JPH03151758A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operating efficiency of a memory by providing a means switching an available area in the picture memory in response to a required function. CONSTITUTION:When the use of memory such as ECM communication, store transmission and 15 sheets is desired to be selected in a facsimile equipment whose picture memory 1 has a memory capacity of 256 kbytes, an operation panel 14 inputs ECM 'ON', store 'ON' and sheet number '15'. A CPU 1 allocates the memory of 256 kbytes into 64 kbytes for ECM and 150 kbytes for store transmission. In the case of reading and writing the picture memory 1, a picture memory control processing unit 8 applies processing based on the memory allocation information. Then the CPU 4 executes the ECM communication function and the store transmission function till the above setting is revised.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine equipped with an image memory for storing image data.

[Conventional technology]

In a facsimile machine, the bit pattern obtained by reading the image is encoded, compressed, and then sent. On the receiving side, the encoded image data is decompressed and restored to the bit pattern, and the image is output on recording paper. .

Furthermore, in recent years, various functions have been added in order to improve operability, etc., in addition to simply transmitting images. For example, there are devices that once read all images of a document, store them in an image memory, and then read and transmit the contents of the image memory. This is called storage transmission, and has the characteristic that reading the original can be completed in a short time because the reading speed of the original is not limited by the data transmission speed of the communication line.

Also, when the sending side adds a specific code to the image data and sends it, the receiving side temporarily stores this image data and specific code in the image memory, and the receiving side inputs the same code as this specific code. There is a system in which only the image data is read out and output on recording paper. This is called confidential reception, and has the characteristic that image data can be sent only to a specific recipient.

Furthermore, the sending side divides the image data for each page into multiple blocks, adds an engineer check code to each block, and sends it, and the receiving side divides the image data for each page into multiple blocks. When the block is received, the error check code is used to check each block to see if it was received normally.For blocks that could not be received normally, the sender requests retransmission, and the sender accepts this request. There is one that retransmits the necessary blocks based on the This is ECM
This mode is called (error correct mode) communication and has the characteristic of enabling error-free transmission. In this ECM communication as well, an image memory is required on the transmitting side in order to retransmit image data, and an image memory is also required on the receiving side in order to output complete image data while receiving image data.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In order to realize each of the functions of storage transmission, confidential reception, and ECM communication described above, an independent image memory is required for each function. When incorporating functions that require memory like this, conventionally all the necessary memory is prepared for each function to be incorporated, so the more functions there are, the larger the memory capacity and the higher the cost. There was a problem.

In addition, there is a device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-58167 as a facsimile device that improves the efficiency of image memory usage, but in the facsimile described in this publication, memory allocation is possible regardless of the user's intention. However, it can only support limited functions.

The present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of memory use by selectively allocating a plurality of functions to a common memory.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a facsimile machine having multiple types of functions that use image memory.
The present invention is characterized by providing means for switching the usable area in the image memory according to a required function.

Further, means may be provided for setting a usable area in the image memory for each function that uses the image memory.

[Effect]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram for specifically explaining the operation of the present invention.

In the present invention, the areas of the image memory l are not fixed for each function, but are distributed based on instructions from the outside. When the operator inputs how to use the image memory 1 through the function selection input section 2, the control section 2 determines the allocation of the image memory 1 based on the information and stores it in the memory allocation information section 4. The control section 3 determines and operates executable functions according to the information in the memory allocation information section 4.

〔Example〕

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, features of the present invention will be specifically described based on examples with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. The image of the original is read by the scanner section 5, digitized and encoded by the input image processing device 6, and then stored in the image memory 1 via the bus 7 and the image memory control device 8. At this time, the image memory control device 8 determines in which area of the image memory 1 the image is stored.

Next, the contents of the image memory 1 are read from an area specified by the image memory control device 8 and supplied to the communication control device 9 via the bus 7. The communication control device 9 converts the image data into modulated data and sends it out via a communication line.

Furthermore, upon reception, the modulated data sent via the communication line is converted into image data by the communication control device 9 and stored in a predetermined area of the image memory 1 via the bus 7. The contents of the image memory 1 are supplied to the output image processing device 10 via the bus 7, and after being decoded, the contents are supplied to the printer section 11, where the image is output on recording paper. Also, the above E
When performing error correction by CM communication, error correction device 1
2, a block in which an error has occurred is detected and a retransmission of the block is requested.

Note that each of the above operations is controlled by a CPU (central processing unit) 15 based on instructions input from the operation panel 14 via the interface 13.

Details of allocation of the image memory 10 will be explained.

Note that here, the memory capacity required for the ECM communication function is assumed to be 64K bytes or 128 bytes. Furthermore, the memory capacity required for each function of storage communication and confidential reception is the memory capacity required to store one standard document x the number of sheets. Note that the memory required to store one standard document is approximately 10 bytes.

Now, in a facsimile machine where the image memory 1 has a memory capacity of 256 bytes, when setting the memory usage method, operate the operation panel 14 to enter the memory usage setting mode. If you want to select the number of sheets, use the operation panel 14 to
"on" and the number of stored "on" sheets "15". When this input is accepted, the CPU 15 stores 256 bytes of memory and 64 bytes for ECM as shown in FIG. 3(a).
and 150 bytes for storage and transmission.

Note that the remaining 192 bytes used for ECM may be allocated for storage and transmission. This memory allocation information is stored in the memory built into the CPU 15, for example.
The information is stored in a table format such as a table, and when writing to or reading from the image memory 1, the image memory control processing device 8 performs processing based on this memory allocation information.

Table 1 Note that this table is based on the principle, and for example, only function type data and boundary address data may be included as memory allocation information.

Thereafter, the CPU 4 enables the ECM communication function and the storage and transmission function until the settings are changed.

In other words, in the case of stored transmission, the image data of multiple sheets of originals read by the scanner section 5 is stored in 655 in the image memory 1.
The contents of image memory 1 are written sequentially starting from address 36, and after all the image data of the original is stored, the content of image memory 1 becomes 65536.
The data is read out and transmitted sequentially starting from the address. Further, when receiving image data through ECM communication, the received image data is sequentially written in block units for one screen from address 65536 of the image memory 1. At the same time, the error correction device checks the quality of the image data on a block-by-block basis. If there is no abnormality in each block, the received image data is output by the printer section 11, but if there is an abnormality, a request is made to the transmitting side to resend the relevant part. The transmitting side retransmits the requested block of image data. The received image data of the specific block is written to the corresponding block position in the 86M communication area, and one complete screen worth of image data is obtained.

This image data is output by the printer section 11, and error-free image transmission is performed. Note that, at this time, confidential reception becomes impossible.

In addition, as memory usage methods, ECM communication and storage transmission 1
If you want to select 0 sheets, select EC from the operation panel 14.
Input M"on", accumulation "on" and number of sheets "10". When this input is accepted, the CPU 15 allocates 256 bytes of memory, 128 bytes for ECM, and 100 bytes for storage and transmission as shown in the figure. Alternatively, the remaining 128 bytes may be allocated for storage and transmission.

Note that at least 64 bytes are required for ECM communication, but if 128 bytes are available, the next page can be received while the previous page is being processed, so the communication time is shortened. Therefore, in the standard state, for example, in the default state immediately after the power is turned on, one
It is desirable to allocate 28 bytes.

If only storage and transmission is turned on in the memory usage setting mode, the CPU 15 will
As shown in FIG. 3, all the bytes in the image memory 10256 are allocated only to storage and transmission, and thereafter only the storage and transmission function can be executed. In this case, 25 images can be stored and communicated. Note that at this time, ECM communication and confidential reception become impossible.

In addition, ECM is “on”, accumulation is “on”, number of sheets is “9”,
If you enter "confidential" as "on" and the number of copies as "9", the same figure (d) will appear.
64 bytes for ECM and 9 bytes for storage and transmission as shown in
Allocate a byte to 0 and a byte to 90 for confidential reception.

In this way, by instructing how much memory to allocate to each function from the operation panel 14, various ways of using the memory can be set, and a certain amount of memory can be used efficiently.

In the above-described embodiment, the memory capacity allocated to each area was changed according to the number of originals, but the capacity may be equally allocated according to the number of functions. In addition, the capacity for ECM is not fixed, and when ECM is communicated, ECM is “on”.
“64k” or ECM “on”, enter “128” to set the capacity for ECM to 64 bytes and 12 bytes.
You can also switch to 8 with a byte.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since the memory usage method can be selected for each device, it is possible to install many memory usage functions with a small memory capacity, and cost can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram for specifically explaining the operation of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile machine of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing various memory usage methods in this embodiment. FIG. 1: Image memory 2: Function selection input section 3: Control section
4: Memory allocation information section 5: Scanner section
6: Input image processing device 7: Bus 8: Image memory control device 9; Communication control device 10: Output image processing device 11: Printer section 12: Error correction device 13
:Interface 14:Operation panel 15:CP
U

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A facsimile machine having a plurality of types of functions that use an image memory, characterized in that a facsimile machine is provided with means for switching the usable area in the image memory according to the required function. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for setting a usable area in the image memory for each function that uses the image memory.