JP2961470B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a process for reducing an image size such as reducing the image size from B4 size to A4 size, and a sub-scanning direction performed for storing a recorded image on a standard paper. The present invention relates to a thinning-out process of a facsimile apparatus in which a reduction process occurs simultaneously.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile apparatus, for example, there is a case where a so-called image size reduction process is performed so that image information alternately received in B4 size is reduced and recorded on A4 recording paper. Also, if the received image information is, for example,
When the size of the image information slightly exceeds the A4 size, the image information is reduced and recorded so that only the sub-scanning direction is adjusted to the A4 size. There are some.

By the way, such image size reduction processing and reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction for storing on a standard paper are generally performed separately. However, under certain conditions, this image size reduction processing and the standard image paper are accommodated. May be required to perform the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction at the same time.

[0004] For example, an attempt was made to reduce the size of image information received by proxy in B4 size on A4 recording paper and record it. However, since the reduced image information cannot be accommodated on A4 recording paper, the A4 size is further reduced.
This is a case where the reduction processing of the reduced image information in the sub-scanning direction is performed so as to fit on the recording paper.

In this case, first, in order to reduce the received image information from the B4 size to the A4 size, an image size reduction process for reducing the received image information in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction to 84% is performed. In this image size reduction processing, reduction processing in the main scanning direction is performed by thinning out pixels of each line of the received image information at a rate of one in seven or six, and seven or seven lines of the received image information are reduced. The reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction is performed by thinning out one out of six lines.

Next, a process of reducing the reduced image information in the sub-scanning direction is performed so that the reduced image information can be accommodated on A4 recording paper. in this case,
Considering the case where the reduced image information is reduced by 83% in the sub-scanning direction, the lines of the image information reduced to 84% by the image size reduction processing are further thinned out at a ratio of one line to six lines.

FIG. 6 shows the state of pixel and line thinning out only with respect to line thinning.
That is, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, the lines G and N are thinned out for the image size reduction process, and then the sub-scanning direction reduction process shown in FIG.
The lines F and M are thinned out as shown in FIG.
In this case, the image information finally recorded is as shown in FIG. 6C. Between the line E and the line H, the lines F and G are continuously thinned out, and the lines L and Between the lines O, the lines M and N are continuously thinned out.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a hard copy output from a conventional facsimile machine. FIG.
FIG. 7A shows a hard copy before reduction, and FIG.
Indicates a hard copy after reduction. In the figure, a symbol G indicates a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size, and a symbol T indicates a line to be thinned out to fit in a standard paper. In the conventional facsimile apparatus, after thinning is performed by the image size reduction processing, thinning is performed by the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction in order to store the image on a fixed size paper as necessary, as shown in FIG. As a result, the line to be thinned out from the image information before reduction is 2
The line is selected continuously. Then, since it is decimated as it is, as shown in FIG.
In a portion where two lines were continuously thinned out, the smoothed portion was not smoother than a portion where only one line was thinned out.

As described above, when a portion where two lines are continuously thinned out occurs, there is a problem that the smoothness of the image information is lost at this portion.

[0010]

As described above, in the conventional facsimile apparatus, the line of the received image information is thinned out by two processes such as a process of reducing the image size and a process of reducing the size in the sub-scanning direction for storing the image on a standard paper. Are performed at the same time, adjacent pixels may be continuously thinned out. In this case, there is a problem that the smoothness of image information is lost at this point. In view of the above, the present invention is designed to prevent a point where two lines are continuously thinned out even if the lines of the image information are thinned simultaneously by the two processes of the first process and the second process. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of obtaining a smooth reduced image.

[0011]

To achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for thinning out lines of received image information by a first process and a second process and recording the thinned lines on recording paper. If the line to be thinned out by the process 1 matches the line to be thinned out by the second process, one of the matched lines is replaced by a line at least two lines away from the line, and the first line is thinned out.
When the line to be thinned out by the processing is adjacent to the line to be thinned out by the second processing, one of the adjacent lines is thinned out at least one line away from the line to the other of the adjacent lines. And

[0012]

When the line to be thinned out by the first processing matches the line to be thinned out by the second processing, one of the matched lines is replaced by a line at least two lines away from the line, and the first processing is executed. If the line to be thinned is adjacent to the line to be thinned by the second processing, one of the adjacent lines is thinned from the line by at least one line in a direction away from the other of the adjacent lines.

As a result, the two lines are not continuously thinned out, and a smooth reduced image can be obtained.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the image memory 1
Only the configuration in which a hard copy is output by the printing unit 7 using the encoded image information accumulated in FIG. Although not shown, the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment also includes a configuration for receiving image information from the destination facsimile device and a configuration for reading a document in order to transmit the image information to the destination facsimile device.

In FIG. 1, an image memory 1 stores coded image information received from a facsimile apparatus via a line (not shown). The main control unit 8 reads out the encoded image information stored in the image memory 1 and
This is passed to the decoding unit 2, decoded, and stored in the image reproduction unit 3.

Here, the facsimile apparatus transmits the A4 size image information received from the destination facsimile apparatus to B
It is assumed that the image information of the B4 size is stored in the image memory 1 by proxy reception as image information of four sizes.

In this case, the facsimile apparatus reduces the B4 size image information stored in the image memory 1 to A4 size, and furthermore, if this image information cannot be accommodated in A4 size fixed paper, A reduction process in the sub-scanning direction for storing on A4 size standard paper is performed.

The sub-scanning decimation rate calculator 6 is stored in the image memory 1 based on the total number of lines of the decoded image information stored in the image reproducing unit 3 output from the output of the decoding unit 2. The sub-scanning thinning rate for reducing the B4 size image information to the A4 size and the sub-scanning thinning rate for storing this image information on the A4 size standard paper are calculated.

The decoded image information stored in the image reproducing unit 3 is transferred to the main scanning thinning unit 4 in line units under the control of the main control unit 8.

The main scanning thinning section 4 performs pixel thinning processing in the main scanning direction for reducing B4 size image information to A4 size from one line unit image information passed from the image reproducing section 3. Will be The pixel thinning process in the main scanning thinning unit 4 is performed under the control of the main control unit 8. In this case, since it is necessary to reduce the B4 size image information to the A4 size, the pixels of each line are thinned out at a rate of 84%. Specifically, a process of thinning out one pixel for seven or six pixels is performed.

Under the control of the main control unit 8, the image information obtained by thinning out the pixels in the main scanning direction by the main scanning thinning unit 4 is obtained.
The data is transferred to the sub-scanning thinning unit 5 in units of one line.

In the sub-scanning thinning section 5, the sub-scanning thinning rate for reducing the B4 size image information calculated by the sub-scanning thinning rate calculation section 6 to the A4 size and this image information are converted to A4 size.
Line thinning processing is executed based on the sub-scanning thinning rate to be accommodated in a fixed size paper sheet. In this line thinning processing, for example, in order to reduce the image size from B4 to A4 size, line thinning processing is performed at a ratio of one line to seven lines, and the image is stored in A4 size standard paper. For this purpose, line thinning processing is executed at a ratio of one line to five lines.

In this embodiment, the line decimation process is performed according to the following algorithm under the control of the main control unit 8 in order to prevent adjacent lines from being decimated continuously. Is executed.

1) When the line to be thinned out for the image size reduction processing and the line to be thinned out to fit on the fixed form paper overlap, a line in which one of the thinned lines is shifted by two from this line is thinned out.

2) When a line to be thinned out for reducing the image size is adjacent to a line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper, one of the lines is separated from the line by one in a direction away from the other of the adjacent lines. Thin out lines away from the line.

That is, in the process of reducing the image size from B4 size to A4 size, as described above, one line is thinned out for every seven lines. Specifically, 7, 14, 21, 35, 42,... 7 × Nth lines are thinned out. Further, in order to fit in the A4 size standard paper, one line is thinned out for every five lines.
Specifically, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35
... The 5 × N-th line is thinned out. In this case, 7 and 5
The 35th line, which is a common multiple of, overlaps. Therefore,
Since the planned reduction cannot be performed as it is, the line to be thinned out by the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction to fit on the standard paper is changed to the 37th line after two lines so as not to overlap. Also, from B4 size to A
Decimation for image size reduction to 4 sizes 14
The 15th and 21st lines are to be thinned out by the reduction process in the sub-scanning direction in order to fit on A4 size standard paper.
The 20th and 20th lines are adjacent. In this case, the lines are continuously thinned out, and the smoothness of the image information is lost at this point. The thirteenth and eighteenth lines or the sixteenth and twenty-first lines, which are one line apart before or after, are thinned out.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the line thinning process in the sub-scanning thinning section 5 according to this algorithm.

First, when a line is input to the sub-scanning thinning section 5 (step 101), it is determined whether or not this line is the last line (step 102). If this line is the last line (step 102 YES),
The thinning processing operation ends (END). If this line is not the last line (NO in step 102), it is determined whether or not this line is a line to be thinned out in order to reduce the image size (step 103). If the line is not a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size (NO in step 103), it is determined whether or not the line is a line to be thinned out to fit on a standard paper (step 104). If the line is a line to be thinned out to fit on a standard paper (step 104 YES), a process of thinning this line is performed (step 105), and the process proceeds to the next line (step 102). Next, in the determination in step 103, when the input line is a line to be thinned out for reducing the image size (step 103 YES),
A determination is made as to whether or not the line is to be thinned out to fit in the standard paper (step 106). If the line is to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper (step 106 YES), the input line and the line two lines ahead or after the input line are thinned out (step 107), and the process proceeds to the next line. (Step 102).

On the other hand, in the determination in step 106, the line is not thinned out to fit on the standard paper (step 10).
6NO), it is determined whether the previous or next line is a line to be thinned out to fit in the standard paper (step 108). The previous or next line is a line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper (step 10).
In the case of 8YES), the input line and the line at least one line away from the input line are thinned out (step 109). Then, the processing shifts to the processing of the next line (step 102).

If it is determined in step 108 that the line immediately before or after the line to be thinned out for image size conversion is not a line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper (step 110 NO), this input line Are thinned out (step 304), and the process proceeds to the next line (step 102).

FIG. 3 shows how the lines are thinned when the lines to be thinned to reduce the image size are adjacent to the lines to be thinned to fit on the standard paper. Symbols in the figure indicate lines to be thinned out to reduce the image size, and symbols to indicate lines to be thinned out in order to fit the image on standard paper at the time of printing. Here, the image information for executing the line thinning process for converting the image size and the line thinning process for storing the image on the fixed form paper is constituted by lines A to R. First, it is assumed that a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size and a line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper are determined as shown in FIG. In this case, since the line N to be thinned out to reduce the image size is adjacent to the line O to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper, as shown in FIG. Next line P
Change to FIG. 3C shows the configuration of the lines of the print image after such line thinning processing is performed. FIG. 4 shows a state of the line thinning when the line thinned for reducing the image size and the line thinned to fit on the fixed form paper coincide with each other. Symbols in the figure indicate lines to be thinned out to reduce the image size, and symbols to indicate lines to be thinned out in order to fit the image on standard paper at the time of printing. Here, the image information for executing the line thinning process for converting the image size and the line thinning process for storing the image on the fixed form paper is constituted by lines A to R. First, it is assumed that a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size and a line to be thinned out by reduction in the sub-scanning direction to be accommodated in the fixed form paper are determined as shown in FIG. In this case, the line N is also a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size and is also a line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper. Line "te" thinned out to fit on paper
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the line "te" to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper is changed to the line P two lines later. FIG. 4C shows the configuration of the lines of the print image after such line thinning processing is performed.

In this manner, the image information of each line thinned out by the sub-scanning thinning unit 5 shown in FIG. 1 is transferred to the printing unit 7 under the control of the main control unit 8, and is sequentially printed in line units. Output as a hard copy.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a hard copy output from the printing unit 7 of the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 5A shows a hard copy before reduction, and FIG. 5B shows a hard copy after reduction. In the figure, a symbol G indicates a line to be thinned out to reduce the image size, and a symbol T indicates a line to be thinned out to fit in a standard paper.
In the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment, when performing thinning-out by reducing the image size and thinning-out by reducing in the sub-scanning direction so as to fit on a standard paper, as shown in FIG. Fig. 5
As shown in (b), the reduced image obtained in this embodiment is smoother than the conventional one. In the above description, the line to be thinned out is changed by the reduction process in the sub-scanning direction to fit on the standard paper. However, the line to be thinned out may be changed by the image size reduction process.

As described above, in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, when it is necessary to perform the thinning-out by reducing the image size and the thinning-out by reducing in the sub-scanning direction for storing the image on a standard paper, the thinning-out is performed at the same time. In the case where the thinned lines overlap and are adjacent to each other, the main control unit 8 controls the thinned lines so as to avoid the thinning lines. It is possible to obtain a reduced image.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the thinning-out by the image size reduction processing and the thinning-out by the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction for storing on the standard paper are performed simultaneously is described. After performing thinning by image size reduction processing to match the size of the image, the size of the fixed form paper to be recorded will change, and image size reduction processing such as performing image size reduction processing again It is also possible to apply the case where the thinning is performed twice. In this case, both the first processing and the second processing are image size reduction processing.

Further, although the thinning-out by the reduction process in the sub-scanning direction for storing in the standard paper is performed, the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction in order to store again in the standard paper is not performed because the thinning is not enough to fit in the standard paper. The present invention can be applied to the case where the thinning-out by the reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction for storing in a fixed-size paper such as thinning-out is performed twice. In this case, both the first processing and the second processing are reduction processing in the sub-scanning direction to be accommodated on a fixed size paper.

Further, in this embodiment, when the line to be thinned out for the image size reduction processing and the line to be thinned out to fit on the fixed form paper overlap, one of the thinned lines is shifted by two lines from this line. If the line to be thinned out for the image size reduction processing and the line to be thinned out to fit on the standard paper are adjacent to each other, one of these lines should be separated from the line by one line in the direction away from the other of the adjacent lines. When the line to be thinned out for the image size reduction processing and the line to be thinned out to fit on the fixed form paper overlap, one of the lines to be thinned out is shifted by three or more lines from this line to reduce the image size. When a line to be thinned out for reduction processing is adjacent to a line to be thinned out to fit on standard paper, one of the lines is placed next to the line. Away from the other to the line may be configured to displace the two lines or more apart lines. In this case, the thinning line is configured not to be adjacent to another thinning line.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, there are two processes, the first process and the second process, such as the process of reducing the image size and the process of reducing the size in the sub-scanning direction to fit on the standard paper. Even if the lines of the image information are thinned out at the same time by the processing, two lines are not continuously thinned out, and a smooth reduced image can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a configuration of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a specific example of a line thinning process in the sub-scan thinning unit shown in FIG. 1 according to this algorithm.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of line thinning in the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in a case where a line thinned to reduce an image size and a line thinned to fit in a standard paper are adjacent to each other.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state of line thinning in the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in a case where a line thinned to reduce an image size and a line thinned to fit on a standard paper coincide with each other.

FIG. 5 is an example of a reduced image obtained by the processing of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of line thinning in a conventional facsimile apparatus when a line thinned to reduce an image size and a line thinned to fit on a standard paper are continuous.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a hard copy output from a conventional facsimile machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 image memory 2 decoding unit 3 image reproducing unit 4 main scanning thinning unit 5 subscanning thinning unit 6 subscanning thinning rate calculation unit 7 printing unit 8 main control unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/393 G06T 3/40 Patent file (PATOLIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for thinning out lines of received image information by a first process and a second process and recording the thinned lines on a recording sheet, wherein the line thinned by the first process is a line thinned by the second process. If one of the matched lines is replaced with a line at least two lines away from the line, the line is thinned out. If the line thinned out by the first processing is adjacent to the line thinned out by the second processing, A facsimile apparatus wherein one of the adjacent lines is thinned out at least one line away from the line in a direction away from the other of the adjacent lines.