JPH07320052A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To rotation-process image data of a large size by an image processor even when the capacity of a mounted memory is small. CONSTITUTION:This image processor performs a rotating processing of image data of a size larger than that of a work area on a memory 11 for the rotating processing. A memory managing means 19m which manages the memory 11 is provided. In addition to the memory 11, a secondary storage device 12 is provided. A dividing processing means 13 divides the input image data into plural blocks and a rotating processing means 14 rotates the image data, block by block, sequentially in the work area on the memory 11. A processing control means 18 saves image data for every block after the rotating processing in a secondary storage device 12 when an instruction for rejecting the securing of the necessary work area is sent from the memory managing means 19m and the rotating processing of image data of the next block is carried on by the rotating processing means 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing device for rotating an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the case of outputting image data stored in a computer to a plotter, it is easy to see if the long and short directions of the range occupied by the graphic drawn by the image data are aligned with the long and short directions of the paper. It is advantageous in terms of size.

As described above, when the long and short directions of the figure and the sheet are made to coincide with each other, depending on the image data, the figure drawn by the image data is rotated by 90 ° and output so that the image data is rotated. Processing may be required.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional image processing apparatus for performing rotation processing on this type of image data.

In FIG. 7, 1 is an input device such as a workstation, 20 is an image processing device, and 3 is an output device such as a printer or plotter. The image processing apparatus 20 of this example includes an input control unit 21, a rotation processing unit 22, a storage processing unit 23 including a memory, and an output control unit 24.

The input device 1 is the image processing device 20.
The image data of the input image to be rotated and the instruction information including the instruction of the rotation process and the information of the rotation angle are transferred to the input control unit 21. The input control unit 21 transfers the image data to the input buffer area 231 of the memory 23M of the storage processing unit 23 and sends the rotation angle information to the rotation processing unit 22.

The rotation processing unit 22 performs rotation processing on the image data in the input buffer area 231 of the memory 23M of the storage processing unit 23, and then stores the rotated image data in the rotation buffer area 232 of the memory 23M. And
When the rotation of all image data is completed, the output control unit 2
4, the image data in the rotation buffer area 232 is transferred to the output device 3.

Conventionally, the following two types of methods have been proposed as methods of image rotation processing. One of them is, as shown in FIG. 8, after storing all the image data transferred from the input device 1 in the input buffer area 231 of the memory 23M,
For example, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 8, an image is divided into blocks, rotation processing is performed for each image data of each block B, and the images are sequentially stored in the rotation buffer area 232.

In the other, as shown in FIG. 9, the image data sent from the input device 1 is taken in the input buffer area 231 of the memory 23M in units of divided blocks of a predetermined size, This one block of image data
This is a method in which rotation processing is performed for each image data of the further divided block B, sequentially stored in the rotation buffer area 232, and this processing is repeated to perform rotation processing of the input image.

Regarding the image rotation processing, for example,
It is possible to use a method of performing rotation processing of bitmap image data such as the "image rotation processing method" described in JP-A-60-218169, and other various image rotation processing methods. You can also

[0011]

By the way, in the image data rotation processing method as in the conventional example of FIG. 8 described above, the two buffer areas of the input buffer area 231 and the rotation buffer area 232 of the memory 23M are: Both
At least a memory capacity equal to that of the original image data is required, and therefore, at least twice the memory capacity of the original image data is required as a whole.

[0012] For example, if the size of the original image is 297 mm vertical × horizontal
In the case of 210mm A4 size, if this image is decomposed into dots at a density of 400 dots / inch (dpi), vertical: 297mm / 25.4mm x 400 dots = 4672 dots, horizontal: 210mm / 25.4mm x 400 dots = 3296 dots , The total number of dots in the A4 size image is 4672 × 3296 = 15,398,912 dots.

When the rotated image is output to, for example, a plotter, one dot of the image is represented by one bit of white or black. Even in this case, the data amount of the A4 size image is Is 4672 × 3296 bits ÷ 8 = 1,924,864 bytes = about 1.84 Mbytes, which is twice as large as the above with the rotation processing method.
A memory capacity close to 4 Mbytes is required. Further, when the image size increases from A4 → A3 → A2 ..., The data amount also increases from 2 times to 4 times that of the A4 version.

However, since the memory is relatively expensive, it is necessary to prepare a memory having a sufficient capacity corresponding to the desired processing capacity of the image processing apparatus such as the input image size and the definition. This is not always easy in consideration of the cost of the device.

Therefore, there is a problem that the size of the image data that can be processed by the image processing apparatus is limited by the capacity of the memory 23M mounted on the image processing apparatus 20. In other words, only the image data up to a data amount of about 1/2 the capacity of the memory 23M can be rotated,
The image data amount of the input image is 1 / of the capacity of the memory 23M.
If it exceeds 2, there is a problem that the rotation process cannot be performed.

Further, in the image data rotation processing method as in the conventional example of FIG. 9, the input buffer area 2 of the memory 23M is used.
Since 31 may have a capacity according to the size of the divided block, compared to the conventional example of FIG. 8, the memory 23M is effectively used, but the image data amount of the input image is smaller than the capacity of the rotation buffer area 232. If it exceeds, there is a problem that rotation processing cannot be performed.

In view of the above point, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of rotating large-sized image data even if the capacity of the mounted memory is small.

[0018]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first image processing apparatus according to the present invention is described in FIG.
In the image processing device (10) for performing rotation processing on image data having a size larger than the work area on the memory (11) for rotation processing, corresponding reference numerals in the embodiment of
A memory management means (19m) for managing the memory, a secondary storage device (12) provided separately from the memory, a division processing means (13) for dividing the input image data into a plurality of blocks, and a block for each block. Rotation processing means (14) for sequentially rotating the image data in the work area, and rotation in the rotation processing process by this rotation processing means when the memory management means issues an instruction to refuse to secure the required work area. The processing control means (1) that saves the image data of the processed block to the secondary storage device and causes the rotation processing means to continue the rotation processing of the image data of the next block.
8) and are provided.

The image processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention corresponds to the reference numerals of the embodiment of FIG. 5 described later, and the work area (11b) on the memory (11) for rotation processing.
In an image processing device (10) for rotating image data of a larger size than the above, a secondary storage device (12) provided separately from the memory, and a division processing means for dividing the input image data into a plurality of blocks ( 13), rotation processing means (14) for sequentially rotating the image data of each block in the work area, and rotation processing of a predetermined amount of blocks by the rotation processing means, the rotation-processed image data is subjected to the secondary processing. The storage device is provided with a processing control means (18) for saving the image data of the next block and continuing the rotation processing of the image data of the next block by the rotation processing means.

[0020]

According to this structure, in the first aspect of the invention, the work area on the memory is filled with the image data that has been subjected to the rotation processing in the rotation processing process by the rotation processing means, and the required work area is provided from the memory management means. When it is instructed that the image data in the work area cannot be secured, the processing control means saves the image data in the work area in the large-capacity secondary storage device and secures the required work area. The rotation processing can be continued by the rotation processing means, and even if the capacity of the memory mounted in the image processing apparatus is small, the rotation processing of large size image data can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the coefficient means counts that a predetermined number of blocks that have been subjected to the rotation processing exist in the work area on the memory during the rotation processing by the rotation processing means, the processing is performed. The control means saves the image data in the work area to the large-capacity secondary storage device and secures the required work area, so that the rotation processing means can continue the rotation processing of the unprocessed image data. Even if the capacity of the memory mounted in the image processing apparatus is small, it is possible to rotate large-sized image data.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle configuration of a system including an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes an input device for supplying image data of an unprocessed image in a bit map system, for example, a host computer which files such image data. Reference numeral 32 denotes an output device to which the image data of the processed image is supplied, for example, a plotter.

Reference numeral 10 shows an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the image processing apparatus 10 is composed of a computer,
11 is the memory.

Reference numeral 12 is a secondary storage device, and a hard disk device is used in this embodiment. As is well known, a hard disk device has a large capacity, is relatively fast to read and write data, and is much cheaper in price / capacity than a memory.

The other blocks and switches of the image processing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 are functions equivalent to those realized by software, which are equivalently represented by hardware. Reference numeral 13 denotes image data of a predetermined size. Is a division processing unit for dividing the image data of one block into rotation blocks, and 15 is a connection processing unit for connecting the image data of a plurality of blocks subjected to rotation processing.
A processing control unit 18 controls the overall processing in the image processing apparatus 10, and includes a memory management unit 19m that manages the memory 11.

The memory 1 is used as a work area for processing by the rotation processing unit 13, the division processing unit 14, and the connection processing unit 15.
1, a division buffer area 11a, a rotation buffer area 11b, and a line buffer area 11c, each having a predetermined size, are set.

Input image data from the input device 31 is supplied to the division processing unit 13, and the division buffer area 11a is interposed between the division processing unit 13 and the rotation processing unit 14.
The output data of the rotation processing unit 14 is written in the rotation buffer area 11b through the a-side fixed contact and the movable contact of the changeover switch 16, and at the same time, the rotation buffer area 11b.
The data read from the hard disk drive 1 is passed through the movable contact of the changeover switch 17 and the fixed contact on the b side.
Written to 2.

Then, the data read from the hard disk device 12 and the data read from the rotation buffer area 11b and passed through the movable contact and the c-side fixed contact of the changeover switch 17 are supplied to the connection processing section 15. It The line buffer area 11c is connected to the connection processing unit 15, and the output of the connection processing unit 15 is supplied to the output device 32. The fixed contacts on the b side and the c side of the changeover switch 16 and the fixed contact on the a side of the changeover switch 17 are not connected.

The rotation instruction and the rotation angle instruction information from the input device 31 are supplied to the processing control unit 18 of the image processing apparatus 10. The processing control unit 18 includes a division processing unit 13, a rotation processing unit 14, a connection processing unit 15, a changeover switch 16,
17 is controlled as will be described later, and which buffer area is used in the memory 11 is controlled.

The memory management section 19m of the processing control section 18 is
The usage state of the memory 11 is managed, and when a rotation of the next block is performed in the rotation process of image data, it becomes impossible to secure a required work area in the memory 11, Outputs an instruction to refuse to secure. Based on this instruction, the processing control unit 18
Control is performed to save the data of the plurality of image blocks that have been subjected to the rotation processing to the hard disk device 12.

When the rotation processing is completed for all the input image data, the processing control unit 18 uses the connection processing unit 15 to store the image data of the rotation buffer area 11b of the memory 11 and the image data of the hard disk device 12. Control the connection of.

The connection processing unit 15 uses the line buffer area 11c of the memory 11 to connect the image data saved in the hard disk device 12 and the image data in the rotation buffer area 11b line by line and input the data. Image data of an output image obtained by rotating the image is obtained. Then, it is transferred to the output device 32. If all the image data after the rotation processing is saved in the hard disk device 12, the connection processing unit 15 performs the connection processing in line units only for the image data from the hard disk device 12.

In this embodiment, the memory management unit 19m that manages the memory 11 in the processing control unit 18 is, for example, UN
The memory 11 is managed by an operating system (OS) which is a kind of software such as IX.

In this embodiment, the three buffer areas 11a to 11c on the memory 11 are, for example, 1
A capacity of M bytes (= 1,048,576 bytes) is allocated in advance. When processing an A4 size image having a density of 400 dpi as described above, the capacity of the buffer areas 11a to 11c is considerably smaller than the input image data having a size of about 1.84 Mbytes.

The input image data as described above is divided by the division processing unit 13 into a plurality of blocks, for example, in units of eight lines. In the numerical example described above, A
The image data of the 4th version image is divided into 3296 lines / 8 = 412 blocks. The size of one block is 4672 bits × 8 lines ÷ 8 bits = 4672 bytes.

As a result, the division buffer area 11a is set to this size and the line buffer area 11a
c is set to a size of 4672 bits / 8 = 584 bytes.

Therefore, the size of the rotation buffer area 11b is 1,048,576-4672-584 = 1,043,320 bytes.

On the other hand, the hard disk device 12 is significantly larger than the size of the input image data as described above, and in this embodiment, a hard disk device having a capacity of 100 Mbytes, for example, is used.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flow chart of the processing of FIG. 2 and the explanatory view of FIG. In FIG. 2, 100 is a division rotation routine part, and 110 is a data connection routine part. In the initial state, the movable switches of the changeover switches 16 and 17 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 are connected to the a-side fixed contact.

Step 1 of the split rotation routine portion 100
In 01, the input image data and necessary instruction information for this image data are accepted, and the next step 1
In 02, based on this instruction information, for example, the original image Pi as shown in FIG. 3 is divided into a plurality of blocks by the division processing unit 13, and this image data for one block is divided into a plurality of blocks. The rotation processing unit 14 performs the rotation processing so that the image drawn by the image data is rotated, for example, by 90 °.

Then, in step 103, as shown in FIG. 3, the image data of one block of the rotated image Pm is rotated on the memory 11 through the a-side fixed contact and the movable contact of the changeover switch 16. Buffer area 11b
Written in.

In the next step 104, the memory management section 19 checks whether or not there is a free space in the rotation buffer area 11b. If there is a space, it is checked in the next step 105 whether or not the rotation processing of steps 102 and 103 has been executed for all the blocks of the input image data. If not executed for all the blocks, the next block is selected, and then the process returns to step 102 to continue the rotation process for each of the second and subsequent blocks of the image data.

In this way, when N blocks of rotation-processed image data corresponding to the size of the rotation buffer area 11b as described above are sequentially written in the rotation buffer area 11b, it is determined that there is no free space in the rotation buffer area 11b. To do. In the numerical example described above, the rotation buffer area 1
Image data of 223 blocks can be written in 1b.

When there is no free space in the rotation buffer area 11b as described above, the memory management section 19m gives an instruction that the necessary work area cannot be secured, and the processing shifts from step 104 to step 106.

In step 106, the changeover switches 16 and 17 are operated in response to an instruction from the memory management section 19m.
Is switched to the state shown in the drawing, and the rotation buffer area 1 is moved through the movable contact and the fixed contact on the b side of the changeover switch 17.
The image data of N blocks of 1b is transferred to the hard disk device 12. As a result, the rotation buffer area 11
An empty space corresponding to N blocks of image data is generated in b.

When the transfer of the image data in step 106 is completed, the process returns to step 102, and the movable contacts of the changeover switches 16 and 17 are returned to the a-contact side. Then, the rotation process for each of the N + 1th and subsequent blocks of the image data, in the numerical example as described above, 412-223 = 189 blocks is continued, and the rotation process is executed for all blocks of the input image data. It

At this point, as shown in FIG. 3, 223 blocks of image data Ph of the input image Pi are present in the hard disk device 12, and 189 blocks of image data Pm are stored in the rotation buffer area 11 of the memory 11.
The image data Ph for N blocks saved in the hard disk device 12 while existing in the b is, for example, UNIX.
As shown in FIG. 4, depending on the OS such as, one data file for each block, for example, rotatefil
An appropriate file name such as e.1, rotatefile.2, ... rotatefile.n is assigned and managed. At this time, the width and height of each file are written in the file as a header together with the data.

As described above, when the rotation processing for all the blocks of the input image data is executed in the divided rotation routine portion 100, the process moves to the data connection routine portion 110 and the movable contacts of the changeover switches 16 and 17 are moved. Is switched to the c contact side. And step 11
In No. 1, it is checked whether the hard disk device 12 has saved the image data during the rotation processing of the division rotation routine portion 100.

When the image data is not saved in the hard disk device 12, in the next step 112, the image data of less than N blocks of that size is switched from the rotation buffer area 11b to the c-contact side. It is transferred to the output device 2 through the connection processing unit 17 and the connection processing unit 15, and all the processing ends.

If the image data is saved to the hard disk device 12 during the rotation process of the division / rotation routine portion 100, the process proceeds to step 113, and the image data files saved to the hard disk device 12 are read in numerical order. The data is output and transferred to the line buffer area 11c on a line-by-line basis. This processing is performed by, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the UNIX system calls “Open” and “R”.
It can be easily realized by using "ead" and "Close".

At the stage where the connection processing of all the image data in the hard disk device 12 is completed, the rotatefile.
1, rotatefile.2, ... rotatefile.n files are deleted. For this deletion processing, "Unlink" of the UNIX system call may be used.

At the next step 114, the connection-processed image data is transferred from the line buffer area 11c to the output device 32. Then, in step 115, the connection process of step 113 is executed for all the lines of the rotated image data, and it is checked whether or not the lines are output to the output device 32.

In the above processing, the rotation buffer area 1 is still
Since the image data in 1b has not been executed, the process returns to step 113. Then, the rotation buffer area 11b
From the image data of less than N blocks of that size, the changeover switch 17 changed over to the c contact side,
Through the connection processing unit 15, the line buffer area 11c
To each line of the rotated image data, and the connection process for each line of the rotated image data is continued.

In this way, the image data in the hard disk device 12 and the image data in the rotation buffer area 11b are connected, and in the next step 114, the connected image data is transferred to the output device 32.

Then, when the connection processing is executed for all the lines of the rotated image data and output, all the processing is completed, and as shown by arrows ja and jb in FIG. Image data Ph of the memory 11 and the memory 11
From the image data Pm in the rotation buffer area 11b of
Output image data Po is obtained.

If the size of an input image having the same density increases as A4.fwdarw.A3.fwdarw.A2 ..., The saving of data to the hard disk device in the divided rotation routine portion 100 is repeated a plurality of times, and the same as above. Then, it can be rotated. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to handle an input image whose image data size is almost the same as the capacity of the hard disk device.

In the above embodiment, the input image data before processing is divided into a plurality of blocks of a predetermined size, the image data of each block is subjected to rotation processing, and the image data of the rotation-processed block is divided. Is saved from the work area on the memory to a large-capacity hard disk drive, and by continuing the rotation processing of the image data of the next block, even if the installed memory capacity is small, the size is larger than the work area. Input image data can be dealt with.

Next, the second embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the principle structure of the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the same parts as those of the first embodiment of FIG. The duplicate description is omitted.

In the second embodiment of FIG. 5, the processing control unit 18
The image storage area allocation unit 19a and the rotation processing unit 14
A block counter 19c is provided for counting the blocks of the image data that has been subjected to the rotation processing by. The rest of the configuration is similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

The image storage area allocating unit 19a has previously
In the memory 11, the sizes of the division buffer area 11a, the rotation buffer area 11b, and the line buffer area 11c are allocated. This allocation is performed, for example, according to the size (capacity) of the input image data included in the instruction information from the input device 31. When the allocation is performed, the capacity of the rotation buffer area 11b is determined, and therefore the processing control unit 18 can determine from the count value of the block counter 19c whether the rotation buffer area 11b has a margin.

The image storage area allocating section 19a calculates information on the maximum number of blocks that can be stored in the rotation buffer area 11b and uses it as basic information for the image control processing in the processing control section 18.

The processing control unit 18 uses the rotation buffer area 11
When the number of storage blocks of b reaches a predetermined number of blocks with a slight margin from the maximum number of blocks that can be stored, the save processing is performed.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 6, 1
20 is a division rotation routine part, and 130 is a data connection routine part.

In step 124 of the division / rotation routine portion 120 of FIG. 6, the block counter 19c only checks whether or not the predetermined number of blocks of the image data have been subjected to the rotation processing. Division rotation routine part 10 of the flow chart (FIG. 2) of the processing of FIG.
0 different from step 104.

In the numerical example described above, the image data of 223 blocks can be written in the rotation buffer area 11b of the memory 11, but in the second embodiment,
For example, the fact that the image data of 200 blocks has been written in the rotation buffer area 11b indicates that the block counter 19
When detected from the detection output of c, the processing control unit 18
Causes the hard disk device 12 to save the rotation-processed image data in the rotation buffer area 11b.

Therefore, when processing an A4 size image having a density of 400 dpi as described above, the saving to the hard disk device 12 in the division rotation routine portion 120 is repeated twice. The other operation is the first operation shown in FIG.
It is similar to the embodiment of.

Also in the second embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment described above, the input image data before processing is divided into a plurality of blocks of a predetermined size, and the image data for each block is divided. By performing rotation processing, the image data of the rotated block is saved from the work area on the memory to the large-capacity hard disk device, and the rotation processing of the image data of the next block is continued, so that the memory installed Even if the capacity is small, it is possible to handle input image data of a size larger than the work area.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the image processing apparatus for rotating the image data of a size larger than the work area on the memory, the input image data is divided into a plurality of blocks and divided. In the processing process by the rotation processing means, when the memory management means gives a refusal instruction to secure the use area of the memory for the rotation processing, the rotation processed image data is saved in the secondary storage device,
Since the necessary work area is secured and the rotation processing of the unprocessed image data is continued, an image processing device capable of rotating the large size image data even if the installed memory capacity is small. can get.

Similarly, when the number of blocks of the rotated image data exceeds a predetermined number, the processing control means saves the image data of the rotated blocks in the work area to the large capacity secondary storage device. In this way, the required work area is secured and the rotation processing of unprocessed image data is continued, so even if the installed memory capacity is small,
An image processing device capable of rotating large-sized image data can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the basic configuration of a first embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a connection operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the basic configuration of a second embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a conventional image processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory area used for rotation processing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining another example of a memory area used for rotation processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 image processing apparatus 11 memory 11a division buffer area 11b rotation buffer area 11c line buffer 12 hard disk device 13 division processing section 14 rotation processing section 15 connection processing section 16 and 17 processing selection switch 18 processing control section 19m memory management section 19a image storage area Allocation unit 19c Block counter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for rotating image data of a size larger than a work area on a memory for rotation processing, wherein the memory management means for managing the memory and the memory are provided separately. A secondary storage device, a division processing unit that divides input image data into a plurality of blocks, a rotation processing unit that sequentially rotates the image data of each block in the work area, and a rotation processing process by the rotation processing unit. When the memory management unit gives an instruction to refuse to secure the required work area, the image data of the rotation-processed block is saved in the secondary storage device, and the image data of the next block is rotated. An image processing apparatus comprising: a processing control unit that causes the rotation processing unit to continue processing. 2. An image processing apparatus for rotating image data of a size larger than a work area on a memory for rotation processing, comprising a secondary storage device provided separately from the memory, and a plurality of input image data. Division processing means for dividing into blocks, rotation processing means for sequentially rotating the image data for each block in the work area, and rotation processing for a predetermined amount of blocks by the rotation processing means An image processing apparatus, comprising: processing control means for saving the image data in the secondary storage device and for continuing the rotation processing of the image data of the next block in the rotation processing means.