JP4791805B2 - Image forming apparatus and image forming program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming program.

  Conventionally, there is an image forming apparatus that includes a plurality of process engines and a controller that controls the process engines. In such an image forming apparatus, a CPU included in the controller controls each device included in the image forming apparatus. Each device has a transmission bus interface, and by performing continuous processing using DMA transfer for signal transmission between the devices, the load on the CPU can be reduced temporarily. As for the memory for storing image data, the capacity of the memory can be reduced.

  Up to now, the transmission bus of the image forming apparatus has been a parallel transmission PCI bus. However, as the amount of image data of an image to be formed and the amount of arithmetic processing for forming the image increase, The amount of signals transmitted and received between the process engine and the controller has increased, the speed required for transmitting the signals has increased, and the speed has been required to be stepped, that is, scalable.

  As a transmission bus that satisfies the above requirements, there is a PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus that realizes high-speed transmission by a serial bus. In a PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric, which is a network of devices connected by a PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus, each device is connected via a switch means. Signals transmitted and received between devices can be appropriately transmitted without going through a root complex placed at the top of the PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric.

  Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-166027 (refer to Patent Document 1) discloses that an image forming apparatus configured with a PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric includes devices having a strong correlation between processes via a common switch. By arranging, the transmission speed is increased.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-166028 (see Patent Document 2) provides a plurality of PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus interfaces in each device, and each interface is connected to a different switch, thereby executing a process. It is possible to adaptively change the topology of the connection so that signals between devices that sometimes have strong correlations are transmitted and received through a common switch.
JP 2005-166027 A JP-A-2005-166028

  However, each of the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2005-166027 and 2005-166028 has only one controller that controls one process engine, and can process and output a color image by DMA. Since processing becomes complicated when executed using transfer, a memory must be provided for each image processing step, which not only increases the memory capacity of the image forming apparatus but also reduces the overall processing speed. There was a bug.

  The present invention has been invented in order to solve these problems in view of the above points, and reduces the speed of processing and the amount of memory by efficient image processing using DMA transfer. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming program.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a hard disk storing image data of a plurality of colors, plotting means for forming an image based on the image data of the plurality of colors, and the image of the plurality of colors. A plurality of control means for processing image data of each color of data; a switch means for distributing each of the plurality of color image data stored in the hard disk to each of the plurality of control means; and the plurality of control means An advanced switch for aggregating the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of image data and transmitting the aggregated image data to the plotting unit.

  As a result, efficient image processing using DMA transfer can be performed, and the processing speed can be increased and the memory capacity can be reduced.

In order to achieve the above object, a hard disk in which image data of a plurality of colors are stored, a process means for inputting the image data of the plurality of colors, and a plurality of units that process image data of each color of the image data of the plurality of colors Control means, an advanced switch for distributing the image data of the plurality of colors input to the process means to the plurality of control means, and the plurality of images processed by the plurality of control means, respectively. Switch means for aggregating data and transmitting the aggregated image data to the hard disk .

  As a result, efficient image output using DMA transfer can be performed, and output processing speed can be increased and memory capacity can be reduced.

  In order to achieve the above object, the plotter control means can be provided for each color plotted by the plotting means.

  In order to achieve the above object, the high-speed serial bus can be configured to be a PCI-EXPRESS (registered trademark) bus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the switch means can be configured to have network management means for managing a network composed of devices connected via the switch means.

In order to achieve the above object, a computer stores plotting means for forming an image based on image data of a plurality of colors, a plurality of control means for processing image data of each color of the image data of a plurality of colors, and a hard disk. The first switch means for distributing each of the plurality of color image data to each of the plurality of control means, and the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means It can be configured as a program that functions as second switch means for transmitting the plurality of image data to the plot means .

  As a result, efficient image processing using DMA transfer can be performed, and the processing speed can be increased.

In order to achieve the above object, a computer is inputted to a process means for inputting image data of a plurality of colors, a plurality of control means for processing image data of each color of the image data of a plurality of colors, and the process means. A first switch for distributing each of the plurality of color image data to each of the plurality of control means; and aggregating the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means; It can be configured as a program that functions as second switch means for transmitting and storing a plurality of image data to the hard disk .

  Thus, efficient image output using DMA transfer can be performed, and output processing speed can be increased.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the program of the present invention, the high-speed serial bus can be configured as a program that is a PCI-EXPRESS (registered trademark) bus.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming program capable of increasing the processing speed and reducing the memory capacity by efficient image processing using DMA transfer.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  In this embodiment, a multifunction printer (MFP) is described as an example of an image forming apparatus. However, the present invention is applicable to any apparatus that forms an image, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, and a scanner. can do.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a connection between a control unit 100 of the MFP and a process unit using a PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus.
(Configuration of PCI-Express fabric)
The control means 100 and each process means are connected via a switch means 610.

  The switch means 610 is a switch means via the connection between the control means 100 and each process means, etc., via the transmission of signals between the route complex 600 possessed by the control means and the end points possessed by each process means, Ports 613 to 615 and 619 corresponding to the PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus are provided.

  In the present specification, an endpoint that is an interface on the PCI-Express (registered trademark) device side is referred to as an “endpoint”.

  Each process unit includes a scanner unit 300 that reads an image formed on a medium such as paper, a plot unit 400 that outputs image data to a medium such as paper, and a user inputs setting conditions for the MFP. The operation panel 500 displays status information, and includes bus master means 301, 401, and 501, and endpoints 309, 409, and 509, respectively.

Each device included in the control unit 100 and each endpoint included in each process unit are equivalently connected via a switch unit to form a PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric.
(MFP operation)
Image data input from the scanner unit 300 and user settings input from the operation panel 500 are processed by the control unit 100, and image data processed by the control unit 100 and setting states are plotted. 400 and the operation panel 500.

In the above-described operation, image data and the like are transmitted by DMA transfer. The DMA transfer in PCI-Express (registered trademark) is a bus master system, and each of the devices 300 to 500 and the device included in the control unit 100 has a bus master unit. Since the transfer is controlled by the bus master means, it becomes possible for another means or device to directly receive the output of one means or device, and when performing a plurality of processes in succession, a memory is provided for each process. The entire process can be performed without providing the.
(Configuration of control means)
The control unit 100 controls each process unit of the MFP, processes and edits image data input to the MFP, and compresses the image data and decompresses the compressed image data. The image processing / editing means 10, the image compression / decompression means 20, the root complex 600, the switch means 620, the bridge 70, the CPU 8, and the memory 90.

  The image processing / editing unit 10 performs various types of processing and editing of image data, and includes a bus master unit 11, a rotation unit 12, a scaling unit 13, a data conversion unit 14, an image configuration unit 15, and an interface unit 19. The The bus master unit 11 controls transmission for inputting and outputting image data to the image processing / editing unit 10, the rotation unit 12 performs rotation processing on the image data, and the scaling unit 13 performs image processing. The data conversion means 14 converts the image data into a format different from the format of the image data, and the image composition means 15 synthesizes the data of a plurality of images. The image data of is generated. The interface unit 19 is an end point of the image processing / editing means 10.

  The image compression / decompression unit 20 compresses image data acquired from the scanner unit 300 or the like to reduce the amount of data, and decompresses compressed image data stored in the hard disk 700 or the like to generate image data. Is a unit that performs processing to restore the data, and includes a bus master unit 21, a compression unit 22, an expansion unit 23, and an interface unit 29. The bus master means controls the transmission of image data and the like to the image compression / decompression means 20, the compression means 22 compresses the image data, and the decompression means decompresses the compressed image data. Restore the image data. The interface unit 29 is an end point of the image compression / decompression unit 20.

  The root complex 600 is a switch unit positioned at the top of the PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric, and performs operations such as via a control signal transmitted by the CPU 8 and is a port corresponding to the PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus. 601 and 602.

  The switch unit 620 is a switch unit that is connected to the root complex 600 and the image processing / editing unit 10, the image compression / decompression unit 20, and the bridge 70, and includes a port 621 corresponding to the PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus, 622, 627, and 629.

  The bridge means 70 is an interface for connection between the hard disk drive 700 and the control means 100, has an end point 79, and is connected via a connection between PCI-Express (registered trademark) and a serial ATA interface included in the hard disk drive 700.

The CPU 8 is a device that controls the entire control means 100, and performs various types of control and arithmetic processing. The memory 90 is a memory that stores temporary data used by the CPU 8 and other devices, and includes memories 91 to 93 as predetermined internal areas.
(Process of decompressing, processing and outputting compressed and stored image data)
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of processing for rotating, printing, and outputting an image obtained by decoding compressed monochrome image data. Image data stored in the hard disk 700 is read out, decompressed and rotated, printed on a medium such as paper by the plotting unit 400, and output.

  Step 11 is hard disk DMA transfer in which a hard disk transfer buffer (not shown) reads image data from the hard disk drive 700.

  Step 12 is an image obtained by the bus master unit 21 included in the image compression / decompression unit 20 receiving the image data output from Step 11, the decompression unit 23 decompresses the image data, and the bus master unit 21 decompresses the image data. This is a data expansion DMA transfer for transferring the data to step 13.

  In step 13, the bus master unit 11 included in the image processing / editing unit 10 receives the image data output from step 12, the rotation unit 12 rotates the image data, and the bus master unit 11 rotates the image data. This is a rotation DMA transfer that outputs the data to the memory 90.

  By using the DMA transfer by each of the devices having the bus master means, it becomes possible to perform these series of processes continuously without using an intermediate memory.

  In step 14, the image data stored in the memory 90 is transferred to an image output buffer (not shown) by performing image output DMA transfer for outputting the image data accumulated in the memory 90 to the plotting unit 400, so that the data such as paper is stored. Printed on a medium and discharged from the MFP.

  By the way, for the memory 90, it is possible to simultaneously perform step 13 for receiving an image formed by rotation and step 14 for outputting the image to a plotter engine. Therefore, assuming that the amount of image data for one monochrome image is 1 plane, the capacity of the memory 90 may be 1 plane or less, and the required minimum value is 0.5 plane.

  On the other hand, in the case of a color image, rotation and output processing are performed for each of the three primary colors and black constituting the color, so that processing by DMA transfer such as a black and white image becomes complicated. Therefore, by using the intermediate memories 91 to 93, each processing is performed independently.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for reading out the color image data stored in the hard disk 700, performing decompression processing and rotation processing, and then outputting the data by the plotting unit 400.

  In FIG. 3, four processes (A) to (D) are performed independently, and in each of the processes (A) to (C), memories 91 to 93 for storing output data are provided. ing. The memories 91 to 93 allocate predetermined areas of the memory 90 independently of each other.

  Process (A) is hard disk DMA transfer in which a hard disk transfer buffer (not shown) reads image data from the hard disk drive 700 and stores it in the memory 91 assigned to a predetermined area of the memory 90 in step 21.

  In the process (B), in step 22, the image data stored in the memory 91 is expanded by the expansion means 23, and the image data of each color is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 92 assigned to the predetermined area of the memory 90. Data decompression DMA transfer.

  In step (C), in step 23, each color image stored in the memory 92 is read out, rotated by the rotating means 12, and the rotated image data is stored in the memory 93 assigned to a predetermined area of the memory 90. The rotation DMA transfer stores image data of each color in a predetermined area.

  Process (D) is an image output DMA in which an image output buffer (not shown) reads out image data of each color stored in the memory 93 and transmits it to the plotter engine 400 in step 24.

Since the processes (A) to (D) start the next process after the previous process ends, the memories 91 to 93 need to have an area independently. Therefore, the capacities of these memories are as follows. First, since the memory 92 and the memory 93 store each color, the capacity of 4 planes is required. The memory 91 stores compressed image data. If the maximum amount of the image data is equal to the data amount of the decoded image, a capacity of 4 planes is required as in the memories 92 and 93. become. Accordingly, the total memory capacity required for the memories 91 to 93 is 12 planes. By the way, since high-speed processing is required for the MFP, it is required to process a plurality of pieces of image data prior to output. Therefore, assuming that the image data immediately after the currently processed image is processed in advance, the memories 91 to 93 store the data of two images, respectively, and the total capacity of the memories 91 to 93 is There are 24 planes.
(Configuration using advanced switch)
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration for connecting a plurality of process means and the like to a plurality of control means according to the present invention.

  Control units 100K, 100Y, 100M, and 100C are connected to the scanner unit 300, the plotting unit 400, and the operation panel 500 through a bridge and an advanced switch 690, respectively. The control units 100K, 100Y, 100M, and 100C have the same configuration as the control unit 100, and process and edit black, yellow, magenta, and cyan images, and compress and compress data of the images, respectively. The plotting unit 400 is a plotting engine that transfers a color image onto a medium such as paper, and the scanner unit 300 is onto a medium such as paper. A scanner engine that reads a formed image and an operation panel 500 are input / output devices in which a user inputs setting conditions for the MFP and displays status information of the MFP.

  The control unit 100K includes a root complex 600K, a CPU 8K, a memory 90K, an unillustrated image processing / editing unit 10K, an unillustrated image compression / expansion unit 20K, and an unillustrated bridge 70K. The control unit 100Y includes a root complex 600Y, CPU 8Y, memory 90Y, image processing / editing means 10Y (not shown), image compression / expansion means 20Y (not shown), and bridge 70Y (not shown), control means 100M are route complex 600M, CPU 8M, memory 90M, image processing (not shown) An editing unit 10M, an image compression / expansion unit 20M (not shown), and a bridge 70M (not shown) are included. The control unit 100C includes a root complex 600C, a CPU 8C, a memory 90C, and an image processing / editing unit 10 (not shown). , The image compression decompression unit 20C (not shown), and a bridge 70C (not shown).

  The advanced switch 690 is a switch that transmits and receives signals between a plurality of PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabrics, and network management that manages an advanced switch fabric that is a network composed of devices connected via the switches. In the advanced switch fabric, a source routing function capable of transmitting and receiving a signal transmitted from one device to another device according to the setting of the device on the transmission side, and conversion between protocol interfaces It has an inter-protocol communication function.

  The advanced switch 690 includes ports 693 to 695, 699K, 699Y, 699M, and 699C corresponding to the PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus.

  The bridges 640K, 640Y, 640M, and 640C are Express-to-AS bridges that transmit and receive signals between the root complex of the control units 100K, 100Y, 100M, and 100C and the advanced switch 690, respectively. Bridges 653 to 655 are AS-to-Express bridges through transmission / reception of signals between the advanced switch 690 and the scanner unit 300, the plotting unit 400, and the operation panel 500, respectively.

The switch 660 is a switch unit that distributes the input / output of the hard disk 700 to the control units 100K, 100Y, 100M, and 100C. Each control means 100K to 100C inputs / outputs image data or the like to / from the hard disk 700 via the switch 660, whereby each control means can process or edit one image data or the like.
(Configuration using advanced switch)
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for rotating and printing out an image obtained by expanding compressed color image data according to the configuration of FIG. In FIG. 5, the control means 100K has the extension means 23K and the rotation means 12K, the control means 100Y has the extension means 23Y and the rotation means 12Y, and the control means 100M has the extension means 23M and the rotation means 12M. The extension means 23C and the rotation means 12C are included in the control means 100C.

  Step 31 is a hard disk DMA transfer in which a hard disk transfer buffer (not shown) reads out compressed color image data stored in the hard disk 700, and the compressed image data that has been read out is image data of each color. It is transmitted to the control means 100K, 100Y, 100M, and 100C for processing.

  In the black image control means 100K, the processing from step 32K to step 34K is performed. In step 32K, the decompression means 23K decompresses the image data read from the hard disk in step 31, and among the decompressed image data, black image data is transmitted to step 32K. is there. Step 33K is a rotation DMA transfer in which the rotation means 12K performs a rotation process on the black expanded image data and stores the resulting image data in the memory 90K. Step 34K is an image output DMA transfer in which an image output buffer (not shown) outputs image data stored in the memory 90K to the plotter engine 400.

  For the yellow, magenta, and cyan image data, steps 32Y to 34Y, steps 32M to 34M, and steps 32K to 34K, respectively, are the same as the above-described processing of black image data. By performing the processing from step 32C to step 34C, an image of each color is output to the plotting unit 400, and a color image is printed.

  The required memory capacity in the processing of FIG. 5 is as follows.

  That is, the processing for each color is almost the same as the processing of the black and white image in FIG. 2, and the memory 90K, the memory 90Y, the memory 90M, and the memory 90C are each in the memory 90 used for processing the black and white image. Since the necessary and minimum capacity of 0.5 planes is sufficient, the total capacity required for the memories 90K to 90C is 2 planes.

Further, since the configuration of the control means 100K to 100C is almost the same as the configuration of the control means 100, for example, the control means 100K can also serve as the control means 100, and the development steps can be reduced.
(Configuration variation)
In this embodiment, the connection between the hard disk drive 700 and each color control means is realized by the switch 660. For example, the hard disk drive 700 has a conversion function between a PCI-Express (registered trademark) bus and a serial ATA interface. You may connect to the advanced switch 690 via a bridge.

  In this embodiment, the control of the plotting unit 400 has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to any process unit included in the image forming apparatus such as a scanner unit or an operation panel.

  Although the best mode for carrying out the invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in the best mode. Modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

It is a block diagram of a PCI-Express (registered trademark) fabric composed of control means and process means. 3 is a flowchart of processing and output of a black and white image using DMA transfer. 6 is a flowchart of color image processing and output using DMA transfer. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of connections of a plurality of controllers for controlling a plurality of process means according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart of color image processing and output according to the configuration of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 Control Unit 600 Root Complex 690 Advanced Switch 300 Scanner Unit 400 Plotting Unit 500 Operation Panel 8 CPU
9 memory

Claims (7)

A hard disk that stores image data of multiple colors;
Plotting means for forming an image based on the image data of the plurality of colors;
A plurality of control means for processing the image data of each color of the image data of the plurality of colors;
Switch means for distributing each of the plurality of color image data stored in the hard disk to each of the plurality of control means;
The plurality of high-speed serial buses that connect each of the plurality of control means and an advanced switch so that image data can be transmitted;
Each of the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means is transmitted by the plurality of high-speed serial buses, and the plurality of transmitted image data are aggregated, and the aggregated an image forming apparatus comprising: the said advanced switch for transmitting a plurality of image data in the plot means. A hard disk that stores image data of multiple colors;
Process means for inputting the image data of the plurality of colors;
A plurality of control means for processing the image data of each color of the image data of the plurality of colors;
The plurality of high-speed serial buses that connect each of the plurality of control means and an advanced switch so that image data can be transmitted;
And the advanced switches to transmit each image data of the inputted plurality of colors to said processing means to each of the plurality of control means by said plurality of high-speed serial bus,
Switch means for aggregating the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means and transmitting the aggregated image data to the hard disk. Forming equipment. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of high-speed serial buses are PCI-EXPRESS (registered trademark) buses.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switch unit includes a network management unit that manages a network including devices connected via the switch unit. Computer
Plotting means for forming an image based on image data of a plurality of colors;
A plurality of control means for processing the image data of each color of the image data of the plurality of colors;
First switch means for distributing image data of a plurality of colors stored in a hard disk to each of the plurality of control means;
Each of the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means is transmitted by the plurality of high-speed serial buses that connect each of the plurality of control means and the second switch means so that image data can be transmitted. is, the transmitted said aggregate plurality of image data, the second switch means, the image forming program for functioning as transmitting said plurality of image data said aggregated to the plot section. Computer
Process means for inputting image data of a plurality of colors;
A plurality of control means for processing the image data of each color of the image data of the plurality of colors;
The plurality of color image data input to the process means are connected to the plurality of high-speed serial buses that connect the plurality of control means and the first switch means to each other so as to transmit image data . the first switch means for transmitting to the control means,
A second switch means for aggregating the plurality of image data processed by each of the plurality of control means and transmitting the aggregated image data to a hard disk for storage; Image forming program. The program according to claim 5 or 6,
The image generation program, wherein the plurality of high-speed serial buses are PCI-EXPRESS (registered trademark) buses.

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