JP2003348338A - Information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer required information efficiently in order to have much more characteristic information for more precisely processing an image inputted from an MFP. <P>SOLUTION: In the information processing apparatus composed of: a CPU for creating packet data; a bus connected to the CPU and capable of connecting a plurality of transmitting-receiving blocks; a plurality of receiving-transmitting blocks for transmitting the packet data to a bus controller for controlling the bus connections of the transmitting-receiving blocks and the other blocks; a scanner part for reading an original image on a scanner and converting the image to image data; a scanner image processing part; a printer image processing part; and a printer part for printing the image data on a recording medium, it is judged for the unit of a packet whether or not image characteristic information of each pixel is a fixed value and when the image characteristic information takes the fixed value, a data length of the image characteristic information in the packet data is reduced into data length for one pixel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus including a data transmission path connecting blocks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the speed of CPUs and the capacity of IC memories and hard disks have increased, and the amount of data handled by information processing apparatuses has increased. Accordingly, the amount of data transmitted between blocks in the information processing apparatus has also been increasing.

[0003] As a typical apparatus for processing a large amount of data, a conventional technique will be described taking an information processing apparatus for handling image data as an example.

An image processing apparatus generally includes a CPU, an IC memory, and a hard disk for storing and processing image data, and hardware for realizing image processing that cannot be performed by the CPU in a required time. Divided into parts. Since the former part has the same configuration as a general computer, the same architecture as the computer is used, and the latter part is added. In image processing, a plurality of processes are generally performed on one image data. For example, color space processing, resolution conversion (magnification) processing for multi-valued image data,
Rotation processing and binarization processing may be performed continuously.

Since the image data handled by the present system has a very large data amount for one image, each image processing block 5
In order to facilitate the processing of 03 to 507, it is divided into a predetermined size, for example, 32 pixels × 32 pixels. (This 32
Data of × 32 units is called a tile. The processing of each image processing block is performed on a tile-by-tile basis, but information necessary for performing image processing is added as header information to data transmitted and received between the CPU and the image processing unit. A set of image data is a unit of actual data transmission / reception (this data is called a packet).

[0006] By adding to the header of the packet transmission path information indicating which block is to be passed and in what order for each image processing content,
When the packet is transmitted from the U501 to the packet bus 508, the packet passes through the image processing blocks in the order specified in the header portion, and the desired processing is performed on the image data. At this time,
It is conceivable that the same image processing block is designated in the mutual transmission route information. In this case, the processing is performed in the order in which the packets arrive at the corresponding block.

[0007] By handling data in packets,
It is possible to easily process a plurality of packets having different transmission route information, that is, packets having different image processing modes at the same time in the image processing unit. Among systems including the above-described image processing apparatus, an MFP (multifunction printer) in which a state called a simultaneous operation in which image processing of different image data is required at the same time frequently occurs.
In such a system, data processing using such a packet is an effective method.

The MFP analyzes the characteristics of each image data according to the type of the document read from the scanner, such as data having characters in the image or data having a photograph, and adaptively performs image processing according to the characteristics. That is common. Therefore, when transferring image data, it is necessary to transfer such characteristic information to the system at the same time.

[0009]

In order to process an image input from an MFP more precisely, it is more effective to have more of the above-mentioned characteristic information. It takes time, and it is a technical problem to transfer necessary information as efficiently as possible.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a CPU for generating packet data composed of header information, image data and image characteristic information.
A bus connected to the CPU to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected, a bus controller for controlling bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks, receiving packet data via the bus, and storing image data in the packet data Performs image processing according to the image characteristic information, a plurality of receiving and transmitting blocks for transmitting packet data to other blocks, a scanner unit for reading a document image on a scanner and converting it to image data, A scanner image processing unit that analyzes characteristics and generates pixel-specific image characteristic information and corrects scanner characteristics, and corrects image data read by the scanner according to the image characteristic information and printer characteristics. An information processing unit comprising: a printer image processing unit; and a printer unit for printing image data on a recording medium. The apparatus determines whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in the packet unit. If the image characteristic information takes a constant value, the data length of the image characteristic information in the packet data is determined. Is reduced to a data length of one pixel, thereby efficiently transmitting packet data in the system.

Further, C for generating packet data composed of header information, image data and image characteristic information
A PU, a bus connected to the CPU, to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected, a bus controller for controlling the bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks,
A plurality of transmission / reception units for receiving data, performing image processing on image data in the packet data according to image characteristic information, and transmitting data to other blocks based on transmission information included in a header in the packet data; Block, a scanner unit that reads an original image on a scanner, converts the image data into image data, analyzes characteristics of an image input from the scanner, and generates image characteristic information in pixel units,
A scanner image processing unit for correcting the characteristics of the scanner, a printer image processing unit for correcting the image data read by the scanner according to the image characteristic information and the characteristics of the printer, and a printer unit for printing the image data on a recording medium A first image processing mode for invalidating the image characteristic information and a second image processing mode for invalidating the image characteristic information when performing image processing. In the first image processing mode, it is determined whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in the packet unit. When the image characteristic information takes a constant value, the image characteristic information of the first pixel is determined. In the second image processing mode, the data length is reduced to the data length of one pixel, and the data length of the image characteristic information in the packet data is set to 0 so that the packet can be more efficiently processed. There is provided an information processing apparatus that realizes that the transfer of bets data.

As described above, the present invention can be summarized and arranged as follows.

(1) CP for generating packet data composed of header information, image data and image characteristic information
U, a bus connected to the CPU to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected, a bus controller for controlling bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks, receiving packet data via the bus, and displaying an image in the packet data. A plurality of receiving and transmitting blocks for performing data processing on data in accordance with image characteristic information and transmitting packet data to other blocks, a scanner unit for reading a document image on a scanner and converting the image into image data, an image input from the scanner Analyzing the characteristics of the image and generating image characteristic information in pixel units,
A scanner image processing unit for correcting the characteristics of the scanner, a printer image processing unit for correcting the image data read by the scanner according to the image characteristic information and the characteristics of the printer, and a printer unit for printing the image data on a recording medium An information processing device configured to determine whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in the packet unit, and when the image characteristic information takes a constant value, An information processing apparatus characterized in that the data length of the image characteristic information is reduced to the data length of one pixel.

(2) The information processing apparatus according to (1), wherein the image characteristic information includes information indicating whether an edge of the input image is determined and the pixel is a character image.

(3) The information processing apparatus according to (1), wherein the image characteristic information determines the saturation of an input image and includes information indicating whether the pixel is a chromatic image or an achromatic image.

(4) The header information of the packet data includes transmission information of the packet data, and the transmission / reception block performs transmission / reception of packet data in accordance with the transmission information. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

(5) The header information of the packet data is the data length of the packet data, the data length of the image data, the information indicating the data length of the image characteristic information, and the packet calculated from the image data length and the image characteristic information. The information processing apparatus according to (1), further including data length information, wherein the transmission / reception block transmits a data amount based on packet data of the header information.

(6) CP for generating packet data composed of header information, image data and image characteristic information
U, a bus connected to the CPU to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected, a bus controller for controlling bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks, receiving packet data via the bus, and displaying an image in the packet data. The data is subjected to image processing according to the image characteristic information, and the packet
A plurality of receiving and transmitting blocks for transmitting data to other blocks based on transmission information included in a header in the data, a scanner unit for reading a document image on a scanner and converting the image into image data, A scanner image processing unit that analyzes characteristics and generates pixel-specific image characteristic information and corrects scanner characteristics, and corrects image data read by the scanner according to the image characteristic information and printer characteristics. An image processing apparatus comprising: a printer image processing unit; and a printer unit that prints image data on a recording medium, wherein the first image processing mode disables the image characteristic information when performing image processing. In the second image processing mode in which the image characteristic information is invalidated and processed, in the first image processing mode, each pixel is It is determined whether the image characteristic information has a constant value. If the image characteristic information takes a constant value, the data length of the image characteristic information of the first pixel is reduced to the data length of one pixel, and the second image In the processing mode, the data length of the image characteristic information in the packet data is set to 0.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) The apparatus of the present invention and its operation will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[Overview of Network System] FIG.
1 is a configuration diagram of an entire network system including an information processing device of the present invention.

Reference numeral 2001 denotes an apparatus according to the present invention, which comprises a scanner and a printer, and stores an image read from the scanner in a local area network (2002) (hereinafter LAN).
Or print out the image received from the LAN by the printer. Further, the image read from the scanner can be transmitted to the PSTN or ISDN (2003) by a facsimile transmission unit (not shown), and the image received from the PSTN or ISDN can be printed out by a printer. A database server 2004 manages the binary image and the multi-valued image read by the apparatus (2001) of the present invention as a database.

Reference numeral 2005 denotes a database server (200
4) The database client (2)
The user can browse / search the image data stored in (004).

An electronic mail server 2006 can receive an image read by the apparatus (2001) of the present invention as an electronic mail attachment. Reference numeral 2007 denotes an e-mail client which can receive the e-mail received by the e-mail server (2006), browse the e-mail, and transmit the e-mail.

A WWW server (2008) is a server for providing an HTML document to a LAN.
According to 1), an HTML document provided from the WWW server can be printed out.

The router (2009) is connected to the LAN (2002)
Is connected to the Internet and an intranet (2010). The above-mentioned database server (2004) and WWW server (20)
08), an e-mail server (2006), and devices similar to the device of the present invention (2001) are 2011 and 20 respectively.
12, 2013. On the other hand, the device (2001) of the present invention is a PSTN or ISDN (200
Via 3), it is possible to transmit and receive to and from the FAX machine (2014).

Also, a printer (2015) is connected to the LAN (2002), and the device (200) of the present invention is connected to the printer (2015).
The image read according to 1) can be printed out.

[Overview of Information Processing Apparatus] FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The controller unit (1001) is connected to a scanner (1002) as an image input device and a printer (1003) as an image output device, while a LAN (1004) and a public line (WAN) (1005) are connected.
By connecting to, input and output of image information and device information,
This is a controller for developing an image of PDL data.

[Outline of System Control Unit] A system control unit in the information processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The CPU (1006) is a processor that controls the entire system. In this embodiment, two two C
An example using a PU will be described. These two CPUs (100
6) is connected to a common CPU bus (1007) and further connected to a system bus bridge (1008).

A system bus bridge (1008) is a bus switch, and includes a CPU bus (1007), a RAM controller (1009), and a ROM controller (101).
0), IO bus 1 (1011), sub bus switch (1
012), the IO bus 2 (1013), the image ring interface 1 (1014), and the image ring interface 2 (1015).

The sub bus switch (1012) is a second bus switch, and includes an image DMA1 (1016), an image DMA2 (1017), a font decompression unit (1018),
A sort circuit (1019) and a bitmap trace circuit (1020) are connected, arbitrate the memory access requests output from these DMAs, and connect to the system bus bridge (1008).

The RAM (1021) is a CPU (1006)
Is a system work memory for operating the RAM, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data.
It is controlled by the controller (1009). This embodiment shows an example in which a direct RDRAM is adopted.

A ROM (1022) is a boot ROM in which a system boot program is stored.
It is controlled by the OM controller (1010).

The image DMA1 (1016) is connected to the image compression unit (1023), and is connected to the register access ring (1016).
Based on the information set via (24), the image compression unit (1023) is controlled to read out the uncompressed data from the RAM (1021), compress, and write back the compressed data. In this embodiment, JPEG is adopted as a compression algorithm.

The image DMA 2 (1017) is connected to the image decompression unit (1025), and is connected to the register access ring (1017).
Based on the information set via (24), the image decompression unit (1025) is controlled to read out the compressed data from the RAM (1021), decompress, and write back the decompressed data. In the present embodiment, JPEG is adopted as a decompression algorithm.

The font decompression unit (1018) receives the P transferred from the outside via the LAN controller (1026) or the like.
ROM based on font code included in DL data
(1022) Alternatively, the compressed font data stored in the RAM (1021) is expanded. In this embodiment,
An example in which the FBE algorithm is adopted has been described.

The sort circuit (1019) is a circuit for rearranging the order of the objects in the display list generated at the stage of expanding the PDL data.

Bitmap trace circuit (1020)
Is a circuit for extracting edge information from bitmap data.

The IO bus 1 (1011) is a kind of internal IO bus, and is a controller of a USB bus which is a standard bus, a USB interface (1027), a general-purpose serial port (1028), an interrupt controller (1029), and a GPIO interface. (1030)
Is connected. The IO bus 1 (1011) includes a bus arbiter (not shown).

The operation unit interface (1031)
Image data to be displayed on the operation unit (1032) is displayed on the operation unit (1032) by the interface unit of the operation unit (1032).
Output to 2). The information input by the user of the system from the operation unit (1032) is transmitted to the CPU (100).
Play the role of communicating to 6).

The IO bus 2 (1013) is a kind of internal IO bus, and the general-purpose bus interfaces 1 and 2
(1033) and the LAN controller (1026). IO bus 2 (1013) includes a bus arbiter (not shown).

General-purpose bus interface (1033)
Is a bus bridge composed of two identical bus interfaces and supporting a standard IO bus. In this embodiment, an example in which the PCI bus (1034) is adopted has been described.

An HDD (1035) is a hard disk drive for storing system software and image data. It is connected to one PCI bus (1034) via a disk controller (1036).

The LAN controller (1026)
C circuit (1037), PHY / PMD circuit (1038)
Through the LAN (1004) to input and output information.

The modem (1039) is connected to the public line (100
5) to input and output information.

[Overview of Image Processing Unit]
The image processing unit will be described based on FIG. Image ring (1
040) is constituted by a combination of a pair of unidirectional connection paths. The image ring (1040) is connected to the image ring interface 3 (1) in the image processing unit (1041).
042) and image ring interface 4 (104
Via 3), it is connected to a tile decompression unit (1044), a command processing unit (1045), a status processing unit (1046), and a tile compression unit (1047).

The tile decompression unit (1044) has a tile bus (104) in addition to the connection to the image ring interface.
8) is a bus bridge that expands the compressed image data input from the image ring and transfers it to the tile bus (1048). In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which JPEG is used as multivalued image data and PackBits is used as an expansion algorithm for binary image data.

The tile compression unit (1047) includes a tile bus (104) in addition to the connection to the image ring interface.
8) is a bus bridge that compresses the image data before compression inputted from the tile bus and transfers it to the image ring (1040). In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which JPEG is used as multi-valued image data and PackBits is used as a compression algorithm for binary image data.

The command processing unit (1045) is connected to the register setting bus (1049) in addition to the connection to the image ring interface, and receives a register setting request issued from the CPU (1006) through the image ring. , Write to the corresponding block connected to the register setting bus. Further, based on a register read request issued by the CPU (1006), the information is read from the corresponding register via the register setting bus, and is transferred to the image ring interface 4 (1043).

The status processing section (1046) monitors the information of each image processing block, generates an interrupt packet for issuing an interrupt to the CPU (1006), and generates an interrupt packet for the image ring interface 4 (104).
Output to 3).

The tile bus (1048) is connected to the following functional blocks in addition to the above blocks.

Rendering unit interface (105
0), an image input interface (1051), an image output interface (1052), a multi-value processing unit (10
53), a binarization processing unit (1054), an image rotation unit 1 (1
055), an image rotation unit 2 (1056), a resolution conversion unit (1057), and an image temporary storage unit (1058).

The tile bus (1048) in the figure also includes a bus controller.

Rendering unit interface (105
Reference numeral 0) denotes an interface for inputting a bitmap image generated by a rendering unit described later.
The rendering unit and the rendering unit interface
It is connected by a general video signal (1059). The rendering unit interface is a tile bus (104
8) In addition to the above, a connection to the memory bus (1060) and the register setting bus (1049) is provided, and the input raster image is converted into a tile image by a predetermined method set via the register setting bus (1049). Of the tile bus (104)
8) Output is performed.

Image input interface (1051)
Receives scan image data from a scanner, converts the structure into a tile image, changes the clock rate, and outputs the result to the image processing unit (1041).

Image output interface (1052)
Receives the tile image data from the tile bus, converts the structure into a raster image, changes the clock rate, and converts the raster image into a printer image processing unit (106).
Output to 1).

The image rotation unit 1 (1055) rotates image data.

The image rotation section 2 (1056) rotates image data.

The resolution converter 2 (1057) converts the resolution of an image.

The binarization processing section (1054) binarizes a multi-valued (color and gray scale) image.

The multi-value processing section (1053) converts a binary image into multi-value data.

The temporary image storage unit (1058) temporarily stores the received image data in an internal storage unit, and immediately transmits the received data to another block as soon as the storage is completed.

External bus interface unit (1062)
Is a CPU (100) via image ring interfaces 1, 2, 3, 4, a command processing unit, and a register setting bus.
The bus bridge converts and outputs the write / read request issued by 6) to the external bus 3 (1063).
In this embodiment, the external bus 3 (1063) includes an image processing unit for printer (1061) and an image processing unit for scanner (1010).
64).

The memory control unit (1065) is connected to the memory bus (1060), and according to the request of each image processing unit,
By the preset address division, operations such as writing / reading of image data to / from the image memories 1 and 2 (1066) and refreshing as necessary are performed. In this embodiment, an example in which the SDRAM is used as the image memory has been described.

The scanner image processing unit (1064)
Image data scanned by a scanner (1002) as an image input device is subjected to correction image processing.

In the printer image processing unit (1061),
Corrected image processing for printer output is performed, and the result is output to the printer (1003).

The rendering unit (1067) develops the PDL code or the intermediate display list into a bitmap image.

[Explanation of Data Packet] Next, the packet format in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

The controller unit (100
In 1), image data, commands by the CPU (1006), and interrupt information from each block are transferred in a packetized format.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing in detail a data packet obtained by packetizing image data.

In this embodiment, one page of image data is
The image data is divided into image data (3001) of 2 × 32 pixels and handled. The necessary header information (3003) and image characteristic information Z (3004) are added to the image data (3002) in tile units to form a data packet.

The information contained in the header information (3003) will be described below.

The packet type is the header information (300
It is distinguished by Pckt Type (3005) in 3). The PcktType (3005) includes a repeat flag, and when the image data of the data packet is the same as the image data of the data packet transmitted immediately before,
Set the repeat flag.

The Chip ID (3006) indicates the ID of a target chip when transmitting a packet.

Image Type (3007) is an image type of image data (for example, black and white binary data,
Or a type of black and white 8-bit data).

The Page ID (3008) indicates an ID in page units, and the Job ID (3009) is an ID for management by software.

The tile number is the coordinate in the Y direction (3010)
And YnXn in the combination of the coordinates (3011) in the X direction
Is represented by

Data packets may be compressed image data or uncompressed. In the present embodiment, as a compression algorithm, an example is shown in which JPEG is used for a multi-valued color (including a multi-valued gray scale) image, and PackBits is used for a binary image. The compression / non-compression distinction is indicated by a compression flag (3018).

Process Instruction
(3012) sets the ID and processing mode of each image processing block in left-justified processing order, and each image processing block
After processing, the Process Instruction (3
012) is shifted left by 8 bits. Pro
The cess Instruction (3012) is a Unit ID (302) that is an ID of each image processing block.
0) and eight processing modes Mode (3021). As a result, one packet can be continuously processed by eight processing blocks.

Packet Byte Length
(3013) indicates the total number of bytes of the packet.

Image Data Byte Len
gth (3016) is the number of bytes of image data, Z Da
ta Byte Length (3017) represents the number of bytes of the image characteristic information Z, and Image Data Of
fset (3014), ZData Offset (3
015) indicates an offset from the head of each data packet.

Also, Z Data Rpeat (302)
2) is set when transferring only Zdata of the first pixel in the packet.

[Description of Data Packet Transfer] Next, a data transfer method in the image processing unit of the information processing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail. In this embodiment, the image data in the image processing unit is also handled in a packetized state as described above.

The tile bus (1048) is a cross bus switch provided with a bus controller, and connects the bus by performing arbitration between the master image processing unit and the target image processing unit. When different blocks are connected to both the master image processing unit and the target image processing unit, multiple paths can be connected at the same time, and packet transfer can be performed on multiple paths at the same time. It is. However, when the masters are different but the targets overlap, the paths cannot be connected at the same time. In this case, one master and the target are connected, and after the transfer of one packet is completed, switching to another master is performed to transfer the packet. In this case, each master is connected in a predetermined order.

After receiving the data, each image processing unit performs data processing, and transmits the processed data to the target image processing unit sequentially from the processed data. The rotation processing unit and the binarization processing unit (for example, a binarization process using a screen)
When one packet is received, it can be processed immediately and transmitted. As an example, FIG. 5 shows a packet binarization processing unit (10
54) and the temporal processing flow when processing is performed by the image rotation unit (1056).

[Outline of Scanner Image Processing Block] Next, the scanner image processing section in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an internal block of the scanner image processing unit 1064 shown in FIG.

The images (R, G,
B) is frequency-converted by the input I / F unit 601 in synchronization with the clock of the image processing block. If the scanner is a three-line sensor, there is an inter-line delay between RGB. In this case, the inter-line delay correction unit 602 corrects the delay between the lines of each color.

The sub-scan offset correction unit 603 corrects an offset in the sub-scan direction due to chromatic aberration of the optical system.

The image characteristic determination unit 604 performs edge detection and the like of image data based on the type of the original to determine the presence or absence of a character or color of the input image, and determines the presence and absence of the RGB image data. , And outputs the characteristic information Z.

The gamma correction unit 605 and the input direct mapping processing unit 606 correct and output image data according to the input characteristics of the scanner. For example, the gamma correction unit corrects the dynamic range for each color, and the direct mapping processing unit corrects the color of the scanner.

The image output from the direct mapping processing unit 606 is processed by the MTF correction unit 607 and the specific image determination unit 6.
12 is input. The MTF correction unit 607 performs arithmetic processing for correcting the numerical aperture and chromatic aberration of the optical system in the main scanning direction. The specific image determination unit 612 determines image data, such as securities, for which printing is prohibited by law, by pattern matching or the like.

The spatial filter processing unit 608 performs a spatial filter processing such as edge enhancement and smoothing on the input image. The filter processing is adaptively performed according to the determination result of the above-described image characteristic determination unit. For example, when the input image is determined to be a character, edges are emphasized, and when it is determined to be a continuous tone image such as a photograph, smoothing is performed.

The histogram calculator 609 obtains a histogram of the input image and converts a chromatic RGB input image into an achromatic ND image.

The trimming / masking unit 610 processes a print image area such as erasing a frame of input image data or erasing a book frame.

The output I / F section 611 converts the frequency of the image data and the characteristic information Z from the image processing clock for the scanner to the system clock and outputs the result.

[Description of Image Input Interface Unit] FIG. 4 shows an internal block diagram of the image input interface unit. A raster data control unit 401 writes the image data and the image characteristic information Z input from the image processing unit for a scanner into the raster data buffer 402 line by line. The memory interface unit 403 reads out the image data in the raster data buffer at the timing when it becomes possible to access the image memory 1 or 2 by handshaking with the memory control unit 1065 via the memory bus 1060 in FIG. Store in 2.

Further, when a data read is requested from the tile data control unit 406, the memory interface unit 403 performs handshaking with the memory control unit 1065, and
Image data necessary to form tile data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels is read from raster data stored in the image memory 1 or 2 and stored in a tile data buffer.

In the tile data control unit 406, the header information generated by the header information generation unit 405 via the register setting bus is generated. The header information generation unit 40 according to FIG.
An example of the header generated in step 5 will be described.

First, regarding the Pckt Type 3005, since only the image data is transmitted from the image input interface unit, the type of the image data is designated.
Normally, the repeat flag is not set. Chip
Although the ID is the ID 3006, the image input interface unit sets the ID assigned to the image processing unit because one of the image processing units is a target. Image
Type 3007 usually specifies 8-bit input of RGB. The page ID 3008 and the job ID 3009 set the value of the page and the job read at that time. The coordinates in the Y and X directions set the coordinates of the called data. Process Instruction3
In 012, the ID of the image processing block to be processed is set. Packet Byte Length30
13, Image DataByteLength30
14, Z data Byte Length 3017
Sets the number of bytes of the packet, image data, and image characteristic information. Normally, since the image input interface unit is not image-compressed, the number of bytes of image data and the number of bytes of image characteristic information are set to a fixed data amount of 32 × 32 pixels. Packet Byte Len
gth3013 is a data length determined from the image data and the image characteristic information data.

The tile data control unit 406 sequentially compares whether Z data in the tile data buffer 404 is equal to the value of the first pixel and all pixels, and if all pixels are the same, sets the Z_const flag to generate a header. Notify the department.

[0102] The header generation unit 405 determines, if necessary, the Z d in the header information according to the state of the Z_const flag.
Set the at_repeat flag.

The tile data control unit 406 sends the header information from the header information generation unit 405 to the tile data buffer 40.
4, the image data and the image characteristic information are received, and the data is packetized. If the Z_data_Repeat flag is set, the generated packet data includes only a header, image data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels, and Z data of the first pixel. Z data R
If the “peat” flag is not set, a header, image data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels, and packet data of Z data are generated.

After generating the packet data, the tile data control unit 406 performs handshaking with the image processing unit of the transfer destination via the tile bus 1048, and transfers the packet onto the tile bus at the timing when the transfer destination can receive data.・
Send data. At this time, the amount of data transferred is equal to the Packet Byte Le set in the header.
ngth3013.

Referring to the above-mentioned Z_const flag,
Z data when the Z_const flag is set
Set the Byte Length to 1. At the same time, set the Z Data Repeat flag of the header information,
Generate and transfer packet data incorporating only the first Z data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels. Z_con
If the st flag is not set, 32 pixels x
The Z data for 32 pixels is transferred on the packet data. Thus, by making the packet data length generated using the Z_const flag variable,
Data transfer efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 9 shows a flow of image processing when an image is read from a scanner and printed.

[Overview of Printer Image Processing Block] Next, the printer image processing unit in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the image processing unit for a printer. The image data RGB (or CMYK) output from the image processing unit 1041 of FIG.
1, 702 respectively. The printer image processing units 701 and 702 include image processing blocks for two colors, respectively. Each block is provided to each printer engine in response to an image request from a tandem engine printer 1003 having a printer engine for each color. It can operate synchronously.

FIG. 8 shows printer image processing units 701 and 702.
FIG. The inside is largely divided into two systems and generates image data corresponding to a printer engine for two colors. Reference numerals 801 and 802 denote input I / F units, which perform frequency conversion of image data input from the system in synchronization with a printer image processing clock.

Reference numerals 803 and 804 denote a background removal and ND conversion unit, which skips the background color of input image data or converts RGB chromatic data into achromatic N data in accordance with the image characteristic information Z.
Convert to D data.

Reference numerals 805 and 806 denote luminance density converters.
The luminance / density conversion of the input data is performed according to the image characteristic information Z.

Reference numerals 807 and 808 denote direct mapping processing units, which convert RGB input data into C / M / Y / K color components of the printer engine in accordance with the image characteristic information Z.

Reference numerals 811 and 812 denote color balance correction units for finely adjusting the color of an output image in accordance with the image characteristic information Z.

Reference numerals 813 to 818 denote output gamma correction units for correcting the dynamic range and tone curve of the output image. In this embodiment, three colors A to C are used for one color.
Performs gamma correction simultaneously and outputs.

Reference numerals 819 to 824 denote halftone processing units which quantize image data and perform gradation conversion of an output image. In the present embodiment, the input 8b to the printer image processing unit
The it data is converted into 4-bit data. As a halftone processing method, generally, a screen processing, an error diffusion processing, and the like are widely known.
Various types of halftone processing are performed.

Reference numerals 825 and 826 denote halftone processing selection units for selecting an optimum processing result of the output image processed by the above three types of halftone processing units in accordance with the image characteristic information Z. .

Reference numerals 827 and 828 denote smoothing processing units which perform pattern matching processing for reducing rattling such as character edges.

Reference numerals 829 and 830 denote specific information adding units.
A process of superimposing image information that can specify an output device on output image data is performed.

Reference numeral 831 denotes an output selection unit, which can switch which printer engine outputs the data processed by the two image processing units.

Reference numerals 832 to 835 denote an inter-drum delay control unit and an inter-drum delay memory. The aforementioned input I / F unit 80
The image data output from the image processing unit 1041 in FIG. 1 is processed by four image processing units at the same time from 1,802 to the output selection unit 831. Drum delay control unit 8
At 32 and 834, the image data output from the image processing unit 1041 and processed by the printer image processing unit is stored in the inter-drum delay memories 833 and 835 until an output request is received from the printer engine. By doing this,
Image data can be output in synchronization with each printer engine.

Reference numerals 826 and 837 denote output I / F units, which perform frequency conversion for outputting an image in synchronization with a printer I / F clock.

In this embodiment, an image processing unit for a printer corresponding to a tandem engine printer has been described. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and an image processing unit for a single engine is used. Or a single image processing unit may be provided with image processing blocks for four colors.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the configuration of packet data is changed according to the value of the image characteristic information Z in the packet. In the second embodiment, an information processing apparatus that performs more efficient image processing by changing the configuration of packet data according to the operation mode of the system will be described.

Since the configuration of the entire system is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted here.

[Description of Image Input Interface Unit] FIG. 10 is an internal block diagram of the image input interface unit. A raster data control unit 10001 stores image data and image characteristic information Z input from the image processing unit for a scanner in a raster data buffer 1000 for each line.
Write to 2.

The memory interface 10003 is connected to the memory controller 106 via the memory bus 1060 in FIG.
5, the image data in the raster data buffer is read out at the timing when the image memory 1 or 2 becomes accessible by handshaking, and is stored in the image memory 1 or 2.

Further, the memory interface unit 1000
When data reading is requested from the tile data control unit 10006, handshaking is performed with the memory control unit 1065 to form tile data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels from raster data stored in the image memory 1 or 2. The image data necessary for this is read out and stored in the tile data buffer 10004.

The tile data control unit 10006 generates the header information generated by the header information generation unit 10005 via the register setting bus. The first for header information
Since the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted here.

The tile data control unit 1006 sequentially compares whether Z data in the tile data buffer 10004 has the same value as the value of the first pixel and all pixels, and if all pixels are the same, sets the Z_const flag to generate a header. Notify the unit 10005.

[0130] The header generation unit, if necessary, determines the Z dat in the header information according to the state of the Z_const flag and the system mode signal set from the register setting bus.
Set the aRepeat flag.

The tile data control unit 10006 receives header information from the header information generation unit 10005, image data and image characteristic information from the tile data buffer 10004, and packetizes the data. Z data Repe
When the at flag is set, the generated packet data is composed of only a header, image data of 32 × 32 pixels, and Z data of the first pixel. Z
If the data Rpeat flag is not set, the header and the image data of 32 × 32 pixels, Z d
Generate packet data of data.

After generating the packet data, the tile data control unit 10006 performs handshaking with the image processing unit of the transfer destination via the tile bus 1048, and transfers the packet onto the tile bus at the timing when the transfer destination can receive data.・ Send data. At this time, the amount of data to be transferred is equal to the Packet ByteL set in the header part.
It is determined by the length 3013.

The image characteristic information is information that accompanies each pixel. When the information processing apparatus performs image processing on data input from the scanner, the image processing unit adaptively changes the image processing according to the image characteristic information. Text / photo mode,
Regardless of the type of image such as text or photo, there is a character mode or a photo mode (hereinafter collectively referred to as a full mode) in which a user intentionally designates the same image processing and performs image processing.

In the case of the full-surface mode, the image processing for the scanner and the image processing for the printer are uniquely set in advance.
There is no need to transfer the image attribute information from the scanner image processing unit to the image processing unit and then to the printer image processing unit. Therefore, in order to prevent unnecessary image characteristic information from being transferred to the subsequent stage from the image input interface unit, Z dataB
Set ye Length 3017 to 0. Z
If data ByteLength3017 is 0, Packet ByteLength3 is inevitably
013 can be reduced, and more efficient data transfer can be performed in the full mode.

In the case of the character / photo mode, the aforementioned Z_c
Referring to the onst flag, if the Z_const flag is on, Z data Byte Length
Set 3017 to 1. At the same time, Z Data of header information
A Repeat 3022 flag is set to generate and transfer packet data incorporating only the first Z data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels. When the Z_const flag is not set, Z data of 32 pixels × 32 pixels is transferred with packet data as it is. As described above, the Z_const is also used in the text / photo mode.
The data transfer efficiency can be improved by making the packet data length generated using the flag variable.

FIG. 11 shows the flow of processing in each mode in image processing when an image is read from a scanner and printed.

[0137]

According to the present invention, when performing image processing, it is determined whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in the packet unit. By providing a means for reducing the data length of the image characteristic information of the pixel to the data length of one pixel, the data length of the packet data is switched according to the data content of the image characteristic information in the packet data, and the image data is efficiently used. Allows you to transfer well.

In addition, it is possible to efficiently transfer image data by switching between performing and not performing data transfer of image characteristic information according to the operation mode of the system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an entire system controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection between a system and a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed explanatory diagram of a data packet in the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image input interface unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a time chart of processing of a data packet in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a scanner image processing block according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a printer image processing block according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an internal block diagram of a printer image processing block according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart at the time of scanning / printing of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an image input interface unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart at the time of scanning / printing of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

1001 Controller unit 1002 scanner 1003 Printer 1004 LAN 1005 Public line (WAN) 1006 CPU 1007 CPU bus 1008 System bus bridge 1009 RAM controller 1010 ROM controller 1011 IO bus 1 1012 Sub bus switch 1013 IO bus 2 1014 Image ring interface 1 1015 Image ring interface 2 1016 Image DMA1 1017 Image DMA2 1018 Font expansion unit 1019 Sorting circuit 1020 Bitmap trace circuit 1021 RAM 1022 ROM 1023 Image compression unit 1024 register access ring 1025 Image expansion unit 1026 LAN controller 1027 USB interface 1028 General-purpose serial port 1029 Interrupt controller 1030 GPIO interface 1031 Operation unit interface 1032 Operation unit 1033 General-purpose bus interface 1 and 2 1037 MAC circuit 1038 PHY / PMD circuit 1039 modem 1040 Image Ring 1041 Image processing unit 1042 Image Ring Interface 3 1043 Image Ring Interface 4 1044 tile extension 1045 Command processing unit 1046 Status processing unit 1047 Tile compression unit 1048 tile bath 1049 Register setting bus 1050 Rendering unit interface 1051 Image input interface 1052 Image output interface 1053 Multi-value processing section 1054 Binary processing unit 1056 Image rotation unit 1057 Resolution converter 1058 Image temporary storage unit 1060 memory bus 1061 Image processing unit for printer 1062 External bus interface 1063 External bus 3 1064 Image processing unit for scanner 1065 Memory control unit

Continuation of front page    F term (reference) 5B021 AA01 BB02 BB12                 5C077 MP07 MP08 PP02 PP15 PP27                       PP28 PP32 PP33 PP37 PP47                       PQ12 PQ19 PQ22 RR02 RR21                 5C079 HB01 HB03 HB12 LA03 LA06                       LA12 LA26 LA34 LB02 MA01                       MA11 NA13

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A CPU for generating packet data composed of header information, image data, and image characteristic information.
A bus connected to the CPU to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected; a bus controller for controlling bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks; receiving packet data via the bus; and storing image data in the packet data. A plurality of receiving and transmitting blocks for performing image processing according to image characteristic information and transmitting packet data to other blocks, a scanner unit for reading a document image on a scanner and converting the image into image data, A scanner image processing unit for analyzing characteristics and generating image characteristic information for each pixel and correcting characteristics of the scanner; correcting image data read by the scanner according to the image characteristics information and characteristics of the printer; A printer image processing unit; and a printer unit for printing image data on a recording medium. An information processing device, wherein it is determined whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in packet units, and when the image characteristic information takes a constant value, the image characteristic information of the packet data is An information processing apparatus characterized in that a data length is reduced to a data length of one pixel. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image characteristic information includes information indicating whether an edge of the input image is determined and the pixel is a character image. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image characteristic information includes information indicating whether the pixel is a chromatic image or an achromatic image by determining the saturation of the input image. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the header information of the packet data includes transmission information of the packet data, and the transmission / reception block transmits and receives the packet data according to the transmission information. Information processing device. 5. The packet data header information includes packet data data length, image data data length, information indicating the data length of image characteristic information, and packet information calculated from the image data length and image characteristic information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising data length information, wherein the transmission / reception block transmits a data amount based on packet data of the header information. 6. A CPU for generating packet data composed of header information, image data, and image characteristic information.
A bus connected to the CPU to which a plurality of transmission / reception blocks can be connected; a bus controller for controlling bus connection of the transmission / reception blocks; receiving packet data via the bus; and storing image data in the packet data. A plurality of receiving and transmitting blocks for performing image processing according to image characteristic information and transmitting data to other blocks based on transmission information included in a header in the packet data, reading a document image on a scanner, and converting the image data into image data. A scanner unit for converting, analyzing characteristics of an image input from the scanner, generating image characteristic information in pixel units, and a scanner image processing unit for correcting the characteristics of the scanner; image data read from the scanner; A printer image processing unit for correcting according to the image characteristic information and the characteristics of the printer, An information processing apparatus comprising a printer unit for printing on a recording medium, wherein a first image processing mode for disabling the image characteristic information and a disabling the image characteristic information when performing image processing. In the second image processing mode to be processed, In the first image processing mode, it is determined whether or not the image characteristic information of each pixel has a constant value in the packet unit.
When the image characteristic information takes a constant value, the data length of the image characteristic information of the first pixel is reduced to the data length of one pixel, and in the second image processing mode, the image characteristic information in the packet data is reduced. An information processing apparatus characterized in that the data length of the data is zero.