JPH04238461A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the wasteful use of a recording paper. CONSTITUTION:CPU is provided with a judgement function judging whether reception data for one line, which is read into a line memory 41, is whole white data or not and a function counting how many white lines continue. When the lines with only white data continue for a prescribed number, the gate of an AND circuit 45 is held in an opened state and the rotation of a platen roller 43 is stopped until the line of colored data is read from the line memory.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine suitable primarily for family use.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, facsimile machines have become widespread at a remarkable rate, and it is estimated that the facsimile machines will sooner or later enter the age of home use. By the way, in the era of home use,
As facsimile machines become more and more compact, it is expected that the roll paper used as receiving paper will have to have a short overall length of about 10 m to 20 m. For this reason, in the current recording method used in facsimile machines, the roll paper must be replaced frequently, which is both time-consuming and uneconomical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these points, it is an object of the present invention to provide an innovative facsimile device that enables economical use of received paper.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention includes: memory means for reading received data line by line; printing means for reading received data line by line from the memory means and printing it; A sub-scan feeding means for sub-scanning the received paper every time one line is printed, a white data determining means for determining whether all the lines to be printed next are white data, and a line containing only white data. white data line count means for counting the number of consecutive lines of white data, and when the number of lines of only white data continues for a predetermined number of consecutive lines, until a line of colored data other than white data is read out from the memory means. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control means for controlling the printing means and the sub-scanning feeding means to stop.

[0005]

According to the present invention, when a predetermined number of consecutive lines of white data continue, printing and paper feeding are stopped until a line of colored data other than white data is read out from the memory means. Therefore, unnecessary blank space on the received paper can be eliminated and only colored data such as characters can be printed. In the case of character data, there are some lines of white data between one character line and the next character line. In this case, unless white data is recorded, the recorded document will be extremely difficult to read. Therefore, even if white data lines continue, paper is fed and white data is recorded up to a predetermined number of lines, which is about the number of white lines between rows.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile machine as an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a line control (NCU) connected to the telephone line L, 2 is a modem that performs modulation and demodulation, 3 is a codec that decodes the received signal from the line and encodes the transmitted signal to be sent to the line, 4 is a printer that prints the received signal after decoding.
As shown in the figure, there is a line memory 41 that stores one line of received signals, a thermal head 42 that reads and prints the contents of the line memory, a platen roller 43 that presses the received paper against the thermal head 42 and feeds it intermittently one line at a time. It is provided with a stepping motor 44 for driving the roller, and an AND circuit 45 for controlling whether or not the contents of the line memory 41 are output to the thermal head 42 according to a command from the CPU.

[0007] 5 is a scanner for reading the transmitted original;
6 is an operation unit such as a numeric keypad. This embodiment is provided with a switch SW1 for selecting whether to stop printing and paper feeding when there is a line containing only white data. 7 is a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU),
It performs facsimile transmission and reception control based on ITT recommendations and controls such as stopping printing and paper feeding when there are a predetermined number of consecutive lines containing only white data.

FIGS. 3 to 5 are flowcharts showing control operations performed by the CPU 7 at the time of reception. In the figure, n
is a counter provided in the CPU 7, which increments the count value by one line according to the number of lines when the line data read from the line memory is only white data and when there are consecutive lines containing only white data. do. m is
This is the number of lines that is used as a standard for determining how many lines of white data must continue before printing and paper feeding is stopped, and is set to a number that is greater than or equal to the space between lines of characters, for example. Note that it is desirable that the value of m can be changed using the operating section.

The printing operation will be explained with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 to 5. First, in Figure 3, when there is an incoming call (#
1), determine the state of switch SW1 (#2). If this switch selects normal printing, the process advances to #3 and normal printing is performed. On the other hand, lines with only white data are printed,
If it is selected not to feed the paper, the operations from #4 onwards are performed. That is, in this case, one line of received data is read into the line memory (#4), and it is determined whether that line is full of white data (#5). If not only white data but also colored data is present, that line is printed (#6) and sub-scanning is performed by one line (#7).
. On the other hand, if it is determined in #5 that the line contains only white data, the count value n of the counter is set to 1 (#10
), performs sub-scanning feed for one line (#11). At this time, if the page break or end control signal is not received (#1
2, #13), the process proceeds to FIG. 4 and reads the next line of received data (#14). Then, it is determined whether the data on this line is only white data (#15), and if it is only white data, the count value n is further increased by 1 (#16)
. Thereafter, when the line data read into the line memory contains only white data, the sub-scan feed for one line is performed and the count value of the counter is increased by one. Then, when the count value n eventually matches the predetermined value m (#
17), unless a page break or end control signal is received (#
18, #19), and stop the sub-scanning feed (#20). Thereafter, as long as the received data consisting only of white data is read into the line memory, the sub-scanning feed will not be performed (#21→#2
2 → #24 → #25 → #20). Thereafter, when a line of colored data is read (#22), the count value n of the counter is reset (#23), and then that colored line is printed (#6). In this way, every time there are m consecutive lines of only white data, paper feeding of the received paper is stopped until colored data is read, thereby preventing wasteful use of paper.

0010

As explained above, according to the present invention, when a predetermined number of lines containing only white data are sent in succession, until colored lines are sent thereafter,
Since printing and paper feeding are stopped, it is possible to record the received paper so that only valid data is printed with a small margin, making it possible to use the received paper economically and contributing to the miniaturization of facsimile machines.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer.

FIG. 3 is 1/3 of a flowchart explaining a reception operation.

FIG. 4 shows the middle third of the flowchart.

FIG. 5 shows the second half of the flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 Printer 6　　　　　Operation section 41 Line memory 42 Thermal head 43 Platen roller 44 Stepping motor 45 AND circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A memory means for reading received data line by line, a printing means for reading and printing the received data line by line from the memory means, and a sub-scanning feeder for feeding the received paper in a sub-scanning direction each time one line is printed. white data determining means for determining whether all lines to be printed next are white data; and white data line number counting means for counting how many consecutive lines of only white data are present. control means for controlling the printing means and the sub-scanning feeding means to stop when a predetermined number of consecutive lines of only white data continue until a line of colored data other than white data is read out from the memory means; A facsimile device comprising: