JPH07221966A - Image communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the communication time and the cost by reducing a data quantity sent on a radio communication channel whose cost is higher and whose communication speed is slower than those of a wired communication channel in the case of sending a facsimile signal from a radio portable terminal equipment via a radio communication network. CONSTITUTION:The system is provided with a radio portable terminal equipment 101, a work station 103 bing a master station, a radio communication network 102 interconnecting them, and a facsimile equipment 104, and common image data are used for the radio portable terminal equipment 101 and the work station 103. The radio portable terminal equipment 101 displays an image selected from the common image data and inputs a revision to the user. Then a label specifying the common image data and the received revision data are sent to the master station via the radio communication network 102. The master station reads the common image data based on the label and synthesizes the data with the revision data to generate transmission data and sent them to the facsimile equipment 104.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication system using a mobile terminal having a wireless communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a communication terminal which performs image processing for synthesizing image data and handwritten data and transmits it to another communication terminal via a telephone network. For example,
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-174866 discloses a handwritten communication in which image data and handwritten data are combined so that not only the image data but also commands for image processing types such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, drawing, and editing can be transmitted. A terminal is disclosed.

On the other hand, it has become possible to send image data from a portable terminal to a facsimile machine connected to the telephone network using a wireless communication network connected to the telephone network.

[0004]

In the communication terminal capable of performing the image processing described in the above publication, it is created by editing the image data stored in advance by using a wireless communication network. Image data can be sent.

However, even in this case, the created image data having a large amount of data flows on the wireless communication network. The wireless communication network is higher in cost than the wired communication network, the line quality is poor, and the communication speed is slow. Therefore, there is a problem that image data having a large amount of data flows on the wireless communication network.

It is an object of the present invention to improve an image communication system using a mobile terminal having a wireless communication function. Further, the present invention provides a mobile communication terminal having a wireless communication function, in which a wired communication line is used when image data edited in advance, such as being added to image data stored in the mobile terminal, is transmitted through the wireless line. An object of the present invention is to reduce the communication time and cost by reducing the amount of data flowing on a wireless communication line which is higher in cost and slower in communication speed.

[0007]

In an image communication system according to the present invention, a wireless communication terminal inputs image information and a transmission destination to which the image information is to be sent, and the image information and the transmission destination are input. The information and the information are transmitted to the master station via the wireless communication network, and the master station processes the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal into data to be transmitted to the partner communication terminal and transmits the data.

The processing is, for example, a process of synthesizing fixed information. In particular, a plurality of common image data may be stored in advance in the storage device of the wireless communication terminal and the storage device of the master station, and the image data may be designated by the label from the wireless communication terminal.

Further, according to the present invention, a storage means for storing a plurality of common image information labeled with a common label is provided for the wireless communication terminal and the master station, and the wireless communication terminal stores one of the plurality of image information. On the screen displaying the image of the selected image information, enter the new image information for change, enter the destination information, and select the label of the selected image information, the changed image information, and The destination information is transmitted to the master station via the wireless communication network.
Image information is read from the storage means based on the label of the transmitted image information, the read image information and the transmitted image information for change are combined to create data for transmission, and this is transmitted to the other party. The information is transmitted to the communication terminal of the other party indicated by the destination information.

The image information stored in the storage means of the wireless communication terminal is obtained by reducing the corresponding image information stored in the storage means of the master station, and the master station receives the image for change received. The information may be enlarged and used according to the size of the image information read out on the master station based on the label.

Further, the change data is not limited to the image information, but may be expressed in the form of an edit command for the original image information.

[0012]

According to the above structure, the data flowing through the wireless communication network is the label of the image data stored in common between the wireless communication terminal and the master station (work station in the embodiment), and the change amount of the image data. Image data, and destination information. In other words, instead of sending all the image data synthesized on the wireless communication terminal, only the changes are sent to the master station, the master station reconstructs the transmission data, and it is sent to the final destination communication terminal. Therefore, the amount of data is smaller than that of sending the original image data to the destination. Therefore, communication cost and communication time can be reduced.

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless mobile terminal system to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, (101) is a wireless portable terminal having a wireless transmission / reception function and capable of pen input. (10
2) is a wireless communication network. The wireless mobile terminal (101) can communicate with other terminals using the wireless communication network (102). (103) is a workstation which is a master station of the wireless mobile terminal. (104) is
It is a facsimile machine and a workstation (10
3) Receives and outputs the facsimile sent from 3).
Reference numeral (105) indicates a communication network to which the workstation (103) and the facsimile (104) are connected. The communication network (105) is a commonly used telephone network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the wireless portable terminal (101) shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral (201) is a processing unit, which executes processing in accordance with a program stored in a memory or the like described later. Reference numeral (202) is a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which a boot program for the wireless mobile terminal is stored. Reference numeral (203) is a RAM (random access memory), which has a pen input I / F (20
6) The data input from the above, the data to be displayed on the screen, the image information, the control procedure shown in the flowchart described later, etc. are stored. Hereinafter, the RAM (203),
It is simply called a memory (203).

(204) is an IC card interface, and (205) is an IC card. The IC card (205) stores various processing programs and image data. IC card interface (20
4) reads out the programs and data stored in the IC card (205) to the bus line for reading and transferring to the memory (203), or the memory (20
An interface for writing the data of 3) to the IC card (205) is provided.

Reference numeral (206) is a pen input I / F, which provides an interface for sending a signal input from the pen input device (207) to the bus line. The liquid crystal display (208) includes a display controller (20
Controlled by 9), the data input from the pen input device (207) and the processed result are displayed.

(210) is a mobile (mobile) telephone.
The mobile telephone (210) allows the wireless communication network (10
It is possible to communicate with other terminals via 2). (211) is a modem, which modulates the data read from the memory (203) and transfers it to the mobile phone (210), or demodulates the data transferred from the mobile phone (210) and stores it in the memory (203). Perform the writing process.

FIG. 3 shows the workstation (10
It is a block block diagram of 3).

In the figure, reference numeral (301) is a processing unit, which executes processing in accordance with a program stored in a memory (303) or the like. (302) is a ROM,
Stores a program for starting the workstation. (303) is a RAM, which is a keyboard I described later.
The data input from the / F (306), the data to be displayed on the screen, the image information, the control procedure shown in the flowchart described later, and the like are stored. Below, RAM (3
03) is simply called a memory (303).

(304) is a hard disk interface, and (305) is a hard disk. The hard disk (305) stores data such as processing programs and image information. The hard disk interface (304) reads out programs and data stored in the hard disk (305) and stores them in the memory (30
3) is sent to a bus line for transfer to the hard disk (30).
Provide an interface for writing to 5).

(306) is a keyboard I / F,
The signal input from the keyboard (307) is sent to the bus line. The display (308) is controlled by the display controller (309), and the keyboard (30
The data input from 7) and the processed results are displayed.

(310) is a fax modem (31
The interface 1) connects the modem (312) to the bus line. The fax modem (311) and the modem (312) are respectively connected to a public line network, and communicate with the wireless mobile terminal (101) through the wireless communication network (102), and a terminal or a facsimile (104) having a facsimile function. ) Can communicate with.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing processing in the workstation (103) and the wireless mobile terminal (101) when transmitting a facsimile from the wireless mobile terminal (101) in this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral (401) indicates image data created by the wireless portable terminal (101). (4
02) is connected to the workstation (1) via the wireless communication network (102) connected to the wireless portable terminal (101).
03) shows the data sent. (403) shows the outline of the processing performed on the workstation (103).

As indicated by 403, on the workstation (103), the change data (402) sent from the wireless mobile terminal (101) and the wireless mobile terminal (1).
The original image data selected in 01) is combined to reconstruct the image data created on the wireless mobile terminal (101). (404) is the workstation (10
In this example, the data transmitted from 3) is output by the facsimile (104).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining a control procedure when a facsimile is transmitted from the wireless mobile terminal (101) in the processing of FIG. With reference to the figure, the control when sending a facsimile from the wireless mobile terminal (101) will be described.

As a premise, an IC card (205) which is a storage device of the wireless portable terminal (101) shown in FIG.
A plurality of common image data is stored in advance in the hard disk (305) of the workstation (103) shown in FIG. The common image data is
By attaching a common label to the wireless mobile terminal (101) and the workstation (103),
Be able to distinguish each.

Referring to FIG. 5, first in step 501,
The user inputs the pen input device (20) of the wireless mobile terminal (101).
7) is operated to select the image data which is the source of the facsimile to be transmitted and is displayed on the liquid crystal display (209). In step 502, the pen input device (207) is used to edit the image data, such as adding by handwriting. Thereby, the image data for transmission (401 in FIG. 4) is created.

When the user inputs a request for transmitting the image data (401) created in this way, in step 503, only the modified image data that has been added is taken out. Further, in step 504, compression processing such as MH compression or MMR compression is performed on the changed image data.

Next, in step 505, the transmission destination data is input. This is performed by displaying a plurality of transmission destination telephone numbers and selecting the transmission destination by pen operation. Next, in step 506, the wireless communication network (10) connected to the wireless mobile terminal (101) is connected.
2) For example, by using a mobile phone network, connecting to a workstation (103) as a master station and compressing the modified image data (corresponding to 402 in FIG. 4), a label of the selected image data, and Send information indicating the recipient.

In step 507, the workstation (103) decompresses the modified image data sent from the wireless portable terminal (101) and extracts the modified image data. Further, in step 508,
Based on the label sent from the wireless mobile terminal (101), the image data of the label is selected from a plurality of image data stored commonly in the wireless mobile terminal (101) and the workstation (103). And take it out.

Next, in step 509, the OR operation is performed between the bits of the coordinates corresponding to the extracted image data and the modified image data, and the wireless portable terminal (10
The same image data for transmission as that created in 1) is combined (403 in FIG. 4). Further, enlargement or reduction processing is performed in order to change the image data for transmission to the resolution of the image data used in the facsimile. In step 510, the image data is
A header is added according to the destination information sent from the wireless mobile terminal (101).

In step 511, the image data to which the header is added is subjected to processing such as MH compression to create data for facsimile, and the workstation (103) is operated by the facsimile transmission function to the destination according to the destination information. Send more. The transmitted facsimile data is received and output by the facsimile (104) of the other party (404 in FIG. 4).

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The configuration of the second embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
It is similar to that shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows the processing in the workstation (103) and the wireless mobile terminal (101) when transmitting a facsimile from the wireless mobile terminal (101), similar to FIG. 4 of the first embodiment. It is a figure.

In FIG. 6, (601) shows image data created by the wireless portable terminal (101). (6
02) is connected to the workstation (1) via the wireless communication network (102) connected to the wireless portable terminal (101).
03) shows the data sent. (603) shows an outline of processing performed on the workstation (103).

As shown by 603, on the workstation (103), the modification data (602) sent from the wireless mobile terminal (101) is sent to the wireless mobile terminal (101).
The image data selected above is enlarged according to the size of the data on the workstation (103), and the enlarged data and the original image data selected by the wireless mobile terminal (101) are combined and sent. Rebuild the image data of credit. (604) is a workstation (1
This is an example in which the data transmitted from (03) is output by the facsimile (104).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the control procedure when a facsimile is transmitted from the wireless mobile terminal (101) in the processing of FIG. With reference to the figure, the control when sending a facsimile from the wireless mobile terminal (101) will be described. Since the procedure of FIG. 7 has some parts in common with the procedure of FIG. 5 of the first embodiment, the part different from FIG. 5 will be described in particular.

In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the IC card (205) which is the storage device of the wireless portable terminal (101) shown in FIG. 2 and the workstation shown in FIG. A plurality of common image data are stored in advance in the hard disk (305) of (103).
It is also the same as attaching a common label.

However, in this embodiment, the wireless portable terminal (1
The image data to be stored in the IC card (205) of (01) is a reduced version of the image data stored in the hard disk (305) of the workstation (103). The reduction rate should be known for each image data. That is, the workstation (103)
Then, from the label of the image data sent from the wireless mobile terminal (101), it is possible to know to what extent the changed image data should be enlarged.

Referring to FIG. 7, steps 701 to 706
Is the same processing as steps 501 to 506 in FIG.
However, as described above, the original image data held in the wireless mobile terminal (101) is a reduced version of the image data held in the workstation (103). The above is edited, and the modified image data is created.

Steps 707 and 708 are the same processes as steps 507 and 508 in FIG. However, here as well, the changed image data obtained as a result of the expansion has a reduced size. On the other hand, the image data selected from the label and read from the hard disk (305) has the original size that is not reduced.

In step 709, the expanded modified image data is expanded according to the size of the selected original image data. In the subsequent steps 710 to 713, the enlarged modified image data is used to perform the synthesis, the conversion into the facsimile data, the addition of the header, the transmission and the reception in the same manner as steps 509 to 512 in FIG.

According to the first and second embodiments, a plurality of image data common to the wireless portable terminal (101) and the workstation (103) are held in advance with a common label, and the wireless portable terminal From the terminal (101), the label of the image data and the changed image data are sent to the workstation via the wireless communication network, and the workstation composites them for facsimile transmission.
Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of data transmitted via a wireless communication line having a high communication cost and a low speed.

Particularly in the second embodiment, the reduced image data of the changed amount is sent to the workstation via the wireless communication network, enlarged at the workstation, and then synthesized. Therefore, the amount of data transmitted via the wireless communication line can be further reduced.

In the above embodiment, the changed amount is sent as image data. However, it is sent to the workstation in the form of an editing command for graphics or graphic display such as a printer control command or a display display command, and the work is sent to the work station. The station may execute those editing commands for the original image to create the data for transmission.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a facsimile is transmitted from a wireless communication terminal, the amount of data transmitted via a wireless communication line having a high communication cost and a low speed can be reduced, so that the communication cost and the communication time can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a wireless mobile terminal system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a wireless mobile terminal.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the workstation.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of processing when performing facsimile transmission from a wireless mobile terminal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram when a facsimile is transmitted from a wireless mobile terminal.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a process when performing facsimile transmission from a wireless mobile terminal according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram when a facsimile is transmitted from the wireless mobile terminal according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 ... Wireless mobile terminal 102 ... Wireless communication network 103 ... Workstation

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 1/387

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A wireless communication terminal, a master station capable of communicating from the wireless communication terminal via a wireless communication network, and a communication terminal capable of communicating from the master station via the communication network. The terminal includes means for creating image information to be sent, means for inputting transmission destination information for specifying the communication terminal which is a transmission destination of the image information, the image information and the transmission destination information. A means for transmitting to the master station via the wireless communication network, the master station, the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal,
An image comprising means for processing the data to be transmitted to the communication terminal of the other party, and means for transmitting the processed data to the communication terminal of the other party indicated by the transmission partner information. Communications system. 2. The image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit of the master station combines the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal with fixed information. 3. The wireless communication terminal and the master station each include storage means for storing common fixed information, and the means for creating image information of the wireless communication terminal is on a screen displaying the fixed information. The image communication system according to claim 2, wherein the image information is created by. 4. A wireless communication terminal, a master station capable of communicating from the wireless communication terminal via a wireless communication network, and a communication terminal capable of communicating from the master station via the communication network. The terminal and the master station each include a storage unit that stores a plurality of common image information with a common label, and the wireless communication terminal further stores one of the plurality of image information stored in the storage unit. Selection means for selecting, destination input means for inputting transmission destination information for specifying the communication terminal that is the destination of the image information, label of the image information selected by the selection means, and the transmission And a means for transmitting the other party information to the master station via the wireless communication network, wherein the master station is based on the label of the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal, from the storage means. image An image communication system comprising: means for reading information; and means for transmitting the read image information to the communication terminal of the other party indicated by the other party information. 5. A wireless communication terminal, a master station capable of communicating from the wireless communication terminal via a wireless communication network, and a communication terminal capable of communicating from the master station via the communication network. The terminal and the master station each include a storage unit that stores a plurality of common image information with a common label, and the wireless communication terminal further stores one of the plurality of image information stored in the storage unit. Selection means for selecting, means for newly inputting image information for change on the screen displaying the image of the selected image information, and transmission for specifying the communication terminal to which the image information is sent The destination input means for inputting destination information, the label of the image information selected by the selection means, the image information for change, and the transmission destination information are sent to the master station via the wireless communication network. Means of sending The master station includes means for reading image information from the storage means based on the label of the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal, and the read image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal. And a means for synthesizing the image information for change to create data for transmission, and a means for transmitting the data for transmission to the communication terminal of the partner indicated by the partner information. Image communication system. 6. The image information stored in the storage means of the wireless communication terminal is a reduction of the corresponding image information stored in the storage means of the master station, which is received by the master station. The image communication system according to claim 5, wherein the image information for change is enlarged according to the size of the image information read based on the label on the master station, and is combined with the image information for change. 7. A wireless communication terminal, a master station capable of communicating from the wireless communication terminal via a wireless communication network, and a communication terminal capable of communicating from the master station via the communication network. The terminal and the master station each include a storage unit that stores a plurality of common image information with a common label, and the wireless communication terminal further stores one of the plurality of image information stored in the storage unit. Selecting means for selecting, means for inputting an edit command for changing the image on the screen displaying the image of the selected image information, and specifying the communication terminal to which the image information is sent Destination input means for inputting the destination information of the destination, the label of the image information selected by the selecting means, the edit command, and the destination information are sent to the master station via the wireless communication network. Means for reading the image information from the storage means based on the label of the image information transmitted from the wireless communication terminal, and the read image information from the wireless communication terminal. And a means for executing the transmitted command to create data for transmission, and a means for transmitting the data for transmission to the communication terminal of the partner indicated by the partner information. Characteristic image communication system. 8. The image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the communication network is a telephone network, and the communication terminal is a facsimile machine. 9. The image communication system according to claim 8, wherein the master station adds a header corresponding to the destination information sent from the wireless communication terminal to the data for transmission and transmits the data.