JPH06178077A - Facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable transmission of a facsimile telegraphic message with satisfactory picture quality and line density equal to the recording line density of a reception side facsimile equipment confirmed by a protocol without increasing line hold time. CONSTITUTION:A facsimile control part 2 reads a facsimile original with photoelectric conversion and compresses read facsimile telegraphic message data. Further, the compressed facsimile telegraphic message data are transmitted / received through a line. On the other hand, the received facsimile telegraphic message is printed out. At a printer control part 4, encoded print data from an information processor are fixed by the protocol, successively extended to bit map raster data corresponding to this fixed line density and converted. The data of this facsimile telegraphic message are transmitted through the facsimile control part 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile system for directly transmitting print data as a facsimile message when printing by an information processing device such as a personal computer or a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a personal computer (P
C), a hard copy output from a word processor (WP) printer is used as a facsimile original. That is, the printed hard copy is input from the scanner of the facsimile apparatus. In addition, print data in a personal computer or a word processor is also transmitted as a facsimile electronic message directly to a destination facsimile machine through a telephone line without outputting a hard copy.

In this case, depending on the resolution of the destination facsimile machine, the bit map raster information on the transmitting side may be linear density converted, and good image transmission may not be possible. For example, a character font can be processed well with a specified resolution by an outline font, but when the linear density conversion is performed on the character on the completed bitmap, the character may be broken and may be erroneously recognized. In addition, the line density conversion is also performed on the bitmap for the area that has been shaded,
When the data processing for thinning out the image is performed, the output image deteriorates.

In such a case, when the print data is directly transmitted, the maximum recording width of the facsimile machine on the receiving side is confirmed using a protocol, and image generation such as font generation is started based on the resolution. Unless the processing capability of the image generation unit is involved, image generation will not be in time for the data processing capability of the line. In this case, the line hold time becomes long and the cost increases.

[0005] As an example corresponding to such image processing, there is a "printer resolution switching method" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-206566, in which print data of an information processing device such as a personal computer or a word processor is used as a facsimile device. There is no case in which a font is developed by a facsimile machine on the transmission side in accordance with the line density of the facsimile machine on the reception side when processed as a facsimile telegram in combination with.

[0006]

As described above, in the above-described conventional example, good image transmission cannot be performed, and beautiful characters are destroyed, and in some cases erroneous recognition occurs. Further, the output image is deteriorated and the line hold time is increased, which is uneconomical.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and has a good linear density equal to the recording linear density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side confirmed by the protocol without increasing the line hold time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile system capable of transmitting a facsimile message of high image quality.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile system according to the present invention comprises an image reading means for reading a facsimile original by photoelectric conversion,
Data compression means for compressing the facsimile message data read by the image reading means, facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving the facsimile message data compressed by the data compression means through the line, and printing and outputting the facsimile message received by the facsimile communication means. Printing means,
Coded print data from the information processing device is defined by a protocol, and the data of a facsimile message converted and sequentially converted into bitmap raster data according to the determined line density is expanded to print data for transmission through a facsimile communication means. And a means.

A facsimile system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the facsimile system according to the first aspect, wherein a part or the whole of the facsimile message data is converted into bit map data in advance with a plurality of types of linear densities, and the receiving side facsimile device. It is configured to transmit as a facsimile electronic message according to the linear density of.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the facsimile system according to the first aspect, when the line density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side is known in advance, the facsimile message is transmitted only by the known line density. A part or all of the data is converted into a bitmap and transmitted as a facsimile message according to the linear density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the facsimile system according to the first, second, third, or third aspects, in which only one character font storage unit is provided and part or all of the facsimile message data is converted into a bitmap. It is configured.

[0012]

With the above construction, in the facsimile system according to the first aspect of the invention, the coded print data from the information processing device is defined by the protocol and sequentially expanded into the bit map raster data according to the defined line density. The data of the facsimile telegram that has been converted is transmitted.

In the facsimile system according to the second aspect of the present invention, a part or all of the facsimile message data is converted into bit map data in advance with a plurality of types of linear densities, and a facsimile message corresponding to the linear density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side is obtained. I am sending.

In the facsimile system according to the third aspect of the present invention, when the line density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side is known in advance, a part or the whole of the facsimile message data is bitmapped only by the known line density. It is converted and transmitted as a facsimile message according to the linear density of the receiving facsimile machine.

In the facsimile system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a part or all of the facsimile message data is converted into a bitmap using only one character font storage section.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a facsimile system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the facsimile system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, this facsimile system is roughly composed of a facsimile control unit 2 for transmitting / receiving a facsimile electronic message and a printer control unit 4 for generating print image data.

The facsimile control section 2 controls each section,
A CPU 11 having a ROM and a RAM, a DCR 12 for compressing and encoding / decoding data, and an S for compressing and storing data of a facsimile electronic message.
An AF memory 13, a CCU (communication control unit) 14, an NCU (network control unit) 16 connected to a telephone line, and a video processing unit 18 including a scanner for reading a facsimile document are provided.

Further, the facsimile control unit 2 outputs a conversion unit 20 for converting the read image data and a document printed with the received facsimile electronic message, for example, laser-PP.
A writing unit 22 such as a laser emitting unit in F, a switching unit 24 for selecting image data of a facsimile electronic message in the facsimile control unit 2 or a facsimile electronic message of application data from the printer control unit 4, and a recording page memory 26. , I / O 27 for connecting to the printer controller 4
And a bus line 29 that connects each unit. In addition to the above, a display device for displaying the transmission / reception state, the input telephone number, etc., a numeric keypad for the telephone number, an abbreviated number key, an operation panel having keys for switching the switching unit 24, etc. are provided.

The printer control unit 4 is connected to the CPU 30 that controls the printer control unit 4, the font ROM 42 that stores fonts, the print data storage memory 43, the image processing unit 44, and the facsimile control unit 2. I / O 46 of. Further, the printer control unit 4
Is provided with an interface (I / F) 48 for taking in coded print data from a personal computer (PC, corresponding to the information processing device in the claims), and a bus line 49 for connecting each part. .

Next, the operation of the configuration of this embodiment will be described. First, when the coded print data from the personal computer (PC) is output as a hard copy by the facsimile control unit 2, C of the printer control unit 4 is used.
In the PU 30, the bitmap data matched to the linear density of the writing unit 22 in the facsimile control unit 2 is the font ROM.
42, the drawing processing unit 44 and the like. After this, the print data storage memory 4 in the printer control unit 4
Stored in 3.

In this case, after the print data for one page of the facsimile electronic message or a part of the print data is accumulated, the writing unit 22 in the facsimile control unit 2 is connected to the I of the printer control unit 4.
/ O46, the I / O 27 in the facsimile controller 2, and the switching unit 24. The print data is output as a hard copy from the writing unit 22 in the facsimile control unit 2. The print control unit 4 has a function similar to that of a printer controller unit of a general-purpose page printer, for example, and in consideration of facsimile transmission, a linear density (8 × 7.7 l / mm, 8 × 1) in facsimile communication.
5.4 l / mm, 16 × 15.4 l / mm, etc.) and a drawing function.

Regarding the font, a plurality of bitmap fonts for each line density may be held, or an outline font may be held and bit map data may be generated according to the line density.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure for transmitting a facsimile electronic message in the facsimile controller 2 in the configuration shown in FIG. In the process shown in FIG. 2, the data of the facsimile message read from the video processing unit 18 such as the scanner of the facsimile control unit 2 and the facsimile message generated by the printer control unit 4 are different from each other. Same as send. That is, it is the same as the storage transmission using the SAF memory 13. In the case of this processing, in remote printing in which a facsimile message is transmitted to the facsimile device to the destination, first, the applied data is generated as bitmap expansion data at a certain specific line density, and then the call is sent to the telephone of the facsimile device of the destination. To call. Then, the data is compressed and transmitted while being converted by thinning or the like on the bitmap data according to the recording linear density of the facsimile apparatus of the other party. Therefore, in this transmission, the characters and the like generated in the font become unnatural, and it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory high-quality facsimile document (hard copy).

Next, the operation of directly transmitting the print data from the personal computer (PC) according to claim 1 to the facsimile machine of the other party will be described.

Here, image deterioration due to unintended conversion in bitmap data is prevented. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure when print data from a personal computer (PC) is directly transmitted to a facsimile machine of a partner.

In FIG. 3, first, a print instruction is given from print data from a personal computer (PC). Thereafter, the print data is fetched by the CPU 30 through the I / F circuit 48 of the printer control unit 4 and developed into predetermined bitmap information. Then, by operating an operation panel (not shown), a call is made to the telephone of the facsimile machine of the other party.

On the protocol, conversion processing corresponding to the recording linear density of the facsimile apparatus of the other party is performed and the facsimile electronic message is transmitted. That is, after the coded print data is compressed by the DCR 12 in the facsimile control unit 2, CC
It is transmitted through the U (communication control unit) 14 and the NCU (network control unit) 16.

In this processing procedure, the linear density capability of the receiver is first confirmed by the protocol, and by this confirmation, the printer control unit 4 starts bit map generation with a linear density equal to the recording linear density and sequentially sends it out. . As a result, unintended conversion on the bit map data is not performed, so that a high quality facsimile document (hard copy) can be obtained from the transmitted facsimile machine of the other party.

Next, the operation corresponding to claim 2 will be described.
Here, a part or the whole of the facsimile message data is converted into bitmap data with a plurality of linear densities in advance.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure corresponding to this operation. In this process, part or all of the facsimile message data is converted into bitmap data in advance with a plurality of linear densities in order to perform bitmap generation in a predetermined time.

In this case, in the processing shown in FIG. 3, when the generation processing can be performed at a speed equal to or higher than the I / 0 rate (max 40 ms / l) guaranteed by the protocol for the bitmap generation speed of the printer controller 4. However, the printer controller 4 becomes complicated. Moreover, the speed becomes slower in the configuration in consideration of the low cost. In the processing procedure shown in FIG. 4, font data can be generated and transmitted with a linear density that matches the recording linear density of the facsimile apparatus of the other party.

In FIG. 4, all or a part of one page is bit-mapped in advance with a plurality of types of linear densities, and then a call is made to check the linear density of the facsimile machine on the receiving side, and the facsimile machine on the receiving side is confirmed. The generated bitmap data corresponding to the linear density is read from the SAF memory 13 and transmitted. If the pre-generated area is a part of one page, the generation processing of the remaining image data is continued while reading the generated data.

Since all or part of one page is generated in advance with a plurality of linear densities as in the above processing, the printer control unit 4 which is slow in processing can be applied to the processing shown in FIG. In this case, plural kinds of linear density data are stored in the print data storage memory 43 or the SAF memory 13.

Next, the operation corresponding to claim 3 will be described.
In this case, only the linear density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side, which is known in advance, is converted into bitmap and transmitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure corresponding to this operation. In this case, the facsimile machine at the transmission destination is known in advance. Therefore, the print data is bit map-developed at the recording linear density of the facsimile machine here, and then the transmission is performed. In this case, even the printer control unit 4 having a low data generation speed can save the trouble of generating data with a plurality of types of linear densities to a specific destination whose linear density is known in advance. Moreover, high-quality facsimile telegrams can be transmitted.

The operation corresponding to claim 4 will be described. Here, the font ROM mounted in the CPU 11 of the facsimile control unit 2 in FIG. 1 is eliminated and only the font ROM 42 of the printer control unit 4 is used. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure corresponding to this operation. In FIG. 6, after the management report output instruction, the CPU 11 of the facsimile control unit 2 uses the character code of the font ROM 42 to generate a file.

This file is transferred from the CPU 11 to the CPU 30 of the printer control unit 4 to develop the font, and the data is stored in the print data storage memory 43 in the CPU 30 to perform a storage operation of fetching. Alternatively, the CPU 30 on the side of the facsimile control unit 2 may pass the character code to the printer control unit 4 to receive the bit-mapped bitmap data. Further, the font ROM 42 in the printer control unit 4 is replaced by the CPU 1 in the facsimile control unit 2.
The control line and the data line (not shown) in the connection configuration in FIG. 1 may be switched so that both the CPU 1 and the CPU 30 of the printer control unit 4 can access.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description, in the facsimile system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the coded print data from the information processing device is determined by the protocol, and the bit map raster corresponding to the determined linear density. Since the data of the facsimile message that is sequentially expanded into data and converted is transmitted, image deterioration due to conversion outside the prescribed range of bitmap data is prevented, and the high-quality facsimile is sent to the facsimile machine on the receiving side as font data. It has an effect that a telegram can be transmitted. In the facsimile system according to the second aspect of the present invention, a part or all of the facsimile message data is converted into bitmap data in advance with a plurality of types of linear densities, and transmitted as a facsimile message according to the linear density of the receiving side facsimile device. Therefore, even if the rasterization speed to bitmap raster information is slow, image deterioration due to non-predetermined conversion of bitmap data is prevented, and high-quality facsimile telegrams are transmitted to the facsimile machine on the receiving side as font data. It has the effect of being able to. In the facsimile system according to the third aspect of the present invention, when the linear density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side is known in advance, a part or the whole of the facsimile message data is converted into a bitmap using only the known linear density. Since it is transmitted as a facsimile message according to the linear density of the receiving facsimile machine, even if the data expansion speed is slow, image deterioration due to unspecified conversion of bitmap data is prevented and font data is received as it is. There is an effect that a high-quality facsimile electronic message can be transmitted to the other facsimile device. In the facsimile system according to the invention of claim 4, part or all of the facsimile message data is bitmap-converted by only one character font storage unit.
For example, the character font storage unit for the facsimile transmission management report can be shared, and the configuration can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a facsimile system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of transmission of a facsimile electronic message by a facsimile control unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when print data from the personal computer shown in FIG. 1 is directly transmitted to a facsimile machine of a partner.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of converting in advance into facsimile telegram data bit map data at a plurality of linear densities and transmitting the same in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of converting into a bit map and transmitting only with a known linear density of a facsimile apparatus on the receiving side in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a font ROM is shared by a facsimile control unit and a printer control unit in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Facsimile control unit 4 Printer control unit 11 CPU 12 DCR 13 SAF memory 14 Communication control unit (CCU) 16 NCU (network control unit) 18 Video processing unit 30 CPU 42 Font ROM 43 Memory for storing print data

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading a facsimile original by photoelectric conversion, a data compressing means for compressing the facsimile message data read by the image reading means, and a facsimile message data compressed by the data compressing means for transmission and reception through a line. Facsimile communication means, printing means for printing and outputting the facsimile message received by the facsimile communication means, and coded print data from the information processing device is defined by a protocol, and a bit map corresponding to the determined linear density A facsimile system comprising: a print data expanding unit for transmitting the data of a facsimile electronic message, which is sequentially expanded into raster data and converted, through the facsimile communication unit. 2. The facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein a part or the whole of the facsimile message data is converted into bit map data in advance with a plurality of types of linear densities, and the facsimile message according to the linear density of the receiving side facsimile device. A facsimile system characterized by transmitting as. 3. A facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein when the line density of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side is known in advance, a part or all of the facsimile message data is bit-only by the known line density. A facsimile system characterized by converting a map and transmitting it as a facsimile message according to the linear density of a facsimile machine on the receiving side. 4. A facsimile system according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein only one character font storage unit is provided to convert part or all of the facsimile message data into a bitmap.