JP2753256B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile and a facsimile communication system, and more particularly to a facsimile and a facsimile communication system capable of simultaneously performing reading, recording, and transmission independently and in parallel.

[Conventional technology]

A facsimile which has a plurality of transmission units and can operate in parallel with a reading / recording unit is discussed in a conventional apparatus, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 345 to 359, Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above prior art, high-speed processing is realized by using a bipolar bit slice microprocessor for the code decoding function. For this reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to reduce the apparatus cost.

An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile that can perform reading, recording, and transmission in parallel at low cost.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an encoding unit that encodes an image signal obtained by scanning a document, a first storage unit that hierarchically stores information for controlling the encoding unit, A reading unit having a first processor that controls an encoding unit based on information stored in a first storage unit; a code conversion unit that converts a code of an image signal encoded by the reading unit; A transmission unit having a second storage unit that hierarchically stores information for controlling the conversion unit and a second processor that controls the code conversion unit based on the information stored in the second storage unit; A third storage unit that communicates with the processor of the reading unit and the processor of the transmission unit, stores information for controlling the processor of the reading unit and the processor of the transmission unit in a hierarchical manner, and a third storage unit. First and second based on the stored information Third performing the control of the processor
And a control unit having a processor.

[Action]

By arranging the encoding unit in the reading unit and the transcoding unit in the transmission unit, each unit can operate independently without time sharing even when operating. Further, by arranging the processors in the reading unit, the transmission unit, and the control unit, and by arranging the storage units that store the information processed by the processors in a hierarchical manner, versatile designation becomes possible.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a facsimile. In the reading unit 11, the read data is converted into code data by the code converter 111 and stored in the buffer 112, and then the data is stored in the control unit 1 via the dual pole memory 113.
Transfer to 2. When the data received in the main memory 122 of the control unit 12 has reached the block size of the magnetic disk 126,
The desired block specifying information is added to the data and transferred to the magnetic disk 126. The recording code data is read from the magnetic disk 126 in block size units and transferred to the recording unit 13 via the main memory 124. Dual port memory in the recording unit 13
The recording data is generated by a code converter 133 through a buffer 131 and a buffer 132. The transmission units 14, 15, 16 interface with the control unit 12 and the line. Each transmission unit can transmit and receive, but for simplicity of explanation, the transmission units 14 and 15 are the transmission and transmission units 1
6 is set to receive. The transmission code data is transmitted from the disk 126 of the control unit 12 to the transmission unit 14 via the main memory 121, and is transmitted to the code converter 1 via the dual port memory 141 of the transmission unit 14.
After buffering at buffer 143 through 42, it is transmitted to the line. Here, the transmission code in the magnetic disk 126 is
For example, no file, EOL, MR code can be used. In order to transmit this using, for example, an M ² R code, conversion from MR to M ² R is required, and this process is performed by code converter 142. The same applies to transmission using the transmission unit 15. Reception is the reverse process of transmission, and line 3
Is temporarily stored in a buffer 163, converted by a code converter 162, and then converted into a dual port memory 161 and a control unit 12.
Is stored in the magnetic disk 126 via the main memory 125.

The above-described processes of reading, recording, transmitting three sequences, and receiving can be executed in completely parallel. This can be executed by distributing the processing by arranging a code decoder in each unit for reading, recording, and transmitting the code decoding processing which has been conventionally performed by time-sharing a high-speed code decoder.

In the above description, it is assumed that each process always uses a disk. However, in the case of a device without a disk or when the remaining amount of a disk becomes small, data can be transferred without using a disk. . That is, the read data can be transmitted from the line 1 and the received data from the line 3 can be transmitted to the line 2.

FIG. 2 shows a data transfer method between the dual port memory and the main memory shown in FIG. For example, the line 1 is connected to M ² R transmission data, the line 2 is connected to MH transmission data, the line 3 is connected to MR reception data, and the read and recorded data is different data such as raw data. However, these data are converted by the code converters 142, 152, 162, 111, and 131 into codes with MR, fileless, and EOL, for example, so that data in the DPRAM, main memory, and disk can be handled in a unified manner.
The dual port memories 141, 151, 162, 113 and 131 are composed of two sets of data buffers. Similarly, the main memory 128
Also has an alternate buffer format corresponding to each dual port memory. During transmission, data is transferred from the magnetic disk 126 to the main memory in block size units, for example,
Transfer to the buffer area 1212 in 128. Meanwhile, main memory 1
28, another buffer area 1211 has previously been
In the buffer area 1412 in the dual port memory 141, for example, 256 bytes are transferred.
Transfer in byte units. Meanwhile, another buffer area 1411
Contains the previously transferred data and sends the data to the transmission unit of the line 1. This data transmission ends,
If the transfer from the main memory 128 to the buffer area 1412 in the dual port memory 141 has been completed, the used buffer area is replaced, and the data is read from the buffer area 1412 to the transmission unit of the line 1, and the main memory 128 is read. Is transferred to the buffer area 1411. In this way, writing and reading can be performed simultaneously.

The buffer areas 1211 and 1212 in the main memory are also replaced in exactly the same way. As described above, by using a two-stage alternate buffer format, a plurality of files can be simultaneously opened, and reading, recording, and simultaneous use of a plurality of lines are also possible.

FIG. 3 shows the internal configuration of the dual port memory 141. In addition to the aforementioned replacement buffers 14111 and 1412, command areas 1413 and 1414 and semaphore registers 1415 and 1416 are allocated. By dividing the data buffer and the command area, it is possible to receive an abort instruction or a notification of a reception error while transmitting data. The semaphore registers 1415 and 1416 are registers for checking whether access to the data buffers 14111 and 1412 and the command areas 1413 and 1414 is possible.

Next, the file configuration of the disk 126 will be described with reference to FIG. The data from the DPRAM for interfacing with the three channels of the scanner, the printer, and the transmission unit is developed on the main memory 12 and transferred to the disk in units of transfer to the disk. This transfer unit is stored on the disk as a block. The file control block 7702 manages this image block. The contents of the file control block are shown enlarged in the upper part of the figure. It comprises a header such as a file control block number 7703, a status 7704, the number of picture blocks 7705, etc., a file map section 7706 indicating the address of the actual picture block, and a parameter section 7707 indicating the attribute of the file. The image blocks from the main memory 12 are stored in units of blocks while being addressed by a file map 7706.

By arranging the image blocks in blocks instead of continuously taking the image blocks in this manner, the image block areas in the file can be effectively utilized.

While the above description has focused on the data flow,
The following description includes the processors and communication commands between the processors.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a facsimile including a processor. Compared to FIG. 1, in addition to arranging a processor, the reading and recording units are shared, and a dual port memory is substituted by one and the line density converters 114, 116, 144, 154,
164 is added. The reading / recording unit 17, the control unit 12, and the transmission units 14, 15, and 16 are processors 110, 120, 140, 150, and 16 respectively.
0 is arranged. Communication between these processors is CCITT
It uses hierarchical commands based on Recommendation X.409 notation. An example of this inter-processor protocol is shown in FIG. The reading unit, the recording unit, and the transmission unit each have a table, and the operation instruction unit and data transmission / reception are performed based on the tables. FIG. 5 shows a part of the reading table, [0] SC
ANNER-TABLE is the highest level. Below this,
[0] SCANNER-ATTRIBUTES reading section attribute and [1] CONTE
There is a document content attribute of NT-PORTION-ATTRIBUTES, etc.
[1] [0] TY under CONTENT-PORTION-ATTRIBUTES
PE-OF-INFORMATION data type and [4] CODING-M
There is an ETHOD encoding method specification. [4] CODING-METOD
[0] MR, [1] MR-FILL-LESS, [2] RON-L
ENGTH, [3] MH, [4] MMR, [5] ASCII, etc. can be selected. In [0] MR and [1] MR-FILL-LESS, MR
The K parameter of the code can be specified. Where MR, M
H and MMR are facsimile coding schemes recommended by CCITT. RU
The N-LENGTH and ASCII codes are used for internal OCR analysis data and an interface of an external personal computer or the like. By forming a hierarchical command of inter-processor communication in this way, the format of image data transfer can be changed according to the method of use, and addition, change, and maintenance of commands become a capacity.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of communication between the processors. Power ON
Thereafter, the control unit inquires the reading unit of the CAP-REQ capability. In response to the command, the reading unit reports the capability of the reading unit, such as the reading method, the reading linear density, and the reading speed, to the control unit.

Next, when the original is detected by the reading unit, a DET-CONF detection response is issued, and the control unit receives this and issues a FEED-REQ preset instruction. After the presetting, the reading unit issues a completion response, and the control unit issues an ACT-REQ operation instruction, for example, a reading start. Thereafter, the reading unit encodes the read data using the designated encoding method, and transfers the data of DATA-CONF. The synchronizing signal between pages is output from the reading unit as SYNC-CONF, and in response to this, the FE including an instruction to pull in the next page or the like is output.
The control unit issues an ED-REQ request, and thereafter exchanges commands in the same manner.

FIG. 15 shows the effect of using the inter-processor communication at the conceptual time. Fig. 15 (a) shows the conventional method, and the MPU3000 has an I / O port.
An instruction to turn on the lamp 3003 is issued by using 3001. The I / O port is assigned one bit for lamp 3003,
The bit information directly controls the lamp 3002 via the driver 3002. This method is simple, but lacks expandability and versatility.

FIG. 15 (b) is an example using inter-processor communication.
The command is transferred from the processor 3004 of the control unit to the processor 3006 of the I / O unit via the dual port memory 3005.
The MPU 3006 interprets this command, turns on / off a predetermined bit of the I / O port 3001, and turns on the lamp 3003 via the driver 3002 based on this information.

The inter-processor command is actually data in which addressing is hierarchized. FIG. 16 shows an example of hierarchical addresses. The number of items is changed according to the type of items to be arranged, such as a large classification, a next lower classification, and another lower classification.

As a result, even if an item is added or deleted, the addressing of the table is changed only in a corresponding portion. As a specific addressing, for example, when a table corresponding to the light ON in FIG. 16 is specified, the address is 1-3-1-2-0. By sending the hierarchical address and the designation data (ON / OFF instruction) together, versatile designation becomes possible.

FIG. 7 shows a liftware configuration for performing inter-processor communication. The control unit 12 is a multitask control task unit 1202 that manages events and resources under the OS 1201.
The unit operates and performs communication between the processor with the reading / recording unit 17 and the transmission units 14, 15, and 16. In addition, there are an offline control unit 1204 to be executed when the line is not connected, and a standby control unit 1203 to perform start-up and termination processing.

The reading / recording unit 17 includes an OS 1701, a multitask control task unit 1702, and an image processing control unit 1703, and performs reading, recording, encoding, and decoding while interpreting commands from the control unit 12.

Similarly, the transmission units 14, 15, and 16 have a multitask control task unit 1402 under the OS 1401, communicate with the control unit 12, and operate the line control unit 1403, the procedure control unit 1404, and the image processing unit 1405.

In this way, by performing inter-processor communication,
Even if the specifications and versions of each of the reading unit, the recording unit, the transmission unit, and the control unit are changed, there is an advantage that the system can be constructed with minimal software change without affecting the others.

The above description has been made on the premise that a system is formed using a conventional LSI. However, in order to reduce costs, it is necessary to start an LSI for realizing the present invention more efficiently.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the LSI. This LSI18 has MPU181 and ROM1
It is a one-chip microcomputer with a built-in 86, RAM 187, and other hardware for facsimile, such as a serial data interface 182, a line density converter 183, a line memory 184, a code converter 185, and a dual port for communication between processors. It has a built-in memory 189.

For this reason, it is possible to provide a low-cost facsimile in which each unit can operate simultaneously in parallel.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the NCU section of the facsimile of the present invention. The outputs of the transmission units 14, 15, 16 and the telephone 191 are connected to a first switch 192, and the output of the first switch 192 is connected to second switches 193, 194, 195. The output of the second switch is connected to external terminals 1931 to 1933, 1941 to 1943, 1951 to
It is in 1953. This is, for example, 1931 for internal lines, 193 for external lines.
2, It can be assigned to 1933 for dedicated line. The designation of the line type by the second switch and the correspondence between the transmission unit and the second switch by the first switch are designated by the NCU switching device 197.

The NCU switching device 197 is controlled by the document attribute 196. The document attribute is specified by the inter-processor communication command, and the MPU 120 of the control unit 12 can know the document attribute as a document attribute table.

In this way, by making the NCU freely connectable, it is possible to allocate an optimal transmission unit according to the communication partner, or to incorporate a learning function and change the connection to a predetermined line based on the result.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of a simulator for performing simulation of performance evaluation of a facsimile of the present invention. Facsimile
100 photoelectrically converts the optical signal received by the CCD 101, and a distortion correction unit 102
Then, distortion correction and digitization are performed, and the data is encoded by the code converter 103 and transmitted to the line by the transmission unit 104. The signal received by the transmission unit 104 is printed by the recording unit 105. The signal of the distortion correction unit of this facsimile 100 is taken out and the facsimile
Data processing is performed at 107, and the calculation result is output again by the facsimile 100. For this reason, a switching switch 106 is provided in the facsimile machine 100 to distinguish between a normal facsimile mode and a mode for printing the output of the facsimile simulator.

The facsimile simulator 107 includes an A / D converter 108,
It comprises a converter 109 for converting a serial signal into a parallel signal and a parallel signal into a serial signal, a page memory 1001, a minicomputer interface driver 1002, and a minicomputer 1003. Since the interface with the facsimile 100 is executed in page units, there is no problem even if the speed of the minicomputer and the speed of the facsimile are sluggish.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the output result of the simulator.
A change in the amount of generated code, a change in the amount of buffer, and a change in the amount of main memory in each part of FIG. 1 are plotted. By outputting each variation in a graph as described above, performance evaluation became easy.

FIG. 12 shows a usage example using the facsimile of the present invention. When the facsimile machines 2001 and 2002 of the present invention communicate with each other, one line is used for communication between the telephone 2004 and the telephone 2005, and the other line is used as communication for inputting the original 2000 and obtaining the recording output 2003. ing.

Thus, a telephone call can be made while performing facsimile communication.

FIG. 13 shows an example of broadcast communication. The facsimile machine 2001 of the present invention requested to broadcast from another station communicates with the broadcasting partner stations 2002 and 2008 using another line. This broadcast communication can be started before the request from the other station ends, as described above. Further, the facsimile 2002 of the present invention communicates the requested broadcast to other facsimiles 2006 and 2007. This path may be arranged in a row like an image, or may be spread in a tree shape.

As a result, a large amount of document data can be transmitted efficiently.

FIG. 14 shows another connection method of the facsimile of the present invention. This is because a facsimile is virtually connected in a ring, and when broadcast transmission from facsimile 2001 to facsimile 2007 ends, facsimile 2007 to facsimile 20
Notify 01 of the broadcast report.

Thus, the facsimile 2001 can efficiently obtain the report result.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a versatile facsimile apparatus that simultaneously performs reading and transmission in parallel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 4 are block diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of data transfer, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a dual port memory, FIG. 5 is an example of an inter-processor communication command, FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram of inter-processor communication, FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a facsimile MPU, FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an NCU switching section, FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a facsimile simulator, FIG. 11 is an output example thereof, and FIGS. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a communication system using a facsimile according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 ... Reading unit, 12 ... Control unit, 13 ... Recording unit, 14-16 ...
... Transmission section, 111,133,142,152,162 ... Code conversion section, 110,1
20,140,150,160 …… Microprocessor, 113,115,133,
143,153,163 ... Dual port memory.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hideki Muroya 216 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Totsuka Plant of Hitachi, Ltd. Inside Hitachi, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-148279 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] An encoding means for encoding an image signal obtained by scanning an original; a first storage unit for hierarchically storing information for controlling the encoding means; and a first storage unit A reading unit having a first processor that controls the encoding unit based on information stored in the unit; a code conversion unit that converts a code of an image signal encoded by the reading unit; A transmission unit having a second storage unit that stores information for controlling means in a hierarchical manner, and a second processor that controls the code conversion unit based on the information stored in the second storage unit A third storage unit that communicates with the processor of the reading unit and the processor of the transmission unit, stores information for controlling the processor of the reading unit and the processor of the transmission unit in a hierarchical manner, Stored in the third storage unit The first, based on the information, a facsimile apparatus characterized by a control unit and a third processor for controlling the second processor. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit and the transmission unit each include two data buffers, each having a fourth storage unit for storing an encoded image signal, A facsimile apparatus, wherein the control unit includes a plurality of fifth storage units each including two data buffers so as to correspond to the storage units of the reading unit and the transmission unit, respectively. 3. An encoding means for encoding an image signal obtained by scanning an original, a decoding means for decoding the encoded image signal, and a control means for controlling the encoding means and the decoding means. A read / write unit having at least a first storage unit that stores information in a hierarchical manner, and a first processor that controls the encoding unit and the decoding unit based on the information stored in the first storage unit; A recording unit, code conversion means for converting the code of the image signal in order to transmit the image signal encoded by the reading / recording unit to a line, and information for controlling the code conversion means hierarchized. A transmission unit having at least a second storage unit for storing, a second processor for controlling the code conversion unit based on information stored in the second storage unit, and a processor for the reading / recording unit; Of the above transmission unit A third storage unit that communicates with the processor and stores information for controlling the processor of the reading / recording unit and the processor of the transmission unit in a hierarchical manner; and information stored in the third storage unit. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a control unit having at least a third processor for controlling the first and second processors on the basis of the above. 4. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said reading / recording unit and said transmitting unit each comprise two data buffers, each having a fourth storage unit for storing an encoded image signal. A facsimile apparatus, wherein the control unit includes a plurality of fifth storage units each including two data buffers so as to correspond to the storage units of the reading unit and the transmission unit, respectively.