JP3015429B2 - Image transmission device - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image transmission apparatus, and more particularly to transmitting graphic data created by a graphic input device such as a personal computer to a facsimile apparatus as image data. The present invention relates to an image transmission device which enables the above.

[Conventional technology]

Today, while graphic data is created in a graphic creating device such as a personal computer, there is a demand for communicating graphic data created by the graphic creating device with the development of communication systems.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, devices for transmitting graphic data created by a graphic creating device such as a computer include telewriting and videotex. This telewriting is a remote drawing communication system that reproduces characters and figures written with a graphic tablet etc. on a graphic display device such as a plotter or a TV, and Videotex sets a TV receiver on a normal telephone. This is a communication system that calls a computer from a terminal and requests image data stored in the computer. These telewriting, videotex and the like transmit graphic data created by a graphic input device such as a computer as it is.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional apparatus for transmitting graphic data, since the graphic data created by a graphic input device such as a computer is transmitted as it is, the apparatus for transmitting such conventional graphic data is used. To send the graphic data to the facsimile machine, the graphic data created by the graphic input device
Since the document size is smaller than the document size used for normal facsimile communication, the conventional method has a problem that graphic data cannot be transmitted as it is.
Further, when transmission is performed using ISDN by the conventional method, since the information channel is always occupied, there is a problem that the graphic data cannot be transmitted when there is no available information channel.

[Object of the invention]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when graphic data is transmitted as image data of a predetermined document size, a portion outside the graphic data and within a range of the document size is converted and transmitted as white data. At the same time, when receiving image data from the communication device that transmits area information for recognizing the area of the graphic data part and the white data part, the white data part is extracted from the received image data based on the received area information. By deleting and extracting and outputting only the graphic data portion, the memory capacity for storing the received image data can be reduced, the memory for storing the image data can be effectively used, and the image data can be stored in a small memory. An object of the present invention is to reduce the cost of the image transmission device by enabling reception, and the invention of claim 2 is directed to the invention of claim 1. Te, the image data of the ISDN D
By transmitting using the user / user information element which is a channel, image data can be transmitted / received without using the information channel which is the B channel of ISDN, thereby improving the usability of ISDN and It is an object of the present invention to enable transmission and reception of image data even when there is no available channel, so that image data can be transmitted and received quickly.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, when transmitting graphic data as image data of a predetermined document size, a portion outside the graphic data and within a range of the document size is converted to white data. An image transmission device that receives image data from a communication device that transmits region information for recognizing regions of the graphic data portion and the white data portion, while transmitting the converted region data. Wherein the white data is deleted from the received image data based on the image data, and only the graphic data is extracted and output. The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein
When image data can be transmitted by the user information of the user and the receiving terminal can receive image data by the user / user information element of the ISDN, the image data is transmitted to the user of the ISDN when transmitting the image data. -It is characterized in that transmission is performed using a user information element.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, a specific description will be given based on examples.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 7 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the image transmission apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the image transmission apparatus 1. The image transmission apparatus 1 includes a system control unit 2, a memory 3, an operation display unit 4, an ISDN I / F 5, a LAPD control unit 6, an input device 7, and an output device. 8, an encoding / decoding unit 9, a CODEC 10, a handset 11, and the like. Other than the above handset 11, it is connected to a system bus 12, and various information is exchanged between the units.

The memory 3 stores a basic program of the image transmission apparatus 1 and an image processing and transmission / reception processing program of the present invention, and various data necessary for controlling the image transmission apparatus 1.
In particular, storing user / user information elements and the like for transmitting / receiving image data on the ISDN D channel according to the present invention,
Also, it stores transmission data, reception data, and the like.

The system control unit 2 controls each unit of the image transmission device 1 according to a program in the memory 3 to execute a sequence as the image transmission device 1 and execute image processing and transmission / reception processing of the inventions of the present application.

The operation display unit 4 includes various operation keys such as numeric keys and a display (for example, a liquid crystal display).
And the like, and various instructions are inputted by the key device, and the inputted contents and various information transmitted from the image transmission device 1 to the operator are displayed on the display.

ISDN I / F 5 includes ISDN (Integrated Services Dig
terminator N of the ital Network (Integrated Services Digital Network)
T is connected, and the image transmission device 1
It is connected to ISDN via T (not shown).

An LAPD (Link Access Procedure on the Dchannel) control unit 6 executes line control processing of the basic interface function of ISDN, and transfers information between the user and the network as a frame to overcome transmission errors and transfer the frame with high reliability.

The input device 7 is connected to a graphic input device (not shown), for example, a computer, and takes in graphic data created by the graphic input device.

The output device 8 is connected to a graphic input device (not shown), for example, a computer, and outputs the received graphic data to the graphic input device.

The encoding / decoding unit 9 encodes the image data by a predetermined encoding method, for example, the M ² R method, and reproduces the encoded image data as original data.

A handset 11 is connected to the CODEC 10, and the handset 11 enables a voice call by an operator. That is, the CODEC 10 converts a voice signal from the handset 11 into a digital signal that can be handled by ISDN, and converts a digital signal from ISDN into a voice signal and outputs the voice signal to the handset 11.

 Next, the operation will be described.

Each invention of the present application is characterized in that graphic data created by a graphic input device such as a computer can be transmitted by facsimile.

Hereinafter, description will be made assuming that the image transmission apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is installed on both the transmission side and the reception side.

Upon receiving graphic data from a graphic input device such as a computer via the input device 7, the image transmission device 1 on the transmission side stores the graphic data in the memory 3. Thereafter, when a transmission operation is performed by a key operation of the operation display unit 4,
The image transmitting apparatus 1 on the transmitting side converts graphic data into image data and performs transmission processing according to the following procedure. When graphic data is input from a graphic input device (not shown) via the input device 7,
As shown in the figure, in order to accept input of graphic data and correct the size of the input image data to a predetermined original size (for example, A4 size) capable of facsimile communication,
“0” is added to the main operation direction of the input image data (step S2). Also, “0” data is added in the sub-operation direction of the input image data, and the image data obtained by adding “0” data in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is encoded and decoded as image data for facsimile communication. Transfer to section 9. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the size of the manuscript used in facsimile communication and the number of pixels of the manuscript are specified according to the resolution according to the recommendation of CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee) In facsimile communication, the specified value must be satisfied. FIG. 3 shows the case where the resolution is 200 dpi. However,
In general, image data of graphic data created by a graphic input device such as a computer has many figures smaller than a document size specified for facsimile communication, and facsimile communication cannot be performed as it is. Therefore, in step S2, white data “0” is added to the portion of the image data size for facsimile communication in the main scanning direction and outside the image data size of the input graphic data. Then, in step S3, the size of the image data size for facsimile communication in the sub-scanning direction, and for the portion outside the image data size of the input graphic data, in step S3, The white data “0” has been added to correct the size to allow facsimile communication. Therefore, the corrected image data has an image data size that allows facsimile communication, and transfers this image data to the encoding / decoding unit 9 where the encoding / decoding unit 9 uses a predetermined encoding method. For example, it is encoded by the M ₂ R method and stored in the memory 3 (step S4). At the time of this image data processing, the system control unit 2, as described later, sets the effective pixel range of the image data of the graphic data input through the input device 7 (the image data of the graphic data within the image data range for facsimile communication). The area information indicating the pixel range is stored in the memory 3. Therefore, the memory 3 stores image data of an image data size that allows facsimile communication as image data for transmission of graphic data.

When the image data processing is completed, the image transmission device 1 as the originating terminal starts the transmission processing.

In general, transmission using an ISDN network involves, as shown in FIG. 4, a calling terminal sending a call setup message SETUP including terminal characteristics in its user / user information element to the ISDN network to set up a call with a called terminal. The ISDN network sends the call setup message SETUP to the designated destination terminal to notify the destination terminal. When receiving the call setup message SETUP, the ISDN network sends a call setup acceptance message CALL_PROC for notifying the acceptance of the call setup request to the calling terminal.

On the other hand, when the called terminal detects an incoming call, it sends a call message ALERT to the ISDN network, and the ISDN network sends the call message ALERT.
Is received, a call message ALERT is sent to the calling terminal to notify that calling of the called terminal has started.

Here, when the receiving terminal detects that the operator picks up the handset 11 and goes off-hook, the receiving terminal:
Stop the output of the call message ALERT, and
ISDN response message CONN including terminal characteristics in user information
The ISDN network sends the response message CONN to the calling terminal to notify that the called terminal has accepted the call.
The ISDN network sends a response acknowledgment message CONN_ACK to the destination terminal to confirm the response of the destination terminal. At this point, an information channel for data transmission is established between the calling terminal and the destination terminal. This enables data transfer between the calling terminal and the called terminal. When the data transfer is completed, the calling terminal sends a disconnect message DISC to the ISDN network to request the release of the information channel. Upon receiving the disconnection message DISC from the calling terminal, the ISDN network sends the disconnecting message DISC to the receiving terminal to notify the restoration of the information channel. When the receiving terminal that has received the disconnection message sends a release message REL to the ISDN network to notify that the channel disconnection has been completed, the ISDN network sends a release message REL to the calling terminal, and the calling terminal releases when the channel release is completed. ISDN complete message REL_COMP
Send it to the network to notify it. Upon receiving the release completion message REL_COMP from the calling terminal, the ISDN network sends a release completion message REL_COMP to the called terminal, the information channel is released, and the information channel set between the calling terminal and the called terminal. Is completely open.

As shown in FIG. 5, each control message exchanged between the originating terminal and the ISDN network and between the ISDN network and the destination terminal identifies a protocol specification (format, sequence, etc.) for defining the layer 3 call control message. Protocol identifier, a call number for identifying which call the message relates to, and a message type (message type) for identifying the content of each message
As a message type, each information element includes a mandatory information element that is always added and an additional information element that is added as needed. In particular, the call setup message SETUP used in the present invention is the one shown in FIG. As shown in (1), it has a transmission capability information element as an essential information element and information elements such as a calling number, a calling sub number, and a user as additional information elements. This transmission capability information element is an information transfer capability indicating whether the content of the information to be transmitted is voice, unrestricted digital information, restricted digital information, 3.1 kHz audio, etc., whether the switching function used is circuit switching, or a packet. The information includes a transfer mode indicating whether the exchange is performed, an information transfer speed indicating an information transfer speed, information indicating an information transfer mode, information indicating a protocol of user information, and the like. The calling number information element is the ISDN address (number) of the calling terminal
And the calling sub-number information element indicates the ISDN sub-address of the calling terminal. Further, the user-user information element is used for transmitting information between users, and the content of the user-user information element is transmitted transparently to the partner terminal as it is without being interpreted by the ISDN network.

Using this user / user information element, image data transmission / reception processing of the present invention is performed. As shown in FIG. 7, the user / user information element includes a terminal characteristic, an effective pixel identifier,
It has a horizontal axis effective pixel (X), a vertical axis effective pixel (Y), an image data identifier, and image data. Terminal characteristics include
Information on whether the own terminal has the image data processing function and the image data communication function of each invention of the present application is entered,
The effective pixel identifier is used for identifying a horizontal axis effective pixel (X) and a vertical axis effective pixel (Y). Horizontal axis effective pixel (X)
Indicates the data of the image data portion of the graphic data in the main scanning direction of the image data including the graphic data of the present invention, and the vertical axis effective pixel (Y) indicates the image data including the graphic data of the present invention. 5 shows the data of the image data portion of the graphic data in the sub-scanning direction. Therefore, the horizontal axis effective pixel (X) and the vertical axis effective pixel (Y) constitute area information for recognizing areas of the graphic data portion and the non-data portion. The image data is identified by the image data identifier, and when transmitting the image data obtained by encoding the image data by a predetermined encoding method, the image data is described.

As described above, the image transmission device 1 executes the ISDN control procedure to perform communication with the partner terminal. At this time, the image transmission device 1 transmits image data using the user information of the control message. .

That is, as shown in FIG.
A call setup message SETUP with the conversation capability (speech) with the user / user information element shown in FIG.
When the call message is transmitted to the SDN network (step T1) and the call message ALERT from the destination terminal is received, the terminal characteristics of the partner terminal are recognized from the call message ALERT and stored in the memory 3 (step T2). When the terminal characteristics are stored, the image transmission device 1
Checks whether the transmission key of the operation display unit 4 is turned on (step T3). When the transmission key is turned on, the terminal characteristics stored in the memory 3 are checked and the transmission destination (reception side) has the same function. Whether the terminal has
It is checked whether the image data reception processing function of the present invention by the DN communication is provided (step T4). If the partner terminal has the same function, the image data transmission processing by the above-mentioned user / user information element (UUI) is performed (step T5). To end. That is, as shown in FIG.
Transmission super-image data in which white image data is added to a portion within the size of the transmission document outside the image data of the graphic data is created, and user-user information is incorporated and transmitted. At this time, the image data is transmitted at the same time as the effective image information (information of the vertical axis effective pixel and the horizontal axis effective pixel) indicating the graphic data part (effective image data part).

When the transmission key is not turned on in Step T3, and when the other party does not have the same function in Step T4, it is checked whether the handset 11 is on-hook and whether the response message CONN is received ( In steps T6 and T7), when the handset 11 is on-hook, it is determined that communication has ended, a communication end procedure is executed, and this flow ends (step T14). When the handset 11 is not on-hook and receives the response message CONN, speech (conversation) processing is enabled (step T8). Thereafter, it is checked whether the transmission key is turned on or the handset 11 is on-hook (step T).
9, T10), handset without sending key
When 11 is on-hook, it is determined that transmission has ended, a communication end procedure is executed, and this flow ends (step T1).
Four).

In step T9, when the transmission key is turned on, whether or not the destination is a terminal having the same function, that is, whether or not the terminal has the function of receiving the image data of the present invention by ISDN communication is stored in the memory 3. The information is checked (step T11), and when the partner terminal has the same function, the image data processing shown in FIG. 2 is performed and the user / user information element (UUI) is used, as in step T5. The image data is transmitted (step T12). Also, in step T11, the other terminal has the same function, that is, ISDN
When the image data receiving function of the present invention by communication is not provided, it is determined that image data cannot be transmitted by ISDN communication, and a call is made to another channel to perform image data transmission processing. That is, the image transmission apparatus 1 performs the image data processing shown in FIG. 2, performs the image data transmission processing by the group 4 (G4) (step T13), and completes the image data transmission processing when the image data transmission processing is completed. finish.

On the other hand, if the receiving terminal is a normal facsimile apparatus, the receiving terminal can receive the image data of the graphic data and record and output the received image data on a recording sheet according to a normal facsimile procedure. Further, if the receiving terminal is the image transmission apparatus 1 of the present invention, it is possible to receive image data based on user / user information, and to occupy the B channel in the transmission of image data without using the B channel. Can be received. Therefore, even when the B channel cannot be used, image data can be received, and image data can be received promptly. At this time, since the effective pixel information shown in FIG. 7 is transmitted, only the image data of the graphic data portion can be extracted from the transmitted image data based on the effective pixel information. Only data can be retrieved and stored in memory. Therefore, the capacity of the memory of the receiving terminal can be reduced, the cost can be reduced, and the memory can be used effectively. The process of extracting only the image data of the graphic data portion from the received image data can be easily performed by performing the reverse process of the image data process at the time of transmission shown in FIG.

As described above, when transmitting the graphic data, the part outside the graphic data and within the range of the predetermined document size is converted into white data, and the graphic data is transmitted as image data of a predetermined size that can be transmitted by facsimile. Therefore, graphic data created by a graphic creating device such as a computer can be transmitted to a facsimile device, and the usability of handling graphic data can be improved. Further, when transmitting the graphic data as image data of a predetermined document size, a portion outside the graphic data and within a range of the document size is converted and transmitted as white data, and the graphic data portion is transmitted. Region information for recognizing the region of the white data portion can be transmitted, and when image data is received from a transmitting device that transmits such region information, the image data is received based on the received region information. Since the white data portion can be deleted from the image data and only the graphic data portion can be extracted and output, the receiving terminal can reduce the memory capacity for storing the received image data and store the image data. Memory can be used effectively, and image data can be received even with a small capacity memory. As a result, the cost of the image transmission device can be reduced. Furthermore, since image data can be transmitted using the user / user information element which is the D channel of ISDN, image data can be transmitted and received without using the information channel which is the B channel of ISDN. In addition, the usability of ISDN can be improved, and image data can be transmitted and received even when there is no vacancy in the B channel. As a result, image information can be sent and received quickly.

〔effect〕

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when transmitting graphic data as image data of a predetermined document size, a portion outside the graphic data and within a range of the document size is converted and transmitted as white data. At the same time, area information for recognizing the area of the graphic data portion and the white data portion can be transmitted.
Upon receiving image data from the transmitting device that transmits the area information together with such image data, the white data part is deleted from the received image data based on the received area information, and only the graphic data part is extracted. Since the output can be performed, the memory capacity for storing the received image data can be reduced, the memory for storing the image data can be effectively used, and the image data can be received even with a small memory. be able to. As a result, the cost of the image transmission device can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the image data can be transmitted using the user / user information element which is the D channel of ISDN.
Transmission / reception of image data can be performed without using an information channel which is a channel, and the usability of ISDN can be improved, and transmission / reception of image data can be performed even when there is no free B channel. be able to. As a result, image data can be sent and received quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 8 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the image transmission apparatus according to the first and second aspects of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the image transmission apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing image data processing for facsimile image data, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of facsimile image data size specified by CCITT, FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram of the ISDN communication, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a format of the call setup message SETUP, FIG. 7 is a format of the user / user information element, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the image data transmission processing. 1. Image transmission device 2. System control unit 3. Memory 4. Operation display unit 5. ISDN I / F 6. LAPD control unit 7. Input device 8. Output device 9 Encoding / decoding unit 10 CODEC 11 Handset 12 System bus

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/38-1/387 H04N 1/00 H04N 1/32 H04N 1/40

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] When transmitting graphic data as image data of a predetermined document size, a portion outside the graphic data and within a range of the document size is converted and transmitted as white data. An image transmitting apparatus for receiving image data from a communication apparatus for transmitting area information for recognizing an area of a data part and a white data part, wherein the white data is obtained from image data received based on the received area information. An image transmission apparatus characterized in that only image data is extracted and output by deleting the image data. 2. The image transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image transmitting apparatus is capable of transmitting image data based on ISDN user / user information, and said receiving terminal is capable of receiving image data based on ISDN user / user information elements. 2. The image transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when transmitting the data, the image data is transmitted using an ISDN user / user information element.