JPH0670177A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain communication without limiting an opposite party by giving both the processing means of a sequential encoding system and a hierarchical encoding system. CONSTITUTION:Information to show by what communication system the equipment of an opposite party side can communicate is obtained by a procedure signal (pre-procedure) at the beginning, and the communication system is determined. Namely, if the equipment of the opposite party side can communicate by only the sequential encoding system (G3 system) to encode data sequentially for every traditional normalized line such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., the data obtained by a reading part 3 is encoded and sent by a sequential encoding processing part 8. Besides, if the equipment of the opposite party side is the equipment which can communicate by only the hierarchical encoding system (JBIG system) to encode the data hierarchically or by both the systems, the data obtained by the reading part 3 is encoded and sent by a hierarchical encoding processing part 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Up to now, there have been MH, MR and MMR systems as standard encoding systems for binary images, which have been widely used for facsimiles.

On the other hand, in recent years, an encoding method using a hierarchical transmission method has been considered and is about to be standardized by JBIG.

At this time, since the two are not compatible with each other, if the device has only one of the processing means of the system, it can communicate only with the other party having the processing means of that system.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The JBIG method is M
Since it has advantages such as higher compression efficiency than MR and that only required layers can be transmitted, it can be considered to replace the G3 method of MH, MR, and MMR as an encoding method for future facsimiles. However, in consideration of the degree of popularization of G3 and the communicability of facsimiles, it is desirable to use a device that can maintain the communicability with G3 in the replacement stage and also perform the communication of the hierarchical transmission method.

Further, even in a device capable of both transmission methods, in facsimile communication, what kind of function (communication partner) does the communication partner have after connecting the line to the communication partner and exchanging procedure signals? Since it is not known whether or not the image information obtained by reading the document is encoded and stored by either one of the methods, if the other party does not have the method stored after the procedure signal, It has to be transmitted while converting to the other method, and an extra processing time is required at the time of transmission.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a sequential coding means for sequentially coding image data and a hierarchical coding means for hierarchically coding are provided, and the coding is performed by the above two coding means. It is designed so that data can be transmitted.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment.

A CPU 1 controls each part of the apparatus.
An operation unit 2 includes an input device and a display device. A reading unit 3 reads an original by optical means and converts it into black and white binary electrical data. Reference numeral 4 is a recording unit for printing out binary electrical data. An image memory 5 stores image information. 6 is a CPU
Is a data memory for storing system data such as numerical values for operating commands and control, and user data such as telephone numbers. Reference numeral 7 is a processing unit that performs hierarchical encoding processing, and 8 is a processing unit that performs sequential encoding. 9 is a modem, which modulates encoded data to 1
Data is sent to the communication line via the NCU of 0 or data received from the communication line via the NCU is demodulated.

2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 are flowcharts showing the control operation of the CPU 1.

The operation of the facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment will be described below.

First, in the case of normal transmission, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 2, a call is made to the telephone number input from the operation unit (S1), the line with the communication partner is set, and then the procedure is performed. Signals are exchanged (S2), the communication method and the like are determined (S3), the document is read, the data is encoded by the determined method (S4), and the encoded image data is transmitted (S5). The receiving side decodes the received data by the same method and sends the data to the recording unit for recording. After the transmission of all the image data is completed, the procedure signal is exchanged and if there is no error, the line is closed and the communication is completed (S6). At this time, the communication method is determined by obtaining information on what communication method the other party's device can use by the first procedure signal (pre-procedure). That is, if the other party's device can communicate only with the conventional standardized line-by-line sequential coding system (hereinafter referred to as G3 system) such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., it is obtained by the reading unit 3. The encoded data is encoded by the sequential encoding processing unit 8 and transmitted. If the device on the other side hierarchically encodes the data, a hierarchical encoding method (hereinafter referred to as the JBIG method)
If it is a device that can communicate by only or both methods, the data obtained by 3 is encoded by 7 and transmitted.

Also in the case of reception, similarly, the communication method is determined by the pre-procedure, and if the G3 method is selected, the data demodulated by the modem is decoded by 8.
If the JBIG method is selected, the demodulated data is 7
Then, the data is decrypted and sent to a recording unit for recording or storage in a memory.

Next, the memory transmission will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. In the memory transmission, after all the original is read and the image information is stored in the image memory 5, a call is made to a predetermined destination, the image information is read from the image memory 5, modulated and transmitted. At this time, the communication method that can be performed by the other party's device can be known by the pre-procedure after calling. Therefore, the data read by the reading unit 3 is encoded by both methods and stored in the image memory 5. That is, the data from the reading unit 3 is input to both the processing units 7 and 8, and the data encoded thereby are both stored in the image memory 5. After that, a call is made, and the data encoded by the selected method after the communication method is determined by the pre-procedure is read from the image memory 5 and sent to the modem 9 for transmission. At this time, the data stored by the other method is immediately erased from the memory. By doing so, it is possible to promptly send the data to the device that the other party can receive by either method. Further, when the same information is transmitted to a plurality of parties by memory transmission (broadcast transmission), first, the data obtained by reading the original is stored by both methods. After that, calls are made to the other party of the set telephone number in sequence, the communication method is determined for each communication by the pre-procedure, and the data encoded by the selected method is read from the image memory and sent to the modem for transmission. . Both data are stored until all the transmissions set at this time are completed. By doing so, whichever method the recipient of the broadcast can receive, it can be sent promptly.

In step S11 of the flow of FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not the broadcast transmission is performed. If the broadcast transmission is performed, the process proceeds to step S26 in FIG.
Proceed to 12. In step S12, it is determined whether or not the communication method of the other party to be transmitted is registered. If the communication system of the other party is not registered, the document is read by the reading unit 3 in step S13, and the image data read in step S14 is read by both the hierarchical coding processing unit 7 and the sequential coding processing unit 8. The encoded image data and the image data encoded by both methods are stored in the image memory 5. When the reading and encoding of all the originals are completed in this way, a call is made in step S15 and the pre-procedure as described above is executed in step S16. Then, in step S17, the communication system that can be processed by the device of the other party is determined based on the information received from the other party by the pre-procedure, and the communication system including the encoding system to be executed is determined. Step S1
8, the image data corresponding to the data of the determined encoding method is read from the image memory 5 and the modem 9 and NCU 1
Send through 0. At this time, other types of image data in the image memory 5 are erased. If the data of the sequential coding method is selected and the data of the MMR code is stored in the image memory 5 and the partner has only the function of the MR or MH coding method, the MMR code is selected. The data of the encoding system is sequentially converted into the data of the MR or MH encoding system and transmitted. These data conversions can be executed at high speed by using a configuration such as hardware and do not hinder the transmission of image data. When the transmission of the image data is completed, the post procedure described above is executed in step S19, and the communication is completed.

If the communication method information of the other party is registered in step S12, the original is read in step S20 and encoded according to the communication method information registered in step S21. A method is selected, the image data read by the processing unit of the selected encoding method is encoded, and the encoded image data is stored in the image memory 5. In this way, when the reading and encoding of the original document are completed, in step S22 to step S25, a call is made to the other party,
The image data in the image memory 5 is transmitted through the pre-procedure, and when the transmission is completed, the post-procedure is performed to terminate the communication.

Further, when the process proceeds from step S11 to step S26 in the broadcast transmission, the reading section 3 reads the original document, and in step S27, the image data read by both encoding methods is encoded as in step S14. The encoded image data is stored in the image memory 5.

Then, in step S28, a call is made to the broadcast destination, and it is determined in step S29 whether or not the communication method information of the call destination is registered. If the information of the communication method of the called destination is not registered, the pre-procedure is executed in step S30, the communication method is decided according to the information received in the pre-procedure in step S31, and the communication decided in step S32. The image data of the encoding method corresponding to the method is read from the image memory 5 and transmitted to the other party. When the transmission to the destination is completed, the post-procedure is executed in step S33, it is determined in step S37 whether the transmission to all the broadcast destinations is completed, and untransmitted destinations remain. If so, the process returns to step S28 and the transmission process to the next broadcast destination is performed.

If the information on the communication system of the destination called in step S29 is registered, the encoding system corresponding to the communication system registered in step S35 after the pre-procedure is executed in step S34. Image data of the image memory 5
Read out and send. When the transmission is completed, the post-procedure is executed in step S36, and the process proceeds to step S37.

Next, a process of preliminarily registering a telephone number and communication method data by the user will be described. The user registers, for example, the telephone number of the other party and the communication method by the input means provided in the operation unit 2. The input data is stored in the data memory 6, and when the registered telephone number is selected in the subsequent communication, the communication method is determined from the data memory and the read data is processed only by that method. To By doing so, the document can be read and encoded before the pre-procedure is completed. Particularly in the case of memory transmission, the image memory can be saved by storing only the data encoded in the registered data system in the image memory. If communication with an unregistered destination is selected, communication will be performed by normal processing, but the communication method determined at that time will be stored in the data memory together with the telephone number of the destination. deep. Then, when the destination of the telephone number is selected again, the processing is performed in the same manner as when it is registered.

Next, the processing at the time of relay transmission will be described according to the flow of FIG.

In the case of relay transmission in which data transmitted from another device is transmitted to a designated destination, for example, assuming that this device is device B, B first receives data from other device A. In this case, the device A determines the communication method,
The B temporarily stores the data encoded by the determined method in the image memory. After that, B transmits the data to another device C. At this time, a method of transmitting the telephone number of C as data from the device A and a method of registering it in the device B in advance can be considered. In the former case, the communication method data other than the telephone number is added as the C data, and in the latter case, the registered data may or may not be included in the communication method data. . If the communication data of C is transmitted from A or registered, if the communication method of the data transmitted from A is C
If it agrees with that of B, B can transmit the data stored in the image memory to C as it is. If it does not match the method of C, the image data is once read from the image memory, converted into another method, and stored again in the image memory. At this time, the original image data is erased from the image memory. Further, when the data is not transmitted from the data A of the communication method of C and is not registered in B, the image data is once read from the image memory, converted by another method, and stored in the image memory. In this case, both data encoded by both methods are left in the image memory. Then C
Then, the image data is transmitted according to the method already described. By doing so, relay transmission can be performed even if the communication methods of A and C are different. The relay destination is not limited to one place, but in the case of a plurality of destinations, transmission is performed by the same procedure as the above-described broadcast transmission.

In step S40 of the flow of FIG. 5, the image data to be relay-transmitted from the relay request source A is received and stored in the image memory 5. When the reception of all the image data is completed, the post-procedure is executed to open the line. Then, after step S42, the transmission process of the received image data is performed.

In step S42, it is determined whether or not the communication method information of the other party C to be transmitted is registered. If the communication method information is not registered, the process proceeds to step S43, the image data is read from the image memory 5, and another encoding method (when the received image data is a sequential encoding method, a hierarchical encoding method, If the received image data is a hierarchical encoding system, it is converted into a sequential encoding system) and the image data of both encoding systems is stored in the image memory 5. The conversion of the encoding system is first performed. After the processing unit 7 or 8 restores the raw image data, the encoding process is performed by another processing unit.

Then, steps S44 to S48.
Then, the transmission is performed by the same processing as steps S15 to S19 of FIG.

When the communication method information is registered in step S42, whether the communication method of the relay request source A and the communication method of the registered destination C match in step S49. Determine whether or not. If the two communication methods match, the image data is transmitted in steps S51 to S54 by the same processing as steps S22 to S25 in FIG. If the two communication methods do not match,
The process proceeds from step S49 to step S50, the image data in the image memory 5 is converted into data of another encoding method by the conversion process described in step S43, and the image memory 5 is converted.
Store again. In this case, only the converted image data is stored in the image memory 5. In this way, when the conversion of the image data is completed, the process proceeds to steps S51 to S54 to perform the transmission.

In the above-mentioned method, when the data of both methods is stored in the image memory 5, a considerable amount of memory area is required. Therefore, the amount of data to be stored may exceed the remaining memory capacity. Therefore, if it is found that the total amount of data encoded by both methods exceeds the remaining memory capacity, only one of the data is left in the image memory.

In addition, the data amount may not change so much even if the encoding is performed by either method. At this time, the communication time is almost the same regardless of which method is used for communication. Therefore, both encoded data amounts are compared, and if the difference is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, only one of the data is left in the image memory 5 to save the memory.

In the following two methods, if the device of the other party can communicate by both methods in the subsequent communication procedure, the communication is performed by the method stored in the image memory 5. In addition, if the communication method that the partner device can use is the same as the stored method, communication can be performed as it is. If the communication method available to the other device is different from the stored method, the data is read from the image memory 5 and is transmitted while being converted into another method.

When only one of the data is left in the memory, it is naturally desirable that the stored method and the communication method are the same. Therefore, in order to increase the possibility, the following is done. That is, each time communication is performed, which method the communication was performed is stored, and the number of times for each method is stored. Then, when the image data is stored, the numbers of the two are compared and the data of the method having the larger number of times is left in the image memory 5.

Next, the configuration of the hierarchical coding processing unit 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

First, FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of the encoding process of the processing unit 7.

12, 14, 16 are frame memories, 1
Reference numerals 3 and 15 represent reduction circuits and reference numerals 17 and 18 and 19 represent encoders. First, the original image data to be encoded hierarchically, which is output from the reading unit 3, is stored in the frame memory 12. The original image data stored in the frame memory 12 is reduced by the reduction circuit 13 into an image having a vertical and horizontal size of 1/2 and stored in the frame memory 14. The reduction method at this time may be, for example, a method of sub-sampling to 1 / n (where n is 2) both vertically and horizontally, or by performing filtering with a low-pass filter / high-pass filter or a recursive filter. It is also possible to perform a sub-sampling after thresholding the obtained value, and the method is not limited to these. Similarly, the frame memory 1
The 1/2 size image data stored in 4 is reduced to a vertical and horizontal 1/2 size image in the reduction circuit 15 and stored in the frame memory 16. Therefore, the frame memory 16
The vertical and horizontal 1 of the image stored in the frame memory 12
A / 4 size image is stored.

The encoder 17 entropy-encodes the image data stored in the frame memory 16 using, for example, an arithmetic coding method, and the first-stage encoded data 101
Is output. Also, the encoder 18 refers to the image stored in the frame memory 16 while referring to the frame memory 1
The image stored in 4 is entropy-encoded, and the second-stage encoded data 102 is output. Similarly, encoder 1
In 9, the image stored in the frame memory 12 is entropy-coded while referring to the image stored in the frame memory 14, and the third-stage encoded data 103 is output. Image data hierarchically encoded in this way is
The low resolution images are sequentially stored in the image memory 5.

Here, entropy coding is taken as an example of the coding method, but other coding methods may be used.
Further, it is possible not only to store the hierarchically encoded image data in the database but also to transmit it to another system through a communication line.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of the decoding process of the processing unit 7. Reference numerals 20, 21, 22 are decoders, and reference numerals 23, 24, 25 are frame memories. First, the encoded data 2 of the first stage (low resolution) of the encoded data (the hierarchically encoded signal) that is hierarchically encoded and stored in the database.
01 is input to the decoder 20, is decoded here, the result is stored in the frame memory 23, and the decoded image data 301 of the first stage is output. When generating reduced images for displaying the list, the decoding process is terminated at this stage, and the image data 301 is also written in the output frame memory 10 at a predetermined position.

When the original image is generated, the following processing is performed. Second-stage encoded data 2 of the encoded data (hierarchically encoded signal) read from the image memory 5
02 is input to the decoder 21. In the decoder 21, the encoded data 202 is decoded while referring to the image data stored in the frame memory 23 at the previous first-stage decoding, and the result is stored in the frame memory 24,
The decoded image data 302 of the second stage is output. Further, the coded data 203 of the third stage of the read coded data (the hierarchically coded signal) is the decoder 22.
Entered in. The decoder 22 decodes the coded data 203 while referring to the image data stored in the frame memory 24, stores the result in the frame memory 25, and outputs the image data 303 in the third stage. At this time, the image data stored in the frame memory 25 represents the original image before being encoded.

As the reduced image used for displaying the received image list, the first stage hierarchical image is used here.
It is not limited to this, and images of other layers may be used. Further, in the present embodiment, the hierarchical image has been described as having three stages, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the same applies to any number of stages.

(Other Embodiments) The following sequence is also possible by combining the above-mentioned matters.

That is, when the communication methods of all the other parties are registered and stored in advance in the broadcast transmission, if all the communication methods of the other parties are the same, only the data of that method need be stored. it is obvious.

Next, when there are both communication systems of the other party, the image data is first stored by both systems. Next, the other party is divided into two groups according to the communication method. Then, first, it sequentially transmits only to all the other parties of the one set. When the transmission to all the other parties in the set is completed, the image data stored by that method is deleted from the memory 5. After that, the image data in the memory 5 is erased when the transmission is sequentially performed to the other party of the other set. By doing so, a part of the memory becomes available when the transmission of the first set is completed, so that the memory can be used effectively. Either group may be sent first, but in view of the effect of this embodiment, one having a larger memory usage area, that is, one having a larger amount of image data is the one having the smaller number of destinations. It would be more effective to use the group of as the previous group.

Further, when there are both communication systems of the other party,
First, as described above, the other party is divided into two groups. At this time, the image data is stored in the image memory 5 in only one of the systems. Then, first, the data is sequentially transmitted to all the parties of the stored method set. When the transmission to all the other parties in the set is completed, the data in the image memory is converted to the other method, the converted data is stored in the image memory 5, and the previous data is erased.
Then, the data is sequentially transmitted to the other party in the remaining group. This can save memory usage.

[0044]

As described above, by having processing means for both the sequential coding system and the hierarchical coding system, communication can be performed without limiting the other party.

Further, by storing the data encoded by both methods at the time of memory transmission, and selecting and transmitting at the time of transmission, the encoding processing is performed again at the time of transmission regardless of the apparatus of the other party. You can send without fixing.

If the communication system of the other party is known in advance, the image data is processed only by that system,
By storing, processing and memory can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a transmission operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart at the time of memory transmission.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart at the time of broadcast transmission.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for relay transmission.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an encoding process of a hierarchical encoding processing unit 7.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a decoding process of a hierarchical encoding processing unit 7.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Operation Unit 3 Reading Unit 4 Recording Unit 5 Image Memory 6 Data Memory 7 Hierarchical Encoding Processing Unit 8 Sequential Encoding Processing Unit 9 Modem 10 NCU

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A sequential coding means for sequentially coding image data, a hierarchical coding means for hierarchically coding image data, and data coded by said sequential coding means or said hierarchical coding means. A facsimile machine having a communication means for transmitting data encoded by the facsimile. 2. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the two encoded data is selected and transmitted according to the apparatus of the other party. 3. The facsimile according to claim 1, wherein the image data is encoded by the sequential encoding means and by the hierarchical encoding means, and each encoded data is stored in an image memory. apparatus. 4. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, wherein one encoded data in the image memory is transmitted and the other encoded data is erased from the image memory according to a destination. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at the time of broadcast transmission, one of the two encoded data in the image memory is selected and read out for transmission according to the broadcast transmission destination. 6. The data memory according to claim 2, further comprising a data memory for registering information indicating a function of the other party, and at the time of transmission, selects one of the two encoded data according to the information of the data memory. A facsimile machine characterized in that it is transmitted. 7. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when transmitting to a destination not registered in the data memory, encoded data is selected based on a communication procedure. 8. The reading means for reading an image according to claim 1, an image memory for storing encoded image data, a data memory for registering information indicating a function of a destination, and a destination of the transmission. It has a control means for judging whether or not the functional information is registered in the data memory, and storing the coded data of the sequential coding means or the hierarchical coding means in the image memory according to the judgment result. And a facsimile machine. 9. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for converting the image data into encoded data according to the function of the other party when transmitting the image data. 10. The receiving device according to claim 9, further comprising a receiving unit for receiving the image data and a unit for transmitting the received image data. When transmitting the received image data, the converting unit converts the image data. A facsimile device characterized by the above.