JPH1051652A - Information processing unit and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To efficiently identify an area of an output image where a drawing image exists in drawing image units, and to perform a constraint process by performing image processing only on the identified area. And SOLUTION: Input means for inputting input image data indicated by a drawing command, identification means for identifying a drawing area based on the drawing command, and corresponding to the drawing area based on the drawing area identified by the identification means Image processing means for performing image processing on the input image data to be processed, and the identification means, when the drawing unit indicated by the drawing command is a figure constituted by a line drawing, converts the figure into a plurality of figures. An information processing apparatus, comprising: decomposing a line segment; and setting a drawing area for each line segment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method for processing input image data indicated by a drawing command.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printing system that outputs print information to a printing apparatus based on a printer driver on a host computer side, when output information created by an application is output to a printer, it is sent from an OS (operating system). The incoming drawing command is output to the printer as a printer output control command based on the printer driver.

In the case of a printer having a page description language, a drawing command of the OS is converted into a page description language of the printer by a printer driver and sent to the printer. Then, an image is created on the printer and sent to a printer engine. Printed. In the case of a raster printer which does not have an advanced page description language, the printer driver develops an image on the memory of the host computer and transfers it to the printer. In any case, there is a process of creating image data on a memory before performing printing processing by the printer engine.

In general, when an image is created by an application, color information is represented as multi-tone or gray scale data of each color of RGB. On the other hand, it is better for a normal printer to manage image data as CMYK two-value data indicating whether or not to output ink or toner on a print medium at a certain coordinate. Therefore, in the process of creating the image data on the memory, once the RGB data
In many printing systems, a multi-tone image is created, converted into CMYK multi-value information representing each color of printer ink, and then converted into CMYK binary data representing whether or not ink is to be applied. Is necessary. Several methods have been devised for finally converting RGB multi-tone data of an application into CMYK binary data. Normally, these processes are performed in the horizontal direction for each pixel from the coordinate point on the upper right of the RGB multi-tone image data, and are converted in order from the top to the bottom of the image, and the entire image is processed. Had to do.

[0005]

Such image processing needs to be performed for the entire range of image data. Therefore, even if the processing per pixel itself is simple,
There is an image problem that the printing process takes a long time because of the considerable repetitive processing for the entire image. In recent years, as printing technology has advanced and printing density has increased,
Image data tends to be larger and larger, and increasing the speed of image processing has been an issue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention efficiently performs high-speed processing by efficiently identifying an area where a drawing image exists in output information in units of a drawing image and performing image processing only on the identified area. The purpose is to enable.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an input unit for inputting input image data indicated by a drawing command, an identification unit for identifying a drawing area based on the drawing command, Image processing means for performing image processing on the input image data corresponding to the drawing area based on the drawing area identified by the identification means, wherein the identification means comprises a drawing unit indicated by the drawing command. Is a graphic composed of line drawings,
The graphic is divided into a plurality of line segments, and a drawing area is set for each of the line segments.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1
Reference numeral 30 denotes a host computer, which is Ether Ne.
printer 11 via a communication bus 7 such as t or SCSI.
0 and 120 are connected. Each printing device 11
0 and 120 are the printer controller 8 and the engine 9
(E.g., laser printer engine, ink jet engine), images, characters,
Outputs graphics and the like.

In the host computer HC, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU, the system operation of which is controlled by an OS stored in a ROM 2. Various application programs read from an FD drive, an HD drive, and the like (not shown) and each printing device 110, The CPU 1 executes a printer driver (print control program) corresponding to the printer 120, and outputs output information created based on the application program to the printing apparatus 11 based on the printer driver.
The CPU 1 converts the output commands into output commands corresponding to 0 and 120, and outputs the output commands to the respective printing devices 110 and 120.

The CPU 1 operates as shown in FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Update processing of drawing area management data, color conversion processing,
Execute binarization processing.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a bit map memory for storing output information shown in FIG. 3, a work memory for storing drawing area management data shown in FIG. 4, and data read out via the above-mentioned FD drive or HD drive (not shown). This is a RAM used as a program memory for storing application programs and printer drivers. 4 is CR not shown
I / F for displaying output information on a display device such as T,
Reference numeral 5 denotes an input unit I / F for inputting input information from a keyboard or a pointing device (not shown). Reference numeral 6 denotes the above-described CPU 1, ROM 2, RAM 3, display unit I / F
4. A data bus to which the input I / F is connected.

A plurality of printing apparatuses 11 are connected to a host computer 130 via a predetermined communication bus 7 such as a network.
In a printing system configured by connecting 0, 120, RGB multi-tone image data developed on the RAM 3 is finally converted to CMYK binary image data so that it can be easily printed using color materials such as ink and toner. In a system that performs conversion processing, an area in which an image is drawn is managed in a unit enclosed by a rectangle described below for each drawing command.

FIG. 2 shows a method of managing a drawing area of a drawing figure created by the CPU 1 based on an application program of a host computer by using a rectangle. In this rectangle, the upper side and the lower side are horizontal, and the left side and the right side are vertical.

If the drawing figure is a line segment such as 10, for example, the drawing area is represented by a rectangle 11 obtained from the coordinates of the start point and the end point.

In the case of a rectangular or polygonal drawing figure, such as 23 or 24, in which the drawing figure is composed of several line segments, for example, 23 and 24, the coordinates of the start point and end point of each line segment The top and bottom coordinate values and the rightmost and left coordinate values are obtained from, and the drawing area is represented by a rectangle adjacent to the drawing figure based on those coordinates. In the rectangle 23, the drawing area is represented by 23, and in the polygon 24, the drawing area is represented by 25.

With respect to drawing figures, such as 12 and 17, which do not fill the inside of a figure in the case of a rectangle or polygon in which the drawing figure is composed of several line segments, the figure is decomposed into line segments, and each line is divided. It is represented by the area of the sum of rectangles obtained from the coordinates of the start point and the end point of the minute. The reason for decomposing into line segments in this way is that simply managing them with rectangles adjacent to them is inefficient because the area actually drawn is very small compared to the area managed to be drawn. It is. For example, 1
In a rectangle such as 0, the line segments 13, 14, 15, and 16 are used as a drawing area.
The drawing area is represented by the sum area of 9, 20, 21, and 22, and each drawing area is registered in the drawing area management data of FIG.

An ellipse, a rectangle with rounded corners, a bitmap, an arc, for example, 26, so that the drawing figure cannot be decomposed into line segments.
In the case of 28, 30, 32, etc., it is managed by a rectangle adjacent thereto. The ellipse 26 is 27 and the rounded rectangle 28 is 2
9, the bitmap 30 is represented by 31, and the arc 32 is represented by 33. In such a graphic, the OS usually specifies the coordinate value of the drawing graphic in a rectangle adjacent to the graphic in many cases, so that it is not necessary to find the coordinates.

In the case of text such as 34, the height of the font and the length of each character in the horizontal direction can be obtained from the font information specified in the text. Find 35.
For raster printers without a page description language,
Creation of drawing image, management of drawing area and subsequent RGB
The process of converting multi-tone data into CMYK binary data is performed by a printer driver in the host computer HC. Hereinafter, the printer driver on the host computer HC
A raster-based printer system that creates value image data and transfers it to a printer will be described.

The present embodiment is directed to a process of obtaining a rectangular area in which drawing is performed in units of a drawing command by the above-described method, and finally converting RGB multi-tone image data into CMYK binary image data. On a horizontal scan line, a portion between some line segments where rectangles representing these drawing regions exist is finally determined to be a region where drawing is actually performed.

FIG. 3 explains the determination of a drawing area on a certain horizontal line. In FIG. 3, an area surrounded by 56 represents the entire image object (output information) for one page to be created in the RAM 3 to be printed. Here, for example, in the horizontal line 36, the drawing area 52 of the line segment 51
The area between the point 39 on the left side and the point 40 on the right side and the area between the point 41 on the left side and the point 42 on the right side of the drawing area 54 of the text 53 are the drawn parts. Since the horizontal line 37 is an area of the sum of the drawing area 52 of the line segment 51 and the drawing area 56 of the bitmap 55, it is a part between the point 43 on the left side of 52 and the point 44 on the right side of 56. . In the horizontal line 38, the drawing area 5 of the ellipse 57
8, a portion between a point 46 on the left side and a point 46 on the right side, a portion between a point 47 on the left side of the drawing area 60 of the polygon 59 and a point 48 on the right side, and a rectangle 61 without solid color. A point 49 on the left side and a point 50 on the right side are obtained.

In a raster printer having no page description language, the CPU 1 performs image expansion processing based on a printer driver on a host computer.
Since there is not enough memory to expand all the images for the page, an image is created on the memory for each unit called banding, which is divided horizontally and elongated. The CPU 1 analyzes the drawing command created by the CPU 1 based on the application based on the printer driver, calculates the coordinates of the rectangular area where the drawing is performed on the banding, and determines the drawing range of each horizontal line with banding. Are sequentially registered.

FIG. 4 shows a data structure representing a certain drawing portion represented by a line segment area on one horizontal line.
4 shows a data structure by which the CPU 1 can manage the drawing area for each line of the banding memory based on the printer driver using the data of FIG.

The data shown in FIG. 4 is composed of three element data. The left of 64 indicates the left coordinate of the drawing part,
Represents the right coordinate of the drawing part. The portion between left and right represents the portion where the drawing was performed. next is a RAM 3 having data having the same structure as that of FIG. 4 and representing a drawing portion existing on the next right side on the same horizontal line.
The above address.

The drawing area management data of FIG. 5 is composed of such list data of the data of FIG. In FIG. 5, ro
ot (k) is a pointer to the data shown in FIG. 4 representing the leftmost drawing portion on the k-th horizontal line. If drawing is not performed on the horizontal line or in the initial state, root (k) is NULL.
Let it be an L pointer (pointer pointing to address 0). ro
If there is a part drawn on a horizontal line in addition to the drawing part represented by the data pointed to by ot (k), root
The element data next of the data indicated by (k) indicates the address where the data representing the next leftmost drawing portion exists. In this way, the CPU 1 can know the drawing portion of the k-th horizontal line on the banding memory by tracing data in order from root (k).

The part where the drawing image is present is managed for each horizontal line. Normally, the conversion of the color space and the binarization processing of the multi-tone image are performed sequentially from the upper left coordinate point of the banding image to the right in the horizontal direction. This is because it is applied and the processing is repeated for each horizontal line from top to bottom, so that it is easy to use at that time.

Next, a method of updating the drawing management data shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

The CPU 1 updates the drawing management data based on the printer driver shown in the flowchart of FIG. Here, it is assumed that the coordinates of the drawn image are a right coordinate system and a downward coordinate system are positive as in a coordinate system 60 of FIG.

After the drawing command is created based on the application program, the CPI 1 obtains a rectangle representing the drawing area of the command based on the printer driver. In step S1, C is set based on the printer driver.
PU1 stores the coordinate value of the upper side of the rectangle in a variable k.
Next, in step S2, the coordinates of the left side and the right side of the rectangle representing the drawing area are set as variables newLeft and newRight.
Substitute t. In step S3, the CPU 1 updates the drawing area management data in FIG. 5 based on the flowcharts in FIGS. 7 and 8 described below. The above processing is performed on a horizontal line in a drawing area of a certain command in the drawing area management data. That is, k is incremented in step S4, and if it is determined in step S5 that it is equal to or smaller than the coordinates of the lower side of the drawing area, the processing is repeated again. finish.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the details of step S3 in FIG. In step S6, the coordinates of the left side and the right side of the rectangle representing the drawing area of a certain drawing command to be newly registered are set in variables newLeft2 and newRi.
ght2. In step S7, the variable prevN
The address of root (k) is substituted for ext. If the reference value of prevNext is NULL (when there is no data representing the drawing part pointed by the pointer) in step S8, the process proceeds to steps 87 and 88 in FIG. 8, and data representing a new drawing part is newly added.

In step S8, if there is data representing the drawing portion pointed by the pointer, the data is obtained.
The data indicated by prevNext is called current data, and its elements left, right, and next are hereinafter referred to as curLeft, curRight, and curNex.
Called t. In step S10, curLeft-1 and the left coordinate value newLef of the drawing area to be newly registered
Compare t2.

If newLeft2 is smaller, the process proceeds to step S11, and the left coordinate value newRight2 of the drawing area to be newly registered is compared with curLeft-1. When newRight2 is smaller, the drawing area to be newly registered does not overlap with the existing drawing area and is located on the left side.
Steps S12 and S13 so that (k) indicates the area.
Create list data with.

If it is determined in step S11 that newRight2 is not smaller, it means that the current data area is continuous with the newly registered drawing area, or that both areas overlap. In step S18, it is checked whether data representing a drawing portion exists to the right of the current data area. If not, the process proceeds to step S21. If there is, in step S19, the left coordinate of the data representing the drawing portion is substituted for the variable nextLeft,
In step S20, subtract 1 from it and newRi
Compare the value of ght2.

When newRight2 is smaller,
This is when the newly registered drawing area does not overlap with the area to the right of the current data and does not continue.
In this case, in steps S21, S22 and S23, the sum of the drawing part of the current data and the drawing area to be newly registered is determined, and the current data is updated in that area. Step S2
When newRight2 is equal to or greater than 0, the newly registered drawing area is overlapped or continuous with the area to the right of the current data. At this time, since the area of the current data is included in the newly registered drawing area, it is deleted in step S26. At the same time, in steps 24 and S25, the data representing the drawing portion on the right side is set as the current data of interest next.
The reference value of revNext is updated with the address value of the data representing the drawing portion on the right. Next, the process returns to step S18, and the same processing is performed on the current data to be newly focused, based on the above-described concept.

In step S10, newLeft2 is cu.
If greater than or equal to rLeft-1, step S
Proceed to 14. In step S14, newLeft2 and c
Compare urRight + 1. If newLeft2 is smaller or equal, the newly registered drawing area is continuous or overlaps with the current area, and the process proceeds to step S16. NewL in step S16
ef2 is compared with curLeft, and when curLeft is larger, the value of newLeft is set as the value of curLeft so that the operation after step S18 can be performed without contradiction.

If newLeft2 is larger in step S14, the drawing area to be newly added is not in contact with the drawing portion represented by the current data and is located on the right side of the drawing area, and the flow advances to step S15. In step S15, prev
Next is set as the address of the data representing the drawing portion on the right side of the current data, and the next data of interest is changed. If there is no data representing the drawing portion on the right of the current data, the image area to be newly added is located on the right side of the registered data, and the processing in step S8 causes steps S27 and S28 to be executed. Proceed,
It is newly registered as drawing management data.

The update of the drawing area management data of FIG. 5 according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 is performed by the CPU 1 based on the printer driver every time the CPU 1 executes a command based on an application.

When the processing of the flowcharts in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 is performed for all drawing commands generated by the application, the list structure data is obtained from root (k) at a certain k-th horizontal line. The data which can manage the drawing areas existing on the line in order from the left in units of line segments is obtained. In this way, while updating the information of the drawing area management data of FIG.
The CPU 1 analyzes the drawing command created by the CPU 1 based on a printer driver, and develops a multi-tone image on a banding memory of the RAM 3.

The OS of the host computer 130 usually converts the colors of the image into RGB (Red, Green, BL).
ue) is often represented by three-component gradation data representing the luminance, and the image data created on the banding memory at this time is RGB gradation data. On the other hand, the printing apparatus receives and prints an image with data representing the density of each color material. C for a color printer
It is often required to input MYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Therefore, the printer driver first converts the RGB multi-tone image data created above into CMY
It is converted into K multi-tone image data. The conversion method is
Various processes such as complement conversion and masking are conceivable.

Then, the printer driver converts the CMYK multi-gradation image data into binary image data indicating whether or not the printing device outputs color materials at certain coordinates, and transfers the binary image data to the printer as a command. This is because, when printing is performed using a color material such as ink or toner, it is difficult to express the gradation by itself, for example, by controlling the output amount by the gradation. This is because a method is used in which the density is represented by the average area of the output points of the color materials. As a method of converting multi-tone image data into binary tone image data, a dither method, an error diffusion method, and the like have been devised.

As described above, the image data created in the banding memory on the RAM 3 in each of the RGB component data formats must go through several processes before being transferred to the printer as a command. Even if the processing of each of these processes is very simple, it will be necessary to apply the processing to each pixel of the image data and each component of each color, and it will be quite repetitive to perform it on the entire image It takes time. In recent years, output devices such as printers have a higher resolution, and the number of pixels per page tends to increase.

Therefore, the process of converting the RGB multi-tone data to CMYK multi-tone data and the process of converting the CMYK multi-tone data to CMYK binary values are limited to the portion where the image is actually developed on the banding memory. Thus, the speed of the printing process is increased. That is, the portion where the drawing has occurred for each horizontal line is obtained with reference to the drawing region management data of FIG. 5, and the flowchart shown in FIG.
A process of converting RGB multi-tone data to CMYK multi-tone data for that portion,
A process of converting into a YK2 value is applied.

Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 9 will be described.

In step S29, the index k is initialized. Represents the vertical coordinate value of the band memory where the index k processing is performed. In step S30, the variable lastR
The initialization of "light" is performed. This variable indicates the right coordinate of the rendering part on which the data processing was last performed on the horizontal line. In step S31, a pointer indicating drawing management data of a horizontal line to be processed is assigned to a variable prevNext. prevNext is used as a pointer to the data of FIG. 4 representing the drawing part. In step S32, p
Check whether revNext is NULL. When NULL, it means that there is no drawn part in the right part of lastRight, so that the multi-tone RGB data of that part should have white image data. Assuming that the command to be sent to the printer is to eject ink when it is 1 and not to eject ink when it is 0, R
The part representing white in the GB multi-tone data is finally converted to CMYK2
When converted to value data, they all become 0. Therefore, it is not necessary to apply the binarization process to the portion where the drawing is not performed, and the printer command is generated as data of all 0 in step S39.

In step S32, prevNext is set to NU.
If it is not LL, data representing the drawing part pointed to by prevNext is obtained in step S33. lastRi
Since the drawing is not performed on the portion between the ght and the left coordinate of the drawing portion, CMYK binary data is created in step S32 using this portion as white data. In the line segment area between the left coordinate and the right coordinate of the drawing portion, since the drawing is being performed, in step S35, the RGB multi-tone data is converted to CMYK data.
The data is converted into multi-tone data, and is converted into CMYK binary data in step S36. For the next repetition processing, the value of lastRight is updated in step S37, and
At 38, the value of prevNext is updated. In this way, until there is no more data representing the drawing portion in a certain horizontal line, that is, in step S32, prevNex
Until it is determined that tNULL, the processing from step S33 to step S38 is repeated.

In step S40, the 2
Transfer valued data.

In step S41, k is incremented. In step S42, it is determined whether or not the processing of the entire banding image has been completed. If the processing has not been completed, similar processing is continued while obtaining data representing a drawing portion by referring to root (k) for the next horizontal line. .

In a printing system using a printer having a page language, since the actual creation of an image is performed on the printer side, the rendering area determination and binarization processing performed by the printer driver on the host computer are performed by the printer. It is executed based on a program with the same function inside.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a print system in which a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a host computer via a predetermined communication means such as a network manages print information and image images. An information processing apparatus having storage means, which outputs multi-gradation image data created on the storage means after performing binarization processing so as to be easily printed with ink or toner, and outputs the data. On the image data, the area where the drawing is actually performed is managed by the drawing management data of FIG. Then, while referring to the drawing management data, only the portion where the drawing is performed on the horizontal scanner line of the image data is performed.
By executing color conversion processing (complement conversion, masking processing, binarization processing, etc.) to the GB multi-tone image data CMYK binary data, it is possible to speed up the entire printing processing.

That is, in the multi-gradation output information, the region where the drawing image exists is identified, and in the above-described embodiment, the process of converting the CMYK multi-gradation data into the CMYK binary value is performed. It may be converted to a CMYK3 value or a CMYK4 value.

That is, any H-value processing for reducing the number of gradations may be used.

By performing color space conversion processing and binarization processing on the identified areas, efficient image processing can be achieved.

In the multi-tone output information, an area where a drawing image exists is identified, and a color space conversion process and a binarization process are performed on the identified area by an information processing device such as a host computer. By printing and outputting with an output device such as a printer, it is possible to achieve high-speed printing processing.

(Other Embodiments) FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of the present invention in a facsimile having an interface connectable to a host computer. Reference numeral 131 denotes a host computer, which is connected to the FAX 1 via communication means 74 such as a serial cable or Ethernet.
In the host computer 131, 68 is a CPU,
The operation of the system is controlled by an OS stored in the ROM 69 or the RAM 70, and an FD drive (not shown)
A FAX driver on a host computer converts output information created by various application programs read from an HD drive or the like into an output command corresponding to FAX1, and outputs the output command via a communication unit 74.

The host computer HC2 has interfaces such as 140, RS-422, and Ethernet.
Controlled by a command from The FAX controller 75 sends F
The AX transmission unit communicates with another FAX and transmits image data. The FAX controller 75 has a CPU 76 and is controlled by a program in a ROM 78. Also,
The FAX controller 75 has a RAM 77,
The PU 75 is used as a work area for executing a program for creating image data and transferring the image data to another FAX. The FAX 1 communicates with another FAX via the FAX communication path 80.

Assume that the host computer 131 performs facsimile output. Here, the FAX driver executed on the host computer behaves similarly to the printer driver for the printer. When a printing operation is performed by the application by selecting a menu or the like, the drawing data of the application is transferred to the FAX driver via the OS.

In FAX, in order to transmit and receive monochrome data, RGB color multi-tone data created by an application on the host computer HC2 is usually converted to FA data.
The CPU 6 converts monochrome binary data based on the X driver.
8 is converted, and then transmitted as a facsimile command by the communication means 74.
To transfer to FAX.

The CPU 68 operates based on the facsimile driver,
Drawing area of application data is shown in FIGS.
4 and 5 are created and managed according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, and the RGB data of the application is converted into black multi-tone data only in the area where the drawing is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. By performing the conversion process, it is possible to speed up the process of creating image data to be transmitted by facsimile.

The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.) or to an apparatus composed of one device (for example, a copying machine or a facsimile machine). May be.

Further, software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is installed in an apparatus or a computer in a system connected to the various devices so as to operate the various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment. The invention realized by supplying a program code and operating a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus by operating the various devices according to a stored program is also included in the scope of the present invention.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, the program code The storage medium storing the information constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (operating system) on which the program code is running in the computer. Alternatively, even when the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized in cooperation with other application software or the like, it goes without saying that such program codes are included in the embodiments of the present invention.

Further, the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then stored in the function expansion board or the function storage unit based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where a provided CPU or the like performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently perform image processing on an input image indicated by a drawing command, and to obtain an output image at high speed. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to a first embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a drawing area management method.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for managing a drawing area in an entire image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure for managing a drawing portion on a horizontal line of an image image by line segments.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of list data configured in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of registering a drawing range of a drawing command in drawing area management data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating details of processing for registering a drawing range of a certain drawing command in drawing area management data.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of a part of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process of referring to drawing area management data, determining a drawing area, and performing image processing only on the drawing area.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of another embodiment.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Agency reference number FI Technical display location H04N 1/40 A

Claims (11)

[Claims] An input unit configured to input input image data indicated by a drawing command; an identification unit configured to identify a drawing area based on the drawing command; Image processing means for performing image processing on the corresponding input image data, wherein the identification means, when the drawing unit indicated by the drawing command is a figure composed of line drawings, An information processing apparatus characterized in that the information processing apparatus is decomposed into line segments and a drawing area is set for each line segment. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input image data includes bitmap image data. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing the identification result corresponding to a line.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, if the drawing unit cannot be divided into line segments, a rectangle adjacent to the drawing unit is set as a drawing area. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying unit sets a rectangle adjacent to the rendering unit as a rendering area when a process of painting the inside of the graphic is specified for the rendering unit. Information processing device. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing includes an N-value processing. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image processing includes a color conversion process for converting R, G, B image data into C, M, Y, K image data. 8. A predetermined value is assigned to an area other than the identified drawing area.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 9. An image processing apparatus comprising: an expansion unit configured to expand an input image at a predetermined position on a memory based on the drawing command, wherein the image processing unit is configured to perform processing based on an identification result corresponding to a line stored in the storage unit. 3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the image processing is performed on a portion of the developed image corresponding to the drawing area. 10. Input image data indicated by a drawing command is input, a drawing area is identified based on the drawing command, and image processing is performed on the input image data corresponding to the drawing area identified by the identification unit. In the information processing method to be performed, when the drawing unit indicated by the drawing command is a graphic constituted by a line drawing, the graphic is decomposed into a plurality of line segments, and a drawing area is set for each line segment. An information processing method characterized by the following. 11. A recording medium for storing a program code for realizing the image processing method.