JP2000353059A - Device and method for image processing, device and method for image forming and image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a time from instruction of the printing until printing is started. SOLUTION: A host computer analyzes generated printing data and divides them into image data and data other than the image data. The image data are retained in an image data file, and the data other than the image data are added by image data link information for specifying a storage place of the image data and retained in a spool file. A printer controller converts printing job data to be transmitted from the host computer into intermediate data, takes desired image data out of the image data file of the host computer on the basis of the image data link information included in these intermediate data, these image data are bit-map-extended and outputted to a printer engine.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image processing technique capable of reducing the time from a print instruction to the start of printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When printing a created document in page units, print job data described in a page description language (PDL) is sent from a host computer to a printer. In the print job data, as shown in FIG. 9, print job control information is described at the beginning, page control information is described following the print job control information, and image drawing control information and image data are described following the page control information. Are repeatedly described in pairs, and the print job control information is described at the end.

[0003] The printer temporarily converts the sent print job data into an intermediate code and then stores it in an intermediate code buffer. Then, the printer develops the print job data stored in the intermediate code buffer into a page memory for each page, and performs printing based on the developed data.

[0004]

The storage capacity of the intermediate code buffer in the printer must be able to store at least one page of print job data converted into the intermediate code. Therefore, when the image data included in the print job data for one page is large, a large-capacity intermediate code buffer is required.

If the print job data contains large image data, it takes a lot of time to convert the image data into an intermediate code. Therefore, the first page is printed after a print instruction is issued. It takes a lot of time to complete.

Further, since page control processing such as double-sided printing and n-up processing is performed on the converted intermediate code, the time required to start the page control processing is the same as that required for the page control processing. Is substantially proportional to the time required to read the print job data and convert it to an intermediate code. Therefore, when large image data is included in the print job data, it takes time to start the page control process, and it takes much more time to start printing the first page.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the conventional technology, and can reduce the storage capacity of the intermediate code buffer. Printing is started after a print instruction is issued. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image processing technology that can shorten the time required for the image processing.

[0008]

The present invention for achieving the above object is constituted as follows for each claim.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print data generating means for generating print data, a separating means for separating print data into image data and other data, and storing the separated image data. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit; and link information generation unit that generates link information for specifying a storage location of image data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus of the first aspect, there is further provided a print job data generating means for generating print job data from other separated data and the link information. It is characterized by.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the storage unit is provided independently of the image processing apparatus. I do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step of generating print data, a step of separating print data into image data and other data, a step of storing the separated image data, and a step of storing the separated image data. Generating link information specifying a storage location.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step of generating print data, a step of separating the print data into image data and other data, a step of storing the separated image data, and a step of storing the separated image data. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method, the method including: generating link information specifying a storage location.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: receiving means for receiving, from an external device, print job data having link information indicating a location of image data stored in the external device; An image forming apparatus comprising: image data acquisition means for acquiring image data stored in an external device; and printing means for performing printing based on print job data and acquired image data.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a step of receiving print job data having link information indicating a location of image data stored in the external device from the external device, and An image forming method comprising: acquiring image data stored in an apparatus; and performing printing based on print job data and the acquired image data.

According to the present invention, the print job data having the link information indicating the location of the image data stored in the external device is received from the external device. A computer-readable recording program for causing a computer to execute an image forming method including obtaining image data stored in the apparatus and performing printing based on print job data and the obtained image data. recoding media.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system wherein the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect and the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect are connected to each other.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer system. This printer system is configured so that the host computer 10 and the printer 20 can communicate bidirectionally one-to-one.

The host computer 10 has a printer driver 12 and an auxiliary storage device 15. The printer driver 12 generates print job data based on a document created by the host computer 10 using a document creation application or the like. The image data file 14 and the spool file 16 are stored in the host computer 1.
0 is a data storage area created in the auxiliary storage device 15 such as a memory or a hard disk provided in the storage device.

The printer 20 includes a printer controller 3
0 and a printer engine 40. The printer controller 30 has a communication I / F 32, an interpreter unit 33, an intermediate code buffer 34, a drawing processing unit 35, a page memory 36, and a printer engine I / F 38. The interpreter 33 has a built-in program for converting print job data described in page description language (PDL) into an intermediate code. The print job data converted into the intermediate code is temporarily stored in an intermediate code buffer 34. You.

The drawing processing unit 35 contains a program for analyzing an intermediate code, font information and font data necessary for creating bitmap data. The drawing processing unit 35 analyzes the intermediate code stored in the intermediate code buffer 34 and develops a bitmap in the page memory 36.

The bitmap-developed image data is sent to the printer engine 40 via the printer engine I / F 38.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.
A process in which the printer driver 12 generates print job data will be described.

The printer driver 12 analyzes whether the contents of print data created using a document creation application or the like is image data or other data such as print job control information (S1). In accordance with the result of the analysis, the data other than the image data in the print data is converted into a page description language (PLD) that can be interpreted by the printer 20 and stored in the spool file 16 (S2, S5). On the other hand, the image data is stored in the image data file 14 in a file format for each print job (S1 to S3). When saving the image data, the printer driver 12 generates image data link information for specifying the storage location of the image data. As shown in FIG. 3, the image data link information includes specific device information indicating which host computer stores the image data, and data specifying information indicating which file in which directory of the host computer stores the image data. It is composed of

For example, the image data is stored in the directory tmp of the C drive (hard disk) of the host computer name (for example, "A") with the file name AAAAA.
When ZZZ is stored in the index pointer (for example, the writing position “AAAAA”), the printer driver 12 describes the host computer name “A” as device specifying information and “C: @t” as data specifying information.
mp @ AAAAA. ZZZ "and image data link information describing the index pointer" AAAAA "are generated (S4). The generated image data link information is added to the image drawing control information and stored in the spool file 16. The printer driver 12 automatically sets the file name (AAAAA.ZZZ in the above example) (S5).

In this manner, the image data included in the print data is stored in the image data file 14 in a file format for each print job, and data obtained by adding image data link information to data such as print job control information is printed. The data is stored in the spool file 16 as job data (see FIG. 3).

The print job data created as described above is sent to the printer 20.

In the above description, the host computer name is exemplified as the device identification information. However, the device name, device ID, IP address (address of the information provider), URL (uniform resource)
Locator) may be used. Further, a file name including a directory path may be specified as the data specifying information. Also, a method of storing image data in a file format for each print job has been described as an example. As shown in FIG. 4, an index table file for storing image data in a file format for each image block and managing the image data file is provided. Alternatively, the image data link information may be created from the file name of the index table and the pointer number indicating the position in the table.

When a program describing the processing shown in FIG. 2 is stored in a computer-readable recording medium (floppy disk, CDROM, DVD, etc.), the computer functions as the image processing apparatus of the present invention. be able to.

Next, a process in which the printer controller 30 develops the image data into the page memory 36 in a bit map will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The print job data (including print job control information, page control information, image data link information, and image drawing information) shown in FIG. 6 is input from the host computer 10 to the printer controller 30 via the communication I / F 32. Then, the interpreter unit 33 sequentially converts the print job data into an intermediate code.

Since the print job data does not include image data, the interpreter 33 can quickly convert the print data into intermediate codes. The converted print job data is temporarily stored in the intermediate code buffer 34.

The image processing unit 35 includes the intermediate code buffer 3
4, the intermediate code is read in page units (S11),
The intermediate code is analyzed (S12). It is determined whether or not the analyzed intermediate code is image data link information (S13). If the analyzed intermediate code is image data link information, an image transmission request is output to the host computer storing the image data (S14).

The host computer receiving the transmission request,
The desired image data is extracted from the image data file based on the data specifying information in the image data link information.

The image data is taken out by the printer driver 12 in the host computer. For example, in the case of data identification information as shown in FIG. 3, the file name AAAAA.
The ZZZ file is opened, and the image data is read from the index pointer (for example, the writing position "AAAAA") (S21).

The printer driver 12 transmits the extracted image data to the communication I / F 3 of the printer controller 30.
The image data is transmitted to the drawing processing unit 35 via S2 (S22).

The drawing processing unit 35 receives the image data (S15), and sequentially develops the image data into a bit map on the page memory 36 based on the built-in font information and font data (S16). Therefore, the entity of the image data is received immediately before the image data is printed.

It is determined whether the bitmap development of the intermediate code for one page has been completed (S17). If not completed, the process returns to S11 and the same processing is repeated.

The data expanded in the bitmap as described above is stored in the page memory 36 by the printer engine I / O.
The data is output to the printer engine 40 via F38 and printed.

As described above, the print job data does not include the actual image data, but includes the image data link information indicating the storage location of the image data. Even if a large amount of image data is included in the host computer 10 from the document, the conversion to the intermediate code can be performed quickly and the intermediate code buffer 3
4 also requires much less storage capacity.

Further, since it is not necessary to convert the image data into an intermediate code, for example, at the time of page control processing such as double-sided printing or n-up processing, a one-time print instruction is issued.
The time until the printing of the page starts can be further reduced.

If the printer 20 and the host computer 10 are connected by an interface having a high-speed synchronous transfer mode (for example, IEEE1394), the output of the bitmap-deployed data to the printer engine 40 and the output from the host computer 10 Can be performed at the same time, so that the time from the print instruction to the start of printing the first page can be further reduced.

If a program describing the processing shown in FIG. 5 is stored in a computer-readable recording medium, the computer can function as the image forming apparatus of the present invention. [Second Embodiment] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a modular multi-function MFP (MFP). As shown in the figure, the modular type multi-function multifunction peripheral is configured with independent function modules. The modular multi-function MFP shown in FIG. 7 includes four independent function modules: a FAX controller 50, a network controller 52, a printer controller 30, and a scanner controller 54.

In the modular type multi-function multifunction peripheral configured as described above, since each function module plays a role as an independent controller, each function module is provided with a memory. Therefore, in the case of the modular type multi-function MFP, unlike the case of the first embodiment,
There is no need to store image data in the memory of the host computer 10. In other words, the host computer connected to the modular multi-function multifunction peripheral is the controller 50 other than the printer controller 30,
A controller having a memory capable of storing image data is searched for from among 52 and 54, and the image data may be stored in the controller having the memory.
At this time, the image data link information created by the host computer is, of course, information for specifying the location of the memory where the image is stored, the file and the writing position in the file, and is the same as the image data link information shown in FIG. Format.

The printer controller 30 receives the print job data created by the host computer, and stores the image data according to the image data link information in the print job data (the FAX controller 50, the network controller 52, the scanner controller 54). File is opened, and the corresponding image data is taken out. Subsequent processes up to printing are the same as in the first embodiment.

Normally, since the controllers in the modular multi-function multifunction peripheral are interconnected by a high-speed internal bus, high-speed printing can be easily performed.
[Embodiment 3] FIG.
1 illustrates a network in which printers 0A and 10B and printers 20A and 20B are connected in a distributed manner. When real-time property is not required for data transfer, the present invention can be applied to a network as shown in the figure. In this case, the device identification information in the image data link information created by the host computers 10A and 10B uses an IP address and a URL.

As described above, three embodiments have been described as preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be combined.

[0048]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

Even when a large amount of image data is included, the amount of data sent from the host computer to the printer when converting print job data into intermediate data is significantly reduced. The conversion can be performed quickly, and the time from the print instruction to the start of printing the first page can be significantly reduced.

Further, since the amount of data sent in print job units is reduced, the data amount does not increase so much even when print jobs are continuous, and job control can be performed quickly in the printer.

Further, by reducing the amount of data sent from the host computer to the printer, the amount of memory used in the printer required for generating the intermediate code can be significantly reduced. Can be used efficiently. Therefore, the frequency of occurrence of a memory overflow error can be reduced even with a small memory capacity.

Further, since it is not necessary to convert the image data into an intermediate code, page control processing such as double-sided printing and n-up processing in the print job data can be promptly executed, and the first page from the print instruction is issued. Can be remarkably shortened until the start of printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which a printer driver generates print job data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of image data link information.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a method of storing image data in a file format in image block units.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which a printer controller develops bitmaps of image data in a page memory.

FIG. 6 is a diagram provided for explanation of a flowchart in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a modular multifunction multifunction peripheral (MFP).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a network in which a plurality of host computers and printers are connected in a distributed manner.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of print job data described in a page description language (PDL) generally used in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Host computer 12 Printer driver 14 Image data file 15 Auxiliary storage device 16 Spool file 20 Printer 30 Printer controller 33 Interpreter part 34 Intermediate code buffer 35 Drawing processing part 36 Page memory 40 Printer engine

Claims (9)

[Claims] A print data generating unit configured to generate print data; a separating unit configured to separate the print data into image data and other data; a storage unit configured to store the separated image data; An image processing apparatus, comprising: link information generating means for generating link information for specifying a storage location. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
Further, it is characterized by having a print job data generating means for generating print job data from other separated data and the link information. 3. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is provided independently of the image processing apparatus.
Alternatively, the image processing apparatus according to claim 2. 4. A step of generating print data, a step of separating print data into image data and other data, and link information for storing the separated image data and specifying a storage location of the image data. Generating an image processing method. 5. A step of generating print data, a step of separating print data into image data and other data, and link information for storing the separated image data and specifying a storage location of the image data. And a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method having the steps of: 6. A receiving unit for receiving print job data having link information indicating a location of image data stored in the external device from an external device, and the print job data stored in the external device based on the link information. An image forming apparatus comprising: image data acquiring means for acquiring image data; and printing means for performing printing based on print job data and acquired image data. 7. A step of receiving print job data having link information indicating a location of image data stored in the external device from an external device, and an image stored in the external device based on the link information. An image forming method comprising: acquiring data; and performing printing based on print job data and acquired image data. 8. A method for receiving, from an external device, print job data having link information indicating a location of image data stored in the external device, and an image stored in the external device based on the link information. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute an image forming method, the method including: acquiring data; and performing printing based on print job data and acquired image data. 9. An image processing system, wherein the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 and the image forming apparatus according to claim 6 are connected to each other.