JPH09102860A - Equipment and method for data communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit communication image suitable for a communication destination by executing conversion in accordance with the function of the communication destination such as whether or not a color image can be processed, etc., so as to execute transmission. SOLUTION: CPU 27 generates an image area separating table in PMEM 23 based on address data and image attribute data transmitted from a reader 10 while storing image data in IMEM 25. Then, CPU 27 discriminates whether or not the transmission command of a keyboard 61 is inputted and executes a calling operation in a line 40 based on the telephone number of the transmission destination in data which is inputted by the keyboard 61 at the time of judging a transmission command input. Communication procedure is exchanged with a destination device, information of the kinds of the destination device and the communication functions of the destination is received by the protocol, a communication mode is decided based on the destination information and transmission data is converted into a state whereby reception is possible in the destination device based on destination information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication device and method for transmitting color image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, color image data can be transmitted as it is to a communication partner capable of processing a color image. However, when the communication partner can only process a monochrome image, the color image data is transmitted. It is known to transmit one-component data as monochrome image data.

Further, only one of a color image and a monochrome image is transmitted to a communication partner within one communication.

[0004]

However, if all the communication images are transmitted as color images as in the conventional case, the amount of transmission data increases and the efficiency is low.

Further, if the communication image is transmitted as a monochrome image, the amount of data to be transmitted is reduced, but even the portion desired to be expressed as a color image is transmitted in monochrome, and the image cannot be transmitted according to the operator's intention.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention can transmit a communication image for one communication including a color image and a monochrome image, and also transmits the communication image in an appropriate data format according to the function of the communication partner. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the data communication apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, a dividing means for dividing a communication image into a monochrome image and a color image, and a communication partner. Generating means for generating information as to whether or not the color image can be processed first, converting means for converting the color image into a monochrome image based on the information generated by the generating means, and monochrome converted by the converting means. And a transmitting unit that transmits data indicating an image to the communication partner.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the above embodiment.

The reader 10 reads a predetermined document and outputs an electric signal.

Further, the reader can identify an image area between a binary image area and a halftone image area such as a photographic image, and has an image processing function of reading the latter with a dither pattern or the like.

The facsimile main body 20 includes a reader / printer interface 21, an image compression unit (hereinafter referred to as "ICU") 22, a program memory (hereinafter referred to as "PMEM") 23, and a bit move unit (hereinafter referred to as "BMU"). 24, an image memory (hereinafter referred to as “IMEM”) 25, and a video RAM
It has a (hereinafter referred to as “VRAM”) 26, a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “CPU”) 27, a bus 29, and a communication control unit (hereinafter referred to as “CCU”) 30.

The ICU 22 compresses or expands data, and two-dimensional compression (high compression) is used to increase the coding rate. The PMEM 23 is an OS for controlling input / output devices provided around the facsimile main body 20 and each unit in the facsimile main body.
It has a program and application program memory area, and also has a font memory area for converting a character code into image data.

Further, the PMEM 23 has a memory management unit (MMEU) and also has a work area as a buffer of transmission data for transmitting from the hard disk through the CCU 30 and storing from the CCU 30 to the hard disk. There is. The buffer is used for speed adjustment of disks, lines and the like. Also, code data of a sentence by the key 61 is stored.

The BMU 24 edits an image (image processing) in the CRT 60, and enlarges, reduces, rotates, moves, or cuts a predetermined image.

The IMEM 26 has 4 Mbytes and stores an image from the reader, an edited image by the BMU 24, decompressed data by the ICU 22, and character code converted into an image. To do. Here, one page of mixed document information is composed of a block of bit image data and a block of character code data. Each block data is stored in PMEM or IMEM with an identification code and an attribute code indicating a block position. The attribute code can be added when each block is transmitted.

The VRAM 26 stores image data to be displayed on the CRT 60 by a bit map code.

A hard disk device 50 and a floppy disk device 51 are provided as external storage devices. Although these devices are non-volatile memories, a backup memory may be used as the non-volatile memory.

The keyboard 61 is used for inputting characters and the like and designating a position on the CRT 60 using a cursor. 62 is one of the pointing devices. In addition, a printer 70 is provided.

In the present embodiment having the above configuration, image data and character code data are divided into blocks for communication. Further, in the image data, the binary image area and the intermediate image area (or the very fine image area even in the case of the binary image) are divided into different blocks, and the compression processing corresponding to each area is performed to obtain the data. To communicate.

FIG. 5 shows the CPU 27 according to the present embodiment.
It is a flowchart figure which shows the control operation of FIG.

In steps S1 and S19 of FIG. 5, it is determined whether data is created or data is communicated.

When creating data, the operator uses the keyboard 61 to put the device in the data creating mode, and when sending data, the keyboard 61 puts the device in the data sending mode. Further, in step S19, it is determined whether or not there is a calling signal from the line.

In the case of data creation, the process proceeds from step S1 to step S2, and in the case of data communication, step S19.
To step S20.

In steps S2 and S3, it is determined whether the data to be created is character data or image data. When creating data, the operator creates manuscript data page by page while looking at the display on the CRT 60. At this time,
One page of the original can be all character data, all image data, or mixed data of character data and image data. The operator uses the keyboard 61 to indicate whether the data to be input is character data or image data, and sets the apparatus to the character input mode or the image input mode. CPU27
Determines in steps S2 and S3 whether it is the character input mode or the image input mode.

If the character input mode is determined in step S2, the area data (block area) into which the character data is input and the character format (character size, character arrangement, etc.) in one page of the document in step S5. Enter the data of. These area data,
The format data is input by the operator using the keyboard 61 and the mouse 6.
2 input.

When the character area data and the character format data are input in step S5, they are stored in the PMEM 23 as block data together with the character data input in steps S6 and S7.

If the image input mode is determined in step S3, the process proceeds to step S8, and the block area data to which the image data is input is input in step S8.

In step S9, the image data of the original read by the reader 10 is input, and the IMEM2
5, and the PMEM2 based on the image area data sent from the reader 10 together with the image data.
In step 3, an image area separation table is created. When the reader 10 reads an original document as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the address data (X, Y) of the image of the image and the image attribute data (for example, a binary image or a halftone image) are read through the reader / printer interface 21. Data) together with the image data. The CPU 27 stores the image data in the IMEM2
5, the image area separation table as shown in FIG. 4 is created in the PMEM 23 based on the address data and the image attribute data sent from the reader 10.

In step S10, the pointer is set to the head block of the image area separation table of the PMEM 23.

In steps S11 and S12, it is determined whether the corresponding block is a binary image or a halftone image, and if it is a binary image, the binary image is compressed in step S15, for example, MH.
Processing such as (Modified Huffman) encoding, MR (Modified Read) encoding, and MMR (Modified Modified Read) encoding is performed. Then, in step S16, the encoded attribute data of the block (for example, M
(Data indicating that the data is encoded by H and MR) is set in the block, and the process proceeds to step S17.

If it is determined in step S12 that this block is a halftone image, in step S13 compression processing of the halftone image, for example, dither pattern compression processing, or no compression (non-compression) is performed. Then, in step S14, the encoded attribute data of the block is converted to step S14.
Setting is performed in the same manner as 16 and the table pointer is incremented in step S17, and if it is determined in step S18 that the next block exists, the process returns to step S11.

When the compression process of the image data is completed and the block data is created in this way, the process returns from step S18 to S2. An original name is added to the data thus created, and the data is stored in the hard disk device 50.

As described above, steps S2 to S18
When the manuscript data of one page is created by, the operator inputs the completion of the manuscript of one page with the keyboard 61 and the pointing device 62, and when the manuscript of the next page is further created, steps S2 to S18 are repeated. Create by. When the creation of the transmission data is completed, the data creation end is input from the keyboard 61.

When it is determined in step S4 that the data creation end input is determined, the process proceeds from step S4 to step S19.

When the data communication mode is selected by the operator, the process proceeds from step S19 to step S20 to determine whether or not the data is transmitted. If the data is transmitted, the process proceeds to step S21. If the data is received, the reception routine is performed. Go to.

When transmitting the data, the operator inputs the name of the document to be transmitted and specifies the document to be transmitted from the document data stored in the hard disk 50. Then, the telephone number of the destination to which the original data is to be transmitted is input.

In step S21, the CCU 30 calls the telephone number for the line 40 in order to connect the line to the destination input by the operator. When it is confirmed in step S22 that the line is connected to the other party, CCIT is performed between the other party's device in step S23.
The communication procedure (protocol) of the T recommendation is performed. In this protocol, it is determined whether mixed data of character code data and image data can be received, and if it can be received, data transmission is performed.

In steps S24, S25 and S26, the transmission original is first read from the hard disk 50 page by page, and the data of one page is transmitted in block units. When the transmission of the document data is completed in this way, the line is released in step S27.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the CPU 27 when receiving data.

When it is judged that the data is received in step S20 of FIG. 5, the process proceeds to the receiving routine of FIG. 6, and step R1 of FIG.
Performs the protocol recommended by the CCITT. If it is determined that the protocol is receivable, the reception mode determined by the protocol is set and steps R2 and R are performed.
Data is received at 3 and R4, and the received data is sequentially stored in the hard disk 50. When the data reception is completed, the line is released, and the received data is printed out at step R5 and thereafter.

In step R5, the received data is read out from the hard disk 50 for one page and the PMEM 23 is read.
In step R6, block configuration data indicating what kind of block one page of data is composed of is input, and in order to expand the data into dot data in block units, first of all, Enter the data.

If the block data input in step R7 is character code data, the character code of the PMEM 23 is expanded into dot data based on the address data and format data added to the block data in step R8. I
The data is stored in an area of the MEM 25 corresponding to the block.

In step R9, it is determined that the input block data is image data, and in steps R10 and R12, it is determined whether the image data is binary image data or halftone image data. If the image data is binary image data, decompression processing (for example, M
(H, MR, MMR decoding) is performed and the decompressed image data is stored in an area corresponding to the block in the memory of page 1 of the IMEM 25.

If it is determined in step R12 that the image is a halftone image, in step R13 the same expansion processing as in step R11 is performed according to the halftone image, and the expanded data is IMEM.
It is stored in the block area of 25 (when the halftone image is uncompressed, it is stored in the IMEM 25 as it is).

Thus, the character code data,
When the image data is expanded into dot data in block units and the development of the data of all the blocks constituting one page is completed in step R14 and the dot data of the original of one page is stored in the IMEM25, the IMEM in step R15.
The dot data is sequentially read from 25 and printed out by the printer 70. When the printout of the data of one page is completed, the printout of the data of the next page is performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in a document in which character code data and image data are mixed, the character code data and the image data are divided into blocks and transmitted (or received). A value image and a halftone image (or a very fine image, a complicated image) are divided into blocks, and compression processing is performed according to the halftone image or the binary image, respectively, so that the image data and the character code data are simply divided. More efficient data transmission can be performed as compared to the one that does.
In this embodiment, the binary image area and the halftone image area are automatically divided in the image data, but the operator can manually divide the image data using the keyboard 61 and the pointing device 62.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example for automatically dividing the binary image area and the halftone image area.

The automatic division of the binary image area and the halftone image area will be described below.

The original data read by the reader 10 is output from the reader 10 in the unit of small block data shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B (for example, a block composed of 4 × 4 = 16 dots). At this time, the reader 10 simultaneously outputs, in addition to the small block data S, address data (X, Y) of identification data small block data indicating whether the small block data S is a halftone image or a binary image.

Whether the small block S is a halftone image or a binary image is determined by the reader 10 from P ₁ to P ₁ shown in FIG. 8B.
_This is performed by determining whether a value obtained by subtracting the minimum value Pmin from the maximum value Pmax of ₁₆ (data indicating the density of a pixel) is larger than a predetermined level α. For example, if the density level is 8
If α is set to 4 as a level, Pm = 6 and Pm
In the case of in = 5, it becomes smaller than α = 4, the small block S is judged to be a halftone image block, and Pmi = Pmi when Pmax = 7.
If n = 1, α is larger than 4 and the small block S is 2
It is determined to be a value image block.

In step M1 of FIG.
Initializes the small block table for creating the image area separation table of the PMEM 23. And step M2
At, the small block data S _{n, m} is input from the reader 10 and stored in the IMEM 25.

In step M3, the small block data S
_n, based on the identification data added to _m the small block data S _{n, m} it is judged whether the halftone image, the process proceeds to step M4 if halftone image, if the binary image in step M8 move on.

When it is determined in step M3 that the small block data S _{n, m} is a halftone image and the process proceeds to step M4, it is determined whether or not the current block area is a halftone area. The process proceeds to M12, and if the current block region is not the halftone region, the process proceeds to step M5.

In steps M5 and M6, it is determined whether the small block data S _{n-1, m} , S _{n, m-1} is a halftone image and the small block data S _{n-1, m} , S _{n, m-1.} When both are halftone images, the process proceeds to step M7, indicating that the subsequent data is a halftone image. The data is stored in the small block table of the PMEM 23 together with the address data of the small block.

In step M3, it is determined that the small block data S _{n, m} is a binary image, and when the process proceeds to step M8, it is determined in step M8 whether the current block area is a binary image area and 2 If it is a value image area, step M
The process proceeds to step 2, and if it is not a binary image area, the process proceeds to step M9.

In steps M9 and M10, if both of the small block data S _{n-1, m} and S _{n, m-1} are binary images, a flag indicating that the subsequent data is a binary image in step M11. Is stored in the small block table of the PMEM 23 together with the address data of the small block.

Then, in step M12, the small block pointer is incremented to determine the next small block data.

In this way, the small block data output from the reader 10 is discriminated and the small block table of the PMEM 23 is created. When the determination of all data is completed in this way, in step M14, the image is divided into block areas based on the small block table. Step M1
The block division in 4 is performed as follows.

That is, the minimum Xmin and the minimum Ymin are selected in the address data (X, Y) to which the flag indicating the change from the binary image to the halftone is added in one halftone area of the small block table. Then, the maximum Xmax and the maximum Yma of the address data (X, Y) to which the flag indicating that the halftone has changed to the binary image are added are displayed.
Select x. This (Xmin, Ymin) is used as the start address of the halftone block area (Xmax, Ymax)
Is the end address of the halftone block area. In step M15, an image area separation table as shown in FIG. 4 is created based on the start address and end address of the halftone image block area thus obtained.

The automatic division of the image area described above is just an example, and the invention is not limited to the automatic division described above.

The halftone image data is formed by A / D converting the data from the reader 10 and is composed of a gradation code of 8 bits per pixel. When transmitting a halftone block composed of these, A packet is transmitted for each predetermined number of bits of data, and the receiving side assembles the received bucket data for each predetermined number of bits to reproduce an 8-bit pixel halftone image block. Therefore, a transmission halftone image block can be faithfully received and recorded if the reception recording unit 70 has a so-called multi-value printer capable of reproducing a halftone corresponding to the gradation code by brightness modulation or pulse width modulation.

In the above embodiment, the image area is divided into the binary image area and the halftone image area for data transmission, but the halftone image may not be processed depending on the function of the receiving apparatus. Therefore, as another embodiment below, when the device of the other party (reception destination) cannot process the multi-valued code of the halftone image, the halftone image (multi-valued code) is converted into the binary image (“1”, “ 0 "), that is, pseudo intermediate 2 by dither method, etc.
When a character block and a binary image block are transmitted as one binary image area by converting into a value signal and the other party can receive a halftone image, the character block and the 1
Binary image block represented by one bit per pixel and one pixel 8
The transmission of a halftone image block represented by bits will be described.

In another embodiment, the data stored in the hard disk device 50 is transmitted.
Since the creation of the data has already been described above, it will be omitted here. The configuration of the other embodiment is also the same as that of FIG. 1, but the control program of the CPU 27 is different.

FIG. 9 shows a CPU 27 according to another embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control operation of FIG.

In step N1 of FIG.
Determines whether or not the operator has input a transmission command of the keyboard 61, and if it is determined that the transmission command has been input, the process proceeds to step N2, and the line is based on the telephone number of the transmission destination of the data input by the operator at the keyboard 61 in step N2. The call operation is performed at 40. Then, in step N3, it is determined whether or not the other party is connected to the line by the predetermined time, and when the other party is connected to the line, the process proceeds to step N4.

In step N4, the communication procedure is exchanged (protocol) with the other party's device, and the type of the other party's device (whether the destination is G4 facsimile, mixed mode terminal, teletex, etc.) and the other party are used by this protocol. Information on the previous communication function (whether the character code can be received or halftone processing can be performed) is received, and the communication mode is determined based on the other party information. Then, the transmission data is converted into a form that can be received by the destination device based on the information of the destination. For example, when the other party can receive only the image data with the class 1 machine of the G4 facsimile machine, the character code is expanded into photo data, all the data are converted into the image data of 1 pixel 1 bit, and then the compression coding is performed as necessary. To send. If the other party cannot process the halftone image (halftone multi-value code processing), the halftone image is converted into a pseudo halftone binary image such as dither and transmitted.

Next, when the protocol with the partner is completed in step N4, the process proceeds to step N5, and in step N5 it is judged whether or not the partner device can receive the halftone image data based on the result of the protocol, and the halftone image data is received. If the image data can be received, the process proceeds to step N10, the transmission data is read from the hard disk device 50, the block data is transmitted at step N11, and if the halftone image data cannot be received, the process proceeds to step N6. To transmit the halftone image data, the CCU 30 converts a parallel 8-bit code signal into a serial 8-bit code signal and sends it to the line.

In step N6, the transmission data is read from the hard disk device 50, and in step N7, it is determined whether or not a halftone image block exists based on the block configuration information of the transmission data added to the head of the transmission data, and the intermediate If there is no toned image block, the process proceeds to step N11. If there is a toned image block, the toned image is converted to a binary image in steps N8 and N9. This binary image conversion of the halftone image is executed when storing it in the hard disk 50.

In this way, all halftone image blocks are converted into binary image blocks, and the attribute of the block is changed from the halftone image to 2
When the value image is changed, the process proceeds from step N9 to step N11.

Steps N11, N12, N13, N14
In step S24, S25, S26, S of FIG.
Data transmission is performed in the same manner as 27.

As described above, in another embodiment, if the other party can process a halftone image, the transmission data is transmitted as a character code block, a binary image block, and a halftone image block, and the other party is transmitted. If there is no halftone image processing function, the halftone image block is converted into a binary image block and the transmission data is transmitted as a character code block or a binary image block, so data can be transmitted according to the function of the other party. .

Further, in the other embodiment described above, the transmission data divided into three blocks of the character code block, the binary image block and the halftone image block is converted. If it is known that the toned image processing cannot be performed, the image area of the original read data is not divided into the binary image area and the halftone image area,
It is also possible to slice a line drawing such as a character in a predetermined manner and binarize a halftone image such as a photograph with a dither pattern so as to treat each as a binary image.

There is a case where a color original is color-separated into B, G, and R components and read, and one pixel is divided into these components and transmitted. The block composed of the color components can be mixed and transmitted in one page of the transmission document. It allocates 8 bits for each color component in a pixel, 1
If there is a color reproduction function on the receiving side, a color block is configured by associating a total of 24 bits with pixels, and is transmitted with an identification code (attribute) indicating that it is a color block. Color calculation is performed based on each component data, Y, M, and C color materials are selected and can be recorded by a color printer or the like.

On the other hand, when the receiving side has only the monochrome function instead of the color reproducing function, the transmitting side converts the color block into a simple monochrome halftone block based on the partner information as in the case of the halftone. This converts data of B, G, and R components into data of Y, I, and Q components, extracts data of only brightness Y, and converts it into monochrome halftone data. Then, it is included in the same block as another original monochrome halftone block, the block boundary information (block size, attribute data for each block, etc.) is deleted and converted into a large block for transmission.

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention, a communication image for one communication including a color image and a monochrome image can be transmitted, and a color image can be processed according to the function of the communication partner such as whether or not the color image can be processed. Since the image portion is converted into a monochrome image and then transmitted, a communication image suitable for a communication partner can be transmitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the data communication device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of image data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image area separation table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a reception routine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing automatic division of an image area.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing small block data.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Reader 20 Facsimile Device Main Body 30 CCU 40 Line 21 Reader / Printer Interface 22 ICU 23 PMEM 24 BMU 25 IMEM 26 VRAM 27 CPU 29 Bus 50 Hard Disk Device 51 Floppy Disk Device 60 CRT 61 Keyboard 62 Mouse 70 Printer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A dividing unit that divides a communication image for one communication into a monochrome image and a color image, a generating unit that generates information as to whether or not a communication partner can process the color image, and a generating unit that generates the information. Data communication, comprising: a conversion unit for converting the color image into a monochrome image based on the information obtained, and a transmission unit for transmitting data indicating the monochrome image converted by the conversion unit to the communication partner. apparatus. 2. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an addition unit that adds position information to each of the monochrome image and the color image obtained by the division by the dividing unit. 3. An addition means for adding type information indicating the type of each of the monochrome image and the color image obtained by the division by the dividing means.
A data communication device according to claim 1. 4. A dividing step of dividing a communication image for one communication into a monochrome image and a color image, a generating step of generating information as to whether a communication partner can process the color image, and a generating step of the generating step. A data communication method comprising: a conversion step of converting the color image into a monochrome image based on the information obtained; and a transmission step of transmitting data indicating the monochrome image converted in the conversion step to the communication partner. .