JP3305808B2 - Facsimile machine and thinning line designation method - 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 a method for specifying a thinning line, and more particularly, to a thinning-out process in a sub-scan, a linear density conversion between an image information linear density and a writing linear density. In particular, it is possible to make it difficult to cause image degradation, to thin out any position in one page, and to access one page only once.
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of reducing a load on a PU and a method of specifying a thinning line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus which sets a thinning rate by calculating with software is disclosed in, for example,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 208969 discloses a method in which a plotter having a recording linear density higher than a received image linear density is provided, and image information of each received page is recorded for recording the number of lines corresponding to the recording linear density. By converting the image data into image information, the address of the page memory can be set to 1 in software when the data is transferred from the page memory to the linear density conversion unit.
There is an advantage that data before line density conversion can be skipped by skipping lines.

In a conventional facsimile machine, a method of setting a hardware thinning counter and thinning out the data uniformly (periodically) is also known.
4 lines at 200 × 100 → 400 × 400, 200
At the time of × 200 → 400 × 400, it is a method of determining which line of the two lines is to be thinned out. Usually, 1 → 2 → 3
If the counter outputs 4 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 or 1 → 2 → 1 → 2 → 1 → 2, the counter is set to +1 or cleared only when this counter is thinned. 2 → 3 → 4
→ 1 → 2 → 3 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 or 1 → 2 → 1 → 1 →
In the case of 2, there is an advantage that the line after the linear density conversion can be thinned. Then, this method uses a register for setting a counter operation when the transfer from the page memory is performed 32 times or a counter operation when the transfer is performed 64 times. (Periodic).

Further, in a conventional facsimile apparatus, a method of thinning out at an arbitrary interval by setting whether to thin out every line or not to thin out is also known. In this method, a normal image has a large margin at the top and bottom. For this reason, the middle part can be thinned out mainly in the upper and lower parts without thinning, and the processing of each line by the CPU is required. Similarly, by performing the counter operation, the line after the line density conversion can be thinned out.

[0005]

However, in a conventional facsimile apparatus in which the thinning rate is set by calculating with the above-mentioned software, the address of the page memory is transferred by software when transferring from the page memory to the line density conversion unit. 1
Since lines are skipped, four or two sub-scanning lines are thinned out at once, and as a result, there is a problem that image deterioration becomes remarkable.

Further, in a conventional facsimile apparatus in which the above-described hardware thinning counter is set and thinned out evenly,
Since the method of thinning out periodically is adopted, there is a problem that it is not possible to cope with a case where an arbitrary position in one page is to be thinned out. Further, in the conventional facsimile apparatus which sets whether to thin out each line or not to thin out at an arbitrary interval, the line processing is performed by the CPU, and access to one page is performed a plurality of times. There is a problem that the load on the CPU increases.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to make it difficult to cause image deterioration, to thin out an arbitrary position in one page, and to access the page only once, thereby reducing the load on the CPU. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus and a method for specifying a thinning line that can be reduced.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A page memory for storing received image information;
The image is written at a writing line density higher than the image line density of the image information.
And a plotter for recording information on recording paper, and the stored image information.
For converting the image linear density of the image to the writing linear density of the plotter
In a facsimile apparatus including a density conversion unit and performing a sub-scanning thinning process, a thinning line specifying unit that specifies a sub-scanning thinning line for one page, and a designated thinning line for the one page. Based on the page memo
Whether to thin out the image information stored for each address of the
A thinned-out data register for storing the thinned data for at least one page to indicate, the page note該画information
When data is transferred from the
Increment to the address where the image information to be sent is stored
By adding the numbers, the image information to be transferred next is
An increment number setting unit that sets an increment number based on the content of the thinned data in the thinned data register so as to generate a stored address .

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present invention, the received image information is
A page memory for storing the image line of the stored image information
The image information is recorded on recording paper at a writing linear density higher than the density
And a plotter for performing the
A line density conversion unit that converts the data to the plotting line density
In a method for specifying a thinning line of a facsimile apparatus for performing thinning processing in the subscanning, thinning data of the subscanning of at least one page is written in a thinning data register, and the image information is written from the page memory to the line density.
When transferring data to the conversion unit, the image information
When data is transferred from the
Increment to the address where the image information to be sent is stored
By adding the numbers, the image information to be transferred next is
The thinning data register to generate a stored address.
Increment based on the contents of the thinning data of the star
By setting the number in the increment number setting section, 1
A feature is to specify a thinning line for a page.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the received image information is
A page memory for storing the image line of the stored image information
The image information is recorded on recording paper at a writing linear density higher than the density
And a plotter for performing the
A line density conversion unit that converts the data to the plotting line density
In a facsimile apparatus that performs sub-scanning thinning processing, a thinning line specifying unit that specifies one page of sub-scanning thinning lines, and at least one page based on the specified one-page sub-scanning thinning line. A thinning-out data register for storing thinning-out data for
Transferring data from the page memory to the linear density conversion unit;
After converting the image linear density of the image information into the writing linear density,
The number of increments per line is reduced so as to thin out the image information.
By adding, a line of the image information to be selected next is generated.
Of the thinned data of the thinned data register
Increment to set the number of increments based on the content
And the image information based on the increment value.
And a line selector for selecting for each line .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the received image information
And a page memory for storing the image information
The image information is written on recording paper at a writing line density higher than the line density.
The plotter to be recorded and the image linear density of the stored image information.
A linear density conversion unit for converting the plotting into a writing linear density.
In a method for specifying a thinning line of a facsimile apparatus for performing a thinning process in a subscanning, thinning data of the subscanning of at least one page line is written in a thinning data register, and the image information is written from the page memory to the line density.
Data to the degree conversion unit, and the image linear density of the image information is
After converting to writing linear density, one line is
The next selection is made by adding the increment number for each
The thinning data to generate a line of the image information to be selected.
Increment based on the contents of the thinned data in the register
Set the number of increments in the increment
The thinning line for one page is designated by selecting the image information for each line based on the print value .

[0012]

According to the present invention, the received image information is recorded.
Page memory to remember and the image density of the stored image information
Record the image information on recording paper with a writing linear density higher than
And a plotter that stores the image linear density of the stored image information.
A linear density conversion unit for converting to the write linear density of the
In a facsimile apparatus that performs a sub-scanning thinning process, a thinning line specifying unit that specifies a sub-scanning thinning line for one page, and the page memory based on the specified one-page sub-scanning thinning line. For each address
To indicate whether or not to thin out the stored image information,
Both the thinned-out data register for storing the thinned data for one page, varying該線density該画information from the page memory
When the image information to be transferred is
Adding an increment number to a stored address
Address to which the image information to be transferred next is stored.
An increment number setting unit for setting an increment number based on the content of the thinning data of the thinning data register so as to generate a thinning line. Can be specified.

For this reason, instead of performing the conventional thinning-out of the image data before the linear density conversion as in the related art, and not performing the periodic thinning-out in the conventional manner, several image forming operations are performed in accordance with the number of lines to be thinned out. After preparing a table of the pull-out data and developing the table data and the page memory, it is possible to write the data to the thinning-out register before the start of the writing. Can be thinned out.

In particular, since thinning can be performed arbitrarily rather than periodically, it is possible to concentrate on the lower side where image deterioration is relatively small. In addition, since one page can be accessed only once without performing line processing by the CPU as in the related art, the writing speed can be increased and the load on the CPU can be reduced. . In particular, when the image information line density and the write line density are the same, thinning can be arbitrarily performed without setting at every line, without setting every line, every line or not.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the received image information
And a page memory for storing the image information
The image information is written on recording paper at a writing line density higher than the line density.
The plotter to be recorded and the image linear density of the stored image information.
A linear density conversion unit for converting the plotting into a writing linear density.
In a method for specifying a thinning line of a facsimile apparatus for performing a thinning process in a subscanning, thinning data of the subscanning of at least one page line is written in a thinning data register, and the image information is written from the page memory to the line density.
When data transfer to degrees conversion unit, said the該画information Pejime
When transferring data from the memory to the linear density converter,
Increments the address where the image information to be transferred is stored.
The image information to be transferred next by adding the
To generate the stored address.
Increment based on the contents of the thinning data
By setting the number of points in the increment number setting section,
A thinning line for one page can be designated. Therefore, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the received image information
And a page memory for storing the image information
The image information is written on recording paper at a writing line density higher than the line density.
The plotter to be recorded and the image linear density of the stored image information.
A linear density conversion unit for converting the plotting into a writing linear density.
A facsimile apparatus for performing a sub-scanning thinning process, wherein the thinning line specifying unit specifies a thinning line for one page of sub-scanning, and at least one page based on the specified thinning line for one page of sub-scanning a thinned-out data register for storing the partial thinned-out data, 該画information
From the page memory to the linear density conversion unit,
The image linear density of the image information was converted to the writing linear density.
After that, the image information is incremented for each line so as to thin it out.
The line of the image information to be selected next by adding the number
To generate the thinned data of the thinned data register.
Ink that sets the number of increments based on the contents of the data
The image count based on the increment value.
By having a line selector for selecting information line by line , a thinning line for one page can be designated by the thinning line designation unit.

For this reason, instead of performing the conventional thinning-out of the image data before the linear density conversion as in the related art, and not performing the periodic thinning-out in the conventional manner, several image data may be formed according to the number of lines to be thinned out. A table of data to be extracted is prepared, and after this table data is developed in the page memory, it can be written to the thinning register before the start of writing. Can be thinned out.

In particular, since thinning can be performed arbitrarily rather than periodically, it is possible to concentrate on the lower side where image deterioration is relatively small. In addition, since one page can be accessed only once without performing line processing by the CPU as in the related art, the writing speed can be increased and the load on the CPU can be reduced. . In particular, when the image information linear density and the write linear density are different and line density conversion is required, it is possible to perform thinning arbitrarily instead of at regular intervals without setting whether to thin or not to thin every line, every line. it can.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the received image information
And a page memory for storing the image information
The image information is written on recording paper at a writing line density higher than the line density.
The plotter to be recorded and the image linear density of the stored image information.
A linear density conversion unit for converting the plotting into a writing linear density.
In a method for specifying a thinning line of a facsimile apparatus for performing a thinning process in a subscanning, thinning data of the subscanning of at least one page line is written in a thinning data register, and the image information is written from the page memory to the line density.
Data to the degree conversion unit, and the image linear density of the image information is
After converting to writing linear density, one line is
The next selection is made by adding the increment number for each
The thinning data to generate a line of the image information to be selected.
Increment based on the contents of the thinned data in the register
Set the number of increments in the increment
By selecting the image information for each line based on the print value, a thinned line for one page can be designated. Therefore, the same effect as that of the third aspect can be obtained.

[0020]

EXAMPLES In the present invention, has a sub-scanning thinned data register more than number subscanning lines of one page, between the sub-scan
By previously writing the data of a line to be thinned to pull data register, image information line density of image information and pro
If the write line densities of the image data are the same, the address of the image information stored in the page memory at the time of transfer from the page memory is set by skipping one line.
When the line density conversion is performed when the image information line density is different from the writing line density, the counter of the line selector which determines which line after the line density conversion is to be selected is skipped by one line and set. With this configuration, thinning is performed according to the contents of the thinning data register. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment includes a scanner 1 (reading unit), a plotter 2 (writing unit), a SAF memory 3 (image information storage memory), a CCU 4 (communication control unit), a modem 5, and a facsimile control. Unit 6, operation / display unit 7, DC
R8 (image information compression / reproduction unit).

Here, the scanner 1 reads the image information, the plotter 2 records the image information on recording paper, the SAF memory 3 stores the image information, and the CCU 4 communicates with the line via the modem 5. Perform communication control. Next, the DCR 8 compresses the image information to be transmitted by encoding, and
The modem 5 decodes the received encoded and compressed image information to reproduce the original image information. The modem 5 modulates and demodulates the image information encoded by the DCR 8 and demodulates the received image information. For transmitting various procedure signals. The facsimile control unit 6 controls the facsimile main unit, and the operation display unit 7 includes various operation keys and an LCD.
Perform various operations. These blocks are connected to a system bus 9, and data exchange between the blocks is performed via the system bus 9.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the plotter 2. The plotter 2 includes a page memory 11 for storing raw image information data, and a line density conversion unit for converting image information linear density into write linear density and converting parallel data from the page memory 11 into serial data for writing.・
It comprises a P / S converter 12 and a laser writer 13.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a line density converter / P / S converter.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of Twelve. Linear density converter / P /
The S conversion unit 12 includes a line density conversion unit 21, a page memory address generation unit 22, a shift register 23, and a thinned data register 2.
4, a P / S converter 25, a timing generator 26, and a command / status register 27. In addition,
The linear density converter / P / S converter 12 may be configured by a logic IC or a gate array.

Next, the basic operation of this embodiment will be described. Ma
Since the facsimile control unit 6 recognizes the paper size, the line density, and the number of sub-scanning lines, the excess of the sub-scanning lines can be determined. If this excess is thinned out, it will be exactly one cut sheet. The thinned data is written in the thinned data register 24. The method of writing the thinned-out data in this embodiment is performed as follows. When the G3 is received or the image information is expanded in the page memory 11, the CPU recognizes the number of sub-scanning lines (width and length). I also know. The image information is stored in the page memory 11, and the CPU writes and sets the thinned data until the writing operation on the recording paper starts.

Next, a command such as a line density or a paper size
Write start to the status register 27. As a result, the page memory address is output from the page memory address generation unit 22 and the image data is stored in the page memory 11.
Are input to the linear density conversion unit 21 as parallel data. Here, the image information linear density of the image information stored in the page memory and
A case where the plotting line densities written on the recording paper by the plotter are the same will be described. When image information line density and the write line density of the stored image information in the page memory are the same, the image information data of the page memory 11 may be directly written to the linear density conversion unit 12. Lines to be thinned out can be thinned out by skipping the address there. For example,
It is assumed that thinned data is set in the thinned data register 24 as shown in the thinned data register 24 in FIG. However, “0” is set to not thin out, and “1” is set to thin out. The thinned data set as shown in FIG. 4 is sent to the page memory address generation unit 22 by the shift register 23 one bit at a time. Sending this way the thinned-out data in the page memory address generator 22, a page memory address generator 22, 400 × 400 dpi → 400 in FIG. 6
As shown in the page memory internal image information, the thinned data, and the thinned image information at the time of dpi, “1” is set so as to thin out.
Address of the page memory corresponding to the bit for which
The P / S conversion unit 25 removes the image information
Is converted from parallel data to serial data.
The data becomes the write data to be recorded on the recording paper . FIG. 5 shows the thinned data after passing through the shift register.

Next, of the image information stored in the page memory,
A case where the image information linear density differs from the writing linear density recorded on the recording paper by the plotter will be described. As described above, the thinned data is set as in the thinned data register 24 of FIG. In the case of 200 × 200 → 400 × 400, double data can be generated in the sub-scanning, so that 0 → 1 → 0 → 1
→ Create a counter value in the data selector.
Next, at the time of selection, when thinned serial data comes from the shift register 23, if it is 0, it is incremented as it is, and if it is 1, it is incremented by 2;
Data after line density conversion can be thinned out, such as page memory internal image information, thinned data, line selector counter value, and thinned image information at the time of 200 × 200 dpi → 400 × 400 dpi in FIG. 200 × 10
At the time of 0 → 400 × 400, since the data in the sub-scanning is quadruple, 200 × 100 dpi → FIG. 4
Image information in the page memory at the time of 00 × 400 dpi,
As shown in the thinned data, the counter value in the line selector, and the image information after the thinning, the data after the line density conversion can be thinned by performing the above-described processing.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the sub-scanning thinning data register 24 having the number of sub-scanning lines for one page or more is provided, and the thinning data of the line to be thinned out is written in the data register 24. In page memory
The image information linear density and plotter of the stored image information
If the writing line densities are the same, the address at the time of transfer from the page memory 11 is set by skipping one line. When the line density conversion is performed when the image information line density is different from the writing line density, the counter of the line selector which determines which line after the line density conversion is selected is skipped by one line and set. Make up.

For this reason, instead of performing the conventional thinning-out of the image data before the linear density conversion as in the related art, and not performing the periodic thinning-out as in the related art, some image data may be formed according to the number of lines to be thinned out. A table of thinning data is prepared, and after expanding this table data in the page memory 11, it is possible to write the data to the thinning register 24 before writing is started. Any position of can be thinned out.

In particular, since it is possible to arbitrarily thin out the image, not periodically, it is possible to intensively thin out the lower side where image deterioration is relatively small. In addition, since one page can be accessed only once without performing line processing by the CPU as in the related art, the writing speed can be increased and the load on the CPU can be reduced. . In particular, images stored in page memory
When the image information line density of information and the writing line density written on the recording paper by the plotter are the same, it is possible to arbitrarily thin out every line without setting whether to thin out or not to thin out every line. . Also stored in page memory
When the line density of the written image information is different from the line density written on the plotter by the plotter. <br/> When the line density conversion is necessary, it is necessary to set whether each line is thinned or not thinned. And can be arbitrarily thinned out at regular intervals.

[0031]

According to the present invention, the number of lines to be thinned is reduced.
Prepare some thinning data tables according to
The plotter writes based on this table data
Before starting, write the thinning data to the thinning register,
By thinning out image information, it is possible to make it difficult to cause image degradation, to thin out an arbitrary position in one page, and to increase the writing speed by accessing only one page. Can be done,
There is an effect that the load on the CPU can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a plotter unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a linear density converter P / P according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an S conversion unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a thinned data register according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing thinned data after passing through a shift register according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows 400 × 400 dp according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing image information in a page memory, thinned data, and thinned image information when i → 400 × 400 dpi.

FIG. 7: 200 × 200 dp according to one embodiment of the present invention
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing image information in a page memory, thinned data, a counter value in a line selector, and image information after thinning when i → 400 × 400 dpi.

FIG. 8 shows 200 × 100 dp according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing image information in a page memory, thinned data, a counter value in a line selector, and image information after thinning when i → 400 × 400 dpi.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 scanner 2 plotter 3 SAF memory 4 CCU 5 modem 6 facsimile control unit 7 operation display unit 8 DCR 9 system bus 11 page memory 12 line density conversion unit / P / S conversion unit 13 laser writing unit 21 line density conversion unit 22 page memory Address generator 23 Shift register 24 Decimation data register 25 P / S converter 26 Timing generator 27 Command / status register

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A page memory for storing received image information.
And writing higher than the image linear density of the stored image information
A plotter for recording the image information on recording paper at a linear density;
The image line density of the obtained image information is
In a facsimile apparatus that includes a line density conversion unit that performs a sub-scanning process and performs a sub-scanning sub-sampling process, a thinning line specifying unit that specifies a sub-scanning sub-sampling line for one page, The image information stored for each address of the page memory based on the thinning line for scanning is
A thinned-out data register for storing the thinned data for at least one page to indicate whether the thinned out, 該画information
Is transferred from the page memory to the linear density converter.
At the address where the image information to be transferred is stored.
Next data transfer by adding the number of increments
A facsimile apparatus comprising: an increment number setting unit that sets an increment number based on the contents of the thinning data of the thinning data register so as to generate an address at which the image information is stored . 2. A page memory for storing received image information.
And writing higher than the image linear density of the stored image information
A plotter for recording the image information on recording paper at a linear density;
The image line density of the obtained image information is
And a linear density conversion unit for converting each time, in the method of specifying the thinning line of the facsimile apparatus for performing sub-scanning of the thinning process, the write data register thinning thinning data in the sub-scanning of at least the number of lines of one page, the Image
When data transfer to該線density conversion unit to broadcast from the page memory,該線density conversion unit該画information from the page memory
When transferring data to the printer, the image information to be transferred is stored.
By adding the increment number to the
The address where the image information to be transferred next is stored.
Generating the thinned data of the thinned data register
Increment number based on the contents of
A method for specifying a thinning line, wherein the setting unit specifies a thinning line for one page. 3. A page memory for storing received image information.
And writing higher than the image linear density of the stored image information
A plotter for recording the image information on recording paper at a linear density;
The image line density of the obtained image information is
In a facsimile apparatus that includes a line density conversion unit that performs a sub-scanning process and performs a sub-scanning sub-sampling process, a thinning line specifying unit that specifies a sub-scanning sub-sampling line for one page, a thinned-out data register for storing the thinned data for at least one page on the basis of the thinning-out lines of scanning, the the該画information from the page memory
The data is transferred to a line density conversion unit, and the image line density of the image information is transferred.
Is converted to the writing linear density, and then the image information is thinned out.
By adding the increment number for each line,
In order to generate a line of the image information to be selected.
Ink based on the contents of the thinned data in the data register.
An increment number setting section for setting the increment number;
Select the image information for each line based on the increment value
A facsimile machine having a line selector . 4. A page memory for storing received image information.
And writing higher than the image linear density of the stored image information
A plotter for recording the image information on recording paper at a linear density;
The image line density of the obtained image information is
And a linear density conversion unit for converting each time, in the method of specifying the thinning line of the facsimile apparatus for performing sub-scanning of the thinning process, the write data register thinning thinning data in the sub-scanning of at least the number of lines of one page, the Image
Information from the page memory to the linear density converter
Converting the image linear density of the image information into the writing linear density.
After that, the image information is incremented line by line so as to thin out the image information.
Of the image information to be selected next by adding
The decimated data of the decimated data register to generate
Increments the number of increments based on the
Set in the number setting section, and based on the increment value,
A facsimile apparatus comprising selecting information line by line .