Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Memory
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-17
2002-02-19
Evans, Arthur G. (Department: 2622)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Memory
C358S001180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06348975
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program storage medium. More particularly, the invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program storage medium for outputting image data formed by form overlay-processing normal page data and color form data of a plurality of plane images of different colors.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, a demand to print a document and an image having a higher power of expression and a higher degree of appeal has been increasing for a page printer and a color page printer which can print in color has already been put into practical use. The color page printer is constructed so that page description languages such as color image data, color designation command, and the like can be interpreted. For example, by performing a predetermined color converting process to each of color drawing commands described by RGB, it is decomposed and converted into a plurality of color planes (for example, Y, M, C, Bk, etc.) and an image (raster image) is formed every color plane.
A video signal which reflects ON/OFF of bits of the raster image is area-sequentially transferred every color plane to a printer engine. A final image is formed on a recording paper by well-known latent image forming means, developing means, and fixing means. Such a color page printer has a plurality of color toner (for instance, yellow=Y, magenta=M, cyan=C, black=Bk) corresponding to the respective planes and forms an image onto the recording paper by overlaying the image of each plane by each toner.
A raster image forming procedure of each plane in a conventional color image processing apparatus will now be described hereinbelow with reference to
FIGS. 3
,
4
, and
5
. For simplicity of explanation, a case of outputting a video signal as much as one page in a lump after a raster memory of one page was formed (full painting system) will now be described. However, the same shall also similarly apply to a case where one page is divided into a plurality of bands and raster images of the subsequent bands are sequentially formed simultaneously with a video transfer (banding system). It is now assumed that a case where there is an instruction to draw a character “A” in red color by a page description language inputted from the outside is shown here. Reference numerals
301
,
302
,
303
, and
304
in
FIG. 3
denote raster memories (page buffers) of one page of each plane of Y, M, C, and Bk.
FIG. 4
shows a structure of a drawing object to generate the raster image in FIG.
3
. The drawing object here denotes an intermediate data format at the stage before a final raster image is formed and it is now assumed that it is a bit map pattern corresponding to a character code “A”.
First, to express red in a color space of YMCBk, since it is sufficient to set (Y:M:C:Bk=1:1 0:0), as shown in
FIG. 3
, the character “A” is drawn into each plane of Y and M (the bit at the corresponding position in the raster memory is set to ON).
On the other hand, for each plane of C and Bk, it is necessary to set the character “A” to a blank space (the bit at the corresponding position in the page buffer is set to OFF). This is because if the bit at the position where the character “A” should be drawn has already been set to ON by a different drawing object, when the images of the respective planes are overlaid on the recording paper, the red color is not correctly reconstructed.
In
FIG. 4
, reference numeral
404
denotes a font object constructed by: a bit map pattern (
406
) of the character “A”; and an information portion (
405
) in which information such as width, height, and the like of the pattern has been stored. Reference numeral
401
denotes a drawing instruction information portion in which information to discriminate at which position in the page the font object should be drawn has been stored.
The font pattern
406
is formed, for example, from scalable font data by a font scaler (not shown) on the basis of information such as font, character size, character code, and the like instructed by the page description language. On the other hand, the drawing information
401
has color information (
403
) besides information (
402
) such as head address (addr) on the memory of the font object, drawing position (x, y) in the page where the writing of the drawing object is started, and the like. The color information
403
consists of four bits here and to which plane the drawing object is drawn among the YMCBk planes, namely, the bit of the raster image of which plane is set to “1” is instructed by the contents of each bit. In the diagram, the bits sequentially correspond to Y, M, C, and Bk from the head bit. Therefore, the diagram shows that if head two bits among four bits of the color information are set to “1”, when the font pattern
406
is drawn to each plane of Y and M, the bit at the corresponding position on the page buffer is set to “1”. Since the third and fourth bits of the color information are equal to 0, for the corresponding C and Bk planes, the bits in the page buffer at the position corresponding to the font pattern are set to “0”.
In the drawing process, since a range where the bits of each plane are rewritten lies at only the portions where the bits of the font pattern
406
are set to “1”, the font object is called a mask object and the color information
403
is handled as a background of a mask, namely, a background.
For simplicity, the explanation has been made here on the assumption that the background
403
is bit information merely showing the presence or absence. However, a dither pattern to express a halftone color can be also used (FIG.
5
). In this case, the color information has a different dither pattern every plane. Head addresses (BG_addr) of those dither patterns are set as color information
503
. For example, the dither pattern is set to a fixed pattern of (32×32) dots and a dither pattern in which all bits are set to “0” is used for the plane which is overwritten in white. In
FIG. 5
a construction other than the color information
503
is substantially the same as the construction of FIG.
4
.
In a printing such as a general work or the like, on the other hand, in many cases, there is used a form overlay printing such that a regular form portion (hereinafter, referred to as form data) like a slip or a regular document in which the contents of a plurality of pages are identical like a title, a frame line, or the like and an irregular data portion (hereinafter, referred to as data to be overlaid) like numbers, names, or the like in a table in which the contents differ every page are overlaid and printed.
In a conventional page printer in which a page description language is analyzed and a corresponding raster image is formed, both of the form data and the data to be overlaid are described by a page description language format and the printing of the regular form portion is realized by registering and executing the form data as a macro command. That is, a command group of the page description languages to draw individual frame line, title characters, and the like constructing the form is preliminarily registered as one or a plurality of macro commands into a memory area of the printer and by executing the macro command (group) each time the page changes, the form overlay printing is realized.
The execution of the macro command will now be described in detail hereinbelow.
According to the macro command which has already been registered in the memory area (free RAM or the like) of the printer, at the time of the designation of the macro (=execution of the first time) and after completion of the analysis of the data to be overlaid as much as one page, for example, each time a sheet ejection command is received (=execution of the second time and subsequent times), the registration contents, namely, the command group of the page description language constructing the
Sugaya Akio
Tsunekawa Kiyohiro
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Evans Arthur G.
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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