JPH01226272A - Picture communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively utilize the storage area of limited size so as to realize the smooth operation of communication through a storage system by splitting and releasing the storage area of a part having been transmitted from the storage area which a communication information file in the course of transmission occupies. CONSTITUTION:Picture information read by a picture reading part 20 is inputted to a storage part 28 through a second compressing part 30, and is stored in a space area in an information area A. The stored picture information is stored as a picture information file in which one communication unit is considered to be one item. The picture information read out after being stored once in the storage part 28 is transmitted to a communication line 12 from a second expanding part 34 and a first switching part 40 through a first compressing part 16 and a MODEM 14. At this time, as for the storage part 28, only the picture information part of one page portion having been transmitted is split and deleted from the file by rewriting the contents of a page control table B3 and a sector control table B4, and the storage area of the released part is registered as the space area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication device applied to, for example, a facsimile machine having a storage function.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Some image communication devices, such as facsimile devices, are equipped with a storage function that can temporarily store image information for transmission before transmitting it, in order to increase the operational efficiency of the device. For example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-94261).

This type of communication device uses 7 eyes2 for each communication unit.
- a storage means for accumulating management information indicating the storage area usage status and communication information that has been converted into a storage area, and a control means for managing the usage status of the storage area on a file-by-file basis; While the communication information file stored in the storage area is read out and transmitted, a new communication information file is stored in an empty storage area of the storage means.

FIG. 4 shows the storage structure of a storage means provided in a conventional image storage type facsimile machine using a memory map.

In the figure, an information area A and a management area B are set in the storage means. In the information area A, image information, which is real information, is encoded and compressed and stored. Management area B stores a file management table B1 and a page information table B2.

The total number of pages of the image information file stored in the information area A and the page number used to search for management information for each page are registered in the file management table B1 for each image information file that constitutes one communication unit. .

In the page information table B2, for each page number mentioned above,
Line density information, belonging file number, page top address, and page end address are registered.

Here, in a conventional image storage type facsimile apparatus equipped with a storage means having the above-mentioned storage structure, image information is stored, and at the same time, the stored image information is read out and transmitted. In this case, each time the transmission of image information for one communication unit is completed, the storage area occupied by the image information for one communication unit is released. The freed storage area is used to store new image information. This results in
New image information can be stored one after another in a limited storage area and transmitted.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such a configuration, the utilization efficiency of the storage means for temporarily storing communication information such as image information before transmission is not necessarily good, and the storage area of the storage means tends to be insufficient. The problem was that it often interfered with the smooth operation of communications using the storage method.

The above problem arises for the following reasons.

That is, the storage area occupied by the communication information stored in a file for each communication unit is released after the transmission of all the information in the file to which the communication information belongs is completed. In other words, once all the communication information for one file has been transmitted, no new free space will be available in the storage area. For this reason, (1) When communication information with a large file size is accumulated, the communication information occupies a large storage area for a long time, and there is no room for new information to be accumulated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and allows for smooth operation of communication using the storage method by effectively utilizing a limited storage area without increasing the storage capacity of the storage means. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image communication device that can contribute to the following.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to reduce the memory occupied by the communication information file that is being transmitted out of the communication image information 5/7 stored in files for each communication unit. This system has a configuration in which the storage area for the transmission method part is divided and released from the area.

Effect of the present invention With the above-described configuration, the storage area occupied by the communication information stored in files for each communication unit is stored until the transmission of all the information in the file to which the communication information belongs is completed. Free space will be released in stages after the data has been sent, without having to wait for the data to be sent. Therefore, the limited storage space can be used effectively and stored without having to increase the storage capacity of the storage means. This makes it possible to ensure smooth communication operations using this method.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The communication device 10 shown in the figure is configured as a facsimile device, and 12 is a communication line, 14 is a modem for modulating transmitted image information and demodulating received image information, and 6 is an encoder for transmitting image information for information compression. 6 ＼ / 1 compression section,] 8 is a first decompression section that decodes received image information;
Reference numeral 0 denotes an image reading unit that reads an image from a document, 22 a recording unit that prints and records image information on recording paper, 24 an operation unit that has various operation buttons, and 26 a first control unit that mainly controls communication operations. A control unit 28 is a storage unit that temporarily stores image information, and 30.32 is a second controller that encodes the image information stored in the storage unit 28 for information compression. third compression section, 3
4. , 36 is a second . The third expansion section 38 is a second control section that mainly controls the storage operation of image information, and 40 and 42 are first and second switching sections that control transmission of image information.

The modem 14, first compression section 16, first decompression section 18, reading section 20, recording section 22, operation section 24, first control section 26, etc. constitute a facsimile transmission/reception section that mainly transmits and receives image information. .

Further, the storage unit 28, the second and third compression units 30.32° and the second compression unit 30.32°. Third extension section 34. ．． 36, the second control section, etc. constitute an information management section that mainly stores and manages image information.

7\-7 The first switching section 40 selects the image information transmitted via the first compression section 16 from either the image reading section 20 or the storage section 28 side. The second switching section 42 selects either the image information received via the modem 14 or the image information read out from the storage section 28 and inputs the selected image information to the recording section 22 .

FIG. 2 shows the storage structure of the storage section 28 using a memory map.

In the figure, the storage unit 28 includes an information area A and a management area B.
2 is set. In the information area A, image information, which is real information, is encoded and compressed and stored.

The management area B stores a file management table B1, a page information table B2, a page management table B3, a sector management table B4, and the like.

The total number of pages of the image information file stored in the information area A and the page number for searching the management information for each page are registered in the file management table B1 for each image information file forming one communication unit. .

In the page information table B2, for each page number mentioned above,
Line density information, belonging file number, page top address, and page end address are registered.

In the page management table B3, the usage state of the storage area, that is, the free state is registered for each page.

In the sector management table B4, the usage status of the storage area is registered for each sector, which is a unit that is more subdivided than the page.

Here, the above-mentioned communication device includes a first control section 26 and a second control section 26.
Through the control operations performed by the control units 38 in cooperation with each other,
Of the image information stored in the storage unit 28 as a file for each communication unit, the storage area for the transmitted part and the recorded part is divided from the storage area occupied by the communication information file that is being transmitted or recorded. A function has been added to divide it and open it in stages. In other words, when an image information file once stored in the storage unit 28 is read out and transmitted or recorded, the image information of the portion that has been transmitted or recorded may be lost while the image information file is being transmitted or recorded. A control function is added to gradually release the stored storage area in page units 9 to 7 to create a free area.

The operation of the image communication apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

FIG. 3 shows, in the form of a flowchart, an example of the operation of the main parts of the communication device 10 described above.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, when the image information read by the image reading section 20 is stored once and then transmitted, the first switching section 4
The selection position of 0 is switched to the b side.

In this setting state, image information read by the image reading section 20 is input to the storage section 28 via the second compression section 30. The input image information is stored in an unused area within the information area A, that is, an empty area. Free space is management area B
The search is performed by referring to page management table B3' and sector management table B4. The accumulated image information is stored as an image information file with one communication unit as one item. Along with this, the stored image information file 10.\-.

The contents of the management area B, which stores the file number, page information, usage status of pages and sectors, etc., are also updated.

On the other hand, the image information once stored in the storage section 28 and then read out is transferred from the second decompression section 34 and the first switching section 40 to the first
The data is sequentially transmitted to the communication line 12 via the compression unit 16 and modem 14. At this time, the storage unit 28 is controlled as follows.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, when the image information for one page of the image information file being transmitted is completed (Sl), the image information for the one page for which the transmission has been completed is completed. A process of dividing and deleting only the image information part from the file is performed (S2). This process is performed by rewriting the contents of the management area A, particularly the contents of the page management table B3 and sector management table B4. As a result, only the storage area of the transmitted portion is divided and released from the storage area occupied by the image information file currently being transmitted. The freed storage area is registered as a free area.

1] ・-・ After this, if the transmission of the next page starts (S3)
The process described above is performed again, and when the transmission of the image information for the next page is completed, the storage area where the image information for the next page was stored is divided and released ( SL).

Once all pages of the image information file have been sent (S3), the file registration for management area B is deleted, all storage areas occupied by the sent image information file are released, and the image information file is cleared. is handed over (S4).

As described above, the storage area occupied by the image information stored in files for each communication unit can be stored without waiting for the transmission of all pages in the file to which the image information belongs. , pages that have been sent are released in stages to become free space. As a result, without increasing the storage capacity of the storage unit 28 so much, it becomes possible to effectively utilize the limited storage area and achieve smooth operation of communication using the storage method. .

Furthermore, in the communication device described above, by setting the selection positions a, ) of the first switching unit 40 and the selection positions c and d of the second switching unit 4.0.4.2 to either one, In addition to the operations described above, the following operations can also be performed.

That is, (1) - When the selection position of the first switching unit 40 is set to the 1] side, in addition to the above-mentioned image storage operation, after the received image information is stored once, the destination specified for each file is It is also possible to perform a store-and-forward operation to transfer the data to.

(2) When the selection position of the second switching unit 42 is set to the d side, it is possible to perform a type of proxy reception operation in which the recording unit 22 prints and records the received image information after it has been stored once.

(3) When the selection position of the first switching section 40 is set to the a side, a normal transmission operation in which image information read by the image reading section 20 is immediately transmitted can be performed.

(4) When the selection position of the second switching section 42 is set to the a side, the received image information is immediately input to the recording section 22.
− It is possible to perform a normal transmission operation in which the data is printed and recorded.

Here, in the operations (1,) and (2) above that utilize the storage function, as described above, the storage area occupied by the image information that is stored as a file for each communication unit is (1) (2) above without waiting for all pages in the file to which the information belongs to have been sent or recorded.
Even in the case of the above operation, the limited recording area of the storage unit 28 can be effectively utilized to ensure smooth communication using the storage method.

Although the present invention has been described above in the case where it is applied to a facsimile machine, the present invention is not limited to the scope of use mentioned above. It can also be applied to communication devices that handle

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention is applicable to the storage area occupied by the communication information file that is being transmitted, among the information that is stored as a file for each communication unit. By dividing and releasing the storage area of the sent part from There is no need to wait for all information to be sent, and free space is released in stages after it has been sent, so you can use a limited amount of storage space without increasing the storage capacity of the storage device. can be effectively utilized to ensure smooth operation of communication using the storage method.
This has the effect of

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image communication device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a memory mat showing the storage structure of a storage section used in the device, The figure is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the main parts of the device, and FIG. 4 is a memory mat showing the storage structure of the storage means used in the conventional image device. 10 communication device configured as a facsimile device;
] 2. Communication line, 14. Modem, 16. First compression section,
15...-7 18...First decompression unit, 20...Image reading unit, 22...Print recording unit, 24...Operation unit, 26...First control unit that mainly controls communication operations. 28. Storage unit that temporarily stores image information, 30.32 2nd. third compression section, 34
．． 36 second and third decompression units; 38 second control unit that mainly controls the storage operation of image information; 40; 42 first control unit that controls transmission of image information; Second switching unit, A...information area, B...management area, B-file management table, B2
...Page information table, B3/Page management table, B4...Sector management table.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image comprising a storage means for accumulating communication image information filed into a file for each communication unit, and a control means for dividing and releasing the storage area of the transmitted part from the storage area occupied by the communication information file being transmitted. Communication device.