JP2000351240A - Print control device, print control method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To prevent the occurrence of overrun in a printing apparatus provided with a plurality of print engines for color printing. A print control apparatus converts print data of a plurality of bands constituting one page into a display list, and further develops the display list into bitmap data. Predict the time required to develop the bitmap data, and based on this predicted development time, assign a priority to each band so that the longer the predicted development time for each color is higher, the higher the priority. It is stored in the rank holding circuit 54. At least 2 of the hard renderers for each color
If one of them requests acquisition of a display list of the same band at the same time, the access request selector 51 refers to the priority stored in the priority holding circuit 54 and selects one of the plurality of display list acquisition requests. I do.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus, a printing control method, and a storage medium, and more particularly, to controlling the operation of a printing apparatus having a plurality of print engines dedicated to a plurality of colors and a page description language. Is divided into a plurality of bands per page,
Convert the print data of each band into a display list,
Further, the present invention relates to a print control device for expanding the display list into bitmap data, a print control method applied to the print control device, and a storage medium storing a program for executing the print control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus which divides print data for one page into a plurality of bands and performs bitmap development processing for each band has a print engine dedicated to each of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. There are tandem-type printing apparatuses.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus such as a conventional tandem color printer.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 17 denotes a host computer, which is a printer driver 18 for controlling the printer 11.
It has. Reference numeral 11 denotes a tandem-type printing apparatus, which includes a controller 12 and print engines 13 and 1.
4, 15, and 16 are provided. Print engine 13,
14, 15, and 16 print yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), respectively.

Printer driver 1 of host computer
The print data generated in step 8 is sent to the printing apparatus 11 via a communication medium 19 such as a network, and is subjected to print processing.

In such a conventional printing apparatus, one page of print data received from a host computer is developed into bitmap data, and when bitmap data of one page for each color is generated, each print engine outputs the data to a recording medium. Has been formed.

In a conventional printing apparatus which is not a tandem system, one page of print data received from the host computer 17 is divided into a plurality of bands and a display list is provided for each band, mainly for saving memory and improving printing speed. At the time of printing, the development of the display list into the bitmap data and the shipping of the bitmap data (data transfer to the print engine) were performed simultaneously.

Since the printing apparatus cannot stop the paper conveyance in the middle, shipping must be performed continuously for one page. Therefore, by the end of the shipping of a certain band, the bitmap data of the next band must be completed. If the bitmap data of the next band is not complete when the shipping of a certain band is completed, a correct print result cannot be obtained. This state is called overrun. For example, if the print speed of the print engine is 16 pages / min, it is necessary to create bitmap data for one page within 3.75 seconds. When one page is divided into three bands and processed, the bitmap data for one band is 1.
It must be created within 25 seconds, otherwise an overrun will occur.

[0009] Here, if it is determined that an overrun occurs as a result of estimating a certain band based on the estimated development time, a display list is preliminarily bitmap-mapped to the band before printing is started. Each data is expanded and stored. Thus, when the bitmap data is shipped, the bitmap data of the band is not expanded, so that overrun can be prevented.

In the case where the tandem system is not used,
Since an image may be formed on the transfer body or the intermediate transfer body in the order of YMCK and each color, a controller similar to a monochrome printing apparatus can be used.

However, in the tandem-type printing apparatus, it is necessary to simultaneously form an image of the same page on a printer engine of a plurality of colors or to form an image of a recording medium of a different page in order to further increase the speed. As described above, the printing process is started after the bitmap data of each color is developed in the page memory in advance.

[0012]

As described above, in the conventional tandem-type printing apparatus, the printing process is performed by feeding the paper after the development of the bitmap data for one page is completed. Although the recording time can be shortened, there is a problem that the decompression processing takes time and the performance is hardly improved. Therefore, it is conceivable to use a printing method for performing band processing in a tandem printing apparatus.

In order to perform band processing in a tandem-type printing apparatus, it is necessary to simultaneously form an image of each color band. Therefore, if it takes a long time to develop one color, there is a problem that only a printing result with reduced resolution can be obtained because overrunning occurs even though there is room for the developing process of another color. .

In addition, since the hard renderers of the respective colors simultaneously issue access requests to the display list for the expansion processing, an arbitration circuit for arbitrating the access requests is required.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of an arbitration circuit required when band processing is applied to a tandem type printing apparatus.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 51 denotes each of access request signals (REQ_Y, REQ_M, REQ_C, REQ) of Y, M, C, and K components.
_K), an access request selector 52 for selecting one access request signal from the access request selector 52. Request destination addresses (ADDRESS_Y, ADDRESS_M, ADDRESS_C, ADDRESS_K) corresponding to the access request signal selected by the access request selector 51.
An address selector 53 selects data from the request destination associated with the access request signal selected by the access request selector 51, and returns a data (DATA) from the request destination to the request source and generates a signal indicating data validity (DTE: Data Enable). Data transfer circuit. The access request selector 51 has a priority set for each access request signal, and the access request selector 51 selects an access request signal according to the priority.

However, if the band processing is simply realized by the tandem-type printing apparatus, it is assumed that the band is assumed not to be overrun on the basis of the predicted expansion time in the hard renderer corresponding to the access request signal having a low priority. However, there is a problem that overrun may occur.

That is, the conventional access request selector 5
In No. 1, since the access priority is fixedly determined, when access factors conflict (when interrupt processing requests are generated simultaneously), regardless of the expansion prediction time,
The processing of the hard renderer with a low priority is awaited. However, if the low-priority hard renderer takes the longest time to develop the bitmap data, by waiting, the duration in which the hard renderer is involved in the development becomes longer than the predicted time, As a result, it is possible that an overrun that should not have occurred by guessing may occur.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the occurrence of overrun, it is possible to provide a sufficient margin in the calculation formula of the prediction time. However, in this case, the number of bands determined to cause overrun increases. However, the number of bands to be bit-mapped is increased in advance, leading to a decrease in performance.

In order to prevent access requests from conflicting with each other,
Although it is conceivable to create a dedicated display list for each color hard renderer and store them in dedicated RAMs, however, there is a problem that this is not appropriate from the viewpoint of memory saving.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a print control apparatus, a print control method, and a print control method that prevent occurrence of overrun in a printing apparatus having a plurality of print engines for color printing. And a storage medium.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus for generating bitmap data to be output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors. Analyzing means for dividing print data described in a page description language into a plurality of bands, generating a display list in an intermediate data format for each band in a memory, and displaying the display list for each band and for each color. Expansion time calculation means for calculating an estimated expansion time required for expansion to bitmap data based on a plurality of expansion means for expanding into bitmap data in band units based on the display list; and When there is a request from at least two of them to access the memory storing the display list, Depending on the priority to the access request to the memory is determined based on the predicted expansion time calculated by time predicting means, and having an arbitration unit for arbitrating access requests.

According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of developing means for developing bitmap data in band units based on the display list, and output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors. A print control method in a print control device for generating power bitmap data, wherein print data described in a page description language is divided into a plurality of bands, and a display list in an intermediate data format is generated in a memory for each band. An analysis step;
For each band and for each color, an expansion time calculation step of calculating an estimated expansion time required for expansion to bitmap data based on the display list; and at least two of the plurality of expansion means, the display list When there is an access request to the memory storing the access request, the access request is arbitrated in accordance with the priority order for the access request to the memory determined based on the expansion prediction time calculated in the expansion time prediction step. And an arbitration step.

Further, according to the fifteenth aspect,
A program for controlling a print control device that has a plurality of developing means for developing bitmap data in band units based on the display list and generates bitmap data to be output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors. An analysis step of dividing print data described in a page description language into a plurality of bands, generating a display list in an intermediate data format in a memory for each band in a memory, and storing each band and each color in a stored storage medium. A developing time calculating step of calculating a predicted expansion time required for developing into bitmap data based on the display list; and at least two of the plurality of developing means.
First, when there is an access request to the memory storing the display list, according to the priority order for the access request to the memory, which is determined based on the expansion prediction time calculated in the expansion time prediction step. hand,
And an arbitration step of arbitrating an access request. The computer-readable program is stored.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the controller 12 when the conventional band processing is applied to the tandem printing apparatus in FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes a CPU,
Based on the control program stored in the M32, the image data developing process is comprehensively controlled. The ROM 32 also stores various data such as font information. 3
Reference numeral 3 denotes a RAM, which functions as a work memory of the CPU 31, print data described in a page description language sent from the host computer 17, and a display list created in the printing apparatus 11 by analyzing the print data. And so on. Reference numeral 38 denotes an ASIC, which is a circuit that executes various controls of the printing apparatus.

341, 351, 361, and 371 are RA
This is a hard renderer that expands the display list stored in M33 into bitmap data. The hardware renderer handles the Y, M, C, and K components, and transfers the bitmap data to the print engines 13, 14, 15, and 16. 342, 352, 362 and 372 are Y,
This is a band memory for storing bitmap data of M, C, and K components. The ASIC 38 has a transfer unit 39 that specifies which band memory stores the bitmap data developed by the hard renderer.

Next, the processing operation of the printing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the print data received from the host computer 11 is analyzed and a display list is created, an expansion time is predicted in advance and an expansion time for each band is calculated. That is, in FIG.
For example, an expression for calculating how long it takes to develop bitmap data from a display list depending on the type (character, image, run length, etc.) and size of print data is stored in 2 or the like. Then, the print data described in the page description language is stored in the RAM 33 from a host computer (not shown). Next, the CPU 31 divides the print data into a plurality of bands in units of one page, and converts the print data drawn in each band into a display list. At this time, the CPU 31 accumulates the development time of the display list generated for each drawing object using the calculation formula stored in the ROM 32 in advance, and calculates the development time of the display list into the bitmap data for each band and each color. Predict.
The predicted deployment time is determined by the hard renderers 341 and 35
1,361,371 are the times required to convert the display list for one band into bitmap data.

Here, if it is determined that an overrun occurs as a result of estimating a certain band based on the estimated development time, the hard renderers 341 and 351 and 351 and 351 are performed on the band before printing is started. 361,371
However, the display list is developed in advance into bitmap data and stored in the RAM 33 in advance. Thus, when the bitmap data is shipped, the bitmap data of the band is not expanded, so that overrun can be prevented.

When the display list is read from the RAM 33 or when the bit map data is
42, 352, 362, and 372, respectively, such read processing and write processing are performed for Y, M, C, and K.
Although the processing is performed separately for each color of the component, the processing for each color simultaneously issues an interrupt request (access request) and may conflict with each other. When such a conflict occurs, which interrupt (access) is given priority is determined by the ASIC 38 in FIG.
The arbitration circuit inside is determined.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an access arbitration circuit of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. Since the configuration of the access arbitration circuit of the present invention is basically the same as the configuration of the conventional arbitration circuit shown in FIG. 4, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 54 denotes a priority holding circuit for holding priority data for an access request, the details of which will be described later.

Here, the processing operation of the printing apparatus including the above circuit is as follows.

First, print data written in a page description language from the host is stored in the RAM 33. CPU3
1 divides the print data described in the page description language stored in the RAM 33 into bands, and divides the display list based on the print data for each band. The display list is intermediate data for interpreting print data in a page description language and facilitating conversion to bitmap data during shipping (processing for outputting a video signal to a printer engine). When generating the display list as the intermediate data, a formula for predicting the development time of each rendering object (also characters, images, run lengths, etc.) of the intermediate data stored in the ROM 32 (the rendering time is calculated from the rendering object and the size). From the formula to determine), for each band,
Calculate the estimated development time for each color.

In this embodiment, the printing speed of the printing apparatus is 16 pages / minute in a paper size A4 landscape orientation,
Normal band mode One page is divided into three bands. In this case, the standard development time per band is 1.
25 seconds. In the high-speed band mode, one page is divided into six bands, and the standard development time per band is 0.625 seconds. In the high-speed band mode, the bandwidth for generating the display list is similarly the size obtained by dividing one page into six, and the predicted expansion time is calculated for each band.

The CPU 31 compares the estimated development time of each band with the reference development time, and if a band is longer than the reference development time, the band is converted to bitmap data before printing starts in the same manner as in the related art. Perform deployment. on the other hand,
If it is within the reference development time, the hard renderer 341, 3
The access priorities of 51, 361 and 371 are determined for each band. The access priority is determined by, for example, a method in which the case where the predicted time for each color in the same band is equal to the reference development time is set as the highest priority, and the priority is reduced by one every 0.1 second. Thus, C
The PU 31 determines the access priority for each color in each band, and stores the result in the RAM 33. The access priority is written and held in the priority holding circuit by the DATA_CPU signal when the processing of expanding each band by each hard renderer is started.

For the estimation of the development time, for example, it is assumed that a table as shown in FIG. 5 is obtained in the normal mode.
Since the longer the development time, the higher the priority, the priority order of the first band is K, C, M, and Y in FIG. The priority of the second band is K, Y, C, and M, and the priority of the third band is M, Y, K, and C. Since the priority types are calculated in the order of four colors, there are 24 types of priority.

Here, the configurations of the priority holding circuit 54 and the access request selector 51 will be described. The priority holding circuit 54 holds the access priority of the hard renderer for each band. Since there are 24 priorities, the priority holding circuit 54 is constituted by a 5-bit register.

The priority order holding circuit 54 stores, for each band, the estimated development time estimated by the CPU 31. When printing is started, the priority holding circuit 54 outputs data indicating the priority of the first band to the access request selector 51. This output data is held until all the processing of the first band is completed. When the processing of the first band is completed, the CPU 31 stores the data indicating the priority of the second band in the priority holding circuit 54 in the access request selector 5.
1 to output.

As shown in FIG. 6, the access request selector 51 converts the request signals from the Y, M, C, and K hard renderers based on the data indicating the priority order from the priority order holding circuit 54. And a selector 512 for determining which request signal is to be selected when a plurality of request signals are received. The output of the switch unit 511 is connected to the first, second, third, and fourth of the selection unit 512 in descending order of priority. The selection unit 512 selects a plurality of request signals and outputs them to the address selector 52 and the data transfer circuit 53.

For example, in the case of the first band in FIG. 5, the output of the priority order holding circuit 54 is given a priority order in the order of K, C, M, and Y, so the switch unit 511 sets REQ_Y to 4
Connect REQ_M to 3rd, REQ_C to 2nd, and REQ_K to 1st. At some point, if the Y and M requests conflict, REQ_M will be selected by the selector 512.

The processing flow will be described. A display list of all bands in one page is generated, rasterization is completed for a band whose estimated expansion time is longer than the reference expansion time, and the expansion prediction times of all remaining bands are shorter than the reference expansion time. Is satisfied, the printing process is started. When the printing process is actually started, first, the CPU 31 reads the data of the access priority of the first band from the RAM 33 and writes the data in the priority holding circuit 54. When the access requests from the renderers conflict, the access request selector 51 follows the access priority written in the priority holding circuit 54,
Select an access request signal. Therefore, since the bitmap data is developed with priority given to the hard renderer having the longest predicted development time of the bitmap data, it is possible to prevent the actual development time of the hard renderer from being longer than the predicted time.

Each time the processing of a certain band is completed, the CP
U31 reads the priority data of the next band from the RAM 33, and updates the data of the priority holding circuit 54.
In other words, the access priority is not fixed as in the conventional case, but is changed for each band and for each color in accordance with the estimated development time, so that when access requests conflict (from a plurality of hard renderers, the bit of the display list is changed). Even when the request for developing the map data is generated simultaneously), the overrun is reliably prevented.

Regarding the priority for the access request, the rendering of the first band is completed for a certain color.
When the access request for the rendering of the second band is issued, there may be a case where the contention conflicts with the access request for the rendering of the first band of a different color. In this case, the smaller band order has priority. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, since the development of Y ends early in the first band, it is conceivable that Y renders the second band before the rendering of K ends. Then, an access request to the display list of the first band of K,
Although access requests to the display list of the second band of Y conflict, the access request selector determines the number of bands of the access request of each color and selects the K access request of the first band.

If the estimated deployment time is the same, the priority is assigned as follows. For example, in the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 of the present embodiment, assuming that the image formation order on the recording medium such as the printing paper or the OHP in the print engine of each color is YMCK, the image formation on the recording medium is most likely to be Y. Early, K is the slowest, so Y is prioritized. This is because the recording medium first passes through the Y printer engine when moving from the paper feeding unit to the paper discharging unit.
If the priority is given, there is a possibility that the image formation of Y may not be in time, so that an overrun may occur. Therefore, the same deployment forecast time or
If there is not much difference in the development time, the priorities are assigned in the order of image formation. This is performed not only when the estimated deployment times are the same, but also when there is not much difference between the estimated deployment times. In this embodiment, the difference in the developing time depending on the image forming order is given as a specific numerical value. FIG. 7 is a diagram in which a difference in the order of image formation is provided in the predicted development time in FIG. 5, and an additional time is added by 0.15 in order of image formation earlier. That is, Y is 0.45, M
0.30 and Cni 0.15. In this figure, when the priorities are given in the order of the expansion prediction time and, in the same case, in the order of image formation, the priority of the first band is Y, M,
K, C, and the priority of the second band is Y, K, C,
The priority is set to Y, M, C, and K for the third band.

Based on the priorities thus set, the renderer of each color is given an access right to the display list, and the rendering process for the bitmap data based on the intermediate data is performed by the renderer of each color. Then, the image forming process on the recording medium is performed by the plurality of printer engine units in the order of YCMK.

The order of image formation depends on the characteristics of the printer engine and toner, and is not limited to the order of YMCK as in this embodiment.
Some printers form images in the order of MYMC and KYMC, and priorities for access requests from renderers may be assigned based on the order of image formation.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, when the hard renderer (Y) 341 and the hard renderer (M) 351 compete with each other, the hard renderer (Y) 341 has priority over two of the three times, and the hard renderer (M) 351 has priority once. Furthermore, it is also possible to change the priority according to the combination of the conflicting sources of the access request.

Next, processing for assigning a hard renderer to a band will be described.

As described above, it is assumed that one page is divided into three bands, the development time of the display list for each band and each color is predicted, and FIG. 8 is obtained as the prediction result. In the present embodiment, the display list expansion processing is performed by the hard renderers 341, 351, 361, 3 shown in FIG.
71 independently. Further, when the development processing of one band is completed, the development processing of the next band is continued, and the time chart of the development processing for each color is as shown in FIG. According to FIG. 9, the processing of Y in the second band exceeds the time limit of 2.5 seconds, so that the processing cannot be performed in time for the expansion processing. In this case, if printing is continued as it is, a correct printing result cannot be obtained due to time overrun. Therefore, printing is performed by lowering the resolution and developing the data into a full-page bitmap. This is avoided in the present invention as follows.

First, the CPU 31 converts the print data described in the page description language stored in the RAM 33 into a drawing code for each band, and predicts the development time for each band and each color. The prediction result is as shown in FIG. Here, the CPU 31 determines which color developing process is assigned to which hard renderer for each band.

An example of the assignment method will be described below.

First, in the processing of the first band, the development processing of each color is assigned to the corresponding hard renderer. Next, 2
For the band, the most time-consuming development processing of the second band is assigned to the hard renderer in which the processing of the first band ends earliest. In the example of FIG. 8, the hard renderer (K) 3
A development process of yellow (Y) is assigned to 71. Similarly, the rendering process of cyan (C) is performed on the hard renderer (C) 361, and the black (K) is processed on the hard renderer (M) 351.
And the rendering process of magenta (M) is assigned to the hard renderer (Y) 341. If the same method is used for the processing of the third band, a time chart of the processing of this embodiment is as shown in FIG. That is, in all bands, since the development processing of each color does not exceed the time limit, printing at the engine resolution can be executed without lowering the resolution.

Specifically, the CPU 31 transmits the result of allocation of each band to the transfer unit 39. In the transfer unit 39, the hard renderers 341, 351, 361, and 371 transfer the bitmap data to the band memories 342, 352, 362, and 3
When writing to 72, the write address is converted so as to write to an appropriate band memory based on the assignment result of the CPU 31.

Next, a processing flow of processing executed by the printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of processing executed by the printing apparatus of this embodiment.

In step S101, the CPU 31 divides print data into a plurality of bands in units of one page, and converts print data drawn in each band into a display list (drawing code) as intermediate data. Next, in step S102, the CPU 31 calculates the estimated development time of the drawing code for each band and each color. In step S103, the CPU 31 determines a hard renderer to be used for developing the drawing code of each band of each color into bitmap data based on the prediction result. In step S104,
The CPU 31 transfers the bitmap data developed by each hard renderer by the transfer unit 39 to a band memory corresponding to each color.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the development of the print data of each color for each band is not necessarily performed by using the dedicated hard renderer for developing the print data of each color into the bitmap data. From the time, the hard renderer used for developing the print data of each band is changed. As a result, the load of each hard renderer can be evenly distributed, and printing can be executed efficiently and without lowering the resolution of the print engine.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the present invention, the start time of the processing of each color is the same, but the time to print one point on the paper is actually different for each color (the paper sequentially passes through the engine for printing each color). After shifting the time limit of the processing of each color, it is also possible to determine the allocation of the processing of each color for each band.

The number of hard renderers need not be the number corresponding to the image forming colors. There are three hard renderers for the four colors YMCK, and these three hard renderers are assigned to each band having a higher priority order to form an image. Processing is also possible.

A storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus is stored in the storage medium. It goes without saying that the present invention is also achieved by reading and executing the program code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

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

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS and the like running on the computer are actually executed based on the instructions of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing a part or all of the processing described above.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It is needless to say that the present invention includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0068]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the time required to develop the display list into bitmap data for each band and for each color is predicted, and at least two of the plurality of hard renderers are estimated. When one simultaneously requests the display list of the same band, based on the predicted development time for each color of the band,
A priority order for the display list request is determined. Specifically, based on the predicted predicted development time for each band and each color, the priority is assigned to each band such that the longer the predicted development time for each color is given higher priority.

As a result, in each band, the hard renderer that takes the longest time to develop bitmap data is set to the highest priority, so that there is no need to wait for access contention, and as a result, overrun occurs. Is prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an access arbitration circuit of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus such as a conventional tandem-type color printer having dedicated print engines for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a controller 12 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional arbitration circuit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a prediction result of a development prediction time of print data of each band and each color according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an address request selector of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a result of taking into account an image forming order in a predicted development time of each band and each color according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a prediction result of a development time of print data of each band according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a time chart of a conventional process.

FIG. 10 is a time chart of a process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of processing executed by the printing apparatus of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 11 printing device 12 controller 13 print engine (Y) 14 print engine (M) 15 print engine (C) 16 print engine (K) 17 host computer 18 printer driver 31 CPU (deployment time prediction means, arbitration means, priority creation means) ) 32 ROM 33 RAM 38 ASIC 39 Transfer unit 341 Hard renderer (Y) 342 Band memory (Y) 351 Hard renderer (M) 352 Band memory (M) 361 Hard renderer (C) 362 Band memory (C) 371 Hard renderer ( K) 372 band memory (K) 51 access request selector 52 address selector 53 data transfer circuit 54 priority holding circuit

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A print control apparatus for generating bitmap data to be output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors, comprising: dividing print data described in a page description language into a plurality of bands; Analyzing means for generating a display list in an intermediate data format for each memory in a memory; and developing time calculating means for calculating, for each band and for each color, a predicted development time required for developing into bitmap data based on the display list. A plurality of developing means for developing bitmap data in band units based on the display list; and at least two of the plurality of developing means request access to a memory storing the display list. In the case, the determination is made based on the deployment prediction time calculated by the deployment time prediction unit. Depending on the priority to the access request to the memory, the printing control apparatus, characterized in that it comprises an arbitration unit for arbitrating access requests, the. 2. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said developing means is a hard renderer. 3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a priority determining unit configured to determine a priority order with respect to the access request to the memory based on the expansion predicted time calculated by the expansion time predicting unit. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the priority order is determined according to an image forming order of the plurality of print engines. 4. A tandem printing apparatus having a plurality of print engines corresponding to four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) is controlled. Item 4. The print control device according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 5. An expansion memory for storing bitmap data generated by the plurality of expansion units, wherein the plurality of expansion units store the generated bitmap data in a corresponding expansion memory and perform the expansion. 5. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bitmap data stored in the memory is transferred to a print engine that outputs a corresponding color. 6. An assigning means for assigning, from the plurality of expanding means, expanding means used for expanding a display list for each color based on the estimated expansion time calculated by the expanding time calculating means. Claim 1
6. The print control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The allocating means uses the developing means having the shortest developing time of the n-th display list for developing the display list having the longest developing time among the (n + 1) -th display lists for each color. 7. The print control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the print control apparatus is assigned to a developing unit. 8. A print control apparatus, comprising: a plurality of developing means for developing bitmap data in band units based on the display list, and generating bitmap data to be output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors. An analysis step of dividing print data described in a page description language into a plurality of bands, generating a display list in an intermediate data format in a memory for each band, and for each band and for each color. A development time calculation step of calculating a predicted development time required for developing into bitmap data based on the display list; and a memory storing the display list from at least two of the plurality of development means. When there is a request to access the deployment schedule, the deployment schedule calculated in the deployment time An arbitration step of arbitrating an access request in accordance with a priority order for the access request to the memory determined based on the measured time. 9. The print control method according to claim 8, wherein said developing means is a hard renderer. 10. A priority order determining step for determining a priority order for an access request to the memory based on the expansion estimation time calculated in the expansion time estimation step, wherein the priority order determining step further comprises: The print control method according to claim 8, wherein the priority order is determined according to an image forming order of a plurality of print engines. 11. A tandem printing apparatus having a plurality of print engines corresponding to four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) is controlled. Item 11. The print control method according to any one of Items 8 to 10. 12. The print control device further includes a development memory for storing bitmap data generated by the plurality of development units, wherein the plurality of development units store the generated bitmap data in a corresponding development memory. 12. The printing method according to claim 8, further comprising controlling a print control device that transfers the bitmap data stored in the development memory to a print engine that outputs a corresponding color. Control method. 13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an assigning step of assigning, from the plurality of expanding units, expanding units used for expanding the display list for each color based on the estimated expansion time calculated in the expanding time calculating step. The print control method according to claim 8. 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the allocating step includes the step of:
14. The print control method according to claim 13, wherein, among the display lists for each of the (+1) th colors, the display list is assigned to a developing unit used to develop the display list having the longest developing time. 15. A printing control apparatus, comprising: a plurality of developing means for developing bitmap data in band units based on the display list, and generating bitmap data to be output to a plurality of print engines corresponding to a plurality of colors. An analysis step of dividing a print data described in a page description language into a plurality of bands, and generating a display list in an intermediate data format in a memory for each band in a storage medium storing a program for controlling For each band and for each color, a development time calculation step of calculating a development prediction time required to develop into bitmap data based on the display list; and at least two of the plurality of development means, the display list When there is a request for access to the memory storing the An arbitration step of arbitrating an access request in accordance with a priority order for the access request to the memory determined based on the predicted deployment time calculated in the step. The storage medium that stored