JPH04296150A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the facsimile equipment using a control section with full of flexibility by which the revision of software copes with the revision of a function specification of each function section of the facsimile equipment. CONSTITUTION:A slave control section 32 formed as an LSI is connected to a socket 34 of master control section 31 formed as an LSI by using pins 35 for the integration. The slave control section 32 uses a program writer provided separately to write in a microprogram in matching with the function specification of the model and is operated integrally with the master control section 31. When the control section 32 is used for a facsimile equipment with a new function specification, the program is rewritten or a slave control section in which a new program is written is used to cope with the revision of the facsimile equipment.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine for transmitting and receiving image data.

0002

[Prior Art] A facsimile machine can send and receive documents and figures as image data as they are.
It has become widespread and is being used even in ordinary households. Therefore, there are various forms of usage, and of course,
There is a growing need for a model suitable for each. For example, a model with a large usable document size requires a sensor with a large number of pixels in the document reading section, and a model with a high communication speed requires a drive motor with a fast rotation start-up. Furthermore, in order to display a large amount of character information, an LCD (liquid crystal display) with a large number of character lines is required. Conventionally, for these variations, customization was required to meet the functional specifications of each individual function, such as RL (run length) conversion, drive motor pulse control, recording control, and LCD (liquid crystal display) control. L.S.
They were dealing with the situation by combining I and controlling it comprehensively.

[0003] Therefore, the development cost increases and the development period becomes long, which poses a problem in producing a wide variety of facsimile machines.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems.When the functional specifications of each functional part of a facsimile machine are changed in detail, the corresponding parts can be directly modified by changing the hardware. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine with a highly flexible control unit that can be handled by changing the software.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a facsimile machine including a slave control unit including a ROM and an MPU, at least a portion of which is a writable microprogram storage area, and a ROM that stores programs other than the microprogram. and a main control section including a CPU, the main control section and the slave control section are each configured with one chip, and the slave control section is detachably attached to the main control section. It is something.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a line, 2 is a line control unit, 3 is a dial unit, 4 is an operation unit, 5 is a display unit, 6 is a document reading unit, 7 is a recording unit, 8 is a drive unit, and 10 is an integrated LS
The main control section 20, which is integrated into an integrated circuit, is a slave control section which is also integrated into an LSI.

The main control section 10 includes an I/O control section 11, a timer 12, a modem section 13, a microprogram sequencer 14, a ROM section 15, a RAM section 16, a CPU 17,
The slave control section 20 is composed of a ROM section 21, a RAM section 22, a microprogram sequencer 23, an MPU 24, a data bus 25, etc.

The configuration of the ROM section 21 will be described later, but at least a portion thereof is of a writable type, for example, an electrically writable type, and may be of an electrically writable and erasable type. Of course, other methods such as ultraviolet writing may also be used.

The main control section 10 controls most of the functions of the facsimile machine by operating the operation section 4 and the like. The operating state can be displayed on the display unit 5 as appropriate. The line control section 2 connects to the line 1 in response to a call from the dial section 3. The document reading section 6 reads the document set in the facsimile machine, and based on the selection of the operation mode from the operation section 4, it may transmit the document at the same time as the reading, or it may store the read data in the RAM section 16. You can also send the message after it has been sent. Copying can also be performed by recording data read by the document reading unit 6 in the recording unit 7. The recording unit 7 records the received image data on recording paper, and the drive unit 8 records the original when reading the original.
During recording, the drive motor that transports the recording paper is driven.

The modulation/demodulation section 13 is controlled by the CPU 17,
Performs modulation and demodulation of MR/MH codes. Digital signal processor (DSP), oversampling A/
D-converter technology allows programmable data rates from 300 to 9600 b/s.

Conventionally, the CPU of the main control section performs all operations, including the basic operations as described above. Therefore, there was a limit to the operating speed. In addition, since the main control unit is configured based on the facsimile machine specifications,
Due to the change in model, it was necessary to change the main control unit.

[0012] In the present invention, when the functional specifications of each model are changed, the LSI of each functional section is changed.
Instead of changing to a different one, a slave control section is provided to handle changes in the specifications of each functional section, and functions that require particularly high-speed processing can be handled by the slave control section's microprogram. The place has its characteristics.

In this embodiment, (1) the number of display character lines of the display section 5, the number of characters per line, (2) the number of pixels of the reading sensor of the original reading section 6, the scanning matrix address, (2) the recording section 7
The number of pixels of the recording head, the scanning matrix address, (1) the drive method of the drive section 8, and (2) the refresh of the dynamic RAM are assigned to the slave control section 20.

If a control procedure is defined for each of these requirements, the functional specifications will be determined depending on which control procedure is set, so this control procedure can be implemented as a microprogram in the RO.
The information is written in the M section 21, and the microprogram sequencer 23 and MPU 24 control each functional section according to this content, thereby making it possible to perform a predetermined operation.

On the other hand, the main control unit 10 is in charge of complex processing, such as (1) facsimile code encoding processing and decoding processing, (2) communication control, and (2) operation analysis.

Furthermore, a digital signal processor (DSP) for realizing a modem is incorporated.

Signals are transmitted between the main control section 10 and the slave control section 20 via the data bus 18, but within the slave control section, signals are transmitted via the data bus 25, so that the MPU 24 is connected to the data bus 25. 18 is not necessary, and it is possible to operate both control sections at higher speed.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the control section according to the present invention. In the figure, 31 is an LSI constituting the main control section;
32 is an LSI constituting a slave control section, 33 is a pin of LSI 31, 34 is a socket provided in LSI 31, 35
is a pin of LSI32. The LSI 31 is an LSI version of the main control unit 10 shown in FIG.
1 is an LSI version of the slave control section 20 shown in FIG. The LSI 32 is composed of an electrically writable ROM. The LSI 32 is connected to a socket portion 34 provided on the LSI 31 through a pin 35 and is integrated.

A separately provided program writer writes a microprogram into the LSI 32 in accordance with the functional specifications of the model, and operates the LSI 32 integrally with the LSI 31. When used in a facsimile machine with new functional specifications, the program of the slave control section can be rewritten to configure a new control section. Of course, another LSI 32 may be replaced and used.

It is convenient if the LSI 32 is of an electrically programmable and erasable type (EEPROM), and may be integrated into the LSI 31.

[0021]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, each time a facsimile machine with new functional specifications is developed, a new custom LSI is not required, and the program of the slave control section can be rewritten. Furthermore, by installing a slave control section into which a new program is written in the main control section, it is possible to use the same main control section to support many types of devices.

Furthermore, since the load on the CPU of the main control section is lightened, it is possible to speed up the control of other functions, and since the microprogram control function is integrated into the LSI, it is possible to reduce the burden on the I/O control section, etc. This also has the effect of eliminating wiring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a control section in the facsimile machine of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Line 4 Operation section 5 Display section 6 Original reading section 7 Recording section 10 Main control section 20 Slave control section 14 Micro program sequencer 15 RO
M section 17 CPU 18 Data bus 21 ROM section 23 Micro program sequencer 24 MP
U25 data bus

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A slave control unit including a ROM and an MPU, at least a part of which is a writable microprogram storage area, and a main control unit including a ROM and a CPU storing programs other than the microprogram, 1. A facsimile machine, wherein a main control section and a slave control section are each constructed of one chip, and the slave control section is detachably attached to the main control section.