JPH09116731A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an optimum transfer operation in accordance with a system working condition by providing the detecting means of a system load, executing a data transfer processing at max. speed when the system load is light, reducing data transfer speed at the time of the heavy load and distributing the system load. SOLUTION: Command reception is monitored from an information processing terminal 118. When a command is received, the system load of a present facsimile equipment is detected. The working condition of the equipment is decided by the start state and an operation mode in a reading control part 107 and a communication control part 109 and judged by the detection of the start state in respective control tasks which are stored in ROM 102. The load value of the system load is calculated from the control task and the operation mode which are started. A means for selecting the respective kinds of reception control of high-speed and low-speed is provided so that the system load is distributed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile device connectable to an external processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile apparatus which is connected to an external processing apparatus and is capable of transmitting / receiving data, data transfer control in data transmission / reception control is
The transfer was performed at a preset transfer rate regardless of the operating status of the facsimile machine.

[0003]

However, since the transfer rate in the above conventional example is fixed regardless of the operating status of the system, the transfer rate at the time of transmitting / receiving data to / from the external information processing terminal is The maximum value that can guarantee the operation of the facsimile machine (the transfer rate that can operate at the worst value of the simultaneous operation control of the facsimile machine) is set. Therefore, it is necessary to set the transfer rate, the command, and the response interval at low values, or to speed up the system of the facsimile device.

The present invention provides a facsimile apparatus which can obtain the optimum transfer operation according to the operating condition of the system and can obtain the maximum transfer efficiency within the range of the limited capacity of the facsimile apparatus. The purpose is to

[0005]

According to the present invention, means for detecting the system load of a facsimile machine is provided, and when the system load is light (when a predetermined threshold value is not exceeded), the maximum speed data is collected. Transfer processing is performed. If the system load is heavy due to simultaneous execution of communication control and recording control, reduce the data transfer rate,
By distributing the system load, efficient data transfer is realized.

Further, by providing a means for rejecting data transfer when the system load is large, it is possible to control data transmission / reception with an external information processing terminal even in a low speed (low performance) system.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The CPU 101 is a system control unit,
The entire image processing apparatus is controlled via a system bus 117. The ROM 102 stores a control program of the CPU 101, an operating system (OS) program, and the like.

The RAM 103 is composed of SRAM or the like,
This is for storing program control variables and the like. The set values registered by the operator, management data of the apparatus, and various work buffers are also stored in the RAM 103.

The image memory 104 is composed of a DRAM or the like and is for storing image data. In the present embodiment, each control program stored in the ROM 102 is controlled by software such as scheduling and a task switch under the control of the OS stored in the ROM 102.

The operation unit 105 includes various keys, LEDs, and LC.
D is used to perform various input operations by the operator and display the operation status of the image processing apparatus.

The reading control section 107 is composed of a CS image sensor, a document feeding mechanism, and the like. The reading control unit 107 optically reads a document using a CS image sensor, converts the document into electrical image data, and performs various image processing such as binarization processing and halftone processing by the image processing control unit 108. It outputs high-definition image data. The converted image data is coded according to a predetermined coding method via the read / write code decoding processing unit 112, and is stored in the image memory 104.

The recording control unit 114 is composed of a page printer, a recording image processing control unit and the like. In the recording control unit 114, the image data to be recorded is decoded by the reading control code decoding processing unit 112, and various image processing such as smoothing processing and recording density correction processing is performed by the recording image processing control unit to obtain a high-definition image. It is converted into data and output to a page printer.

The communication control unit 109 is composed of a MODEM (modulation / demodulation device) or the like, and controls modulation / demodulation of a transmission / reception signal of a facsimile. NCU (Network Controller)
Reference numeral 110 denotes a line for transmitting a selection signal (dial pulse or tone dialer) to an analog communication line (PSTN) 116, detecting a calling signal, and performing line control such as automatic incoming call control.

The image data stored in the image memory 104 is decoded by the communication code decoding processing unit 111,
In the resolution conversion processing unit 106, millimeter-inch resolution conversion, enlargement / reduction processing, and the like are performed. The resolution-converted image is subjected to decoding processing by the communication code decoding processing unit 111 according to the capability of the transmission destination, and transmission is controlled.

The I / F control unit 115 performs interface control with an information processing terminal (FAX server) 118 connected to the outside, and includes a buffer for data transmission / reception. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a parallel interface such as a bidirectional parallel interface is supported. The FAX server 118 is LAN1
A remote operation request such as transmission or printing from an information processing terminal (client) on the LAN is accepted.

For remote operations such as transmission from the FAX server 118 to a facsimile machine, printing, data registration, etc., predetermined command, parameter, data, etc. are transmitted to the image processing apparatus via the I / F control unit 115. Done by. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the FAX server 118 is installed with application software and driver software for controlling the remote operation and the remote operation request.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection form of each element in the communication system of this embodiment.

The terminal 201 is a facsimile apparatus connectable to the external information processing terminal in this embodiment.

The terminal 202 accepts a facsimile transmission request or a print request from the information processing terminal on the LAN,
This is a FAX server for controlling the connected facsimile apparatus 201 such as remote operation.

The terminal 203 is a file server that controls LAN protocols and files on the LAN.

The terminals 204 and 205 are client machines (terminal devices 1 and 2) connected to the LAN.

In the facsimile transmission control according to this embodiment, the terminal device 204 logs in the FAX server 202, requests the FAX server 202 for facsimile transmission, and the FAX server 202 performs scheduling. The remote operation is automatically started.

Next, the operation of the facsimile communication remote control between the FAX server and the facsimile will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an information processing terminal 1 in this embodiment.
18 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of data transmission / reception between the I / F controller 115 and the I / F controller 115. FIG.

Remote operation from the FAX server 202 to the facsimile apparatus 201 is a command for each operation.
Image data, responses, etc. are transmitted and received according to a predetermined interface protocol.

The command is composed of a command code for identifying each command, setting values necessary for executing each command (recording paper size, destination telephone number, image data type, etc.). It

The image data is sent or received in response to a command requesting the image data or a command transferring the image data.

In the facsimile communication remote control in this embodiment, the image data accumulation control (image data accumulation instruction command) for accumulating the image data to be transmitted in the image memory 104 in the facsimile apparatus and the transmission to the communication partner. Transmission request operation (transmission start instruction command) for starting transmission, and transmission result acquisition operation (transmission result acquisition command) for notifying the result of transmission control by the facsimile device
Is performed by executing.

The image data storage instruction command includes
Information such as resolution and image size of the image data to be stored is included, and the transmission start instruction command includes information necessary for communication such as a communication partner telephone number and communication mode.

Further, the transmission result acquisition command is notified to the FAX server as a response of the transmission result (transmission result or error detailed information) obtained by performing the communication control by the transmission start instruction command.

Next, command reception control from the FAX server in the facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, reception of a command from the FAX server is monitored (S401). Then, when the command from the FAX server is received, the system load P _s indicating the current operating status of the facsimile apparatus is detected (S40).
2).

Here, the system load P in this embodiment is
The detection control of _S will be described using the system load table of FIG.

The operating status of the facsimile apparatus in this embodiment is determined by the activation status and operation mode of the recording control section, the reading control section and the communication control section, and is stored in the ROM 102.
Judgment is made by detecting the activation status of each control task stored in. The system load P _s is for calculating a load value from the activated control task and operation mode, and is performed by converting the operating status from the system load table into numerical data. In addition,
In this embodiment, the larger the value, the higher the system load.

Further, in this embodiment, it is assumed that two types of system load thresholds are preset in the RAM 103. The threshold value is the maximum system load P _b , which means that the operation of each control cannot be guaranteed if the load is further increased, and the normal system load P _a, which means that the control is delayed if the load is further increased. Is.

After the system load P _s is detected in S402,
It is determined whether the command can be accepted by the system load P.
_s and performed by comparing the value of said maximum system load P _b (S403). When it is determined that the system load is heavy and the command cannot be accepted, "BUSY" is returned as a response to the FAX server (S41).
1) Notify that the command cannot be currently accepted.

If the command can be accepted,
Whether or not high-speed command reception control is possible is determined by comparing the values of the system load P _s and the normal system load P _a (S404).

In this embodiment, there is provided means for performing command reception control by selecting high speed command reception control or low speed command reception control according to the load condition of the system when performing command reception control. This is to delay the command-response timing with the FAX server to distribute the system load and perform various controls.

The high-speed command reception control in this embodiment is control for immediately returning the response to the command to the FAX server after receiving the command. Also,
The low-speed command reception control is to delay the response transmission start timing by a time pre-registered in the ROM 102.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the high-speed command reception control and the low-speed command reception control have the same 1-byte data transfer speed (handshake time for transferring 1 byte).

When it is determined in S404 that the high-speed command reception control is possible, the response waiting timer W _r is set to 0 for immediate response (S405). Also,
When the low-speed command reception control is performed, the response is sent after the elapse of a predetermined time, so the response waiting timer W _r
Response waiting time T preset in the ROM 102
Is set (S406).

Next, the received command data is analyzed,
Control according to the command is executed (S407). The command data in this embodiment is composed of a code for identifying a command such as an image data accumulation instruction command and a transmission instruction command, and various parallel data such as an image size necessary for executing the control and a destination telephone number. It is something.

After the command control is executed, response data for notifying the FAX server that the command has been accepted is created (S408). After creating this response data, the response waiting timer W _r is monitored (S40
9) Then, after a lapse of a predetermined time, a response is sent to the FAX server (S410), and the command reception control ends.

Next, the image data reception control from the FAX server in the facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The image data reception control is a control for storing in the image memory 104 the image data received subsequently to the image data storage instruction command from the FAX server. The image data reception control in this embodiment is performed in S407.
It is assumed to be a part of the command execution control of.

After detecting the system load P _{s in} S501, it is judged whether or not the image data reception control can be continued by comparing the values of the system load P _s and the maximum system load P _b (S502). .

When other controls such as a facsimile reception control are activated during the image data reception control and the system load increases and it is determined that the image data reception control cannot be continued, the image data reception control is forced. To stop (S50
9).

When the image data reception control can be continued,
Whether or not high-speed image data reception control is possible is determined by comparing the values of the system load P _s and the normal system load P _a (S503).

In this embodiment, when image data reception control is performed, means for performing image data reception control by selecting high speed image data reception control or low speed image data reception control according to the load condition of the system is provided. There is.

This is different from the command data reception control described above in that the data transfer rate of 1 byte (handshake time for transferring 1 byte) is switched instead of the distribution of the system load due to the delay of the response time. The system load per unit time is reduced. The transfer rate control in this embodiment is performed by delaying the signal line of the interface, and the delay time is set in the I / F control unit 115 in advance.

When it is determined in S503 that the high speed image data reception control is possible, the high speed data transfer set value Th is set in the transfer rate setting register Tr in the I / F control unit 115.
Is set (S504). Further, when low-speed image data is received, the low-speed data transfer set value Tl is set in the transfer rate setting register Tr in the I / F control unit 115 (S505).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing the outline of the handshake of the signal line of the Centronics interface (IEEE P1284) in this embodiment.

After the transfer rate setting is completed, the image data is preliminarily R
The reception control of the image data of the size defined by the OM 102 is performed (S506). In this embodiment, the image data is divided into a predetermined size (1 block) for control.

After the control of receiving one block of image data, it is checked whether or not the reception of all the image data is completed (S507). If the next image data exists, the process proceeds to S501, Continue data reception control. If there is no image data, the image memory 10
Then, the end processing such as the storage processing in No. 4 is performed (S508), and the image data reception control is ended.

In the above embodiment, the system load is detected by digitizing it from the system load detection table, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to detect the system load based on the operation status (operation rate within a unit time) of an idle task (task that is activated when there is no other task to operate). It is also possible to provide a means for detecting the DMA bus occupation rate in the facsimile apparatus and control the system load by the threshold value of the occupation rate.

In the above embodiment, the system load is detected after the command reception control to determine whether or not the command can be received. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to monitor the system load periodically and set the signal line of the interface to the offline state when the system load increases so that the data transfer from the FAX server is not accepted. .

Further, in the image data reception control of this embodiment, the control for interrupting the data reception control when the system load increases during the reception of the image data is performed, but the present invention is not limited to this. While the load is increasing, it is possible to suspend the data transfer by holding the busy signal of the interface.

Further, the transfer mode switching control by the system load in the above embodiment is performed by two kinds of threshold values, but it is not limited to this. For example, the response delay time may be variable depending on the system load factor.

It is also possible to combine data transfer rate control in command reception control and perform data transmission / reception control at an optimum transfer rate depending on the system load. Furthermore, it is also possible to control the data transfer rate when sending a response.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A means for detecting the system load of the facsimile machine is provided, and when the system load is light (when it does not exceed the predetermined threshold), the maximum speed data transfer control is performed, and communication control and recording control are executed simultaneously. When the system load is heavy due to the above problems, it is possible to realize highly efficient data transfer by lowering the data transfer rate and distributing the system load.

Further, by providing means for rejecting data transfer when the system load is large, it becomes possible to control data transmission / reception with the external information processing terminal even in a low speed (low performance) system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection form of each element in the communication system of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of remote control of facsimile communication between a FAX server and a facsimile apparatus in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a FAX in the facsimile apparatus of the above embodiment.
It is a flow chart which shows operation of command reception control from a server.

FIG. 5: FAX in the facsimile apparatus of the above embodiment
It is a flow chart which shows operation of image data reception control from a server.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a system load table used in the above embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a handshake of the Centronics interface in the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 ... CPU, 102 ... ROM, 103 ... RAM, 104 ... Image memory, 105 ... Operation unit, 106 ... Resolution conversion processing unit, 107 ... Read control unit, 108 ... Image processing control unit, 109 ... Communication control unit, 110 ... NCU, 111 ... Communication code decoding processing unit, 112 ... Read / write code decoding processing unit, 113 ... I / F code decoding processing unit, 114 ... Recording control unit, 115 ... I / F control unit, 116 ... communication line, 117 ... system bus, 118 ... information processing terminal, 119 ... LAN.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having interface means connectable to an external information processing terminal, wherein a system load detecting means for detecting an operating condition of the system and data for receiving image data and command data via the interface means. Facsimile apparatus comprising: a receiving unit, wherein when the system load detecting unit determines that the system load exceeds a predetermined threshold value, reception by the data receiving unit is not accepted. . 2. An interface means connectable to an external information processing terminal, and through the interface means,
In a facsimile apparatus capable of executing various controls including transmission control and reading control according to a predetermined command sequence, command data is received via a system load detection unit that detects the operating status of this system and the interface unit. A command receiving unit, a response transmitting unit that transmits response data to the command data, and a response delay unit that delays the timing of transmitting the response data, and a system load is predetermined by the system load detecting unit. A facsimile apparatus, wherein the response delay means delays a response to the command receiving means when it is determined that the threshold value is exceeded. 3. A facsimile apparatus having an interface means connectable to an external information processing terminal, wherein a system load detecting means for detecting an operating condition of the system and data for receiving image data and command data via the interface means. It has a receiving means and a transfer speed setting means for setting a transfer speed when data is transferred through the interface means, and the system load detection means causes the system load to exceed a predetermined threshold value. If it is determined that the data transfer rate of the data receiving means is set to a slow value, the facsimile apparatus. 4. The first threshold value according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the system load detecting means determines that the operation of the facsimile apparatus is slow, and the second threshold value, when the operation of the facsimile apparatus is inexecutable. And a threshold value, and wherein the system load detection means does not accept the reception by the reception means when the second threshold value is exceeded. 5. The external device according to claim 1, wherein the system load detecting unit determines that the threshold value has been exceeded during data reception from the external information processing terminal. A facsimile machine characterized by forcibly interrupting data reception from an information processing terminal.