JP3444934B2 - 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 records by an ink jet system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a function of preventing loss of a received image due to running out of ink or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a facsimile machine using an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as an ink jet printer) as a recording unit has been put into practical use. An inkjet printer is a printer of a type that ejects ink droplets from nozzles to record on paper. At present, the recording speed of an inkjet printer is inferior to that of a heat-sensitive printer that has been conventionally used in a facsimile machine. For this reason, the following method is adopted in a facsimile machine equipped with an inkjet printer.

That is, the received code data is accumulated in the image memory, while the code data in the image memory is sequentially decoded and recorded. Then, by sequentially releasing the image memory areas of the pages that have been normally recorded, it is possible to receive a plurality of pages without causing a memory overflow. In addition, when ink runs out during recording during recording and recording becomes impossible, pages that could not be recorded are stored in the reception image memory, and after the recording system recovers, the page is operated by the operator. Restart output.

Whether or not recording is impossible is discriminated every time one page is recorded. If OK, the image memory area of the page is released, and if NG, the page is left in the image memory. For example, the determination of an image defect due to "ink shortage" or the like is performed by detecting the remaining amount of ink each time one page is recorded.

By using the above method, it is possible to bring out a performance almost equal to that of the heat-sensitive facsimile without losing the received image even when the unrecordable state occurs.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in order to prevent the received image from disappearing when the unrecordable state occurs, the image memory of the page is released at the end of the recording of the page. . In this way, the image memory of the page is not released until the recording of one page is completed. Therefore, if the image data of a plurality of pages is received when the remaining amount of the image memory is low, the memory becomes over and the reception must be interrupted. There is a problem that is. In order to avoid this problem, a large-capacity image memory must be mounted on the device, which directly leads to cost increase. Therefore, a lower cost solution to the above-mentioned problems has been desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and prevents a received image from disappearing when a non-recordable state occurs with a small memory capacity and even when image data of a plurality of pages is received. An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that prevents the memory from becoming over.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, when receiving image data, a facsimile apparatus that stores received image data in a storage medium while recording an image based on the received image data in the storage medium,
Storage means for storing the received image data in a storage block obtained by dividing the storage medium for each predetermined capacity; and the storage medium
Remaining amount determination hand to determine whether the remaining amount of is less than a predetermined amount
And the remaining amount of the storage medium is determined by the remaining amount determination means.
If it is determined that the amount is equal to or more than the fixed amount, one page of record
Each time it is completed, it is judged whether the recording was done normally,
When it is determined that the remaining amount of the storage medium is less than the specified amount
Is a predetermined amount of recording less than the recording amount of one page.
Whether or not the number of ins was recorded normally each time it was recorded
Determining means for determining whether, when it is determined that the normal recording is made by the determining means, the received image data is released for the recorded and become by the new received image data storage block are accumulated And a recording resuming means for resuming the recording operation from the storage block not released by the releasing means when the recording operation interrupted by the judging means is restarted.

[0009]

With the above structure, the received image data is divided into storage blocks and stored in the storage medium. And before
Judge whether the remaining amount of the storage medium is less than a predetermined amount,
If it is determined that the remaining amount is greater than or equal to the predetermined amount, one page
Each time the recording of the
And the remaining amount of the storage medium is judged to be less than the predetermined amount.
Is recorded, the recording amount is less than the recording amount of one page.
Each time a certain number of lines have been recorded, it will not be recorded normally.
Judge whether or not If the result of this determination is that normal recording has been made, the storage block in which all received image data has been recorded at that point is released. Further, when it is judged that the recording is not normally performed and the interrupted recording operation is restarted, the recording operation is restarted from the unreleased storage block.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the control arrangement of a facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the figure, 101 is a main control unit, which controls the entire facsimile apparatus. The main control unit 101 includes a CPU 101a that actually executes control, a ROM 101b that stores a control program that the CPU 101a should execute, and a CPU 1
The RAM 101c is provided to provide a work area for the CPU 101a when the processing by 01a is executed. An operation unit 102 includes operation keys, a display, and the like. 10
A reading unit 3 optically reads a document to be transmitted. An encoding unit 104 encodes image data. Reference numeral 105 denotes an image memory, which stores received image data by dividing it into predetermined capacity units (block units). The details will be described later with reference to FIG.

An ink sensor 106 detects that ink is being ejected from the ink jet printer. Here, as a method of detecting that ink is ejected, a method of recording black data of a predetermined size on a recording paper, irradiating it with light, and detecting it with a reflection type photo sensor (I will explain using this method in the example),
There is a method in which a thermistor is provided at a certain position in the main scanning direction and ink is ejected to detect the temperature rise.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a recording unit, which records a received image or the like by an ink jet method. A decoding unit 108 decodes the coded image data. A communication unit 109 connects and disconnects a call to and from a communication network, and
Modulates transmission data and demodulates reception data, and exchanges data with the partner station. 110 is a system bus,
By connecting the main control unit and each member, mutual data exchange is possible.

Next, details of the recording unit 107 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the recording unit of this embodiment.

Reference numeral 11 is an ink jet type recording head, which has nozzles for ejecting ink droplets of one row of 64 dots at a density of 360 dpi in the sub-scanning direction (direction of arrow A). Then, the recording head 11 executes recording on the recording paper at a recording density of 360 dpi while moving in the main scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2, arrow B direction of FIG. 3). In this embodiment, a state change is caused in the ink by using heat energy generated from an electric / heat conversion element provided for each nozzle, and an ink droplet is ejected from the nozzle to record an image.
In this way, image recording is performed at a recording density of 360 dpi × 360 dpi.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a recording paper conveying unit, which conveys the recording paper with an accuracy of 360 dpi so as to determine the position in the sub-scanning direction when the recording paper is fed, discharged, and recorded by the recording unit 11. 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a recording paper sensor, which is O when the recording paper 16 is present.
By entering the N state, and turning off when there is no
The presence or absence of the recording paper 16 and the leading edge and the trailing edge are detected. Reference numeral 14 denotes a reflection type photo sensor as an ink sensor that detects the image density of the recording surface of the recording paper 16, and detects the density of a black image recorded on the recording paper every time a predetermined number of lines are recorded, as described below, The presence or absence of discharge and the ejection failure state are detected. The recording unit 11, the recording paper conveyance unit 12, and the recording paper sensor 13 are controlled according to the instruction of the control data sent from the main control unit 101a.

FIG. 3 shows a recording paper sensor 13 and a photo sensor 14.
17 shows the positional relationship of the black image marks and the recording positions thereof, which are recorded every predetermined line recording. Here, the sensors 13 and 14 and the mark 17 are arranged so as to be aligned on a straight line in the recording paper conveyance direction (direction A). In addition, these are arranged at the leftmost end of the recordable range on the recording paper 16 of the recording unit 11.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a storage format for storing the received image in the image memory.

As shown in the figure, the image memory 105 stores received image data in blocks ([1], [2]) of a predetermined size.
...) for management (hereinafter, this block is referred to as a memory block). Each memory block stores code information that is received image data, as well as address information in which the next image information is recorded. Therefore,
Image information is stored by connecting a plurality of memory blocks with the address information. The address information of the final memory block stores a code indicating that the memory block is final. For example, in FIG. 4, memory block [0] → [1] → [3] → [4] →
It can be seen that the received image data is stored in the order of [5].

Further, in FIG. 4, 201 is an image management table, which is formed on the RAM 101c. Various types of information are stored in the image management table 201 as follows. The storage position information 201a is the image memory 1 of the received image data.
This is information indicating the storage position in 05. The storage position information 201a is stored in the image memory 105 in the recording operation described later.
More referred to when reading the received image data. The recorded block information 201b is information indicating an unreleased memory block that has been recorded in a recording operation described later. The code mode information 201c is the image memory 105.
This is information indicating the encoding method of the image data stored in.

Next, the outline of the reception / recording operation in the facsimile apparatus of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining the schematic functional arrangement of the facsimile apparatus according to the first embodiment. In the figure, the memory control unit 301 controls writing / reading of received image data from the image memory 105, release of a memory block, and the like, using various information stored in the image management table 201. The ink residue inspection unit 302 counts the number of lines recorded by the recording unit 107 by the line counter 302a, and inspects the ink residue in the recording unit 107 using the ink sensor 106 every predetermined count. The memory control unit 301 releases the recorded memory block according to the inspection result by the ink remaining inspection unit 302.

The received image data received via the communication unit 109 is sequentially stored in each memory block of the image memory 105 by the memory control unit 301. At this time, the image management table 2 uses the code mode of the received image data as the code mode information 201c and the head memory block in which the received image data is stored as the storage position information 201a.
01 respectively.

When a predetermined amount of received image data is accumulated in the image memory 105, the recording operation is started. The memory control unit 301 informs the decoding unit 108 of the coding mode of the received image data, reads the received image data from the position indicated by the storage position information 201a of the image memory 105, and inputs the received image data to the decoding unit 108. The decoding unit 108 decodes this to obtain image data. The recording unit 107 sequentially records this image data by an inkjet method. The memory control unit 301 updates the recorded block information 201b indicating the recorded memory block based on the recording completion signal from the recording unit 107.

The line counter 3 of the remaining ink inspection unit 302
Reference numeral 02a counts the number of recorded lines, and when a predetermined number of lines have been recorded, an ink remaining inspection process is executed. That is, the presence or absence of ink is determined by recording a black image of a predetermined size and detecting this with the ink sensor 106. If it is determined that ink is present, the memory block indicated by the recorded block information 201b (recorded,
In addition, the memory block that has not been released) is released.
On the other hand, when the ink remaining inspection unit 302 determines that there is no ink, recording is interrupted at that point. Then, after replenishing the ink by the user, the recording of the image from the memory block is restarted by instructing to restart the recording.

The receiving operation and recording operation of the facsimile apparatus of the first embodiment will be described in more detail below.

[Reception Operation in this Embodiment] FIG.
CITT Standard-Recommendation T.M. 30 is a communication protocol of a facsimile device conforming to 30. Here, the receiving station, after transmitting the CFR signal, shifts to the operation of receiving the PIX signal which is the image data. Since each signal in the present communication protocol shown in FIG. 6 is well known in general, the description thereof will be omitted here.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the receiving procedure in the first embodiment. The control program that realizes this flowchart is stored in the ROM 101b and is executed by the CPU 101a.

When the received image data (coded data) is received from another facsimile machine, first, in step S11, the image management table 201 is created. Further, the code mode of the received image data is acquired and stored in the image management table 201 as code mode information 201c. Next, in step S12, the image memory 105
Acquire a memory block from. At this time, the start address of the acquired memory block is set to the storage position information 201.
It is stored in the image management table 201 as a.

In step S13, the communication unit 109
Receives the received image data (code data) for one line. At this time, the received data is encoded by MH, MR,
An example is the MMR system. Also, CCITT standard-Recommendation T.
4, the end of one line is identified by the EOL code. Then, in step S14, the storage position information 2
By storing the received code data for one line at the address indicated by 01a, the code data is accumulated in the memory block.

In step S15, it is determined whether or not the memory block in use is full, and if full, the process proceeds to step S16. In step S16, a new memory block is acquired and the process returns to step S14. At this time, the start address of the memory block to be used next is stored as the address information of the memory block used previously. When a new memory block is acquired in step S16, the process returns to step S14, and thereafter, the code data is stored in this new memory block. Step S
In step 17, it is determined whether or not the received code data for one line has been stored in the memory block. If not, the process returns to step S14. On the other hand, if it is completed, the process proceeds to step S18, and it is determined whether or not one page of the received image is completed. Here, the end of one page is CCITT Recommendation-T. According to 4, it can be identified by the RTC code. Then, if one page is not finished, the process returns to step S13 to process a new one line. On the other hand, if one page has been completed (that is, the RTC code has been detected), this processing ends. or,
When the received image extends over a plurality of pages, the flowchart of FIG. 7 is repeated for each page.

By executing the above operation, the received image data is accumulated in one or a plurality of memory blocks. On the other hand, when a certain amount of received code data is accumulated in the image memory 105, the recording operation is started.

[Recording Operation in the Present Embodiment] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the recording procedure of the facsimile apparatus in the first embodiment. The control program for realizing this flowchart is stored in the ROM 101b.
Further, the main recording unit and the above-described receiving operation are performed by the main control unit 101.
Shall be executed in time division. In order to realize the time division processing, a stack memory for receiving operation and a stack memory for recording operation are provided, and the receiving operation and the recording operation are alternately switched by interrupt processing that occurs at a certain fixed time. It can be realized by executing.

First, in step S21, it is determined whether or not the remaining amount of the image memory 105 is less than a certain reference amount (N bytes). In step S22, if the determination in step S21 is true (that is, the remaining amount of the image memory 105 is less than N bytes), the process proceeds to step S22, and the multi-residual detection mode flag is turned on. This flag is set to "the mode in which the ink remaining amount is detected only when the printing of one page is completed" described in the related art, or "the ink remaining amount is detected a plurality of times during the printing of one page" which is a characteristic mode of the present embodiment. This is a control variable for switching between "mode (multi-residual detection mode)".

In step S23, one line of code data in the memory block storing the received image is decoded by the decoding unit 108 to generate pixel data for one line, and the pixel data is transferred to the recording unit 107. And record.

The operation of step S23 will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Step S
At 231, the code data for one line is read from the image memory 105 according to the storage position information 201a. In step S232, it is determined whether all code data has been read from the memory block. If all the code data have been read out, step S233 and step S234 are executed. In step S233, the storage position information is updated in the next memory block. Here, the storage location information 201a is updated with the address data stored in the address information of the currently accessed memory block. Then, in step S234, the memory block is added to the recorded block information. Step S2
At 35, it is determined by the EOL code whether or not the code data for one line has been read. If not read, the process returns to step S231, and if read, step S23.
Go to 6. In step S236, the decoding unit 108 decodes the code data for one line to obtain pixel data. Then, in step S237, the pixel data is transferred to the recording unit 107 to perform recording, and the process proceeds to step S24 in FIG.

In step S24, each time the recording unit 107 completes recording of one line, the line counter 302
Increase a. The line counter 302a creates a timing for detecting the remaining ink amount. In step S25, it is determined whether or not the two conditions, "the numerical value of the line counter 302a has reached a predetermined reference value (L)" and "the multi-residual detection mode flag is ON" are both true. If the condition is not satisfied, the processes of steps S26, S27 and S28 are skipped and the process proceeds to step S29.

On the other hand, if the condition of step S25 is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S26, and the ink sensor 106
Is used to execute the above-described ink residual amount inspection process. When the result of the ink remaining inspection process is NG, the recording process is ended as it is. Then, the unrecorded code data is left as it is in the image memory 105, and is recorded when the recording is restarted by an operator's operation later.

If the result of the ink remaining test in step S26 is OK, it is considered that the recording has been normally completed up to that point, and the recorded image memory block is released for the next reception. Here, the released memory block is the memory block indicated by the recorded block information 201b. When the memory block is released, the contents of the recorded block information 201b are all erased.
Then, in step S28, the line counter 302a is reset in order to generate the timing of the next ink remaining amount detection.

In step S29, it is determined whether the page is over. Since the RTC code is directly stored in the image memory in the above receiving operation,
The end of the page may be identified by the code. If not, the process returns to step S21 again to continue the recording operation. If the page ends, go to step S30,
The remaining ink amount detection process is performed even at the end of one page. Then, in step S31, if the ink remaining amount detection result is OK, it is considered that printing has been normally performed up to that point, and the corresponding image memory block is released for the next reception.

When ink is replenished and recording is resumed when the above-mentioned residual inspection results in NG, the recording operation is executed with the first block of the memory blocks stored as the recorded block information being the first block. To do. If the recorded block information is empty, the recording operation is executed with the memory block indicated by the storage position information 201a as the head.

By performing the control as described above, even if the image memory has a small capacity, it is possible to prevent the image from being lost when the ink runs out, and to receive a plurality of pages without running out of memory. Is possible.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the recording state of a black image in the ink remaining inspection process. In the ink residual amount inspection process of this example, black data of a predetermined size is recorded, and light is applied to the black data to detect it by a reflective photosensor. Figure 10
The left side of the figure shows an example of a received image in the conventional example, and the ink residual amount inspection is executed at the end of one page. The right side of FIG. 10 is
An example of a received image in the first embodiment is shown, and 3 in 1 page.
Ink remaining test is being performed.

According to the first embodiment, when the ink runs out in the middle of recording one page, the remaining data will be recorded from the middle of the page when it is output later, so that the page is divided. And it looks a little worse. However, even if the page is divided, the information from the transmitting station is certainly transmitted, and rather,
The merit that the danger of running out of memory during reception is greatly reduced is more than enough to compensate for the unsightly appearance.

<Embodiment 2> In the above-described Embodiment 1, when ink is present in the ink remaining test, the memory block for which printing has been completed is released at the same time as the information of the released memory block is discarded. There is. In the facsimile apparatus of the second embodiment, it is possible to determine the data storage status of each memory block, and it is possible to minimize the frequency of page division described in the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a management format when the received image of the second embodiment is stored in the image memory. In the second embodiment, used block information 201d is provided in the image management table 201. The used block information 201d sequentially stores the memory blocks used in recording the page. Further, information indicating the job that last accessed the memory is written in each memory block. The job here is an operation of handling a memory, for example, storage of received image data (code data), reading of received image data, and the like. The information indicating the job of each memory block is overwritten each time the memory block is accessed. Therefore, since the information of the job when the memory block is last accessed is stored, the storage status of the data in the memory block can be determined.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for explaining the procedure of the recording operation of the second embodiment, and step S2 of FIG.
It is a figure explaining 3 in detail. Although it is almost the same as the first embodiment (FIG. 9), it has a process (step S238) of adding the memory block to the used block information 201d when all the code data from the memory block is read. Since the used block information 201d is not reset even if the block memory is released, it shows the history of the used memory block in the page.

Then, at the time of resuming the recording after the unsuccessful residual inspection,
The job information of each block memory is checked from the block memory at the head of the page based on the used block information 201d. By doing so, it is possible to extract a memory block that has not been overwritten with new data even if it is a released memory block. Then, by starting the recording restart from the earliest memory block among the extracted memory blocks, it is possible to reduce the frequency of occurrence of the division of the recording page.

<Third Embodiment> In the first embodiment, the code data of the transmitted image (received image data) is stored in the image memory 105 as it is. In the third embodiment, the code mode of the data stored in the image memory 105 is changed depending on whether or not the ink remaining test is performed a plurality of times within the same page.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram for explaining the schematic functional arrangement of the facsimile apparatus according to the third embodiment. The parts of the flowchart different from those of the first embodiment (FIG. 5) will be described.

The code data received by the communication unit 109 is first decoded by the decoding unit 108 to obtain pixel data. Then, the pixel data is encoded again by the encoding unit 104 and stored in the image memory 105. Here, the encoding unit 10
4 usually performs encoding with an MR code or an MMR code with good compression efficiency. However, if the mode is changed to detect the remaining amount of ink a plurality of times during the recording of one page, M
The H code is used for storage.

In the case of the MR code or the MMR code, since decoding is performed by referring to the preceding line, complex processing is required to decode from the middle page. Therefore, when the remaining amount of memory becomes less than a certain reference value, the received image is stored with the MH code. Then, the remaining ink amount is detected and the memory block is released a plurality of times for one page only in the page stored by the MH code.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart for explaining the receiving operation procedure of the third embodiment. In the figure, the same step number is assigned to the step for performing the same processing as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 7), and the description thereof is omitted here.

In step S41, one line is received and the decoding section 108 performs decoding. In step S42, it is determined whether or not the multi-residual detection mode is ON. If it is ON, the process proceeds to step S43, and if not, the process proceeds to step S44. In step S43, one line is M
It is coded again by H coding. Further, in step S44, one line is encoded again by MR encoding. In the above steps S43 and S44, the code mode information 201c is updated so as to indicate the respective coding.
The multi-residual detection mode is turned on / off in page units (FIG. 8).

As described above, in the above embodiment,
When the remaining amount of the image memory becomes less than a certain reference amount, the remaining ink amount is detected a plurality of times during the recording of one page, and the result is O
In the case of K, the page is released for the next image reception without waiting for the end of the page. As a result, it is possible to prevent the image from disappearing even when a plurality of pages are received when the remaining amount of the memory is small, without causing the memory to run out, and when ink shortage or the like is detected.

In each of the above-described embodiments, when a black image of a predetermined size is recorded in the ink remaining test,
Means may be provided for allowing the operator to specify the position (main scanning direction, sub-scanning direction) of the black image. As a result, the black image can be aligned with the position of the binder hole and the like, and it is possible to prevent the recording of the black image from becoming an eyesore.

The present invention brings excellent effects particularly in an ink jet type recording head and a recording apparatus for recording by forming flying droplets by utilizing thermal energy among the ink jet recording systems.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which is stored, which corresponds to the recorded information and gives a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling. Since the electrothermal converter is caused to generate heat energy to cause film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, as a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the drive signal in a one-to-one relationship can be formed. It is valid. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal in a pulse shape, because bubbles can be grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. A configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 or US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which the heat-acting surface is arranged in a bending region, may be used.

In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-123670 discloses a structure in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and a pressure wave of thermal energy is absorbed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which the opening corresponds to the ejection portion.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length can be increased by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. Either of the structure satisfying the requirement or the structure as one recording head integrally formed may be used.

In addition, by being mounted on the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by a replaceable chip type recording head or the recording head itself. Alternatively, a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank may be used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention, because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. . Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suctioning means for the recording head, preheating means using an electrothermal converter or another heating element or a combination thereof, and recording. It is also effective to perform a stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which another discharge is performed.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. Alternatively, the device may be provided with at least one of full-color mixed colors.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and softens at room temperature, or is a liquid, or the above-mentioned. In the inkjet method, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself within a range of 30 ° C to 70 ° C to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. It is sufficient that the ink is liquid.

In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink is solidified in a standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. In some cases, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to a recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or one that has already started to solidify when it reaches a recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of being liquefied only by heat energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or JP-A-60-71260, a mode in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in the state of being held as a liquid or solid in the recess or through hole of the porous sheet. May be In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In each of the above embodiments, the recording unit is described as an inkjet printer, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to apply the present invention to a facsimile machine equipped with a printer of a thermal transfer system using a thermal transfer ribbon in its recording unit.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0070]

As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the loss of the received image when the unrecordable state occurs, and to store the memory even when the image data of a plurality of pages is received with a small memory capacity. It becomes possible to prevent overshooting.

[0071]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of a facsimile apparatus in this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating details of a recording unit of the facsimile apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a positional relationship between a recording paper sensor and a photo sensor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a storage format when a received image is stored in an image memory according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic functional configuration of the facsimile apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 CCITT standard-Recommendation T.264. It is a figure showing the communication protocol of the facsimile apparatus based on 30.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a reception procedure in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a recording procedure of the facsimile apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment.

9 is a flowchart showing details of an operation procedure in step S23 in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a recording state of a black image in the ink remaining inspection process.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a management format when storing a received image of the second embodiment in an image memory.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a recording operation procedure according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic functional configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a receiving operation procedure according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 main control unit 101a CPU 101b ROM 101c RAM 102 Operation unit 103 reading unit 104 encoding unit 105 image memory 106 ink sensor 107 recording section 108 Decoding unit 109 Communication unit 110 system bus

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/21 G06T 1/60 450 H04N 1/23 101

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus, which stores received image data in a storage medium at the time of receiving the image data and records an image based on the received image data in the storage medium, wherein the storage medium has a predetermined capacity. Storage means for storing the received image data in a storage block divided into two and determining whether the remaining amount of the storage medium is less than a predetermined amount
The remaining amount of the storage medium is less than a predetermined amount.
When it is determined that it is above, recording of one page is completed.
Each time it judges whether or not the recording was done normally,
When it is determined that the remaining amount of the medium is less than the predetermined amount, 1
Predetermined number of lines, which is less than the page recording amount
Each time the recording of the
Determining means for disconnection, it said if it is determined that the normal recording is made by the determination means, release means for the received image data is released for the recorded and become by the new received image data storage block are accumulated And a recording resuming means for resuming the recording operation from the storage block not released by the releasing means when the interrupting recording operation is resumed by the determining means. . 2. A memory block released by the releasing means.
Check box is overwritten with new received image data.
A holding means for holding the information passed by each memory block is further provided.
The recording resuming means is provided with the information held in the holding means.
Memory blocks that have not been overwritten with new received data based on
Lock the storage block that has not been released by the release means.
The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile is locked and the recording operation is restarted from the storage block . 3. Decoding for decoding the received image data
Means and the data decrypted by the decryption means before and after
Coded by a coding method that has no relationship between
Further comprising : an encoding unit for obtaining the data, the storage unit including the encoding unit based on the received image data.
The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the facsimile data is stored . 4. In the encoding means, the coding method having no relevance between lines is MH coding, and the coding method having relevance between lines is MR or MMR coding. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, which is characterized in that 5. The print head of the facsimile apparatus, facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that an ink-jet printhead which performs printing by discharging ink. 6. The recording head is a recording head that ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is an inkjet recording head that includes a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink. Item 5
The described facsimile machine. Wherein said recording head, ink is rise to state changes by thermal energy applied by said thermal energy conversion body, to claim 6 in which ejects ink from the discharge port on the basis of the state change The described facsimile machine. 8. The determination means detects the presence or absence of ink in the recording head by recording black data on a recording medium, irradiating the recording position with light, and reading the same with an optical sensor. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein it is determined whether or not normal recording is performed. 9. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising a designation unit that designates a recording position of black data in the determination unit by an operator.