JP2003250034A - Composite machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a composite machine capable of effectively utilizing a memory resource by discriminating the same contents part through the processing by a receiver side independently of a format or the like of received image information. <P>SOLUTION: Upon the receipt of new image information, it is referred to as new image information, and image information having already received and stored in an image information storage means is read and referred to as existing image information. The existing image information and the new image information are divided into blocks of a prescribed number, to which block identification information is provided. Isolate point elimination arithmetic units 51 (51a to 51c) and skew correction arithmetic units 52 (52a to 52e) apply isolate point and skew correction to each block. An identity discrimination unit 53 discriminates contents identity for each block of the same block identification information of the existing image information and the new image information and an image information coincidence discrimination means provided to the composite machine stores relation attached information indicative of relation attachment with the existing image information to the image information storage means and aborts the new image information when it is discriminated that the new image information is the same as the existing image information on the basis of the result of discrimination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention judges, when receiving image information whose content is partially the same as that of existing image information, judges the same portion only by processing on the receiving side and accumulates the image information of the same portion. The present invention relates to a compound device in which the image information storage means is effectively used by not performing the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, by suppressing the amount of image information in facsimile transmission, high-speed and inexpensive communication can be performed, and the memory capacity required when the image information is received in a memory is suppressed. A configuration for effectively utilizing memory resources has been proposed.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-104921 discloses an electronic information circulation system utilizing a network and FAX communication, in which reply comments such as questionnaires written in dedicated OCR data are extracted. , A technique of circulating information having only a reply comment to a client having a success right is disclosed.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-321961 can identify an area such as a comment or the like written in image information on the basis of the identification information by transmitting it by attaching predetermined identification information at the time of transmission. Such a technique is disclosed.

[0005]

However, in the technique according to the above publication, it is necessary that the original has a format corresponding to the preset format such as dedicated OCR data, and the identification code is preset. Since there is a need to set it up, there is a problem that it cannot be used unless both the transmitting and receiving sides support these functions.

[0006] For example, in a questionnaire dedicated FAX system or a circulation FAX system, it is impossible to extract questionnaire answers and comments without using a dedicated sheet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-function device capable of making effective use of memory resources by judging the same content portion by the processing on the receiving side regardless of the format of received image information. And

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 provides a facsimile apparatus equipped with image information storage means for storing received image information,
When new image information is received, this is used as new image information, the image information already received and stored in the image information storage means is read, and this is used as existing image information, and the existing image information and new image information are stored in a predetermined number. When the block identification information is assigned to each of the blocks, the content identity is determined for each corresponding block of the block identification information, and the new image information is determined to be the same as the existing image information based on the determination result. Is provided with image information coincidence determining means for accumulating the association information indicating the association with the existing image information in the image information accumulating means and discarding the new image information, regardless of the format of the received image information. It is characterized in that it is possible to make effective use of the memory resources by judging the same content portion by the processing on the receiving side.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, if it is not possible to determine that the new image information is the same as the existing image information based on the result of the identity determination, the blocks having the same content are discarded and the blocks having the same content are discarded. The blocks are accumulated in the image accumulating unit, and at the same time, associating information indicating the association with the existing image information as accumulated information related to the new image information and the block identification information of the blocks to be discarded and accumulated and the difference information are accumulated. It is characterized by doing.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the image information coincidence judging means judges that each block constituting one page is the same, the page information code indicating the page is included in the difference information, The feature is that the image information of the page is discarded.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when one original is divided and received depending on the reading status of the original on the transmitting side for transmitting the image information, this is calculated from the information amount and the margin amount of one page. If it is a divided page, and if it is a divided page, the corresponding pages are grouped as 1
As a page, a division page determination unit is provided so that the image information coincidence determination unit can determine the content identity between the existing image information and the new image information.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not there is a predetermined amount of blank space in the image peripheral portion of one of the existing image information and the new image information, and it is determined that there is the blank space. In this case, the existing image information and the new image information have different image sizes by determining the content identity between the existing image information and the new image information by the image information coincidence determination means excluding the margin. A feature is that a margin determining unit is provided so that the content identity can be appropriately determined even when the content is the same.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a recording means for recording the image information is provided, and when the image information is recorded based on the accumulated information, a non-identical block or page is placed at a corresponding position of the existing image information. It is characterized in that the letters are combined and recorded and output.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a compound device having scanner, plotter, and facsimile functions applied to the description of the present embodiment.

The composite device is roughly classified into an operation panel 2,
The copy control unit A controls the scanner 4 and the plotter 6 by the MPU 1, the communication control unit B controls various communication modules by the communication control controller 20, and the DC power supply unit C that supplies DC power to them.

The copy control unit A and the communication control unit B have M
The ROMs 10 and 27 storing the programs of the PU 1 and the communication control controller 20, respectively, and the setting information are stored.
RAMs 11 and 28 backed up by a secondary battery and workRAMs 12 and 29 used for data processing are provided.

The MPU 1 and the communication controller 20 exchange commands, image information data, etc. via the bridge 17. At this time, the image information data is exchanged between the workRAMs 12, 29 by the DMAC built in the MPU 1. It is performed for each page, each data block, or each line.

Data processing required for these functions such as data encoding / decoding and shading correction in FAX and copying is performed by the compression / expansion control unit 13 and the FAX image processing unit 30.
Each of them has a copy image memory 14 and a FAX image memory 31, so that both data processing can be performed independently (independently), thereby improving the processing efficiency.

An image information storage memory 32 is provided in case the combined apparatus also functions as a file server.

Further, the copy control unit A has an operation panel 2 and its operation panel control unit 3 used in the entire multifunctional apparatus. The operation panel control unit 3 is mainly controlled by the MPU 1, but displays concerning communication and the like. In some cases, the communication controller 20 may control the control via the bridge 17.

A scanner 4 is used to read the image information data. The scanner 4 is operated by a scanner controller 5, the image is formed by a plotter 6, and the plotter 6 is operated by a plotter controller 7.

Control of devices such as recording paper, opening / closing sensors of various doors, temperature sensors, recording paper transport motors, etc., and acquisition of signals are performed through various IO ports 8. It is performed by the control unit 9.

An analog line IF2, to which an analog line is connected as a facsimile communication line, is connected to the communication control section B.
1. Digital line IF23 to which digital line is connected
Is provided.

The analog line IF21 has G3F
The AX modem 22 is connected to enable G3 facsimile communication, and the digital line interface 23
ISDN control unit 24 is connected to the H / S control and A / D
G4 facsimile communication can be performed by performing conversion and the like.

In addition, a LAN is provided so that the LAN network can be connected.
A control unit 25 is provided to enable communication with a server or communication terminal connected to the LAN.

Further, a UART control unit 26 is provided so that management setting and function expansion of the composite apparatus can be performed by a personal computer or the like.

Electric power used in each of these parts is supplied from a commercial power source from the AC cord 42 into a desired DC power source by the DC power source 41.

A procedure for effectively utilizing the image information storage memory 32 with such a configuration will be described. In the present invention, when new facsimile reception is performed (hereinafter referred to as new image information), the image information storage memory 32 has already been received.
The image information stored in the image information is searched (hereinafter referred to as “existing image information”), the difference part is discriminated between the new image information and the existing image information, and the difference part is accumulated as the accumulated information. The information storage memory 32 is effectively used. The FAX image processing unit 30 performs the processing such as the difference extraction.
The orkRAM 29 is used as a working memory.

First, when new image information is received, the new image information is received in the image information storage memory 32 except when a function such as relay or transfer is designated for the new image information. It is temporarily stored together with the sender information. If another server is provided, the image information, reception date, etc. are temporarily stored in that server.

At this time, the image information is managed in units of subdivided blocks. The smaller the subdivision unit, the higher the reliability of the identity determination processing described later, but the determination processing time becomes longer accordingly. Therefore, it is preferable to set an optimal value by performing an experiment or the like. In the following, for simplification of description, as shown in FIG. 2, an example will be described in which an image size of A4 size is divided into 4 × 4 blocks (that is, 16 blocks).

FIG. 2A exemplifies a case where the A4 size image information is divided into 4 × 4 blocks in this way, and FIG. 2B shows 1, 2, ..., For each block. Numbers such as 16 are assigned as block identification codes. Further, FIG. 2C is a diagram when the skew correction described later is performed. However, in this case, the skew correction is performed on the page.

In this format, the existing image information and the new image information are compared in the block identification code order in block units. For example, the block identification code 2 of the existing image information and the block identification code 2 of the new image information are compared.

Since there are a plurality of existing image information stored in the image information storage memory 32, the existing image information is read one by one and compared with the new image information.

However, if a plurality of existing image information are compared and compared at the same level, it is expected that useless comparison processing will be performed. Therefore, existing image information having the same source information, image information size, etc. Efficient comparison will be possible if priority is given to comparison.

The comparison between the new image information and the existing image information is performed for each array in the same resolution unit (same dot unit) as the resolution of the image information. Hereinafter, this is referred to as a comparison unit.

In the following description, the dot rows in the direction along the main scanning line (the direction from left to right in FIG. 2) will be described as an array, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a sub-array is provided. It may be a dot row in the direction along the scanning line. In short, all the image information needs to be compared with a certain regularity when performing the comparison process.

In the image information, there are isolated points such as dust generated when the document image is read by the scanner 4 and dust generated when the document image is compressed and expanded.

When the original image is read while being conveyed by using the automatic document feeding mechanism (ADF), the original may be conveyed at an inclination or gradually inclined.
Further, when the original is placed on the original table and read, the original may be placed in an inclined state, and in such a case, the received image information is skewed.

If the comparison process is performed with such isolated points and the unpaid amount remaining, the comparison accuracy is lowered. Therefore, the isolated points are removed and the skew is corrected as a pre-comparison process.

In the isolated point removal, as shown in FIG. 3, an isolated point removal computing unit 51 (51a ... 51a-51d) having a filter of a preset size for removing isolated points such as 1 dot, 4 dots, and 9 dots is used. 51c) is provided, and the isolated point removal calculator 51 performs isolated point removal. Of course, the sizes for removing isolated points are not limited to three types.

As shown in FIG. 3, the skew correction is performed by providing skew correction calculators 52 (52a to 52e) for correcting the skew angles Φ of ± 6 degrees, ± 3 degrees, and 0 degrees. Also in this case, the skew angle is an example and does not limit the present invention.

In the skew correction, if the new image information is skewed uniformly, it is possible to perform skew correction on a page-by-page basis, but the skew angle gradually changes during the transportation of the document. In some cases, skew correction is preferably performed for each block.

In this way, 15 (= 3 × 5) blocks in which one type of new image information is subjected to three types of isolated point removal and five types of skew correction are generated. It

Hereinafter, a block generated by such isolated point removal or skew correction will be referred to as a derived block, and a block on which such processing is not performed will be referred to as an original block. Therefore, in the case of the above example, 15 derived blocks are created for one original block, and both of them have the same block identification information.

Therefore, the identity determiner 53 compares the original block (existing image information) and the derived block (new image information) of the corresponding block identification code in the existing image information and the new image information in comparison units, The ratio of the same contents for each array is calculated.

Such a process is performed on all the arrays forming the block, and the average value of the identity ratios thereof is calculated to obtain the block matching ratio.

If the block matching rate is higher than the preset matching rate determination value, the block matching index is set to "1", and if it is lower than the matching rate determination value, the block matching index is "0". Set to.

This block matching index is an index indicating the identity in block units provided corresponding to each block. When the number of blocks is 16, there are 16 block matching indices.

The coincidence ratio judgment value is obtained in advance by experiments and the like and is stored in the ROM 27. In this case, it is also possible to set a plurality of match ratio determination values so that the match ratio determination values according to the type of image information can be used.

For example, whether the new image information is information such as a photograph or information such as text can be determined from the compression rate or the like when the new image information is received. That is, text information tends to have a higher compression rate than photographic information.

Therefore, the matching rate determination value corresponding to the compression rate is stored in the ROM 27, and when the new image information is received, the matching rate determination value used from the compression rate is read from the ROM 27 and used. This improves the judgment accuracy.

Further, when determining the identity with respect to the image information from which the isolated points have been removed, there is a great difference depending on whether the received image information is text-like or photograph-like.

For example, in the case of photography, considering the sameness in the case of performing isolated point removal with 1 dot and 9 dots, the sameness decreases as the number of dots increases.

Therefore, when the new image information can be judged to be a photograph or the like, when removing isolated points with large dots, a coincidence ratio judgment value having a large value is selected.

When the determination and setting of the block matching index in each derived block is completed, the sum of these is calculated and set as the image information matching index.

Such an image information coincidence index is set in correspondence with image information obtained by performing isolated point removal and skew correction, and is an index showing the identity as image information. The value of the image information matching index varies depending on the degree of skew correction.

Therefore, when the image information matching index having the largest value is larger than the preset matching determination value, it is determined that the existing image information and the new image information match, and the image information matching index is determined. Is smaller than the preset matching determination value, it is determined that the existing image information and the new image information do not match.

The coincidence judgment value is a value preset in consideration of the storage capacity, and is set to a large value when the image information storage memory 32 has a large memory capacity, and when the memory capacity is small. Is set to a small value.

When the image information coincidence index is larger than the coincidence judgment value (that is, when it is judged as coincidence), the relation between the reception time, the sender information and the existing image information is shown as the accumulated information of the new image information. The associated information (for example, the image information management number of its own device) is accumulated, the new image information is discarded, and the communication management report includes the information to that effect.

In recent years, so-called nuisance faxes such as advertisement faxes have dramatically increased. However, since such nuisance faxes often have the same contents, effective use of memory resources by the above-mentioned processing has a remarkable effect. Become.

On the other hand, when the image information coincidence index is smaller than the coincidence determination value (that is, when it is determined that they do not coincide), the image information coincidence index is stored as it is in the confidential reception or is printed out.

In this case, if the confidential reception function and the document server function (immediate output function) are not provided, the existing image information and the new image information for which the largest image information matching index is obtained are associated with each other. The difference information, which will be described later, is stored as well as the information.

That is, no identity is recognized as image information,
The same block may exist on a block-by-block basis even when it is determined to be out of order. In such cases,
The blocks having the same content are discarded, the blocks having the non-identical content are stored in the image information storage memory 32, and at this time, the association information indicating the association with the existing image information as the storage information regarding the new image information, and the discarding. And block identification information of the blocks to be stored and difference information.

The block image information accumulated at this time is subjected to the removal of isolated points and the skew correction which have the largest coincidence determination value.

Thus, when the output of new image information is required, the accumulated information is read, the existing image information is read based on this, and the block image information corresponding to the block identification code is read, and these are combined. Output.

Therefore, the image information of the areas determined to be the same in block units does not need to be stored redundantly, and the memory resources can be effectively used.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The same components as those described above are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

In the above embodiment, the new image information is 1
Although the case of one sheet has been described as an example, the number of pieces of image information is not limited to one and may be plural.

In such a case, the above-described identity determination processing is performed for each page, and if it is determined that the pages have the same content, the page is discarded and non-identical pages are compared. It may be stored in association with the existing image information as a reference.

At this time, it is needless to say that it is preferable to preferentially judge the identity of the existing image information having the same number of pages as the number of pages of the new image information, but for example, either the new image information or the existing image information is determined. In some cases, a one-page original may be divided and received due to an original jam or skew during transmission.

Therefore, even if the contents are the same, since the number of pages does not match, it may be postponed as a target of the same judgment or may be judged to be non-uniform.

When the new image information and the existing image information have the same number of pages, and the pages have the same content but the page order is reversed, it cannot be determined that they are the same by the identity determination procedure described above. Occurs.

The handling in such a case will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4A shows a case where the original on the n-th page is jammed when the new image information is transmitted and is divided into n-page and n'-page. Further, FIG. 4B shows a case where the n-th page original is jammed or the like when the existing image information is transmitted and is divided into n page and n'page.

In such a case, the number of pages is increased by the number of divided pages, so that the corresponding pages cannot be determined to be the same as they are.

Therefore, in the present invention, attention is paid to the fact that a large amount of blank space is generated in such a divided page, and if there is a large amount of blank space, it is possible that the page has been split, and the blank space is deleted (ignored). ) And make a comparative judgment.

If the number of pages is the same and the sender information is the same, but no exact match is found, the original is reversed (when the head and tail of the original are reversed or the page order is reversed). In some cases, the received image information is reversed to make a comparison judgment.

By performing the above-described processing and making a comparison judgment, only the pages recognized as non-identical are stored, the pages recognized as identical are discarded, and the information is compared with the existing image information compared. Attach and memorize.

As a result, it becomes unnecessary to store duplicate pages for image information including divided pages and the like, so that effective use of memory resources can be achieved.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The same components as those described above are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

A general facsimile apparatus can send a plurality of original sizes. Therefore, the same document may be transmitted with different document sizes.

For example, in a facsimile machine provided with an automatic document feeding mechanism so that a plurality of documents can be automatically loaded, the size of each document can be reduced by directing the document guide to the end of the set document. In some cases, the size of the document is detected, but the document size may be determined to be different depending on how the document guide is addressed.

In addition, a large skew may occur in such an automatic document feeding mechanism, and the original width may be recognized as a standard size one rank higher.

Further, in the case of a book type flatbed scanner in which originals are placed one by one on a document table and read, when the placement position is deviated, it is determined that the size is larger than the actual size of the original. There is also.

As described above, the original size may be determined to be larger than the actual size and may be transmitted due to various causes. However, in such a case, the margin portion is naturally increased.

Therefore, a margin determining means for determining whether or not there is no image (margin) in the comparison arithmetic unit is provided, and information (bit) indicating that is stored in the block management table for managing the block. deep.

Then, for example, in FIG. 2, the blocks without an image are block identification codes 1 to 5, 8, 9, 12 to 16.
If it is determined, the identity is determined only in the relevant area.

At this time, the block identification codes 1 to 5, 8,
When the size composed of 9, 12 to 16 is, for example, A4 size, the comparison with the existing image information of A4 size is preferentially performed.

As a result, it is possible to determine the identity of image information having the same content but different sizes, and it is not necessary to store duplicate pages, so that memory resources can be effectively used. become.

The skew that occurs during document transportation may be uniform and may change gradually. If it is uniform, the blocks have the same skew regardless of the paper size, but if the blocks gradually change, the skews differ between the blocks, and the difference increases as the paper size increases.

Therefore, when the existing image information is A4 size and the new image information is A4 size, and when the existing image information is A4 size and the new image information is B4 size, the correction angle for skew correction is increased. There is a need.

Therefore, when a block without an image is detected as described above, a large skew angle (for example, Φ = 0, ± 10, for Φ = 0, ± 3, ± 6 degrees described above).
Skew correction is preferably performed at ± 15 degrees.

As a result, the identity determination accuracy is improved and the reliability is improved.

[0093]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When new image information is received, this is used as new image information, the image information already received and stored in the image information storage means is read, and this is used as existing image information, and the existing image information and new image information are stored in a predetermined number. When the block identification information is assigned to each of the blocks, the content identity is determined for each corresponding block of the block identification information, and the new image information is determined to be the same as the existing image information based on the determination result. In addition, since the image information coincidence determining means for accumulating the association information indicating the association with the existing image information in the image information accumulating means and discarding the new image information is provided, it is possible to relate to the format of the received image information. Instead, the processing on the receiving side makes it possible to judge the same content portion and effectively utilize the memory resource.

If the new image information cannot be determined to be the same as the existing image information based on the determination result of the identity, the block having the same content is discarded and the block having the non-identical content is stored in the image storage means. Since the information is stored, and at that time, the association information indicating the association with the existing image information as the accumulated information about the new image information, and the block identification information of the blocks to be discarded and accumulated and the difference information are accumulated. By the processing on the receiving side, it becomes possible to judge the same content portion and effectively utilize the memory resource.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a compound device applied to the description of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for making the same determination.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure configuration for making the same determination.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a correspondence with a received image when a document is divided.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 MPU 2 Operation panel 3 Operation panel control section 4 scanner 5 Scanner control unit 6 plotter 7 Plotter control unit 11,28 RAM 10,27 ROM 12,29 workRAM 20 Communication controller 30 FAX image processing unit 32-screen information storage memory 31 FAX image memory 51 (51a to 51c) Isolated point removal calculator 52 (52a to 52e) Skew correction calculator 53 Identity judge A Copy control unit B Communication control unit C DC power supply unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus equipped with image information storage means for storing received image information, wherein when new image information is received, this is treated as new image information, and already received and stored in the image information storage means. The existing image information is read out, the existing image information and the new image information are divided into a predetermined number of blocks, and block identification information is given to each block of the corresponding block identification information. When it is determined that the new image information is the same as the existing image information based on the determination result, the association information indicating the association with the existing image information is accumulated in the image information accumulating unit. In addition, the composite apparatus is provided with image information coincidence determination means for discarding the new image information. 2. If the new image information cannot be determined to be the same as the existing image information based on the determination result of the identity, the block having the same content is discarded and the block having the non-identical content is deleted. Association information indicating the association with the existing image information as accumulated information related to the new image information, and the difference information indicating the block identification information of the blocks to be discarded and accumulated. The compound device according to claim 1, wherein the compound device accumulates. 3. When the image information coincidence judging means judges that each block forming one page is the same, a page identification code indicating the page is included in the difference information, and the image information of the page is included. 3. The composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the composite device is discarded. 4. When one original is divided and received according to the reading status of the original on the transmitting side for transmitting the image information, whether this is a divided page based on the information amount of one page and the margin amount. When it is determined that the page is a divided page, the corresponding pages are collectively set as one page, and the image information coincidence determining unit can determine the content identity between the existing image information and the new image information. 4. The multi-function apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a divided page determination unit for performing the divided page determination. 5. One of the existing image information or the new image information
If it is determined that there is a blank space of a predetermined amount or more in the peripheral portion of one image and it is determined that there is a blank space, the existing image information is newly added to the existing image information by the image information matching determination means excluding the blank space. A margin that allows the content identity to be appropriately determined even when the existing image information and the new image information have different image sizes but the same content by making the content identity determination with the image information. 5. The composite apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a judging means. 6. A recording means for recording image information is provided, and when the image information is recorded based on the accumulated information, the non-identical block or page is overwritten and combined at a corresponding position of the existing image information. The data is recorded and output as a record.
5. The composite device according to any one of 5 to 5.