JP2004166108A - Facsimile machine and its receiving method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile machine which can surely perform printing without overflowing a memory even if the data amount for one page of received data is equal to or greater than the capacity of the memory part and perform reprinting even if an error occurs at printing when data for one page of the received data are not larger than the capacity of the memory part. <P>SOLUTION: When the amount of the received data for one page is not larger than the capacity of the memory part, the received data are reprinted by the memory part holding all blocks where the received data for one page are written until printing for one page is finished. When the amount of the received data for one page is larger than the capacity of the memory part, the received data are printed without overflowing the memory by overwriting the received data on the printed block the same page as a page at printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus that prints received data, and more particularly to a facsimile apparatus that reliably prints data even when data larger than the capacity of a memory unit is received.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A conventional plain paper (cut paper) facsimile machine for general households includes a buffer for temporarily storing received data, a memory unit in which received data of one page is divided into a plurality of blocks and written, and a memory unit. The search unit includes a search unit that searches for a block in which data has not been written, a writing unit that writes the received data stored in the buffer to the block searched by the search unit, and a printing unit.
[0003]
In such a facsimile apparatus, when data is received, the received data is first stored in a buffer, and one page of the received data among the received data stored in the buffer is divided into blocks of a memory unit and written. When the received data is written in each block of the memory unit, printing is started in the order of the written blocks. The memory unit holds the received data until printing of one page is completed. This is to enable reprinting even if an error occurs during printing.
[0004]
By the way, the capacity of the mounted memory unit is limited. For example, in a home facsimile machine, the capacity of the memory unit is about 1 Mbyte. For this reason, if it is assumed that the data of one page is always held until the printing is completed, the memory becomes over if the received data of one page is equal to or larger than the capacity of the memory unit, for example, 1.2 Mbytes. Printing becomes impossible.
[0005]
On the other hand, there is a facsimile apparatus of a type in which received data is overwritten on a block on which printing has been completed without holding the block on which printing has been completed.
[0006]
In the facsimile apparatus, if an error occurs during printing, reprinting cannot be performed because the block in which the data for which printing has been completed is not stored.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. Even when the data of one page of the received data is larger than the capacity of the memory unit, the memory is not overrun and the printing can be reliably performed. Another object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of reprinting even if an error occurs during printing when the data of one page of the received data is smaller than the capacity of the memory unit.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing unit, a memory unit, and writing received data into the memory unit by dividing the received data into a plurality of blocks, and reading out the written received data for each block. A memory control unit for causing the printing unit to print, when the amount of the received data for one page is equal to or less than the capacity of the memory unit, all the blocks in which the received data for one page is written to the memory unit; In a facsimile machine that holds until printing of one page is completed,
The memory control unit includes:
Searches for unused blocks to which received data is not written. If unused blocks are not searched, the page of the block to which data is being written and / or the page of the received data to be written is written. Is determined to be the same page, and if it is determined to be the same page, it is determined whether the data of the block in which the leading data is written is already printed, and it is determined that the data is printed. When it is determined, there is provided a means for overwriting the received data to the block in which the head data is written.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, when an error occurs during printing, the memory control unit writes the received data being printed after the error is cleared. Means for reading from the block in which the head data of the same page as the present block is written, and causing the printing unit to print.
[0010]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the memory control unit is configured to perform printing of all blocks in which the received data of the same page as the page of the overwritten received data is written before completion. When the reception is completed, a means for instructing the transmitter to transmit an RTP signal indicating a possibility of an error is provided.
[0011]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing unit, a memory unit, and writing received data into the memory unit by dividing the received data into a plurality of blocks, and reading out the written received data for each block. A memory control unit for causing the printing unit to print, when the amount of the received data for one page is equal to or less than the capacity of the memory unit, all the blocks in which the received data for one page is written to the memory unit; In a receiving method using a facsimile apparatus which holds until printing of one page is completed,
An unused block search step of searching for an unused block to which received data has not been written;
When an unused block is not searched in the unused block search step, whether or not the page of the block in which the data being printed and / or the printed data is written and the page of the received data to be written are the same page A page determination step of determining whether
A state determination step of determining whether or not the data of the block in which the leading data is written has been printed, if it is determined that the pages are the same page in the page determination step;
When it is determined in the state determination step that the data of the block has been printed, an overwriting step of overwriting the received data on the block in which the head data is written is provided.
[0012]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, when an error occurs during printing, after the error is cleared, the same page as the block in which the received data being printed is written is written. A reading step of reading data from the block in which the leading data is written;
And a printing step of printing the data read in the reading step on a printing unit.
[0013]
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, all the blocks in which the received data of the same page as the page of the received data overwritten in the overwrite step is written are received before the printing is completed. Is terminated, a transmitting step of transmitting an RTP signal indicating a possibility of an error to the transmitter is provided.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.
[0015]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
[0016]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a communication unit which transmits a response to facsimile data reception and normal reception.
[0017]
A buffer 20 temporarily stores data received by the communication unit 10 in the form of encoded data.
[0018]
Reference numeral 30 denotes a memory unit. As shown in FIG. 2, the memory unit 30 is divided into a plurality of blocks, and each block is provided with block identification information for identifying the block. Then, the received data stored in the buffer 20 is stored in each block.
[0019]
40 is a memory control unit. The memory control unit 40 controls writing of received data from the buffer 20 to the memory unit 30 in units of blocks and reading of received data from the memory unit 30 in units of blocks. For these controls, the memory control unit 40 has a block management table 41.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 3, the block management table 41 is a table in which the use state of each block, chain information indicating the connection between the blocks, and page head block information for managing the head block in page units are recorded. is there.
[0021]
The use status of each block is "0" indicating unused when not used, "1" indicating writing while receiving data is being written, and writing of received data is completed and waiting for printing for each block. In the case of, management is performed by recording four states, such as "2" indicating that the printer is in use and "3" indicating that the printing is completed and waiting for release, such as "3".
[0022]
The chain information is managed for each unit page (one page) of the received data, and the block information of the block following the block is recorded in the chain information of each block. In the chain information of the block at the end of the page, the termination data indicating the last block is written.
[0023]
As the first block information, the block identification information of the block in which the received data is stored earliest among the blocks in which the received data of the same page is stored is recorded. Usually, this is the block identification information of the block in which the head data of one page is stored. However, as will be described later, some blocks are released and new data is stored before printing of one page is completed. In this case, the block identification information of the block in which the received data is stored earliest among the blocks in which the data in the page is stored is recorded. In the judgment of the page, after transmitting the transmission data, the transmitter transmits a procedure signal MPS indicating that the next page is present or a procedure signal EOP indicating that the next page is not present. The page is judged based on the signal of.
[0024]
If all of the received pages remain in the memory, the memory control unit 40 transmits an MCF signal indicating normal reception, and as described later, some blocks are printed before printing of one page is completed. If new data is stored after being released, a printing error may occur. Therefore, the transmitter is instructed to transmit an RTP signal indicating the possibility of the error.
[0025]
Reference numeral 50 denotes a printing unit which prints data read by the memory control unit 40 on recording paper.
[0026]
Reference numeral 60 denotes a communication control unit. The communication control unit 60 controls transmission and reception of facsimile data. Further, based on an instruction from the memory control unit 40, an RTP signal is transmitted to the transmitter.
[0027]
Next, the operation in the above configuration will be described.
[0028]
First, an operation from reception of received data to storage in the memory unit 30 will be described. Note that, in the initial state of this operation, it is assumed that nothing is stored in the memory unit 30.
[0029]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an operation from reception of received data to storage in the memory unit 30. FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams for explaining transition of the block management table 41.
[0030]
First, when receiving the received data from the buffer 20 (S1), the memory control unit 40 searches the block management table 41 for an unused block (S2).
[0031]
If there is an unused block (S3), the received data is written to the unused block (S4). In the initial state, since nothing is stored in the memory unit 30, the use state of all blocks is "0" indicating unused. Therefore, writing is performed on the block with the block identification number 1 which is the first block. Then, “1” indicating that writing is being performed is recorded in the block management table 41. Situation 1 in FIG. 5 shows this state.
[0032]
Subsequently, when the writing is completed, the block use state is updated to "2" indicating the waiting for printing (S5).
[0033]
Next, it is determined whether the data stored in the block is the head of the page (S6).
[0034]
If the data stored in the block is the head of the page (S7), the page head block information is updated (S8). Note that the determination of the head of the page is made based on control information transmitted from the transmission side. Then, the process returns to S1. In this example, since the data written in the block with the block identification number 1 is the head of the page, the page head block information is updated to the identification number 1 of the block in which the data is stored. State 2 in FIG. 5 shows this state.
[0035]
On the other hand, when the data of the stored block is not the head of the page, it is determined whether the data is the last data which is the last of the page (S9).
[0036]
If the data of the stored block is not the final data (S10), the identification number of the block in which the data was written is recorded in the block management table 41 as chain information of the block in which the data was previously written (S11). State 3 in FIG. 5 shows this state, and indicates that when the writing of the block with the identification number 2 is completed, “2” is recorded as the chain information of the block with the identification number 1 that was written last time. ing.
[0037]
If the data of the stored block is the last data, the termination data is recorded as chain information of the stored block (S12). State 4 in FIG. 5 shows this state, and indicates that when the writing of the block with the identification number 3 is completed, the termination data is recorded as the chain information of the block with the identification number 3.
[0038]
Then, after these operations, the process returns to S1.
[0039]
Next, a case where there is no unused block in S3 will be described.
[0040]
If there is no unused block in S3, it means that the received data of one page exceeds the capacity of the memory unit 30. Situation 1 in FIG. 6 shows this state, in which all blocks have no unused state.
[0041]
In this case, first, the state of the block with the identification number recorded in the page head block information is confirmed (S13). If it is waiting for release (S14), its use status is updated to unused (S15). State 2 in FIG. 6 shows this state, and shows a case where the use state of the block with the identification number 1 is updated to unused “0”.
[0042]
Subsequently, the received data is written to an unused block (S16). Then, “1” indicating that writing is being performed is recorded in the block management table 41 (S17). State 3 in FIG. 6 shows this state.
[0043]
Finally, the page top block information is updated to the identification number of the block at the top of the block of one page (S18). Then, the process proceeds to S9.
[0044]
State 4 in FIG. 6 shows this state. As the new head block information, “2” which is the identification number of the block in which the data at the head of the page among the data currently stored is written. "Has been updated. Also, it indicates that the terminating data indicating the last block is recorded as the chain information.
[0045]
Next, the printing operation of the received data will be described.
[0046]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a print operation of received data, FIG. 8 is a flowchart when an error occurs during printing, and FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining transition of the block management table 41.
[0047]
First, the memory control unit 40 searches for a block whose status of the block of the memory unit 30 is “2” in use, as in the situation 1 in FIG. 9 (step S21). Here, the identification number of the searched block is 1. When a used block whose block state is “2” is searched, the memory control unit 40 starts reading (step S22).
[0048]
The printing unit 50 decodes the read block (Step S23).
[0049]
The printing unit 50 prints the decrypted data on recording paper (step S24).
[0050]
When printing is completed, the memory control unit 40 waits for the state of the block to be released to “3” as in the situation 2 in FIG. 9 (step S25).
[0051]
Subsequently, the memory control unit 40 determines whether or not the termination data is written as the chain information of the printed block (Step S26).
[0052]
If it is determined that the termination data has not been written, the memory control unit 40 determines whether the state of the block written as chain information of the block for which printing has been completed is “2” (step S <b> 1). S27). If it is determined that the state of this block is “2” in use, the process returns to step S22.
[0053]
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S26 that the terminating data has been written as the chain information, the memory control unit 40 determines the state of all the blocks in which the received data of the page has been written, as shown in situation 4 in FIG. Is made “0” unused (step S28).
[0054]
Next, a case where a printing error occurs during printing will be described.
[0055]
When a printing error occurs during printing of data, the printing unit 50 notifies the memory control unit 40 of the error (step S31).
[0056]
When the error is notified, the memory control unit 40 ends the reading (Step S32).
[0057]
After the error recovery, at the time when printing becomes possible (step S33), the memory control unit 40 reads the received data from the block of the identification number where the head block information is recorded in the page being printed (step S34). Then, the process returns to step S22.
[0058]
This is a response signal transmitted at the end of reception in the above operation. If the amount of received data for one page is smaller than the capacity of the memory unit 30, all the received data for one page is written to a block of the memory unit 30. Therefore, even if a printing system error occurs during printing, reprinting can be performed from the first block, and an MCF signal indicating normal reception is returned to the transmitter.
[0059]
On the other hand, if the amount of the received data for one page is larger than the capacity of the memory unit 30, if all the receptions are completed before the completion of the printing of the reception data, the printing does not end normally even if the reception ends normally. Therefore, the memory control unit 40 instructs the transmitter to transmit an RTP signal indicating the possibility of an error.
[0060]
If printing becomes impossible due to an error in the printing system before responding to the RTP signal, the communication is terminated as a communication error.
[0061]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, when the amount of received data for one page is equal to or smaller than the capacity of the memory unit, the memory unit ends printing of all pages in which the received data for one page is written for one page. Since printing is maintained until the error occurs during printing, reprinting is possible.
[0062]
If the amount of received data for one page is larger than the capacity of the memory unit, the data is overwritten on the printed block, which is the same page as the page being printed, so that printing can be reliably performed without memory over. . Therefore, even if a printing error occurs during printing after reception has been completed, the received data remaining in the memory can be reprinted. Confirmation of received data becomes possible.
[0063]
Further, when the amount of received data for one page is larger than the capacity of the memory unit, when all the receptions are completed before the printing of the received data is completed, an RTP signal with an error is generated, so that the transmitter side can normally receive the data. It can be notified that there is a possibility that printing cannot be performed. Therefore, the transmitter side can recognize that an error may occur in the page.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a state diagram of a block in a memory unit of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a block management table 41;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an operation from reception of received data to storage in a memory unit 30;
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining transition of a block management table 41;
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining transition of the block management table 41.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a print operation of received data.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart when an error occurs during printing.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining transition of a block management table 41.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Communication unit 20 Buffer 30 Memory unit 40 Memory control unit 50 Printing unit 60 Communication control unit 70 Main control unit

Claims (6)

A printing unit, a memory unit, and a memory control unit that writes the received data into the memory unit by dividing the received data into a plurality of blocks, reads out the written received data for each block, and prints the received data on the printing unit. If the amount of received data for a page is equal to or less than the capacity of the memory unit, a facsimile apparatus that holds all blocks in which one page of received data is written in the memory unit until printing for one page is completed. At
The memory control unit includes:
Searches for unused blocks to which received data is not written. If unused blocks are not searched, the page of the block to which data is being written and / or the page of the received data to be written is written. Is determined to be the same page, and if it is determined to be the same page, it is determined whether the data of the block in which the leading data is written is already printed, and it is determined that the data is printed. A facsimile apparatus having means for overwriting the received data to a block in which the head data is written, when the discrimination is made; The memory control unit, when an error occurs during printing, after the error is cleared, reads from the block in which the head data of the same page as the block in which the received data being printed is written is written, and reads out the printing unit. 2. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for printing on a facsimile machine. The memory control unit sends an RTP signal indicating the possibility of an error to the transmitter if reception ends before printing of all blocks in which the received data of the same page as the overwritten received data is written is completed. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for instructing the facsimile to perform the operation. A printing unit, a memory unit, and a memory control unit that writes the received data into the memory unit by dividing the received data into a plurality of blocks, reads out the written received data for each block, and prints the received data on the printing unit. If the amount of received data for a page is equal to or less than the capacity of the memory unit, a facsimile apparatus that holds all blocks in which one page of received data is written in the memory unit until printing for one page is completed. In the receiving method using
An unused block search step of searching for an unused block to which received data has not been written;
When an unused block is not searched in the unused block search step, whether or not the page of the block in which the data being printed and / or the printed data is written and the page of the received data to be written are the same page A page determination step of determining whether
A state determination step of determining whether or not the data of the block in which the leading data is written has been printed, if it is determined that the pages are the same page in the page determination step;
An overwriting step of, when it is determined in the state determining step that the data of the block has been printed, overwriting the received data with the block in which the head data has been written. If an error occurs during printing, after the error is cleared, a reading step of reading data from a block in which the head data of the same page as the block in which the received data being printed has been written is written;
The receiving method according to claim 4, further comprising a printing step of printing the data read in the reading step on a printing unit. If the reception is completed before the printing of all the blocks in which the reception data of the same page as the reception data overwritten in the overwriting step is completed, the RTP signal indicating the possibility of an error is transmitted to the transmitter. The receiving method according to claim 4, further comprising a transmitting step.

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