JPH0647994A - Image controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] With respect to an image control device that performs image processing and controls an image device, the purpose is to maximize the diversion of assets and improve the development efficiency of the controller. In the image control device, a main control unit includes a communication unit 2 for communicating with the outside, image processing units 3 and 4 for processing given image data, and a main control unit 1 for controlling these. 1, the communication unit 2, and the image processing units 3 and 4 are provided on different printed boards, and these are connected by connectors.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

(Table of Contents) Industrial Application Field of the Prior Art (FIG. 4) Problem to be Solved by the Invention Means for Solving the Problem (FIG. 1) Action Example (a) Description of One Example (FIG. 2) To FIG. 3) (b) Description of another embodiment Effect of the invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention performs image processing,
The present invention relates to an image control device that controls an image device.

Image devices such as printers, copiers, facsimiles, and displays are provided with an image control device for controlling a printer engine, etc. The image control device communicates with the outside such as a host and processes image data. Then, the printer engine and the like are controlled.

Image control devices such as printer device controllers in recent years include low-speed machines required for printer devices,
It is required to make series of medium speed machines and high speed machines with the same architecture.

For this reason, it is required to efficiently utilize a huge amount of firmware and hardware assets for development.

[0006]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the prior art and shows a printer device controller. As shown in FIG.
The basic unit 1 is composed of one printer board, and performs MPU (processor) 10 for main control, and its loader ROM.
11, a control storage 12, a program timer circuit 13, a control register 14, a dual port RAM 23 for communication, a LAN controller 24 for LAN communication such as Ethernet and chipernet, and RS2.
It is equipped with a multi-protocol controller 20 for communication such as 32C.

Further, the basic unit 1 includes a driver / receiver 15 for an operation panel 51 and a floppy disk device 52.
Controller 16, fixed disk device 53 controller 17, and direct memory controller 18
, Printer control circuit 30, and vector generator /
The mover circuit 31, the bit map memory 32, and the character generator ROM 35 are connected to the system bus 54.
Is installed and connected to.

Further, as an option, an image processing section 4 is provided, which includes a video compression / expansion circuit 40 and an image direct memory controller 41, and is connected by a system bus 54 and an image bus 55.

Conventionally, in a controller having such a configuration, in order to make a series with the same architecture, some functions have been improved or functions have been added for differentiation to develop the controller.

For example, in a low speed machine, the communication function is reduced, in a high speed machine, a communication function is added, and it is necessary to change the performance of the image development speed of printer control to a higher speed machine for a higher speed machine.

[0011]

However, the prior art has the following problems. Since the basic part is composed of one printed board, if some functions are changed or some functions are added, it is necessary to redevelop the entire controller.

With the increase in the speed of the equipment, the hardware of the controller is also adopting high-speed elements, and noise / radio waves /
To prevent static electricity, LSI design, pattern design, device mounting, frame ground processing, etc. must be taken into consideration from the design stage, and printed circuit board design requires careful attention. Design is required.

Therefore, the development and evaluation man-hours increase,
Development effect decreases. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image control device capable of maximizing the diversion of assets and improving the development efficiency of a controller.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows the principle of the present invention. According to claim 1 of the present invention, in an image control apparatus having a communication unit 2 for communicating with the outside, image processing units 3 and 4 for processing given image data, and a main control unit 1 for controlling these. The main control unit 1, the communication unit 2, and the image processing units 3 and 4 are provided on different printed boards, and these are connected by connectors.

According to claim 2 of the present invention, in claim 1,
Response circuits 22, 34, 42 for returning a response signal to the main control unit 1 to the communication unit 2 and the image processing unit 3.
And control registers 21, 33, 43 are provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the main control section 1 includes a main processor 10, a loader ROM 11, and a control storage 12.
Control register 14 and external storage control circuits 16 and 17
And an operation panel driver / receiver circuit 15.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is based on the third aspect.
The loader ROM 11 stores a load program of a main program and a diagnostic program.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third or fourth aspect, the operation panel 51 connected to the operation panel driver / receiver circuit 15 has a display buffer 60, and
A response circuit 64 for returning a response signal to the main control unit 1,
A control register 65, a ramp register 62, and a switch register 63 are provided.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is the image processing section 3, 4 according to the first, second, third, fourth or fifth aspect.
Is a printer control circuit 30 and a bitmap memory 32.
And a character storage unit 35.

[0020]

In the first aspect of the present invention, the structure of the hardware is divided, the functions are divided, and the controller is efficiently developed with the minimum design change for making the series.

For this reason, when the functional content of the controller is divided into blocks with high possibility of change and blocks with low possibility of change, and the functions are divided, the image controller is divided into the main controller 1 and
The functions are divided into the communication control unit 2 and the image processing units 3 and 4, and there is a high possibility that the communication control unit 2 and the image processing units 3 and 4 will be changed.

Therefore, the main control unit 1, the communication control unit 2,
Image processing units 3 and 4 are mounted on separate printed boards,
By connecting with a connector, some functions can be developed without changing or adding any functions.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the response time of the response signal and the number of registers are likely to be changed by changing the function, and the response circuit and the control register are set so as not to affect the main controller 1. Are provided in the communication control unit 2 and the image processing units 3 and 4 which are highly likely to be changed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the main control unit 1 includes a main processor 10 having a very low possibility of change, a loader ROM 11, a control storage 12 and
A control register 14, external storage control circuits 16 and 17,
It is configured with the driver / receiver circuit 15 for the operation panel so that the main controller 1 is not changed even if the function is changed or added.

According to claim 4 of the present invention, the ROM for the loader
Only the self-diagnosis program installed in the hard disk and the program for loading the main program have the function 11 so that the loader ROM 11 is not affected even if each part is changed.

In claim 5 of the present invention, the operation panel 51.
Since the display capacity, the number of lamps, the number of switches, etc. are easily changed by changing or adding functions, the display buffer 60,
A response circuit 64 for returning a response signal to the main control unit 1,
The control register 65, the lamp register 62, and the switch register 63 are provided so as not to affect the main controller 1.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the image processing units 3 and 4 are constituted by a character expansion unit including a printer control circuit 30, a bit map memory 32, and a character storage unit 35, and are used in a printer device or the like. The image processing units 3 and 4 whose functions are relatively easy to change are independent printed boards, and the development of controllers of each series is possible only by changing such portions.

[0028]

【Example】

(a) Description of an Embodiment FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates a controller of a printer as an example.

In FIG. 2, the main controller 1 includes a processor 10, a loader ROM 11, a control storage 12, a program timer circuit 13, a system control register 14, an operation panel driver / receiver 15, and a floppy disk. The controller 16, the hard disk controller 17, and the direct memory controller 18 are connected by the system bus 54,
It is mounted on one printed board.

In the communication control unit 2, the multi protocol
Controller 20, control register 21, and response circuit 2
2, the dual port RAM 23, and the LAN controller 24 are mounted on one printed board.

In the expansion section 3, a printer control circuit 30 connected to a printer engine by a Centronics interface, a vector generator / mover circuit 31, a bit map memory 32, and a control register 3 are provided.
3, the response circuit 34, and the character generation ROM 35 are mounted on one printed board.

In the image processing section 4, the video compression / decompression circuit 40, the image direct memory access circuit 41, the control register 43, and the response circuit 42 are combined into one.
It was mounted on one printed board.

Then, the main control unit 1 and the communication control unit 2 are connected by the connector CN4 via the system bus 54, and the main control unit 1 and the expansion unit 3 are connected by the connector CN2 via the system bus 54, and the expansion unit 3 is connected. The image processing unit 4 is connected to the system bus 54 via the connector CN6, the image bus 55 via the connector CN5, and further connected to the main control unit 1 via the image bus 55 via the connector CN1.

As described above, the main control unit 1 having a program and configuration relating to the main control, the communication control unit 2 for performing the communication control, the expansion unit 3 for expanding the image of characters and the like, and the compression / expansion of the image. By dividing the functions into the image processing unit 4 for performing the above, even if each unit is closed and each unit is changed, the effect is limited to that part and does not affect other parts.

Further, since all are the system bus interfaces of the main control unit 1, even if the function of each unit is changed, the change of the main control unit 1 is reduced as an interface that has little influence on the main control unit 1. .

Next, since the response time with the main control unit 1 changes depending on the function change, if the main control unit 1 is provided with a response circuit, it is necessary to change the main control unit 1 every time the function is changed. For this reason, the communication control unit 2, the expansion unit 3, and the image processing unit 4 are provided so that the main control unit 1 does not need to be changed to change the functions of these portions.

Similarly, since the number of control registers also changes due to the function change, the communication control unit 2, the expansion unit 3, and the image processing unit 4 are provided with each, and the main control unit 1 responds to the function change of these parts. No need to change.

When the operation panel 51 is changed into a series, there is a high possibility that the function will be changed for the purpose of differentiating the operation panel. Therefore, when changing the operation panel 51, it is necessary to use an interface that does not affect the main control section 1. is there.

Since the operation panel 51 can be changed by changing the size of the liquid crystal screen, changing the number of switches, changing the number of lamps, changing the buzzer, etc., as shown in FIG. 61, a display buffer 60, various registers (ramp register 62, switch register 63, interrupt register 65), and response circuit 6
4 was mounted on the operation panel 51.

Next, the loader ROM 11 has a loader ROM function that does not change the main control unit 1 even if the printed boards 2, 34, 51 connected to the main control unit 1 are changed. As shown in FIG. 3B, only the load program of the main program and the load program of the self-diagnosis program are used.

(B) Description of Other Embodiments In addition to the above embodiments, the present invention can be modified as follows. Although the image control device has been described as the controller of the printer device, it can be applied to a controller of a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like.

The image processing section 4 is optional and may not be provided. Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention, and these modifications are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It has the following effects. Since each part of the image processing device is divided into functions according to the function content so that changes affect only that part, only the changed part is developed even if it is made into a series without the need to change other parts. The development efficiency is improved because all that is required is to do it.

Since it is not necessary to change the printed board,
The labor of designing a printed board can be greatly saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 main control unit 2 communication control unit 3 development unit 4 image processing unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomomi Ota 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fujitsu Limited

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image having a communication section (2) for communicating with the outside, an image processing section (3, 4) for processing given image data, and a main control section (1) for controlling these. In the control device, the main control unit (1), the communication unit (2), and the image processing unit (3, 4) are provided on different printed boards, and these are connected by a connector. Control device. 2. A response circuit (22, 34, 42) for returning a response signal to the main control unit (1) to the communication unit (2) and the image processing unit (3), and a control register (2).
1, 33, 43) are provided.
Image controller. 3. The main controller (1) includes a main processor (10), a loader ROM (11), a control storage (12), a control register (14),
3. The image control device according to claim 1, further comprising an external storage control circuit (16, 17) and an operation panel driver / receiver circuit (15). 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the loader ROM (11) stores a load program of a main program and a diagnostic program. 5. A response circuit for returning a response signal to a display buffer (60) and a main control section (1) on an operation panel (51) connected to the operation panel driver / receiver circuit (15). (64) and control register (65)
Lamp register (62) and switch register (6
The image control device according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising: 6. The image processing unit (3, 4) includes a printer control circuit (30) and a bitmap memory (32).
And a character storage section (35). 6. The image control device according to claim 1, 2 or 3 or 4 or 5.