Image processing apparatus, computer-readable storage medium storing program and image processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8976373-B2
Application number	US-201113154647-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2011
Priority date	Jun 9, 2010
Publication date	Mar 10, 2015
Grant date	Mar 10, 2015

Abstract

Disclosed is an image processing apparatus includes a plurality of control sections each of which performs analysis processing of analyzing data of page description language form to generate intermediate language data and rendering processing of generating rendering data based on the intermediate language data generated by the analysis processing, the plurality of control sections capable of performing the analysis processing and the rendering processing parallelly with each other; and a storage section which stores the intermediate language data and the rendering data, and at least any one of the plurality of control sections obtains information with regard to a vacant capacity of the storage section, and at least any one of the control sections discontinues the analysis processing being performed by at least any one control section and performs the rendering processing based on the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the storage section and a predetermined set value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of processor cores, each capable of performing and switching between analysis processing of analyzing data of page description language form to generate intermediate language data and rendering processing of generating rendering data based on the intermediate language data generated by the analysis processing; and
a memory that stores the intermediate language data and the rendering data, wherein
each of the plurality of processor cores performs the analysis processing or the rendering processing in parallel with the analysis processing or the rendering processing performed by the other processor cores,
at least one of the plurality of processor cores performing the analysis processing obtains information with regard to a vacant capacity of the memory, and discontinues the analysis processing and performs the rendering processing based on the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory and a predetermined set value,
the data of page description language form includes data of a plurality of pages,
each of the plurality of processor cores performs the analysis processing of a page different from each other,
at least one of the plurality of processor cores performing the analysis processing obtains page numbers of the analysis processing performed by the plurality of processor cores,
if any of the processor cores is performing the analysis processing of a page other than a forefront page number among the obtained page numbers, the processor core performing the analysis processing of the page other than the forefront page number discontinues the analysis processing and performs the rendering processing based on the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory and the predetermined set value,
the plurality of processor cores comprises a first processor core corresponding to the processor core that discontinued the analysis processing,
the first processor core performs, after discontinuing the analysis processing, the rendering processing of a first page corresponding to the forefront page number among the obtained page numbers,
the plurality of processor cores further comprises a second processor core corresponding to a processor core that was performing the analysis processing of the first page when the first processor core discontinued the analysis processing, and
the first processor core performs the rendering processing of the first page in parallel with the second processor core performing the analysis processing of the first page.

2. The image processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory includes information with regard to a storage capacity of the memory used for storing the intermediate language data, and
the predetermined set value indicates a threshold value of a storage capacity of the memory to be assigned for storing the intermediate language data.

3. The image processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory includes a total value of a data capacity of entire intermediate language data generated by the analysis processing and a total value of a data capacity of entire intermediate language data that is deleted after being subjected to the rendering processing, and
at least one of the plurality of processor cores performing the analysis processing calculates the storage capacity of the memory used for storing the intermediate language data, based on the total value of the data capacity of entire intermediate language data generated by the analysis processing and the total value of the data capacity of the entire intermediate language data that is deleted after being subjected to the rendering processing, and compares the calculated storage capacity of the memory used for storing the intermediate language data to the predetermined set value.

4. The image processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
after the first processor core completes the rendering processing of the intermediate language data stored in the memory by the second processor core performing the analysis processing of the first page, the first processor core resumes the analysis processing of a second page that was being performed at the time the analysis processing was discontinued, the second page corresponding to a page other than the forefront page number, and
the first processor core performs the analysis processing of the second page in parallel with the second processor core performing the analysis processing of the first page.

5. The image processing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
after the second processor core completes the analysis processing of the first page, the second processor core performs the rendering processing of the first page, and the first processor core discontinues the analysis processing of the second page and performs the rendering processing of the first page in parallel with the second processor performing the rendering processing of the first page.

6. An image processing method, comprising:
performing, using a plurality of processor cores, analysis processing of analyzing data of page description language form to generate intermediate language data and rendering processing of generating rendering data based on the intermediate language data generated by the analysis processing, wherein each of the processor cores is capable of performing and switching between the analysis processing and the rendering processing, and performs the analysis processing or the rendering processing in parallel with the analysis processing or the rendering processing performed by the other processor cores;
storing the intermediate language data and the rendering data in a memory;
obtaining information with regard to a vacant capacity of the memory by at least one of the plurality of processor cores performing the analysis processing;
discontinuing the analysis processing being performed by the at least one processor core and performing the rendering processing with the at least one processor core based on the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory and a predetermined set value, wherein
the data of page description language form includes data of a plurality of pages,
each of the plurality of processor cores performs the analysis processing of a page different from each other,
at least one of the plurality of processor cores performing the analysis processing obtains page numbers of the analysis processing performed by the plurality of processor cores, and
if any of the processor cores is performing the analysis processing of a page other than a forefront page number among the obtained page numbers, the processor core performing the analysis processing of the page other than the forefront page number discontinues the analysis processing and performs the rendering processing based on the information with regard to the vacant capacity of the memory and the predetermined set value,
the plurality of processor cores comprises a first processor core corresponding to the processor core that discontinued the analysis processing,
the first processor core performs, after discontinuing the analysis processing, the rendering processing of a first page corresponding to the forefront page number among the obtained page numbers,
the plurality of processor cores further comprises a second processor core corresponding to a processor core that was performing the analysis processing of the first page when the first processor core discontinued the analysis processing, and
the first processor core performs the rendering processing of the first page in parallel with the second processor core performing the analysis processing of the first page.

7

Assignees

• Nogawa Hiroshi
• Akiyama Fumihito
• Ozawa Masahiro
• Kuroki Jun
• Matsunaga Takahisa
• Aoyama Yasufumi
• Satou Kunikazu
• Shimohara Yasutaka
• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Nogawa Hiroshi
• Akiyama Fumihito
• Ozawa Masahiro
• Kuroki Jun
• Matsunaga Takahisa
• Aoyama Yasufumi
• Satou Kunikazu
• Shimohara Yasutaka

Classifications

• H04N1/32587

  Controller · CPC title

• H04N2201/0094

  Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception · CPC title

• G06T11/60 Primary

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title