JP2013039749A - Printing device, and method for processing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a technique for improving the efficiency of rendering processing using a plurality of rendering units based on at least one of layout setting and object information.
A printing apparatus analyzes job data including a plurality of pages, obtains layout settings and object information included in each page, and a dividing unit that divides the job data into pages. And generating a plurality of divided data obtained by dividing one or a plurality of page data obtained by the division by the dividing unit based on at least one of the layout setting and the object information, and for each of the divided data Rendering management means for executing rendering processing using any one of a plurality of rendering means; and printing means for performing printing operation for each bitmap data generated by the rendering means and printing on a recording medium; It comprises.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a processing method thereof.

  Upon receiving job data in PDL (Page Description Language) format from an external device, the printing device renders the job data and prints on a recording medium (for example, a roll sheet) based on the rendered data.

  In such a printing apparatus, a plurality of rendering units that perform rendering processing are provided in order to increase the printing speed, and a rendering management unit that performs management thereof is provided. In this case, the plurality of rendering units process job data including a plurality of pages in parallel.

  In the above-described printing apparatus, for example, imposition processing may be performed. The imposition processing is performed in accordance with the binding method such as side stitching and saddle stitching, and print settings such as single-sided and double-sided. For example, in the case of saddle stitching, two pages are impositioned on one page of media. (Patent Document 1). Here, an example of the imposition process will be described with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B. Here, a case where double-sided saddle stitching is performed will be described.

  FIG. 9A shows an example of the booklet after saddle stitching as viewed from above, and the encircled numbers indicate the page order. The saddle-stitched booklet shown in FIG. 9A is printed in the order of the circled numbers in FIG. 9B. For example, in the page indicated by reference numeral 301, page data 8 and page data 1 are imposed on the front surface, and page data 7 and page data 2 are imposed on the back surface.

  In such a configuration, it is necessary to perform rendering processing at high speed in accordance with the printing speed. Therefore, when printing job data consisting of a plurality of pages, the processing is performed by dividing each page into rendering units (see Patent Documents 2 to 4).

JP 2002-200814 A JP-A-9-218758 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-24860 JP 2000-33744 A

  The conventional configuration as exemplified above has the following problems. For example, even if the configuration is such that processing is performed by a separate rendering unit for each page, when it is necessary to consider imposition, final output data cannot be generated unless a plurality of rendering results are collected. .

  This point will be described with a specific example. For example, in the case shown in FIG. 9A, the page data 8 and the page data 1 on the front surface are printed by a single printing operation by the engine unit. It is necessary to generate on the same bitmap data. For this reason, even if page data 1 and page data 8 are processed by separate rendering units for speeding up, data cannot be transferred to the engine unit unless all bitmap data is generated.

  Even when there is a common object across multiple pages, rendering processing may be performed by a separate rendering unit for each page. In this case, although a common object is used, rendering processing for the object is performed by a plurality of rendering units. For this reason, duplicate processing occurs in a plurality of rendering units, and it cannot be said that the processing efficiency is good.

  Furthermore, even if there are a plurality of common objects in the original PDL, only one of the objects is held in the PDL. For this reason, when processing in multiple rendering units, it is necessary to copy and transfer common objects to each rendering unit, and communication traffic between the controller unit and each rendering unit may be busy. is there.

  In order to increase the processing speed in this way, it is generally considered effective to divide the processing for each page and perform the rendering processing. However, due to restrictions on the layout and the object structure of the PDL, processing waits may occur. In some cases, it may be necessary to copy data. Therefore, the printing speed is reduced due to such factors.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a technique for improving the efficiency of rendering processing using a plurality of rendering units based on at least one of layout setting and object information. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a printing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention analyzes job data including a plurality of pages, obtains layout settings and object information included in each page, and the job Dividing means for dividing data into page units, and divided data in which one or a plurality of pieces of page data obtained by dividing by the dividing means based on at least one of the layout setting and the object information are combined A plurality of rendering management means for generating a rendering process for each of the divided data using any one of the plurality of rendering means, a printing operation for each bitmap data generated by the rendering means, and recording Printing means for printing on the medium.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of rendering processing using a plurality of rendering units based on at least one of layout setting and object information.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a control system of the printing apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 1. The figure which shows an example of a menu screen. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline of processing of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an outline of processing of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process flow of a controller 20 according to the third embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process flow of a controller 20 according to the third embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing flow of each rendering unit 30 according to the third embodiment. The figure for demonstrating a prior art.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The printing apparatus described in the following description may be, for example, a single function printer having only a printing function, or a multi-function printer having a plurality of functions such as a printing function, a FAX function, and a scanner function. There may be. Further, for example, a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a color filter, an electronic device, an optical device, a minute structure, and the like by a predetermined printing method may be used.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the printing apparatus is shown. The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment uses a recording medium wound in a roll shape (a continuous continuous sheet longer than the length of a printing unit in the transport direction: a roll sheet), and supports both single-sided printing and double-sided printing. A high-speed line printer will be described as an example.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the recording medium is a roll sheet will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, any material that can accept a recording agent (ink, toner, etc.) such as cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, resin, wood, leather, etc. may be used.

  In the present embodiment, an ink jet printing apparatus will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a thermal printer (sublimation type, thermal transfer type, etc.), a dot impact printer, an LED printer, a laser printer, etc. A method may be adopted.

  Here, the printing apparatus 10 includes a sheet supply unit 101, a conveyance unit 102, a conveyance encoder 103, a rotation roller 104, a head unit 105, a print head 106, and an inspection unit 107. In addition, a control unit 108, an ink tank 109, a cutter unit 110, a back surface printing unit 111, a drying unit 112, a sheet winding unit 113, a sorting unit 114, and an operation unit 115 are also provided.

  The sheet supply unit 101 stores and supplies a roll sheet wound in a roll shape (hereinafter also referred to as a sheet). The sheet supply unit 101 includes an upper sheet cassette 101a and a lower sheet cassette 101b, and is configured to be able to store two rolls. Alternatively, the sheet supply unit 101 pulls out and supplies a sheet. Note that the number of rolls that can be stored is not necessarily two, and one or three or more rolls may be stored.

  Here, in the printing apparatus 10, a printing unit is configured by the transport unit 102 and the head unit 105. The printing unit forms an image on the conveyed sheet and performs printing.

  The head unit 105 is provided with a plurality of inkjet print heads 106. The print head 106 has a plurality of print heads arranged in the transport direction. In the present embodiment, a plurality of colors (seven colors in the present embodiment) are provided. Note that as the inkjet method, a method using a heating element, a method using a piezo element, a method using an electrostatic element, a method using a MEMS element, or the like can be adopted.

  Each color ink is supplied from the ink tank 109 to each print head 106 via an ink tube. The print head 106 according to the present embodiment is configured by a full-line type print head and has a print width corresponding to the maximum width of a sheet that is assumed to be used.

  The inspection unit 107 is provided with a CCD line sensor, for example. The CCD line sensor is composed of, for example, a two-dimensional image sensor, and a plurality of reading elements are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction. In addition, the inspection unit 107 is also provided with a light emitting element and the like. With such a configuration, the inspection unit 107 optically reads a pattern or an image printed on a sheet, and inspects the nozzle state of the print head 106, the sheet conveyance state, the image position, and the like.

  The cutter unit 110 is a mechanism for cutting a sheet after image printing into a predetermined printing unit length. The length of the printing unit varies depending on the image size to be printed. For example, the length in the transport direction is 135 mm for the L-size photo, and the length in the transport direction is 297 mm for the A4 size.

  The back surface printing unit 111 prints information (for example, order management number and date) for each print image on the back surface of the cut sheet. The drying unit 112 heats the sheet on which the image is printed, and dries the added ink (in a short time). The drying unit 112 is provided with a conveyance belt and a conveyance roller for sending the sheet to the next process.

  When performing double-sided printing, the sheet winding unit 113 temporarily winds up the roll sheet on which the front surface has been printed. The sheet winding unit 113 is provided with a winding drum that rotates to wind the sheet. After the front side is printed, the sheet that has not been cut by the cutter unit 110 is temporarily wound around the winding drum. When the winding is finished, the winding drum rotates in the reverse direction, and the wound sheet is sent to the original sheet conveyance path. Since this sheet is turned upside down, the printing unit described above can print on the back side of the sheet.

  The sorting unit 114 stacks the sheets cut by the cutter unit 110 and then dried by the drying unit 112 on each tray. Which tray is loaded is determined according to a tray number set for each print image. The sorting unit 114 holds a plurality of trays, and sorts the trays to be loaded according to the length of the printing unit. It also displays status such as loading and loading completion.

  The control unit 108 controls each unit in the printing apparatus 10. The control unit 108 includes, for example, a controller 20 having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, various I / O interfaces, and the like, and a power source. The operation of the printing apparatus 10 is controlled based on a command from the controller 20 or an external apparatus (for example, a host apparatus) connected to the controller 20 via an I / O interface.

  The operation unit 115 displays information such as the printing status for the operator, and inputs an instruction from the operator into the apparatus. For example, a confirmation display of the print status for each order, such as which tray the specified order image is stacked on, whether printing is in progress, or printing is completed, is performed. In addition, information for operation / confirmation by the operator is displayed in order to confirm the apparatus state such as the remaining ink amount and the remaining amount of paper, and to perform apparatus maintenance such as head cleaning.

  Here, the flow of processing when printing (single-sided printing) on a sheet in the printing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be briefly described.

  First, a sheet is pulled out from the upper sheet cassette 101a and the lower sheet cassette 101b, and the respective sheets are conveyed in the directions a and b in the drawing. Thereafter, the sheet pulled out from each cassette unit is conveyed in the direction c in the drawing and reaches the conveyance unit 102.

  The conveyance unit 102 conveys the sheet in the direction d (horizontal direction) in the drawing using a plurality of rotating rollers. At this time, ink is ejected from each print head 106 in synchronization with the conveyance of the sheet by the conveyance unit 102. As a result, an image is formed on the sheet and printing is performed. The ink ejection timing is determined by the output signal of the transport encoder 103.

  The printed sheet is conveyed to the inspection unit 107 and subjected to various inspections. After the inspection, the sheet conveyed from the inspection unit 107 is conveyed in the direction e in the drawing and reaches the cutter unit 110. In the cutter unit 110, the sheet is cut for each length of a predetermined printing unit, and the cut sheet is conveyed in the direction f in the drawing and is conveyed to the back surface printing unit 111, where necessary information is printed. .

  The sheet conveyed from the back surface printing unit reaches the drying unit 112. In the drying unit 112, in order to dry the sheet to which ink has been added in a short time, the sheet conveyed in the direction g in the figure is heated with warm air.

  The sheets cut to the length of the printing unit pass through the drying unit 112 one by one, are conveyed in the h direction in the figure, and reach the sorting unit 114. In the sorting unit 114, sheets conveyed in the i direction in the figure are stacked on each tray while being confirmed by a sensor. As a result, printing on either side of the sheet is completed. In the case of double-sided printing, as described above, after single-sided printing is performed, the sheet winding unit 113 winds the sheet and returns it to the original sheet conveyance path. In this case, the sheet on which only the front surface printing is performed is not cut by the cutter unit 110.

  Next, an example of the configuration of the control system of the printing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the host device 50 is a computer (or an image reading reader, a digital camera, or the like) serving as a job data supply source.

  Here, the printing apparatus 10 includes a controller 20, a plurality of rendering units 30, a user interface unit 41, and an engine unit 42 as a control system.

  The user interface unit 41 is realized by the operation unit 115 shown in FIG. That is, the user interface unit 41 functions to display various information (for example, job status) to the operator and to input various instructions from the operator into the apparatus.

  The controller 20 analyzes job data from the host device 50 and creates commands and data for each rendering unit 30 based on the analysis result and instructions from the user interface unit 41. The rendered data is received from each rendering unit 30 and transferred to the engine unit 42.

  Here, the controller 20 is realized by a part of the control unit 108 shown in FIG. The controller 20 includes a receiving unit 21, an analyzing unit 22, a page dividing unit 23, a rendering management unit 24, a communication unit 25, and a spool unit 26.

  The receiving unit 21 receives job data such as PDL from the host device 50. The analysis unit 22 analyzes job data. The analysis unit 22 analyzes what kind of layout the job data has, and whether it is a color job or a monochrome job. In addition, the object information on each page in the job data is also analyzed. In addition to analyzing the job data itself, such an analysis is performed by directly acquiring a user instruction if the job is based on a user instruction via the user interface unit 41. For example, a user instruction via the user interface unit 41 is performed using a menu screen as shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a menu screen for performing binding setting 601, layout setting 602, duplex setting 603, and image correction setting 604.

  The page dividing unit 23 divides job data into pages. Thereby, a plurality of page data are generated.

  The rendering management unit 24 manages processing in the plurality of rendering units 30. More specifically, based on the analysis result of the analysis unit 22, a plurality of pieces of divided data in which one or a plurality of page data obtained by the division of the page division unit 23 are combined are generated. Then, the rendering process for each of the divided data is executed using any one of the plurality of rendering units 30.

  Here, the rendering management unit 24 includes a divided data generation unit 51, a command creation unit 52, an object determination unit 53, a transfer destination determination unit 54, and an addition unit 55.

  The divided data generation unit 51 generates divided data in which a plurality of page data is grouped for each unit instructed to each rendering unit 30 based on the analysis result of the analysis unit 22. The command creation unit 52 creates a command. Specifically, a command for instructing the rendering unit 30 about an image processing mode or the like is created based on the analysis result of the analysis unit 22.

  The object determination unit 53 determines whether there is a common object that is repeatedly used in a plurality of page data (or within one page data). The transfer destination determination unit 54 determines the rendering unit 30 that is the transfer destination of each divided data. This determination is made based on, for example, the processing status of each rendering unit 30. The adding unit 55 adds various types of information (reference number to be described later) to the divided data based on the determination result of the object determining unit 53 and the determination result of the transfer destination determining unit 54.

  The communication unit 25 exchanges various data with each rendering unit 30. In the communication unit 25, for example, based on an instruction from the rendering management unit 24, a command for instructing an image processing mode and divided data are transferred to each rendering unit 30. The mode here refers to, for example, the presence / absence of image correction processing, the setting of single-sided / double-sided, the presence / absence of post-processes such as side stitching and saddle stitching.

  The spool unit 26 transfers the bitmap data processed by each rendering unit 30 and the header information of the data to the engine unit 42 in a predetermined order.

  The rendering unit 30 is realized as a part of the control unit 108 shown in FIG. The rendering unit 30 performs rendering processing based on commands and data from the controller 20. The rendered bitmap data is transferred to the controller 20 via the spool unit 26.

  Each rendering unit 30 is provided with a communication unit 31, a conversion processing unit 32, an object holding unit 33, and an object management unit 34.

  The communication unit 31 exchanges various data with the controller 20. For example, the communication unit 31 receives a command or divided data transmitted from the controller 20.

  The conversion processing unit 32 performs a rendering process based on the data received via the communication unit 31. The conversion processing unit 32 performs image correction processing, PDL rasterization processing, monochrome conversion processing, imposition processing, and the like.

  Here, in the image correction process, the correction process specified by the command is performed on the image data in the divided data. In the PDL rasterization process, PDL is interpreted and logical drawing or the like is performed to create bitmap data. In the monochrome conversion process, a color conversion process prior to the color conversion process in a color conversion unit (not shown) in the engine unit 42 is performed. Specifically, in a color conversion unit (not shown) in the engine unit 42, pre-processing is performed for producing a subtle difference in reproduction such as warm black, cold black, and pure black in monochrome processing. In the imposition process, for example, in the case of saddle stitching, two pages are equivalent to one page in accordance with the print setting such as single-sided or double-sided binding such as side stitching and saddle stitching specified by a command from the controller 20. Imposition the media. The bitmap data that has undergone the imposition process is transferred from the communication unit 31 to the communication unit 25 in the controller 20.

  At the same time as the transfer of the bitmap data from the communication unit 31, job status information related to the bitmap data is also sent to the controller 20 side. The job status information is information indicating whether the job data has been normally rendered or an error has occurred, and is used for displaying the job status on the user interface unit 41. For example, when an error occurs in the conversion processing unit 32, error status information is sent to the controller 20.

  The object holding unit 33 (temporarily) holds a common object used in a plurality of page data and information related thereto. For example, it is assumed that information indicating that a specific object in the PDL is used in a plurality of page data is set in the command added from the controller 20 or in the divided data. In this case, the conversion processing unit 32 acquires the corresponding object from the object holding unit 33 and uses it for the PDL rasterization processing.

  The object management unit 34 manages common objects held in the object holding unit 33 and information (reference information) related thereto. For example, the common object or the like is deleted from the object holding unit 33.

  The engine unit 42 is realized by a part of the control unit 108 shown in FIG. 1 and the printing unit described in FIG. The engine unit 42 performs a printing operation for each bitmap data received from the controller 20 and performs printing on the recording medium. At this time, the engine unit 42 performs processing such as color conversion based on the header information on the bitmap data, and then performs printing on a recording medium such as a roll sheet. The header information holds information such as whether the bitmap data is in monochrome mode or color mode. In the color conversion process, for example, the first color conversion table is used in the color mode, and the second color conversion table is used in the monochrome mode. Color conversion here refers to color conversion such as color management in the color mode, and in the monochrome mode, for example, warm black, cold black, pure black, depending on the result of the monochrome processing in the rendering unit. Monochrome processing is performed. After such processing, for example, it is converted into CMYK, which is a color space handled by the engine unit 42, and further binarized processing is performed as necessary. The data after the color conversion process is printed on the sheet.

(Embodiment 1)
Here, the first embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, a case will be described in which divided data according to a printing unit of the engine unit 42 is generated based on a layout setting obtained by analyzing job data, and is processed by the rendering unit 30.

  An example of job division to rendering processing according to the first embodiment will be described using a specific example with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the rendering unit 30 includes a first rendering unit to a third rendering unit.

  Here, it is assumed that job data (input data) including a plurality of pages is sent from the host device 50. Specifically, the job data includes pages 1 to 6, and the layout setting specifies saddle stitching and 2in1.

  In the printing apparatus 10, the analysis unit 22 analyzes the job data to acquire layout settings (saddle stitching setting and 2 in 1), and the page division unit 23 divides the job data into pages.

  Here, the printing apparatus 10 generates a plurality of pieces of divided data in the divided data generation unit 51 based on the analysis result of the analysis unit 22. In this case, since the layout setting is “saddle stitch setting and 2 in 1”, the divided data including page data 1 and page data 6, the divided data including page data 2 and page data 5, the page data 3 and page data Divided data including data 4 is generated.

  After the generation of the divided data, the printing apparatus 10 transfers the divided data to each rendering unit 30 in the communication unit 25, and executes the rendering process. In this case, the divided data including the page data 1 and the page data 6 is processed by the first rendering unit. Further, the divided data including the page data 2 and the page data 5 is processed by the second rendering unit, and the divided data including the page data 3 and the page data 4 is processed by the third rendering unit. . That is, a plurality of page data to be printed by one printing operation by the engine unit 42 is processed by the same rendering unit 30.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the divided data according to the print unit of the engine unit 42 is generated based on the layout setting, and is transferred to each rendering unit 30.

  Thereby, the page data printed by one printing operation by the engine unit 42 can be processed by the same rendering unit 30. Therefore, unlike the prior art, the problem that page data printed by a single printing operation by the engine unit is processed by different rendering units does not occur, so that it is possible to prevent the processing delay caused by it.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, Embodiment 2 will be described. In the second embodiment, when the same object is commonly used for one or a plurality of page data based on the object information obtained by analyzing the job data, the objects are collectively transferred to the rendering unit. The case where it does is demonstrated.

  The job division to rendering processing according to the second embodiment will be described using a specific example with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the rendering unit 30 includes a first rendering unit to a third rendering unit.

  Here, it is assumed that job data (input data) including a plurality of pages is sent from the host device 50. Specifically, the job data includes pages 1 to 5.

  In the printing apparatus 10, the analysis unit 22 analyzes the job data to acquire object information, and the page division unit 23 divides the job data into pages. At this time, page data 1 and page data 2 each include the same (common) object (object A), and page data 3 and page data 4 each include the same object (object E). . Therefore, the rendering management unit 24 controls the page data 1 and page data 2 to be processed by the same rendering unit, and controls the page data 3 and page data 4 to be processed by the same rendering unit. .

  More specifically, the printing apparatus 10 first generates divided data including page data 1 and page data 2 in the divided data generation unit 51. At this time, only one object A is included in the divided data. Further, a reference counter indicating the number of times of reference of the object A is added to the divided data.

  Accordingly, the rendering unit 30 that processes the divided data performs rendering processing corresponding to the page data 1 and 2 in the conversion processing unit 32 based on one object A included in the divided data. Then, every time the object management unit 34 refers to the object, the reference counter is decremented by 1, and the object A is deleted from the object holding unit 33 when the value becomes “0”.

  Similarly to the above, the printing apparatus 10 generates divided data including the page data 3 and the page data 4, adds the reference counter, and transfers the generated data to the rendering unit 30. As a result, the same processing as that for the object A described above is performed for the object E as well.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when there is a common object in one or a plurality of page data, the corresponding page data is processed by the same rendering unit 30. The common object need only be transmitted once from the controller 20 to the rendering unit 30.

  As a result, the conventional problem that a common object is processed by different rendering units does not occur, so that it is possible to prevent a decrease in processing efficiency due to the problem. Further, the communication traffic between the controller 20 and each rendering unit 30 can be reduced.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described. In the second embodiment, a case has been described in which when there is a common object in one or a plurality of page data, the page data is processed by the same rendering unit 30. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, even when there is a common object in a plurality of page data, a rendering process is performed using a plurality of rendering units 30 depending on the processing status of each rendering unit 30. The case will be described.

  An example of the processing flow of the printing apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, an example of the processing flow of the controller 20 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a description will be given of processing performed when each rendering unit 30 is requested to perform rendering processing on the job data after receiving the job data.

  When the receiving unit 21 receives the job data, the controller 20 analyzes the job data in the analyzing unit 22 (S101), and the page dividing unit 23 divides the job data into pages (S102). That is, a plurality of page data is generated.

  Subsequently, in the divided data generation unit 51, the controller 20 generates a plurality of pieces of divided data obtained by collecting one or a plurality of page data based on the analysis result of S101 (S102). In addition, the controller 20 creates a command in the command creation unit 52 (S103). That is, a command for instructing the rendering unit 30 about an image processing mode or the like is created based on the analysis result described above.

  After the creation of the command, the controller 20 determines in the object determination unit 53 whether there is a common object that is repeatedly used for a plurality of page data. If there is a common object as a result of the determination (YES in S104), the transfer destination determining unit 54 acquires the processing status of each rendering unit 30, and determines the transfer destination of each divided data based on the processing status (S105). ). For example, even if there is a common object that is repeatedly used for a plurality of page data, depending on the processing status of each rendering unit 30, it may be more efficient to instruct the rendering processing separately to the plurality of rendering units 30 There is. In this case, the transfer destination determination unit 54 determines to transfer the divided data to a plurality of rendering units. In determining the transfer destination, in addition to the processing status (load state) of the rendering unit 30, the data size of the object, the communication band between the communication units 25 and 31, and the like may be taken into consideration.

  As a result of the processing in S106, when the rendering processing is not performed using the plurality of rendering units 30 (NO in S106), the controller 20 performs the same processing as in the second embodiment. That is, any one of the divided data generated in S102 includes a common object (only one). Therefore, a reference counter indicating the number of references to the object is added to any one of the divided data (S108).

  Thereafter, as described in the second embodiment, the controller 20 transfers the plurality of divided data generated by the processing of S108 and a command corresponding thereto to the same rendering unit 30 in the communication unit 25 (S109). As a result, the rendering unit 30 performs the rendering process by repeatedly using the common object. As a result, communication traffic can be reduced.

  On the other hand, when rendering processing is performed using a plurality of rendering units 30 (YES in S106), the controller 20 divides a reference counter or reference ID indicating the copy (duplication) of the common object and the number of references thereof in the adding unit 55. Append to data. Then, the communication unit 25 transfers the plurality of divided data and the corresponding command to the plurality of rendering units 30 (S109). It should be noted that a copy of the common object is created and added even if there are a plurality of the same objects in the original PDL, only one of the objects is held in the PDL. . For this reason, even if a plurality of pieces of divided data are generated, only one of them contains a common object, and thus a copy of the common object is added to each piece of divided data.

  Next, as an example of a process flow in the controller 20, a process when receiving rendered data from the rendering unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in the communication unit 25, the controller 20 receives bitmap data and job status information corresponding to the bitmap data from the rendering unit 30 (YES in S201). Accordingly, the controller 20 updates the job status to a status indicating the end of the rendering (S202).

  Subsequently, the controller 20 determines whether or not the rendering result is an error. This determination is made based on the job status information received in the process of S201. If the result of determination is an error (YES in S203), the controller 20 updates the status of the job corresponding to the job ID to an error status, and then returns to the processing of S201 again.

  On the other hand, if no error has occurred (NO in S203), the controller 20 holds the bitmap data in the spool unit 26 (S205). Then, the job status is updated to an output waiting state (S206).

  Further, the controller 20 transfers the bitmap data and the header information of the data in the spool unit 26 to the engine unit 42 according to a predetermined order (printing order) (S207). When this transfer is completed, the controller 20 updates the job status to the outputting state (S208). Thereafter, the controller 20 returns to the process of S201 again and receives the next bitmap data.

  Next, an example of the processing flow of each rendering unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a process when the divided data is received from the controller 20 side will be described.

  The rendering unit 30 receives the divided data sent from the controller 20 and the command corresponding thereto in the communication unit 31 (YES in S301). When the data is received, the rendering unit 30 performs image correction processing according to the received command (S302).

  Subsequently, the rendering unit 30 determines in the object management unit 34 whether or not a new common object is included in the divided data. If a new common object is included (YES in S303), the rendering unit 30 holds the object, a reference counter, and the like in the object holding unit 33 (S304). Thereafter, the rendering unit 30 proceeds to the process of S306.

  As a result of the determination in S303, if the new common object is not included in the divided data, the rendering unit 30 uses the common object in which the data in the divided data is already held in the object holding unit 33 (see ) Is determined.

  As a result of the determination, if used (YES in S306), the rendering unit 30 acquires the corresponding common object from the object holding unit 33 in the conversion processing unit 32 (S307), and decreases the reference count corresponding to the object by one. (S308). Then, it is determined whether or not the reference count is “0”. If it is not “0” (NO in S309), the rendering unit 30 proceeds to the process of S311. On the other hand, if it is “0” (YES in S309), the rendering unit 30 deletes the object from the object holding unit 33 in the object management unit 34 (S310), and then proceeds to the process of S311. That is, when the common object is used for the reference count (used for the reference count), the object is deleted from the object holding unit 33. This reference count is also applied to divided data that uses subsequent common objects. Therefore, the common object may be deleted from the object holding unit 33 during the rendering of the divided job that uses the subsequent common object.

  As a result of the determination in S306, if the data in the divided data does not use an object already held in the object holding unit 33 (NO in S306), the rendering unit 30 proceeds to the process in S311. That is, the conversion processing unit 32 performs PDL rasterization processing on the divided data (S311).

  Thereafter, the rendering unit 30 performs monochrome processing and imposition processing on the generated bitmap data in the conversion processing unit 32 in accordance with commands (S312 and S313). Then, the communication unit 31 transmits the bitmap data and the rendering processing result to the controller 20 (S314, S315).

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, even when there is a common object in a plurality of page data, a rendering process is performed using a plurality of rendering units 30 depending on the processing status of each rendering unit 30. .

  Thereby, it is possible to improve the throughput of the overall processing for printing based on job data in consideration of the processing status of each rendering unit 30.

  In addition, since the rendering unit 30 adds the number of references to a common object that is repeatedly used and holds it, the communication traffic between the controller 20 and the rendering unit 30 can be reduced, so that parallel operability can be improved. .

  As described above, according to the first to third embodiments, in a printing apparatus including a plurality of rendering units, the layout setting, the presence of a common object that is repeatedly used, and the processing state of the rendering unit are efficiently considered. A rendering process can be performed.

Claims (6)

Analysis means for analyzing job data including a plurality of pages, and obtaining layout settings and information of objects included in each page;
Dividing means for dividing the job data into pages,
Based on at least one of the layout setting and the object information, a plurality of pieces of divided data obtained by dividing one or a plurality of page data obtained by the division by the dividing unit are generated, and a rendering process for each of the divided data A rendering management unit that executes any one of a plurality of rendering units;
A printing apparatus comprising: a printing unit that performs a printing operation for each bitmap data generated by the rendering unit and performs printing on a recording medium. The rendering management means includes:
When there is a common object that is used in common by the plurality of page data, divided data for generating the plurality of divided data by including the common object in any one divided data when generating the plurality of divided data Generating means;
A determining unit that determines a rendering unit that performs a rendering process on the plurality of divided data based on a processing status of each rendering unit;
An adding means for adding a copy of the common object and its reference count to each piece of divided data when the decision means decides to execute rendering processing on the plurality of pieces of divided data using the plurality of rendering means; And
The rendering means includes
A holding means for holding the common object and the reference count when receiving the divided data including the common object and to which the reference count is added;
Conversion processing means for performing rendering processing using the common object held in the holding means;
The printing according to claim 1, further comprising: an object management unit that deletes the common object held in the holding unit and the reference count when the common object is used for the reference count in the rendering process. apparatus. The adding means includes
The number of references is added to the divided data including the common object when the determining unit determines that the rendering process for the plurality of divided data is not performed using the plurality of rendering units. Item 3. The printing apparatus according to Item 2. The rendering management means includes:
When there is a common object that is used in common by the plurality of page data, divided data for generating the plurality of divided data by including the common object in any one divided data when generating the plurality of divided data Generating means;
Adding means for adding a reference count to the divided data including the common object,
The rendering means includes
A holding means for holding the common object and the reference count when receiving the divided data including the common object and to which the reference count is added;
Conversion processing means for rendering processing using the common object held in the holding means;
The object management unit according to claim 1, further comprising: the common object held in the holding unit when the common object is used for the reference number in the rendering process, and an object management unit that deletes the reference number. Printing device. The rendering management means includes:
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of divided data in which a plurality of page data to be printed by one printing operation by the printing unit is combined is generated based on the layout setting. A processing method for a printing apparatus,
An analysis unit that analyzes job data including a plurality of pages, and obtains layout settings and object information included in each page;
A step of dividing the job data into pages,
The rendering management means generates a plurality of pieces of divided data obtained by combining one or a plurality of page data obtained by the division by the dividing means based on at least one of the layout setting and the object information, and the division Executing a rendering process for each data using any one of a plurality of rendering means;
And a printing unit that performs a printing operation for each bitmap data generated by the rendering unit and performs printing on a recording medium.

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