EP0507439A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Buffering control for accommodating variable data exchange rates
Assignee: HP Inc
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Filing: 1992-02-17
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-02-17
Abstract
Abstract Digital data produced by a document scanner (15) or other data source is sequentially stored in a memory (40). A remote data receiver (45) generates requests for data (43) causing communication of the data(44) from the memory (40) in the same sequence in which it was stored but at a rate substantially asynchronous with respect to the rate of scanner (10) data production. Data (19) is concurrently loaded into the memory (40) and transferred from the memory (40) to the receiver (45) so that continuous data storage and transfer throughout the scan of a given image (11) is possible. Data from the scanner (10) is sequentially loaded into the memory (40) in recycling sequences until there are no available memory storage sections. The scanner (10) is then caused to stop scanning and to cease data production until transfer of data occurs from a memory storage section(0-N) to the remote receiver. The scanner (10) is thereafter enabled so as to resume with production of the next data following that which was last loaded into the memory (40). For a scanner (10), the data interruption and resumption is obtained by stopping and repositioning of the scanner bar (15) relative to the document (11). Scanning is started or restarted when the data in the memory (40) is inadequate to completely satisfy the current receive command (84).
Inventors
- 👤 Irene Fay Stein
- 👤 Steven Lawrance Webb
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 21:30
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32358; H04N1/32363; G; G06; G06F; G06F5/00; G06F5/06; H04N1/04; H04N1/047; H04N1/0473; H04N1/32368; H04N1/32443; H04N1/32448; H04N1/00127; H04N1/00204; H04N1/10; H04N1/1013; H04N1/1017; H04N1/19; H04N1/191; H04N1/192; H04N1/193; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/0077; H04N2201/0081; H04N2201/04; H04N2201/047; H04N2201/04753; H04N2201/04755; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3285; H04N2201/329
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
355 words
Apparatus for coordinating digital data set exchanges from a source (21) of sequences of digital data sets to a digital data receiver (45) wherein the source (21) produces the data sets at a relatively constant rate while the receiver (45) requests such data sets at a rate which is asynchronous with respect to the rate data sets are produced by the source (21) and wherein the source (21) is capable (18) of responding to receipt of recycle commands by ceasing production of digital data sets and subsequently reinitiating digital data production at the point in the data sequence at which data production was interrupted comprising: memory means(40) having a plurality of data storage sections (0-N) arrayed in sequence from an initial said storage section (0) to a final said storage section (N), means (19,36,41) for placing data sets from the source (21) into said data storage sections (0-N) in said data storage section sequence and including means (36) responsive to placement of a data set in said final storage section (N) by recycling said sequential data set storage in said memory means (40) by placing the next data set in said initial data set storage section (0) provided the data set previously stored in said initial data storage section (0) was transferred to the data receiver (45), means (36,42,44) responsive to a request (43) for data sets from the receiver (36,42,44) for transferring data sets from said memory means storage sections (0-N) to the receiver (45) in said storage sequence, and means (36,66) detecting that no said data storage sections (0-N) are available to receive a data set from said source (21) for introducing the recycle command (39,35,33,32) to the data source (21) to prevent the data source (21) from introducing the next data set to said memory means (40), said detecting means (36,66) further including means (36) sensing that at least one said storage section (0-N) has become available from transfer of a data set to the receiver (45) for causing the data set source (21) to commence producing the data sets (18) at the constant data rate starting with said next data set.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
25 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 which further includes communication link means (43,44) coupling said receiver (45) and said data set request responsive means (36).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said data set placing means (36,41) and said data set request responsive means (36,42) are concurrently operable.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
318 words
Apparatus for coordinating digital data exchanges between an image scanner (10) which produces a sequence of digital data (19) representing a scanned image (11) at a constant data rate and a host data receiver (45) capable of requesting data (62) at a rate different from the rate data is produced by the scanner (10), and wherein the scanner (10) includes means (18,35,33) responsive to input signals thereto for locating and moving a scanning device (15) relative to the image scanned (11), said apparatus comprising: memory means (40) having a plurality of data storage sections (0-N) arrayed in sequence from an initial said storage section (0) to a final said storage section (N), data storage control means (36) including means (19,41) for placing data from the scanner (10,15) into said data storage sections (0-N) in said data storage sequence and in a recycling sequence when said final data storage section (N) is full, means (36,42,44) responsive to signals from the host data receiver (45) for transferring data from said memory means storage sections (0-N) to the host receiver (45) with said data transfer occurring in said data storage sequence, and means (36) responsive to the state of said memory means including means (66) detecting that said memory means (40) is full for introducing a stop input signal (67) to the scanner (10,15) to cease producing digital data and position the scanning device (15) preparatory to scan the next digital data producing image position (46,50,54), said memory means state responsive means (36) further including sensing means (66) operable after introduction of said stop input signal (67) to the scanner (10) for determining that data in at least one of said memory storage sections was transferred to the host receiver (45) for introducing an input signal to the scanner (30) to cause it to resume production of digital data (30) commencing with the point of cessation in the data production sequence.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein said data storage control means (19,36,41) and said host signal responsive means (42,36,44) are concurrently operable.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
46 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein said sensing means (36) causes the scanning device (15) to move at the speed which produces scanned image data at said constant rate before scanning the next image position following the last image data placed in said memory (40).
Claim 7
Independent Claim
116 words
The method of transferring digital data from a source (18,19) where the data is produced in sequential groups and loaded into a memory storage device (40) in sequential locations (0-N) for communication to a remote host device (45) which requests such data (43,62) at irregular intervals comprising the steps of responding (66) to the full state of the memory (40) by stopping production of the next data group of the sequence by the data producing source (18,19), and responding (70) to availability of at least one storage location (0-N) in the memory (40) by causing the data source (18,19) to resume data production for loading (41) said next data group into the available memory (40) locations.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
191 words
The method of utilizing a memory (40) which includes a plurality of sequential data storage locations (0-N) for transforming data from a source (19) of sequential data sets to a host device (45) which produces signals (84) requesting transmissions thereto of data from the source (19) comprising the steps of loading data from the source (19) into the memory (40) in the same sequence as the memory data storage locations (0-N) and recycling the data loading to the initial location (0) if it is available after loading the last location (N), transferring (72) data sets from the memory (40) to the host device (45) concurrently with said loading step (64) and in response to a request signal (86) therefrom with the data set transfer occurring in the same recycling sequence as said loading step, detecting that all memory (40) locations (0-N are full, responding to said detecting step by causing the source (19) to cease producing data sets (30), and restarting (70) the data set source (19) when the data sets contained in the memory (40) are less than the number of data sets requested (86) by the host device (45).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
66 words
The method in accordance with claim 8 wherein each said data set the source (19) produces is a line of bytes of data, said data loading step including the step of sequentially placing said lines into the memory (40), and said transferring steps (70) includes the step of sequentially transferring the said bytes of each said line from the memory (40) to the host device (45).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
290 words
Apparatus for transferring digital data produced by an image scanner (15) to a host device (43) which generates signals (43,86) for requesting blocks of image correlated data produced by the scanner (15) where the requests occur asynchronously relative to the scanner produced data comprising memory means (40) having a plurality of data storage sections (0-N) arranged in sequence from an initial said storage section (0) to a final said storage section (N), first means (36) responsive to each host device request signal (86) for initiating transfer in said sequence of any data contained in said memory (40) to the host device (45), second means (96) responsive to each host device image requesting signal (86) for producing a scan signal (97) if the data contained in said memory (40) is less than the amount of data in the block associated with the request signal (86), means (18) enabled by said scan signal (97) for actuating the image scanner (15) to commence producing image defining data (19), means (36) loading said image scanner produced data (30) into said memory locations (0-N) in a recycling manner in said sequence from said initial location (0) to said final location (N), means (36,44) transferring data from said memory means (40) to the host device (45) in a recycling manner in said sequence from said initial location (0) to said final location (N), and means (99) for stopping the scanner (15) operation when the host device (45) requires no further data (108) as well as when said buffer has no further available locations (100) for storing data from the scanner (15), whereby data is concurrently loaded into said memory (40) and transferred (44) from said memory (40) with minimum interruptions of operation of the scanner (15).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
80 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 which includes means (22) responsive to said scanner operation stopping means (99) for causing the scanner (15) to cease data production and to position the scanner (15) with the minimum separation from the last scanned line (24) of the image to the scanner (15) mechanism so that the scanner (15) will reach full scanning speed as it encounters the next scan line from said last scanned line on receipt of said scan signal (97).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
82 words
Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein the data produced by the scanner (15) is a plurality of lines of bytes corresponding to pixels making up a line (24) of the image (11) under scan, said loading means (36) including means (41) placing said image scanner produced data into said memory locations (0-N) a line at a time, and said data transferring means (36,44) including means (42) sequentially retrieving said bytes of each said line for communication to the host device (45).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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