JP6295741B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function of dynamically configuring (environment setting) by mounting a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as a hardware device.

  Conventionally, in an electronic apparatus represented by an image forming apparatus, processing of various functions is generally performed mainly by a CPU. In order to speed up such processing, hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA is used. A method of efficiently performing dedicated processing by installing a wear device is frequently performed.

  Although both ASIC and FPGA are hardware devices for realizing dedicated circuits, ASIC cannot be changed once created, whereas FPGA does not use special jigs by configuring circuit information. The circuit can be changed. Since the FPGA can be configured in the market, even if there is a defect in the circuit, it is possible to repair the defect in the market by providing new circuit information.

  Therefore, there is a technology that makes it possible to reduce the circuit scale while speeding up the processing by selecting and configuring circuit information according to the processing to be performed by taking advantage of the characteristics of the FPGA that the circuit can be changed. Proposed. Such a technique reads appropriate circuit information from an internal data storage unit before starting processing, configures the FPGA, and causes the FPGA that has been configured to perform processing. As described above, a technique for dynamically configuring an FPGA to increase the processing speed while suppressing the circuit scale is known, and as a related technique related thereto, for example, it can support a plurality of image formats and suppress power consumption. "Image processing apparatus, imaging apparatus, image recording / reproducing apparatus, and activation control method" (see Patent Document 1).

  The technique according to Patent Document 1 described above aims to speed up the processing by configuring appropriate circuit information in the FPGA according to the processing to be performed, and reads the circuit information from the data storage unit that stores the circuit information. The FPGA dynamically configures the FPGA, but here, there is a restriction that the circuit information needs to be held in advance in the internal data storage unit, and the function to acquire the circuit information from the data storage unit is necessary. For example, even if better and optimum circuit information is available, there is a problem that configuration is not possible unless it is stored in the data storage unit.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and the technical problem is that even when circuit information is not stored in the internal data storage unit, better and optimal circuit information can be obtained from the outside. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of acquiring and effectively configuring an FPGA.

In order to solve the above technical problem, one of the basic configurations of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is necessary for processing performed in an image forming apparatus mounted with an FPGA and connected to an external server via a network. If the latest circuit information is obtained from the server via the network and the FPGA is configured based on the latest circuit information , the control means can acquire the latest circuit information from the server. The FPGA is configured on the basis of circuit information stored in advance in a data storage unit provided therein .

In order to solve the above technical problem, another basic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an FPGA and an image connected via USB to a client terminal connected to the server via a network. In the forming apparatus, the latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus acquired from the server via the network by the image forming instruction function of the client terminal is received from the client terminal via the USB together with the image forming data, and the latest If the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the client terminal, the control means is configured based on the circuit information stored in advance in the data storage unit provided in the own device. The FPGA is configured .

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus via the network or USB is stored in the server or client terminal even if the circuit information is not previously held in the internal data storage unit. Since the FPGA is configured based on the latest circuit information, it is possible to effectively configure the FPGA by acquiring more optimal circuit information from the outside.

1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration (hardware configuration) of an image forming apparatus applied in Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a basic configuration of an entire image forming system including peripheral devices connected to a corresponding configuration according to the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation process in a case where an FPGA is dynamically configured and instructed based on circuit information acquired from a server related to control of a CPU provided in the image forming apparatus in the image forming system shown in FIG. . FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating specific contents of circuit information request data transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the server in the image forming system shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating another example of the basic configuration of the entire image forming system including peripheral devices connected to the corresponding configuration according to the second embodiment of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. Operation processing when dynamically configuring the FPGA based on circuit information acquired from a client terminal related to control of a CPU provided in the image forming apparatus in the image forming system shown in FIG. 5 and performing image forming processing (printing processing) It is the flowchart which showed. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating specific contents of a format for circuit information and print data transmitted from a client terminal to an image forming apparatus in the image forming system shown in FIG. 5.

  Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, with some examples.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration (hardware configuration) of an image forming apparatus applied in Embodiments 1 and 2 (described later) of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus touches a controller 1 that outputs scan data read from a document to a controller board 10, a facsimile machine (FAX) 4 that processes facsimile data, and various operation settings. A panel 2 that has a screen for instructing by a formula and can display the contents of data processing on the screen is connected to a plotter 3 that outputs data-processed image formation data (print data).

  Further, in the controller board 10, a scanner I / F (interface) 11 for the scanner 1 and a panel I / F (interface) 12 for the panel 2 with respect to the CPU 20 mounted to control the operation of each part of the entire apparatus. , FPGA 13, plotter I / F (interface) 14 for plotter 3, nonvolatile memory 15, USB I / F (interface) 16 for USB connection, network I / F (interface) 17 for network connection, RAM 18, and A FAX I / F (interface) 19 for the facsimile apparatus 4 is connected to each other.

  In this image forming apparatus, under the control of the CPU, print data from the network or USB via the network I / F 17 or USB I / F 16, facsimile data from the facsimile apparatus 4 via the FAX I / F 19, and scanner I / F 11. When the scan data is received as input data from the scanner 1 via the, the input data is subjected to shaping of the image forming process, and then output as print data to the plotter 3 via the plotter I / F 14 to be printed on paper. Or send print data to an external device connected to the network via the network I / F 17, send it to an external device connected to the USB via the USB I / F 16, or send it to the facsimile machine via the FAX I / F 19 4 to the device connected to the outside through 4 .

  The image forming apparatus thus has an input device and an output device, and functions as an electronic device that shapes and outputs input data. The input data is shaped mainly by the CPU 20 on the controller board 10. However, since processing is slow when shaping is performed by software, a method of performing processing using a dedicated hardware circuit is usually employed. As a technique for realizing the hardware circuit, an ASIC is often used for general purposes, but here, the hardware circuit is realized on the FPGA 13. In other words, if circuit information for shaping the input data is configured in the FPGA 13 at the time of startup, the FPGA 13 can be used to shape the input data.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a basic configuration of the entire image forming system including peripheral devices connected to the corresponding configuration according to the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus. This image forming system is configured by connecting an image forming apparatus 100 equipped with an FPGA 13 to an external server 300 and a personal computer PC specification client terminal (PC) 200 via a network NW. Incidentally, the image forming apparatus 100 here may be connected to a telephone line in order to have a facsimile function in addition to being connected to the network NW.

  In this image forming system, the client terminal 200 can issue an instruction request for printing or the like to the image forming apparatus 100 via the network NW, and the image forming apparatus 100 similarly uses the server 300 via the network NW. The latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus can be acquired. That is, in the image forming apparatus 100, the CPU 20 acquires the latest circuit information from the server 300 via the network NW, and configures the FPGA 13 based on the latest circuit information. The controller 10 shown in FIG. This configuration corresponds to a case where the USB IF 16 is not provided. In addition, when the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the server 300 via the network NW, the CPU 20 configures the FPGA 13 based on circuit information stored in advance in a data storage unit (nonvolatile memory 15) provided in the own device. Do. Further, when the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the server 300 via the network NW and the circuit information cannot be acquired from the data storage unit in the own device, the CPU 20 completes the instruction process according to the software process.

  In this image forming system, the server 300 on the network NW holds the latest circuit information corresponding to each model of the image forming apparatus 100. There may be a plurality of pieces of circuit information for each model of the image forming apparatus 100 depending on processing performed by the apparatus. In the case of the image forming apparatus 100, they are for processing for generating bitmap data from a page description language, or for OCR processing. In response to the process requested by the user, the image forming apparatus 100 informs the server 300 of the processing contents to be performed by the apparatus and the model number of the own apparatus, and the server 300 accordingly notifies the corresponding latest circuit information. Return to.

  Therefore, when receiving the latest circuit information, the image forming apparatus 100 configures the FPGA 13 based on the latest circuit information and then starts the instruction process. If the server 300 always keeps the latest circuit information, the image forming apparatus 100 can always configure the latest circuit information. As described above, since the dynamic configuration is performed, the circuit scale of the FPGA 13 can be suppressed, and the latest circuit information can be configured. As a result, it is possible to configure the optimum circuit information in the FPGA 13 in accordance with the processing performed by the apparatus and to perform the instruction processing at high speed.

  FIG. 3 shows an operation process in the case where the FPGA 13 is dynamically configured and instructed based on circuit information acquired from the server 300 related to the control of the CPU 20 provided in the image forming apparatus 100 in the image forming system described above. It is a flowchart.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the operation process here is started when the user first performs an instruction to the image forming apparatus 100 (step S301). The instruction that the user issues to the image forming apparatus 100 is, for example, a print instruction using the client terminal 200 or an instruction for OCR processing. In the case of a print instruction, the image forming apparatus 100 can know that the user instruction is a print instruction by receiving print data via the network NW. In the case of an instruction for OCR processing, it can be known by an operation on the panel 2 by the user.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 100 performs a process of requesting circuit information from the server 300 on the network NW according to the contents of the process (step S302). This request for circuit information indicates that the model number of the device itself and information about processing to be performed by the device will be transmitted to the server 300, and requests corresponding circuit information. Upon receiving the request, the server 300 acquires the latest circuit information from the data storage unit held by the server 300 based on the model number of the requested image forming apparatus and information on processing to be performed by the apparatus. Transmit to the forming apparatus 100. Since the latest circuit information basically depends on the model of the image forming apparatus 100, the server 300 needs to hold the latest circuit information corresponding to a plurality of models. If there is no latest circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit of the server 300 for which circuit information is requested, it may be obtained from another server on the network NW.

  In the image forming apparatus 100, it is determined whether or not the server 300 has returned appropriate circuit information in response to the request (step S303). As a result of the determination, if the latest updated circuit information can be received from the server 300, the image forming apparatus 100 configures the circuit information in the FPGA 13 (step S304) and then executes the process on the configured FPGA. The instruction processing is performed using the hardware circuit (step S305), thereby generating output data and outputting it to the output device (plotter 3) (step S306), thereby completing the operation processing.

  Also, as a result of determining whether or not the server 300 has returned appropriate circuit information in response to the request (step S303), if the appropriate circuit information cannot be acquired from the server 300 for some reason, the image forming apparatus 100 continues. Determines whether circuit information is held in the data storage unit (step S307). As a result of this determination, if the circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit is not held, the image forming apparatus 100 performs a process of generating output data by software processing (step S308), thereby generating output data and outputting it. The operation process is completed by outputting to the apparatus (plotter 3) (step S306). On the other hand, when the circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit is held, the image forming apparatus 100 configures the circuit information in the FPGA 13 (step S304), and then performs hardware processing on the FPGA configured. The instruction process is performed using the circuit (step S305), and thereby output data is generated and output to the output device (plotter 3) (step S306), thereby completing the operation process.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating the specific contents of the circuit information request data transmitted from the image forming apparatus 100 to the server 300 in the image forming system shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 4, the circuit information request data includes an image forming apparatus model number, a processing type, and auxiliary data. Since the circuit information basically depends on the model of the image forming apparatus 100, when the circuit information is requested from the server 300, it is necessary to inform the model number of the own apparatus as described in the operation process of FIG. There is. In addition, it is necessary to inform what kind of processing will be performed in the apparatus. Information about the processing to be performed by the apparatus is divided into processing type and auxiliary data. Examples of processing types are “print”, “OCR”, and the like. The auxiliary data can be freely used according to the processing type. For example, when the processing type is “printing”, the case where the type of the print language is designated as the auxiliary data can be exemplified. This is because there are a plurality of print languages, and the processing methods are different, so that different circuit information is required.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another example of the basic configuration of the entire image forming system including peripheral devices connected to the corresponding configuration according to the second embodiment of the image forming apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. In this image forming system, an image forming apparatus 100 on which an FPGA 13 is mounted is connected via USB to a client terminal 200 of a server 300 and a personal computer PC specification client terminal (PC) 200 connected to each other via a network NW. The server 300 is not connected via the network NW. Incidentally, the image forming apparatus 100 here may be connected to a telephone line in order to have a facsimile function.

  In this image forming system, the client terminal 200 can acquire the latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus from the server 300 via the network NW, and the image forming apparatus 100 can acquire the client terminal via the USB. An acquisition request for the latest circuit information can be issued to 200. That is, in the image forming apparatus 100, the latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the CPU 20 through the network NW acquired from the server 300 by the image forming instruction function of the client terminal 200 is transmitted via the USB together with the image forming data. The FPGA 13 is configured based on the latest circuit information received from the client terminal 200, and corresponds to a configuration in which the network IF 17 is not provided on the configuration of the controller 10 shown in FIG. Further, when the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the client terminal 200 via the USB, the CPU 20 configures the FPGA 13 based on circuit information stored in advance in a data storage unit (nonvolatile memory 15) provided in the own device. Do. Furthermore, when the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the client terminal 200 via the USB and the circuit information cannot be acquired from the data storage unit in the own device, the CPU 20 completes the image forming process according to the software process.

  FIG. 6 shows an image forming process (printing process) by dynamically configuring the FPGA 13 based on circuit information acquired from the client terminal 200 related to the control of the CPU 20 provided in the image forming apparatus 100 in the image forming system described above. It is the flowchart which showed the operation processing in the case.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the operation process of the image forming process here is started when the user first makes a print request via USB from the client terminal 200 (step S601). In this image forming system, as shown in FIG. 5, the image forming apparatus 100 is connected to the client terminal 200 via USB, but is not connected to the network, and the image forming apparatus 100 stores the latest circuit information. The image forming apparatus 100 must acquire the latest circuit information via the client terminal 200 because the image forming apparatus 100 cannot directly acquire the circuit information from the client terminal 200.

  Therefore, when the user issues a print instruction using the USB print driver of the client terminal 200, the print driver transmits the model number and print data format of the image forming apparatus 100 that performs printing to the server 300 on the network NW, and requests circuit information. (Step S602) Processing is performed. The data format used at this time may be the same as that shown in FIG. In response to the request, the server 300 acquires circuit information from the data storage unit held by the server 300 based on the model number of the image forming apparatus 100 and information on processing to be performed, and transmits the circuit information to the client terminal 200. If there is no latest circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit of the server 300 for which circuit information is requested, it may be obtained from another server on the network NW.

  The client terminal 200 determines whether or not the server 300 has returned appropriate circuit information in response to the request (step S603). As a result of this determination, when the USB print driver of the client terminal 200 can receive the latest circuit information appropriate from the server 300, the USB print driver of the client terminal 200 adds the circuit information to the print data and passes through the USB. Is sent to the image forming apparatus (step S604), and in response to this, the image forming apparatus 100 receives the circuit information together with the print data (step S605), and then configures the circuit information in the FPGA 13. (Step S606) The image data is generated from the print data using the hardware circuit on the FPGA configured after the processing (Step S607), and the generated image data is output to the plotter 3, Print on paper (step S608) Operation process is completed in.

  Further, as a result of determining whether or not the server 300 has returned appropriate circuit information in response to the request (step S603), if the USB print driver of the client terminal 200 cannot acquire appropriate circuit information for some reason, it continues. Then, the USB print driver of the client terminal 200 performs processing to send only print data to the image forming apparatus 100 via USB (step S609), and the image forming apparatus 100 receives the print data (step S610). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not circuit information corresponding to its own data storage unit is held (step S611). If the circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit is not held as a result of this determination, the image forming apparatus 100 performs processing for generating image data from the print data by software processing (step S612), and the image generated thereby The data is output to the plotter 3 and printed on paper (step S608), and the operation process ends. On the other hand, when the circuit information corresponding to the data storage unit is held, the image forming apparatus 100 configures the circuit information in the FPGA 13 (step S606) and then performs the hardware on the FPGA configured. Image data is generated from the print data using a circuit (step S607), and the image data generated thereby is output to the plotter 3 and printed on paper (step S608), thereby completing the operation process.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating specific contents of the format of circuit information and print data transmitted from the client terminal 200 to the image forming apparatus 100 in the image forming system shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 7, when circuit information is added to the print data, a circuit information header related to the circuit information is also added, so that it can be determined whether or not the circuit information header is added. The data of is a magic number. The magic number is followed by circuit information size information, followed by circuit information and a format configuration in which print data is arranged next to the circuit information.

  In the image forming apparatus 100, as described in the operation process of FIG. 6, if the first data is a magic number, it is determined as print data with circuit information, circuit information is acquired, and the FPGA 13 is configured. After that, the print data is processed. If the first data is not the magic number, it is determined that the print data has no circuit information added, the circuit information is acquired from the data storage unit of the device itself, the FPGA 13 is configured, and then the print data Processing is performed, or print data is processed by software.

  In any case, according to the image forming apparatus 100 described in each embodiment, even if the circuit information is not stored in the internal data storage unit in advance, it is necessary for processing performed by the apparatus via the network NW or USB. Since the latest circuit information is acquired from the server 300 or the client terminal 200 and the FPGA 13 is configured based on the latest circuit information, more optimal circuit information is acquired from the outside to effectively configure the FPGA 13. be able to.

  Note that when the image forming apparatus 100 described in each embodiment is configured as the image forming system illustrated in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5, the number of each unit can be arbitrarily configured and applied. The invention is not limited to the disclosed forms.

1 scanner 2 panel 3 plotter 4 facsimile machine (FAX)
10 Controller board 11 Scanner I / F (interface)
12 Panel I / F (interface)
13 FPGA
14 Plotter I / F (Interface)
15 Nonvolatile memory 16 USB I / F (interface)
17 Network I / F (interface)
18 RAM
19 FAX I / F (Interface)
20 CPU
100 Image forming apparatus 200 Client terminal (PC)
300 server network

JP 2008-141642 A

Claims (4)

In an image forming apparatus equipped with an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and connected to an external server via a network,
The latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus is acquired from the server via the network, and includes a control unit configured to configure the FPGA based on the latest circuit information ,
If the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the server, the control unit configures the FPGA based on circuit information stored in advance in a data storage unit provided in the apparatus. . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 .
Before SL control means, scratches obtain the latest circuit information from the server, and if the can not obtain the circuit information from the data storage unit of the own device, and wherein the complete instruction process according to software processing Image forming apparatus. In an image forming apparatus equipped with an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and connected to a client terminal connected to a server via a network via USB,
The latest circuit information necessary for processing performed by the apparatus acquired from the server via the network by the image formation instruction function of the client terminal is received from the client terminal via the USB together with the image formation data, and the latest Control means for configuring the FPGA based on the circuit information of
When the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the client terminal, the control unit configures the FPGA based on circuit information stored in advance in a data storage unit included in the device. apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.
The control means completes the image forming process according to software processing when the latest circuit information cannot be acquired from the client terminal and the circuit information cannot be acquired from the data storage unit in the device. An image forming apparatus.