JPH057281A - Facsimile device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable continuous receiving of facsimile signals by changing the set value for an ink sheet carrying counter to a set value based on the detection result of the remaining amount of the ink sheets each time the end of one page of data receiving is detected. CONSTITUTION:Then the receiving of one page of facsimale signals is completed and a page end signal EOP is inputted, an ink sheet sensor 105 detects the remaining amount of the ink sheets, when it judges insufficiency, sets a value integer times a minimum value in an ink sheet carrying counter ICNT. The receiving data are outputted with a thermal head 106 for each line of receiving end signal EOL, and a recording paper carrying motor 107 receives a carrying request, carries the recording paper for each normal line and executes a recording operation. In this case, since a comparator 109 does not output a carrying request signal until the counted value of the ink sheet carrying counter ICNT coincides with or exceeds the set value for a register IREG, an ink sheet carrying motor 108 does not rotate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine using a thermal transfer recording system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic construction of a conventional facsimile apparatus adopting a thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a thermal transfer recording section thereof. In FIG. 3, a telephone line 201 and a telephone network control unit 202 such as a modem control communication through the line 201. D
AT is a telephone line 20 output from the telephone network control unit 202.
Received data received from 1, 203 is received data DAT
Is a 1-line end detection unit that detects a 1-line end signal (EOL) and outputs a 1-line end signal. This one
The line end detection unit 203 outputs a line end signal EOL to the printer control unit 204 each time it detects the end of one line.

The printer control unit 204 always inputs the line end timing EOL and the detection result by the ink sheet remaining amount detection unit 205, and when it judges that the remaining amount of the ink sheet is sufficient, the EOL signal is input as a normal recording operation. Each time the print data for one line is recorded, the thermal head 206
Output to. Then, the recording sheet conveying motor 207 and the ink sheet conveying motor 208 are rotationally driven to convey the ink sheet and the recording sheet respectively, and the thermal head 206
Is energized to record one line. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 209 denotes a platen roller, which is a recording paper conveyance motor 2
The recording paper is driven to rotate by 07, and the recording paper is conveyed line by line in the arrow direction every time each line is recorded.

At this time, when the ink sheet remaining amount detecting unit 205 determines that the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, the printer control unit 204 outputs the recording data to the thermal head 206 and conveys the recording paper. Motor 207,
The output request is not output to the ink sheet transfer motor 208, the telephone network control unit 202 is notified that the recording function is stopped, and the reception process is interrupted.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional thermal transfer facsimile apparatus, when it is determined that the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, the printer control unit 204 outputs the print data to the thermal head 206. In addition, a recording paper transportation motor 207 and an ink sheet transportation motor 208
The telephone network control unit 202 has to stop the communication and stop the communication.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and when the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, the conveyance amount of the ink sheet is reduced and the reception of the facsimile image signal being received can be continued. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device having such a structure.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a facsimile apparatus that receives a facsimile image signal and records it on a recording medium by a thermal transfer method,
A detection unit that detects the remaining amount of the ink sheet, and a recording unit that reduces the amount of the ink sheet conveyed to the recording medium for recording according to the remaining amount of the ink sheet detected by the detection unit are provided.

[0008]

In the above-described structure, the ink sheet transport amount with respect to the recording medium is reduced and recording is performed in accordance with the remaining amount of the ink sheet detected by the detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the ink sheet.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the facsimile apparatus of the embodiment. Each of the portions 101 to 108 in FIG. 1 is common to the respective portions 201 to 208 of the conventional facsimile apparatus in FIG. is there. The configuration of the recording unit of this embodiment is similar to that shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a telephone line and 102
Is a communication control unit such as a modem and controls communication through the telephone line 101. DAT is the received data output from the communication control unit 102, and 112 is a memory for receiving the received data D
About one page of AT can be stored. Reference numeral 103 denotes a line end detection unit that detects a 1-line end signal from the received data DAT, and outputs 1 every time the end of 1 line is detected.
The line reception end signal EOL is output to the printer control unit 104.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a printer control unit, which receives a reception end signal EOL for one line and an ink sheet remaining amount detection signal from the ink sheet sensor 105. When it is determined that the remaining amount of the ink sheet is sufficient, the minimum value is set in the ink sheet transport register IREG. On the other hand, if it is determined that the remaining amount of ink sheet is insufficient,
The maximum value is set in the register IREG. When the value set in the register IREG becomes large, the number of rotational driving of the ink sheet carrying motor 108 becomes smaller than the normal carry amount of the ink sheet, and the ink sheet is saved and carried.

Next, the printer control section 104 outputs the received data to the thermal head 106 each time it receives the end signal EOL for one line, and at the same time drives the recording paper transport motor 107 to rotate one step. And the number of steps to be carried is output to the ink sheet carrying counter ICNT. The ink sheet transport counter ICNT is incremented for each transport request output step number. Now, when the set value of the register IREG is the minimum value, the comparator 109 outputs a drive step signal to the ink sheet conveyance motor 108 every time the conveyance request step number is output.

Next, when the page end signal EOP is input after the reception of the facsimile signal for one page is completed, the ink sheet sensor 105 detects the remaining amount of the ink sheet. As a result, when it is determined that the ink sheet remaining amount is insufficient, the ink sheet transport counter ICNT is set to a value that is an integral multiple of the minimum value. As a result, the received data is received by the thermal head 10 for each 1-line reception end signal EOL.
6, and the recording paper conveyance motor 107 receives the conveyance request and conveys the recording paper for each normal line to perform the recording operation. However, in this case, since the conveyance request signal is not output from the comparator 109 until the count value of the ink sheet conveyance counter ICNT becomes equal to or more than the set value of the register IREG, the ink sheet conveyance motor 108 does not output the same. Therefore, it is possible to perform recording while reducing the amount of ink sheet used.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the receiving / recording processing by the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment. This processing is executed by the printer control unit 104.

First, in step S1, the communication control unit 102 receives a facsimile, and the received facsimile image signal is decoded and stored in the memory 112. In step S2, when the end of one line is detected and the line end signal EOL is input, the process proceeds to step S3, and the ink sheet sensor 105 detects the remaining amount of the ink sheet. Next, in step S4, a predetermined value is set in the register IREG corresponding to the remaining amount of the ink sheet. If the remaining amount of the ink sheet is sufficient, the minimum value is set. If the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, a value that is an integral multiple of the above-mentioned minimum value is set according to the degree of the insufficient amount. That is, the larger the shortage amount, the larger the multiple value.

Next, in step S5, the print data of one line is transferred to the thermal head 106, and in step S6.
When the transfer of the recording data of one line is completed in step S
In step 7, the recording paper conveyance motor 107 is driven to rotate by one step and the recording paper is conveyed by one line. With this,
The thermal head 106 is energized to perform a one-line recording process. Incidentally, when energizing the thermal head 106,
The thermal head 106 is divided into a plurality of blocks,
Power is supplied to each block.

Next, in step S8, the counter ICN
The number of ink sheet conveyance required steps is output to T110, and the counter ICNT110 counts this number of steps. In step S10, this counter ICNT110
Is compared with the value of the register IREG111, and the value of the counter ICNT110 is compared with the value of the register IREG11.
If it is equal to or greater than the value of 1, step S
In step 11, the value of the counter ICNT110 is reset and the ink sheet conveying motor 108 is rotationally driven by one step to convey the ink sheet by one line.

On the other hand, in step S10, the counter ICNT
When the value of is smaller than the value of the register IREG111, the process returns to step S1 and proceeds to the process of receiving the data of the next line. In this way, the ink sheet conveyance process of step S12 is omitted, and the amount of ink sheet used is saved.

As another embodiment, in step S2, 1
The facsimile image signal is received and stored in the memory 112 until the reception of the page is completed. When the end signal of one page is input, the process proceeds to step S3 to detect the remaining amount of the ink sheet. Then, if the remaining amount of the ink sheet is sufficient, the minimum value is set in the register IREG111. If it is determined that the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient for printing the one page, a value (an integral multiple of the minimum value) corresponding to the insufficient amount is set in the register IREG111. Then, hereinafter, in steps S5 to S13, the one-page recording process may be continuously performed until the one-page recording process is completed. This has the effect of reliably recording at least one page currently being received.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a case where it is achieved by supplying a system or apparatus with a program that executes the processing defined by the present invention.

As described above, according to this embodiment, each time the end of one page of received data is detected, the set value of the ink sheet transport counter is changed to the set value based on the detection result of the remaining amount of ink sheet. By doing so, the ink sheet conveyance amount can be controlled according to the remaining amount of the ink sheet. As a result, even if the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, the receiving and recording operations for the page can be reliably performed, so that the facsimile reception can be performed without stopping the facsimile reception due to the shortage of the ink sheet in the middle of the page. There is an effect that signals can be continuously received.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the remaining amount of the ink sheet is insufficient, the carrying amount of the ink sheet is reduced and the reception of the facsimile image signal being received can be continued. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a recording process in the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recording unit of a conventional facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 telephone line 102 communication control unit 103 1-line end detection unit 104 printer control unit 105 ink sheet sensor 106 thermal head 107 Recording paper transport motor 108 Ink sheet transport motor 109 comparator 110 counter ICNT 111 register IREG 112 memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for receiving a facsimile image signal and recording the same on a recording medium by a thermal transfer method, the detecting means detecting a remaining amount of an ink sheet, and the remaining ink sheet detected by the detecting means. Depending on the quantity
A facsimile apparatus, comprising: a recording unit configured to perform recording while reducing the ink sheet conveyance amount with respect to the recording medium. 2. The detection means detects the remaining amount of the ink sheet after receiving the image signal of one page, and when it is determined that the ink sheet is insufficient, the remaining amount of the ink sheet at that time is detected. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance amount of the ink sheet is reduced so that the one page can be recorded.