JPH04156051A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always confirm the number of sheets of transmission/reception while performing an operation by deciding the residual number of transmission sheets when a reference original is transmitted from the fond remaining capacity of a battery. CONSTITUTION:The output of an AND gate 3 goes to Hi only when both a strobe pulse (b) and data (c) after latch go to Hi, and a transistor 2 is turned on. In a thermosensible head, a large number of exothermic resistors 1 are arranged in line, and it is energized by permitting a current to flow on the exothermic resistor 1 conforming to data of 'black' and no current flows on the part of 'white' data, therefore, the number of 'black' becomes proportional to the amount of consumption of battery capacity. The residual capacity of the battery can be calculated from the total number of counted 'black' and transmission time, and the number of regulation of reception can be decided from the battery capacity when the reference original set on a ROM is received, etc., in advance. Thereby, it is possible always confirm the number of sheets of transmission/reception while the operation is performed, and to confirm the content of a reception image even when the battery capacity goes less than a constant value while the image is being received.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and particularly to a facsimile machine suitable for use with a built-in battery.

[Conventional technology]

In a portable facsimile or a portable telephone, a conventional method for detecting the remaining usage time when using a built-in battery is a method of detecting a change in battery voltage. The discharge characteristics of built-in batteries, such as CADNICA batteries, are as shown in curve a shown in Figure 2. Therefore, a threshold value TH is set for the battery voltage, and when the voltage falls below the threshold value TH, a comparator etc. The configured detection circuit operates and notifies the operator by lighting the 5 indicator lamp or sounding a buzzer.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned conventional technology focuses only on the discharge characteristics of the built-in battery. In general, the discharge characteristics of CADNICA batteries and the like are such that the change in battery voltage is flat, and a drop in battery voltage can actually be detected just before the capacity is completely consumed. Facsimile machines consume a large amount of power to send and receive -1 sheets of original documents, so communication may be interrupted midway through sending and receiving.
8 moves were bad.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a portable facsimile device that can confirm the limited number of sheets to be sent and received in a room during operation, and that can maintain the contents of received images even if the battery capacity falls below a certain value while receiving images. It is in.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a means for determining the transmission time of a facsimile, a means for measuring the number of "blacks" in a received image, and a means for determining the remaining battery capacity from the measured number of "blacks" and the transmission time. , a means for storing the remaining battery capacity, a means for determining the number of originals that can be sent and received from the remaining battery capacity, a means for displaying the calculated number of originals, and a reception record when the remaining battery capacity falls below a certain value. The method is characterized in that it includes means for reducing the number of lines.

[Effect]

When the built-in battery is installed, the memory, e.g.
P-ROM (Electrically Erased
able Progras mmabled Rea
Set the initial value of the battery capacity in d0nly Memory).

Power consumption in the communication mode is due to sensor driving, motor driving, and signal processing during document reading, and all of these power consumptions are proportional to the transmission time. Therefore, power consumption can be determined by measuring the transmission time. Furthermore, the remaining battery capacity can be calculated by subtracting the battery capacity consumed during transmission from the initial value of the battery capacity. The determined remaining battery capacity is stored again in a memory such as an EEP-ROM. On the other hand, by setting the battery capacity to be consumed when transmitting a standard document in advance in a memory such as a ROM, the remaining number of sheets to be transmitted when transmitting a standard document is determined from the determined remaining battery capacity.

Power consumption in the reception mode is related not only to motor driving and signal processing but also to the number of ``black'' in the data.

The thermal head has a large number of heating resistors arranged in a row, and printing is done by passing current through the heating resistors corresponding to 'black' data, while no current is passed through the 'white' data. Therefore, the number of 'black' is proportional to the amount of battery capacity consumed.

The remaining battery capacity can be calculated from the counted total number of "black" marks and the transmission time, and the reception limit number is determined from the battery capacity at the time of standard document reception, which is set in a ROM or the like in advance.

By this method, the determined transmission/reception limit number is displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display.

In addition, when the remaining battery capacity falls below a certain value, the number of image recording lines to be received can be reduced to a fraction of what is recorded.
To reduce power consumption required for printing and to make it possible to check the image content of the entire document.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

At the same time as setting a fully charged battery into the main unit,
Set remaining power capacity data in P-ROM to initial value (Sl), turn on facsimile operation (POWER0
N) In the case of (7) (S2), measurement of the transmission time is started immediately after +(7) (S3).

In this embodiment, a timer IC is used to measure transmission time. Next, select send or send mode (
S4).

In the transmission mode (S5), the reading sensor is always operating. Furthermore, since the power consumption per hour of motor driving, microcomputer peripheral circuits, etc. is almost constant, the battery capacity consumption can be considered to be proportional to the transmission time. After the transmission is completed, stop the timer 5 and finish measuring the transmission time (
S7).

Next, the remaining battery capacity RW (unit Ah) is determined from the transmission time tTx.
: Ampere hour) is calculated (Sa).

An example of the calculation method is shown below.

If the battery capacity when the built-in battery is fully charged is FW, and the battery consumption per time consumed by sensor drive, motor drive, signal processing, etc. is CW T x, then the remaining battery capacity RW is
is RW ” F W t T x X CW t , t
It is determined by

Here, CW, is stored in advance in a ROM or the like. By writing the determined remaining battery capacity RW into the EEP-ROM again, the current remaining battery capacity is stored (S9).

Next, the remaining number of transmission sheets NY is calculated from the remaining battery capacity RW (SIO). Remaining battery capacity RW and remaining number of sheets N13
The remaining number of sheets to be transmitted is determined by determining the relationship in advance using a standard manuscript or the like, and storing the correspondence in the ROM. The determined number of remaining sheets is displayed on a liquid crystal display or the like (Sll).

On the other hand, the case where reception mode is selected is shown. In the reception processing routine (SC), in addition to the power consumed for motor driving, signal processing, etc., there is power consumption required for printing. The former is proportional to the transmission time, but the latter changes depending on the picture.

The thermal head used for printing is constructed as shown in FIG. 3, in which a large number of heating resistors 1 are arranged in a line.

Generally, the number of resistors is 1728 for A4 size and 2048 for B4 size.

In the figure, only when the strobe pulse b and the latched data C are both Hi, the output of the AND gate 3 becomes Hi, and the transistor 2 is turned on.

In this embodiment, since 'black' corresponds to the Hi level of data, current flows through the heating resistor 1 only in the case of 'black' data.

For example, if the applied voltage vCC is 24 [V] and the resistance value of the heat generating resistor 1 is 1 [kΩ], then 24 [m
A] current flows.

Measurement of "black" data is performed as follows.

Figure 4 shows the flow on the black counter side.Data reception (S1
2) After that, a table search is performed (S13).

Table search is a process of searching for a corresponding run length from received data. Check whether the run length has been determined (S14), and if determined, check whether the run is a black run or not.
It is checked whether it is a white run (S15). If it is a black run, the "black" counter is increased (S16), and if it is a white run, the "black" counter is not changed. Repeat the above process until the final line is reached (517), and the total ``black''
``Calculate the number'' (S18). If all the ``black'' numbers are counted, the number will be huge, so the count may be done in units of 102 or 103.

Returning to Figure 1, the obtained reception time tR and "black"
The remaining battery capacity RW is calculated from the number Bn (S8). If the power consumption per unit time during reception is CWRSC, and the battery capacity consumed per black unit is BW, then RW=FW-tRX XCWRX-BnXBW.

As in the case of sending, the relationship between the remaining power capacity RW and the remaining number of sheets NR8 is determined in advance from a standard manuscript, etc., and then stored in the ROM.
The remaining number of received sheets is determined by storing the data in such a file (SIO).

The determined remaining received number NR is displayed on a liquid crystal display or the like (Sll).

Further, by pressing a designated button, the remaining number of transmission sheets NTx and the remaining number of reception sheets NR8 may be displayed.

Next, processing when the remaining battery capacity RW becomes less than a certain value will be described. In order to reduce power consumption during reception, it is sufficient to reduce the number of lines to be recorded. In facsimile standard mode, approximately 1140 lines are recorded on A4 size paper, but this
(=570 lines), temple (=380 lines), etc., the power required for printing can be reduced. FIG. 5 shows the effect when the number of recording lines is reduced to a temple. Figure 5 (a) is a normal image, (b) is without line number reduction processing,
(c) is the case with line number reduction processing. In (b), the image is interrupted in the middle, whereas in (c), the entire image can be confirmed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the transmission/reception limit number can be confirmed in the room during operation, and even if the battery capacity falls below a certain value while receiving one image, the contents of the received image can be confirmed, so that reliable facsimile transmission is possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of the remaining amount display method according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a discharge characteristic diagram of a CADNICA battery, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of a thermal head, and Fig. 4 is a black number. The counting flowchart, FIG. 5, is an explanatory diagram showing the effect of line number reduction recording according to the present invention. 1: Heat generating resistor, 2: Transistor, 4: Latch circuit,
5; Shift register circuit. Figure 1, Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a facsimile machine using a rechargeable built-in battery, means for measuring facsimile transmission time, means for measuring the number of "blacks" in a received image, A facsimile apparatus comprising: means for determining remaining battery capacity from the number of ", means for determining the number of originals that can be transmitted and received from the remaining battery capacity, and means for displaying the determined number of originals. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the battery capacity falls below a certain value during image reception, the facsimile apparatus performs recording by reducing the number of recording lines to a fraction.