International Business Machines Corporation

Kazuo Funatogawa

Yoshiharu Kato

Masanobu Ogata

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for reducing the frequency with which memory is accessed in graphic printing or the like. If a CPU reads image data from a buffer block where data has not been written, a memory controller does not read the image data from a image buffer , but sends back initializing data stored beforehand. If image data is going to be written for the first time in a buffer block, the memory controller stores and manages this image data, first writes the initializing data in this buffer block, and thereafter writes the image data. If a read request or a write request occurs to a buffer block where data has already been written, the memory controller reads or writes data as requested.

Growing community of inventors

Machida, Japan

Kazuo Funatogawa