JP2735133B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention reads a document image by a reading unit, stores the read document image data in a memory, and stores the document image data stored in the memory by a recording unit. The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a copy function for recording.

[Prior Art] In recent years, facsimile machines have spread remarkably in companies and have established a position as an OA device essential for business.

In recent trends, demand for facsimile machines having an image output device such as a laser beam printer (LBP), a thermal transfer printer, and the like, which use plain paper as output paper, has been expanding. In the image processing technology, the halftone processing technology such as an error diffusion method has been remarkably developed, and it has become possible to faithfully reproduce not only a text original but also a photographic original.

However, a facsimile machine having such features,
In particular, in a facsimile apparatus using a page printer such as an LBP as an output device, the capacity of an image memory for storing image data is becoming a problem. In other words, if a photographic original is processed into halftone image data by the error diffusion method or the like, and the data is encoded by the MH, MR, MMR method recommended by CCITT, the encoded data amount becomes very large, It even exceeded the previous data volume.

Generally, the encoded data amount of a character original is several tenths or several tenths of the data amount before encoding. However, in the case of a photo original, the encoded data amount is one page of encoded data. Many image memories are required.

Therefore, in a facsimile apparatus having a page printer, when copying a document because of the simple circuit configuration, it is often realized by a method of temporarily storing image data in an image memory and then outputting the image data. The image data to be encoded is often coded data. In this method, since the amount of image data subjected to halftone processing at the time of copying is large, the amount of data stored in the image memory is set to one page, and image data storage and output are operated serially in units of one page. The capacity of the image memory to be used is reduced.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-described conventional example, since image reading and output are serial operations, when copying a plurality of sheets,
The disadvantage is that the copying time per page is very long. Further, for example, a method of using an image memory as a buffer memory for each page and operating a plurality of pages in the image memory to operate the image input and the image output in a multi-operation manner and copying the image memory is conceivable. If the capacity of the image memory is small, an overflow may occur depending on the amount of image data to be copied. Conversely, if the capacity of the image memory is increased, the cost becomes extremely high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can perform high-speed copy processing without providing a large-capacity memory, and furthermore, is capable of reading a document whose data amount of a read image is large. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of performing copying.

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a document image is read by a reading unit, the read document image data is stored in a memory, and the document image stored in the memory is read. In a facsimile apparatus having a copy function of recording data by a recording unit, an original image is read in units of one page, stored in the memory, and the stored one-page original image data is recorded by the recording unit. A first copying unit that reads and records an image, a second copying unit that reads out image data of the memory and sequentially records the image data in the memory while sequentially reading and storing the document images of a plurality of pages in the memory, Selecting means for selecting one of the first copying means or the second copying means; And performing a copy of the original image by the selected copying means.

Also preferably, the selecting means selects one of the first copying means or the second copying means according to an image processing mode.

More preferably, the selecting means selects the first copying means when the image processing mode is the photograph mode, and selects the second copying means when the image processing mode is the character mode. It is characterized by selecting.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Description of Configuration (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the facsimile apparatus in the present embodiment.

In the figure, 1-1 is an image reading device, which photoelectrically converts image data read optically by a CCD or the like, further converts an analog signal into a multi-value digital signal by an AD converter, and converts the multi-value digital signal. Image processing is performed on the digital signal to convert it into binary image data. Reference numeral 1-2 denotes an image encoding device that outputs image data obtained by encoding binary image data output from the image reading device 1-1 into compressed code data of MH, MR, and MMR recommended by CCITT. Image data output from the image encoding device 1-2 is stored in an image memory 1-3 constituted by a semiconductor memory.

Reference numeral 1-4 denotes a communication control device, which controls according to a facsimile transmission control procedure (communication protocol), reads and transmits image data stored in the image memory 1-3, and conversely, receives received image data. It is stored in the image memory 1-3. Reference numeral 1-5 denotes an image decoding device, and an image memory 1-
3 is decoded into binary image data, and the decoded binary image data is printed out by an image output device 1-5 including a laser beam printer (LBP) or the like. .

An operation unit 1-7 includes a display unit for controlling display of various information and various keys for receiving key input by an operator. Reference numeral 1-8 denotes a control device, which performs various controls in accordance with the processing procedure described later, a ROM storing the processing procedure of the CPU, control data, etc., a work area used by the CPU when executing each processing, RAM composed of various tables, etc.
It is configured by I / O ports and the like, and controls the entire device via a system bus.

<Explanation of Memory Management (FIGS. 2 and 3)> Next, the memory management at the time of copying will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the following two modes are provided as a memory management method at the time of copying. One is a memory management method in which the copy area of the image memory 1-3 is set to one page and image data is input and output for each page as shown in FIG. ).
The other is, as shown in FIG.
-3 is a buffer structure composed of a plurality of pages, and a memory management method for performing a multi-operation capable of outputting the image data of the previous page while accumulating it in the next page (hereinafter, referred to as a memory management method).
High-speed mode).

In the above configuration, the image data is stored in the image memory 1-3.
In this embodiment, there are the two modes described above when inputting and outputting the image data. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation flow when copying is performed in each of the two modes. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that the low-speed mode requires about twice as much processing time as the high-speed mode.

<Description of Processing Procedure (FIGS. 4 and 5)> Next, the processing procedure of each mode described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, if the key of the operation unit 1-7 is pressed by the operator and the key input specifies the copy mode, the process proceeds to step S1 to determine whether the copy mode is low speed or high speed. If the low-speed mode is specified here,
The process proceeds to S2, where the image reading apparatus 1-1 is activated to start reading pages of the set document. And
In the next step S3, it is determined whether or not the reading is completed. When the reading is completed, the process proceeds to step S4, the image output device 1-6 is activated, and the encoded data stored in the image memory 1-3 is printed. Start. Then, in the next step S5, it is determined whether or not the printout has been completed.
Upon completion, the process advances to step S6 to determine whether there is a next page. As a result, if a page still remains, the process returns to step S2, and the above process is repeated. However, when the copying operation is completed, the copying operation in the sequential low-speed mode ends.

On the other hand, if the high-speed mode in which the page reading and the printout are operated in a multiple manner is specified in step S1 described above, the process proceeds to step S7, and the process proceeds to step S7.
As in the process in S2, page reading is started.
In the next step S8, a flag indicating whether or not all page reading has been completed is checked, and if it is ON, step S1 is performed.
Proceed to step 4. However, if it is not ON, the process proceeds to step S9, and it is determined whether or not the reading is completed.If it is not completed, the process proceeds to step S14. Image memory 1
The pointer indicating that the image data has been stored in page 3 is incremented.

Next, in step S11, it is determined whether or not there is a next page, and if there is a page remaining, the process proceeds to step S12 to instruct reading of the next page. However, if it has disappeared, the process proceeds to step S13, and the end flag indicating that all page reading has been completed is turned ON. Next, in step S14, it is determined whether or not the printing is stopped or ended. If not, the process returns to step S8, and the above-described process is repeated.

However, if printing is stopped or completed,
The process proceeds to S15, and a pointer indicating that image data has been stored in a predetermined page of the image memory 1-3 is checked. As a result, if the pointer is not "0", step S16 is executed to print out the stored image data.
Then, the pointer is decremented. Then, printing is started in the following step S17, and the process returns to the above-described step S8.

On the other hand, in step S15, if the pointer is "0", the process proceeds to step S18, and the end flag is checked. If not, the process returns to step S8.
If so, proceed to step S19 and turn off the end flag.
And terminate the processing.

The determination in step S1 described above is performed as shown in FIG.
As in S1 ', it is also possible to make the determination by the image binarization processing method. In other words, by selecting the low-speed mode for a photograph and the high-speed mode for a character, it is possible to save the operator's trouble and to select an appropriate copy mode for an image.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, an original having a large amount of encoded data such as a photo original is copied in the low-speed mode, and an original having a small amount of encoded data such as a character original is copied. By copying in a high-speed mode, when copying a photographic original, the copy speed is slow, but memory overflow can be prevented as much as possible, and when copying a text original, high-speed copying can be performed.

Further, by automatically selecting a copy operation mode when selecting an image processing method such as an image binarization processing method, for example, a photograph mode or a character mode, the operator can select an appropriate image processing method only by selecting the image processing method. It is possible to select a copy operation method.

Another Embodiment Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The image encoding device 1-2 and the image decoding device 1-5 shown in FIG. 1 described above are replaced by a block diagram as shown in FIG.
Image reading device 6-6 as image encoding / decoding device 6-4
1. Separated from the image output device 6-3, the image memory 6-2
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the image data stored in the memory is encoded or the stored compressed code data is decoded.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a high-speed copy process can be performed without providing a large-capacity memory, and the data amount of a read image increases. Can also be copied.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus in this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a memory management system for two copy operations, and FIG. 3 is an input and an output of two memory management systems. FIG. 4 is a timing chart, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure in this embodiment, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a modification of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a facsimile apparatus in another embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. In the figure, 1-1 ... image reading device, 1-2 ... image encoding device, 1-3 ... image memory, 1-4 ... communication control device, 1-5 ... image decoding device, 1 -6: image output device; 1-7: operation unit; 1-8: control device.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having a copy function of reading a document image by a reading means, storing the read document image data in a memory, and recording the document image data stored in the memory by a recording means. A first copy unit for reading and storing the one page of the original image data stored in the memory and recording the stored one page of the original image data by the recording unit; Sequentially reading and storing the image data in the memory, and selecting one of the second copying means for reading out the image data in the memory and recording the image data by the recording means, and the first copying means or the second copying means. Selecting means for copying a document image by a copying means selected by the selecting means. Facsimile machine. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said selecting means selects one of said first copying means and said second copying means in accordance with an image processing mode. . 3. When the image processing mode is a photograph mode, the selecting means selects the first copying means.
3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second copy unit is selected when the image processing mode is a character mode.