JP2002094806A - Facsimile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile capable of expanding code data in the way of its streaming. SOLUTION: The facsimile comprises a received file manager 9 for storing code data F of picture data received from a transmitter side, a coder-decoder 7 for expanding the code data F stored in the manager 9, a printer 5 for printing picture information obtained by expanding the data F, a line number calculator 15 for calculating the number of lines of the code data F, and a position calculator 17 for calculating offset information of the code data F from the number of lines of the data F and a number of lines corresponding to a previously inputted paper feed length. The manager 9 stores the offset information of the code data calculated by the position calculator 17 and the coder-decoder 7 expands the code data, based on the offset information stored in the manager 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a facsimile machine,
The code data of the image is received from the transmission side, the code data is decompressed, and then printed on a sheet (standard cut sheet) set in the facsimile machine. If the number of lines of the code data is larger than the number of lines of the sub-scanning length of the sheet (the length of the sheet in the feed direction), that is, if the sent code data does not fit on one sheet of paper. Performs divided printing in which code data is divided into a plurality of data portions, and each data portion is printed on a plurality of sheets of paper.

For example, when the transmitted code data is divided into three (when printing on three sheets of paper), the data portion of the first page from the head of the code data is decompressed and printed. The data part of the second page is decompressed and printed,
Then, the data portion of the third page is decompressed and printed.

In some cases, the printing order is reversed by so-called face-down discharge or double-sided printing. in this case,
The data portion of the third page of the code data is decompressed and printed, then the data portion of the second page is printed, and
Print the data part of the page.

[0005]

However, as a coding method used in a facsimile apparatus, MH (Mod) is used.
modified Huffman coding system, MR (Mod)
enhanced READ) coding method and MMR (Mod)
Efficient Modified READ (encoded) method, which is a variable length encoding method (the length of the code data changes in accordance with the length of the read image data). Since it is not possible to determine what page the portion corresponds to, there is a problem that it is not possible to decompress the code data in the middle.

That is, when the printing order is reversed, the code data cannot be decompressed halfway,
It is necessary to discard the decompression result from the beginning of the code data to the required number of lines (division positions) after decompression.
In particular, when the memory for expanding the expansion result is small and only one page can be secured, the expansion result of the data portion not to be printed must be discarded.

For example, in the case of expanding the third page, the second page, and the first page as described above, in order to print the third page, the code data is divided from the beginning of the code data to the division position corresponding to the second page. Must be decompressed, the decompression result discarded, and the data portion corresponding to the third page must be decompressed before printing. Next, for the printing of the second page, the decompression result of the first page of the code data is discarded, the data portion corresponding to the second page is decompressed and printed, and finally, from the beginning of the code data. 1
The data portion corresponding to the page had to be printed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus which can decompress code data in the middle.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage memory for storing code data of image information received from a transmission source, and a decompression means for expanding the code data stored in the storage memory. A printing unit for printing image information obtained by expanding the code data, a line number calculation unit for calculating the number of lines of the code data, the number of lines of the code data, and the sub-scanning length of the preset cut sheet. And a position calculating means for calculating a division position of the code data based on the number of lines corresponding to the number of lines. The division position of the code data calculated by the position calculation means is stored in the storage memory, and the decompression means is stored in the storage memory. The code data is decompressed from the divided position.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the code data stored in the storage memory is decompressed by the decompression means to become image information, and the printing means prints an image based on the image information on a standard cut sheet. .

Here, in the case of performing divisional printing with the page order reversed, for example, during so-called face-down paper discharge, first, the position calculating means generates a plurality of code data in accordance with the number of lines of the sheet from the beginning of the code data. , And the respective division positions are calculated. The division position is stored in the storage memory, and the decompression means sequentially decompresses the code data from the division position corresponding to the page to be printed, whereby the image based on the decompressed image information is sequentially printed on the standard cut sheet.

As described above, since the storage required memory stores the division position calculated by the position calculation means, the decompression can be performed from the middle of the code data. In addition, since the decompression can be performed from the middle of the code data, the time required for the printing process can be reduced, and the divided printing can be easily performed.
It is easy to change the page order at the time of division printing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the storage memory stores only a division position of the code data based on the standard cut sheet set in the facsimile apparatus main body. It is characterized by.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
It is necessary to store the division position based on the fixed-size cut sheet which is not used by storing only the division position based on the fixed-form cut sheet which has the same operation and effect as the invention described in (1) and which is actually set. Since there is no storage capacity, the storage capacity of the storage memory can be saved. Further, since the storage capacity can be saved, the storage capacity of the storage memory can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

[0015] The third aspect of the present invention is the first or second aspect.
In the invention described in the above, when the number of lines of the code data is smaller than the number of lines of the sub-scanning length of the standard cut paper,
The calculation of the division position of the code data by the position calculation means is not performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
Alternatively, the same operation and effect as those of the invention described in 2 can be obtained, and the code data is not divided in the case where it is not necessary to perform the divided printing, so that the storage capacity of the storage memory can be further reduced and the cost can be further reduced. .

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.
The facsimile machine 1 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a personal computer (not shown) and is a multifunction peripheral having both a function as a printer and a function as a facsimile.

The facsimile device 1 includes a communication control unit 3, a printing device 5, a codec / decoder (decompression means) 7,
A received file management unit (storage memory) 9, a page memory 11, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 13, and a scanner (not shown) are connected to each other.

The communication control unit 3 controls communication with the other party's facsimile (transmission source). The communication control unit 3 is connected to, for example, a public line or a telephone. Transmits and receives data to and from a facsimile machine via a public line. The code data of the image information received via the communication control unit 3 is stored in the received file management unit 9.

In the present embodiment, the printing apparatus 5 is a so-called electrophotographic printing machine, and receives image information received from a facsimile of the other party via the communication control unit 3, image information from a personal computer, or a scanner. The image is printed on a sheet (standard cut sheet) set in the facsimile machine 1 based on the image information read by the printer.

The encoding / decoding unit 7 includes a reception file management unit 9
It expands (decodes) the code data stored in the PC, and codes image information from a personal computer or image information read by a scanner as code data for transmission.

The code data stored in the reception file management unit 9 is developed as bitmap image information (bitmap data) in the page memory 11 or a line buffer area secured in the page memory 11 by the codec / decoder 7. The printing device 5 prints an image based on the bitmap image information on a sheet.
Further, the reception file management unit 9 stores page information of code data described later in addition to the code data.

An image from a personal computer or an image read by a scanner is stored in a page memory 11, of which image data to be transmitted to a facsimile apparatus on the other end is encoded and decoded by a code / decoder 7. The data is encoded as code data according to a method (for example, MH method, MR method, MMR method).

The CPU 13 controls the entire facsimile machine 1. The CPU 13 includes a line number calculating section (line number detecting section) 15 and a position calculating section (position calculating section).
17 are provided. The line number calculation unit 15 calculates the number of lines of the code data stored in the reception file management unit 9.

The number of lines of the sub-scanning length (length in the sheet feeding direction) of each size sheet is input to the position calculating unit 17 in advance. The division position (offset information) of the code data is detected based on the number of lines of the code data calculated by the calculation unit 15. The offset information calculated by the position calculator 17 is stored in the received file manager 9.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, when the code data F of the received image information is printed on four sheets, the position detecting section 17 sets each sheet size (for example, A
4, A4Y, A5... B5Y), the code data F is divided into four virtual pages (data portions) f1, f2, f3, and f4 in accordance with the number of lines for one page. B, C, and D are calculated. The offset information A, B, C, and D include the number of offset bytes and the number of bits to the code data F and a pointer to a reference line storage area for the MMR coding scheme.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, each offset information is summarized as virtual page information for each paper size, and together with the page width, the number of lines, the line density, the encoding method, etc. Received file management unit 9
Is stored.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described based on the above-described configuration and the flowchart of FIG. FIG.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of control performed by the CPU.

When the facsimile machine 1 receives code data based on image information from the other party's facsimile, the code data is stored in the received file management unit 9. Here, when code data is divided into four sheets and printed, for example, when performing face-down discharge or the like, it is necessary to reverse the printing order and print.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the code data received by the encoder / decoder 7 is expanded line by line (step S1), and the number of lines of the code data calculated by the line number calculator 15 is increased by the facsimile apparatus 1. Is determined to be an integral multiple (× 1, × 2, × 3,...) Of the number of lines corresponding to the size of the paper set in the apparatus (step S2).

If the determination result is true, the code data F is divided, and the offset information of the code data corresponding to the head of the line and the decompressed data of the immediately preceding line used as the reference line together with the page information. Register it in the received file management unit 9 (step S3). If the result of the determination is false, the process of step S3 is skipped.

Next, it is determined whether or not the entire code data has been decompressed (step S4). If the code data still continues, the process returns to step S1. If the code data has reached the end, the processing is terminated. finish.

Thus, the received file management unit 9
Stores offset information of the code data F based on the paper size set in the facsimile machine 1.
For example, as shown in FIG.
When printing on sheets of paper, the printing order is P-2, P-1,
When P-4 and P-3 are set, the expansion process of P-2 by the encoder / decoder 7 is performed by referring to the offset information B. Similarly, the encoder / decoder 7 outputs P-
The code data is expanded by referring to the offset information A in the case of 1, the offset information D in the case of P-4, and the offset information C in the case of P-3.

Since the reception management unit 9 stores the offset information of the code data calculated by the position detection unit 17, the decompression can be performed from the middle of the code data. In addition, since the decompression can be performed in the middle of the code data, the time required for the printing process can be reduced, the divided printing can be performed more easily, and the page order of the divided printing can be easily changed.

Next, another embodiment will be described. In the description, the same parts as those described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of control performed by the CPU according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the number of lines of the page of the code data received from the other party's facsimile machine is calculated by the line number calculator 15 (step S10). It is determined whether or not printing on the set paper is to be performed by division printing (step S11).

If the number of lines of the code data is smaller than the number of lines of the sheet, that is, if the division printing is not performed, the division of the code data F is not performed. In the case of divided printing, the same processing as in steps S1 to S4 described above is performed.

In the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the code data is not divided when it is not necessary to perform the divided printing.
The storage capacity of the storage memory can be further reduced and the cost can be further reduced. Print.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus as a multifunction peripheral. However, the same operation and effect can be obtained by applying the present invention to a so-called stand-alone facsimile which performs facsimile communication by itself.

[0040]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the storage-necessary memory stores the division position calculated by the position calculation means, the decompression can be performed from the middle of the code data.
In addition, since the decompression can be performed from the middle of the code data, the time required for the printing process can be reduced, the divided printing can be easily performed, and the page order can be easily changed at the time of the divided printing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the present invention is obtained, and the storage memory stores only the division positions based on the actually set standard cut sheets. Since there is no need to store the division positions based on the unused standard cut sheets, the storage capacity can be saved. Further, since the storage capacity can be saved, the storage capacity of the storage memory can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first or second aspect of the invention can be obtained, and the code data is not divided when it is not necessary to perform the divided printing. The storage capacity of the memory can be further reduced and the cost can be further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a state in which code data is divided into data portions and then the printing order is changed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining page information stored in a received file management unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of control performed by a CPU.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of control performed by a CPU according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 facsimile device 5 printing device (printing means) 7 encoder / decoder (decompression means) 9 received file management unit (storage memory) 15 line number calculation unit (line number calculation unit) 17 position calculation unit (position calculation unit)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage memory for storing code data of image information received from a transmission source, a decompression means for expanding code data stored in the storage memory, and an image information obtained by decompressing the code data. A printing unit for printing, a line number calculating unit for calculating the number of lines of the code data, and a division position of the code data based on the number of lines of the code data and the number of lines corresponding to the sub-scanning length of the preset cut sheet. And a position calculating means for calculating, wherein the division position of the code data calculated by the position calculation means is stored in the storage memory, and the decompression means expands the code data from the division position stored in the storage memory. Facsimile machine characterized. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage memory stores only the division position of the code data based on the standard cut sheet set in the main body of the facsimile apparatus. 3. The code data division position is not calculated by the position calculation means when the number of lines of the code data is smaller than the number of lines of the sub-scanning length of the standard cut sheet. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to 1 or 2.