JPH06113093A - Control method for facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively urge an exchange of recording paper and to perform an appropriate reception operation by recording and outputting the accumulated pictures of a part of the prescribed ranges of respective pages on the same sheet of the recording paper in the order of the pages. CONSTITUTION:When it is detected that the remaining amount of the recording paper is smaller than a prescribed value and a state is about to complete recording, a plotter 5 accumulates reception picture information in a picture storage device 8 for reception pages thereafter. Then, partial recording pictures for which the pictures of the prescribed ranges of the leading parts for the respective reception pages are arranged in the order of the pages are recorded and outputted. At this time, when an incoming call is detected and a response is possible, a line is closed and whether or not pictures are recordable by the plotter 5 is investigated. When it is possible, an incoming call is received, decoded to source picture signals at an encoding/decoding part 7 and transferred to the plotter part 5 and reception pictures are recorded and outputted. Also, since the incoming call is neglected when pictures are not recordable, the recording paper can be effectively exchanged, its timing is quickened and the appropriate reception operation can be performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function and a function of detecting a state of a recording apparatus near the end of recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a facsimile apparatus has, for example, a function of detecting the remaining amount of roll-shaped recording paper of a thermal recording device, and when it is detected that the remaining amount of recording paper has become small, The user is informed of this fact and prompted to replace the recording paper roll.

Further, if the recording paper roll is out of paper because the received image is recorded and output by leaving it as it is, the received image information is stored as an image if the image storage function is provided. The so-called substitute reception operation, which is stored in the function, is performed.

[0004]

However, such a conventional device has the following disadvantages.

That is, the warning display of the remaining amount of the recording paper is realized by, for example, lighting a red light emitting diode or displaying a message on the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, in some cases, the user may overlook the display. , The chart paper may not be replaced properly. In this case, when the alternate reception operation continues, when the image storage function overflows, the reception operation cannot be performed thereafter.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method for a facsimile apparatus that can effectively prompt replacement of recording paper.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function and a function of detecting a state of the recording apparatus which is near the end of recording. When the state of
The image information of the subsequent pages received at that time is accumulated in the image accumulation function, and the images of the portion within the predetermined range at the beginning of each accumulated page are recorded by forming an image arranged in page order on the same recording paper. It is designed to be output.

Further, in a control method of a facsimile apparatus having an image accumulating function and a function of detecting a state of the recording device near the end of recording, when a recording output of an image accumulated in the image accumulating function is instructed, When the state near the end of recording is detected, the images in the predetermined range of the beginning of each page are formed and printed on the same recording paper in page order.

Further, in a control method of a facsimile apparatus having an image accumulating function and a function of detecting a state of the recording device near the end of recording, when a recording output of an image accumulated in the image accumulating function is instructed, When the state near the end of recording is detected, for each image file,
The images in the predetermined range at the beginning of each page are formed and printed on the same recording paper in the order of pages to be recorded and output.

[0010]

Therefore, for example, when the remaining amount of the recording paper becomes very small and the recording apparatus is near the end of recording, the received image or the image obtained by joining the partial images of the accumulated image is recorded and output. Therefore, the user can clearly know such a fact, and the timing of exchanging the recording paper is accelerated.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the control unit 1 performs control processing of each unit of the facsimile apparatus and facsimile transmission control procedure processing, and the system memory 2 is
The control unit 1 stores a control processing program executed by the control unit 1 and various data necessary for executing the processing program, and constitutes a work area of the control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 is a group memory. It is for storing various information unique to the facsimile machine.

The scanner 4 is for reading an original image at a predetermined resolution, and the plotter 5 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution. For example, an image is formed on a roll-shaped thermosensitive recording paper. It is composed of a heat-sensitive recording device for recording each line. The operation display unit 6 is for operating the facsimile apparatus, and includes various operation keys and various display devices.

The encoding / decoding unit 7 is for encoding and compressing the image signal and for decoding the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. The image storage device 8 is
This is for storing a large amount of image information in a coded and compressed state.

The group 3 facsimile modem 9 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile, and has a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals and mainly exchanging image information. High-speed modem function (V.29 modem, V.29)
27ter modem, V. 33 modem).

The network control device 10 is for connecting the facsimile device to a public telephone line network and has an automatic call originating / receiving function.

These control unit 1, system memory 2,
The parameter memory 3, scanner 4, plotter 5, operation display unit 6, encoding / decoding unit 7, image storage device 8, group 3 facsimile modem 9, and network control device 10
It is connected to the system bus 11, and data is exchanged between these respective elements mainly in the system bus 1.
It is done through 1.

Data is exchanged directly between the network controller 10 and the group 3 facsimile modem 9.

In this group 3 facsimile apparatus, for each image information stored in the image storage apparatus 8, document management information for managing the processing is formed and stored. An example of this document management information is shown in FIG.

The document management information is document number information indicating a document number for identifying a stored document, and which mode the stored document is (eg, proxy reception, normal reception, confidential reception, memory transmission, time designation transmission, broadcast transmission). , Received relay request, etc.), document type information for storing whether or not it has been stored, number information for storing the number of stored documents, and stored document management information that stores the storage state of stored documents (described later).
It consists of a stored document pointer for storing identification information such as the top address of the.

Here, when the accumulated document is composed of a plurality of sheets, the accumulated document pointer is set with the identification information of the accumulated document management information storing the accumulated state of the first page.

An example of the storage management information is shown in FIG.
This storage management information is formed for each page of the stored document.

The storage management information includes storage mode information for storing the encoding mode when the page is stored, linear density information for storing the (transmission) line density of image information of the page, and The size information for storing the size of the image information, the next page pointer for storing the identification information of the stored document management information storing the storage state of the next page, and the image information of the page are stored in the image storage device. 8 is an image pointer for storing identification information such as the start address of the storage area.

If there is no next page, a predetermined end data is set in the next page pointer.

The plotter 5 has a function of detecting that the remaining amount of recording paper has become smaller than a predetermined value, and when such a state is detected, the plotter 5 notifies the control unit 1 to that effect. To do.

The remaining amount of recording paper is received when an image is received while it is detected that the remaining amount of recording paper is smaller than a predetermined value (hereinafter referred to as near end), or during the image receiving operation. When it is detected that the
For the subsequent received pages, the proxy reception operation of storing the received image information in the image storage device 8 is executed, and
As shown in FIG. 3, with respect to each of the received pages that have been received on behalf of each, a partially recorded image in which a predetermined range of images at the head portion thereof are arranged in the page order is recorded and output.

As a result, the user notices that the remaining amount of the recording paper is low, so that the recording paper can be reliably replenished.

FIGS. 4A, 4B and 5 show an example of the receiving operation.

When an incoming call is detected, it is first checked whether or not a response is possible at that time (decision 101),
When the result of the determination 101 is NO, the incoming call is ignored (process 102).

When the result of the judgment 101 is YES, the line is closed (process 103), a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed (process 104), and the transmission used at that time with the partner terminal. Set the function. Next, data "1" is set in the flag F (process 105), and it is checked whether the plotter 5 is in the image recordable state at that time (decision 106).

When the result of determination 106 is YES, the image information is received for the image information for one page (process 107), and the received image information is decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 7 into the original image signal. (Process 108), the image signal obtained thereby is transferred to the plotter 5, and the received image is recorded and output (process 109).

When the reception of the image information for one page is completed,
It is checked whether or not there is a next page (decision 110), and when the result of the determination 110 is YES, a response signal for notifying the transmitting side of the reception state of the page at that time is sent (process 111), and the decision 106 is made. Returning to this, the receiving operation of the next page is executed.

When the result of determination 106 is NO,
It is checked whether or not the image storage device 8 has sufficient free space to store image information (decision 112). When the result of the judgment 112 is YES, it is checked whether or not it is in the near end state at that time (judgment 113).

When the result of judgment 113 is YES, it is checked whether or not the data "1" is set in the flag F (decision 114). The result of judgment 114 is YES
When it becomes, the above-mentioned document management information is created for the received image information at that time (process 115), and data “0” is set in the flag F (process 116).

Next, the received image information for one page is stored in the empty area of the image storage device 8 (process 117), and the partial recording process (process 118) for recording the image of the top part of the page is executed. Then, the process proceeds to decision 110.

When the result of the judgment 113 is NO, the plotter 5 is completely out of paper. At this time, it is checked whether or not the data "1" is set in the flag F (decision 119). When the result of determination 119 is YES, the above-described document management information is created for the received image information at that time (process 120), and data “0” is set in the flag F (process 121).

Next, the received image information for one page is stored in the empty area of the image storage device 8 (process 122), and the process proceeds to decision 110.

Further, when the result of the judgment 110 is NO, it is checked whether or not the partial recording operation is executed at that time (decision 123). When the result of the judgment 123 is YES, the plotter 5 is instructed. A recording sheet cutting / sheet discharging operation is executed (process 125).

Then, a response signal for notifying the reception state of the last page is sent (process 125), and when the disconnection command signal DCN is received from the partner terminal (process 126), the line is restored (process 127), and a series of steps is performed. The image information receiving operation ends.

Further, when the result of the judgment 112 is NO, the image information reception cannot be continuously executed thereafter, so the procedure is interrupted (process 128), the line is restored (process 129), and the device status is returned. Then, the unresponsive state is set (process 130), and this image information receiving operation is terminated.

Incidentally, the unresponsive state is, for example, when the image of the image information stored on the image storage device 8 as a proxy is recorded and output, and the image information can be stored on the image storage device 8. Is canceled.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the partial recording process.

First, a prescribed value N of the number of recording lines is set in a counter c for managing the number of recording lines (process 201). Next, the image information of the recording line of the page to be recorded is decoded to form the image signal of the recording line (process 20).
2) The image signal obtained thereby is transferred to the plotter 5, and the plotter 5 records the image of the line (process 203).

Then, the value of the counter c is decremented by 1 (step 204), and it is checked whether the value of the counter c is equal to 0 (decision 205). When the result of determination 205 is NO, the process returns to step 202 and the image of the next line is recorded. When the result of determination 205 is YES, the partial recording operation is finished.

In this way, when the plotter 5 becomes unrecordable at the time of receiving the image information, the substitute reception operation is executed for the image information received thereafter. Further, when the plotter 5 is in the near end state, the image of each page is partially recorded.

Now, when it comes to the alternate reception state, the control unit 1
Outputs to the operation display unit 6 a display notifying the user of that fact. The user who sees this display is the plotter 5
After the recording paper is replenished with or without, the recording output of the interception reception file is instructed.

When the recording output of the interception reception file is commanded in this way, the control unit 1 causes the control unit 1 to operate as shown in FIGS.
The process shown in is executed.

First, it is checked whether the plotter 5 is in a recordable state (decision 301). When the result of determination 301 is YES, one file to be recorded and output is selected (process 302), the image information of the first page is decoded (process 303), and the image signal obtained thereby is transferred to the plotter 5. Then, the image for one page is recorded and output (process 304).

Then, it is checked whether or not there is a next page (decision 305), and when the result of judgment 305 is YES, it is checked whether the plotter 5 is in a recordable state (decision 306).

When the result of the judgment 306 is YES, the image information of the page is decoded (process 307), the image signal obtained thereby is transferred to the plotter 5, and the image for one page is recorded and output ( Process 308). Then, it is checked whether there is a next page (decision 310), and decision 3
When the result of 10 is YES, the process returns to the determination 306 and the process of the next page is executed.

When the result of judgment 310 is NO,
The file recorded at that time is erased from the image storage device 8 (process 311). Then, the presence or absence of the next file is checked (decision 312), and the result of the decision 312 is YE.
When S is reached, the process returns to step 302 and the remaining file recording process is executed. When the result of determination 312 is NO, this process ends.

Further, when the result of the judgment 305 is NO, the processing proceeds to processing 311.

When the result of the judgment 306 is NO, it means that it is near end, so the partial recording process (process 313) similar to that of FIG. 6 is executed to record the image of the head part of the image of the page. To do. Next, it is checked whether or not there is a next page (decision 314), and when the result of determination 314 is YES, the process returns to step 313, and the image of the next page is partially recorded.

When the result of determination 314 is NO, the recording paper is cut / discharged (process 315), 1
Terminate the operation for one file.

Then, it is checked whether or not there is a next file (decision 316), and when the result of the decision 316 is YES, the file to be recorded next is selected (process 31).
7) The process returns to step 313 to partially record the image of the file. When the result of the determination 316 is NO, this process ends.

When the result of judgment 301 is NO, it is checked whether the plotter 5 is in the near end state (decision 318). The result of judgment 318 is YES.
When it becomes, one file to be recorded is selected (process 319), the partial recording process similar to FIG. 6 is executed for each page of the file, and the image of the head part of the image of each page of the file is selected. , And record in the page order (process 320, NO loop of decision 321).

When the recording operation is finished and the result of the judgment 321 is NO, the recording paper is cut / discharged (process 32).
2) End the operation for one file.

Then, it is checked whether or not there is a next file (decision 323). When the result of decision 323 is YES, the process returns to decision 318 and the operation relating to the next file is executed. If the result of determination 323 is NO, this process ends.

When the result of the judgment 318 is NO, it means that the sheet is out of paper, so an error message is displayed to that effect (process 324), and this process is ended (error end).

In this way, in this embodiment, when the command output to record the proxy reception file is input, the images of the proxy reception file are sequentially recorded and output while the plotter 5 is filled with the recording paper. , The reception files for which recording and outputting have been completed are sequentially deleted from the image storage device 8. Further, when the near end state is reached during the recording operation, an image in which partial images of each page are put together for each file is recorded and output. Further, when the recording state of the partial image is out of paper, an error is displayed to that effect, and the recording operation ends in error.

Therefore, the user can record and output the partial image for each file even when the recording paper is not replenished, and can quickly find the desired received image.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the thermal recording device for recording the image on the roll thermal recording paper line by line is used as the plotter has been described.
The present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a page printer that records an image on a cut sheet in page units is used as a plotter.

In this case, when recording a partial image, it is advisable to record a file having a large number of pages by dividing it into a plurality of recording papers as shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b).

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the group 3 facsimile machine has been described, but the present invention can be similarly applied to other facsimile machines.

[0066]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the remaining amount of recording paper becomes very small and the recording apparatus is near the end of recording, the received image or an image obtained by joining partial images of the accumulated image is recorded and output. The effect can be obtained in that the fact can be clearly known, and the timing of exchanging the recording paper is accelerated, and as a result, an appropriate receiving operation can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of document management information.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a partially recorded image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part of a processing example at the time of reception.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another part of the processing example at the time of reception.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of partial recording processing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a part of a processing example when a command to input a recording output of an interception reception file is input.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing another part of the processing example when the recording output of the interception reception file is input.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a partially recorded image.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function and a function of detecting a state of the recording apparatus near the end of recording, when a state of the recording apparatus near the end of recording is detected at the time of receiving image information. The image information of the pages after the received page is stored in the image storage function, and the images of the portion within the predetermined range at the beginning of each stored page are formed and printed in the order of pages on the same recording paper and output. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus, which is characterized by the above. 2. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storing function and a function of detecting a state of a recording apparatus which is about to end recording, when a recording output of an image stored in the image storing function is instructed. A method for controlling a facsimile apparatus, comprising: detecting a state near the end of recording, forming an image in which a predetermined range portion of the beginning of each page is arranged on the same recording paper in page order, and recording and outputting the image. 3. A method of controlling a facsimile apparatus having an image storage function and a function of detecting a state of the recording apparatus which is about to end recording, when a recording output of an image stored in the image storage function is instructed. When the state near the end of recording is detected, the image of the predetermined range portion at the beginning of each page of each image file is formed on the same recording paper in the order of pages and recorded and output. Facsimile machine control method.