JP2006203751A - Image forming apparatus and data transmission program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of optimizing a transmission process of multiple image data or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is comprised of an image reading means for reading images of an original document on an original platen by every page to obtain image data; a plurality of compression processing means for compressing data; a data compressing means for compressing the image data by all the compression processing means, for seeking a data size of the compressed data obtained by the respective compression process means, and for finding the compressed data whose obtained data size is the smallest; a data coupling means for generating coupled data by coupling the multiple compressed data obtained by the data compressing means within a range not exceeding an upper limit of a data transmission size; and a data transmission means for transmitting the coupled data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a data transmission program that can optimize transmission processing of a plurality of image data and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for compressing image data and print data using a compression method with a high compression ratio, storing and transmitting the data is known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 09-150556 A JP 09-190300 A

  Incidentally, recent image forming apparatuses have multiple functions such as printing, copying, image reading, FAX transmission / reception, and e-mail transmission. When the image reading function of such a multifunctional image forming apparatus is used to obtain image data of a manuscript (a document such as a document) composed of a large number of pages, the data size becomes large. In particular, when an original is scanned in color, the data size becomes even larger. Therefore, when data is transferred to a personal computer using the e-mail function of the image forming apparatus, it cannot be transferred at once. There is a problem. If the read image data is divided and transferred by e-mail, the number of files to be transferred is predicted to be extremely large, and there is a problem that a large load is applied to a transmitting / receiving device.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and a data transmission program that can optimize transmission processing of a plurality of image data and the like.

  The present invention provides an image reading unit that reads an image of a document on a document table page by page to obtain image data, a plurality of compression processing units that compress data, and all the compression processing units. Data compression means for compressing the image data, obtaining the data size of the compressed data obtained by the respective compression processing means, obtaining compressed data having the smallest obtained data size, and a plurality of data obtained by the data compression means The compressed data is combined within a range not exceeding the upper limit of the data transmission size to generate combined data, and data transmitting means for transmitting the combined data.

  The present invention is characterized in that the data compression means reduces the resolution of image data when the compressed data for one page exceeds the upper limit value of the data transmission size.

  The present invention provides an image reading process for reading an image of a document on a document table page by page to obtain image data, a plurality of compression processes for compressing data, and the image for each page by all the compression processes. A data compression process for compressing data, obtaining a data size of the compressed data obtained by each compression process, obtaining a compressed data having a minimum obtained data size, and a plurality of compressed data obtained by the data compression process Are combined in a range that does not exceed the upper limit of the data transmission size, and a computer performs data combination processing for generating combined data and data transmission processing for transmitting the combined data.

  The present invention is characterized in that the data compression processing reduces the resolution of image data when one page of compressed data exceeds the upper limit of the data transmission size.

  According to the present invention, a compression process that reduces the compressed data size is selected and used for each page of a document to be read, and a plurality of compressed data is combined within a range not exceeding the upper limit of the data transmission size. Since the transmission is performed, an effect that the data transmission process can be efficiently executed can be obtained. In addition, when the read image of a single document exceeds the upper limit of the data transmission size, the image is read with a reduced resolution, so that one image data is divided into two or more. The effect that transmission can be prevented is obtained.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit that controls the overall processing operation of the image forming apparatus. Reference numeral 2 denotes an input unit composed of a numeric keypad, function keys, a touch panel, and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display unit composed of a liquid crystal display or the like. Reference numeral 4 denotes an image reading unit that reads an image of a document placed on a document table. Reference numeral 5 denotes a document feeder that feeds a plurality of documents one by one to the document table. Reference numeral 6 denotes an image buffer that temporarily holds image data obtained by reading an image of a document in the image reading unit 4. Reference numeral 7 denotes a data compression unit that compresses data to reduce the data size, and includes three types of compression processing units 72 having different compression algorithms (for example, algorithms that can be compressed into a format such as a Cab file, Zip file, or LZH file). 73, 74 and a work buffer 71. Reference numeral 8 denotes a data combining unit that combines the compressed data for each page into one data, and the combined data is combined so as not to exceed the transmission size upper limit value. Reference numeral 9 denotes a data transmission unit that transmits the combined data combined in the data combining unit 8 by e-mail.

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a data transmission operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. Here, the meaning of the variables shown in FIG. 2 will be described. “TS” is a data size of combined data obtained by combining a plurality of compressed data, and is referred to as a combined data size here. “SS” is a data size of compressed data having the smallest size among a plurality of compressed data obtained by a plurality of compression processes on one image data, and is referred to as a compressed data size here. “TH” is a data size that allows the data transmission unit 9 to transmit data in one transmission operation, and is referred to as a transmission size upper limit value here.

  First, the user sets an original on the original feeding unit 5 and performs an operation of transmitting data from the input unit 2. At this time, the user inputs or selects the value D of the document image reading resolution and the mail address of the transmission destination. In response to this, the control unit 1 initializes the combined data size TS by substituting “0” (step S1). Subsequently, the control unit 1 sends a control signal to the document feeding unit 5 to send one set document to the document table of the image reading unit 4 (step S2) and to the image reading unit 4 Then, the input resolution D is notified (step S3).

  Next, the control unit 1 instructs the image reading unit 4 to start image reading. In response to this, the image reading unit 4 reads the image of the document placed on the document table with the resolution D, and temporarily stores the obtained image data in the image buffer 6 (step S4). When one piece of image data is stored in the image buffer 6, the control unit 1 instructs the data compression unit 7 to execute data compression processing. In response to this, the data compression unit 7 reads out the image data stored in the image buffer 6 and performs a data compression process on the read image data by using all of the mounted compression processing units 72, 73, 74 in order. Execute. The data compression unit 7 then applies the compression data having the smallest size among the three compression data obtained by the three types of compression processing units 72, 73, and 74, and the compression data size SS applied to the compressed data. Is stored in the work buffer 71 (step S5).

  Next, the control unit 1 reads out the value of the compressed data size SS stored in the work buffer 71, and determines the relational expression of the transmission size upper limit value TH> the compressed data size SS with one image data. It is determined whether or not the transmission size upper limit value TH has been exceeded (step S6). As a result of this determination, when the transmission size upper limit TH is exceeded for one piece of image data, the control unit 1 sets the currently set resolution D to a small value (for example, D ← D / 2). To the image reading unit 4 (step S7). The compressed data size SS is less than or equal to the transmission size upper limit value TH by repeatedly executing image reading (step S4) and data compression (step S5) until the compressed data size SS becomes less than or equal to the transmission size upper limit value TH. Compressed data will be obtained.

  Next, if the compressed data size SS is smaller than the transmission size upper limit value TH, the control unit 1 determines a relational expression of the transmission size upper limit value TH <(combined data size TS + compressed data size SS) (step S8). As a result of this determination, when the transmission size upper limit TH <(combined data size TS + compressed data size SS) is not satisfied, the control unit 1 adds the compressed data size SS to the current combined data size TS, A new combined data size TS (TS ← TS + SS) is set (step S9). Then, the control unit 1 instructs the data combining unit 8 to read out the compressed data stored in the work buffer 71, the compressed data size SS of the compressed data, and the identification information of the applied compression process. In response to this, the data combining unit 8 reads out the compressed data, the compressed data size SS of the compressed data and the identification information of the applied compression processing from the work buffer 71, and if there is compressed data already held inside, The compressed data and the compressed data newly read from the work buffer 71 are combined to generate combined data (step S10).

  Here, the data structure of the combined data will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of combined data held in the data combining unit 8. The compressed data for one original constituting the combined data includes a sequence number given in the order of reading the original, identification information of the applied compression process, a compressed data size SS of the compressed data, a substance of the compressed data, Consists of. A plurality of pieces of compressed data for one sheet are combined to form one combined data. However, the data size of the combined data does not exceed the transmission size upper limit value TH.

  Next, the control unit 1 returns to step S2, sends the next document to the document table (step S2), and sets the image reading resolution to the resolution D input by the user from the input unit 2 (step S3). The series of operations of image reading (step S4) and data compression (step S5) are repeated until the relational expression of transmission size upper limit value TH <(combined data size TS + compressed data size SS) is satisfied (“Yes” in step S8). Execute.

  Next, when the relational expression of the transmission size upper limit value TH <(combined data size TS + compressed data size SS) is satisfied, the control unit 1 instructs the data transmission unit 9 to perform data transmission. This data transmission instruction includes an e-mail address input by the user from the input unit 2. In response to this, the data transmitting unit 9 reads the combined data held in the data combining unit 8 and transmits the combined data by electronic mail to the designated electronic mail address (step S11). The data transmitting unit 9 notifies the data combining unit 8 of the end of data transmission when the data transmission is completed. In response to this, the data combining unit 8 reads out the compressed data stored in the image processing buffer 71, the compressed data size SS of the compressed data, and the identification information of the applied compression processing, and holds them inside.

  Next, the control unit 1 determines whether or not a document to be read remains in the document feeding unit 5 (step S12). If all the pages have not been read, the process returns to step S2 and similar processing is performed. Repeatedly.

  On the other hand, the apparatus that has received the combined data refers to the compressed data size in the combined data and separates it into compressed data for each page. Then, based on the identification information of the compression process included in the compressed data of each separated page, the document read image data is restored by decompressing the data using the decompression process necessary for decompressing the data.

  In this way, a compression process that reduces the data size after compression is selected and used for each page of the document to be read, and a plurality of compressed data is combined and transmitted within a range not exceeding the upper limit of the data transmission size. Since it did in this way, it becomes possible to perform a data transmission process efficiently. In addition, when the read image of a single document exceeds the upper limit of the data transmission size, the image is read with a reduced resolution, so that one image data is divided into two or more. Can be prevented from being transmitted.

  1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed to execute data by e-mail. A transmission process may be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” includes a WWW system provided with a homepage providing environment (or display environment). The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of combined data.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part, 2 ... Input part, 3 ... Display part, 4 ... Image reading part, 5 ... Document feeding part, 6 ... Image buffer, 7 ... Data compression , 71 ... work buffer, 72 to 74 ... compression processing part, 8 ... data combining part, 9 ... data transmitting part

Claims (4)

Image reading means for reading an image of a document on a document table page by page and obtaining image data;
A plurality of compression processing means for compressing data;
Data compression for compressing the image data for each page by all the compression processing means, obtaining the data size of the compressed data obtained by the respective compression processing means, and obtaining the compressed data having the smallest obtained data size Means,
Data combining means for combining a plurality of compressed data obtained by the data compression means within a range not exceeding the upper limit of the data transmission size, and generating combined data;
An image forming apparatus comprising: data transmission means for transmitting the combined data.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data compression unit reduces the resolution of the image data when the compressed data for one page exceeds an upper limit value of the data transmission size. An image reading process for obtaining an image data by reading an image of a document on a document table page by page;
Multiple compression processes to compress data;
A data compression process for compressing the image data for each page by all the compression processes, obtaining a data size of the compressed data obtained by the respective compression processes, and obtaining compressed data having a minimum obtained data size; ,
A data combining process for generating a combined data by combining a plurality of compressed data obtained by the data compression process within a range not exceeding the upper limit of the data transmission size;
A data transmission program causing a computer to perform a data transmission process for transmitting the combined data. The data transmission program according to claim 3, wherein the data compression processing reduces the resolution of the image data when one page of compressed data exceeds an upper limit value of the data transmission size.

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