JPS62101163A - Picture data processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transfer data quickly by compressing and transferring picture data in a picture processing system where digital picture data is handled. CONSTITUTION:Picture data read by a scanner 3 is sent to a picture data compressing and reproducing device 7 and is subjected to data compression, and this compressed picture data is stored in a main memory 2. Picture data stored temporarily in the main memory is not subjected to data reproducing and is transferred to a system BUS and is processed properly as it is unless original picture data is required for the purpose of outputting pictures by a picture output device like a display device 11 or a printer 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image data processing method in an image processing system that handles digital image data.

Conventionally, in an image processing system that handles digital image data as shown in FIG. 1, image data read by the scanner 3 is stored in the main memory 2 under the control of the system CPU. When an image is to be displayed on the display 11 or an image is to be recorded by the printer 9 based on the image data.

Main memory 2. Scanner controller 4. Image data is exchanged between the printer controller 8, display controller 10, etc. as normal image data without any data compression.

Conventionally, when image data read by the scanner 3 or image data stored in the main memory 2 is stored in the disk memory 6, in order to increase the storage capacity, the image data is transferred to an image data compression/reproduction device. In the case where the data is compressed in step 7 and then transferred to the disk memory controller 5 and stored in the disk memory 6, for example, an image is displayed on the display 11 based on the image data stored in the disk memory 6. The compressed image data read from the disk memory 6 is once sent to the image data compression/reproduction device 7 for data reproduction, and then the reproduced image data is sent to the display controller 1o.
I am trying to have it transferred to.

However, in such conventional image data processing methods, the image data handled is normal image data that has not been compressed in any way, except for storing the image data in the disk memory 6, and the amount of data is enormous. Therefore, it takes a long time to transfer image data within one image processing system, and if the number of data transfers is large, the period during which the system CPU 1 can use the system bus BUS will be shortened, and the processing time of the image data itself will be shortened. This results in a decrease in the processing capacity of the entire system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image data processing method that allows data transfer within an image processing system to be performed quickly.

In order to achieve the object, the present invention allows image data to be transferred as compressed image data within an image processing system that handles digital image data.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The image data processing method according to the present invention includes, in the image processing system shown in FIG. Image data is stored in the main memory 2. The image data once stored in the main memory 2 is not reproduced except when the original image data is needed to output the image by an image output device such as the display 11 or the printer 9, and the compressed data is not reproduced. mama system bus B
Transferred within the US and processed accordingly.

For example, image data may be moved between memory areas within the main memory 2, or image data may be temporarily stored in the disk memory 6 because the storage capacity of the main memory 2 alone is insufficient when handling a large amount of image data at the same time. data transfer in cases such as evacuating the image, or data transfer to an image processing device that performs processing such as image enlargement and reduction 9 rotations (not shown), and a communication interface (not shown) that allows image data to be transmitted to other systems. Possible methods include data transfer to.

Note that when displaying an image on the display 1o or recording it on the printer 9 based on the image data stored in the main memory 2, the compressed image data stored in the main memory 2 is After reading and reproducing the data in the image data compression/reproduction device [7], the reproduced image data is transferred to the display controller 10 or the printer controller 8. In addition, the image read by the scanner 3 is displayed on the display 11 without any processing.
Just display it on the screen or record it on the printer 9,
When the read image data is not subjected to other processing, the read image data is directly transferred to the display controller 10 or the printer controller 8 without data compression.

As specific methods for data compression/reproduction, various conventionally known methods can be applied as they are.

For example, when applying the MH method (Modifier-Hoffman coding method), which is the most widely used one-dimensional data compression method, the typical image data is 1/8 to 1/15
Since a data compression rate of about
It can be reduced to about 1/15.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of another image processing system for concretely implementing the image data processing method according to the present invention, and in this case, there is no need to connect a data compression/reproduction device to the system bus BUS. , the scanner controller 4' has a data compression function, and the print controller 8' and the display controller 10'
Each of them has a data playback function.

That is, the image data read by the scanner 3 is immediately compressed in the scan controller 4', transferred within the system bus BUS, and subjected to other processing. Furthermore, when displaying an image on the display 11 or recording an image on the printer 9, the image data transferred in the form of data compression must be reproduced in the display controller 10' or the printer controller 8. .

Particularly in this case, even if the image read by the scanner 3 is simply displayed on the display 11, data transfer is performed in a compressed form, so that faster display can be performed. become.

As described above, in the image data processing method according to the present invention, since the image data is transferred within the system bus in a compressed form, it is possible to transfer the image data quickly. This has the excellent advantage of reducing image data processing time, allowing the system CPU to use more time on the system bus, and effectively improving the processing capacity of the entire system. are doing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams each showing a configuration example of an image processing system for specifically implementing the image data processing method according to the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image data processing method that includes means for transferring image data as compressed image data within an image processing system that handles digital image data.