JPH01236859A - Facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit document information also as a code data by writing code information to a prescribed edge of a bit map image as a bit pattern and sending the inputted code information two forms such as image and code data. CONSTITUTION:A character font expansion section section 3 reads a character font 4 corresponding to an inputted character code from a KANJI (Chinese character) ROM sequentially to form a bit map image. Simultaneously, a code information assembling section S expands the inputted character code into a bit pattern comprising white/black dot strings and writes it to the edge of a frame corresponding to the paper sheet on which the bit map image is formed. Then the bit map image including the bit pattern is sent to a facsimile data coding section 5. Thus, the image data and the code data are reproduced in such a way and printed out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a facsimile communication system performed by a personal computer, word processor, etc. connected to a telephone line.

(Summary of the Invention) This invention provides a method for sending character information as image data consisting of a bitmap image and at the same time incorporating code data into a part of the bitmap image in facsimile communication using a personal computer, word processor, etc. This facilitates the transmission of code data.

(Prior art and its problems) In conventional facsimile communication, when attempting to send a document created using a personal computer, word processor, etc., the document must be printed out to obtain a hard copy and then manually sent to the facsimile machine. In a facsimile, the input hard copy is optically read and then encoded as facsimile data and sent to the telephone line.The receiving party decodes the facsimile data and then converts it into image information. It is configured to be printed out as .

On the sending side, a FAX adapter is known as a device that allows documents created using a personal computer, word processor, etc. to be made manually without converting them into hard copies.

As shown in FIG. 5, this FAX adapter inputs document information from a personal computer or word processor 1 to a code information communication section 2 via a connecting cable or the like.

The code information communication section 2 temporarily stores the input document information in a built-in buffer, and then sends the character code, which is a constituent unit of the document information, to the character font development section 3 at a predetermined timing.

The character font development unit 3 converts the character font 4 that corresponds to the input character code into a kanji RO.
M (not shown) is sequentially read out to form a bitmap image and sent to the facsimile data encoding section 5.

The facsimile data encoding unit 5 converts the input bitmap image into a serial image signal, performs MH encoding, and sends it to the facsimile data transmitting unit 6 as M1 encoded data.

The facsimile data transmitter 6 performs '123WJ' on the input MH encoded data and sends it to the public network 7 as facsimile data.

By using the FAX7 adapter configured in this manner, it is possible to send a created document without outputting a hard copy from a personal computer, word processor, or the like.

However, with this FAX adapter, the character code input in the character font development section 3 is
It disappears when converted to a bitmap image,
The character code itself is never transmitted. Therefore, on the receiving side, the document information can only be obtained as image data, and the received document information cannot be input into a personal computer or word processor to be edited or otherwise processed.

In order to overcome these drawbacks of FAX adapters, it is possible to add PC communication functions to the FAX adapter so that it can send both image data and code data, but this requires a modem and communication protocol. 2&1lI(l?ii), which caused the problem that the device became complicated and large.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been devised in view of the above points, and its purpose is to simplify the structure of the transmitter/receiver in facsimile communication, and to transmit documents created using a personal computer, word processor, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile communication system that can transmit both image data and code data at the same time.

(Structure and Effects of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention develops standard code information sent from a personal computer, word processor, etc. into corresponding character fonts to create a bitmap image. In a facsimile communication system that encodes facsimile data and sends it to a telephone line, the code information is written as a bit pattern at a predetermined end of the bitmap image, thereby converting the manually input code information into image data and code data. It is characterized in that it is transmitted in two forms.

According to the facsimile communication system of the present invention, document information created by a personal computer, word processor, etc. can be transmitted as image data and at the same time as code data, without complicating the transmitting/receiving device. At the same time, on the receiving side, the received document information can be easily manually edited and processed using a computer, word processor, etc., which has the effect of expanding new fields of use in facsimile communication. can get.

(Description of Embodiments) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile communication system when the present invention is applied to a FAX adapter.

In the figure, a personal computer 11 is an input/output device.
．． 13 are connected to telephone lines via FAX adapters 12 and 14, respectively, so that data can be exchanged with each other via the public network 7.

Also, a normal facsimile machine that does not have a FAX adapter15
Also, it is possible to send and receive data to and from personal computers 11 and 13 according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of the F to × adapter 12.14.

In the same figure, document information is transferred from a personal computer or word processor 1 to a character information import unit 8 via a connection cable, etc.
is input.

The character information import section 8 temporarily stores the document information in a built-in buffer, and then sends the character code, which is a constituent unit of the document information, to the code information incorporation section 9 and the character font development section 3 at a predetermined timing.

The character font development unit 3 converts the character font 4 corresponding to the human-generated character code into a kanji ROM.
(not shown) is read out sequentially to form a bitmap image. At the same time, the code information embedding unit 9 develops the human-generated character code itself into a bit pattern consisting of a row of white and black dots, and writes it at the end of a frame corresponding to the paper surface on which the bitmap image is formed. The bitmap image containing the bit pattern is sent to the facsimile encoder 5.

The facsimile data encoding section 5 converts the manually generated bitmap image into a serial image signal, performs Ml-encoding, and sends it to the facsimile data transmitting section 6 as MH encoded data.

The facsimile data transmitter 6 modulates the input M[I encoded data and sends it to the public 1i as facsimile data.
Send on 17th.

Then, when the facsimile data sent from the FAX adapters 12, 1.4 is received by the destination via the public network 7, it is processed in the opposite direction to the data processing shown in FIG. 2, and is converted into image data and code data. is reproduced and printed out.

Figure 3 shows the A4 paper prepared inside the FAX adapter 13.14.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a position where a bit pattern representing a character code is written in an image area of a RAM of the same size. As shown in the figure, in facsimile communication, for example, in the case of A4 size transmission, the paper width that can be input to the facsimile is defined as 216 m, which is more generous than the A4 paper width of 209 ms.

Therefore, if you input the paper correctly in the center, 3.
There will be a blank space of 5 cranes each. Therefore, in addition to using the center area as the image data area 21 where the original focus map image is written, the left margin is used as the code data area 21.
2 and the character code is written therein.

In the figure, characters "kanji code" 23, which are part of the character information to be transmitted, are written at the beginning of the image data area 21.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the upper left part of the image data area 21 in which the characters "Kanji code" 23 are written in FIG.

To explain the case where the character "Kanji code" 23 is sent, first, like the conventional FAX adapter,
Character fonts corresponding to character codes are sequentially read from a kanji ROM (not shown), developed into a bitmap image 24, and written at the beginning of the image data area 2I.

Next, a character code is written in the code data area 22 on the left side.

In the figure, a bit length of 16 dots, which is two bytes from the left end of the code data area 22, is secured, and a string of white and black dots indicating a character code is written in order from the top.

The first line 88888 is written in order to determine the presence or absence of character code information on the receiving side.

On the second line, the character code 8 indicating the character "Kan"
ABFH (Shift JIS) is written. Similarly, on the third line, the character code 8E9 indicating the character "character"
AH is written.

Thereafter, the image data area 21 and the code data area 22 are sequentially input based on the document information input for transmission.
A character code and a focus map image developed from the character code are written in each character code.

In this way, 16 dots worth 2 bytes are newly written as a bitmap image on the left edge of the paper, but this code data area 22 is A4 size and in fine mode (7.7 scans per crane). In this case, the width is approximately 2 meters, and even if they are printed out, they will not appear as black dots on the left edge of the paper. Even if they were printed as black dots, the width would be less than 2 meters, so it would be an eyesore. There isn't.

Similarly, when sending A4 size documents in fine mode, the number of character codes that can be written on one page is approximately 2,300 characters equivalent to Kanji characters. This is sufficient for the 511,500 characters written per page in the most advanced word processor format. Furthermore, the writing capacity can be further increased by using the margin at the right end.

As described above, this FAX adapter has a simple configuration in which the code information embedding section 9 is provided in the input terminal without adding a new modem or communication protocol to the conventional FAX adapter, and it can use paper that has not been used in the past. This makes it possible to send character codes using the blank space.

Additionally, when document information is input from a computer, word processor, etc. during transmission, the receiving side can print out the document information and obtain it as a hard copy, as well as import it as a character code. By manually using a personal computer, word processor, etc., it becomes possible to add processing such as editing to the received document information.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of facsimile communication to which this invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration and operation of a FAX adapter to which this invention is also applied, and FIG.
The figure shows the configuration of the image area of the RAM provided in the FAX adapter, and Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the main parts of Figure 3.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional FAX adapter. 3...Character font development unit 4...Character font 5...Facsimile data encoding unit 6...Facsimile data transmission unit 7...Public network 8...Character information capture Part 9...Code information incorporation part 11...PC 12...FAX adapter 13...PC 14...FAX adapter 21...Image data area 22...Code data area

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In the facsimile communication method, standard code information sent from a personal computer, word processor, etc. is developed into a corresponding character font to create a bitmap image, and then encoded into facsimile data and sent over a telephone line. A facsimile communication system characterized in that the input code information is transmitted in two forms, image data and code data, by writing the code information as a bit pattern at a predetermined end of the bitmap image. .