JP2701152B2 - Control method for facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a control method for a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function has been used, and such a facsimile apparatus stores an image of a transmission document and transmits the image to a specified destination at a specified time. A designated transmission function, a broadcast function for transmitting the same image information to a plurality of destinations (sequentially), a relay function, a function combining these multiple transmission functions, and a method for temporarily storing received image information, Various useful functions such as a confidential reception function in which a received image is not recorded and output unless a password is input by operation can be realized.

As described above, when utilizing the image storage function, the operator may want to know how many empty areas are available and how many documents can be stored.

For this reason, conventionally, the remaining capacity of the storage area that can be stored is displayed and output using a percentage display.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, in such a conventional remaining amount display method,
At that time, it is difficult to determine the number of remaining documents that the operator can store because no specific number is displayed.

In addition, when the model is different, the capacity corresponding to the image storage function is different, so that it is difficult to accurately determine the number of storable images in the content in which the remaining capacity is displayed as a percentage.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a control method of a facsimile apparatus that can accurately determine the number of storable images.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention relates to a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function, wherein a document is read each time a document is read for each document type classified based on the document size and document reading conditions. Average accumulation amount calculating means for calculating an average accumulation amount per sheet, and a calculation result of the average accumulation amount calculating means,
A storage unit for storing the document type; an average storage amount stored in the storage unit corresponding to the document type of the read document at the time of reading the document; and a size of an empty area of the image storage function at that time. Then, the number of documents that can be stored is calculated and displayed.

[Operation] Accordingly, the number of storable documents corresponding to the history of documents that have been actually read is displayed according to the type of the document to be read, so that the operator can accurately determine the number of storable documents. it can.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a control unit 1 performs a control process of each unit of the facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure process. A system memory 2 stores a control processing program and a processing program executed by the control unit 1. In addition to storing various data necessary for executing the program, a work area of the control unit 1 is configured.

The parameter memory 3 stores various information specific to the facsimile apparatus, for example, a memory use table or the like in which the amount of memory used per page of a read document is stored for each document type.

The scanner 4 is for reading a document image. In this case, the scanner 4 can read a document having a document size of A3, A4, or B4 size, and has three types of resolutions: standard, fine print, and fine. And a halftone reading function.

Here, the standard resolution is a resolution of 8 dots in the main scanning direction.
/ mm, the resolution in the sub-scanning direction is 3.8 lines / mm, the fine character resolution is 8 dots / mm in the main scanning direction, the resolution in the sub-scanning direction is 7.7 lines / mm, and the fine resolution is The resolution in the main scanning direction is 16 dots / mm, and the resolution in the sub-scanning direction is 15.4 lines / mm.

The document width sensor 5 detects the width of a document set on the scanner 4, and in this case, detects a document width of A3, A4, or B4 size document. The detection result is notified to the control unit 1.

The plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image and, like the scanner 4, can record and output an image with three types of resolutions: standard, fine print, and fine. In this case, the recording width corresponding to the B4 size is provided.

The operation display unit 7 is for operating the facsimile machine, and includes various operation keys and various displays.

The encoding / decoding unit 8 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. The image storage device 9 encodes and compresses the image signal. This is for storing a large number of image information in the state of being closed.

The modem 10 performs a modulation / demodulation process for transmitting digital data using a public telephone line network which is an analog line, and the network control device 11 connects the facsimile apparatus to the public telephone line network. It is. Also,
The network control device 11 has an automatic transmission / reception function.

These control section 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, scanner 4, plotter 6, operation display section 7, encoding / decoding section 8, image storage device 9, modem 10, and
The network control device 11 is connected to a system bus 12, and data exchange between these components is mainly performed via the system bus 12.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the memory usage table.

The memory usage table includes, for all the document types that can be read by the scanner 4, a usage amount (%) indicating a ratio of an average storage capacity occupied by the image storage device 9 by one document, and up to that time. Is stored.

As described above, the scanner 4 can read three types of resolutions, three types of document sizes, and half-tone reading, so that there are 18 types of documents.

With the above configuration, in a state where a document to be read is set on the scanner 4, a document reading condition is input from the operation display unit 7, and further, when a command to start reading the document is input, the control unit 1 causes At this time, the size of the set document is determined based on the document width information notified from the document width sensor 5, and the document type is determined based on the document size and the set reading conditions.

At this time, for example, assuming that the document size is A4 size, halftone reading is set, and the reading resolution is set to standard, the control unit 1 uses the memory usage table described above to correspond to the document type. Usage Mc (%)
Is read.

Then, based on the following equation (I), the number of sheets PN that can be stored in the image storage device 9 of the original set at that time is calculated.

PN = (100−MM) / Mc (I) Here, MM is the percentage of the amount of memory that can be used by the image storage device 9 at that time.

After calculating the storable number PN in this way, the control unit 1 displays and outputs a guidance message, for example, “Memory No Yak (PN) My” on the display of the operation display unit 7.

As a result, the operator can copy the currently set original document.
You can clearly know how many more can be accumulated.

In addition, when storing the image information read by the scanner 4 in the image storage device 9, the control unit 1 appropriately performs such a display process of the storable number.

When the reading of the set document is started, the control section 1 transfers the read image signal to the encoding / decoding section 8 and encodes and compresses the image signal by a predetermined encoding method. Information is stored in the image storage device 9.

Further, the control unit 1 determines the size of image information of one document of the document stored at this time, that is, the standard resolution, halftone reading, and A4 size document in this case, by the capacity of the image storage device 9. Numerical value Mc 'expressed as a percentage of
And updates the usage Mc stored in the memory usage table based on the following formula (II),
Update Nc to the incremented value.

Mc = (Mc '+ (Mco * (Nc-1)) / (Nc + 1) ... (I
I) Here, Mco represents a numerical value Mc before updating.

The control unit 1 performs such updating processing of the storage contents of the memory usage amount table each time one document is read and the image information is stored in the image storage device 9.

As described above, in this embodiment, the content of the usage table corresponding to the document type of the document read at that time is updated each time image information is stored in the image storage device 9. Stores a value corresponding to the contents of the document frequently used by the operator.

Therefore, as described above, the display content of the storable number displayed at the time of reading a document is very reliable.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where a standard resolution, halftone reading A4 size document is read has been described.However, when a document of another document type is read,
The same processing is performed.

In addition, although the percentage of the storage capacity of the image storage device is used as the storage amount stored in the memory usage table, the occupied memory amount can be directly used as the usage amount.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an upper limit can be set for the numerical value in the column of the number of sheets in the memory usage amount table.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a facsimile apparatus which can use a document type other than the document type described in the above-described embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention relates to a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function, in which a document is read for each document type classified based on the document size and document reading conditions. An average storage amount calculating means for calculating an average storage amount per document, and a storage means for storing a calculation result of the average storage amount calculation means for each of the document types. Average storage amount stored in the storage means corresponding to the type,
In addition, since the number of documents that can be stored is calculated and displayed based on the size of the empty area of the image storage function at that time, the document history that has been actually read so far is determined according to the type of document to be read. Is displayed, whereby the operator can accurately determine the number of storable originals.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a memory usage table. 1 ... Control unit, 2 ... System memory, 3 ... Parameter memory, 4 ... Scanner, 5 ... Document width sensor.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a control method of a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function, an average storage amount per original is read each time an original is read, for each original type classified based on the original size and original reading conditions. An average storage amount calculating means for calculating; and a storage means for storing a calculation result of the average storage amount calculation means for each of the document types. When a document is read, the storage result is stored in the storage means corresponding to the document type of the read document. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus, wherein the number of documents that can be stored is calculated and displayed based on the average storage amount that has been set and the size of the empty area of the image storage function at that time.