JP3032241B2 - Control method for facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus in which a facsimile adapter apparatus having a facsimile transmission function is added to a data processing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus configured by adding a facsimile adapter apparatus having a facsimile transmission function to a data processing apparatus such as a personal computer has been put to practical use.

In this facsimile apparatus, for example, a document of a transmission original created by a data processing apparatus is converted into image information (bit information) to be transmitted by the facsimile apparatus. As compared with the above, there is an advantage that the quality of transmitted image information is good and that facsimile communication can be performed using an existing data processing apparatus, which is advantageous in terms of cost.

The functions of the apparatus are broadly divided into two types: a data processing apparatus including an image information encoding / decoding function, and a data decoding process performed by a facsimile adapter.

In the former device, the processing load on the data processing device side increases, but since the image information in a coded and compressed state is exchanged between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device, the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device need to exchange the image information. The amount of data exchanged is small.

On the other hand, in the latter device, since the image information is exchanged as it is between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device, the data amount becomes enormous, but the processing load on the data processing device side is small. Yes.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, such a conventional apparatus has the following disadvantages.

That is, in the latter device described above, since the amount of data exchanged between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device becomes enormous, the time required to transfer the transmission image data from the data processing device to the facsimile adapter device and the facsimile The time required for transmitting the received image data from the adapter device to the data processing device becomes very long, and therefore the time required for facsimile communication becomes very long.

Therefore, a facsimile adapter device provided with a large-capacity buffer (for example, a magnetic disk device or the like) so that all the transmission image information and the reception image information are temporarily held by the facsimile adapter device has been put to practical use. Causes the disadvantage of being very expensive.

In the former device, if a standard serial transfer interface device is used as an interface device for connecting the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device, the maximum data transfer capability of this interface device is 9600 bps, and data transmission between the facsimile devices is performed. Transmission speed is the same as the maximum transmission speed of the digital modem used for communication (CCITT recommendation V.29 modem), and the amount of data exchanged between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device is such that the facsimile adapter device exchanges data with the partner facsimile device. Since the data amount is almost equal to the amount of transmission data, the facsimile communication time is not as long as the latter device.

However, since an overhead for handshaking for data transmission is required between the interface devices, the data transfer speed between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device is actually smaller than the data transmission speed between the facsimile devices, The same disadvantages as the former device described above occur.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of reducing data transmission time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention relates to a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus in which a facsimile adapter apparatus having a facsimile transmission function is added to a data processing apparatus.
When the same line continues in the transmission image information, the transmission image information of only the line synchronization signal is transmitted to the facsimile adapter device as the transmission image information of the line, and the facsimile adapter device transmits the transmission image information input from the data processing device to the line. When only the synchronization signal is included, the transmission image information of the line which does not include only the line synchronization signal received immediately before is used as the transmission image information of the line.

Further, when the same line is continuous in the received image information, the facsimile adapter device counts the number of continuous lines and transfers the counted value to the data processing device, and the data processing device calculates the counted value of the same line continuous number. When input, the received image information for one line held immediately before is repeatedly decoded by the count value to form a received image.

[Operation] Therefore, the amount of data exchanged between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device is reduced, and therefore,
The time for facsimile communication can be greatly reduced.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The facsimile apparatus includes a host apparatus HST including a personal computer system having a data processing function for forming a facsimile document and a facsimile adapter apparatus FXA for realizing a facsimile transmission function. Bowl T
EL is attached.

Further, the host device HST may be provided with a scanner for reading an image and a page printer (for example, a laser beam printer) for recording and outputting a received document.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a facsimile adapter device.

In FIG. 1, a CPU (central processing unit) 1 controls each part of the facsimile adapter FXA,
Performs facsimile transmission control procedure processing.
The (read only memory) 2 stores a control processing program executed by the CPU 1 and various data necessary for executing the processing program.
(Random access memory) 3 is for configuring a work area of the CPU 1.

The host interface circuit 4 is for exchanging data with the host device HST, and the operation display section 5 is for operating the facsimile adapter device FXA, and has various operation keys and various operation keys. Display.

The decoding unit 6 decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal, and is mainly used for detecting a reception error of the received image information.

The group 3 facsimile modem 7 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21) for exchanging transmission procedure signals.
Modem) and a high-speed modem function (V.29 modem, V.27ter modem) for mainly exchanging image information.

The network control device 8 uses the facsimile adapter device FXA
Is connected to a public telephone network, and has an automatic transmission / reception function. A telephone TEL is connected to the network control device 8.

The CPU 1, ROM 2, RAM 3, host interface circuit 4, operation display unit 5, decoding unit 6, group 3 facsimile modem 7, and network control device 8 are connected to a system bus 9, and The exchange of data between the elements is performed mainly via the system bus 9.

Data exchange between the network controller 8 and the group 3 facsimile modem 7 is directly performed.

When performing a transmission operation with the above configuration, first, the operator prepares a transmission document in the host device HST, and instructs the start of facsimile transmission in a state where the destination telephone number is specified.

As a result, the host device HST notifies the facsimile adapter device FXA of performing the transmission operation, and notifies the destination telephone number.

As a result, the facsimile adapter device FXA calls the notified destination, and when the destination responds to the incoming call, executes a predetermined pre-transmission procedure to prepare for image information transmission.

Thus, when the preparation for the image information transmission is completed, the facsimile adapter device FXA requests the host device HST to transfer the image information for one page.

Accordingly, the host device HST raster-converts the created transmission document of the character string to form image data, encodes and compresses the image data in line units, and converts the encoded image information into line data. Facsimile adapter unit
Transfer to FXA.

At this time, the host device HST monitors that the same line is continuous, and when the same line is continuous,
Only the line synchronizing signal (EOL) indicating one line of image information is transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA.

When the facsimile adapter device FXA receives the image information of the line including only the line synchronization signal from the host device HST, the facsimile adapter device FXA converts the image information of the line which does not include only the line synchronization signal input immediately before to the destination facsimile as the image information of the line. Send to device.

However, since a control return signal (RTC) indicating the end of one page of image information is formed by continuously forming six line synchronizing signals, the host device HST uses the same line for 6 lines.
When the lines are continuous, the image information of the line is transferred to the facsimile adapter device FXA so that six line synchronization signals do not continue except at the end of the page.

Thus, when the same line continues, only the line synchronization signal, not the image information of the line, is transferred from the host device HST to the facsimile adapter device FXA, so that the data amount of that portion can be reduced.

Generally, a transmission original created by the host device HST has many blank portions, and therefore, image data created by the host device HST often has a portion where many white lines are continuous.

For this reason, as described above, there are very many portions where only the line synchronization signal is transferred from the host device HST to the facsimile adapter device FXA, and as a result, the amount of data transferred from the host device HST to the facsimile adapter device FXA is extremely large. To decrease.

As described above, even when the facsimile adapter FXA transmits image information to the destination at a transmission speed of 9600 bps, it is possible to prevent a situation in which generation of transmission image information is interrupted, and to greatly reduce facsimile communication time.

When this facsimile apparatus is called from another facsimile apparatus, the following operation is performed.

For example, when the facsimile adapter device FXA is connected to the facsimile device on the transmission side in the receiving mode by a meeting between operators, a predetermined transmission procedure is executed between the two, and preparation for image information transmission is completed.

Then, when the image information is transmitted from the transmission side, the facsimile adapter device FXA temporarily stores the received image information in the reception buffer, separates the image information from the reception buffer line by line, and separates the image information line by line. The fill signal added to the image information is removed, and the host device HS
The image information is shaped to a byte boundary which is a data unit when transferred to T, and transferred to the host device HST.

Further, the facsimile adapter device FXA monitors that the same line is continuous, and when the same line is continuous, first, control information indicating that fact is transferred to the host device HST, and the continuation of the same line is completed. At that point,
The number of continuous lines is notified to the host device HST.

When the image information of the normal line is transferred from the facsimile adapter device FXA, the host device HST decodes the image information into the original image data, and stores the image data in the page buffer for display in the line order. Expanding.

Also, when control information indicating that the same line is continuous is transferred, it waits until the number of continuous lines is notified, and when the number of continuous lines is notified, the immediately decoded image data is notified. The number of continuous lines is repeatedly copied to the page buffer.

In this way, when the image information of the same line continues, the facsimile adapter device FXA sends the host device HST
Since the image information is not transferred to the host device HST and the number of continuous lines is notified, the amount of data transferred from the facsimile adapter device FXA to the host device HST is greatly reduced, and the reception buffer including the facsimile adapter device FXA is reduced. The capacity can be greatly reduced.

FIG. 3 shows a processing example when the host device HST transfers image information for one page to the facsimile adapter device FXA at the time of image information transmission.

In this case, the host device HST has two line buffers LB1 and LB for temporarily storing image information for one line.
2 is set in the work area.

First, the same line counter CSL for storing the number of continuous same lines is cleared to 0, and the line buffers LB1, LB2
Among them, the reference line flag FRB for storing the line buffers LB1 and LB2 storing the image information of the previous line is set to 0 (reset; process 101), and the line buffers LB1 and L
The contents of B2 are cleared (process 102) and initialization is performed.

Then, it is checked whether or not 0 is set in the reference line flag FRB (decision 103), and the result of the decision 103 is YES
, The image information for one line obtained by encoding and compressing the generated image data for one line is stored in the line buffer LB1 (processing 104), and the result of the judgment 103 is NO
, The image information for one line obtained by encoding and compressing the generated image data for one line is stored in the line buffer LB2 (process 105).

Then, it is checked whether or not the image data at that time is a control return signal (judgment 106). If the result of the judgment 106 is NO, the line buffer LB1 and the line buffer LB2 are compared (process 107), and the line Check whether the contents of the buffer LB1 and the line buffer LB2 are the same (decision 10
8).

If the result of determination 108 is NO, the value of the same line counter CSL is cleared to 0 (processing 109), and it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (determination 110).

When the result of the determination 110 is YES, since the image information of the line is stored in the line buffer LB1, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA (process 111), and the reference line flag FRB is set. The value is switched to 1 (process 112), and the process returns to the judgment 103 to perform the process for the next line.

If the result of the determination 110 is NO, since the image information of the line is stored in the line buffer LB2, the contents of the line buffer LB2 are transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA (process 113), and the reference line flag FRB is set. The value is switched to 0 (process 114), and the process returns to the judgment 103 to perform the process for the next line.

If the same line continues and the result of determination 108 is YES, the value of the same line counter CSL is incremented (step 115), and the same line counter CSL is incremented.
It is checked whether the value of is equal to 6 (decision 116).

If the result of decision 116 is NO, the line synchronization signal E
Facsimile adapter device FXA for image information consisting only of OL
(Process 117), and the process returns to decision 103 to perform the process for the next line.

Further, when the result of the determination 116 is YES, if the line synchronization signal is transferred at that time, a control return signal will be generated except at the end of the page, so the image information generated at that time is transferred.

That is, the same line counter CSL is cleared to 0 (process 118), and it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (decision 119), and the result of the decision 119 is YES
Is reached, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA (process 120), the reference line flag FRB is switched to 1 (process 121), the process returns to the judgment 103, and the process for the next line is performed.

If the result of the determination 119 is NO, the line buffer L
The content of B2 is transferred to the facsimile adapter device FXA (process 122), and the reference line flag FRB is switched to 0 (process).
123), the process returns to the judgment 103, and the processing for the next line is performed.

Also, a control return signal indicating the end of the page is generated,
When the result of the determination 106 is YES, the reference line flag
Check if 0 is set in the Fed (decision 12
4) When the result of the judgment 124 is YES, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA (processing 125). When the result of the judgment 124 is NO, the contents of the line buffer LB2 are transferred to the facsimile adapter FXA. The data is transferred to FXA (step 126), and the transfer of the transmission image information for one page is completed.

FIG. 4 shows an example of processing executed by the facsimile adapter device FXA when receiving one page of image information from the host device HST when transmitting image information. Again,
In the facsimile adapter FXA, two line buffers LB1 and LB1 for temporarily storing image information for one line are provided.
LB2 is set in the work area formed in RAM3.

First, of the line buffers LB1 and LB2, the reference line flag FRB for storing the line buffers LB1 and LB2 storing the image information of the previous line is set to 0 (reset; processing 201), and the line buffers LB1 and LB2 are reset. The contents of LB2 are cleared (process 202), and initialization is performed.

Then, it is checked whether 0 is set in the reference line flag FRB (decision 203), and the result of the decision 203 is YES
, The image information for one line input from the host device HST is stored in the line buffer LB1 and transferred to the decoding unit 6 (process 204). When the result of the judgment 203 is NO, the host device HST The input image information for one line is stored in the line buffer LB2 and transferred to the decoding unit 6 (process 205).

Accordingly, it is determined whether or not the decoding unit 6 has detected a line including only the line synchronization signal (decision 206). When the result of the determination 206 is NO, it is determined whether or not the decoding unit 6 has detected the control return signal. Check (decision 207).

When the result of the judgment 207 is NO, since the image information of the normal line has been received, it is checked whether or not 0 is set in the reference line buffer FRB (decision 208), and when the result of the judgment 208 is YES, By passing the contents of the line buffer LB1 to the transmission process as transmission image information of the line, the image information of the line is transmitted to the partner apparatus (processing 20).
9) The reference line buffer FRB is switched to 1 (processing 21).
0), the process returns to the judgment 203, and the processing for the next line is performed.

If the result of decision 208 is NO, the line buffer L
By passing the contents of B2 as transmission image information of the line to the transmission process, the image information of the line is transmitted to the partner apparatus (processing 211), the reference line buffer FRB is switched to 0 (processing 212), and the judgment 203 is made. And the processing for the next line is performed.

When the result of the determination 206 is YES, it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (determination 2).
13) When the result of the determination 213 is YES, the contents of the line buffer LB2, which is the reference line at that time, are passed to the transmission process as transmission image information of the line (processing 21).
4) If the result of determination 213 is NO, the contents of the line buffer LB1, which is the reference line at that time, are passed to the transmission process as transmission image information of the line (processing
215), returning to the judgment 203, and processing for the next line is performed.

When the control return signal is detected and the result of decision 207 is YES, it is checked whether or not reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (decision 216), and the result of decision 216 is YES.
When the result becomes, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are passed to the transmission process (step 217). When the result of the determination 206 is NO, the contents of the coming buffer LB2 are passed to the transmission process (step 218), and the control return signal is sent. Send to the other device,
A state where the processing of one page is completed is set (processing 21
9), end this process.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show processing when the facsimile adapter device FXA transfers the contents of the reception buffer to the host device HST while shaping the data in line units when receiving image information.

First, the same line counter CSL for storing the number of continuous same lines is cleared to 0, and the line buffers LB1, LB2
Of these, the reference line flag FRB for storing the line buffers LB1 and LB2 storing the image information of the previous line is set to 0 (reset), and the reception error flag for storing that a reception error has occurred Is set to 0, an error counter CER for storing the number of lines in which a reception error has occurred is cleared to 0 (process 301), and the line buffer LB
1. The contents of LB2 are cleared (process 302), and initialization is performed.

Then, it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (decision 303). When the result of the decision 303 is YES, one line of data is transferred from the reception buffer to the line buffer LB1, and the decoding unit 6 (process 304), and when the result of decision 303 is NO,
Line buffer for one line of data from the receive buffer
The data is transferred to the LB2 and to the decoding unit 6 (process 30).
Five). In the processes 304 and 305, if the fill signal is included in the data for one line, the fill signal is deleted and the data is shaped in byte units.

Here, it is checked whether or not the decoding unit 6 has detected the control return signal (decision 306). If the result of the decision 306 is NO, it is determined whether the decoding unit 6 has detected an error when decoding the line. Check (judgment 307), the result of judgment 307
When YES, the error counter CER is incremented (process 308).

Next, the contents of the line buffer LB1 and the line buffer LB2 are compared (step 309), and it is checked whether or not the contents are the same (decision 310). When the result of the decision 310 is NO, the same line counter CSL It is checked whether the value of is 0 (decision 311).

When the result of the judgment 311 is YES, since lines having different contents are continuous, it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FRB is set to 0 (decision 312).
Is YES, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the host device HST as received image information of the line (process 313), the reference line flag FRB is switched to 1 (process 314), and the process returns to decision 303. , The next line is processed.

If the result of decision 312 is NO, the line buffer L
The host device HS uses the contents of B2 as the received image information of the line.
Transfer to T (process 315), switch the reference line flag FRB to 1 (process 316), return to decision 303, and perform the process for the next line.

When the result of decision 310 is YES, it is checked whether the value of the same line counter CSL is equal to 0 (decision 317),
When the result of the determination 317 is YES, since the same line is the first to be continuous, the same line counter CSL is set to 1 (process 318), and control information indicating that the same line is continuous is transferred to the host device HST. (Process 319), Judgment 30
Returning to step 3, processing for the next line is performed.

When the result of the determination 317 is NO, the value of the same line counter CSL is incremented (processing 320), and the determination 30
Returning to step 3, the process for the next line is performed.

When the result of the determination 311 is NO, since the continuation of the same line is completed, it is the first line, so control information for notifying the contents of the same line counter CSL is transferred to the host device HST (process 321), and the same Set the value of the line counter CSL to 0
(Step 322), it is checked whether or not 0 is set in the reference line flag FRB (decision 323). If the result of the decision 322 is YES, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the host device HST ( Process 324), reference line flag
The FBR is switched to 1 (process 325), and the process returns to the determination 303 to perform the process for the next line.

If the result of decision 323 is NO, the line buffer L
The content of B2 is transferred to the host device HST (process 326), the reference line flag FBR is switched to 0 (process 327), and the decision 303 is made.
And the processing for the next line is performed.

Further, the control return signal is detected, and the result of decision 306 is YES
Is reached, it is checked whether or not the reference line flag FBR is set to 0 (decision 328). If the result of the decision 328 is YES, the contents of the line buffer LB1 are transferred to the host device HST (processing 329). If the result of decision 328 is NO, the contents of the line buffer LB2 are
(Step 330).

Then, it is checked whether or not the value of the error counter CER is larger than a prescribed value KA (decision 331), and the result of the decision 331 is YES
, The reception error flag FER is set to 1 (process 332), and this process ends. When the result of the determination 331 is NO, the process is terminated without executing the process 332.

FIG. 6 shows that the received image information is a facsimile adapter device FX.
The figure shows an example of processing executed by the host device HST when transferred from A.

First, the data transferred from the facsimile adapter device FXA is set in the work area and stored in the input buffer (process 401), and whether the content is control information representing the same line or the same line counter CSL is notified. It is checked whether the information is control information (decisions 402, 403).

When the result of the determination 402 is YES, the process returns to the process 401. When the result of determination 403 is NO, since the image information for one line has been received, the contents of the input buffer are decoded into the original image signal, and the obtained image signal is stored in the line buffer set in the work area. (Step 404).

Then, it is checked whether or not a control return signal is detected at this time (decision 405). If the result of the decision 405 is NO, the contents of the line buffer are stored in the work area to hold the image signal for one page. (Step 406), and the process returns to Step 401. In the process 406, the contents of the line buffer are stored in the storage area of the page buffer corresponding to the line order.

When the result of the determination 403 is YES, the content stored in the line buffer is repeatedly stored in the page buffer by the notified number of lines (process 407), and the process returns to process 401.

When the result of the determination 405 is YES, the image information for one page ends (process 408), and this process ends.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of data exchanged between the data processing device and the facsimile adapter device can be reduced, so that the facsimile communication time can be shortened and the transmission required for the facsimile adapter device can be reduced. An effect is obtained that the capacity of the buffer can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a facsimile adapter apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing when transferring the image data to the facsimile adapter apparatus. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed by the facsimile adapter apparatus when receiving one page of image information from the host apparatus at the time of image information transmission. FIGS. 6A and 6B are flowcharts showing processing when the facsimile adapter device transfers the contents of the reception buffer to the host device while shaping the data in line units when receiving the image information. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing executed by the host device when the data is transferred from the adapter device.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-108870 (JP, A) JP-A-60-58775 (JP, A) JP-A-60-182258 (JP, A) JP-A-60-206262 (JP) JP-A-2-60368 (JP, A) JP-A-62-173869 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/417 H04N 1/419 H04N 1/32 H04N 1/00 107

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In a method of controlling a facsimile apparatus in which a facsimile adapter device having a facsimile transmission function is added to a data processing apparatus, when the same line continues in transmission image information, The transmission image information of only the line synchronization signal is transmitted to the facsimile adapter device as the transmission image information. When the transmission image information input from the data processing device consists of only the line synchronization signal, the facsimile adapter device transmits the line received immediately before. A method for controlling a facsimile apparatus, wherein transmission image information of a line not including only a synchronization signal is used as transmission image information of the line. 2. A method for controlling a facsimile apparatus in which a facsimile adapter having a facsimile transmission function is added to a data processing apparatus, wherein the facsimile adapter is connected when the same line continues to the received image information. After counting the number and transferring the count value to the data processing device, the data processing device inputs the count value of the same line continuation number, and receives the received image information for one line held immediately before the count value. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus, wherein a received image is formed by repeatedly performing decoding.