Image Processing Data Reduction for External Offloading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image forming apparatuses are restricted by limited hardware resources and processing speeds, making them inefficient for high-load image processing, which often requires external devices with higher processing performance via a network to reduce processing time.
Innovation Solution
A system where an image forming apparatus inputs data, performs a data reduction process to generate smaller data sets, transmits these to an external device for processing, and receives the results, thereby offloading high-processing tasks and reducing network communication influence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If image processing is performed locally on the image forming apparatus, then hardware resource constraints limit processing speed, but if external devices are used via network, then processing performance improves but network communication time increases overall processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing data compression and extracting only essential features before transmitting to external devices. This preprocessing reduces the volume of data that needs network transmission, thereby minimizing network communication time while still achieving high-speed processing through external computational resources
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the image processing workflow into local preprocessing (compression, feature extraction) and external processing (heavy computational tasks). This segmentation allows each component to operate optimally - local operations minimize network traffic while external operations leverage superior computational power, resolving the contradiction between processing speed and communication time
2Productivity
If all image data is transmitted to external devices for processing, then processing performance improves, but data transfer time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential and necessary data elements from the original image data before transmission. By taking out only the critical features and compressed representations rather than transmitting complete high-resolution images, the system achieves high processing performance on external devices while minimizing data transfer time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes data parameters through compression and format conversion, transforming large-volume image data into smaller, more efficient representations. This parameter transformation reduces the amount of data transmitted over the network while preserving the essential information needed for high-performance external processing
Data Source
AI summary
A device includes an input unit configured to input first data; a reduction unit configured to perform a part of a first process for the first data inputted by the input unit to generate second data, a data amount of the second data being less than a data amount of the first data, and the first process being requested to be performed by an information processing apparatus connected via a network; a transmission unit configured to transmit the second data generated by the reduction unit to the information processing apparatus; and a reception unit configured to receive third data via the network, the information processing apparatus performing the first process for the second data to generate the third data.