gamma conversion. Is formed on the charged photoconductor by driving the LD. This is visualized with toner, transferred to a transfer material such as paper, fused and fixed by a fixing device, and the transfer material is discharged out of the digital image forming apparatus.

The network controller unit 500 is connected to the main control unit 10a with a bidirectional control data interface (T16, R16), and the bus switch unit 20a with a bidirectional image data interface (T26, R26). The printer converts LAN-specific print data from a connected host computer or the like into image data interface unified specifications of the bus switch unit 20a, and outputs image data to the bus switch unit 20a, Image data from 20a
Image data based on interface standard
The data is converted into specifications and transmitted to a host computer or the like connected on the LAN.

The display section 600 has a bidirectional control data interface (t13, r1) with the main control section 10b.
3), connected to the bus switch unit 20b by a bidirectional image data interface (only t23 is used),
The display unit 600 displays the image data sent from the switch unit 20b based on the image data / interface unified specification.
Display on a liquid crystal or the like.

The facsimile controller unit 700 has a bidirectional control data interface (t) with the main control unit 10b.
15, r15), which is connected to the bus switch unit 20b via the bidirectional image data interface (t25, R25), and transmits FAX-specific print data from a facsimile or the like connected to the telephone line to the bus switch unit 20b. By converting the image data into the unified specification of the image data interface and outputting the image data to the bus switch unit 20b, or converting the image data from the bus switch unit 20b based on the unified specification of the image data interface into the FAX specification,
The data is transmitted to a facsimile or the like connected to the telephone line.

The large-capacity memory unit 800 includes the main control unit 1
0b and the bidirectional control data interface (t16,
r16), is connected to the bus switch unit 20b via the bidirectional image data interface (t26, r26), and compresses image data sent from the bus switch unit 20b based on the unified specification of the image data interface. The image data stored in the large-capacity memory or decompressed in the large-capacity memory is decompressed, converted into image data based on the unified specification of the image data interface, and transmitted to the bus switch unit 20b.

The main control unit 10a is connected to the operation unit 100, the IPU 200, the scanner 300, the printer unit 400, the network controller unit 500, and the main control unit 11 via the bidirectional control data interface as described above. , According to a request from the network controller 500 and the main controller 11,
Control data is transmitted and received to switch the switch unit 20a and to set the IPU 200, the scanner 300, the printer unit 400a, the network controller unit 500, and the main control unit 10b.

The main control section 10b is connected to the printer section 400b, the display section 600, the FAX controller section 700, the large-capacity memory section 800, and the main control section 10b by the bidirectional control data interface as described above.
The X controller 700 switches the bus switch 20b according to a request from the main controller 10a,
Printer unit 400b, display unit 600, FAX controller unit 700, large-capacity memory unit 800, main control unit 10
In order to set a, control data is transmitted and received.

In the image forming system, when the main switch is turned on, the main control unit 10 and the bus switch unit 20 determine what is connected to the main control unit 10 via a control data interface whose specifications are standardized. Take in.

Next, an operation example according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 illustrates a case where the operator uses the scanner 300 (R2
5) illustrates a case where the printer unit 400 (T24) and the large-capacity memory unit 800 (t26) are selected as image data transfer destinations.

With the above setting, the bus switch unit 20
A and 20b are switched as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 6, and when the start key or the like of the operation unit 100 is pressed, the scanner 300 starts a reading operation, and the read image data is unified with specifications. Of the bus switch unit 20a from R25 to T22 and T24,
The printer unit 400 (T24) and the large-capacity memory unit 800 (t26) pass from r21 to t26 of the switch unit 20b.
Sent to. The printer unit 400 (T24) and the large-capacity memory unit 800 (t26) perform a printing operation and a storage operation based on the transmitted image data.

FIG. 7 shows how the bus switch unit is switched when a print reception request from the FAX controller unit 700 (r15) enters the main control unit 10b in addition to the above operation.

In response to a print reception request from the FAX controller 700 (r15), the main controller 10b sets the FAX controller 700
(R25), the printer unit 400b (t24) is selected as the transfer destination of the image data, and the bus switch unit 20
By further switching b as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to respond to a print reception request from the FAX controller 700.

According to the above-described embodiment, in an image forming system configured by connecting various image data input / output devices or units to an image data / path switching device having an interface whose specifications are unified, The image data can be easily transmitted and received simply by specifying the transmission source and the transmission destination. In addition, it is easy to upgrade and combine the image forming system.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, the image data path switching apparatus of the present invention comprises a plurality of bidirectional image data interface ports, a plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports, and a plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports. Switch means for switching the image data path between the image data interface ports, switching control of the bus switch means, and a device or unit connected to each of the plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports and control data It is configured with control means for transmitting and receiving data, and by unifying the specifications of a plurality of bidirectional image data interfaces and a plurality of bidirectional control data interfaces, an Combine or upgrade equipment or units The ability.

Further, by defining the unified specifications of the image data interface in the transmission and reception of the raw image data, the raw image data can be directly transmitted and received when configuring the image processing system. Decompression processing at the destination can be omitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image data / path switching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image data interface unified specification.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a control data interface unified specification.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image data interface using the image data path switching device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a control data interface using the image data path switching device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation example when image data is transferred using the image data / path switching device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation example when control data is transferred using the image data / path switching device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Image data / bus switching device 10 Main control unit 20 Bus switch unit 100 Operation unit 200 IPU 300 Scanner 400 Printer unit 500 Network controller unit 600 Display unit 700 FAX controller unit 800 Large capacity memory unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] A plurality of bidirectional image data interface ports connected to a plurality of external devices; a plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports connected to a plurality of external devices; Switching means for switching an image data path between interface ports; switching control of the plurality of switching means; and transmission and reception of control data to and from the external device connected to the plurality of bidirectional control data interface ports. An image data / path switching device, comprising: control means. 2. The image data path switching device according to claim 1, wherein specifications of a plurality of bidirectional image data interfaces for transmitting and receiving image data to and from the external device are unified. 3. The image data path switching device according to claim 1, wherein specifications of a plurality of bidirectional control data interfaces for transmitting and receiving control data to and from the external device are unified. 4. The image data path switching according to claim 2, wherein specifications of said image data interface used for transmission and reception of said control data with said external device are unified for transmission and reception of raw image data. apparatus.