Image forming apparatus and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10313557-B2
Application number	US-201715466444-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2017
Priority date	Mar 24, 2016
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: a first memory for temporarily storing therein image data output to an image forming unit; a data processing processor for reading the image data; a second memory for temporarily storing therein the image data; and a main processor for causing the data processing processor to sequentially read the image data, wherein the data processing processor includes: data transfer units; a transfer control unit; and a table, the main processor sets a start address and a size and instructs the transfer control unit to activate the data transfer units, the transfer control unit divides a size of image data and sets a start address and a size of divided image data, the data transfer units read corresponding image data and output it to the second memory, and the transfer control unit subsequently controls the data transfer units and notifies the transfer completion to the main processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a first memory for temporarily storing therein image data of a predetermined number of colors output to an image forming unit for forming an image per predetermined color;
a data processing processor for reading the image data of each color from the first memory;
a second memory for temporarily storing therein the image data of each color read from the first memory; and
a main processor for causing the data processing processor to sequentially read the image data of each color from the first memory and output it to the second memory, wherein the data processing processor comprises:
a plurality of data transfer units provided corresponding to each color for reading the image data from the first memory and transferring it to the second memory;
a transfer control unit for controlling and monitoring a processing of transferring the image data by the data transfer units; and
a table, which is referred to when the data transfer units transfer one page of image data, for setting therein a start address and a size of one page of image data of each color in the first memory,
the main processor sets a start address and a size of one page of the image data of each color in the first memory in the table in the data processing processor, and then instructs the transfer control unit in the data processing processor to activate the data transfer units,
when receiving the instruction to activate the data transfer units from the main processor, the transfer control unit divides a size of one page of image data of one color of the predetermined number of colors depending on information on a size of the one page of image data to be transferred and/or the number of data transfer units with reference to the table, and sets a start address and a size of each item of divided image data of the one page of image data of one color of the predetermined number of colors in each of the data transfer units,
each of the data transfer units reads corresponding image data from the image data of one color of the predetermined number of colors in the first memory and outputs it to the second memory on the basis of the start address and the size of each item of divided image data of the one page of image data of one color, and
after the data transfer units finish transferring the one page of image data of one color of the predetermined number of colors, the transfer control unit subsequently controls the data transfer units for dividing a start address and a size of one page of image data of a next color of the predetermined number of colors and transferring the image data, and when one page of image data of all of the predetermined number of colors is completely transferred, notifies the transfer completion of one page of image data of all the colors to the main processor.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transfer control unit comprises:
a start address/size division unit for, when instructed to activate the data transfer units from the main processor, dividing a size of image data of one color among the predetermined number of colors depending on information on a size of the one page of image data to be transferred and/or the number of data transfer units with reference to the table, and setting a start address and a size of each item of divided image data of the image data of one color of the predetermined number of colors in each of the data transfer units; and
a completion monitoring/gathering unit for receiving the notifications of transfer completion of the divided image data of each color of the predetermined number of colors from the data transfer units, gathering the notifications of transfer completion per color and notifying the transfer completion per color to the start address/size division unit, or notifying the transfer completion of one page of image data to the main processor when the one page of image data of all the colors is completely transferred.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transfer control unit controls the one page of image data to be transferred without being divided when a resolution or size of the one page of image data stored in the first memory is smaller than a predetermined value.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transfer control unit determines the number of divisions of one page of image data of each color of the predetermined number of colors depending on the number of the data transfer units.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transfer control unit determines the number of divisions of one page of image data of each color of the predetermined number of colors on the basis of a size of one page of image data of each color set in the table and a storage capacity of the second memory such that image data of each color of the predetermined number of colors to be transferred does not exceed the storage capacity of the second memory.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transfer control unit determines the number of divisions of one page of image data of each color of the predetermined number of colors on the basis of a size of one page of image data of each color.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the transfer control unit receives the notifications of transfer completion of the divided image data from the data transfer units, and when a data transfer unit not performing the transfer processing is present, starts transferring image data of a next color of the predetermined number of colors by use of the data transfer unit not performing the transfer processing before the data transfer units finish transferring one page of image data of any color of the predetermined number of colors.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein when image data of a different color from predetermined colors is stored in the first memory in addition to image data of the predetermined colors, the main processor sets the start addresses and the sizes of one page of image data of the predetermined colors and one page of image data of a different color from the predetermined colors in the table.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein information on a size of the image data is a size or resolution of the image data.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
the image forming unit for each color for forming images of colors on a recording medium in a predetermined order of colors on the basis of image data of each color temporarily stored in the second memory.

11. A non-transitory recording medium storing a computer readable program used in a computer provided in an image forming apparatus comprising: a first memory for temporarily storing therein image data of a predetermined number of colors output to an image forming unit for forming an image per predetermined color; a data processing processor for reading the image data of each color from the first memory; a second memory for temporarily storing therein the image data of each color read from the first memory; and a main processor for causing the data processing processor to sequentially read the image data of each color from the first memory and output it to the second memory,
wherein the data processing processor comprises a plurality of data transfer units provided corresponding to each color for reading the image data from the first memory and transferring it to the second memory, a transfer control unit for controlling and monitoring a processing of transferring the image data by the data transfer units, and a table, which is

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Eguchi Munetoshi

Classifications

• H04N1/32491 Primary

  alternate storage in and retrieval from two parallel memories, e.g. using ping-pong buffers · CPC title

• G06F13/28 Primary

  using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access {DMA}, cycle steal (G06F13/32 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N1/2108

  for one picture only · CPC title

• H04N1/00076

  locally · CPC title

• H04N1/648

  Transmitting or storing the primary (additive or subtractive) colour signals; Compression thereof (H04N1/642 - H04N1/646 take precedence) · CPC title