JP3330671B2 - Transmission control method for facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus which converts input image data read and input at a predetermined resolution into facsimile image information by encoding and compressing the input image data by a predetermined facsimile coding method, and transmits the facsimile image information. The present invention relates to a control method for a facsimile apparatus that decodes received facsimile image information into original image data, and records and outputs an image of the decoded image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a facsimile apparatus encodes and compresses input image data obtained by its own terminal according to a predetermined encoding method, and transmits image information formed thereby to a designated destination terminal. I have to. On the receiving side, the received image information is decoded, and the image of the image data obtained thereby is recorded and output.

On the other hand, an information processing device such as a personal computer is installed near the installation location of the facsimile machine, and this information processing device can also handle image data of a predetermined type. Also, for example, when transmitting image data created by an information processing device to the same type of information processing device installed in another place, a transmission unit is provided in the information processing device, and this transmission unit is used to transmit the image data via a line. Image data is exchanged.

[0004]

As described above, conventionally, when image data is transmitted by an information processing device,
It was necessary to provide a communication line separate from the facsimile machine, which wasted capital investment. Further, the facsimile machine is provided with a scanner for reading and inputting the original image, but the function of this scanner cannot be used from other information processing equipment, and the information processing equipment side also has a scanner. Had to be provided.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a transmission control method for a facsimile apparatus capable of exchanging data with another information processing device.

[0006]

According to the present invention, input image data read and input at a predetermined resolution is encoded and compressed by a predetermined facsimile encoding method, converted into facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is transmitted. A method for controlling a facsimile apparatus that decodes received facsimile image information into original image data and records and outputs an image of the decoded image data, wherein the facsimile apparatus has a data recording medium exchangeable medium. An exchange-type external storage device, a data storage unit that stores data in the external storage device, and an image conversion unit that converts input image data read and input into image data of a predetermined format. From the notified communication function, the receiving side determines the receivable data format, and the image conversion means reads and inputs the data format. The converted image data is converted into image data of the determined receivable data format, and the converted image data is transmitted to the receiving side, while the receiving side stores the received image data in the external storage device. It was made.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

Therefore, image data read using the scanner of the facsimile apparatus is converted into a format of another information processing device, and the image data is exchanged with another information processing device via a data recording medium. can do. In addition, image data formed by another information processing device can be recorded and output using a facsimile device, or can be transmitted to another facsimile device, and the function of the facsimile device can be used in another information processing device. be able to.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The group 3 facsimile apparatus has an ECM mode communication function.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 1 performs a control process of each unit of the group 3 facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure process.
Is a control processing program executed by the CPU 1, and
The RAM 3 is for storing various data required when executing the processing program, the RAM 3 is for configuring a work area of the CPU 1, and the DMAC 4 is for storing the C area.
This is for exchanging data at high speed between the elements without using the PU1.

The scanner 5 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, and has a binary reading function and a multi-value reading function. The plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 7 is for operating this facsimile machine, and is provided with various operation keys and various display devices. Become.

The network control device 8 is for connecting the facsimile apparatus to a public telephone line network and has an automatic transmission / reception function. Group 3 facsimile modem 9
Is a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals and a high-speed modem function (V.21 modem) mainly for exchanging image information. .29 modem, V.27ter modem).

The image storage device 10 is for storing a large number of image information and the like in a coded and compressed state, and the floppy disk device 11 is for recording / reproducing data on a floppy disk 12. The encoding / decoding unit 13 encodes and compresses the image signal,
This is for decoding the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal, and the image converter 14 is for mutually converting image data in various formats.

These CPU1, ROM2, RAM
3, a DMAC 4, a scanner 5, a plotter 6, an operation display unit 7, a network control device 8, a group 3 facsimile modem 9,
The image storage device 10, the floppy disk device 11, the encoding / decoding unit 13, and the image conversion unit 14 are connected to a system bus 15. Data exchange between these components is mainly performed by the system bus. 15 is performed. Data exchange between the network controller 10 and the group 3 facsimile modem 9 is directly performed.

Here, the format of the image data which can be mutually converted by the image conversion unit 14 is facsimile image data (uncompressed data) and T which is widespread as a so-called personal computer image data format.
IFF, PICT, BMP and the like. In addition, TIFF
Is an image format standardized by Aldus / Microsoft in the United States, PICT is an image format standardized by Apple in the United States, and BMP is an image format used by Windows by Microsoft in the United States. Are well known.

The facsimile apparatus has a file system necessary for recording / reproducing data to / from the floppy disk drive 11. The file system may be, for example, a file system unique to the facsimile machine or a file system of another personal computer.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the scanner 5.

In FIG. 1, an image reading section 21 raster-scans and reads and inputs a document image at a predetermined resolution, and an analog image signal AV output from the image reading section 21 is converted into an analog image processing section 22. Has been added to

The analog image processing section 22 applies analog image processing such as shading correction operation processing to the analog image signal AV, and outputs an analog / digital converter 23 as a corrected analog image signal AVa. Has been added to

The analog / digital converter 23 converts the corrected analog image signal AVa into a corresponding digital image signal DV having a predetermined number of bits. The digital image signal DV is applied to a digital image processing section 24. ing.

The digital image processing section 24 applies digital image processing such as gamma correction operation processing and MTF correction operation processing to the digital image signal DV, and outputs the corrected digital image signal DVa. It is applied to one input terminal of the binarization processing section 25 and the output circuit 26.

The binarization processing section 25 performs a binarization process by applying a predetermined threshold value to the corrected digital image signal DVa, and outputs an output from the output circuit 2 as a binarized image signal BW.
6 is applied to the other input terminal.

The output circuit 26 selects a corrected digital image signal DVa or a binarized image signal BW according to a command from the scanner control unit 27, and outputs the selected signal to the output image signal PW.
P is output to the next stage system bus 15.

The scanner control section 27 controls the operation of the scanner 5. Therefore,
When the binary control mode is designated by the higher-level control function, the output circuit 26 is caused to select the binary image signal BW. When the multi-level reading mode is designated by the higher-level control function, the correction digital image signal is supplied to the output circuit 26. DVa is selected.

With the above configuration, this group 3 facsimile apparatus stores facsimile image information in the image storage device 10 and stores image data in other image formats (hereinafter referred to as specific image data) in the floppy disk device 11. Is stored in the floppy disk 12 attached to the.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the operation of the facsimile apparatus when the operation display section 7 is operated and the save function is selected by the user.

First, a list of image formats that can be processed is presented, and a guidance message for inquiring which image format to select is displayed.
The user is caused to specify and input an image format (Process 10
1).

Then, it is checked whether or not facsimile image information is selected at that time (decision 102). Judgment 10
If the result of step 2 is YES, the binary reading mode is set in the scanner 5 (step 103), the document image for one page is read (step 104), and the image data obtained by reading is read by the encoding / decoding unit. In step 13, the data is encoded and compressed (process 105), and the facsimile image information obtained thereby is stored in the image storage device 10 (process 106). Next, it is checked whether the next document is set on the scanner 5 (decision 107), and when the result of the decision 107 is YES, the process returns to the process 104 to execute the image reading operation of the next page.

When the result of determination 107 is NO,
Management information for accessing the facsimile image information stored at that time is created and stored in the image storage device 10 (process 108).

If the result of the determination 102 is NO, it means that the image format of any specific image data has been selected, and it is determined whether the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11 at that time. Check (decision 109), the result of decision 109 is N
When it becomes O, a guidance message prompting to set the floppy disk is displayed on the operation display unit 7 (process 110), and the process waits until the user sets the floppy disk 12.

If the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11 and the result of the judgment 109 is YES, the multi-value reading mode is set in the scanner 5 (process 111) and the original of one page is read. The image is read (process 112), and the image data obtained by the reading is converted by the image conversion unit 14 into specific image data of the image format designated at that time (process 11).
3) The specific image data thus obtained is stored in the floppy disk 12 (step 114).

As described above, in this embodiment, when the specific image data is selected as the image format,
The multi-value reading of the document image is performed, and one image data file is formed for one document image.

Therefore, the user sets the original on which the image to be read and input is recorded on the scanner 5, sets the floppy disk 12 on the floppy disk device 11, specifies a desired specific image format, and then starts the start key ( By operating (not shown), specific image data corresponding to the image of the original set at that time is stored in the set floppy disk 12.
When the floppy disk 12 is set on a personal computer, the saved specific image data can be used on the personal computer.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples of processing at the time of transmission.

First, a guidance message for selecting an image file to be transmitted is displayed, and a transmission image file is selected (process 201). At this time, when the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11, guidance for selecting either an image file stored in the image storage device 10 or specific image data stored in the floppy disk 12 is provided. When a message is displayed and the floppy disk 12 is not set in the floppy disk device 11,
A guidance message for selecting one of the image files stored in the image storage device 10 is displayed.

Next, a guidance message for inputting the destination to which the selected image file is to be transmitted is displayed, and the user specifies and inputs the destination (process 202), and calls the destination specified at that time. (Process 203).

After the other terminal receives the called station identification signal CED which responds by detecting the incoming call (step 204), the other terminal receives the non-standard function signal NSF and the digital identification signal DIS which respond for the function notification. (Process 205) The device function of the partner terminal is recognized.

At this time, it is checked whether or not the image file designated by the user of the own terminal is facsimile image information (decision 206). If the result of the decision 206 is NO, the image format of the image file is changed by the partner terminal. It is checked whether the processing can be performed (decision 207). Judgment 20
If the result of step 7 is NO, it is checked whether or not the image data can be converted into specific image data in an image format that can be processed by the partner terminal (determination 208).

Here, when the result of the judgment 206 is YES, the data format of the image information is set to the facsimile image information (process 209), and the transmission function (modem speed, etc.) and device function (mode, etc.) used at that time are set. A non-standard function setting signal NSS for notifying the image format or the like is transmitted (process 210), and the modem training procedure of the modem speed notified at that time is executed (process 21).
1), an image information transmission procedure for transmitting data (facsimile image information) of the image file designated at that time is executed (process 212).

When the transmission of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 213), a line restoration procedure is executed (step 214), and a series of image transmission operations ends.

If the result of determination 207 is YES, the format of the specific image data at that time is set as the data format of the image information (step 21).
5) Send a non-standard function setting signal NSS for notifying the transmission function (data specifying the modem speed and the ECM mode, etc.) and the device function (image format, etc.) used at that time (process 216); A modem training procedure of the modem speed notified at that time is executed (process 217), and an image information transmission procedure of the ECM mode for transmitting data (specific image data) of the image file designated at that time is executed (step 217). Process 218).

When the transmission of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 219), and the process proceeds to step 214, where a line restoration procedure is executed, and a series of image transmission operations ends.

If the result of determination 208 is YES, the format of the specific image data that can be processed by the partner terminal is set as the data format of the image information (processing 220), and the transmission function (modem) used at that time is set. A non-standard function setting signal NSS for notifying information such as data designating the speed and the ECM mode) and device functions (image format, etc.) is transmitted (process 221). Then, the image conversion unit 14 converts the data (specific image data) of the image file designated at that time into specific image data in a format to be transmitted (process 223), and converts the converted specific image data. EC for
The M mode image information transmission procedure is executed (process 224).

When the transmission of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 225), and the processing shifts to step 214, where a line restoration procedure is executed, and a series of image transmission operations ends.

If the result of determination 208 is NO, facsimile image information is set as the data format of the image information (processing 226), and the transmission function (modem speed, etc.) and device function used at that time are set. A non-standard function setting signal NSS for notification is sent (step 22
7) Execute the modem training procedure of the modem speed notified at that time (process 228), and convert the image file data (specific image data) designated at that time into facsimile image information by the image conversion unit 14. (Process 22
9) An image information transmission procedure for transmitting the converted facsimile image information is executed (step 230).

When the transmission of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 231), and the processing shifts to step 214, where a line restoration procedure is executed and a series of image transmission operations is ended.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the image file specified by the user of the terminal cannot be processed by the partner terminal, the image file is converted into an image format receivable by the partner terminal and transmitted. The image transmission operation can be reliably performed. Further, the specific image data is transmitted in the ECM mode in which error correction is possible, so that reliable data transmission is possible.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of processing when an incoming call is detected.

When an incoming call is detected, an incoming call response (off-hook)
Then, after transmitting the called station identification signal CED (process 301), a non-standard function signal NSF for notifying the function of the terminal itself and a digital identification signal are transmitted (process 30).
2). Next, the non-standard function setting signal NSS is received (process 303), and the modem training procedure is executed at the modem speed designated at that time (process 304).

It is checked whether the specified image format is facsimile image information (decision 30).
5) If the result of determination 305 is NO, it is checked whether or not the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11 (determination 306).

If the result of determination 305 is YES, a normal image information receiving procedure for facsimile image information is executed (process 307), and the received facsimile image information is converted into the original image data by the encoding / decoding section 13. The image data is decoded (process 308), and the obtained image data is transferred to the plotter 6 to record and output the received image (process 309).
After executing a predetermined post-transmission procedure (step 310), a predetermined line restoration procedure is executed (step 311), and a series of image receiving operations is terminated.

If the result of decision 306 is YES, image data is received in ECM mode (process 31).
2) The image data received at that time is stored in the floppy disk 12 (process 313), a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed after a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 310), and the process proceeds to the process 311 to execute a predetermined process. And the series of image receiving operations is terminated.

If the result of determination 306 is NO, image data is received in the ECM mode (step 31).
5) The image data received at that time is stored in the image storage device 1
0 (Step 316), execute a predetermined post-transmission procedure, execute a predetermined post-transmission procedure (Step 317), execute a predetermined line restoration procedure (Step 318), and perform a series of image reception operations. To end.

Then, until the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11, a guidance message requesting that the floppy disk 11 be set is displayed (decision 319, loop of process 320), and the floppy disk device 11 is displayed. Is set, and if the result of determination 319 is YES, the received file is moved to the floppy disk 12 (process 321), and this operation ends.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the specific image data is received, the specific image data is stored in the floppy disk 12, and when the floppy disk 12 is not set in the floppy disk device 11 at the time of reception. The received data is temporarily stored in the image storage device 10, and when the floppy disk 12 is set, the received data is moved to the floppy disk 12. Note that data movement refers to a process of deleting data of a copy source after copying the data.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an image copying (recording output) operation.

First, a guidance message for selecting an image file to be copied is displayed, and a copy image file is selected (step 4401). At this time, when the floppy disk 12 is set in the floppy disk device 11, guidance for selecting either an image file stored in the image storage device 10 or specific image data stored in the floppy disk 12 is provided. A message is displayed and the floppy disk device 1
When the floppy disk 12 is not set to 1, the guidance message for selecting one of the image files stored in the image storage device 10 is displayed.

Then, the process waits until the start key is operated (NO loop of judgment 402). If the start key is operated and the result of judgment 402 becomes YES, it is checked whether or not the image file selected at that time is facsimile image information (decision 403).

When the result of the determination 403 is YES, the image information for one page contained in the facsimile image information is decoded into the original image data by the encoding / decoding section 13 (process 404), and the obtained image data is obtained. The image data is transferred to the plotter 7 to record and output a copy image (process 405). Next, it is checked whether there is image information of the next page (decision 406), and when the result of the decision 406 is YES, the process returns to the process 404 to record and output the image of the next page.

If the result of determination 403 is NO, the specific image data selected at that time is converted into facsimile image data by the image conversion unit 14 (Process 4).
07), the image data is transferred to the plotter 6, and a copy image is recorded and output (process 408).

As described above, when the copying operation of the specific image data is designated, the specific image data is converted into facsimile image data and then recorded and output, so that the user can use the group 3 facsimile apparatus. Using the function, image data created by a personal computer can be recorded and output.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a group 3 facsimile apparatus. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a group 4 facsimile apparatus. Further, since the recording quality of an image is good, it is preferable to use a plotter that uses plain paper (for example, a page printer such as a laser beam printer).

In the above-described embodiment, the floppy disk device is used as the medium exchange type external storage device. However, other devices (for example, an IC card / memory device) can be used.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The image data read using the scanner of the facsimile apparatus can be converted into a format of another information processing device, and the image data can be exchanged with another information processing device via a data recording medium. In addition, image data formed by another information processing device can be recorded and output using a facsimile device, or can be transmitted to another facsimile device, and the function of the facsimile device can be used in another information processing device. You get the advantage that you can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a scanner.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing when storing an image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part of a processing example at the time of transmission.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another part of the processing example at the time of transmission.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a part of a processing example at the time of reception.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing another part of the processing example at the time of reception.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example at the time of image copying.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 5 Scanner 11 Floppy Disk Device 12 Floppy Disk 14 Image Conversion Unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image data read and input at a predetermined resolution is encoded and compressed by a predetermined facsimile encoding method, converted into facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is transmitted. In a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus that decodes original image data and records and outputs an image of the decoded image data, the facsimile apparatus includes a medium exchange type external storage device that can exchange a data recording medium, The external storage device includes data storage means for storing data, and image conversion means for converting input image data read and input into image data of a predetermined format. The receivable data format is determined, and the input image data read and input is determined by the image conversion means. A facsimile apparatus that converts the converted image data into receivable image data and transmits the converted image data to a receiving side, while the receiving side stores the received image data in the external storage device. Transmission control method.