Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Size – resolution – or scale control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-29
2002-02-19
Wallerson, Mark (Department: 2622)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Size, resolution, or scale control
C358S001150, C358S535000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06348976
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data transfer method of transferring, for printing image data analyzed by an analysis processor, the image data from the analysis processor to a print processor, and a machine readable recording medium with image analysis intermediate data recorded thereon, and in particular to a technique suitable to transfer, when a certain processor requests a print processing-dedicated processor to print image data, the image data in, for example, a client server system.
2) Description of the Related Art
In general, a method of printing image data by a processor includes stand-alone type processing shown in
FIG. 10
, and distributed processing shown in FIG.
11
.
In the stand-alone type processing shown in
FIG. 10
, a common processor
100
is used for analysis processing and print processing of the image data. That is, the processor
100
includes an analysis processor
100
a
and a print processor
100
b
. The analysis processor
100
a
analyzes the image data to be printed to create intermediate data consisting of color data and coordinate values as will be described referring to FIG.
12
. Further, the print processor
100
b
loads the intermediate data created in the analysis processor
100
a
into a bit map memory (not shown), and causes a printer (or setter [exposure apparatus])
101
to print (output) a result of loading.
However, in the stand-alone type processing as described above, the entire processing of analyzing and printing the image data is performed in the common processor
100
so that the processor
100
is put under heavier load, resulting in a lower speed at which the image data is printed.
Hence, in recent years, there has been widely employed the distributed type (client server type) processing shown in
FIG. 11
, in which discrete processors
110
,
111
are provided to perform analysis processing and print processing of image data. That is, in the distributed type processing, an analysis processor
110
a
of the processor
110
performs the same processing as that performed in the analysis processor
100
a
of
FIG. 10
, and a print processor
111
a
of the processor
111
performs the same processing as that performed in the print processor
100
b
in FIG.
10
.
In this case, the intermediate data created in the analysis processor
110
a
of the processor
110
is transferred from the processor
110
to the processor
111
over a LAN
120
, or is transferred to the processor
111
after being temporarily stored on a hard disk
130
in the processor
110
. Alternatively, the intermediate data may be stored on a floppy disk (hereinafter often referred to as FPD)
140
, and the FPD
140
may manually be brought to the processor
111
. The processor
111
may read the transferred intermediate data from FPD
140
.
As stated above, the analysis processing and the print processing are not performed in the common processor, but performed in the discrete processors
110
,
111
in a distributed manner. It is thereby possible to efficiently perform the entire processing of analyzing and printing the image data.
Meanwhile, the intermediate data created in the analysis processor
110
a
of the processor
110
has, for example, a format (data structure) as shown in FIG.
12
.
FIG. 12
shows intermediate data which is created in the analysis processor
110
a
in order to magnify twice in length and width and print image data of 512×512 pixels including CMYK (Cyanogen, Magenta, Yellow, and Black).
In this case, the analysis processor
110
a
calculates, for each pixel, the intermediate data consisting of the color data (4 bytes) of the pixel, and the x and y coordinates (16 bytes) of a bottom left endpoint and a top right endpoint of the pixel by using a transformation matrix [a b c d tx ty] for transformation of a position of each pixel of the image data into an actual printing position. Therefore, since 512×512 combinations of the color data and the rectangular coordinate data are given, the analysis processor
110
a
creates the intermediate data having the size of 5 Mbytes (20 bytes×512×512=5,242,880 bytes=5 Mbytes).
Here, in the transformation matrix, the matrix elements a, d specify scale factors in x and y direction, the matrix elements b, c are rotation elements in the x and y direction, and the matrix elements tx, ty are the x and y coordinates (parallel movement elements) of a position from which the printing must be started (a position of the origin of a print area). In the illustration shown in
FIG. 12
, the image data is magnified twice in length and width, and is printed starting with the origin of print area coordinates. Thus, the matrix elements a, d are set to twos, and b, c, tx, and ty are set to zeros. The transformation matrix transforms the image data of 512×512 pixels into image data of 1,024×1,024 pixels, which is printed in a predetermined print area.
However, in the conventional intermediate data shown in
FIG. 12
, the color data of the pixel and the rectangular coordinate data indicating a position at which the pixel is printed are paired for each pixel. Hence, an extremely large data size applies an excessively heavy load to the LAN
120
over which the intermediate data is transferred.
Further, when the intermediate data is stored on the hard disk
130
or the FPD
140
, due to the extremely large data size thereof, the intermediate data occupies much of a memory capacity, and the entire intermediate data for one image data can not be stored on the single FPD
140
.
In particular, it is necessary to analyze and transfer A3 or A2 size image data in a system for printing a newspaper, and so forth. In this case, the above problem becomes more pronounced since the intermediate data size becomes considerably large. It is difficult to transfer the intermediate data over a communication network such as LAN
120
, or the recording medium such as FPD
140
.
Even when the intermediate data is decreased in size to reduce the load applied to the communication network such as LAN
120
, another problem is left. When the intermediate data having the format shown in
FIG. 12
is transferred over the LAN
120
, the analysis processor
110
a
to create the intermediate data is put under heavier load than that on the print processor
111
a
. Hence, intermediate data creation processing takes a longer time than that required by print processing.
Hence, as shown in
FIG. 13
, a period to wait for transfer of the intermediate data from the analysis processor
110
a
is inevitably generated in the print processor
111
a
. As a result, it is impossible to efficiently perform the analysis/print processing of the image data.
Further, the analysis processor
110
a
of the processor
110
must perform not only the intermediate data creation processing but also various other processing. Consequently, it is undesirable that the load on the analysis processor
110
a
increases due to only the intermediate data creation processing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image data transfer method and a machine readable recording medium with image analysis intermediate data recorded thereon, in which an intermediate data format is improved to reduce intermediate data so as to provide very portable intermediate data, and keep in balance loads on an analysis processor and a print processor so as to efficiently perform analysis processing and print processing of image data.
According to the present invention, for achieving the above-mentioned objects, there is provided an image data transfer method of transferring, for printing image data analyzed by an analysis processor, the image data from the analysis processor to a print processor. The method includes the steps of creating, in the analysis processor, image analysis intermediate data containing a matrix element of a transformation matrix for transformation of a position of each pixel of
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Wallerson Mark
LandOfFree
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