Drawing apparatus and method for processing plural pixels in parallel

A drawing apparatus comprising:

• a first holding unit which holds a first pixel group which is a set of a plurality of pixels;
• a determination unit which determines whether or not it is possible to merge the first pixel group held in the first holding unit with a second pixel group which is a set of a plurality of second pixels different from the first pixels, on the basis of a relationship among first valid pixels requiring a drawing process and first invalid pixels not requiring a drawing process, the first valid and invalid pixels belonging to the first pixel groups, and second valid pixels requiring a drawing process and second invalid pixels not requiring a drawing process, the second valid and invalid pixels belonging to the second pixel groups;
• a third pixel group generation unit which merges the first valid pixels with the second valid pixels on the basis of the determination made by the determination unit to newly generate a third pixel group, the third pixel group generation unit allowing the first holding unit to hold the second valid pixels not included in the third pixel group, as the first pixels;
• a second holding unit which holds data of the third pixel group;
• and
• a drawing processing unit which executes a drawing process using the data held in the second holding unit.

A drawing apparatus which processes a plurality of pixel groups within the same task, the pixel groups each being a set of a plurality of pixels, the apparatus comprising:

• a holding unit which holds data on the pixel groups;
• a management unit which divides an instruction executed on each of the pixel groups into a plurality of sub-instructions for management in accordance with the task, the management unit including a table having a plurality of entries to which the respective pixel groups are assigned, the number of the next sub-instruction to be executed by the assigned pixel group being registered in each of the entries, the holding unit holding, for each of the pixel groups, ready information indicating whether or not the sub-instruction with the number registered in the management unit is executable;
• and
• a drawing processing unit which executes a drawing process on each of the pixel groups on the basis of the data held in the holding unit, in accordance with the sub-instruction, the drawing processing unit executing a drawing process on the pixel group for which the holding unit indicates that the sub-instruction is executable.

A drawing method comprising:

• receiving a task synchronization signal repeatedly transmitted at time intervals;
• receiving a plurality of temporally successive first data;
• providing each of the first data with an identification number and saving the first data;
• in saving the first data, providing a synchronization flag for firstly received one of the plurality of the first data after receiving the task synchronization signal first;
• after starting the reception of the first data, receiving a plurality of temporally successive second data;
• saving the second data in association with the identification numbers of the first data;
• and
• drawing a graphic using the first and second data.

A drawing method comprising:

• allowing a first holding unit to hold a first pixel group which is a set of a plurality of first pixels;
• receiving a second pixel group which is a set of a plurality of second pixels;
• registering the first pixel group in any of a plurality of entries in an XY table, in association with an XY coordinate of the first pixel group;
• determining whether or not it is possible to merge the first pixel group with the second pixel group on the basis of a relationship among first valid pixels requiring a drawing process and first invalid pixels not requiring a drawing process, the first valid and invalid pixels belonging to the first pixel groups, and second valid pixels requiring a drawing process and second invalid pixels not requiring a drawing process, the second valid and invalid pixels belonging to the second pixel groups;
• if the determination indicates that the merging is possible, merging the first valid pixels with the second valid pixels to newly generate a third pixel group;
• causing the first holding unit to hold the second valid pixels not included in the third pixel group, as the first pixels;
• causing a second holding unit to hold data of the third pixel group together with an entry number of the entry in the XY table in which the first pixel group used to generate the third pixel group is registered;
• and
• executing a drawing process using the data held in the second holding unit.

A drawing method in which an instruction executed for image drawing is divided into a plurality of sub-instructions for execution, the method comprising:

• registering data of a plurality of pixel groups each of which is a set of a plurality of pixels;
• registering the number of the next sub-instruction to be executed in a management unit for each of the pixel groups;
• repeatedly executing the sub-instructions and thus an image drawing process and counting up the number of the sub-instruction, wherein in the image drawing process, the sub-instruction for the pixel group held earliest in the holding unit being executed in the image drawing process when a plurality of the pixel groups have the same sub-instruction number of the sub-instruction to be executed;
• and
• after executing the last sub-instruction, erasing the data of the pixel group registered in the holding unit and also erasing the numbers of the sub-instructions registered in the management unit.