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US 6,490,055 B1Granted
Printing apparatus with execution of software rendering and hardware rendering
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHaruo Shimizu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printer includes an input unit for inputting color page description information, creation means for creating intermediate information for recording by analyzing color page description information which has been input, an execution unit for executing fast hardware rendering with a hardware for the intermediate information, and a switch for switching the fast hardware rendering into a software rendering in the case of a high grade color logical drawing which cannot be supported by the hardware.
Claims66
A color image processing apparatus comprising:
- first conversion means for converting input information into intermediate data of a first type of color element representation;
- obtaining means for obtaining image data of the first type of color element representation based on the intermediate data converted by said first conversion means;
- second conversion means for converting image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of the second type of color element representation;
- and
- third conversion means for converting image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation,
- wherein in applying a logic operation on image data of the first type of color element representation, said apparatus is operable in a first mode in which the logic operation is applied directly to the image data of the first type of color element representation obtained by said obtaining means, or in a second mode in which the logic operation is applied to the image data of the second type of color element representation converted by said second conversion means and then the image data of the second type of color element representation to which the logic operation is applied is converted into the image data of the first type of color element representation by said third conversion means.
3 more elements
A color image processing method comprising the steps of:
- converting input information into intermediate data of a first type of color element representation in a first conversion step;
- obtaining image data of the first type of color element representation based on the intermediate data converted in said first conversion step;
- converting image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of a second type of color element representation in a second conversion step;
- and
- converting image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation in a third conversion step,
- wherein in applying a logic operation on image data of the first type of color element representation, said apparatus is operable in a first mode in which the logic operation is applied directly to the image data of the first type of color element representation obtained in said obtaining step, or in a second mode in which the logic operation is applied to the image data of the second type of color element representation converted in said second conversion step and then the image data of the second type of color element representation to which the logic operation is applied is converted into the image data of the first type of color element representation in said third conversion step.
3 more elements
A color image processing apparatus which performs image data generation of one band and image data output of another band in parallel, said apparatus comprising:
- conversion means for converting input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus into intermediate data band by band, the intermediate data having a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit, the first and second types of color element representations being different from each other;
- generating means for generating, band by band, image data of the second type of color element representation based on the intermediate data converted by said conversion means;
- and
- print control means for controlling a banding process for one continued page in printing the image data generated by said generating means,
- wherein said conversion means not only converts the input information into the intermediate data, but also converts the first type of color element representation into the second type of color element representation.
2 more elements
A color image processing apparatus comprising:
- generating means for generating, from input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus, image data of a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit;
- first conversion means for converting image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation;
- and
- second conversion means for converting image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of the second type of color element representation,
- wherein said apparatus can be operated in a first mode in which the image data of the second type of color element representation generated by said generating means is output to the printer unit, or in a second mode in which the image data generated by said generating means is converted into the image data of the first type of color element representation by said first conversion means and the image data of the first type of color element representation is converted into the image data of the second type of color element representation by said second conversion means and then output to the printer unit.
2 more elements
A color image processing method which performs image data generation of one band and image data output of another band in parallel, said method comprising the steps of:
- converting input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus into intermediate data band by band, the intermediate data having a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit, the first and second types of color element representations being different from each other;
- generating, band by band, image data of the second type of color element representation based on the converted intermediate data;
- and
- controlling a banding process for one continued page in printing the generated image data,
- wherein said converting step not only converts the input information into the intermediate data, but also converts the first type of color element representation into the second type of color element representation.
2 more elements
A color image processing method, comprising the steps of:
- generating, from input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus, image data of a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit;
- converting image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation;
- converting image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of the second type of color element representation;
- and
- outputting, in a first mode, the generated image data of the second type of color element representation to the printer unit or, in a second mode, converting the generated image data into the image data of the first type of color element representation and converting the image data of the first type of color element representation into the image data of the second type of color element representation and outputting the converted image data to the printer unit.
2 more elements
A color image processing device comprising:
- a processor that converts input information into intermediate data of a first type of color element representation;
- a rendering unit that generates image data of the first type of color element representation based on the intermediate data converted by said processor;
- a first conversion unit that converts image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of the second type of color element representation;
- and
- a second conversion unit that converts image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation,
- wherein in applying a logic operation on image data of the first type of color element representation, said device is operable in a first mode in which the logic operation is applied directly to the image data of the first type of color element representation generated by said rendering unit, or in a second mode in which the logic operation is applied to the image data of the second type of color element representation converted by said first conversion unit and then the image data of the second type of color element representation to which the logic operation is applied is converted into the image data of the first type of color element representation by said second conversion unit.
3 more elements
A color image processing device which performs image data generation of one band and image data output of another band in parallel, said device comprising:
- a conversion unit that converts input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus into intermediate data used band by band, the intermediate data having a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit, the first and second types of color element representations being different from each other;
- an image data generator that generates, band by band, image data of the second type of color element representation based on the intermediate data converted by said conversion unit;
- and
- a print control unit that controls a banding process for one continued page in printing the image data generated by said image data generator,
- wherein said conversion unit not only converts the input information into the intermediate data, but also converts the first type of color element representation into the second type of color element representation.
2 more elements
A color image processing device comprising:
- a processing unit that generates, from input information provided in a page description language of a first type of color element representation used in a higher-class apparatus, image data of a second type of color element representation used in a printer unit;
- a first conversion unit that converts image data of the second type of color element representation into image data of the first type of color element representation;
- and
- a second conversion unit that converts image data of the first type of color element representation into image data of the second type of color element representation,
- wherein said device can be operated in a first mode in which the image data of the second type of color element representation generated by said processing unit is output to the printer unit, or in a second mode in which the image data generated by said processing unit is converted into the image data of the first type of color element representation by said first conversion unit and the image data of the first type of color element representation is converted into the image data of the second type of color element representation by said second conversion unit and then output to the printer unit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.