High speed pipeline image processing for digital photoprinter

An image processing device, comprising:

• a plurality of memories for storing image data read out by an image reading unit;
• an image processing unit for reading the image data from said memories, wherein the image processing unit reads one or more lines of image data from a single frame of an image stored in said plurality of memories to perform predetermined processing of said one or more lines of image data by a pipeline operation;
• and
• an image data bus for inputting image data to the image processing unit and for outputting the image data to a recorder,
• wherein the image processing unit and the plurality of memories provide for simultaneous reading out and image processing of image data, due to the image processing unit reading one or more lines of image data from a single frame of an image stored in said plurality of memories, and due to at least one of said plurality of memories having an empty or writeable area to receive a subsequent frame of image data from the image reading unit, thereby enabling high speed recording.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• reading image data from an image reading unit into a plurality of storage memories;
• processing the image data stored in said memories with an image processing unit, wherein the image processing unit reads one or more lines of image data from a single frame of an image stored in said plurality of memories to perform predetermined processing of said one or more lines of image data by a pipeline operation;
• and
• outputting the image data processed in the image processing unit to a recorder, wherein the image processing unit and the plurality of memories provide for simultaneous reading out and image processing of image data, due to the image processing unit reading one or more lines of image data from a single frame of an image stored in said plurality of memories, and due to at least one of said plurality of memories having an empty or writeable area to receive a subsequent frame of image data from the image reading unit, thereby enabling high speed recording.