JPH0775097A - Picture compressing and extending device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a card for picture compression and extension additively used for a computer corresponding to a multi-window system. CONSTITUTION:This device is constituted of an FIFO memory 11 which stores picture data for processing, compressing and extending means 12 which compresses and extends the picture data, memory 13 for color display which stores picture data for display, display means 14 which displays the picture for display, and control means 15 which DMA-transfers the picture data between the compressing and extending means 12 and the storage means 13 for display. Then, the picture data supplied to the storage means 13 for display are DMA- transferred to the compressing and extending means 12, and compressed. Also, the position and size of the picture to be extended and the picture to be displayed are instructed from a computer 1 to the control means 15, and the picture data for display extended by the compressing and extending means 12 are DMA-transferred to the storage means 13 for display, and displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image compression / expansion device (image compression / expansion card) suitable for additional use in a computer (workstation), and particularly to an image compression / expansion device compatible with a multi-window system. To do.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Construction of a database system using a computer is actively carried out. In such a database system, not only character information but also image information is made into a database.

However, the image information has an extremely large amount of information as compared with the character information. Therefore, the data is compressed and then stored as data. There are various image compression / decompression methods, and there is a method of softly compressing / decompressing an image with image compression / decompression software. This software method is easy to implement because no additional hardware is required, but it is slow in processing speed and can handle only binary image information in black and white. For this reason, there is also a method in which an image compression / expansion card is additionally used in an expansion throttle (expansion bus) of a computer (workstation) to perform compression / expansion by hardware. This hardware method requires the addition of hardware, but
Since the processing speed becomes faster, it can also handle multi-valued black and white images and color images.

[0004]

However, since the conventional image compression / decompression device (image compression / decompression card) processes image data via the CPU (central processing unit) of the computer, that is, from a scanner or the like. Transfer the input data to the image compression / decompression card via the CPU,
Since the compressed / decompressed data was transferred to a storage device such as a disk or a display device such as a display via the CPU, the processing speed was limited. As a result, in a high-quality color image information such as a high-definition image or a moving image, the amount of information becomes enormous, and it takes too much time for the processing, and it is not possible to deal with it sufficiently.

In many cases, the display of a computer (workstation) adopts a multi-window system. In this case, if the compressed and expanded image data is not under the control of the CPU, the display of the multi-window is displayed. Will cause problems. Therefore, the present invention significantly reduces the processing time by performing DMA transfer without transferring the image data via the CPU (of the computer), and also an image compression / expansion device capable of supporting multi-window display. Specifically, it provides an image compression / decompression card that is additionally used in a computer (workstation).

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 1 (and FIG. 2), processing memory means (for example, F
IFO memory) 11, compression / expansion means 12 for compressing / decompressing image data, display storage means (color display memory) 13 for storing display image data, display means 14 for displaying a display image, and An image compression / decompression device comprising a compression / decompression means 12 and a control means 15 for DMA (direct memory access) transfer of image data between the display storage means 13 and supplied to the display storage means 14. DMA the image data to the compression / decompression means 12.
The position and size of the image to be decompressed and the image to be displayed are transferred to the main unit (computer 1) while being transferred and compressed.
CPU) to instruct the control means 15 to transfer the display image data decompressed by the compression / decompression means 12 to the display storage means 13 for DMA display. A device is provided.

[0007]

According to the image compression / decompression device configured as described above, the image data is DMA-transferred between the compression / decompression means 12 and the display storage means 13, and the main device (of the computer 1) executes the compression / decompression. CPU) is not bound. Also,
Under the control of the main device (CPU of the computer 1) (for example,
Under the multi-window system), the decompressed image is displayed.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an image compression / expansion device (image expansion device) according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image compression / decompression device. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image file system to which an image compression / decompression device is additionally used. First, the configuration of the image filing device will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the image file system has an image input device, an image output device, an image compression / expansion device, centered on a computer (workstation) 1.
It is composed of an image processing device, an image display device, an operating device, and the like.

The image input device comprises a scanner 2a for reading a document such as a photograph and a camera 2b for reading a film document such as a slide, and the read image data is output to the image processing device 3. The image processing device 3 is a device that performs necessary image processing such as processing the input image to a desired size (for example, high-definition size, slide size, etc.). The image-processed image data is read by the host computer 1 and compressed by the image compression / decompression device 4 described later. The image data compressed by the image compression / expansion device 4 is stored and recorded together with a plurality of keywords in a large-capacity recording device 5 such as a magneto-optical disk, and made into a database.

The compressed image data stored in the recording device 5 is searched for a keyword by the host computer 1 and expanded by the image compression / expansion device 4. The decompressed image data is displayed on a display device (high-definition monitor, HDTV) 6 and is output to an image output device such as a printer 7a or a film recorder 7b as necessary. Reference numeral 8 is a keyboard and a mouse for inputting operations to the computer 1.

Next, with reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the image compression / decompression device 4 which is a main part of the present invention will be described. The image compression / expansion device 4 is configured as an expansion board (image compression / expansion card) additionally used for the CPU bus (expansion bus) of the computer 1. An internal bus 10 of the image compression / decompression device 4 is connected to an expansion bus 9 of the computer 1 (a bus line for address / data / control from the CPU of the host computer 1). Various circuits are connected to the internal bus 10 via each I / F (interface).

Reference numeral 11 is a processing storage means (FIFO memory) for storing processing image data (compressed image data or expanded image data), and 12 is compression / expansion means for compressing / expanding the processing image data (for example, A compression / expansion device conforming to a compression / expansion method such as JPEG), 13 is a display storage unit (color display memory) for storing display image data, and 14 is a display unit (digital display memory) for displaying a display image. A display device for AD-converting data and outputting it to RGB) 15 is a control means for DMA (direct memory access) transfer of image data between the compression / expansion means 12 and the display storage means 13. 16
Is a black and white display memory for displaying a text screen.

Next, an outline of the operation of the image compression / decompression device 4 described above will be described. At the time of decompression, the compressed image data read from the external storage device 5 by the computer 1 (see FIG. 2) is transferred to the processing storage means (FIFO memory) 11 via the expansion bus 9 and the internal bus 10. It The transferred image data is sequentially supplied from the FIFO memory 11 to the compression / expansion means 12 to be expanded. Then, based on an instruction from the computer 1 (main device), the control means 13 uses the expanded image data as display image data and a display storage means (color display memory) 13
DMA transfer to. The display image data transferred to the display storage means (color display memory) 13 is displayed by the display means 1.
It is displayed on the display device (high-definition monitor) 6 by 4.

On the other hand, at the time of compression, the image data input from the image input device to the computer 1 (that is, the image data to be compressed) is stored in the display storage means (memory for color display) via the internal bus 10. Transferred to 13,
A display device (high-definition monitor) 6 by the display means 14
Is displayed on the monitor. Then, by the control means 15,
DMA transfer from the display storage means (color display memory) 13 to the compression / expansion means 12 is performed for compression processing. The compressed image data is supplied to the host computer 1 via the processing storage means (FIFO memory) 11 and the internal bus 10 and stored in the external storage device 5.

Computer 1 in these compression / decompression
The detailed operations of the CPU and the control means 15 are as shown in FIG. At the time of decompression, the parameters necessary for decompression (for example, the position and size of the image to be decompressed) are sent from the CPU of the computer 1 to the compression / decompression means 12, and set.
The compression / decompression means 12 completes the preparation for decompression, and waits for compressed image data. Further, parameters necessary for display (for example, position / size of image to be displayed for decompressed image) are set to be sent from the CPU of the computer 1 to the control means 15, and preparation for DMA transfer is completed.
Then, the CPU of the computer 1 transfers it to the compressed image data processing storage means (FIFO memory) 11, and the transferred image data is read by the compression / expansion means 12 and sequentially expanded. The decompressed image data is DMA transferred to the display storage means (color display memory) 13 by the control means 15 and displayed on the display device 6 by the display means 14. DMA of set display range
When the transfer is completed, an interrupt is generated to the CPU of the computer 1, and the termination process is performed by the interrupt.

At the time of multi-window, FIG. 4 (A)
Also, when the re-display as shown in (B) is required, the appropriate display processing is performed. FIG. 3A shows a state in which a stretched screen N is displayed on a stretched screen M, which is partially stretched. From this state, as shown in FIG. 3B, the screen M and the screen N are exchanged, and the screen M expanded partially overlaps the expanded screen N.
Suppose that is redisplayed in the state where is displayed. In this case,
The screen M is expanded again by the compression / expansion means 12 according to an instruction from the CPU of the computer 1. Then, in response to an instruction from the CPU of the computer 1, only the portion of the screen Ma required for redisplay is DMA-transferred to the display storage means (color display memory) 13 by the control means 15 and redisplayed. In this way, the position and size of the image to be displayed (that is, the image Ma) is
Since the CPU of the computer 1 instructs the control means 15 to redisplay only a necessary portion, the multiwindow can be redisplayed and the redisplay can be performed quickly.

At the time of compression, the CP of the computer 1
By U, the image data is transferred to the display storage means (color display memory) 13 and displayed on the monitor as described above. Then, the data is transferred from the display storage means (color display memory) 13 to the compression / expansion means 12 by DMA and subjected to compression processing. The parameters required for compression (for example, the position and size of the image to be compressed) are the CP of the computer 1.
It is set to be sent from U to the compression / expansion means 12, the compression / expansion means 12 completes the preparation for compression, and enters the image data waiting state. Furthermore, the parameters required for transfer (for example, the position and size of the image to be compressed) are set to be sent from the CPU of the computer 1 to the control means 13, and the preparation for DMA transfer is completed. The image data is DMA-transferred from the display storage means (color display memory) 13 to the compression / expansion means 12 by the control means 13 to perform compression processing. The compressed data is temporarily stored in the processing storage means (FIFO memory) 11. Then, it is read by the computer 1 from the processing storage means (FIFO memory) 11 via the internal bus 10, transferred to the storage means and stored therein.

As described above in detail, since the image compression / expansion device compresses and records the image data, the amount of actually recorded data can be greatly reduced and the amount of information is enormous. Image information such as high-definition images and moving images can be stored in a database. At this time,
Since the amount of data is drastically reduced, the access time per screen for a large-capacity storage device with a slow access time is shortened, and the waiting time at the time of retrieval is shortened.

Image data is DMA (Direct Memory Access) between the compression / decompression means and the display storage means.
Since it is configured to transfer, the processing speed is improved compared to the conventional device that transfers via the CPU, and it is possible to handle high-definition images and moving images with a huge amount of information, and the load on the CPU is reduced. To be done. Further, the main device instructs the control means about the position and size of the expanded image and the image to be displayed, and transfers the expanded display image data to the display storage means for display. So
There is no problem in the multi-window display.

Therefore, by additionally using it in a computer (workstation) compatible with the multi-window system, the image information can be compressed and expanded and recorded and reproduced, and not only the character information but also the image information is made into a database for retrieval management. can do. For example, if you manage documents and drawing slide photographs as electronic files, and assign multiple keywords to compressed image data to manage them, you can create a database of high-quality color images such as film images and high-definition images, and moving images. It can be re-output to a high-definition monitor, color printer, film recorder.

Further, in the above embodiment, the processing storage means 11
Although it is composed of a FIFO memory, it may be composed of a ring buffer. 5A to 5C are diagrams for explaining the operation of the ring buffer. When there is valid image data in the system RAM under the CPU of the computer 1 (that is, when there is compressed image data read from the large-capacity storage device described above), processing storage means (from the system RAM) ( The DMA transfer to the ring buffer) 11 is repeated. That is, effective image data is transferred to the ring buffer 11 as shown in FIG. Then, the image data is retransferred from the ring buffer 11 to the compression / expansion means 12 and subjected to the expansion processing by the compression / expansion means 12 (see FIG. 7B). In the ring buffer 11, new image data is transferred to the system RAM on the image data retransferred to the compression / expansion means 12,
These operations are repeated in a ring shape (see FIG. 7C). In this way, if the processing storage means 10 is a ring buffer using a DRAM, it has a structure that is suitable for processing moving images with a relatively small capacity memory and facilitates high-speed compression / decompression processing of continuous image information. Becomes

[0021]

As described in detail above, the image compression / expansion apparatus according to the present invention stores the processing storage means for storing the processing image data, the compression / expansion means for compressing / expanding the image data, and the display image data. An image composed of display storage means for storing, display means for displaying display image data, and control means for DMA (direct memory access) transfer of image data between the compression / expansion means and the display storage means. In the compression / expansion device, the image data supplied to the display storage means is DMA-transferred to the compression / expansion means for compression processing, and the position and size of the expanded image and the image to be displayed are mainly Since the device instructs the control means to DMA display image data expanded by the compression / expansion means to the display storage means for display, the compressed image data is compressed. Image data is DMA-transferred between the long means and the display storage means so that the main device is not restrained at the time of performing compression / expansion, and further, under the control of the main device (computer) (for example, under the wind system). ), The display of the decompressed image is performed without any trouble. Therefore,
It can be used as an image compression / expansion card additionally used in a computer (workstation) in which a multi-window system is adopted, and image data can be easily compressed to create a database of image information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image compression / decompression device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an image file system to which an image compression / decompression device is additionally used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a compression / decompression operation of an image compression / decompression device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating multi-window display by the image compression / decompression device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a processing storage unit of an image compression / decompression device that stores processing image data is configured by a ring buffer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Main Unit (Computer) 11 Processing Storage Means (FIFO Memory or Ring Buffer) 12 Compression / Expansion Means 13 Display Storage Means (Color Display Memory) 14 Display Means 15 DMA (Direct Memory Access) Transfer Control Means

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Hirotomo Ito 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazunori Nishikawa 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama Inside Victor Company of Japan (72) Inventor Shingo Ueda 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Victor Co., Ltd. (72) Adult Kawabata 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama Inside Victor Company of Japan (72) Inventor Tsukumi Wakabayashi 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Victor Co., Ltd. (72) Rika Waida, 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama Local within Victor Company of Japan (72) Inventor Yasunari Suzuki 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Within Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A processing storage means for storing processing image data, a compression / decompression means for compressing / decompressing image data, a display storage means for storing display image data, and a display for displaying the display image data. An image compression / expansion device comprising: means, and a control means for performing DMA (Direct Memory Access) transfer of image data between the compression / expansion means and the display storage means, which is supplied to the display storage means. The image data is DMA-transferred to the compression / expansion means for compression processing, and the position / size of the expanded image and the image to be displayed are
The main device instructs the control means to display the display image data expanded by the compression / expansion means in the display storage means.
An image compression / decompression device characterized in that MA is transferred and displayed. 2. A processing storage means for storing the compressed image data, a decompression means for decompressing the compressed image data, a display storage means for storing the display image data, and a display image. An image decompression device comprising a display means and a control means for transferring the image data decompressed by the decompression means to the display storage means by DMA (direct memory access). Position and size
An image decompression device characterized in that a main unit instructs the control means to display the decompressed display image data by DMA transfer to the display storage means. 3. The image compression / decompression device according to claim 1, or the image decompression device according to claim 2, wherein the processing storage means comprises a ring buffer.