JPH05167828A - Image communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To refuse the reception of image data arbitrarily based on a communication cost in displaying the communication cost at a reception side. CONSTITUTION:Image data stored in a image memory 112 of image transmission equipment 110 is changed to the image data to which compression processing is applied via a compression processing part 113, and the amount of transmission image data to which the compression processing is applied is calculated at a data amount detecting part 114, and a tariff required for the transmission of the amount of image data is calculated at a tariff calculation part 115, and it is transmitted to image reception equipment 120 via a communication control part 116. The image reception equipment 120 receives the tariff required for the transmission of the amount of image data from the image transmission equipment 110 via a communication control part 122, and displays tariff information on a display part 125, and inputs whether or not the image data should be received from an input part 126 based on the tariff information, and transmits information representing reception refusal to the image transmission equipment 110 when it is judged that the reception should be refused.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication system for transmitting data stored in an image memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image transmitting apparatus for storing all image data to be transmitted in an image memory and performing a memory transmitting operation for transmitting the image data in the image memory, when performing the memory transmitting operation, the image memory is A calculation means for obtaining the time information necessary to transmit the stored image data from the information amount of the image data stored in and the communication conditions, and a means for outputting the information regarding the transmission time obtained by this means. An image communication device which is provided and displays an accurate transmission time is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-237665.

[0003]

However, the conventional image communication apparatus has a problem that the communication cost cannot be recognized. Further, there is a problem that the receiving side cannot reject the image data reception. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to display the communication cost on the receiving side, and when the communication cost is high, the receiving side can arbitrarily reject image data reception. is there.

[0004]

An image memory unit for storing image data, a compression processing unit for compressing the image data stored in the image memory unit, and data of image data compressed by the compression processing unit. A data amount detecting unit for calculating the amount, a charge calculating unit for calculating a transmission charge necessary for transmitting the image data based on the data amount calculated by the data amount detecting unit, and a compression processing unit for compressing The image data transmitted from the image transmission device or the transmission charge information transmitted from the image transmission device to the public line. The communication control unit for receiving from the line, the expansion processing unit for expanding the image data received by the communication control unit, and the image data expanded by the expansion processing unit are described. Image memory, a display unit for displaying the transmission charge information received by the communication control unit, and an image receiving device having an input unit for inputting information corresponding to the display information on the display unit, At the receiving device,
The image data reception can be arbitrarily rejected based on the transmission charge information displayed on the display unit.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the communication cost is notified from the image data transmitting side, and the communication cost is displayed on the image data receiving side, whereby the image data reception can be arbitrarily rejected based on the communication cost.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an image communication system of the present invention.
Description will be given with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 1 is an example of an image communication system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing call charges used in the image data transmission charge calculation process.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the image data reception refusal processing of the image receiving apparatus.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 110 denotes an image transmitting device of the communication system of the present invention, which is supplied from an external recording device (not shown) on which image data is recorded or an image input device (not shown) such as a scanner. An image memory unit 112 that temporarily stores the captured image data, a compression processing unit 113 that compresses the image data stored in the image memory unit 112, and an information amount of the image data compressed by the compression processing unit 113 are detected. Data amount detector 114, data amount detector 1
From the image data amount detected by 14 and the communication condition (for example, transmission speed 4800 bps), the compression processing unit 113
A charge calculation unit 115 that calculates the time required to transmit the image data that has been subjected to compression processing according to the above, and calculates the image data transmission charge from the calculated transmission time and the destination telephone number. A communication control unit 1 that controls transmission / reception of image data and the like to / from a public line according to the procedure described above.
16, image memory unit 112, compression processing unit 113, data amount detection unit 114, charge calculation unit 115, and communication control unit 116
And a main control unit 111 that totally controls the.

Reference numeral 120 denotes an image receiving device of the communication system of the present invention, which is connected to a public line and is controlled by a communication control unit 122 and a communication control unit 122 for controlling transmission / reception of image data and the like to / from the public line according to a predetermined procedure. A decompression processing unit 123 for decompressing the received image data, an image memory 124 for temporarily storing the image data decompressed by the decompression processing unit 123, the image data stored in the image memory 124, or the image transmission device 110. Display unit 125 for displaying data other than the image data, and an input unit 12 for an operator to input arbitrary information based on the data displayed on the display unit 125 by a keyboard or a numeric keypad.
6, a communication control unit 122, a decompression processing unit 123, an image memory 124, a display unit 125, and a main control unit 121 that totally controls the input unit 126.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the image receiving device 120 and the image transmitting device 110 are connected in advance by a public line 130. This public line connection method uses a known technique such as a facsimile line connection method. still,
In this embodiment, the transmission rate on the public line is 4800 bps,
The telephone number of the image transmission device 110 is 06-ΔΔΔΔ- ○○○
○, the telephone number of the image receiving device 120 is 0584- △△-
□□□□, and from the image receiving device 120 to the image transmitting device 1
It is assumed that the image receiving apparatus is connected to 10, and the image receiving apparatus bears the image transmission fee. Also, each device has its own telephone number,
It is assumed that the transmission speed on the public line is known.

The image data recorded on a recording medium (not shown) of the image transmitting device 110 is transferred to the image receiving device 120.
The case of importing to will be described. First, the operator of the image receiving apparatus 120 inputs, through the input unit 126, information (search information or the like) regarding desired image data stored in the recording medium of the image transmitting apparatus 110. The input information is transmitted to the image transmitting apparatus 110 via the communication control unit 122 and the public line 130 under the control of the main control unit 121.

In the image transmitting device 110, the image receiving device 1
The information transmitted from 20 is received via the communication control unit 116. The main controller 111 reads out the image data desired by the operator of the image receiving device 120 based on the received information from the recording medium to the image memory 112. As a method of reading the image data recorded on the recording medium based on the information (search information or the like), a known technique used in an optical filing device or the like is used.

The main control unit 111 causes the compression processing unit 113 to compress (encode) the image data read out to the image memory 112. The compression process uses a known compression technique used for facsimiles and the like. The main control unit 111 is
The image data compressed by the compression processing unit 113 (image data actually flowing on the line) is detected by the data amount detection unit 11
4 and calculate the amount of data.

The main controller 111 includes a data amount detector 114.
The data amount calculated by is transferred to the charge calculation unit 115. The charge calculation unit 115 divides the data amount calculated by the data amount detection unit 114 by the transmission rate on the communication line (4800 bps in this embodiment) set when the public line is connected, and adds the transmission procedure time to obtain the transmission time. Ask. In the charge calculation unit 115, the call charges shown in FIG. 2 are stored in advance, and an image is displayed according to the area code of the connection destination telephone number (0584- △△-□□□□ in this embodiment) extracted when the public line is connected. Calculate the data transmission fee. In this embodiment, 13.
The call charge of 5 seconds is recognized from the call charge of FIG. 2, and the transmission charge of the image data is calculated. Note that the call charge shown in FIG. 2 is a daytime charge, and since the call charge differs depending on the call time zone and the call day, the time for starting image data transfer is also added to the charge calculation process. Also, the call charges for the call time zone and the day of the call are stored.

The image data transmission charge calculated by the charge calculation unit 115 is controlled by the main control unit 111 by the communication control unit 1.
16, transmitted to the image receiving apparatus 120 via the public line 130. The processing of the image receiving device 120 will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. In the image receiving device 120,
In S1, the image data transmission charge information transmitted from the image transmission device 110 is received via the communication control unit 122.

In S2, the main control unit 121 displays the image data transmission charge information on the display unit 125 and notifies the operator of the image receiving apparatus 120 of the image data transmission charge.
The display unit 125 is composed of a display, an LCD and the like. In S3, based on the image data transmission charge information displayed on the display unit 125, it is determined whether an instruction from the operator of the image receiving apparatus 120 is input from the input unit 126 during a predetermined time. .. The main control unit 121 has a timer function (not shown).

If there is no operator's instruction within the predetermined time in the process of S3, it is determined that the reception is possible, and S
In 6, the information indicating that the image data is received (receivable information) is transmitted to the image transmitting apparatus 110 via the communication control unit 122 and the public line 130. On the other hand, if there is an operator's instruction in the process of S3, the process proceeds to S4, and it is determined whether the operator's instruction is a reception refusal instruction.

When the reception refusal instruction is given in the processing of S4,
That is, if the expensive image data transmission fee cannot be received for some reason, the communication control unit 12 provides information (reception refusal information) indicating that the reception of the image data is rejected in S5.
2. Transmit to the image transmission device 110 via the public line 130. On the other hand, if the reception refusal instruction is not given in the processing of S4,
That is, if the reception is permitted, the information (receivable information) indicating that the image data is received is sent to the communication control unit 122 in S6.
The image is transmitted to the image transmitting apparatus 110 via the public line 130.

In the image transmitting device 110, the image receiving device 1
The information transmitted from 20 is received via the communication control unit 116. When the information from the image receiving device 120 is the reception refusal information, the line between the image transmitting device 110 and the image receiving device 120 is disconnected according to a predetermined line disconnection procedure.

On the other hand, the information from the image receiving device 120 is
If the information is receivable, the image data stored in the image memory unit 112 is transmitted to the image receiving apparatus 120 via the compression processing unit 113, the communication control unit 116, and the public line according to a predetermined image data transmission procedure. To do. The image data transmission procedure uses a known transmission technique used for facsimiles and the like.

In the image receiving device 120, the image transmitting device 1
The image data sent from 10 is received via the communication control unit 116. The main control unit 121 expands the received image data by the expansion processing unit 123, and the image memory unit 1
It is temporarily stored in 24. The image data stored in the image memory unit 124 is output to the display unit 125 or the printing unit (not shown).

[0021]

According to the present invention, the communication cost is notified from the image data transmitting side and the communication cost is displayed on the image data receiving side, so that the image data reception can be arbitrarily rejected based on the communication cost. Therefore, if you cannot receive image data with high communication cost for some reason,
The image data with high communication cost can be rejected and the communication cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an image communication system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing call charges used for image data transmission charge calculation processing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing image data reception refusal processing of the image receiving apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 110 image transmission device 111, 121 main control unit 112, 124 image memory unit 113 compression processing unit 114 data amount detection unit 115 charge calculation unit 116, 122 communication control unit 120 image reception device 123 expansion processing unit 125 display unit 126 input unit 130 Public line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image memory unit for storing image data,
A compression processing unit that compresses the image data stored in the image memory unit, a data amount detection unit that calculates the data amount of the image data compressed by the compression processing unit, and a data amount detection unit that calculates the data amount. A charge calculation unit that calculates a transmission charge necessary for transmitting the image data based on the amount of data, and image data compressed by the compression processing unit or transmission charge information calculated by the charge calculation unit on a public line. An image transmitting device having a communication control unit for transmitting to the image transmission device, a communication control unit for receiving image data transmitted from the image transmitting device or transmission charge information from a public line, and image data received by the communication control unit. A decompression processing unit that decompresses the data, an image memory that stores the image data decompressed by the decompression processing unit, and the transmission charge information received by the communication control unit. An image communication system, comprising: a display unit for displaying; and an image receiving device including an input unit for inputting information corresponding to display information on the display unit. 2. The image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the image receiving device can arbitrarily reject the image data reception based on the transmission charge information displayed on the display unit.