JP2003125211A - Color facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the consumed quantity of color ink for a color facsimile machine and to decrease the running cost thereof. SOLUTION: The color facsimile machine stores received color facsimile data in a memory 4 and displays the data on a display device 5. When a user designates and selects printing, the machine divides an area on a screen of the display device 5 into a color print area and a monochromatic print area. A color/monochromatic print conversion section 7 converts data in the area designated as the monochromatic print area into monochromatic data and the color facsimile machine prints the data separately on the color area and the monochromatic area on one recording paper sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a color facsimile apparatus capable of saving the amount of color ink used or making the amount of ink of each color uniform.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of communication technology and the diversification of life of individuals, color facsimile machines have been increasingly used in place of conventional monochrome facsimile machines. In a conventional color facsimile apparatus, generally, a received color facsimile image is printed on a recording paper by using color ink. However, there is a problem that not all prints of the received image data are necessary. By printing an unnecessary image, the amount of recording paper and color ink used increases, and the running cost of the color facsimile apparatus increases.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 04-123662 describes a color or monochrome facsimile apparatus that does not waste recording paper. In this facsimile device, the received image data is once stored in the memory of the facsimile device and then displayed on the display of the facsimile device. The user confirms the image data on the display, determines whether or not the image data needs to be printed for each page or for each communication unit, and presses the selection button based on the determination to print. Select whether to do or not.

[0004]

In the facsimile apparatus described in the above publication, it is possible to save recording paper and ink by selecting whether or not to print. However, in recent years, high-performance color facsimile machines, which have become widespread, use a plurality of types of particularly expensive color inks to realize a beautiful color image, and the facsimile machine described in the above publication still has a reduction in running cost. Is insufficient.

Further, in the printing of color facsimile data, when the amount of ink used for each color is non-uniform and there is a color ink with a particularly large amount of use, an ink cartridge is used each time the remaining amount of one color ink is insufficient. Since it is necessary to replace the ink cartridge and the ink cartridge is frequently replaced, there is also a problem that the device is complicated to handle.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a color facsimile apparatus capable of further reducing the running cost.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a color facsimile apparatus capable of making uniform the amount of color ink used.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a color facsimile apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a storage section for storing received color facsimile data,
A display device that displays a color image on a screen based on the color facsimile data, a region dividing unit that divides the screen displaying the color image into at least two screen regions, and the at least the color facsimile data based on the at least two screen regions. It is characterized in that it is provided with a printing section for performing color printing on a recording paper area corresponding to one screen area of the two screen areas and for performing monochrome printing on a recording paper area corresponding to another screen area. .

According to the color facsimile apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, it is necessary to confirm the image content of the transmitted facsimile data on the display and print the image data as a color image or as a monochrome image. Since the color can be determined and selected for each screen area, it is possible to reduce the amount of color ink required for printing while satisfying the functions required as a color facsimile apparatus.

In a preferred example of the facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display switching means is further provided, and by this display switching means, the display displays a color image in the image of the one screen area and the other screen. The display is controlled so as to display a monochrome image in the area. In this case, the image to be printed on the recording paper can be confirmed in advance on the screen, so that the user's erroneous judgment can be reduced.

The printing section of the color facsimile apparatus is
In printing a monochrome image, it is also a preferred embodiment of the present invention to select and print any color ink from the color inks used for color printing. in this case,
The amount of each color ink used can be made uniform.

It is also a preferred embodiment of the present invention that the area dividing means designates three or more screen areas and the printing section carries out the monochrome printing with two or more kinds of color inks. In this case, when performing monochrome printing in two or more areas, it is possible to make uniform the usage amount of each color ink by selecting the color ink to be used based on the remaining amount of each color ink.

Further, it is a preferable aspect of the present invention that the display device displays image data for one page of recording paper. In this case, the color arrangement on the recording paper can be easily visually grasped.

Further, the color facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that when a monochrome image is printed on a recording paper, it is printed with any selected color ink.

According to the color facsimile apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the color ink having a large remaining amount can be preferentially used by selecting the color ink according to the remaining amount of each color ink and printing the monochrome image. The amount of each color ink used can be made uniform.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be further described based on the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a color facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The color facsimile machine 1 includes a modem 3, a memory 4, a color display 5, an operation panel 6, and a color.
A monochrome print conversion unit 7, a printer driver 8, a color printer cartridge 9, a monochrome printer cartridge 10, and a control unit 11 for controlling the whole.

The modem 3 communicates with the partner machine when facsimile data is received from the communication line 2.
The memory 4 has a function of storing the facsimile data received by the modem 3 together with accompanying data such as the telephone number of the other party. When the facsimile device is used as a transmitting device, the color display 5 displays, for example, the telephone number of the other party who has input a key, and when the facsimile device serves as a receiving device, the received facsimile data stored in the memory 4 is displayed. , Function as a display device that displays on a screen for each page unit.

The operation panel 6 designates a ten-key portion for inputting a telephone number, a control key portion for inputting desired settings and special characters, and an area of image data displayed on the color display 5. Or a region specifying key portion for dividing. When the color / monochrome print conversion unit 7 prints the color image data displayed on the color display 5 in accordance with the setting from the operation panel 6, the color image data of a partial area or the entire area as monochrome data, It has a function of converting the color image data into monochrome image data. The printer driver 8 constitutes a part of the printing unit,
The image data including the color data and the monochrome data transmitted via the monochrome print conversion unit 7 is supplied to the color printer cartridge 9 as the color data.
The monochrome data is supplied to the monochrome printer cartridge 10. Cartridges 9 and 1 that constitute the printing unit
0 prints the designated monochrome or color image data on the recording paper 12, respectively. The control unit 11 controls the operation of the entire device.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the manner of control in the facsimile apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. When the modem 3 receives the color facsimile data via the communication line 2 (step S1), the color facsimile data is sequentially stored in the memory 4 (step S2). When the reception of the color facsimile data for one page is completed (step S3), the facsimile data for one page is read from the memory 4 and displayed as a color image on the color display 5 under the control of the control unit 12. (Step S4). The modem 3 receives the facsimile data that is continuously transmitted, and the memory 4 continues the operation of accumulating it.

The user confirms the image for one page displayed on the color display 5 and determines whether or not the image data itself needs to be printed and whether or not the color printing is required for each area (step S5). . When the user determines that the image data needs to be printed, the user further determines whether or not the color printing is necessary for each portion of the image. When the user determines that a part of the color facsimile data needs to be printed in color, he or she operates the area designation key portion of the operation panel 6 to display a screen area including an image requiring color printing and an image sufficient for monochrome printing. The screen area including is divided and designated (step S6).

The manner of specifying the area is shown in FIG. In this way, the user can select one of the color facsimile (FAX) images.
Only the desired screen area is designated from the data for pages, and the data in the screen area is selected to be printed in color and the data in the other screen areas are selected to be printed in monochrome. If it is determined in step S5 that printing is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S8, and the image data for the one page in the memory 4 is erased.

The data for one page for which color or monochrome printing is designated on the color display 5 is transferred to the color / monochrome print conversion section 7 under the control of the control section 11, and the screen area designated for monochrome printing is displayed. The image data is then converted into monochrome data,
Further, the image data of the screen area for which color printing is designated is transferred to the printer driver 8 as it is.

The printer driver 8 transfers color image data to the color printer cartridge 9, and also transfers monochrome image data to the monochrome printer cartridge 10. The color printer cartridge 9 and the monochrome printer cartridge 10 respectively print the image data of the designated screen area on the area of the recording paper 8 corresponding to the screen area (step S7). FIG. 4 shows the printed image. It is shown that printing is performed on the recording paper 8 according to the color / monochrome printing designated on the display.

After printing is completed, one page of facsimile data stored in the memory 4 is erased (step S8). When the user designates the entire page when designating the color print area in step S7,
The entire one page is color printed, and if no designation is made, the entire one page is monochrome printed.

In step S7, after the print instructing color or monochrome is instructed, the screen display is switched to the next page of facsimile data by selection. In this case, the next data is displayed on the display 5 even while the previous one page of image data is being converted to monochrome or the image data is being printed. The user specifies whether or not to print this image as well, and further selects and gives an instruction for color or monochrome printing for each area.

In the above embodiment, color printing is performed using color ink having a high running cost only on the portion designated by the user, and monochrome printing is performed on the other portion with monochrome ink having a low running cost. Running costs can be reduced.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a facsimile apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that it includes a color / monochrome display switching unit 13 that performs color / monochrome conversion of the display on the color display 5 for each screen area of the display.

When the user receives the color facsimile data and, while watching the display on the color display 5, instructs the operation panel 6 to print a partial area in monochrome, the color / monochrome display switching section 13 Switches the display of the color display 5 for each screen area so that color / monochrome display is performed as specified. Further, when the user corrects the print instruction, the display is controlled to switch the image display as many times as necessary according to the correction.

In this embodiment, the color display 5
By providing a means for converting color image data into monochrome image data for the image data displayed above, the color print area designated by the user on the operation panel 6 is displayed as a color image on the color display 5, and the designated area is displayed. Other than that, a monochrome image is displayed on the color display 5. As a result, a screen image close to the print image when printed on the recording paper 8 can be confirmed in advance on the color display 5, and the user's determination when specifying a color or monochrome area becomes more reliable. .

In the facsimile machine of the above embodiment,
When printing a monochrome area or monochrome facsimile data, it is not always necessary to print with the monochrome printer cartridge 9, and any color ink can be selected and printed using the color printer cartridge 10. Can be done. In this case, one color ink having a particularly large remaining amount can be selected because the used amount is small at the time of color printing. by this,
The amount of ink used for each color can be equalized. The selection of the color ink may be performed by the user on the operation panel, or may be automatically performed by the apparatus itself by determining the remaining amount of each color ink or the amount used until then.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the screen of the color display 5 is divided into two areas, that is, a monochrome print area and a color print area has been shown, but the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this. It can be divided into more than one area. In this case, it is preferable that the monochrome images of the two types of areas are printed with different color inks.

Although the present invention has been described based on its preferred embodiment, the facsimile machine of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, but has the configuration of the above embodiment. Various modifications and changes are also included in the scope of the present invention.

[0033]

As described above, according to the color facsimile apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, since the amount of color ink used can be suppressed, the running cost of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, according to the color facsimile apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the amount of each color ink used can be made uniform, so that the frequency of ink cartridge replacement can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the color facsimile apparatus of FIG.

3 is a plan view showing a display example on a color display of the color facsimile apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of an image on a recording paper printed by the color facsimile apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a color facsimile apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols] 1: Color facsimile machine 2: Communication line 3: Modem 4: Memory 5: Color display 6: Operation panel 7: Color / monochrome print converter 8: Printer driver 9: Color printer cartridge 10: Monochrome printer cartridge 11: control unit 12: Recording paper 13: Color / monochrome display switching section

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C056 EA11 EA25 EA29 EB50 EC65                       EE01 EE06                 5C074 AA11 BB16 DD16 DD21 EE08                       FF15 FF20                 5C079 HA11 HA12 KA12 LA02 LA10                       LA31 MA17 MA20 NA25 PA01

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing the received color facsimile data, a display device for displaying a color image on the screen based on the color facsimile data, and a screen displaying the color image in at least two screen areas. Area dividing means for dividing, and based on the color facsimile data, color printing is performed in an area of the recording paper corresponding to one screen area of the at least two screen areas, and recording paper corresponding to another screen area. In the area of, a color facsimile apparatus is provided with a printing section for performing monochrome printing. 2. The display further comprises display switching means for controlling the display so that the display displays a color image in the image of the one screen area and a monochrome image in the other screen area. The color facsimile machine according to 1. 3. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit selects and prints an arbitrary color ink of the color inks used in the color printing in the monochrome printing. 4. The area dividing unit specifies three or more screen areas, and the printing unit performs the monochrome printing with two or more types of color inks. Color facsimile machine. 5. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display device displays image data for one page of recording paper. 6. A color facsimile apparatus for receiving color facsimile data and monochrome facsimile data, characterized in that when a monochrome image is printed on a recording paper, the selected color ink is used for printing.