Image Processing Apparatus Alpha Plane Memory Load Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image processing systems face inefficiencies due to high memory storage requirements and bandwidth limitations, leading to variable compression rates and distortion errors when processing and displaying image data, particularly with increasing image resolution.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus that separates image data into color and alpha components, where only the color components are stored in memory, and the alpha components are directly provided to a second processor block for generating display image data, using a bus for data transfer and an alpha data selector to manage alpha component data based on positional information and priority, reducing memory access burden and maintaining image quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If image data is stored in memory for processing, then image data can be processed and displayed, but memory access load increases and processing efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments image data into color component data and alpha component data. Color component data is stored in memory while alpha component data is processed separately and directly. This segmentation allows the system to reduce memory access load by only storing essential color data while handling transparency information through separate processing paths, thereby improving image data processing efficiency.
2Quantity of substance
If compression techniques are used to reduce memory requirements, then memory storage capacity is reduced, but distortion errors are generated and compression rates become variable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts alpha component data from the main image data stream and processes it separately without storing it in memory. By taking out the transparency information and handling it through dedicated processing paths rather than storing it alongside color data, the system reduces memory storage requirements while maintaining complete image data accuracy without compression-induced distortion errors.
3Productivity
If conventional image processing architecture is used, then image data can be processed, but hardware architecture becomes complex to handle high resolution data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing architecture into distinct functional blocks: color component processing, alpha component processing, and display processing. This segmentation allows each block to handle specific tasks efficiently without requiring complex interconnections, thereby maintaining high-resolution image processing capability while simplifying the overall hardware architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal processing framework where the separated color and alpha processing paths can handle various image formats and resolutions through the same architectural structure. This multi-functional approach allows the simplified hardware architecture to adapt to different image processing requirements without requiring complex specialized circuits for each case.
Data Source
AI summary
In an image processing apparatus and method, image data includes both color and alpha components. During processing, only the color component of the image data is stored in a memory. Display image data are then generated in response to the color component data retrieved from the memory and the alpha component data that were not stored in the memory. In this manner, by not storing the alpha component data in the memory, the memory access load by the image processing system is reduced.