JPH05110795A - How to send and receive image information - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When transmitting and receiving the original screen of an original of a facsimile machine, since data for one page of the original is transmitted and received regardless of the presence or absence of image character information, there is a problem of transmission efficiency and blank area. There was a problem in the effective use of paper resources with the output of recording paper. The present invention suppresses the blank part of the original screen when transmitting,
It is an object of the present invention to improve transmission efficiency and recording paper usage efficiency by suppressing output during reception. [Structure] During transmission, a read image signal including image information is transmitted, the number of continuous white lines is counted, and when the page end is reached, image signals for a plurality of white lines and a page end signal are transmitted. When the reading is detected, the counted white line image signal is transmitted, and at the time of reception, the continuous number of white lines is counted, and the restoration of one page is completed by the detection of the page end signal, and the received image signal is detected. Then the white line is restored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine. When the facsimile machine transmits the character image information written on the paper, even if there is a blank area in the transmitted document, the entire document is subject to transmission, and the facsimile device receives it.
Even if there is a blank portion, it is output as it is on the recording paper.

In the transmission of character image information, avoiding the transmission of a blank portion when the blank portion continues in the latter half of the transmission data, and to the recording paper when the blank portion continues in the latter half of the received data. There is a demand for more efficient transmission processing and effective use of paper resources by eliminating the output of.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of facsimile transmission / reception. FIG. 4 shows the basic process of facsimile transmission / reception. The transmission function of the facsimile device 77 is the scanning photoelectric conversion unit.
71, a signal conversion processing unit 73, a transmission control unit 75,
The reception function is composed of a scan recording conversion unit 72, a signal conversion processing unit 74, and a reception control unit 76.

When the original 70 for transmission is input to the facsimile 77, the scanning photoelectric conversion unit 71 optically scans and reads the image information of the original 70. The image information is read as a pixel by an image sensor such as a CCD, the grayscale information of each pixel is photoelectrically converted, and then binarized to be a digital signal, which is passed to a signal conversion processing unit 73.

The signal conversion processing unit 73 performs the process of determining the position of the significant point on the document screen and the process of reducing the data amount by the run length coding, and the transmission control unit 73 outputs the binary information corresponding to black and white of the document 70. Passed to 75.

The transmission controller 75 sends the binary information to the communication line 55. Next, the reception process will be described. Transmission control unit
76 receives the binary information of the document 70 transmitted from the communication line 55 and transfers it to the signal conversion processing unit 74. The signal conversion processing unit 74 restores the binary information to generate the original image information, and passes it to the scan recording conversion unit 72.
The received image 79 in which the restored image information is recorded on the recording paper is output.

[0007]

When the facsimile machine 77 transmits image information as described above, as shown in the explanatory view of the document sheet surface of FIG. 5, the image information of FIG. 5 (a, b, c) is transmitted. The blank portions 85, 86, 87 which are not present are transmitted as the significant information as in the data portion 82. On the other hand, when the blank portions 85, 86, 87 are received, the blank portions are output on the recording paper. Data part 82-
It is assumed that the blank part 87 surrounded by 1,82-2 is transmitted and restored as significant information, but the transmission and restoration process of other blanks 85,86 is inefficient in transmission due to the blank transmission. There was a problem of waste and waste of paper resources.

It is an object of the present invention to control transmission and restoration depending on whether a blank portion of a document is significant or invalid, to eliminate the output of the blank portion to recording paper at the time of reception, and to improve the transmission efficiency.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention. When transmitting the image signal from which the image information is read or restoring the received image signal from the communication terminal device, the reading is started from the beginning of the page of the transmission document, and the white line counted until the line containing the image information is read. Lines are transmitted as image signals up to the number of white lines that does not exceed a predetermined number (step 1), and the image signal including the image information and read is transmitted (step 2). When reading, the number of consecutive white lines is counted and the end of page or the reading of image information is detected (step 3). When the end of page is detected, image signals for a plurality of white lines and end of page are detected. When the signal is transmitted (step 4) and the reading of the image information is detected, the counted white line image signal is transmitted, and the control is shifted from step 2 (step 5). Control and also receive The number of consecutive white line image signals is counted from the beginning of the received image signal, and the number of white line image signals counted until the image signal containing image information is received is restored to a value not exceeding a predetermined number. (Step 11), the received image signal including the image information is restored (Step 12), and when the image signal of the white line is detected while the image signal including the image information is restored, the number of continuous white lines is detected. And the page end signal or the received image signal is detected (step 1
3) When the page end signal is detected, the restoration of the image signal for one page is finished (step 14), and when the received image signal is detected, the counted white line is restored and the control from step 12 is started. (Step 15).

[0010]

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the embodiment. Figure 2
Is an image reading / scanning unit 1, a binarization processing unit 15, a compression processing unit 3, a line information processing unit 4, a line memory 42, address units 41 and 61, a transmission control unit 5, and a line buffer. 51,5
2, a restoration processing unit 6, a page memory 62, and a recording processing unit 65.

The image reading / scanning section 1 includes a stacker 18 for stacking documents 10 to be transmitted and automatically feeding the documents, and a document detection sensor 11
The recording processing unit 65 includes a recording sheet 60 that uses roll paper, a stepping motor 68, and a print head.
66, a cutter 67, and a recording paper tray 69.

(1) First, an embodiment in the case of transmitting a document will be described. When the document 10 is placed on the stacker 18 and the connection with the destination is established by dialing the telephone number of the destination terminal, the image reading scanning unit 1 is activated. Control unit (not shown)
Under the control of 1, the document detection sensor 11 confirms the presence or absence of the document, and the conveyance of the document 10 is started by the roller mechanism (not shown).

The original 10 is continuously moved to the reading position detected by the reading position sensor 12, is temporarily stopped at the reading position, and thereafter the original 10 is scanned by the CCD sensor 14 for each scanning line.
When the reading position sensor 12 detects the end of the manuscript 10 while the image information is being read, the image reading scanning unit 1 notifies the line information processing unit 4 of the end of the manuscript (one page of the manuscript). End).

The image information read by the CCD sensor 14 is
The signal is photoelectrically converted and output to the binarization processing unit 15. The binarization processing unit 15 converts the input signal into a digital signal and compresses it.
Hand over to. This digitized signal is composed of runs of various lengths of black and white (a series of identical signals is called a run), and the compression processing unit 3 executes the run (white run,
The black run) is subjected to run length encoding for reducing the redundancy, and then stored in the line memory 42.

The line information processing unit 4 reads out the image information from the line memory 42 and checks whether the image information consists of only white runs (called white lines). In the case of a white line, the white line is continuously counted and accumulated in the line buffer 51 until it reaches a predetermined number. When the number of white lines exceeds a predetermined number (for example, the number corresponding to the margin portion at the leading edge of the transmission document), the white lines that are continuously read thereafter are
The line buffer 51 is read and discarded without being accumulated. The discarding of the white line is continued until an image signal (image information in which a black run exists) is detected.

When the image signal is read, the image signal is stored in the line buffer 51. When a white line is detected again while reading the image signal from the line memory 42, the white line is stored in the line buffer 51. The address in the line buffer 51 at this time (called the final transmission address) is stored in the address section 41. Thereafter, the continuously read white lines are accumulated in the line buffer 51 as a significant blank to be transmitted.
After that, when the image reading scanning unit 1 detects the bottom edge of the page of the document 10 by the reading position sensor 12 without reading the image signal, the line information processing unit 4 is notified, and the line information processing unit 4 transmits the address unit 41. The final address is notified to the transmission controller 5.

When the image signal is detected again while the significant blank white line is being read, the address section 41 is cleared and the process returns to the image signal storing process. In the cleared address portion 41, the updated value of the address is set after the image signal storage processing.

Upon receiving the notification of the final address from the line information processing unit 4, the transmission control unit 5 transfers the image information accumulated in the line buffer 51 from the start address to the transmission end address to the communication line 55 as in-page information. Send out. A control unit (not shown) ejects the original 10 to the ejection tray 19.

The result of the transmission processing of the blank portion of the original will be described below with reference to the input / output image explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. When the original of Figure 3 (a1) is input, the data part
82 and blank 85 together with significant space 80 line buffer 51
The blank area 85 is processed as being out of the transmission target, but a white line is inserted so as to create a blank 81 at the bottom of the page, and the significant output image 89 of FIG. 3B is transmitted. It
In the case of inputting the manuscript shown in FIG. 3 (a2), the blank portion 86 is read and discarded, and similarly, the significant spaces 80 and 81 and the data portion 82 are read into the line buffer 51 and transmitted in the form of FIG. 3 (b). ..

In the case of inputting the manuscript shown in FIG. 3 (a3), since the blank portion 87 is processed as a significant blank, it becomes a transmission target together with the significant space 80 and the data portions 82-1 and 82-2. .. (2) Next, a description will be given when the document is received.

The transmission control unit 5 receives the image information transmitted from the communication line 55 into the line buffer 52, and the restoration processing unit 6
Notify to. The restoration processing unit 6 reads the image information stored in the line buffer 52 on a line-by-line basis (the binary data obtained by one scanning line is added with a line end code (EOL)) and receives the image. Check if the information is a white line.

In the case of a white line, the restoration processing unit 6 counts the read white line continuity and restores it as a significant blank until the count reaches a predetermined number, and stores it in the page memory 62.

When the number of white lines exceeds a predetermined number, the restoration processing section 6 discards all white lines continuously read from the line buffer 52 thereafter as invalid blanks. The discarding of the white line is continued until an image signal (image information in which a black run exists) is detected.

When the image signal is read out, it is restored and stored in the page memory 62 (referred to as image signal restoration processing). If a white line is detected while reading an image signal from the line buffer 52, the white line is restored as a significant blank and the page memory 62
Store to. The address of the page memory 62 at this time (called a recording end address) is stored in the address section 61.

Thereafter, the continuously read white lines are stored in the line buffer 52 as significant blanks. After that, when the page end of the received image information is detected without detecting the image signal (based on the code indicating the end of the page), the restoration processing unit 6
Notifies the recording processing section 65 of the recording end address of the address section 61.

When the image signal is detected again while the significant blank white line is being read, the address section 61 is cleared and the process returns to the image signal restoration process. In the cleared address portion 61, the updated value of the address is set after the image signal storage processing.

Upon receiving the notification of the recording end address from the restoration processing unit 6, the recording processing unit 65 sets the image information restored in the page memory 62 from the head address to the recording end address as the received in-page information. Record on the recording paper 60. That is, when the print head 66 records the image information of one line on the recording paper 60, the stepping motor 68 feeds the next one line, so that the recording paper 60 is fed stepwise and recording for each line is performed. When the recording is completed and the recording of the in-page information is completed, the recording paper 60 is cut by the cutter 67 and discharged to the recording paper tray 69.

As a result of the above reception processing, FIG. 3 (a1, a2, a3)
The input image of the document shown in FIG.
The restoration process when input is performed via will be described below. That is, when the received image information is as shown in FIG. 3 (a1), the blank portion 85 is stored in the page memory 62, but the recording processing unit 65 uses the page memory up to the recording end address notified from the restoration processing unit 6.
Only the data portion 82 including the significant space 80 is output on the recording paper 60 to record the restoration information in the area 62. When the received image information is as shown in FIG. 3 (a2), the blank portion 86 is read out and not stored in the page memory 62, and the blank portion 86 is not output to the recording paper.

When the received image information is as shown in FIG. 3 (a3), the entire input image of the document is output on the recording paper.

[0030]

By controlling the transmission and the restoration depending on the significance / invalidity of the blank portion of the original, it is possible to eliminate the output of the blank portion to the recording paper at the time of reception and to improve the transmission efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an input / output image of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of conventional facsimile transmission.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the original paper surface.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is an image reading / scanning section, 10 and 70 are originals,
11 is a document detection sensor, 12 is a reading position sensor, 14 is a CCD sensor, 15 is a binarization processing section, 18 is a stacker, 19 is a discharge tray, 21 is an address flag, 3 is a compression processing section, 4 is a line information processing section. ,
41 and 61 are address parts, 42 is line memory,
5 is a transmission control unit, 51 and 52 are line buffers, 6 is a restoration processing unit, 60 is a recording paper, 62 is a page memory, 65 is a recording processing unit, 66 is a print head, 67 is a cutter, 68 is a stepping motor, 69 Is a recording paper tray, 71 is a scanning photoelectric conversion unit, 72 is a scanning recording conversion unit, 73 and 74 are signal conversion processing units,
75 is a transmission control unit, 76 is a reception control unit,
79 is the received image 80, 81 is significant space, 82, 82-1, 82-2
Indicates a data portion, 85, 86, 87 indicate blank portions, 89 indicates a significant output image, and S1 to S5 and S11 to S15 indicate processing steps.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When a communication terminal device for transmitting an image signal in which image information is read or for restoring a received image signal is started, reading is started from the beginning of the page of a transmission document and a line including image information is read. The number of white lines counted up to is transmitted as an image signal up to the number of white lines that does not exceed a predetermined number (step 1), and the image signal read including image information is transmitted (step 2) to read the image information. At this time, when the white line is read, the number of consecutive white lines is counted and the end of page or the reading of image information is detected (step 3). When the end of page is detected, a plurality of white lines are detected. When the image signal and the page end signal are transmitted (step 4) and the reading of the image information is detected, the counted white line image signal is transmitted and the control is shifted from step 2 (step 4). As in step 5) When receiving, the number of consecutive white line image signals is counted from the beginning of the received image signal, and the number of white line image signals counted until the image signal containing image information is received is a value that does not exceed a predetermined number. Are restored (step 11), the received image signal containing the image information is restored (step 12), and when the image signal containing the image information is being restored and the white line image signal is detected, The number of continuous lines is counted and the page end signal or the received image signal is detected (step 13). When the page end signal is detected, the restoration of the image signal for one page is ended (step 14), and the received image is received. When a signal is detected, the counted white line is restored, and control is transferred from step 12 (step 1
5), A method of transmitting and receiving image information characterized by the above.