Patent US5801716A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5801716A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Pipeline structures for full-color computer graphics
Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 1991-08-13
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Granted: 1998-09-01
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Expires: 2011-08-13
Abstract
Abstract A full-color desk top publishinbg (DTP) system is disclosed that includes a general purpose computer system, a full-color high resolution graphics system and peripheral devices such as a color laser copier including a scanner and a printer, a workscreen display and user inputs such as a digitizer and a keyboard. The DTP system can generate graphics images in bands across a page image with the images being stored in DRAM as compressed images using ADCT compession and the JPEG standard. The DTP system includes various pipeline structures which are used in image creation and realization.
Inventors
- 👤 Kia Silverbrook
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 15:46
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T9/00; G06T9/007; G06K; G06K15/00; G06K15/02; G06K15/18; G06K15/1848; G06K15/1849; G06K15/1851; G06K15/1856; G06K15/1861; G06K15/1863; G06K15/1865; G06T11/00; G06T11/40; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/387; H04N1/46; H04N1/64; H04N1/646
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 67
Claim 1
Independent Claim
182 words
A pipeline processing system for computer graphics to manipulate compressed image data, relating to a displayable image, received from a source or sent to a destination, said system comprising: a data source; a data destination; a data compressor/expander to convert image pixel data into compressed image data, and to convert compressed image data into image pixel data, said data compressor/expander being located between said data source and said data destination to modify the form of data passed from said data source to said data destination; and a pixel data manipulator to manipulate the image pixel data, said manipulator being connected to said compressor/expander to receive therefrom and send thereto, image pixel data, and said manipulator being sized to retain a band of all the image pixel data from which the displayable image is formed, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data, and to permit manipulation of individual ones of the image pixel data, at least one of the bands of the image pixel data being manipulated in turn by said manipulator and then forwarded to said data destination.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
182 words
A pipeline processing system for computer graphics to manipulate compressed image data, relating to a displayable image, received from a source or sent to a destination, said system comprising: a data source; a data destination; a data compressor/expander to convert image pixel data into compressed image data, and to convert compressed image data into image pixel data, said data compressor/expander being located between said data source and said data destination to modify the form of data passed from said data source to said data destination; and a pixel data manipulator to manipulate the image pixel data, said manipulator being connected to said compressor/expander to receive therefrom and send thereto, image pixel data, and said manipulator being sized to retain a band of all the image pixel data from which the displayable image is formed, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data, and to permit manipulation of individual ones of the image pixel data, at least one of the bands of the image pixel data being manipulated in turn by said manipulator and then forwarded to said data destination.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image pixel data comprises a predetermined number of bands, each of which comprises a predetermined number of adjacent lines of the image being serially processed from said data source to said data destination in a single pipeline operation by said system.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
52 words
A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said manipulator is connected between said destination and said compressor/expander to receive image pixel data from said compressor/expander and send manipulated image pixel data to said destination, the output of said compressor/expander being expanded image data received as compressed image data from said source.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said destination comprises a data bus and said manipulator comprises a synchronizing buffer to permit said data bus and said compressor/expander to operate at different data rates.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein a converter which converts RGB image data to MCYK image data is connected to said data bus and said converter outputs to a printer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
34 words
A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said manipulator is connected to receive image pixel data from said compressor/expander, manipulate the image pixel data, and send the manipulated pixel data to said compressor/expander.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
20 words
A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said source and said destination respectively send and receive compressed image data.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said source and said destination comprise different address locations of the same memory means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said compressor/expander expands compressed image data from said source for transmission to said manipulator, and compresses image pixel data from said manipulator for transmission to said destination.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein a memory store adapted to store at least one band of image lines is interposed between said manipulator and said compressor/expander.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
14 words
A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said manipulator comprises a graphics engine.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said manipulator is connected between said source and said compressor/expander to receive image pixel data from said source and send manipulated image pixel data to said compressor/expander, said destination receiving compressed image data from said compressor/expander.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said source is a data bus and said manipulator comprises a synchronizing buffer to permit said data bus and said compressor/expander to operate at different data rates.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
23 words
A system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said data bus is connected to an image scanner for providing said image pixel data.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
52 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said manipulator is connected between said destination and said compressor/expander to receive image pixel data from said compressor/expander and send manipulated image pixel data to said destination, the output of said compressor/expander being expanded image data received as compressed image data from said source.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said destination comprises a data bus and said manipulator comprises a synchronizing buffer to permit said data bus and said compressor/expander to operate at different data rates.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
32 words
A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein a converter which converts RGB image data to MCYK image data is connected to said data bus and said converter outputs to a printer.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said manipulator is connected to receive image pixel data from said compressor/expander, manipulate the image pixel data, and send the manipulated image pixel data to said compressor/expander.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
20 words
A system as claimed in claim 18, wherein said source and said destination respectively send and receive compressed image data.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
22 words
A system as claimed in claim 19, wherein said source and said destination comprise different address locations of the same memory means.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 19, wherein said compressor/expander expands compressed image data from said source for transmission to said manipulator, and compresses image pixel data from said manipulator for transmission to said destination.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system as claimed in claim 21, wherein a memory store adapted to store at least one band of image lines is interposed between said manipulator and said compressor/expander.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
14 words
A system as claimed in claim 21, wherein said manipulator comprises a graphics engine.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
44 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said manipulator is connected between said source and said compressor/expander to receive image pixel data from said source and send manipulated image pixel data to said compressor/expander, said destination receiving compressed image data from said compressor/expander.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 24, wherein said source is a data bus and said manipulator comprises a synchronizing buffer to permit said data bus and said compressor/expander to operate at different data rates.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
23 words
A system as claimed in claim 25, wherein said data bus is connected to an image scanner for providing said image pixel data.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
96 words
A pipeline processing system for computer graphics for creating color page images, said system comprising: means for creating bands of pixel image data of an image, the pixel image data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; means for compressing the bands and storing compressed image information; means for expanding the compressed information into bands of pixel information; and means for compositing the bands of pixel information with further bands of created pixel image data to vary the image, at least one of the bands of the pixel information being composited by said means for compositing.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
96 words
A pipeline processing system for computer graphics for creating color page images, said system comprising: means for creating bands of pixel image data of an image, the pixel image data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; means for compressing the bands and storing compressed image information; means for expanding the compressed information into bands of pixel information; and means for compositing the bands of pixel information with further bands of created pixel image data to vary the image, at least one of the bands of the pixel information being composited by said means for compositing.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein said means for compressing utilize adaptive discrete cosine transform methods for compressing and expanding image data.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
141 words
An image system for creating color page images from a page description language, said system comprising: computing means for compiling from the page description language a display list of objects of an image to be created; creating means for creating bands of pixel image data of the image from the display list, the pixel image data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; compression means for compressing the bands of the image; storage means for storing compressed bands of the image as compressed band data; expansion means for expanding the compressed band data into bands of pixel image data; and compositing means for compositing additional created bands of pixel image data with existing bands of pixel image data to create edited pixel image data, at least one of the bands of the pixel image data being composited by said compositing means.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
141 words
An image system for creating color page images from a page description language, said system comprising: computing means for compiling from the page description language a display list of objects of an image to be created; creating means for creating bands of pixel image data of the image from the display list, the pixel image data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; compression means for compressing the bands of the image; storage means for storing compressed bands of the image as compressed band data; expansion means for expanding the compressed band data into bands of pixel image data; and compositing means for compositing additional created bands of pixel image data with existing bands of pixel image data to create edited pixel image data, at least one of the bands of the pixel image data being composited by said compositing means.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
132 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein: said rendering means comprises a render processor having an input connected to said computing means, for converting said display list objects into pixel image data; said compositing means comprises a graphics engine and a compositing memory, said graphics engine having a first pixel data input connected to said render processor, a second pixel data input and pixel data output being connected via a compositing bus to said compositing memory; and said compression means and said expansion means are included within a compander, said compander having a first compressed data port connected to said storage means and a second pixel data port connected to said compositing bus, said compositing bus also connecting to said storage means and a pixel data input of said render processor.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
27 words
A system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said compositing bus is adapted to carry red (R), green (G), blue (B) and matte (M) pixel image data.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system as claimed in claim 31, wherein said system maintains an image density equivalent to 400 dots per inch at all stages of image manipulation and storage.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system as claimed in claim 31, further comprising at least one display means connected to said compositing bus and adapted to display bands of pixel image data in concert.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
23 words
A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein said display means comprises a printer configured to display said bands as a page image.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system as claimed in claim 34, wherein said printer is capable of producing page image sizes up to at least International A3 standard.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
38 words
A system as claimed in claim 34, wherein interposed between said printer is a converter for converting red, green and blue pixel image data to magenta, cyan, yellow and black pixel image data for printing by said printer.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein said display means comprises an electronic display having an associated display memory connected to said compositing bus, for displaying said page image.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
22 words
A system as claimed in claim 37, wherein said electronic display comprises one of a video display and a liquid crystal display.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
47 words
A system as claimed in claim 37, further comprising a pan/zoom device having an input connected to said compositing bus and an output connected to said display memory, wherein said pan/zoom device permits a selectable portion of said page image to be displayed on said electronic display.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system as claimed in claim 37, wherein said computing means has direct access to said display for directly writing pixel data thereto having been generated by said computing means.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 31, further comprising an image scanner connected to said compositing bus and adapted to output red, green and blue pixel image data corresponding to a page image scanned thereby.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
20 words
A system as claimed in claim 41, further comprising a printer configured to display said bands as a page image.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
21 words
A system as claimed in claim 42, wherein said scanner and said printer each form part of a color laser copier.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said means for compressing utilize adaptive discrete cosine transform methods for compressing and expanding image data.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system as claimed in claim 44, wherein said adaptive discrete cosine transform methods are implemented in accordance with ISO/IEC JTCl/SC2/WG8 JPEG Technical Specifications.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system as claimed in claim 45, wherein Huffman tables required for both compression and expansion are stored in said storage means and are transferred to said compander when compression and expansion operations respectively take place.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
121 words
A system as claimed in claim 45, wherein when said bands of pixel image data are compressed, marker codes are inserted to identify individual bands, said marker codes permitting any one band of a compressed page image to be expanded by said compander and stored in said compositing memory, said one band being input to said second pixel input of said graphics engine which composites said one band with data output from said render processor to create an edited band which is transferred via said pixel data output of said graphics engine to said compositing memory, said edited band thereby being compressible by said compander, and storable in said storage means in concert with other bands of said compressed page image.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
21 words
A system as claimed in claim 45, wherein said compositing memory can store an integral number of bands of said image.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
20 words
A system as claimed in claim 48, wherein said compositing memory can store at least 3 bands of sald image.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
18 words
A system as claimed in claim 49, wherein said bands each comprise 8 lines of said page image.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
57 words
A system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said computing means creates from said display list at least one render list including objects to be rendered by said render processor, said render list being transferred from said computing means via a system bus to said storage means, from where said render processor can access said render list.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system as claimed in claim 51, wherein said computing means further provides font data which is stored in said storage means and accessible by said render processor for the generation of text and graphic images.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein connected to said computing means are user input devices comprising at least one of a keyboard, a digitizing pad, and a mouse.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
31 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, further comprising a non-volatile storage means connected to said computing means from which image data can be transferred from and to said storage means.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
26 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein said computer means further comprises means for connection to a communications network to which data can be transferred.
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
18 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein said bands each comprise 8 lines of said page image.
Claim 60
Dependent Claim
19 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein said storage means is capable of storing multiple compressed page images.
Claim 61
Dependent Claim
17 words
A system as claimed in claim 57, wherein each said compressed page image occupies about 4 MBytes.
Claim 62
Dependent Claim
18 words
A system as claimed in claim 58, wherein said storage means is composed of 32 MBytes of DRAM.
Claim 63
Dependent Claim
34 words
A system as claimed in claim 29, wherein said pixel image data for a full page image occupies about 96 MBytes which is compressible to about 4 MBytes for retention in said storage means.
Claim 64
Dependent Claim
180 words
A processing system for computer graphics to manipulate compressed image data, relating to a displayable image, received from a source or sent to a destination, said system comprising: a data source; a data destination; a data expander to convert compressed image data into image pixel data, said data expander being located between said data source and said data destination to modify the form of data passed from said data source to said data destination; and a pixel data manipulator to manipulate the image pixel data relating to a predetermined portion of the displayable image, said manipulator being connected to said data expander to receive therefrom and send thereto image pixel data, and said manipulator is sized to retain a band of the image pixel data from which the displayable image is formed, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data, and to permit manipulation of individual ones of the image pixel data, at least one of the bands of the image pixel data being manipulated in turn by said manipulator and then forwarded to said data destination.
Claim 65
Dependent Claim
180 words
A processing system for computer graphics to manipulate compressed image data, relating to a displayable image, received from a source or sent to a destination, said system comprising: a data source; a data destination; a data expander to convert compressed image data into image pixel data, said data expander being located between said data source and said data destination to modify the form of data passed from said data source to said data destination; and a pixel data manipulator to manipulate the image pixel data relating to a predetermined portion of the displayable image, said manipulator being connected to said data expander to receive therefrom and send thereto image pixel data, and said manipulator is sized to retain a band of the image pixel data from which the displayable image is formed, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data, and to permit manipulation of individual ones of the image pixel data, at least one of the bands of the image pixel data being manipulated in turn by said manipulator and then forwarded to said data destination.
Claim 66
Dependent Claim
95 words
A processing system for computer graphics for creating color page images, said system comprising: means for creating bands of pixel image data of an image, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; means for compressing the bands and storing compressed image information; means for expanding the compressed information into bands of pixel information; and means for compositing the bands of pixel information with further bands of created pixel image data to vary the image, at least one of the bands of the pixel information being composited by said means for compositing.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
95 words
A processing system for computer graphics for creating color page images, said system comprising: means for creating bands of pixel image data of an image, the image pixel data including bitmap data and rendered graphics data; means for compressing the bands and storing compressed image information; means for expanding the compressed information into bands of pixel information; and means for compositing the bands of pixel information with further bands of created pixel image data to vary the image, at least one of the bands of the pixel information being composited by said means for compositing.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-08-31 | 2002-03-02 | 2002-09-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-08-31 | 2006-03-02 | 2006-09-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-08-31 | 2010-03-02 | 2010-09-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |