JP2001038954A - Color laser printer controlling device and color laser printer controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color laser printer controlling device capable of realizing a high printing throughput, and a color laser printer controlling method. SOLUTION: A tandem engine controller for controlling a tandem engine with developing systems for four colors including cyan, magenta, yellow and black disposed horizontally, and an image producing part 17 provided in the tandem engine controller for executing the engine control independently for each of the four colors including cyan, magenta, yellow and black, are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cyan C (Cya)
n), magenta M (Magenta), yellow Y (Y
The present invention relates to a color laser printer technology having an image generation function of a controller for a tandem engine having a developing system for each of four colors of yellow (Bk) and black Bk (Black), and particularly relates to a color laser printer controller and a color laser capable of realizing a high printing throughput. The present invention relates to a printer control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y),
In a color laser printer having an image generation function of a controller for a tandem engine having a development system for each of four colors of black Bk (Black), one memory system is used to store four colors of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y and black Bk. Image data was created for all colors. As such a conventional technique, for example, there is one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-305623. In other words, the prior art aims to achieve high-speed printing by efficiently using development processing resources according to the configuration of a printing device and the contents of print data of a tandem type color page printer, A print data processing device that supplies print data to an image output device having a plurality of printing devices corresponding to a plurality of printable recording colors, the print data storage unit storing print data, and the print data being stored in band units. A developing processing means for reading out from the print data storing means and developing in parallel for a plurality of recording colors into print data which can be output by the image output device; A print data evaluation unit that evaluates each unit and each recording color; and a development process based on the evaluation of the amount of development processing per band and each recording color by the print data evaluation unit Reconfiguring means for reconfiguring a stage, band unit of print data evaluated by the print data evaluating means, and the amount of development processing for each recording color, and band unit based on the reconstruction information by the reconfiguring means. An expansion processing time estimating means for estimating the expansion processing time; and a printing speed control means for controlling a printing speed of the image output device based on the expansion processing time in band units estimated by the expansion processing time estimating means. The constructing unit executes reconstruction of the expanding processing unit on a page basis, the reconstructing unit executes reconstruction of the expanding processing unit on a band basis, and the print data includes at least one of a character, a figure, and an image. The image data is drawing data generated from print information described by a predetermined drawing command, has a higher degree of abstraction than a data structure that can be output by an image output device, and has at least one type of basic data. It is representable in the form of the intermediate data including the shape, expansion processing means, at least,
A plurality of processing units for converting print data into print data; a plurality of input buffer memories corresponding to recording colors for storing print data; and a plurality of output buffers corresponding to recording colors for storing developed print data A reconfiguration unit configured to change a distribution of a plurality of arithmetic processing units to be assigned to each recording color based on the expansion processing amount for each recording color evaluated by the print data evaluation unit. , A reconfigurable hardware logic unit that converts print data to print data, a plurality of input buffer memories corresponding to recording colors for storing print data, and a recording color for storing developed print data. This is a print data processing device having a plurality of output buffer memories. According to such a print data processing device, rasterization of print information is required without deteriorating image quality in a process of expanding print data into a data structure that can be output by a tandem type color page printer. A large amount of memory can be reduced, and efficient use of the development processing resources is achieved by reconfiguring the development processing resources according to the configuration of the printing device of the tandem type color page printer and the contents of the print data. It discloses an effect that high-speed development processing and high-speed printing processing can be performed, and further, the efficiency of utilization of development processing resources can be increased, thereby enabling small-sized and high-performance print data processing.

[0003]

However, the prior art described above has a problem that the performance of creating image data is not sufficiently satisfactory, and it is difficult to realize a high print throughput. The reason is that all data from received data to image data for four colors of C, M, Y, and Bk passes through one memory system, so that data transfer exceeding the bandwidth of a bus connected to the memory system is required. This is due to the frequent occurrence of such cases.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a color laser printer control device and a color laser printer control method capable of realizing high printing throughput.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a color laser printer controller capable of realizing a high printing throughput, wherein a developing system for four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black is horizontally arranged. Tandem engine controller for controlling the tandem engine, and an image generation unit provided in the tandem engine controller and independently executing engine control for each of the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Color laser printer control device. The gist of the invention described in claim 2 is that a control AS that executes memory control, an interface with a control CPU, and / or control of each connected module.
The color laser printer control device according to claim 1, further comprising an IC. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color laser printer control apparatus according to the first or second aspect, further comprising an I / O controller for receiving data from a host CPU and / or controlling an operation panel. Exists. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided any of the first to third aspects, further comprising a plurality of video output circuits that output stored image data to the image generation unit independently and in parallel. The present invention resides in the color laser printer control device according to any one of the first to third aspects. A gist of the invention according to claim 5 is that a plurality of frame buffers for storing image data and outputting the stored buffer contents independently and in parallel via each of the plurality of video output circuits. The color laser printer control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: The gist of the invention described in claim 6 is to have a plurality of drawing accelerators for creating the code data sent from the host CPU independently and in parallel with the image data of the print density of the engine. Item 6 is the color laser printer control device according to any one of Items 1 to 5. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color laser printer control method capable of realizing a high print throughput, comprising a tandem engine for controlling a tandem engine in which development systems of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black are horizontally arranged. A color laser printer control method includes an engine control step and an image generation step of independently executing engine control for each of the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color control system for controlling a memory, an interface with a control CPU, and / or a control of each connected module. The present invention resides in a laser printer control method.
The gist of the present invention is that an I / O for receiving data from a host CPU and / or controlling an operation panel is provided.
8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising an O control step.
Or the color laser printer control method described in 8. The gist of the invention described in claim 10 is to have a video output step of outputting stored image data to the image generation step independently and in parallel. In the color laser printer control method described in the above section. The gist of the invention according to claim 11 is to have a frame buffer step of storing image data and outputting the stored buffer contents independently and in parallel via each of the video output steps. The color laser printer control method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein The gist of the invention described in claim 12 is to have a drawing step of creating the code data sent from the host CPU independently and in parallel with the image data of the print density of the engine. 12. A color laser printer control method according to claim 1.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The features of the embodiment described below are as follows.
In a control device of a color laser printer provided with a tandem engine in which development systems of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black are horizontally arranged, an image generation unit of a controller for a tandem engine has four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. By providing a configuration for independently executing engine control for each of the above, it is possible to output high-speed video data. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining a color laser printer control device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a control CPU, 2
Is a control ASIC, 3 is an I / O controller, 4 is a reception buffer, 5, 8, 11, and 14 are video output circuits,
9, 12, 15 are drawing accelerators, 7, 10, 1
3 and 16 are frame buffers, 17 is an image generator, 20
Indicates a color laser printer control device. Referring to FIG. 1, a color laser printer control device 20 of the present embodiment includes a control CPU 1, a control ASIC 2, an I / O
Controller 3, reception buffer 4, video output circuit 5,
8, 11, 14; drawing accelerators 6, 9, 12, 1
5, a frame buffer 7, 10, 13, 16 and an image generation unit 17.

As the control CPU 1 (central processing unit), RISC (Reduced Instruction) is used.
Set Computer (reduced instruction set computer) is used. Control ASIC2 (Applicat
ion SpecificIntegrated Ci
rcuit: a dedicated LSI for a specific customer) has a function of executing memory control, an interface with the control CPU 1, and control of each connected module. I /
The O controller 3 is an interface for receiving data from a host CPU (not shown) and controlling an operation panel and the like. Each of the video output circuits 5, 8, 11, and 14 has a function of outputting image data in each of the frame buffers 7, 10, 13, and 16 to the image generation unit 17. That is, the video output circuit 5 outputs the image data in the frame buffer 7 to the image generation unit 17, the video output circuit 8 outputs the image data in the frame buffer 10 to the image generation unit 17, and the video output circuit 11
Represents the image data in the frame buffer 13 in the image generation unit 1
7 and the video output circuit 14 outputs the frame buffer 1
6 is configured to be output to the image generation unit 17. Frame buffers 7, 10, 13, 16
Of the video output circuits 5, 8, and 1 store image data and store the stored buffer contents.
It has a function of outputting via the terminals 1 and 14. That is, the frame buffer 7 stores the image data, and outputs the stored buffer contents to the video output circuit 5.
, The frame buffer 10 stores the image data, and outputs the stored buffer contents via the video output circuit 8. The frame buffer 13 stores the image data and The frame buffer 16 is configured to output the contents of the stored buffer via the video output circuit 11, and to store the image data and output the stored buffer contents via the video output circuit 14. ing. Each of the drawing accelerators 6, 9, 12, and 15 converts the code data sent from the host CPU (not shown) to the printing density of the engine (600 dpi × 60 in the present embodiment).
0 dpi) image data.

[0009] Video output circuit 5, drawing accelerator 6
The image data for one color (for example, cyan C) is generated by the components of the frame buffer 7 and sent to the image generation unit 17 to form a visible image. Similarly, another one color (for example, magenta M) depends on the components of the video output circuit 8, the drawing accelerator 9, and the frame buffer 10.
Minute image data is generated. Similarly, video output circuit 1
1, drawing accelerator 12 and frame buffer 1
With the three constituent elements, image data for another color (for example, yellow Y) is generated. Similarly, video output circuit 1
4. Drawing accelerator 15 and frame buffer 1
6, another one color (for example, black Bk)
Minute image data is generated. Then, the separately generated image data is added and mixed in the image generation unit 17, whereby a beautiful color print can be output.

Next, the operation of the color laser printer controller 20 (color laser printer control method) will be described with reference to FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, first, the PC
Code data generated by a host CPU (not shown), such as a (personal computer), passes through a Centronics interface and the like, passes through an I / O controller 3, and is temporarily stored in a reception buffer 4.
Is decomposed for each color. In the present embodiment, the image is separated into four colors of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y and black Bk. Thereafter, the cyan C code data is sent to the drawing accelerator 6 through the control ASIC 2 and the video output circuit 5. In response to this, the drawing accelerator 6 determines that the transmitted code data is 600 dpi (dot / dot) which is the printing density of the electrophotographic engine.
Inch) × 600 dpi image data is generated. Image data generated and output by the drawing accelerator 6 is stored in the frame buffer 7. Similarly, the magenta M code data is sent to the drawing accelerator 9 through the control ASIC 2 and the video output circuit 8. In response, the drawing accelerator 9 determines that the transmitted code data is 600 dp, which is the printing density of the electrophotographic engine.
Image data of i (dot / inch) × 600 dpi is generated. Image data generated and output by the drawing accelerator 9 is stored in the frame buffer 10. Similarly, the yellow Y code data is sent to the drawing accelerator 12 through the control ASIC 2 and the video output circuit 11. In response to this, the drawing accelerator 12 determines that the transmitted code data is 600 dpi (dot / inch) × 600 dpi which is the printing density of the electrophotographic engine.
Generate image data of i. Image data generated and output by the drawing accelerator 12 is stored in the frame buffer 13. Similarly, the code data of black Bk passes through the control ASIC 2 and is sent to the drawing accelerator 15 via the video output circuit 14. In response to this, the drawing accelerator 15 generates image data of 600 dpi (dot / inch) × 600 dpi in which the transmitted code data is the print density of the electrophotographic engine. Image data generated and output by the drawing accelerator 15 is stored in the frame buffer 16.

When image data of each of the four colors Cyan, Magenta M, Yellow Y and Black Bk is completed in this manner, the synchronizing signal output from the image generating section 17 outputs cyan, magenta M and yellow Y. The image data of the four colors of black and black Bk is output as needed through each of the video output circuits 5, 8, 11, and 14. When receiving image data of four colors of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y, and black Bk, which are output as needed through the video output circuits 5, 8, 11, and 14, the image generating unit 17 outputs the cyan C, A color image is formed at high speed by performing additive mixing of magenta M, yellow Y, and black Bk.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, it is possible to configure a high-speed image data creation system, and as a result, it is possible to achieve a high printing throughput. The reason is 1
All colors (cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y
And four colors of black Bk) are generated,
Unlike the conventional method stored in one memory system, image data is generated for each of the four colors of cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y, and black Bk. Is dispersed, and the case where the upper limit of print data creation performance is suppressed by the transfer performance of the data bus can be avoided.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and each embodiment can be appropriately modified within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Further, the number, position, shape, and the like of the constituent members are not limited to the above-described embodiment,
The number, position, shape, and the like suitable for carrying out the present invention can be obtained. In each drawing, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0014]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to configure a high-speed image data creation system, and as a result, it is possible to realize a high printing throughput. The reason is that image data is generated for each of the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, so that the image data flowing on the data bus is dispersed and the print data creation performance is reduced by the transfer performance of the data bus. This is because it is possible to avoid a case in which the upper limit is suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining a color laser printer control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control CPU 2 ... Control ASIC 3 ... I / O controller 4 ... Reception buffer 5,8,11,14 ... Video output circuit 6,9,12,15 ... Drawing accelerator 7,10,13,16 ... Frame buffer 17: Image generator 20: Color laser printer controller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C087 AA15 AC08 BA07 BC02 BC05 BD35 2C362 BA50 BA51 CA18 CA39 CB75 CB77

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A controller for a color laser printer capable of realizing a high printing throughput, comprising: a controller for a tandem engine for controlling a tandem engine in which a development system of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black is horizontally arranged; A color laser printer control device, comprising: an image generation unit provided in an engine controller and independently executing engine control for each of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. 2. The color laser printer control device according to claim 1, further comprising a control ASIC for executing memory control, an interface with a control CPU, and / or control of each connected module. 3. Receiving data from a host CPU and / or
3. The color laser printer control device according to claim 1, further comprising an I / O controller for controlling an operation panel. 4. The color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of video output circuits that output stored image data to the image generation unit independently and in parallel. Laser printer controller. 5. A storage device comprising: a plurality of frame buffers for storing image data and outputting the stored buffer contents independently and in parallel via each of the plurality of video output circuits. Claims 1 to 4
A color laser printer control device according to any one of the preceding claims. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of drawing accelerators for generating code data sent from the host CPU in parallel with image data of a print density of an engine in parallel. A color laser printer control device according to claim 1. 7. A control method for a color laser printer capable of realizing a high printing throughput, comprising: a control step for a tandem engine for controlling a tandem engine in which development systems of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black are horizontally arranged; A color laser printer control method, which comprises an image generation step of independently executing engine control for each of the four colors of magenta, yellow and black. 8. The color laser printer control method according to claim 7, further comprising a control step of executing a memory control, an interface with a control CPU, and / or a control of each connected module. 9. Receiving data from a host CPU and / or
9. The color laser printer control method according to claim 7, further comprising an I / O control step for controlling an operation panel. 10. The color laser printer according to claim 7, further comprising a video output step of outputting the stored image data to the image generation step independently and in parallel. Control method. 11. A frame buffer step for storing image data and outputting the stored buffer contents independently and in parallel via each of the video output steps. 11. The color laser printer control method according to any one of claims 10 to 10. 12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a drawing step of generating code data sent from the host CPU in parallel with image data of a print density of an engine in parallel. 3. The method for controlling a color laser printer according to item 1.