JPH05136967A - Facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize increment of the communication procedure time according to the number of transfer originals and to shorten the entire communication time. CONSTITUTION:While encoding picture data from a reading part 2 as a high- speed signal to be used for the ECM communication by an encoding part 3, an original attribute signal of the original to be object of reading scanning and encoding processing is generated as a high-speed signal by an original attribute signal generation part 4. The encoded picture data and original attribute information are processed into the prescribed format for high-speed signal transmission through an ECM buffer 5, and the picture data of the transfer original of the prescribed number of sheets and its original attribute signal are contained in the high-speed signal to be used for the ECM communication, and transmitted continuously in the maximum information capacity unit of the high-speed signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to an ECM (Error Correcti
on Mode) In a facsimile machine that supports communication,
In particular, the present invention relates to a facsimile communication method useful for shortening communication time when transmitting a plurality of originals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows an example of a control procedure of a conventional general facsimile communication system based on CCITT recommendation.

In the figure, PIX is image data corresponding to a transmission original of one page, and in this example, transmission of four pages of original is attempted from the transmission side (TX) to the reception side (RX). Has been.

After the transmission of the PIX of the first page is completed on the transmission side, if there is a next page, PPS / MPS is sent to the reception side, and after confirming the reception of the MCF from the reception side, Send the PIX for the second page.

Further, when there is no original to be sent next at the time when the transmission of the PIX of the second page is completed, PPS / EOM is sent from the sending side to the receiving side, and the MC from the receiving side is sent.
Wait for F's response. Here, after the MCF, N from the receiving side
When the SF / DIS is received, the PIX of the third page corresponding to the request is further transmitted.

After the completion of the transmission of the PIX of the third page, PPS / EOP for instructing the termination of the procedure is sent to the receiving side, and the DCN is returned after waiting for the MCF response from the receiving side. To disconnect the line.

As described above, in the conventional facsimile communication system, the communication procedure by the procedure signal of 300 bps (procedure by CCITT recommendation) is required every time one page of the original is transmitted.

That is, according to this conventional facsimile communication system, after each one-page original has been transmitted, a procedure signal of either PPS / MPS or PPS / EOM is sent to the receiving side, and then the reception is performed. The original of the next page could be transmitted only after recognizing the MCF response from the side. At that time, if the PPS / MPS is transmitted and the next image data is transmitted, the next image data is transmitted. It took about 2 seconds, and it took about 5 seconds to send PPS / EOM and send the next image data.

In the conventional communication method in which such a communication procedure is carried out every time one page of a document is transmitted, when a plurality of documents are sent, the communication procedure time (procedure) is compared with the actual transmission time of the document. The ratio of the time required for signal communication) has increased, and the communication time as a whole, which is the sum of the document transmission time and the communication procedure time, has been unavoidable.

For example, according to the function level of recent facsimile machines, one standard original can be sent in 6 seconds at a transmission rate of 14.4 kbps, but the time spent for the communication procedure at this time (2 seconds) ) Is included, the total communication time when transmitting one standard original document is 8 seconds, and a little less than 30% of the total communication time is required for communication procedure control.

Such an increase in the ratio of the communication procedure time to the actual transmission time of the original document promotes an increase in the total communication time, and this tendency becomes more remarkable as the transmitted original document becomes simpler and the number of transmitted sheets increases. It has become

[0012]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional facsimile communication system, if the communication procedure (communication of procedure signal) is not executed every time one original is transmitted, the next page can be transmitted. In particular, when transmitting a plurality of originals, there is a problem that the ratio of the communication procedure time to the actual transmission time of the originals increases, and the overall communication time tends to increase.

The present invention eliminates this problem, minimizes the increase in communication procedure time according to the number of originals to be transmitted, and total communication is the sum of the transmission time of the originals only and the communication procedure time. It is an object to provide a facsimile communication method that contributes to shortening the time.

[0014]

According to the facsimile communication method of the present invention, image data is accommodated in a block unit in a high-speed signal whose transmission speed is faster than that of a procedure signal, and a transmission error is detected on the receiving side. In a facsimile apparatus compatible with ECM communication in which block image data is retransmitted from the transmission side by the high speed signal, image data from a reading unit capable of continuously reading and scanning a plurality of originals is encoded as the high speed signal in the reading order. Encoding means, an original attribute signal generating means for generating an original attribute signal of an original to be processed based on the processing conditions of the reading scanning and encoding processing, the image data encoded as a high speed signal, and A transmission format control means for assembling the document attribute information into a prescribed format for high-speed signal transmission is provided, and a predetermined number of sheets are sent. The image data and the document attribute signal of the document taken up in high-speed signal used in the ECM communication, and transmits continuously the accommodation data to the maximum information volume units of the high-speed signal.

[0015]

As is well known, in ECM communication, image data is incorporated into a high-speed signal having a transmission speed higher than that of a procedure signal and transmitted in block units, and a transmission error was detected on the receiving side during this transmission. In this case, the image data of the block in which the transmission error has occurred can be retransmitted to the receiving side by the high speed signal.

The present invention intends to incorporate image data of a plurality of pages of a document into a high-speed signal used in this ECM communication and to continuously transmit the data, and in terms of hardware, a control capable of supporting the ECM communication. In addition to the functions, a control function of performing scanning and scanning of the second document immediately after the reading of one document is completed, and the document width and scanning of the document to be read and encoded. An original attribute signal generating means for generating an original attribute signal including at least a linear density and an encoding method, and a transmission format control means for assembling the encoded image data together with the original attribute signal as a high speed signal transmission format are provided. Be done.

In the actual communication, the reading unit and the encoding unit read the first page of the document and encode the image data, and immediately read the document of the second and subsequent pages and the image obtained by the reading. Encode the data. On the other hand, the manuscript attribute signal generating means generates a manuscript attribute signal corresponding to the image data of each transmission manuscript in accordance with the processing conditions of the reading scanning and encoding processing.

Next, in the transmission format control means,
The encoded image data of each original is incorporated in the above-mentioned high-speed signal in a prescribed format together with each original attribute signal, and the transmitting unit converts the high-speed signal in that format into an HDLC frame and transmits it to the receiving side.

Here, the maximum information capacity of the high speed signal is NUL.
It is specified for one L page (composed of a plurality of partial pages), and the transmission format control means uses this N pages.
Within the range of the information capacity of the UL page, the image data of each original document and its original attribute signal are incorporated into the high speed signal.

When the generated high-speed signal [high-speed control signal (original attribute signal) + image data] is less than the data amount for one NULL page, 300 bps after the transmission of the high-speed signal corresponding to the first original is completed. Then, the transmission of high-speed signals corresponding to the second and subsequent originals is continued without shifting to the procedure.

On the other hand, when the generated high-speed signal is equal to or larger than the data amount for one NULL page, the transmission format control means sets the second NULL page, and the rest of the data is stored in the required amount of partial data. Use page to accommodate.

Then, after the transmission of the first NULL page is completed, a predetermined procedure signal (PPS / NULL) is sent to the receiving side, and following this procedure signal, the second NULL page is changed to the first NULL page. Send as well.

As described above, according to the present invention, the image data of a plurality of originals are accommodated in the high-speed signal for ECM communication together with the original attribute information, and the image data in the high-speed signal is set in units of the information capacity of NULL pages. Since communication is continuously performed, the communication procedure required to send the manuscript within the number of pages that can fit in a NULL page is only the communication procedure for one NULL page, and this kind of communication procedure is applied to the manuscript of each page. Compared to the conventional method that is performed every time the image data is transmitted, the time spent in the communication procedure can be significantly saved, which contributes to the reduction of the entire communication time.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a facsimile apparatus to which a facsimile communication system of the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 1 is a control section for controlling communication control and operation control of the entire apparatus, 2 is a reading section for reading an original, and 3 is a reading section. An encoding unit 4 for encoding the image data of the original document read by the reading unit 2 as a high-speed signal for ECM communication includes an original document document width, a linear density, an encoding method, etc. of the original document to be read and encoded. A document attribute signal generation unit 5 for generating a document attribute signal as a high-speed signal for ECM communication is an ECM for temporarily storing a high-speed signal for ECM communication given from the encoding unit 3 and the document attribute signal generation unit 4. Buffer, 6 is ECM
It is a transmission unit for converting the high-speed signal accumulated in the buffer 5 into an HDLC frame and transmitting it to the line.

This facsimile apparatus of the present invention has a functional configuration compatible with ECM communication, and its communication system is as follows.
It is characterized in that the image data of a plurality of pages of documents are accommodated within the allowable information amount in the high-speed signal for ECM communication, and this is continuously transmitted.

As is well known, in ECM communication, the amount of information referred to as a NULL page is the maximum unit for the above-mentioned high-speed signal, and image data is accommodated in a plurality of information areas referred to as partial pages and transmitted in block units. With
When a transmission error is detected on the receiving side during the transmission, the image data of the block having the transmission error is retransmitted in the unit of the partial page to realize communication with a small transmission error.

In the facsimile communication system of the present invention, image data of a plurality of pages of originals are stored by utilizing each partial page in a high speed signal (NULL page) used in the ECM communication, and this is used as the information amount of the NULL page. It is intended to continuously transmit in units.

FIG. 2 conceptually illustrates the structure of a high speed signal according to the facsimile communication system of the present invention.
As is clear from the figure, this high-speed signal is NULL.
The information field for one page is divided and used by a plurality of partial pages (two partial pages in this example).

Although it depends on the number of originals to be transmitted or the amount of image data, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the first partial page accommodates a little less than three pages of image data of the original to be transmitted. The image data of a little less than two pages of the transmission document is stored in the second partial page that follows.

Here, the image data at the beginning of the second partial page is image data following the image data at the rear end of the first partial page, and in the case of the example shown in FIG. 2, one NULL page is displayed. In addition, image data corresponding to a 4-page document is added.

As described above, when the image data of a plurality of originals to be transmitted are accommodated in a NULL page by using a predetermined number of partial pages, the original attributes of the originals are added to the beginning of the image data of each original. Signals are also stored together.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the original attribute signal is generated by the original attribute signal generating section 4 in accordance with the scanning of the original in the reading section 2 and the encoding processing in the encoding section 3. The contents include at least the document width of the document to be read and scanned, the linear density relating to the read and scanning, and the like.

Here, based on the communication system of the present invention, in order to continuously transmit the image data of a plurality of originals by one NULL page without confusion, the image of a plurality of originals is printed on the one NULL page. When accommodating the data and the original attribute signal, it is necessary to make clear the distinction between the image data of each original on the NULL page and the original attribute signal.

As a countermeasure against this, in the present invention, for example, the image data of the consecutive leaf pages of the original data which are stored in the original attribute signal of the image data of the respective originals are provided with the data indicating the length of the attribute signal. So that it can be distinguished from.

One NULL page having such a structure of the information field can be treated in the communication procedure for ECM communication in the same manner as the communication procedure for the image data of one page of the original document during non-ECM communication. it can.

For example, when transmitting only one NULL page, PPS / EOP is sent at the end of transmission of the one NULL page, and then MCF from the receiving side is sent.
It is possible to execute the DCN (line disconnection) process after confirming the reception of the.

When there is a series of data that cannot be accommodated in one NULL page, this data is divided into two or more NULL pages and accommodated, and the first NU
At the end of transmission of LL page, PPS / NULL is sent out,
Then, it is possible to deal with it by confirming the reception of the MCF from the receiving side and continuing the transmission of the second and subsequent NULL pages.

Based on this premise, the communication operation of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to which the communication system of the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the high-speed signal having the contents shown in FIG. 2 and the sequence control procedure shown in FIG. ..

First, when there are plural originals to be transmitted,
After setting the original at the reading position, the control unit 1 activates the reading unit 2 based on the transmission start command, and continuously reads and scans the set original.

At the same time, the control unit 1 activates the encoding unit 3, and sequentially encodes the image data obtained from the reading unit 2 by the reading scan as a high speed signal for the ECM communication.

Here, the control unit 1 includes the document attribute signal generation unit 4
Is instructed to create a document attribute signal, and at that time, the reading scanning and encoding unit 3 in the reading unit 2
The document attribute signal generation unit 4 is also notified of together with the processing conditions of the encoding processing in.

The document attribute signal generation unit 4 is activated by the above-mentioned instruction from the control unit 1, and subsequently, based on the processing condition given from the control unit 1, the document width of the document to be the scanning target and the scanning of the scanning. The original attribute signal including at least the linear density and the encoding mode is the above E
It is generated as a high-speed signal for CM communication.

The image data encoded as a high speed signal by the encoding unit 3 is then temporarily stored in the ECM buffer 5 to generate a high speed signal format (see FIG. 2) according to the communication system of the present invention. It

On the other hand, at the same time, the original attribute signal generated by the original attribute signal generator 4 is converted into a high-speed signal corresponding to the image data output from the encoder 3 by the ECM buffer 5.
Transferred to.

Here, the control unit 1 creates a high-speed signal (NULL page) for ECM communication while sequentially reading the image data of one or more originals accumulated in the ECM buffer 5 and these original attribute signals. To do.

If the image data of the originals to be transmitted cannot be accommodated in one NULL page due to the number of originals to be transmitted, the control unit 1 prepares a second NULL page, and In addition, the image data that cannot be stored in the first sheet is accommodated while setting a required partial page.

The high-speed signal created in this way is sent to the transmitter 6
Then, the control unit 1 sends an HDLC frame to the other device, and at this time, the control unit 1 sends the NSF sent from the other device before starting the transmission of the first partial page in the first NULL page.・ Check the capability of this partner based on DIS.

Here, if it is confirmed that the partner machine also has a function corresponding to the communication system of the present invention, 300 bp
Using the procedure signal of s, that is, NSS / DCS, the transmission speed to be set later and the communication method of the present invention are notified to the partner device.

Subsequently, the control section 1 sends a training signal (TCF) to the partner machine, confirms the response of the CFR from the partner machine to this training signal, and starts transmitting image data (PIX). .. not to mention,
According to the communication system of the present invention, the PIX corresponds to a high-speed signal for ECM communication and has the format shown in FIG.

At the start of transmission of the high-speed signal for the PIX, that is, the ECM, the control unit 1 first obtains a high-speed signal in the format shown in FIG. As the contents of the first partial page of the page, the document attribute signal and the image data regarding the first transmitted document are sequentially arranged in the ECM buffer 5.
Control to send to. Then, the transmitter 6 uses the ECM.
The stored information in the buffer 5 is read out in the order of storage, and this is converted into an HDLC frame and sent to the line.

Subsequently, the control unit 1 also performs the same control for the second document, generates the document attribute signal and the image data in accordance with the reading and coding process, and outputs each data in the partial page. It is sent to the ECM buffer 5 so as to be sent immediately after the image data of the first original document. Similarly, the transmission unit 6 also reads the accumulated information in the ECM buffer 5 in the order of accumulation, converts this into an HDLC frame, and sends it to the line.

By performing such control for all the transmission originals, regarding the high-speed signal transmitted from the transmission unit 6, the content of the first partial page of the first NULL page is the first page at the beginning. It is possible to obtain a format (see FIG. 2) in which the document attribute signal and the image data of the transmission document are accommodated, and then the document attribute signal and the image data of the second and subsequent transmission documents are accommodated in order.

Here, although the number of partial pages constituting one NULL page naturally has an upper limit, a document is transmitted with an amount of data that cannot be accommodated even if all the partial pages corresponding to the upper limit are used. Of course, it is possible.

In this case, the control unit 1 prepares the second and subsequent NULL pages corresponding to the data amount, and
The image data that cannot be stored in the first sheet is accommodated while setting the required amount of partial pages.

One or more NULL pages generated by this method are transmitted to the partner device according to the following communication procedure in the ECM communication control procedure (see FIG. 3) related to the transmission.

For example, when only one NULL page is transmitted, PPS / EOP is sent at the end of transmission of the one NULL page, and then the MCF from the partner machine is transmitted.
After confirming the reception, the DCN (line disconnection) process is executed.

Further, two or more nulls generated for the amount of data that cannot be accommodated in one null page.
When transmitting a page, a method of transmitting PPS / NULL at the end of transmission of the first NULL page, then confirming reception of MCF from the partner device and transmitting the next NULL page is the final NULL method. Repeat until the page has been transmitted.

Thus, in the communication system of the present invention,
It is possible to continuously transmit image data of a plurality of originals using a high-speed signal related to ECM communication in the maximum value of partial pages, that is, in units of information amount of NULL pages.

As described above, in the communication system of the present invention, a predetermined number of NULL pages are prepared according to the image data amount of the original to be transmitted, and each of these NULL pages is continuously transmitted through the PPS / NULL communication procedure. One null
As described above, the page can accommodate image data of a plurality of originals within the allowable information capacity.

Further, in the present invention, the communication procedure of PPS / NULL or PPS / EOP is carried out every time the transmission of the NULL page containing the image data of a plurality of originals is completed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, one NULL
Until the page transmission is completed, even if the image data of a plurality of originals are contained in the page, it is not necessary to repeat the transmission procedure of 300 bps each time the image data of each original is transmitted. That is clear.

That is, according to the present invention, if the number of originals that can be accommodated in a NULL page is such that a plurality of originals are continuously transmitted in one communication procedure (PPS.NULL or PPS.
EOP) can be processed, and the time required for the communication procedure is greatly reduced compared to the conventional method in which a procedure signal (PPS / MPS or PPS / EOM) needs to be communicated for each image data of each document. It becomes possible to do.

Further, the reduction of the time involved in the communication procedure also contributes to the reduction of the overall communication time, and in particular, a remarkable effect is obtained in the transmission when the number of originals to be transmitted is large and the contents of the originals are simple. Can be obtained.

For example, assuming a case where 10 originals each having a transmission time of image data of 6 seconds at 14.4 kbps are transmitted, the total time required for the communication procedure is 10 in the past.
× 2 seconds = 20 seconds, and the total communication time is about 6
It took x10 + 20 = 80 seconds.

On the other hand, in the case of the communication system of the present invention, 1
Assuming that the transmission time for one NULL page at 4.4 kbps is 47 seconds, the actual transmission time for the ten originals is 60 seconds. Therefore, two NULL pages are required to transmit the ten originals. You will need it.

In this case, the communication procedure relating to the transmission of these two NULL pages is PPS.NULL and PPS.EO.
2 times for P, and the time required to exchange the procedure signal is 2 × 2
= Only 4 seconds is required.

Since the transmission end time of the second NULL page is 60-47 = 13 seconds, the total communication time including the time of the above communication procedure is 47 + 13 + 4 = 6.
It becomes 4 seconds, and it can be seen that the reduction of the communication time of the procedure signal is extremely important for shortening the entire communication time.

[0068]

As described above, according to the facsimile communication system of the present invention, image data of a plurality of originals to be transmitted in a high speed signal used in ECM communication is accommodated together with these original attribute signals, and these plural data are stored. NULL, which is the maximum information capacity for one transmission of the high-speed signal, for the image data of one document
Since pages are sent continuously as a unit, 1
The communication procedure for transmitting the image data of a plurality of originals contained in one NULL page is only one communication procedure defined for the transmission of the one NULL page.
Compared to the normal method that requires a communication procedure for each document, the communication procedure time can be shortened, which can contribute to the reduction of the communication time as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data image entering each partial page of a high-speed signal used in the facsimile communication system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sequence control diagram showing an example of a communication procedure to which the facsimile communication system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a sequence control diagram showing an example of a communication procedure according to a conventional facsimile communication system of this type.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Control Section 2 Reading Section 3 Encoding Section 4 Original Attribute Signal Generation Section 5 ECM Buffer 6 Transmission Section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. The image data is accommodated in a block unit in a high-speed signal whose transmission speed is higher than that of the procedure signal and is transmitted.
In a facsimile apparatus compatible with ECM communication in which image data of a block in which a transmission error is detected on the receiving side is retransmitted by the high-speed signal from the transmitting side, image data from a reading unit capable of continuously reading and scanning a plurality of originals is transmitted. Encoding means for encoding as the high speed signal in the reading order, and original attribute signal generating means for generating the original attribute signal of the original document to be processed as the high speed signal based on the processing conditions of the reading scanning and encoding processing. And a transmission format control means for assembling the image data encoded as a high-speed signal and the document attribute information thereof into a prescribed format for high-speed signal transmission. The ECM
A facsimile communication system, characterized by accommodating in a high-speed signal used for communication, and continuously transmitting the accommodated data in units of the maximum information capacity of the high-speed signal. 2. The maximum information capacity of a high speed signal is set as one NULL page that can be divided into a plurality of partial pages, and one transmission procedure dedicated to the high speed signal is required for each transmission of the NULL page. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The document attribute signal is constituted by an information element including at least a document width of a document to be read and scanned, a scanning line density of the read and scan, and an encoding system of image data obtained by the read and scan. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: