KR20060054727A - Apparatus for generating color image - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a color image forming apparatus. The color image forming apparatus for outputting print data compression-transferred for each color from the host apparatus according to the present invention as an image image is connected to an N-bit data bus and N / M bits to the data bus, respectively, and is compressed and transmitted from the host apparatus. M decompressors for decompressing the printed data for each color, and N / M bits connected to the data bus, respectively, and decompressed color print data for each of the M decompressors, respectively, as video data in units of pages. M video data processing units for processing each, and an engine unit for outputting the video data processed by the M video data processing unit as an image image. As a result, the plurality of decompressing units and the plurality of video data processing units simultaneously reduce the time required for forming an image image of the color image forming apparatus by inputting and processing data in parallel to the data bus.

Decompressor, Video data, Controller, Image forming apparatus, Color

Description

Color image forming apparatus {Apparatus for generating color image}

1 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional mono imaging system;

2 is a block diagram of an example of a video controller of a conventional color image forming apparatus;

3 is a block diagram of a color image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Brief description of the main parts of the drawing

100: video controller 200: engine unit

110a to 110d: decompression unit 120a to 120d: video data processing unit

130: first sub-arbiter 140: second sub-arbiter

150: Arbitrator 160: Databus

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular, a color having a data bus structure capable of simultaneously processing color-specific print data in parallel while using a decompression unit and a video data processing unit used in the conventional mono image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus.

1 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional mono image forming system.                         

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional mono image forming system includes a host apparatus 10 for transmitting print data and an image forming apparatus 20 for printing the received print data. The host apparatus 10 includes a printer driver 11, the image forming apparatus 20 includes a video controller 22 and an engine unit 27, and the video controller 22 includes a decompression unit 23 and And a video data processor 24.

In general, the host apparatus 10 converts print data created by an application program into print data recognizable by the image forming apparatus 20 through the printer driver 11. That is, the printer driver 11 performs rendering on the print target data to generate print data in the form of a bit map, and compresses the generated print data in order to shorten the transmission speed, thereby forming an image forming apparatus. Transfer to 20.

The decompression unit 23 decompresses the print data compressed and transmitted from the host device 10 and provides the decompressed print data to the video data processing unit 24. The video data processing unit 24 supplies the decompressed print data to the engine unit. It consists of video data of one page unit so that 27 can perform a print job.

The engine unit 27 forms and outputs video data of one page unit transmitted from the video controller 22 into an image image.

Conventionally, a mono image forming apparatus which processes only a single color requires only one decompression unit and one video data processing unit, but a color image forming apparatus using four toners to process four colors can be used for each color. In order to process the data, a decompressor and a video data processor are required for each color.                         

2 is a block diagram of an example of a video controller of a conventional color image forming apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 2, the video controller 30 of the conventional color image forming apparatus using four toners of CMYK includes four decompression units 33a, 33b, 33c, and 33d, four video data processing units 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d) and 32-bit data bus 35. Here, CMYK represents blue (Cyangen), red (Magenta), yellow (Yellow) and black (blacK).

For example, when the size of the data bus 35 of the video controller 30 of the color image forming apparatus is 32 bits, each of the decompressing units 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d and the video data processing unit 34a, 34b, 34c, and 34d have a 32-bit structure and exchange data with the data bus 35 in 32-bit units. In this case, the four decompression units 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d and the four video data processing units 34a, 34b, 34c, and 34d alternately obtain a license for the data bus 35, respectively, for each color in charge. Process the data and send it.

Therefore, when the 32-bit decompression unit and the video data processing unit used in the conventional mono image forming apparatus are used in a color image forming apparatus having a 32-bit data bus structure, it takes about four times as long as the execution time of the mono image forming apparatus. There is a problem.

On the contrary, when a video controller having a 128-bit data bus structure is implemented in order to shorten execution time, there is a problem in that the decompression unit and the video data processing unit must be redesigned according to the data bus having a 128-bit structure.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a color image forming apparatus having a data bus structure capable of simultaneously processing print data for each color in parallel while using the decompression unit and the video data processing unit used in the conventional mono image forming apparatus. It is.

In order to achieve the above object, a color image forming apparatus for outputting print data compressed by color from a host apparatus according to the present invention as an image image includes an N-bit data bus and N / M bits connected to the data bus, respectively. M decompression units for decompressing print data compressed and transmitted from the host apparatus for each color, and N / M bits are connected to the data bus, respectively, and decompressed in the M decompression units, respectively. M video data processing units which process the respective print data into video data in units of pages, and an engine unit which outputs the video data processed by the M video data processing units as image images.

In addition, the arbiter for allowing the use of the data bus to the M decompressors at the same time and the first sub which transmits a bus use request signal to the arbiter when all bus use request signals are received from the M decompressors. It is preferable to further include an arbiter.

In addition, the arbiter for allowing use of the data bus to the M video data processing units at the same time and the second sub which transmits a bus use request signal to the arbiter when all M bus data request signals are received from the M video data processing units. It is preferable to further include an arbiter.

Herein, the N bits are preferably 128 bits.

Here, it is preferable that M pieces are four pieces.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a block diagram of a color image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a video controller 100 and an engine unit 200. The video controller 100 includes four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d, four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d, a data bus 160, and a first sub arbiter 130. , A second sub-arbiter 140 and an arbiter 150.

In this embodiment, the data bus 160 has a size of 128 bits, and each of the decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d and the video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d have a size of 32 bits. An example of forming and outputting an image image with a combination of four colors is described below.

The data bus 160 has a bus width of 128 bits, four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d, four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d, and other video controllers 100. By connecting the components (not shown) of the mutual data can be transmitted and received.                     

The four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d process decompression of image data for each color that is compressed and transmitted from a host device (not shown). For example, the decompression unit 110a is blue (Cyangen), the decompression unit 110b is red (Magenta), the decompression unit (110c) is yellow (Yellow), the decompression unit (110d) is black (blacK) Decompresses the print data for.

In this embodiment, the decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d are connected in parallel to the data bus 160 by 32 bits, respectively. For example, the decompression unit 110a is connected to the upper 32 bits ([127: 96]) of the data bus 160, and the decompression unit 110b is connected to the second upper 32 bits ([95:64]). The decompression unit 110c may be connected to the third upper 32 bits ([63:32]), and finally, the decompression unit 110d may be connected to the lower 32 bits ([31: 0]).

The first sub-arbitrator 130 is connected between the arbiter 150 and the decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d to use the bus from all four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d. When the request signal Req is received, the bus use request signal Req is transmitted to the arbiter 150. When the bus use permission signal Ack is received from the arbiter 150, the decompression unit 110a, 110b, and 110c are received. The bus permission signal (Ack) is transmitted to 110d at the same time.

As a result, the four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d receive one bus permission signal Ack from the arbiter 150 and decompress data for each of the four colors CMYK. It is possible to simultaneously transmit in parallel to 160.

The four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d are connected to the data bus 160 by 32 bits in the same manner as the four decompression units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d. For example, the video data processor 120a is connected to the upper 32 bits ([127: 96]) of the data bus 160, and the video data processor 120b is connected to the second upper 32 bits ([95:64]). The video data processing unit 120c may be connected to the third upper 32 bits ([63:32]), and finally the video data processing unit 120d may be connected to the lower 32 bits ([31: 0]). According to the present invention, the video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d receive the decompressed print data for each color, respectively, and the video for each color in the unit of page so that the engine unit 200 can perform the print job. Convert to data and configure.

The second sub-arbitrator 140 is connected between the arbiter 150 and the four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d, so that the four sub-mediators 140 may be connected from all four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d. When the bus use request signal Req is received, the bus request signal Req is transmitted to the arbiter 150. When the bus request signal Ack is received from the arbiter 150, four video data processing units 120a and 120b, The bus permission signal Ack is simultaneously transmitted to 120c and 120d.

As a result, the four video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d receive the bus permission signal Ack from the arbiter 150 and receive the decompressed data for the four colors CMYK. After conversion to video data, it can be transmitted in parallel at the same time.

When the arbiter 150 receives the bus request signal Req from the first sub arbiter 130 and the second sub arbiter 140, the arbiter 150 may be configured to the state of the data bus 160 and the preset bus usage priority. Accordingly, the bus grant signal Ack is transmitted to the first sub arbiter 130 and the second sub arbiter 140.

The engine unit 200 receives the video data for the four colors CMYK configured by the video data processing units 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d from the video controller 100 to form and output a color image image.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that the decompression unit and the video data processing unit used in the conventional mono image forming apparatus can be used in the color image forming apparatus without designing a new one.

In addition, the plurality of decompressing units and the plurality of video data processing units each have a merit of shortening the time required for forming an image image of the color image forming apparatus by simultaneously inputting and processing data in parallel as one master.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Anyone skilled in the art can make various modifications, as well as such modifications are within the scope of the claims.

Claims (5)

A color image forming apparatus for outputting print data compressed and transmitted by color from a host device as an image image, An N-bit data bus; M decompressors each connected to the data bus by N / M bits and decompress printing data compressed and transmitted from the host device for each color; M video data processing units each connected to the data bus by N / M bits and processing print data for each color decompressed by the M decompression units as video data in units of pages; And An engine unit which outputs the video data processed by the M video data processing units as an image image; Color image forming apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, An arbiter which simultaneously permits the M decompressors to use the data bus; And And a first sub-arbiter which transmits a bus use request signal to the arbiter when all the bus use request signals are received from the M decompressors. The method of claim 1, An arbiter which simultaneously permits the M video data processing units to use the data bus; And And a second sub-arbiter which transmits a bus use request signal to the arbiter when all the bus use request signals are received from the M video data processing units. The method of claim 1, And the N bits are 128 bits. The method of claim 1, The color image forming apparatus, characterized in that the four pieces M.

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