JPH02159876A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a facsimile equipment with a video input by providing a dithering circuit to read an accumulated multi-level digital signal from a frame memory, to convert the signal to a monochromatic binary pseudo half tone signal and to input the signal to a coder. CONSTITUTION:A video signal outputted from a video camera 20 is converted to the monochromatic multi-level digital signal and accumulated to a frame memory 12 by one frame. The multi-level digital signal read from the memory 12 is converted to the monochromatic binary pseudo half tone signal by a dithering circuit 13 and encoded to an MH code or an MR code by a coder 10 in correspondence to the decoding ability of an equipment on an opposite side. Further, an encoded facsimile signal is converted to a form, which is suitable for transmission in a telephone circuit by a MODEM 15, and sent through a network control circuit 16 to the line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to facsimile machines, and more particularly to facsimile machines with a video input that can be coupled to home video equipment.

〔overview〕

The present invention aims at increasing the versatility of a facsimile machine by providing means for capturing images output from a video camera or video recorder and transmitting them as facsimile signals.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, facsimile IJ devices have been configured to send documents written or printed on paper, or to read and send documents from a disk created with a word processor or the like.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, conventional facsimile machines can send documents written or printed on paper as manuscripts, or can send documents created using a word processor or personal computer from a disk without first printing them on paper. did it.

However, it was not possible to capture images output from a video camera or video recorder and send them as facsimile signals.

It would be very convenient and enjoyable for users if it were possible to capture one frame of an image output from a video camera or video recorder as a still image and transmit it as a facsimile signal.

An object of the present invention is to provide a video-powered facsimile machine that can realize such an idea.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an analog-to-digital conversion circuit that manually converts a television video signal into a monochrome multi-value digital signal in a facsimile machine equipped with a coder that encodes a black-and-white binary pseudo-halftone signal into a facsimile signal. a frame memory circuit that stores the multi-value digital signal for one frame; and a frame memory circuit that reads out the multi-value digital signal accumulated from the frame memory circuit, converts it into the black and white binary pseudo halftone signal, and manually inputs the signal to the coder. It is characterized by comprising a dithering circuit.

[Effect]

The analog-to-digital converter converts the input television video signal into a multi-level digital signal. The frame memory circuit stores one frame of this converted multivalued digital signal.

Then, the dithering circuit reads out the accumulated multivalued digital signal, dithers it according to a predetermined dithering method, and inputs it to the coder. After that, as usual, a coder performs predetermined encoding to generate a facsimile signal, which is sent to the line via the modem and network control circuit (NCU).

Therefore, it is possible to directly transmit images output from a video camera or video recorder without first printing them on paper.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The figure is a block diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention.
Parts related to the present invention will be shown.

In this embodiment, a facsimile machine 10 is equipped with a coder 14 that encodes a black-and-white binary pseudo halftone signal into a facsimile signal, and an analog signal that inputs a video signal from a video camera 20 and converts it into a monochrome multi-value digital signal. A digital converter 11, a frame memory circuit 12 that stores the multi-value digital signal for one frame, and a frame memory circuit 12 that reads out the multi-value digital signal accumulated from the frame memory circuit 12 and converts it into the black and white binary pseudo halftone signal. and a dithering circuit 13 that inputs input to the coder 5.

In the figure, 15 is a modem and 16 is a network control circuit (NCU).

A feature of the present invention is that an analog-to-digital converter 11, a frame memory 12, and a dithering circuit 13 are provided in the figure.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. A video signal output from the video camera 20 is converted into a monochrome multivalued digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter 11 and stored in a frame memory 12 for one frame. The multilevel digital signal read from the frame memory 12 is converted into a black and white binary pseudo halftone signal by the dithering circuit 13, and then encoded by the coder 14 into MH code or MR code depending on the decoding ability of the other device. be converted into The encoded facsimile signal is further modulated by a modem 15 into a form suitable for transmission over a telephone line, and sent out onto the line via a network control circuit (NCU) 16.

Note that the difference in scanning line density and scanning speed between television and facsimile is absorbed when reading and writing to and from the frame memory 3.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has the effect of expanding the uses of facsimile machines by allowing video signals to be input to facsimile machines.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a block diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10...Facsimile machine, 11...Analog-digital converter, 12...Frame memory, 13...
dithering circuit, 14... coder, 15... modem,
16... Network control circuit (NCU), 20... Video camera.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile device equipped with a coder that encodes a black-and-white binary pseudo-halftone signal into a facsimile signal, which inputs a television video signal, converts it into a monochrome multi-value digital signal, and outputs it. an analog-to-digital conversion circuit; a frame memory circuit that stores the multi-value digital signal for one frame; and a frame memory circuit that reads out the multi-value digital signal accumulated from the frame memory circuit and converts it into the black and white binary pseudo halftone signal. A facsimile device comprising a dithering circuit for inputting to a coder.