JPH02234565A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent re-reading of an undesired picture by checking whether or not picture information is stored in a picture memory at application of power and checking the content when the information is stored and discriminating the validity of the storage content in the picture memory according to the result of check. CONSTITUTION:When the operator sends picture information in a time designation transmission mode, a transmission original set to a scanner 5 is read and the resulting data is stored in a picture memory 10. When a power failure takes place till a designated transmission time reaches, the power supply is interrupted once and the power is applied again after the restoration of power, a CPU 1 checks whether or not the content of the stored picture information is normal, and when it is discriminated that the content is defective, the stored content of the picture memory 10 is erased to form a power supply interruption report RP, which is outputted from a plotter 6 and the stored management information in a RAM 3 is erased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine that uses a large-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor memory device as an image memory.

[Prior Art] In recent years, facsimile machines have been put into practical use that are equipped with large-capacity image memories and are capable of realizing various advanced transmission functions. For facsimile machines like this,
A large capacity non-volatile semiconductor memory device backed up by a battery is used as an image memory.

In general, such large-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor storage devices are backed up by a battery for a relatively short time, and therefore, conventionally, the backup available time is determined based on the relationship between the battery capacity and the power capacity of the nonvolatile semiconductor storage device. If a power outage continues beyond the backup available time, it is assumed that the contents of the image memory have been erased, and a power outage report indicating this fact is recorded and output. was.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned backup available time is generally set with a certain margin, so even though the stored contents of the image memory can be used, the stored contents of the image memory may be erased. In some cases, the same image must be read and operated again, resulting in the inconvenience of unnecessary effort.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine that eliminates the inconveniences of the conventional apparatus and reduces the effort required to operate the facsimile machine.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a small-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor storage device that stores management information of image information stored in an image memory, and a system that stores the storage contents of the nonvolatile semiconductor storage device when the power is turned on. An inspection means that inspects the stored contents of the image memory when it is detected that image information is stored in the image memory; and an inspection means that inspects the stored contents of the image memory when it is determined that the stored contents of the image memory are destroyed based on the inspection results of this inspection means. The device is equipped with a control means for erasing the data and recording and outputting a report 1 for notifying the user of the erasure based on the management information stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory device.

[Operations] Therefore, since the validity of the contents stored in the image memory is determined based on the inspection result of the contents stored in the image memory, the effort required to read the original image can be reduced.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the same figure. C. The PU (Central Processing Unit) ■ is for controlling the operating functions of this facsimile machine, and the ROM (Read Only Memory) 2 is for processing programs executed by the CPUI and for executing the programs. It stores various information necessary for
RAM (Random Access Memory) 3 is CPUI
It forms the work area of Also. RAM3 is
Power is backed up by a battery 4.

The scanner 5 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the page memory 7 is for reading one page to be recorded and output by the plotter 6. The operation display unit 8 is made up of various operation keys and various displays for operating the facsimile machine.

The encoding/decoding unit 9 encodes and compresses the image signal, and decodes the encoded and compressed information into the original image signal, and the image memory lO stores the encoded and compressed information. This is for storing a large amount of state image information. This image memory 10 is backed up by a battery 1l.

The communication control unit 12 is for carrying out predetermined facsimile transmission control procedure processing, and the modem 13 is for carrying out modulation and demodulation processing for transmitting digital data using the public telephone network, which is an analog line. , network control device 14 is for connecting this facsimile device to the public telephone line network. Furthermore, this network control device 14 is equipped with an automatic originating/receiving function.

These CPUI. ROM2, RAM3, scanner 5,
The plotter 6, page memory 7, operation display unit 8, encoding/decoding unit 9, image memo t month 0, and communication control unit 12 are connected to the system bus 15, and data between these elements is The communication is performed via this system bus 15.

When the CPUI multiplies image information into the image memory lO,
For example, W71 management information as shown in FIG. 2(a) is formed and stored in the RAM 3.

This storage management information includes a file number for identifying the stored image information file, transmission mode information for storing various mode information when transmitting the image information, and a destination indicating the destination to which the image information is to be sent. The information is composed of image information area information representing the storage area that the image information occupies in the image memory IO.

In addition, the image information is accumulated in an appropriate storage area in the order of accumulation, as shown in FIG. 2(b).

Figure 3 shows an example of the processing executed by the CPU when the power is turned on. First, when the power is turned on, it is checked whether one or more storage management information is stored in RAM3 (determination 10).
1).

When the result of the judgment 101 is YES, a check is made to see if the contents of the image information stored in the image memory IO are normal (process 102). If it is determined that the contents of the image memory 10 are defective in this inspection (the result of judgment 103 is No), the stored contents of the image memo UIO are erased at that point (processing 104).
, based on the accumulated management information stored in the RAM 3 at that time, a power-off report RP in the format shown in FIG. Delete the stored storage management information. Then, the process moves to the next processing step.

Further, when the result of judgment 101 is NO and when the result of judgment 103 is YES, the process moves to the next step of process 105.

Here, the inspection of the contents of the image memory 10 in the process 102 is as follows:
This can be done as follows.

That is, for example, the first item of storage management information with the smallest file number is extracted, the image information of that storage management information is read out, and the number of decoding errors that occur when the read image information is decoded is calculated. If the number of decoding errors is greater than a certain value, it can be determined that the contents of the image memory 10 are destroyed.

Alternatively, it is also possible to form an error detection code for the contents stored in the image memory 10, store the error detection code in the RAM 3, and check the storage contents of the image memory 10 by referring to the error detection code.

In addition, the power outage report RP has a title MS that represents it.
I. Old column for recording the date of record output, for example,
Message MS2 to notify of a power outage: "The following files have been deleted due to a power outage." Column R2 for recording the power-off time, 41'jl for recording a list of the file number of the deleted file, file type (transmission mode, etc.), destination, and transmission result.
It consists of R3, R4, R5, and R6.

With the above configuration, for example, when an operator transmits image information in the time-specified transmission mode, he or she sets the document to be transmitted on the scanner 5, inputs the destination, information, and transmission function information from the operation display section 8, and then When a manual command is given to start the transmission operation, the CPUI reads the transmission document set in the scanner 5 at that time, encodes and compresses the image signal obtained thereby in the encoder/decoder 9, and thereby outputs the image signal obtained by the reading. The image information is stored in the image memory io.

When the accumulation is completed, the above-mentioned accumulation management information is formed and stored in the RAM 3, and this image information is placed in a waiting state for transmission until the designated transmission time.

In this state, a power outage occurs and the power is temporarily turned off. When the power is restored and the power is turned on again, the CPUI executes the above-mentioned initialization processing.

Here, R. Because of its small capacity, AM3 can be backed up by battery 4 for a very long period of time, and in practice it acts as a non-volatile semiconductor storage device, so even if a power outage occurs, its memory contents will be lost. Never.

On the other hand, the image memory 10 has a fairly large capacity, so the time that can be backed up by the battery 11 is limited, and if a power outage lasts for a long time, part or all of the stored contents of the image memory IO may be lost. , and may be destroyed.

Therefore, as described above, it is possible to appropriately perform the process of determining whether or not the stored contents of the image memory are normal based on the storage management information stored in the RAM 3.

If at least a portion of the stored content of the image memory 10 is destroyed during a power outage, the content of the image information destroyed at that time is recorded and output as a power outage report RP in the format described above.

As a result, the operator knows that the image information for time-specific transmission that he/she set has been lost, and performs the same transmission operation again.

Furthermore, if the power outage does not last long and the stored contents of the image memory 10 are not destroyed, the CPUI does not record and output the power outage report RP and retains the contents of the image memory 10, so that the operator can The specified time transmission will continue to be executed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the image memory 10 is
Since the validity of the stored contents is determined, memory transmission can be performed more in accordance with the actual situation, and there is no need to re-storage unnecessary image information.

By the way, the stored contents of the image memory may be destroyed not only in the event of a power failure such as a power outage, but also during normal use due to, for example, external noise.

In order to deal with this inconvenience, for example, when in the transmission/reception standby state, image memory inspection processing as shown in FIG. 3 may be executed at an appropriate timing. However, during this process, access to the image memory must be prohibited. [Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when the power is turned on, it is checked whether or not image information is stored in the image memory, and if the image information is stored, the contents are checked, and the process is performed according to the test results. Since the validity of the stored contents of the image memory is determined by the image memory, unnecessary image re-reading operations can be prevented, resulting in improved usability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2(a) is a schematic diagram showing an example of storage management information, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the state, FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of initialization processing executed at power-on, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a power-off report. 1... CPU (Central Processing Unit), 2... ROM (Read Only Memory), 3... RAM (Random Access Memory), 4, 11... Battery, 10.
...Image memory. Agent Patent Attorney Makoto Monda l. Figure 2 (a) (b) Figure (to the next evil) Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a facsimile machine equipped with an image memory consisting of a large-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor storage device, a small-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor storage device that stores management information of image information stored in the image memory, and a an inspection means for inspecting the memory contents of the semiconductor storage device and detecting that image information is stored in the image memory; and an inspection means for inspecting the memory contents of the image memory; A facsimile machine characterized by comprising a control means for erasing the stored contents of the image memory when a determination is made, and recording and outputting a report for notifying the determination based on management information stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor storage device. Device.