JPH06208616A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image processor which enables the transmission or/and reception of high definition images. CONSTITUTION:An image read by a scanner SCN 604 is fetched into a transmissive image generation circuit 605 and in this circuit, the outline is extracted. Outline vector data provided by the transmissive image generation circuit 605 are temporarily stored to an image memory 607 and transmitted through a MODEM 609 to the opposite side device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to an image processing method and apparatus for transferring an image to another system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus reads an image as a binary image with an image scanner. Then, when the read binary image data is communicated, the binary raster image is encoded and compressed by a method such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., and transmitted to the destination facsimile machine via the line. It was

By the way, the transmitting facsimile machine
Originals are G3 fine (main scanning 8 pel / mm, sub scanning 7.7 li
read in ne / mm) mode and read it in standard (main scan 8pel /
mm, sub-scan 3.85 line / mm) If the image read on the sending side and the resolution on the receiving side are different, such as when sending to a destination facsimile machine that has only a recording resolution of 2,85 Return to the value image, encode again as a standard resolution image, and send.

Further, for example, the destination facsimile machine is A
When only the function to print the received image on the 4 size recording paper is provided and when the B4 size original is read and sent by the sending side facsimile device, the image is reduced and printed by the receiving side facsimile device. Was.

[0005]

The resolution conversion and the scaling processing of the image have so far been performed only by using the interpolation processing and the thinning processing, so that there is a problem that a good image cannot be obtained. It was

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to transmit high-quality images or / and
And an image processing device capable of receiving.

To solve this problem, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an image processing device that transmits image data to a destination device, and outline vector extraction means for extracting outline vector data from the image data to be transmitted, and outline vector data extracted by the outline vector extraction means. And a transmitting means for transmitting to the partner device.

Another image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an image processing device that receives image data from a destination device and outputs the received image data to a visible image generation device in a predetermined manner, and a receiving unit that receives outline vector data, and the receiving unit that receives the outline vector data. And a reproducing means for reproducing the image data to be transferred to the visible image generating device based on the outline vector data.

An image processing apparatus of another invention has the following structure.

An image processing apparatus comprising a first means for transmitting image data and a second means for receiving the image data, wherein the first means is an outline for extracting outline vector data from the image data to be transmitted. The second means includes a vector extracting means and a transmitting means for transmitting the outline vector data extracted by the outline vector extracting means to a destination device, and the second means includes a receiving means for receiving the outline vector data and the receiving means. And a reproducing means for reproducing the image data to be transferred to the visible image generating device based on the received outline vector data.

[0011]

In the structure of the present invention, when transmitting an image to the other party's device, the outline vector data is extracted from the image data to be transmitted and the outline vector data is transmitted.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be sequentially described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> Normally, a facsimile machine on the transmission side encodes a binary image and transmits it to the reception side.

On the other hand, the first feature of the present invention is that a contour vector of a binary image is generated and the contour vector data is transmitted to the receiving side. As a matter of course, the receiving-side device uses the encoded data of the binary image received to
It is conceivable that the value image is once expanded in a memory or the like, an outline vector is generated from the value image, and the variable magnification processing or the like is performed for printing. Therefore, the contour vector generation process is performed by the transmission side device.

FIG. 53 is a block diagram showing the structure of a facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving in the first embodiment.

In FIG. 53, 601 is a CPU that controls the entire apparatus, 602 is a ROM that stores a control program and a communication program that executes communication with a partner apparatus according to a predetermined transmission control procedure, and 603 is a task of the CPU 6011. A RAM 604 used as an area is a scanner (SCN) that reads a transmission original. 605 is SCN 604
Convert the image data read from the image into a binary image, and
The transmission image generation circuit generates an outline vector from the binary image to generate transmission outline data. The details of the transmission image generation circuit 605 will be described later.

Reference numeral 607 is 2 read by the scanner 604 or the like.
This is an image memory for expanding the value image and used by the transmission image generation circuit 605 for outline data generation processing.
Reference numeral 608 denotes a smoothing circuit, which inputs outline vector data received via a line, smoothes the outline data (coordinate data), and converts pixel density to generate new outline data (smoothed outline). Data). A modem 609 modulates and demodulates an image signal for transmission control processing and transmission / reception of image data. A binary image generation circuit 610 generates a binary image based on the outline data and transfers the generated binary image to the printer 613. The printer 613 receives the binary image from the binary image generation circuit 610, forms an image on a predetermined recording medium (recording paper, etc.), and outputs it to the outside.

FIG. 54 is a block diagram showing the detailed arrangement of the transmission image generation circuit 605. Transmission image generation circuit 605
Is a binarization circuit 606 that generates binarized data from the image data read by the scanner unit 604, extracts the outline of the binarized image data stored in the image memory 607, and extracts the outline vector data from the image memory. Outline extraction circuit 61 for outputting again to 607
MH / MR / MMR for encoding binary image data
The output from the encoding circuit 615 and the binarization circuit 606 is output to the outline extraction circuit 612 or MH / MR / MMR.
It is composed of a switching circuit 611 connected to the encoding circuit 615. The principle of the outline extraction processing in the outline extraction circuit 612 is based on, for example, the second embodiment described later.

FIG. 55 is a block diagram showing the detailed arrangement of a binary image generation circuit 610 for generating binary image data from outline data (or smoothed data). The binary image generation circuit 610 receives the encoded data (MH, M
A decoding circuit 616 for decoding (R or MMR encoded data) into binary image data, an outline binary image generation circuit 17 for generating a binary image from outline vector data, and an output of received data Circuit 61
6 or an outline binary image generation circuit 617 and a switching circuit 618.

FIG. 56 shows a facsimile apparatus having the above configuration.
It operates in the procedure as shown in the flowchart of 57.
In the following description, it is assumed that both the transmission side device and the reception side device are the facsimile devices having the above-described configuration, and the communication is performed according to the CCITT30 compliant transmission control procedure. Therefore, the operation of the device on the transmitting side and the device on the receiving side will be described using the same reference numerals.

First, in the transmitting side device, the image original is set in the device in step S605, and the receiving side is called in step S610. Further, in step S615, the CED signal waiting state is entered. On the other hand, although the receiving side device waits for a call in step S700, if a call from the transmitting side device is detected, the process proceeds to step S70.
In step 5, the CED signal is sent to the transmission side device.
Succeedingly, in a step S710, it is indicated that the outline vector can be received, and the NSF / DIS code is transmitted to the transmitting side apparatus. After this, the receiving device is NS
The S / DCS signal waits.

When the transmitting device receives the CED signal, the process advances to step S620 to wait for the NSF / DIS code reception, and when the NSF / DIS code is received, the process advances to step S625. Step S
At 625, the transmitting side device recognizes that the receiving side device can receive the outline data by the code shown in the NSF, and sets the mode for transmitting the outline data. Succeedingly, in a step S630, an outline data transmission instruction is transmitted together with other mode setting information in the NS.
It is sent to the receiving side device as an S / DCS code. After that, the transmission side device starts reading the set image original in step S635, and further sends the TCF as a training signal to the reception side device, and the process proceeds to step S645 to wait for the CFR signal.

On the other hand, when the receiving side apparatus receives the NSS / DCS signal, the process proceeds to step S720, and the switching circuit 618 is switched to the outline binary image generating circuit 617 side based on the received NSS / DCS code to output the outline data. Set the device to receive. next,
In step S725, the process receives the TCF, and if this is successful, the process proceeds to step S730 to send out the CFR, and informs the transmission side device of the result. Then, the process proceeds to step S735 and waits for outline data reception.

When the transmitting side apparatus receives the CFR from the receiving side apparatus again, the process proceeds to step S650, the image original is read, the outline is extracted from the read image data, and the outline data is transmitted to the receiving side apparatus. start. That is, the transmitting device is the scanner unit (S
CN) 604 to read the image original for one line,
The image data is binarized by the binarization circuit 606. At this time, the CPU 601 switches the switching circuit 11 to the outline extracting circuit 12 side so that the binarized data is supplied to the outline extracting circuit 12. When the image data of one line is read, the image original is sent by a predetermined feed amount in the sub-scanning direction of the scanner unit (SCN) 604, and the image data is sequentially read, binarized, and output to the outline extraction circuit 612. Repeat the input operation. Then, when the number of lines of image data that can be processed is input to the outline extraction circuit 612, the outline extraction process is started.

At step S655, the outline data corresponding to the one-page original generated by the outline extraction circuit 12 is temporarily stored in the image memory 607, and then at step S660, it is sent to the receiving side device via the modem 609. The transmission operation of the one-page image original is completed.

When the receiving side device detects the reception of the outline data again, the process proceeds to step S740 to receive the outline data. The received data is temporarily stored in the image memory 607 in step S745. Subsequently, in step S750, the image memory 607
The outline data accumulated in 1 is input to the smoothing circuit 608, and processing such as smoothing / pixel density conversion / notch removal is executed to convert the outline data to smoothed data. However, this smoothing,
Pixel density conversion and further notch removal processing will be described in a second embodiment described later. In step S755, the outline data (or smoothed data) stored in the image memory 607 is output to the outline 2 via the switching circuit 618.
It is supplied to the value image generation circuit 617, where binary image data is generated. Finally, in step S760, the binary image data is transferred to the printer 6 via the switching circuit 618.
Then, the received image is output and the received image is output, and the reception process for one page is completed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the outline data is extracted from the image data read by the transmitting side device at the time of transmitting the image original, and the outline data is transmitted to the receiving side device. Since the binary image data is generated from the received outline data and the image is output, the transmission / reception side can share the load of the image original transmission and the reception / reproduction processing and execute the processing.

In the first embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the case has been described in which the outline data extracted by the transmitting side device is directly transmitted to the line, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if the transmission / reception device is a device compatible with the high-level procedure, the outline data can be converted into a format in accordance with the HDLC procedure and transmitted. Further, the description of the present embodiment is based on the assumption that the facsimile follows the G3 procedure.
It is also possible to apply the present invention to a convention other than the procedure.

Further, in the description of the present embodiment, the document reading start time of the transmitting side device is the NSS / DCS code transmission time, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the original document is read before calling. It is also possible to read and store the outline data in the image memory.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image processing communication apparatus according to the second embodiment. In the figure, 101 is an image scanner, which is a CCD
Image data read in a raster scanning order by a photoelectric conversion device such as A / D conversion, and the A / D-converted digital multi-valued data is binarized by a binarization circuit, and is converted into binary raster image data by a bus A115. Output to. The binary raster image data output to the bus A is temporarily stored in the memory A103.

Reference numeral 102 denotes an image area separation circuit, which is multivalued data of raster scanning input from the image scanner 101 (for example, in the case of 256 gradations of 1 pixel, 8 bit / pixel).
1) is input, the halftone area and the character / line drawing area are separated, and an image area separation table for each image area (details will be described later) is created in the memory A103. It should be noted that which part of the read image is a binary image such as a character or line drawing and which part is a halftone image can be determined by examining the value of the input multi-valued data. That is, in general, a binary image literally has only two states of white (lowest density) and black (highest density), so that the density change in a region (edge) where these two states are adjacent is sharp. . On the other hand, since the density of the halftone image gradually changes, the density change becomes gentle. Therefore, by examining this density change, it becomes clear whether the pixel position of interest is at the edge of the binary image or at the edge of the halftone image.
Note that such a technique for distinguishing a binary image such as a character / line drawing from a halftone image is already known, and may be realized by other processing. Further, the operator may instruct the type of the read document or the like.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a contour extraction circuit which reads the binary raster image data accumulated in the memory A 103 and, if necessary, an image area separation table for image area separation, and the memory B 11
A contour coordinate data string is created in 1.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a coding / decoding circuit, which reads the binary raster image data stored in the memory A103 and performs coding compression of the binary image such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., when performing the coding process. The encoded image data is stored in B111. When performing the decoding process, the memory B1
The encoded image data stored in 11 is input, and the decoded binary raster image data is output to the memory A 103.

Reference numeral 109 denotes a smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit, which inputs the contour coordinate data string accumulated in the memory B111, and performs various coordinate conversions (multiplication of magnification, x-coordinate y-coordinate exchange) and enlargement / magnification contouring. The smoothing process for smoothing the jagged edges is performed, and the converted contour coordinate data string is created in the memory B111.

A communication control circuit (CCU) 113 inputs the image data (contour coordinate data string or image coded data and, if necessary, an area separation table) stored in the memory B111, and inputs the image data to the communication line. Is output. The image data received from the communication line is also stored in the memory B.
Accumulate in 111.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a binary image regenerating circuit, which is a memory B
The contour coordinate data string accumulated in 111 is input, and a contour line is drawn in the memory A 103 based on the contour coordinate data to create a binary raster image (bitmap image).

Reference numeral 104 denotes an intermediate coating circuit, which inputs a binary raster image (bitmap image) in which the contour line created in the memory A 103 is drawn, performs intermediate coating in the contour closed area, and stores it in the FIFO memory 105. And output to.

The FIFO memory 105 regains horizontal and vertical synchronization with the printer and outputs binary raster image data to the printer 106.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a printer such as LBP, which is a FIFO 1
At 05, the binary raster image data resynchronized is input and the image data is recorded on the recording paper.

<Description of Processing Content> Next, the flow of image data of the image processing communication apparatus according to the present embodiment, that is, the transmission operation is shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, the reception operation is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, and the copy operation is shown in FIG. Each will be described in detail using a flowchart.

<Description of Transmission Process> First, the processing procedure of the transmission operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the image reading in step S1, the image is read by the image scanner 101 as binary raster image data, transferred to the memory A103 and stored therein.
At this time, if the transmission other than the immediate transmission, that is, if the transmission of the image data is not performed immediately, the memory A103 is set as shown in steps S9, S10, and S11 in order to effectively use the memory.
The image data stored in the memory A is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding circuit 108, stored in the memory B111 as an image file, and is subjected to decoding processing at the time of transmission to perform the memory A processing.
It is expanded to 103 as a binary raster image. At the same time when the binary raster image is stored, the multi-valued raster image data from the image scanner 101 is output to the image area separation circuit 102. The image area separation circuit 102 determines for each block (predetermined area) whether it is a character / line drawing area or a halftone area in the image, and creates an area determination table indicating the characteristics of the image area in the memory A103. Of course, the accumulated encoded image data file and the area determination table file have the same file attribute, and are taken out when necessary.

Further, at this time, it is clear whether the pseudo halftone is used or not by pressing the selection button (halftone button provided on the operation unit (not shown)) as to whether the pseudo halftone processing is performed at the time of binarization. In this case, the image area separation table for each image area is not created, and only the image attributes of one page, that is, pseudo halftone or character / line drawing, may be recorded.

In step S3, the area determination table of the character / line drawing area or the pseudo halftone area is stored in the memory A.
Read from 103, and if it is a character / line drawing area, step S
4, if it is a halftone region, the process branches to step S12.
If it is determined that the image is in the halftone region, and the process proceeds to step S12, and it is determined that variable magnification is necessary, then it is 2 as in the conventional G3 and G4.
After the scaling process for each raster, which is the scaling process of the value raster image,
The image data is transmitted after being encoded according to the communication line.

When transmitting the image area determination table at this time, the area determination table of the memory A103 is transferred to the memory B111 and transmitted.

In step S4, if the receiving side has a function of regenerating a binary raster image from the contour coordinate data sequence as image data and it is determined that the contour coordinate data sequence can be transmitted, that fact is received. Is notified to the transmitting side and the process proceeds to step S5. If the receiving side is configured only with the conventional G3 or G4 function and cannot receive the contour coordinate data string, the process proceeds to step S16.
In step S16, it is determined whether or not the scaling is necessary, and if it is necessary, the process proceeds to step S17, and thereafter, the scaling process is performed using the contour coordinate data string. If the scaling is not necessary, the process proceeds directly to step S23 and is transmitted after the encoding process.

In step S17, the binary raster image data stored in the memory A103 is input to the contour extraction circuit 102, the binary raster image data is converted into a contour coordinate data string, and then the contour coordinate data is stored in the memory B111. Accumulate columns. In step S18, it is determined whether or not the enlargement process is necessary for the contour coordinate data string stored in the memory B111. If the enlargement process is necessary, the process proceeds to step S19, and if not, the process proceeds to step S20.

In step S19, a contour coordinate data string is input from the memory B111, a contour smoothing process described later is performed, and the process proceeds to step S20. In step S20, each coordinate value is multiplied by a scaling factor to be converted into a coordinate value according to the transmission resolution. In step S21, the contour coordinate data string converted by the binary image regenerating circuit 110 is stored in the memory B1.
11 and draws an outline on the bitmap image of the memory A 103. In step S22, the image bitmap in which the contour line is drawn in the intermediate coating circuit 104 is fetched for each raster and is expanded in the memory A103 as binary raster image data in which the intermediate coating is performed.

In step S23, the coding / decoding circuit 108 performs coding suitable for the communication mode and transfers it to the memory B111. The encoded image data transferred to the memory B111 is transmitted by the CCU 113 in the case of G4. In the case of G3, it is transmitted by a MODEM (not shown).

The processing after step S5 will be described. When the image area to be transmitted is a character / line drawing and the receiving side can receive the contour coordinate data, the process proceeds to step S5. Contour extraction circuit 700 as a character / line drawing area
The image data transferred from the memory A103 is scanned for the entire image while updating a rough contour coordinate data table described later, and finally converted into a contour coordinate data string and stored in the memory B111. In step S6, it is determined whether or not the scaling of the image data converted into the contour coordinate data string is necessary. If necessary, the process proceeds to step S7 and the memory B11
Smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 10 for the image data accumulated in 1
9, and the coordinate value is multiplied by the scaling factor. At this time, if necessary, the coordinate sequence is traced so that the feature points remain in the contour coordinate data sequence, and smoothing conversion is performed for the enlargement processing. If it is determined that the image can be restored by smoothing by tracing, the number of significant digits of the coordinate value of the coordinate data is reduced to compress the data amount. After the processing means, the contour coordinate data string coordinate-converted by the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 is returned to the memory B111. In step S8, the image data whose transmission resolution and reception resolution match is CCU11.
3 is transmitted. Similarly, in the case of G3, M not shown
Sent via ODEM.

By the way, in consideration of the communication error of the image data, when the communication device is a G4 CCU, and when the image is communicated as the contour coordinate data string, protocol error correction and resending of the error image cause the contour coordinate data string to be transmitted. Sending and receiving are possible, but in the case of G3 using MODEM, E
Data transmission / reception using HDLC for CM is required. Therefore, when transmitting and receiving the contour coordinate data string through MODEM by G3 and using the conventional telephone line, compulsory E
When the CM mode is set and the frequency of ECM retransmission is high depending on the line status, or when ECM transmission / reception cannot be performed, the image data transmission is switched to the conventional MH and MR code, and the image communication is performed in the conventional G3 mode. To do.

<Description of Reception Processing> Next, the reception processing of this apparatus will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3A and 3B.

In step S101, the CCU 11 is received.
3 or image data is received from a MODEM (not shown). The received image is MH, MR or G according to the conventional G3.
4 is encoded image data such as MMR according to No. 4 or a contour coordinate data string transmitted by the image processing communication device described in the embodiment. The received image data is temporarily stored in the memory B111.

In step S102, it is determined whether or not the received image data is a contour coordinate data string transmitted from a device of the same type as the image processing communication device.

If it is determined that the image data is the image data received from the apparatus described in the embodiment, the process branches to step S114, and the MH, MR,
If it is determined that the data is MMR code data, step S103
Proceed to.

In step S114, it is determined whether the received image data needs to be scaled. If it is determined that the scaling processing is necessary, the process proceeds to step S107, and thereafter, the scaling processing using the contour coordinate data string is performed. If the scaling process is not necessary, the process proceeds to step S109, where the scanning direction coincidence determination is performed, and thereafter, the image data from the contour coordinate data string
Value raster image data is restored and printed.

Further, the received image data is MH, MR, M
When it is determined that the image data is MR-encoded image data and the process proceeds to step S103, the received data is sent to the encoding / decoding circuit 108, is decoded into binary raster image data, and is stored in the memory A103. Accumulated in. In the next step S104, it is determined whether or not the scaling is necessary when the received image data is printed out. If it is determined that the scaling is necessary, the process proceeds to step S105. A103 to FIFO105
The binary raster image data is transferred to the printer, is synchronized with the printer 106 again, and is printed out from the printer 106.

In step S105, it is determined whether the received image data is a pseudo halftone image or a character / line drawing image based on the area determination (image attribute or area determination table). Then, for the pseudo halftone image data block, the process proceeds to step S116, and the raster image scaling circuit 114 is executed.
And is scaled as a binary raster image. Further, the image block determined to be the character / line drawing area is transferred to the contour extraction circuit 107 and subjected to scaling processing as a contour coordinate data string described below.

In step S106, the binary raster image data of the character / line drawing stored in the memory A103 is transferred to the contour extraction circuit 107, converted from the binary raster image data into a contour coordinate data string, and stored in the memory B111. It

In step S107, it is determined whether the sub-scanning or the main scanning is the enlargement process. If it is the enlargement processing, the process proceeds to step S115, and the memory B111
The contour coordinate data sequence accumulated in the above is transferred to the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109, the first smoothing process and the second smoothing process are performed by the tracking pattern matching of the contour coordinate data sequence described later, and the contour coordinates other than the corner points are processed. Smooth the data. By this processing, the jaggedness of diagonal lines at the time of enlargement is suppressed. The details of the meaning of these corner points will be described later, but if briefly explained,
The point whose coordinate position does not change even in the smoothing process described later.

In step S108, the contour coordinate data sequence or the contour smoothed contour coordinate data sequence is converted into coordinate data matching the resolution of the print output by multiplying each coordinate sequence by the scaling factor.

In step S109, it is determined whether or not the scanning direction of the image data is different from the image scanning direction at the time of recording, for example, when the image read in the vertical direction of B5 is output in the horizontal direction of A4. In this case, the process proceeds to step S110, and the x coordinate and the y coordinate of the contour coordinate data string are exchanged,
It is stored in the memory B111. If the coordinates need not be exchanged, they are stored in the memory B111 as they are.

In step S111, the pixel coordinate-converted contour coordinate data string accumulated in the memory B111 is input to the binary image regenerating circuit 110, and a part of the memory A103 is used for storing a bitmap image of an output image. Then, the outline of the bitmap image is drawn.

In step S112, the image data in which the contour line is drawn is extracted from the memory A103 for each raster, and the intermediate coating circuit 104 performs intermediate painting of the contour.
Transfer to FO105. At this point, the contour coordinate data is converted into binary raster image data again. When the process branches from step S104 or step S105 to step S113, the binary raster image stored in the memory A103 is also transferred to the FIFO 105 for printing.

The binary raster image data transferred to the FIFO 105 is sent to the printer 106 in step S113.
Resynchronize with the printer 1 as a raster image
It is output from 06.

<Description of Copying Process> Next, the contents of processing at the time of copying will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S201, the original image is read. In this case, if it is not necessary to store files like immediate copying, steps S202 to S213
The image data output from the image scanner 101 is transferred to the FIFO 105 via the memory A 103 and printed out. The reason why the data is temporarily stored in the memory A103 is to absorb the difference in speed between the image scanner and the printer. If the recording speed can be changed as in a thermal printer, the data is directly transferred to the FIFO 105 as described above. And output it. In the case of immediate copying, if the reading resolution of the image scanner 101 is set to be the same as the output resolution of the printer, no processing needs to be performed and the above-mentioned transfer processing may be performed.

If it is instructed to temporarily store the image data as a file instead of the immediate copy and then perform the copy, the process proceeds to step S203 to perform the encoding compression to store the image file in order to increase the memory efficiency and store the image file. . Here, it is assumed that the binary raster image stored in the memory A 103 is transferred to the encoding / decoding circuit 108, converted into an MH code or the like, and transferred and stored in the memory B 111. In addition, of course, various compression methods other than MH can be used for encoding and compression, and a compression method unique to this apparatus may be adopted. The image data once accumulated is read again from the memory B111 as shown in steps S204 and S205 during the print output operation, decoded by the encoding / decoding circuit 108, and expanded as binary raster image data in the memory A103. To be done.

In step S206, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to scale the accumulated image file. The basis of the determination here is when the document image size and the size of the apparatus are different, or when the operator gives an instruction. If the scaling is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S213,
The image data is transferred to the FIFO 105 for each raster, and is synchronized with the printer 106 to be printed out. When performing the scaling process, the process proceeds to step S207, and it is determined based on the region determination table whether the stored image file is a pseudo halftone image or a character / line image as shown in the transmission process. To do. In the case of a pseudo-halftone image, the process proceeds to step S207, the decoded image is transferred to the raster image scaling circuit 114, scaled in the binary raster image state, and returned to the bitmap image memory of the memory A103. If it is determined in step S207 that the image is a character / line-drawing image, the process proceeds to step S208, and the block extracted as the character / line-drawing area is extracted by the contour extraction circuit 107.
Sequentially, the binary raster image data is converted into a contour coordinate data string, and is stored in the memory B111 as a contour coordinate data string. As explained in the previous reception process, G
3 standard resolutions (main scanning 8 pel / mm, sub scanning 3.85 pel /
mm), the enlarging process for outputting the image data stored in the printer of 400 dpi is performed in step S2.
In order to perform the smoothing process in 14, the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit performs the first smoothing process and the second smoothing process as described later.

In step S210, each coordinate value of the contour coordinate data string or the smoothed contour coordinate data string is multiplied by a scaling factor to be converted into a contour coordinate data string matching the resolution and size of the printer output image. . In step S211, the image data converted into the outline coordinate data string of the printer output image is transferred to the binary image regenerating circuit 110, and the binary image reproducing circuit 110 draws an outline in the bitmap image memory of the memory A103. It In step S212, the binary raster image data with contour lines formed in the memory A103 is read for each raster, transferred to the FIFO 105, and printed out in synchronization with the printer as shown in step S213. It

The above processing is described step by step, but of course, by performing each processing for each block, decoding processing, contour extraction processing, smoothing processing, coordinate conversion processing,
The binary image regeneration processing and the intermediate coating processing can be performed in parallel, and the system throughput can be increased. Further, in the present embodiment, the processing having a heavy load may be performed during the standby instead of during the transmission / reception.

<Explanation of Each Processing Circuit> Next, in order to explain the resolution conversion by the contour coordinate sequence in each processing block in detail, the contour extraction circuit 107, the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109, and the binary image reproduction. Image forming circuit 110, intermediate coating circuit 104
Will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Contour Extraction Circuit> The contour extraction circuit 107
As shown in FIG. 6, the pixel of interest 161 in the binary image
And eight pixels (A, B, C, D, 0, 1,
The processing is advanced by observing the states 2 and 3), and the pixel of interest is shifted pixel by pixel and the processing of the entire image is performed by performing the processing for all rasters. Specifically, it is as follows. The contour extraction processing in the embodiment is performed while maintaining the black area on the right side in the direction of the vector to be extracted.

The starting point of the rough contour vector extracted here
The position of the end point is assumed to be an intermediate position between pixels in both the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction. Further, in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, the center position of a pixel is indicated by a positive integer, and the pixel position is represented by two-dimensional coordinates. For example, in an image having a size of 1728 pixels in the main scanning direction and 2287 pixels in the sub scanning direction, when the position of the pixel of interest is now [3, 7] (meaning the third pixel position of the seventh raster), The enclosing rough contour vector coordinate sequence is clockwise (2.5, 6.
5), (3.5, 6.5), (3.5, 7.5),
(2.5, 7.5). That is, it is the coordinate positions of the four corners when the pixel of interest is a rectangle. Incidentally, the rough contour vector in this case is a → b, b → c, c → d, where the four points are a, b, c and d, and the vectors are expressed in x → y format.
d → a.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing internal blocks of the contour extraction circuit 107. An input control circuit 150 takes in the binary raster image data stored in the memory A 103 and outputs it as serial data. It should be noted that this data is output as serial data in synchronization with a horizontal and vertical synchronizing signal (not shown). Each of 151 and 152 is a FIFO for extracting pixel data over three lines in the vertical direction.
In the memory, the pixel data serially input is delayed by one line. 153 is a 3 × 3 shift register group,
Receiving the output from the input control circuit 150, the output delayed by one line from the FIFO 151, and the output delayed from the FIFO 152 by two lines, the data of three lines are sequentially input. Then, the input binary image data of 3 lines is shifted pixel by pixel, and 3 × 3 as shown in FIG.
The pixel data (9 bits) is output to the decoder 154. The decoder 154 outputs 4-bit numerical data indicating the state of eight peripheral pixels excluding the pixel of interest (here, x in FIG. 6) and the value of the pixel of interest to the contour extraction calculation circuit 157.
The state of the surrounding 8 pixels is information indicating the state in which the pixel of interest is placed, and for example, if the pixel of interest is 2
It indicates whether or not it is at the edge of the value image, and if it is at the edge, which direction of up, down, left and right is white (the binary data is “0”).

A main scanning counter 155 outputs the pixel position of the target pixel in the main scanning direction to the contour extraction calculation circuit 157. A sub-scanning counter 156 outputs the pixel position of interest in the main-scanning direction to the contour extraction calculation circuit 157.

The contour extraction calculation circuit 157 is connected to the decoder 15
The rough contour vector is extracted from the output value from 4, and the coordinates of the starting point of each rough contour vector and another rough contour vector that flows into this rough contour vector (the coordinates of the starting point of this vector are the end points) A table having item number information of another rough contour vector that flows out from this rough contour vector (the coordinates of the end point of this vector is the starting point) is created and updated.

The rough contour vector described above will be described below.

In the second embodiment, the vector along the edge of the binary image is extracted. However, if the vector is extracted in consideration of the pixel level, the vector types are vertical vector and horizontal vector. There are two. In other words, the edges of the binary image are a collection of vertical and horizontal vectors. Although there are various vector sizes, when a certain vertical vector is focused on, a horizontal vector is always connected to both the start point and the end point of the focused vertical vector. That is, the vertical vector is sandwiched by the horizontal vectors. On the contrary, a certain horizontal vector is sandwiched by vertical vectors. In the embodiment, when a certain vector is focused, a vector connected to the start point of the focused vector, that is, a vector in which the start point position of the focused vector is the end point position is called an inflow vector, and the end point of the focused vector is set as the start point. The vector is called the outflow vector. Then, if the connection relation of the individual vectors is obtained in this way, the contour along the edge of the target binary image can be specified. In addition, each vector has a unique number to identify it.
The numbers identify the mutual vector connection. The number that identifies each vector is called an item number.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a horizontal rough contour vector, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a vertical rough contour vector.
These are stored in the memory B1 as a table as described above.
11 is stored.

In the figure, reference numeral 171 denotes a counter indicating the item number of the horizontal rough contour vector, which is incremented by 1 each time the horizontal rough contour vector is increased by 1 (newly discovered). 1
72 is an area used to record the x coordinate of the starting point of the horizontal rough contour vector, and 173 is an area used to record the y coordinate of the starting point of the horizontal rough contour vector. Further, 174 is an area for storing the item number of a vertical vector (outflow vector) connected to the start point of this horizontal vector, and 175 is a diagram showing the item number of a vertical vector (outflow vector) to which the end point of this horizontal vector is connected. Is. Again, since the two vectors connected to the horizontal vector are vertical vectors, the area numbers 174 and 175 store the item numbers of the vertical vectors connected to the horizontal vector of interest.

This idea also applies to the vertical vector table shown in FIG. That is, 181 is a counter indicating the item number of the vertical rough contour vector, which is incremented by 1 each time the vertical rough contour vector is increased by one. 182 is an area used to record the x coordinate of the starting point of the vertical rough contour vector, and 183 is an area used to record the y coordinate of the starting point of the vertical rough contour vector. 184 is the item number of the horizontal vector (inflow vector) connected to the starting point of this vertical vector, 185
Is an area used to record the item number of the horizontal vector (outflow vector) to which the end point of this vertical vector is connected.

In the horizontal and vertical rough contour vector tables, the rough contour vector is added and the contents of each table are updated every time one pixel is processed. And a vertical rough contour vector table.

Thus, by tracing the inflow and output vector item numbers of the horizontal and vertical direction rough contour vector tables shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the total number of contour lines in the image as shown in FIG. A table of a rough contour vector coordinate sequence representing the total number of contour lines for each line (contour closed loop), the x coordinate and the y coordinate of each point in the contour line is created, and a series of processing is completed.

In order to improve the processing speed, the table is not updated substantially when it is determined that the pixel position of interest is not at the edge of the image. Therefore, the vector table is added under such a situation. -The update process may not be performed.

A concrete example of the above-described horizontal / vertical rough contour vector table creating / updating process will be described below. To simplify the description, it is assumed that the read image has a size of 6 × 5 pixels and that a single pixel A and continuous pixels B and C exist as shown in FIG. Here, the coordinate positions (coarse contour vector coordinates) of the four corners of the pixel A are (2.5, 2.
5), (2.5, 3.5), (1.5, 3.5),
(1.5, 2.5). It goes without saying that the pixels B and C will be described.

When this image is read and processed, black pixels are not detected until the third raster and the second pixel. At this time, all the pixels around the target pixel (pixel A) are white (“0”) pixels, and four vectors exist. That is, two in the horizontal direction and two in the vertical direction. In the embodiment, each time a new rough contour vector is generated, an item number is added to the vector, so in this case, item numbers 0 and 1 are given in the horizontal and vertical directions. Therefore, the horizontal / vertical vector table is in the state shown in FIG. The way to read this table is as follows.

Attention is now paid to the horizontal vector whose item number is "0". The vertical vector of the item number “1” flows into the starting point (upper left corner of the pixel A) of this attention vector,
It shows that the vertical vector of the item number “0” is flowing out from the end point of interest. The item number of each vector may be considered as an offset address indicating the position stored in the table. That is, it can be seen that the vertical vector data that flows in and out of the horizontal vector of item number "0" exists at offsets "0" and "1" in the vertical vector table.

Now, returning to FIG. 23, the pixel A is moved to the right next to it, but since the pixel of interest is white, the process proceeds to the next pixel B without doing anything.

When attention is paid to this pixel B, it can be seen that there are vectors in the vertical direction and the left direction except the right side. Moreover, the upper left corner of the pixel of interest is the starting point of the horizontal vector,
It can be seen that the coordinate position of the lower left corner can be determined as the starting point of the vertical vector. Therefore, these points can be newly registered in the horizontal / vertical vector table. However, since “1” is already used as the item number in both the vertical and horizontal directions, the coordinates (3.5, 2.
5) is stored as the starting point of the horizontal vector of item number "2", and the coordinates (3.5, 3.5) of the lower left corner are stored as the starting point of the vertical vector of item number "2". Then, when focusing on the horizontal vector of the item number “2”, the vector flowing into itself is the vertical vector of the item number “2”,
The outflowing vertical vector is marked so that it can be distinguished from the unknown vertical vector (there are pixels that continue in the horizontal direction) at this point. The same applies to the vertical vector of the item number vector “2”. That is, since the horizontal vector flowing into the vertical vector of the item number "2" is not known, the corresponding position in the table is marked. In this way, each table is updated as shown in FIG.

Now, when the processing advances to the pixel C, the coordinate positions (5.5, 3.5) and (5.
5, 2.5) occurs. Therefore, the table is updated at that coordinate position. At this time, the vertical vector that has not been determined yet and flows out from the horizontal vector of the item number “2” is the vertical vector of the item number “3” newly registered this time. Write. The vertical vector is also updated in the same manner. In this way, each table is updated as shown in FIG. Then, when the horizontal and vertical vectors of all the rough contour vectors and their connection relationships are extracted,
A vector table as shown in FIG. 9 is created based on these vector tables.

FIG. 21 shows an example of the input image, and FIG. 22 shows a vector table obtained from the input image.

<Smoothing / Coordinate Conversion Circuit> Next, the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 in the embodiment will be described. The smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 of the embodiment, as shown in FIG.
First smoothing circuit 191, first smoothing conversion table 19
4, a second smoothing circuit 192 and a coordinate conversion circuit 193.

The first smoothing circuit 191 takes in the data converted from the raster scanning binary image to the rough contour data sequence shown in FIG. 9 by the contour extraction circuit 107, and traces the coordinate sequence for each vector closed region. However, the contour coordinate data string is converted and the corner points are labeled with reference to the first smoothing conversion table 194 based on the vector connection state, and the vertex coordinate data string after the first smoothing and each vertex are corner points. Outputs information about whether or not. In the second smoothing circuit 192,
Based on the first smoothed vertex coordinate data string and the corner point information, a weighted average of the coordinate values of each of a plurality of points before and after the own point is obtained,
Outputs the contour vector coordinate data string. Coordinate conversion circuit 1
At 93, if necessary, the x-axis and y-axis coordinate values are exchanged, and each coordinate value is multiplied by a scaling factor. Here, in the case of the reduction processing, the data is directly passed to the coordinate conversion circuit 193 after passing the smoothing processing of the first smoothing circuits 191 and 192.

Details of the above-mentioned processing will be described. As shown in FIGS. 11 to 18, the first smoothing circuit 191 refers to a pattern of a total of 7 vectors up to the three sides before and after the vector of interest, and the rough contour coordinate numerical value is obtained by referring to the pattern according to the direction and length of each side. Data strings are removed and converted. here,
“N_pnt” shown in FIG. 11 and the like is the total number of closed loops of the rough contour coordinate numerical data, a single circle indicates the start point of the horizontal vector and an end point of the vertical vector, a triangle indicates the end point of the horizontal vector and the start point of the vertical vector, and a double circle. Represents each corner point. Further, the processing target of the first smoothing here includes the pattern of FIG. 11 as a pattern for removing noise (notch / isolated point) peculiar to a binary image. That is, FIG.
As shown in 1, when removing an isolated pixel of one pixel size, all the coordinate values are deleted. This prevents the pixel from being emphasized when the image is enlarged. Also, as shown in FIG.
In the case of storing white holes in the black area, each contour coordinate string is labeled as a corner point and the coordinate value is output as it is.
The corner point here means that the coordinate position is immovable in the second smoothing process described later. Also,
Although the description goes back and forth, in the embodiment, since the X and Y directions are the right and the down directions, the left direction and the up direction are minus directions. Further, for example, in FIGS. 13A and 13B, “≦ −” of “≦ −3” is in the negative direction,
"3" indicates that at least 3 pixels continue.

The meanings of FIGS. 11 and 12 are as described above, but a brief description of FIG. 13 and the following is as follows.

The meaning of FIGS. 13A and 13B is a line segment having a width of 1 pixel, and the coordinate position representing the end of a thin line having a length of at least 3 pixels is defined as a corner point, which will be described later. This means preventing the coordinate position from being changed by the second smoothing process, in other words, preventing rounding. To make it easier to understand, in the background, a line segment with a width of 1 pixel having a length of 3 pixels or more is not a so-called "dust" in the read image, but a part of a character or line drawing. It means to do. However, here, the length is set to 3 pixels or more, but this depends on the reading resolution, and if the reading resolution is low, the length may be 2 pixels, or the image is read at a higher resolution. In this case, the number may be four or more. This also applies to what will be explained below.

The meaning of FIGS. 14A and 14B is to delete the unevenness of one pixel in a flat state for a predetermined length (3 pixels in the figure), that is, to delete the rough contour vector data of the unevenness. Means FIG. 15 means that when the unevenness is present continuously, the unevenness is made flat.

16A to 16C show the definition of corner points and the concept of vector smoothing. However, in the figure, "D
i ”indicates the rough contour vector of interest. For example, in the case of FIG. 16A, when the end position of the rough contour vector of interest is in the illustrated state, the end position of the rough contour vector of interest is the corner point. Also, the vector Di-1 immediately before the vector of interest Di is deleted, and the same length as the vector Di-2 two before is taken from the starting point of the vector of interest, and The vector connecting the end point position and the start point position of the vector Di-2 is updated as Di-2, and the vector represented by the updated end point and corner point of Di-2 is updated as the vector of interest. To do.

FIGS. 17A and 17B show the contents of the smoothing processing for the gently shaded area. For example, as shown in FIG. 17A, 1
For an edge inclined in a predetermined direction such that the pixel goes up and extends by 3 pixels or more in the horizontal direction and then goes up by 1 pixel again, the midpoint position of the vector of interest is set to the end point of the immediately preceding vector Di−1 and the vector immediately after Di + 1. Is the starting point position of. This process is not performed when the inclination is in the upward direction and then in the downward direction. This judgment can be understood by multiplying the gradient of the immediately preceding vector and the gradient of the immediately following vector and checking the sign. In addition, FIG.
B shows an example in which five vectors are finally made into three vectors. That is, under the conditions shown in the figure, the vectors immediately before and after the vector of interest Di are deleted, and the starting point position of the vector Di-2 before smoothing is connected to the point A on the vector Di of interest. Di-vector
2, the vector represented by points A and B is the vector of interest D
The vector represented by the end point of the vector Di + 2 before smoothing at the points i and A is Di + 2. 18A to 18C are as illustrated. For example, in FIG. 18A, the intermediate position of the vector of interest Di is set as the end point of the immediately preceding vector and the start point of the immediately following vector.

As a result of the processing of the first smoothing circuit 191, the rough contour vector data, which is composed only of at least vertical and horizontal vectors, is allowed to have diagonal vectors.

In the second smoothing circuit 192, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the corner points indicated by double circles are left as they are, and the other coordinate points are weighted by the coordinate values of the plural points before and after the point (in the embodiment, the coordinate values of the two points before and after). The average is obtained, and the value is output as the vertex coordinate data string after the second smoothing. Here, the points Qi shown in FIG. 19 indicate the vertex coordinate data sequence after the second smoothing, and the points Pi indicate the vertex coordinate data sequence after the first smoothing. In the example, Q1 (9/4, 2) is changed to P0 (1,
3), P1 (2,2), P2 (4,1). Here, the number of effective digits used in the first smoothing and the second smoothing is arbitrarily set within a range effective for the recording resolution.

The coordinate conversion circuit 193 performs x-axis and y-axis coordinate conversion depending on the difference between the main scan of the processed image and the recorded image, and multiplies each coordinate sequence by a scaling factor in accordance with the scaling process.

For example, the input image is 2
When multiplying, the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate of the second smoothed vertex coordinate data string are both doubled, and the decimal places are rounded off to perform coordinate conversion.

The contour coordinate data string thus obtained in each of the circuits 191 to 194 is output to the memory B111 and the processing is terminated.

<Binary Image Regenerating Circuit, Intermediate Coating Circuit> In the second embodiment, the case of the page memory use type in which the bitmap image memory for one screen is used will be described. Of course, all the methods of converting the contour coordinate data sequence into a binary raster image image are effective.

The binary image regenerating circuit 110 reads the contour coordinate data string stored in the memory B111 of FIG. 1 and draws the contour line for one plane in the bitmap image memory on the memory A103.

At this time, since the filling operation in the intermediate coating circuit in the subsequent stage can be performed at high speed and the contour line is drawn with the bitmap image of one page, two or three consecutive line segment vectors (each of the contour coordinate series are drawn). Control the drawing method of the contour pixel on the line segment vector of interest by referring to the line segment vector of interest and the state (direction) of the vector immediately before and immediately after that vector I will do it. The content of the control is to treat the end point on the line segment vector of interest and the point on the contour vector other than the end point separately, and not draw them, draw at the pixel position on the line segment vector, or Whether to draw by shifting the pixel on the line segment vector to the pixel position adjacent to the pixel by one pixel in the main scanning direction is determined. The actual contour pixel drawing operation is executed by storing the result of the exclusive OR (EXOR) of the value and 1 already stored in the pixel position to be drawn. In any case, the contour is drawn so that the pixels can be switched on / off simply by sequentially reading the pixels in the main scanning direction.

In the intermediate coating circuit 104, the contour drawing image in the bitmap image memory (memory A103) after the drawing processing of all the outline edges by the predetermined contour drawing circuit is raster-scanned and read out at arbitrary synchronization timing. , Executes the intermediate coating process by pipeline processing, and transfers it to the bitmap image memory again. The intermediate coating process itself is processed by a circuit as shown in FIG.
DATA input in synchronization with LK is sequentially output to OUT while being black-and-white inverted in the contour line drawing pixels. Here, LSYNC is a line synchronization signal and is input as a synchronization reset signal at the start of raster pixel input. Reference numeral 5195 is a latch that holds the OUT output value of the previous pixel. 196 is an EXOR, which is the input data and the OU one pixel before
EXOR with T output value is output. That is, the output OUT becomes "1" or "0" every time the contour point is input as DATA.

In the above embodiment, the character / line drawing image and the halftone image are separated by the image area separating circuit. However, the image attribute is known in advance by the mode select button of the image scanner or the communication protocol, and the converted image is pseudo intermediate. When it is clear whether the image is a tonality or a character / line drawing image, the area table based on the image area separation is not necessary, and it may be switched whether or not the pixel density conversion by the contour extraction is performed according to the image attribute.

Further, the inventor of the present application can make a certain degree of distinction without specially preparing a dedicated circuit for discriminating the character line drawing area (binary image area) and the halftone image area in the original image. I understood it. The pseudo halftone image has a relatively small total number of points in one closed loop of the contour coordinate data sequence and the vector direction changes frequently within one closed loop as compared with the character line drawing image. Therefore, the image area separation circuit 102 and the area determination table At the stage of performing the smoothing process instead of, the simple image area separation function can be realized by switching whether to perform the smoothing process or not depending on the total number of one closed loop of the contour coordinate data string. Specifically, the processing is performed as follows.

That is, since the minimum and maximum points of the x and y coordinate points of all the vectors forming one closed loop can be obtained, the rectangle size circumscribing the closed loop can be determined. That is, it is possible to indirectly extract the size of the closed loop as a rectangular size. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether to perform smoothing, in other words, whether the closed loop is a halftone image or a character / line drawing image based on the relationship between the rectangular size and the total number of points forming the closed loop. become. In this case, the relationship between the rectangular size and the closed loop may be stored as a table or as an expression.

As a result, it becomes possible to distinguish between the halftone image and the binary image based on the vector obtained in the process of extracting the edge vector of the image.

Further, in the second embodiment, the enlargement / reduction processing and the encoding processing by the contour coordinate data string and the conventional 2
Since both the enlargement / reduction processing by the value raster image is included, the data size of the contour coordinate data string and MH, MR, MMR
By comparing the data size of the encoded data and transmitting the image data with the smaller data amount, the communication time can be efficiently shortened.

Since the contour coordinate data string is considerably large depending on the image, there is a possibility that the memory overflows when the contour coordinate data string is extracted depending on the image, such as when the capacity of the memory B111 is small. In this case, the contour extraction process is stopped and the coordinate conversion (magnification) by the binary raster image is performed.
You may switch to a process. That is, since the capacity of the memory B111 is known in advance, it is sufficient to compare the final address position of the rough contour vector table being constructed with the final effective address position of the memory.

In addition to the scaling by the coordinate conversion, it is also possible to multiply the scaling ratios for the main scanning and the sub-scanning separately, and it is possible to perform the x-axis and the y-axis independently. In such processing, the input original image size is compared with the paper size for print output, and the x-axis scaling factor and the y-axis scaling factor may be calculated according to the size difference. Of course, the user (operator) may arbitrarily set it according to his / her preference. The x- and y-axis scaling factors may be processed by the sender by negotiation, or may be processed when the data received by the receiver is printed.

In the smoothing process, in the second embodiment, the black isolated points and the notches are removed to remove dust pixels, but the standard resolution of G3 standard is read. Since image data often requires notches and isolated points as information for reading characters, notch removal and isolated pixels are performed according to the resolution of the input image in an external switching mode (for example, a switch to that effect is provided on an operation panel (not shown)). It is also possible to remove the removal pattern from the smoothing pattern and perform the processing. Of course, it is possible to easily switch between smoothing processing and non-smoothing processing according to preference with the external mode key.

In the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 of the second embodiment, only the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate are exchanged and the multiplication of the magnification is performed. It is possible to correct the skew of the read document by performing coordinate rotation by affine transformation of the contour coordinate data sequence based on the output value of. in this case,
For example, as shown in FIG. 25, when the read original is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction or the scanner is moved in the sub-scanning direction for reading, the edge position of the original in the main scanning direction may be sequentially detected. . That is, as shown in the figure, the deviation amount lx when one document is read and the conveyance amount ly in the sub-scanning direction at that time are detected, so the skew angle θ of the document is tan−1 (ly / lx).

Various means can be considered as means for detecting changes in the edge position of the document. For example, when a document is conveyed and its recording surface is read, the background color (the color detected when there is no read document) at the reading position is set to a color other than white. In general, the background color of the document itself is white, and if it can be distinguished from the white color, the edge can be detected. In addition, a pressing plate that presses from the lateral direction of the document conveyance direction with a small force that does not bend the document and is movable in the left and right (main scanning) directions is provided for the document conveyance amount. The degree of skew may be detected by detecting the amount of movement on the left and right.

In the skew correction process, the original image is read, and after the read image is stored in the memory A103 or when the read image is stored, the image is rotated in the reverse direction by the obtained skew angle (affine transformation). You can do it. After that, the above-mentioned processing may be performed. Moreover, you may perform a rotation process with respect to the coordinate data obtained by performing the above-mentioned 2nd smoothing process. In addition, when performing skew correction, such processing may be automatically performed, but the operator is notified of that fact (a message is displayed on the display unit provided on the operation panel, etc.) You may make it instruct | indicate whether it corrects.

Further, regardless of the skewed reading of the original image, the operation panel may be instructed to rotate at an arbitrary angle. That is, it is provided in case the characters of the document to be read are already skewed.

In the binary image regenerating circuit 110, the case of the page memory use type in which the image memory of the bitmap is used for one screen has been described. However, as in the scan line conversion (bucket sort method), the edge table and the active edge are used. It is also possible to draw a ridge line edge of the contour image by using a line buffer of several lines using a table.

In the embodiment, the printer is used as the image output device, but it is possible to display and output the image by using the video memory and the display instead of the FIFO 105 and the printer 106 of FIG.

Further, as an application example of communication using the contour coordinate data sequence, a digitizer showing the image position is separately provided,
It is also possible to add a decoration code (change of pattern of shading or color painting, change of color) to the contour coordinate data closed loop in the area designated by the digitizer and send it. On the receiving side, it is possible to easily change the pattern of shading or the color painting and the color change according to the decoration code.

Further, instead of once expanding the font as a binary raster image and transmitting it as in a report or a header, it is directly transmitted / received as font data using an outline or a conventional outline expansion is used to regenerate a binary image. It is also possible to easily output the outline font by using it in common with the intermediate coating circuit.

Of course, in the present embodiment, all the operations used for the conventional resolution conversion can be realized, and arbitrary scaling processing by the magnification designation key and processing for putting a long original into a standard cut sheet by detecting the cassette size. Can be realized by the configuration of this embodiment.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, even when a document is skewed and read, the skewed portion is reversely rotated and corrected, so that the document is upright. It becomes possible to obtain a good image.

Further, in addition to handling it as a bit image of the original image, the contour vector is extracted and processed based on the extracted contour vector, so that the edge does not become jagged.

Further, since the data based on the extracted contour vector is transmitted to the other party and the other party reproduces and outputs the image based on the received data, the communication time can be shortened and a high-definition image can be displayed. Transmission becomes possible.

Further, since the contour vector extracted from the original image is smoothed, even if enlarging processing is performed, the vector is enlarged and the image is reproduced, so that a high-quality image can be obtained regardless of the magnification. Will be possible.

Further, since the scaling processing of the extracted contour vector is performed only when the resolution conversion is necessary, the load on the system can be minimized and the normal processing speed without the scaling processing is reduced. It becomes possible to prevent that.

Further, when the contour vector is extracted from the read binary image, it is determined whether or not the storage size of the contour vector exceeds the memory capacity. If it is determined that the memory is over, the contour vector extraction processing is immediately performed. Then, the process is switched to the process using the binary image. This makes it possible to correctly print or send even when the memory is full.

Further, when performing the scaling processing based on the contour vector data, whether or not to perform the smoothing processing is switched by an external switch. As a result, it is possible to switch between smoothing processing and emphasis on processing speed according to operator preference. Furthermore,
When the read or received image is scaled and printed, a smoothing process is performed to obtain a high-quality image with less distortion. Moreover, if the scaling factor is designated by a switch (not shown), an image of a desired size can be obtained. Further, since the scaling processing based on the contour vector data is performed only when the enlargement processing is performed, it is possible to reduce the load on the apparatus and prevent the processing speed from being reduced when performing processing such as equal magnification or reduction. It will be possible.

Also, since it is possible to determine to some extent whether the image is a halftone image or a character / line drawing image based on the total number of points for the extracted closed loop, it is possible to omit the device and circuit relating to the area determination, and reduce the cost. It is possible to measure down.

In the communication between the devices described in the embodiments, the data to be communicated can be contour coordinate data, and the transmission side or the reception side can change the magnification of the data in the x and y directions. It can be performed independently, and even if such scaling is performed, it is possible to obtain a good image according to one's preference.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the resolution conversion is performed only when the resolution conversion is necessary, and the image deterioration due to the resolution conversion is not substantially generated, and the apparatus is applied. It becomes possible to reduce the burden and to transmit high-quality images.

Further, since the contour vector is extracted from the input image and smoothed to generate the image only when the resolution conversion is required, a high-quality image can be transferred to the other party.

<Third Embodiment> In the second embodiment,
The example of extracting the contour vector from the input image and transmitting it to the facsimile of the other party has been described.

By the way, even if the size of the read document on the transmitting side is the same as the recording paper size of the printer of the facsimile apparatus of the destination, it is expected that the image of the size on the transmitting side will not be output by the facsimile of the destination. To be done. The reason is the difference between the reading resolution on the transmitting side and the recording resolution of the printer of the destination facsimile.

Also, in the case of a system in which an image or the like is edited on a CRT device and is transmitted directly via a line, an image created by that system has a one-to-one correspondence with the screen as long as it is printed by that system. It is possible to print the image to be printed. This is because the relationship between the resolution of the CRT device and the printer in the system, the vertical / horizontal dot spacing, the ratio of vertical / horizontal dot spacing, and the number of vertical / horizontal dots can be established in advance.

However, even when an image created on such a system is transferred to the destination facsimile machine, the above-mentioned problem occurs.

The third embodiment solves this problem. In the following, the vertical / horizontal dot spacing, the ratio of vertical / horizontal dot spacing, and the number of vertical / horizontal dots are referred to as a pixel configuration, and when the data is used as pixel configuration information.

In the third embodiment, a case where a data communication device to which a computer is connected is used as the data communication device on the transmission side and a facsimile device is used as the data communication device on the reception side will be described.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing the structure of the data communication system according to the third embodiment.

In FIG. 26, the data communication device 201 performs outline extraction processing from the raster scanning binary image data transferred from the computer 203. And
The extracted outline data and the pixel configuration information of the transferred raster type binary image data are transmitted to the destination facsimile machine 202 via the line 206. The facsimile device 202 regenerates the binary image data so as to match the pixel configuration of the facsimile device 202 based on the received outline data and the pixel configuration information, and outputs the binary image data to a recording paper or the like.

The computer 203 is the data communication device 20.
It is connected to 1 and creates and edits image data such as computer graphics. Display 204 is CR
It is a T device and displays graphic data (image data) created by the computer 203. The image data in this embodiment is raster scan binary image data. The keyboard 205 is the computer 2
A command for creating graphic data and a data transfer is issued to 03. 206 is a line for data communication.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the data communication apparatus 201. In this figure, the configuration required for the data communication device to transmit image data is described. The raster scan type binary image data transferred from the computer 203 is input to the image processing unit 210. The image processing unit 210 will be described in more detail. The image memory 211 stores image data transferred from the computer 203. The outline processing unit 212
Outline extraction is executed from the image data stored in the image memory 211. Here, the image data is converted into a vector coordinate data string that expresses a white-black boundary portion of the image data with vector data. The outline processing unit 212 here is the outline extraction circuit 1 in the second embodiment.
It is assumed that it is composed of 07.

The modem 213 has an outline processing section 21.
The modulation process is executed for outputting to the line 206 for the vector coordinate sequence obtained in 2. At this time, the pixel configuration information of the image data stored in the image memory 211 is added. In the third embodiment, the computer 203
Pixel configuration information for the CRT 204 connected to is stored in the pixel configuration information storage unit 215. Then, the data modulated by the modem 213 is output to the line 206 via the NCU 214. Further, the data communication device 20
1 is a CPU 2 such as a microprocessor.
It is controlled by 16. The CPU 216 also has a ROM that stores control programs and various data.
217, a RAM 218 for temporarily storing various data is provided as a work area for the CPU 216.

The pixel configuration information added as transmission data is stored in the pixel configuration information storage section 215 as described above, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be stored in the RAM 218 or the like in advance, or may be transferred together with the image data from the computer 203.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the facsimile apparatus 202. In this figure, the configuration relating to the reception of image data (outline data) to the output by the recording unit is described. The configuration related to the reading unit and the transmission of the image data is assumed to be a general configuration, and the description thereof is omitted here.

The line 20 is connected from the above-mentioned data communication device 201.
The outline data with the pixel configuration information transmitted via 6 is input into the device via the NCU 221 and
It is demodulated by the modem 222.

The image processing unit 223 inputs the demodulated outline data with pixel configuration information, and records it.
It is converted into binary image data having a pixel configuration suitable for 24 or the like. The recording unit 224 outputs the 2 output from the image processing unit 223.
The value image data is output to recording paper by, for example, a thermal recording method. Further, the image data generated by the image processing unit 23 can be stored in the floppy disk unit 225. The image data stored on the floppy disk is
Displayed or recorded by another device. The pixel configuration information storage unit 226 stores the pixel configuration information according to the transfer destination of the image data. The CPU 227 controls each unit described above. Further, the ROM 228 stores a control program of the CPU 227 and various data, and the RAM 229 temporarily stores various data as a work area of the CPU 227.

Next, the image processing section 223 will be further described. The pixel configuration information and outline data demodulated by the modem 222 are stored in the buffer memory 230. The smoothing unit 231 performs a smoothing process on the outline data stored in the buffer memory 230.
The scaling processing unit 232 uses the scaling factor determined based on the pixel configuration information stored in the buffer memory and the pixel configuration information of the image data to be generated read from the pixel configuration information storage unit 226 to determine the outline data. Magnification processing is executed for. The binary image generation unit 233 regenerates the outline data into a binary image. The smoothing processing unit 2
31 and the scaling unit 232 can be realized by, for example, the smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 in the second embodiment.

The operation of the data communication system having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 29 to 31.

FIG. 29 is a flow chart showing a procedure of creating graphic data in the computer 203 and transferring the graphic data to the data communication apparatus 201.

In step S251, the keyboard 205
Computer graphic data is created by the computer 203 using, for example. In step S252, the created graphic data is displayed on the graphic display 204. Here, the graphic data is raster scan binary image data.

Next, in step S253, it is determined whether or not there is an instruction to transfer the image data from the keyboard 205. If there is no transfer instruction, the process returns to step S251 and the above-described processing is repeated. If there is a transfer instruction, the flow advances to step S254 to transfer the created graphic data to the data communication apparatus 201.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing the image data transmission processing in the data communication apparatus.

In step S 261, the image data transferred from the computer 203 is stored in the image memory 211. In step S262, it is determined whether or not a data transmission instruction has been given.
Return to 61. If there is a data transmission instruction, the process proceeds to step S263. The data transfer instruction in this case may be a command input from the computer 203 or a command input from an operation panel attached to the data communication device. In step S263, the outline processing unit 212 executes outline extraction processing on the image data stored in the image memory to convert it into outline vector coordinate data. Next, in step S264, the pixel configuration information of the processed image data is stored in the pixel configuration information storage unit 21.
It is acquired from 5 and added as transmission data. The pixel configuration information storage unit 215 stores the respective pixel configuration information corresponding to the transfer source of the image data. Therefore, the pixel configuration information can be acquired from the pixel configuration information storage unit 215 according to the transfer source of the image data. Then, in step S265, the data generated or acquired in steps S263 and 264 is transmitted. That is, the modem 2
Then, the data is modulated by 13 and the data is sent to the line 206 via the NCU 214.

As described above, the transmission side device uses the image data as the outline data, and further adds the pixel configuration information to the image data for transmission.

Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus 202 which receives the outline data with the pixel configuration information will be described.

FIG. 31 is a flow chart showing the receiving operation by the facsimile apparatus 202. Note that the output destination of the image data is set in the recording unit 224 prior to this processing.

In step S271, the transmitted outline data and pixel configuration information are set in the NCU 221.
And is demodulated by the modem 222. Then, in step S272, the demodulated pixel configuration information and outline data are stored in the buffer memory 230. In step S273, the smoothing processing unit 231 performs the smoothing process on the outline data accumulated in the buffer memory 230. Next, in step S274, the scaling factor of the scaling process executed in the next step is determined. Here, the scaling factor is determined by the pixel configuration information in the received data and the pixel configuration information of the receiving apparatus. In this example, the pixel configuration information on the receiving side is the pixel configuration of the recording unit 224 of the facsimile device 202. As an example of the method for determining the scaling factor, for example, if the dot spacing of the pixel configuration information is represented by the number of dots per inch (dot density), scaling factor = (dot density of recording unit 224) / ( It becomes the dot density of outline data).

Next, in step S275, step S
The scaling processing unit 232 using the scaling ratio determined in 274.
The scaling processing is executed on the outline data by. Next, in step S276, the binary image generation unit 233.
Is raster scan type 2 for outline data that has been scaled.
Regenerate the value image data. It is needless to say that in the binary image regenerating process in step S276, the effective range of the image is determined based on the pixel configuration information read from the pixel configuration information storage unit 226 in step S274. Then, the image data regenerated in step S277 is transferred to the recording unit 224, and recorded and output on recording paper or the like.

As described above, in the data communication system including the data communication apparatus and the facsimile apparatus according to the third embodiment, the image data of the outline data and the pixel configuration information are transmitted from the data communication apparatus which is the transmission side apparatus. It is divided into two types of data and transmitted. The outline data is a relative value of the image and the scaling process is easy. Then, in the facsimile device which is the receiving side device, the received outline data is subjected to a scaling process based on the received pixel configuration information and converted into raster scanning binary image data having a predetermined pixel configuration. By executing the image data communication according to such a procedure, the outline data transmitted from the transmission side device is generated based on any pixel configuration (for example, the display dot interval in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction, or the number of dots). Even if it has been processed, it is possible to perform smoothing and scaling processing by making the best use of its characteristic points and contours, and it is possible to perform resolution conversion while preventing deterioration of image quality. Therefore, it is possible to perform communication of image data between devices having different pixel configurations while suppressing deterioration of image quality.

<Fourth Embodiment> In the fourth embodiment, a data communication system will be described in which a facsimile apparatus is a transmission side apparatus and a data communication apparatus connected to a computer is a reception side apparatus.

FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing the connection state of each device in the data communication system according to the fourth embodiment.

In FIG. 32, a facsimile device 241
Has an outline function and transmits the read original image as outline data. Data communication device 242
Has an outline function, receives outline data transmitted from the facsimile device 241, converts it again into binary image data, and outputs it to the computer 243 or the like. The computer 243 is connected to the data communication device 242 and executes various processes such as image processing. The graphic display 244 displays graphic data generated by the computer 243 or image data received by the data communication device 242. Keyboard 2
45 inputs various commands to the computer 243. 246 is a printer capable of printing image data, and 247 is a floppy disk unit capable of storing image data. The image data recorded on the floppy disk in the storage device 247 can be read out to another device.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the above facsimile device 241.

In FIG. 33, a reading unit 251 reads a document image, generates raster scanning binary image data, and transfers it to the image processing unit 252, and has a CCD and a step motor. The image processing unit 252 is the reading unit 25.
Raster scan type binary image data is input from 1 and converted into outline data. Then, together with the outline data, the pixel configuration information of the reading unit 251 is added and output to the modem 253. The modem 253 receives the input data
The data subjected to the modulation processing is output to the telephone line 248 via the NCU 254. The pixel configuration information of the reading unit 251 is stored in the ROM 258.

The image processing section 252 will be further described.

The raster scanning type binary image data input from the reading section 251 is stored in the image memory 255. The outline processing unit 256 executes outline vector extraction on the image data stored in the image memory 255, and converts the image data into outline vector coordinate data. The outline vector coordinate data thus obtained is output to the modem 253. The means for extracting the outline vector from the binary image is in accordance with the second embodiment.

Each unit of the facsimile apparatus 241 is controlled by the CPU 257. And the CPU 257
A ROM 258 in which a control program executed by the CPU 257 and various data are stored, and a CPU 257.
RAM 259 is provided as a work area.

FIG. 34 shows a data communication device 2 of the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of 42.

In FIG. 34, reference numeral 261 denotes an NCU (network control unit), and the pixel configuration information and outline data transferred from the facsimile device 241 over the telephone line 248 are fetched via this NC 261. The modem 262 demodulates the outline data captured in the modulated state. The image processing unit 263 converts the received outline data into raster scanning binary image data that matches the pixel configuration of the output destination device. The pixel configuration information storage unit 264 stores each pixel configuration information according to the data transfer destination device. The CPU 265 controls each part of the data communication device 242. CPU in ROM266
A program and various data for operating the H.265 are stored. The RAM 267 is a work area for the CPU 265.

Next, the image processing section 263 will be further described.

271 is a buffer memory for the modem 2
The pixel configuration information and outline data demodulated by 62 are stored. The smoothing processing unit 271 executes smoothing processing on the outline data stored in the buffer memory 270. The scaling processing unit 272 executes scaling processing on the outline data. The scaling factor at this time is determined based on the pixel configuration information input together with the outline data and the pixel configuration of the image data transfer destination device. In addition, the binary image generation unit 273 regenerates the scaled outline data into raster scanning binary image data. Then, the binary image data is output to the computer 243 or the storage device 247.

Facsimile device 241 having the above configuration
The communication operation of the image data between the data communication device 242 and the data communication device 242 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 35 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the image data transmission operation by the facsimile apparatus 241.

When the one-touch key instructing the transmission is pressed in step S281, the process proceeds to step S282. In step S282, the reading unit 251 reads the original image and outputs it as the raster scanning binary image data to the image processing unit 252. In step S283, the binary image data transferred from the reading unit 251 is stored in the image memory 255. Then, in step S284, the outline processing unit 256 executes outline extraction on the image data stored in the image memory 255 to obtain outline vector coordinate data. Also,
In step S285, the pixel configuration information of the reading unit 251 is added to form the transmission data together with the outline vector coordinate data. Then, in step S286, the transmission of the transmission data generated in steps S284 and S285 is executed. That is, the transmission data is modulated by the modem 253 and then output via the NCU 254.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the image data receiving operation by the data communication device 242.
It is assumed that the image data transmission destination is set to the computer 243, that is, the graphic display 244 prior to the execution of this processing.

In step S291, the pixel configuration information and outline data are received, and then step S292.
The pixel configuration information and the outline data received in step 3 are stored in the buffer memory 270. Next, step S29.
In step 3, the scaling factor is set according to the data transfer destination. For example, in this example, since the transfer destination is the graphic display 244, the pixel configuration information of the graphic display 244 is read from the pixel configuration information storage unit 264. The scaling factor is determined based on the pixel configuration information of the graphic display 244 thus obtained and the received pixel configuration information. The pixel configuration information corresponding to each transfer destination is stored in the pixel configuration information storage unit 264.

In step S294, the smoothing processing unit 27
1 executes smoothing processing on the outline data stored in the buffer memory 270. Next, step S
In 295, the scaling process is performed on the outline data using the scaling ratio set in step S293. Then, in step S296, the binary image regeneration processing unit 273 performs conversion of the outline data into raster scanning binary image data. Step S29
At 7, the binary image data is transferred to the set data transfer destination. In this example, the image data is transferred to the graphic display 244 via the computer 243.

As described above, in the data communication system including the facsimile apparatus and the data communication apparatus of the fourth embodiment, the image data is transmitted from the facsimile apparatus which is the transmission side apparatus to the image data of two types, outline data and pixel configuration information. The data is sent separately. The outline data is a relative value of the image and the scaling process is easy. Then, in the data communication device which is the receiving side device, the received outline data is subjected to a scaling process based on the received pixel configuration information and converted into raster scanning binary image data of a predetermined pixel configuration. By performing the image data communication according to such a procedure, the outline data transmitted from the transmission side device has any pixel configuration (for example,
Even if it is generated based on the display dot interval in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction, or the number of dots), it is possible to perform smoothing and scaling processing by making the best use of its characteristic points and contours, and to reduce image quality It is possible to prevent the resolution conversion from being performed. Therefore, it is possible to perform communication of image data between devices having different pixel configurations while suppressing deterioration of image quality.

In the third and fourth embodiments described above, the receiving side device performs the outline data smoothing process. However, the transmitting side device performs the smoothing process before transmitting the outline data. May be. In this case, the smoothing processing unit is incorporated in the transmission side device.

As described above, according to the third and fourth embodiments, it becomes possible to communicate image data between devices having different pixel configurations, and by using the outline extraction method. It is possible to prevent the image quality from being deteriorated due to the pixel configuration conversion process.

<Fifth Embodiment> In the third or fourth embodiment, when outline data is to be transmitted, pixel configuration information is added to the outline data to be transmitted. Then, on the receiving side, the received outline data is scaled based on the pixel configuration information of the transmission source and the pixel configuration information of the reception side in the received data to generate a binary image. Therefore, in any case, the receiving side needs a scaling process for the received outline data.

Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, the pixel configuration information of a plurality of receiving side devices is stored in advance. Then, when actually transmitting the image, scaling processing is performed based on the stored pixel configuration information on the receiving side and pixel configuration information on the transmitting side, and the image is transmitted. Therefore, the receiving side only needs to perform the printing process based on the received data.

Details will be described below.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of the facsimile apparatus 281 of the fifth embodiment. Figure 3
In FIG. 7, the reading unit 282 reads a transmission original, generates a raster scanning binary image signal, and outputs it to the control unit 283. The reading unit 282 includes an original feeding motor and a CCD image sensor.

Next, the structure of the control unit 283 will be described. When transmitting the image data, the image processing unit 300 executes pixel configuration conversion for matching the pixel configuration of the image data input from the reading unit 282 with the pixel configuration on the receiving side. Then, the image data whose pixel configuration has been converted is output from the image processing unit 300 to the encoding / decoding unit 301. When receiving the image data, the image processing unit 300 stores the received image data decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 301 and outputs it to the recording unit 290. Thereby, image formation is executed.

The encoding / compositing unit 301 encodes the image information to be transmitted by MH encoding or the like, and decodes the received encoded image data to convert it into image data. When encoding is performed in the encoding / decoding unit 301, a signal for line synchronization or the like is added based on the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device stored in the pixel configuration information storage unit 306. It In addition, the buffer memory 30
2 stores the coded image data transmitted or received. Each unit of the control unit 283 is controlled by the CPU 303 such as a microprocessor. In addition to the CPU 303, the control unit 283 includes a CPU 303
ROM3 that stores various control programs and various data
04, a RAM 305 for temporarily storing various data is provided as a work area for the CPU 303. In the pixel configuration information storage unit 306, pixel configuration information of a plurality of receiving side devices is registered in advance.

The operation unit 284 includes various function instruction keys for starting transmission, a telephone number input key, a one-touch key, a key for speed dialing, and the like. The display unit 285 is usually provided adjacent to the operation unit 284 and displays various functions and states. The power supply unit 286 supplies electric power to the entire device. 287 is a modem (modulator / demodulator), 288 is a network control unit (NCU), and 289 is a telephone. The recording unit 290 records an image on a recording sheet by, for example, a thermal transfer recording method, and outputs a report such as a reception record, a copy, and a communication result report. A line 291 is connected to another data communication device or facsimile device.
Connected via.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the image processing section 300 in the facsimile apparatus. The image memory 311 stores the binary image data input from the reading unit 282. Outline extraction unit 31
2 executes outline extraction on the image data stored in the image memory 311. Here, the binary image data first becomes vector coordinate data representing a boundary portion between black and white. Next, the smoothing unit 313 smoothes the outline data. Here, the vector data of the fine jagged portion is made to be a slant line, and isolated points and notches are removed.

The scaling unit 314 executes the scaling process using the coordinate data of the outline vectors obtained by the outline extraction unit 312 and the smoothing unit 313 described above. The scaling ratio at this time is set based on the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device obtained from the pixel configuration information storage unit 306. For example, the scaling factor is obtained from (transmission-side device resolution) / (reception-side device resolution). The outline vector data subjected to the scaling processing by the scaling unit 314 is converted into a binary image again by the binary image regenerating unit 315 and output to the encoding / decoding unit 301. In the binary image regenerating unit 315, the binary image is developed according to the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions in the pixel configuration information.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing the storage state of the pixel configuration information for each receiving side device in the pixel configuration information storage unit 306. Pixel configuration information 322 of the receiving side device is stored corresponding to the one-touch key 321. The pixel configuration information 322 includes, for example, horizontal resolution (dpi), vertical resolution (dpi), horizontal pixel count (dot),
The number of vertical pixels (dot) is stored. In the fifth embodiment, the receiving side pixel configuration information 322 is stored in association with the one-touch key, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be stored in the telephone number of the destination facsimile machine or data communication machine, for example. You may correspond.

FIG. 4 shows a facsimile apparatus 281 according to the fifth embodiment and a data communication apparatus 330 which is a receiving side apparatus.
6 is a diagram showing a connection state with another facsimile device 333. FIG. The data communication device 330 includes a graphic display 331 that displays a received image and a floppy disk drive 332 that can store image signals and the like.
Is equipped with. The other facsimile device 333 includes a recording unit 334 that records the received image.

FIG. 41 is a flow chart showing the data transmission processing operation of the facsimile apparatus 281 of the fifth embodiment.

In step S301, the user presses the one-touch key corresponding to the destination on the operation unit 284 after setting the original. In step S302, it is determined whether there is a transmission document, and if there is no transmission document, this processing ends. On the other hand, if there is a transmission original, the process proceeds to step S303, the reading unit 282 reads the transmission original, and the read data is stored in the image memory 311 of the control unit 283 in step S304. Then, in step S305, the pixel configuration information of the display device (graphic display 331) of the destination receiver registered in correspondence with the one-touch key or the recording unit 334 is read out from the pixel configuration information storage unit 306.

In step S306, the read pixel configuration information of the receiving side device is compared with the pixel configuration information of the facsimile device 281. If they match, the process proceeds to step S311 and the data transmission is executed as it is. Also,
If they do not match, the process proceeds to step S307,
The conversion processing of the pixel configuration by the outline processing is started. First, in step S307, the outline extraction unit 312 extracts a black-white boundary portion of image data to generate vector coordinate data (outline extraction). Next, in step S308, the smoothing unit 313 performs a smoothing process on the generated vector coordinate data.

Next, in step S309, the scaling processing unit 3 uses the scaling factor determined by the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device read in the previous step S305.
14 performs a scaling process on the output data from the smoothing unit 313. Then, in step S310, the binary image regenerating unit 315 generates binary image data that matches the pixel configuration of the receiving-side device, based on the outline that has undergone the scaling process. Then, in step S311, data transmission to the data communication device 330 or the facsimile device 333 is executed, that is, the data is encoded by the encoding / decoding unit 301 and transmitted to the line 291 via the modem 287 and the NCU 288. It Then, step S302
The procedure returns to and the above processing is repeated.

As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus of the fifth embodiment, 1. When the pixel configuration of the receiving side device and the transmitting side device are different,
Even if the receiving side is a conventional facsimile device or data communication device that does not have an outline function, it is possible to send resolution-converted images of high image quality with little image quality deterioration. 2. The facsimile device automatically executes the conversion process according to the pixel configuration of the receiving device without the user being aware of the dot information. 3. By utilizing conventional technologies such as one-touch keys and speed dials, cost increase can be minimized and an inexpensive device can be provided to the user. 4. In data communication between devices with the same pixel configuration, outline extraction is not executed, so the communication speed of conventional data communication devices can be maintained. 5. In the case of transmitting the same image to a data communication device or a facsimile device having the same pixel configuration in the broadcast communication, the resolution conversion process by the outline process only needs to be executed once, so high-speed broadcast communication can be executed. Has the effect.

Therefore, for example, the image data transmitted from the facsimile apparatus of the fourth embodiment can be displayed on the graphic display of the data communication apparatus on the receiving side.

In the fifth embodiment, the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device is obtained by using the data stored in the pixel configuration information storage unit, but the present invention is not limited to this.
The information about the pixel configuration may be directly obtained from the device at the transmission destination. For example, the pixel configuration of the receiving side can be detected and the pixel configuration of the transmitting side can be converted by a method similar to the mode switching instruction (standard, fine, super fine) by the DIS signal in facsimile communication.

<Sixth Embodiment> FIG. 42 is a diagram showing a connection between the data communication apparatus of the sixth embodiment and another data communication apparatus and a facsimile apparatus. The computer 351 performs computer graphic processing and the like. The graphic display 352 includes a CRT, and the computer 35
Display the graphic data created in 1. The data communication device 353 transmits the graphic data created by the computer 351 and displayed on the graphic display 352 to another data communication device 357 or the facsimile device 360 connected via the line 356.
And so on. At this time, the data communication device 353 executes outline processing and scaling processing on the generated graphic data, and performs conversion of the pixel configuration of the image data so as to match the pixel configuration of the receiving side device. The keyboard 354 is connected to the computer 351 and gives various instructions to the computer 351. Operation panel 3
55 is connected to the data communication device 353, and has keys for the purpose of one-touch keys, speed dials, etc.,
The data communication device 353 is instructed to perform various processes.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram showing details of the above-mentioned data communication device 353.

The image processing unit 371 executes a pixel configuration conversion process for matching the pixel configuration of the image data output from the computer 351 with the pixel configuration of the receiving side device during image data transmission. Then, the image data subjected to the pixel configuration conversion processing is output from the image processing unit 371 to the encoding / decoding unit 372. The encoding / compositing unit 372 encodes the image data to be transmitted by MH encoding or the like. When encoding is performed in the encoding / decoding unit 372, a signal for line synchronization or the like is added based on the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device by the pixel configuration information storage unit 376. Further, the buffer memory 373 stores the coded image data transmitted or received. Further, 374 is a modem (modulator / demodulator), 375 is a network control unit (NCU), and 377 is a telephone.

FIG. 44 shows the structure of the image processing section 371 having the above-mentioned structure. The function of each section is shown in FIG. 3 of the fifth embodiment.
8, and the description thereof is omitted here. Also,
The resolution information storage unit 376 having the above-described configuration is also similar to that of FIG. 39 of the fifth embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted here.

The operation of the data communication apparatus of the second embodiment having the above configuration will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 45 and 46.

FIG. 45 shows a procedure for creating graphic data in the computer 351. Step S321
In, the computer 351 is used to create graphic data. In step S322, the graphic data being created is the graphic display 352.
Will be transferred to and displayed. In step S323,
Whether or not there is an instruction to transfer image data from the keyboard 354 to the data communication device 353 is confirmed, and if there is a data transfer instruction, the process proceeds to step S324 to transfer image data (created graphic data) to the data communication device 353. The transferred image data is stored in the image memory 381 in the image processing unit 371 of the data communication device 353. If there is no data transfer instruction in step S323, the process returns to step S321 and the image data generation process is repeated.

FIG. 46 is a flow chart showing the procedure of data communication processing by the data communication device 353. When the one-touch key for instructing the start and destination of data transmission is pressed in step S331, step S3
At 32, the pixel configuration information of the receiving side device corresponding to the one-touch key is read from the pixel configuration information storage unit 376. In step S333, the pixel configuration of the image data transferred from the computer 351 stored in the image memory 381 and the destination pixel configuration (for example, the pixel configuration included in the graphic display 358 of the data communication device 357, or the facsimile device 360). Of the pixel configuration of the recording unit 361) is determined. If they match, the process proceeds to step S338, the data transmission is executed as it is, and the process ends. On the other hand, if the resolutions do not match, step S334.
Proceed to and the resolution conversion by outline processing is started.

In step S334, the image processing unit 3
The outline extraction unit 382 in 71 is the computer 35.
The black and white boundary portion of the image data transferred from 1 is extracted to generate vector coordinate data (outline extraction). Next, in step S335, the smoothing unit 383 performs a smoothing process on the generated vector coordinate data.

Next, in step S336, the scaling section 384 uses the scaling rate determined based on the pixel configuration information of the destination read from the pixel configuration information storage section 376 to determine that the scaling section 384 is to operate. A scaling process is performed on the output data from the smoothing unit 383. And step S3
In 37, the outline image data that has undergone the scaling processing is converted into a binary image again by the binary image regenerating unit 385. Thereafter, in step S338, the data communication device 35
7 or data transmission to the facsimile device 360, that is, the data is encoded by the encoding / decoding unit 372 and transmitted to the line 356 via the modem 374 and NCU 375.

As described above, according to the data communication apparatus of the sixth embodiment, for example, the graphic data displayed on the graphic display is converted into the pixel configuration for the facsimile apparatus having the different pixel configuration. Can be transmitted.

As described above, according to the fifth and sixth embodiments, the pixel configuration conversion processing is executed on the image data to be transmitted in accordance with the pixel configuration of the receiving side device, and this is transmitted. Therefore, it is possible to perform image data communication between devices having different pixel configurations. Furthermore, by using the outline extraction method, deterioration of image quality due to conversion processing of the pixel configuration can be prevented.

<Seventh Embodiment> In the fifth and sixth embodiments, the outline data is scaled and transferred to the receiving side.

However, when the scaling process is performed, the number of significant figures at the coordinate position forming each outline data increases, resulting in a large amount of information. In particular, when the information to be transmitted is a rough contour vector before smoothing, the number of vectors is large, so that the total amount of information is further increased.

Therefore, the seventh embodiment solves such a problem.

FIG. 47 is a block diagram showing the structure of a facsimile machine to which the outline processing according to the seventh embodiment is applied. All blocks divided by function are connected to the data bus 401. The CPU 402 centrally controls each block. A reading unit 403 reads image data from a document. A binarization unit 404 binarizes the analog signal of the document image data read by the reading unit 403 and outputs it as a digital signal. Reference numeral 405 denotes an image area separation unit, which receives the input 2
It distinguishes and separates character data and halftone image data from the output data from the binarization unit 404.
Reference numeral 406 denotes an encoding / decoding unit which executes encoding of halftone image data into MH, MR or MMR code. An outline extraction unit 407 performs vector extraction on the character data and outputs it as rough contour vector coordinate data. A modem 408 transmits and receives data.

An outline scaling unit 409 executes an outline scaling process from the rough contour vector coordinate data and scaling data by the outline scaling method. Four
An outline smoothing unit 10 smoothes the contour vector by an outline smoothing method.
A binary image generation unit 411 executes dot development by a method of generating a binary image to obtain raster scanning binary image data. 412 is a memory for transmitting image data,
Store the received image data. An output unit 413 is 2
The binary image data obtained by the value image generation unit 411 is printed.

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing the flow of image data in the facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment. In the figure, first, image data of a document read by a reading unit 403 such as a scanner is converted into digital image data by a binarizing unit 404. Next, this digital image data is input to the image area separation unit 405 and separated into halftone image data and character data. The halftone image data is input to the encoding / decoding unit 406, and the encoding process is executed. For character data, the outline extraction unit 407
The outline extraction is executed by and the rough outline vector coordinate data is obtained. As described above, the transmission image data obtained by the encoding / decoding unit 406 and the outline extraction unit 407 is stored in the memory 412. Then, this transmission image data is transmitted to an external facsimile device by the modem 408.

Further, the variable-magnification-data generating section 240 generates variable-magnification data such as a magnification, and transmits it together with the transmission image data to the external facsimile apparatus. The scaling data generator 420 may be a part of the function of the CPU 402.

Next, the case where the image data generated as described above is received from the external facsimile apparatus via the line will be described. Received image data received via the modem 408 is stored in the memory 412. The halftone image data of the received image data is encoded and
The data is input to the decoding unit 406, decoding is performed according to the encoding, and halftone image data is obtained. On the other hand, the rough contour vector coordinate data is input to the outline scaling unit 409,
The outline scaling processing is executed based on the scaling data included in the received data. Reference numeral 421 denotes a scaling data processing unit, which may be a part of the function of the CPU 402. Then, it is input to the outline smoothing unit 410,
The processing of the contour vector by the smoothing processing is executed.
The vector coordinate data thus obtained and the above-mentioned halftone image data are input to the binary image generation unit 411, and raster scanning type binary image data is obtained. Then, the output unit 41 uses the generated binary image data.
Printing is executed in 3.

FIG. 49 is a diagram schematically showing the process of the outline scaling processing of the rough contour vector coordinate data string.
In the figure, the image 431 is processed α times to obtain an image 432. Each coordinate data of the image 432 is multiplied by α with respect to each coordinate data of the image 431. For example, (x1
, Y1) → (αx1, αy1). In this way, when the horizontal component and the vertical component of the segment vector forming the rough contour vector coordinate data are subjected to the scaling process based on the scaling data, the effective numbers thereof increase. As a result, the amount of data of the coarse contour vector coordinate data string subjected to the scaling process increases. In the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment, transmission is performed in the state of the image 431, and the receiving side executes the scaling process to the image 432.

As described above, according to the seventh embodiment, since the image is transmitted by the outline-extracted rough contour vector coordinate data and the scaling data, the amount of information at the time of transmitting the document is changed by the outline. The amount of information becomes smaller than that after the doubling process, the transmission time of the image data is short, and therefore, it is possible to perform the transmission with excellent economical efficiency. Further, since the outline scaling processing is performed on the receiving side, it is easy for the receiving side to arbitrarily scale the received image. Furthermore, since the outline smoothing process is performed after reception, the process from image reading to transmission at the time of document transmission is quick.

In the seventh embodiment, the setting of the scaling factor has not been described, but for example, the operator may freely set it, or the reception may be performed as described in the previous embodiment. It may be automatically determined based on the resolution of the side device and the resolution of the transmission side device.

Therefore, in the facsimile communication method or the facsimile apparatus having the outline extraction processing function, since the amount of information at the time of document transmission is small, the information transmission time can be shortened, and therefore the transmission with excellent economy can be performed.

Also, since the outline scaling processing is performed on the receiving side, it is easy to arbitrarily scale the received image.

<Eighth Embodiment> By the way, as a transfer procedure for transferring outline data to the receiving side apparatus,
If one follows the procedure used to date for binary image data transfer (which is of course encoded data), it would be as follows.

First, in the transmitting side device, the original document to be transmitted is set and the receiving side is called. On the other hand, when the receiving side device confirms the call from the transmitting side device, C
Send an ED signal. Next, the outline data can be received, the recordable resolution, and other necessary information are set, and the NSF and DIS codes are transmitted. For example, if the resolution that can be recorded by the receiving device is 16 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction,
The resolution is presented to the transmitting device.

On the transmitting device side, when the receiving device recognizes that the outline data can be received and recorded based on the information shown in the NSF and DIS codes, it is set by the transmitting device. A high resolution is set among the resolutions, and NSS and DCS codes are sent to the receiving side device together with other mode setting information. For example, if the resolution set by the operator's specification of the transmitting device is 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction,
The resolution is notified to the receiving device. The receiving side device uses the NSS and DCS codes to receive the outline vector at the resolution set in the transmitting side device (for example, 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction). Make various settings.

After that, the transmitting side device transmits the training signal, and when the receiving side device succeeds in receiving the training signal, the CFR is sent out to notify the transmitting side device of the result. Based on this, the transmission side device starts reading the document and starts sending the outline data. According to the above description, image data is transmitted at a resolution of 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction. In response to this, the receiving side device sets the binary image data to 8 pe in the main scanning direction from the received outline vector.
Playback / recording is performed at a resolution of 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction at l / mm, and reception of one page is completed.

However, even if the receiving device has the capability of performing outline vector processing at a high resolution, the image data is transmitted or the image is reproduced and output by the receiving device according to the resolution value set by the operator of the transmitting device. Therefore, if the resolution set by the transmission side device is lower than that of the reception side device, the high-definition image processing technology obtained by the outline vector processing of the reception side device cannot be utilized. In addition, since the image data is transmitted at the same value as the resolution set by the transmission side device, the amount of transmission data is increased, and it is expected that the occupation time of the reception side device is also lengthened.

The eighth embodiment solves this.

A normal facsimile apparatus optically reads a document image, encodes it, and transmits it. For example, with a facsimile machine, the original is 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction,
When it is read at 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction, it should theoretically be read with sufficient quality, but due to noise and other causes, fine parts, such as characters, may not be discriminated. In that respect, such a problem is less likely to occur by performing the outline extraction processing and the smoothing processing as described in the first to seventh embodiments.

In other words, for example, 8 pel / in the main scanning direction
mm, 7.7 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction, the original image is read, and the quality of the image reproduced by the outline processing described in the first to seventh embodiments is the same as that of the conventional facsimile apparatus in which the outline processing is not performed. This is equivalent to reading an original at 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction.

Therefore, in the eighth embodiment, when it is found at the transmitting stage that the destination device can receive the outline data, the original image is read at a resolution lower than the resolution designated by the operator. , Performs outline extraction processing and sends. As a result, the amount of transmission data can be reduced and the transfer speed can be improved. The device on the receiving side may magnify and reproduce the received outline data.

It should be noted that the operator, for example, 16 pel / mm in the main scanning direction,
When instructed to scan at 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction, this is at least an indication that the image should be sent in higher quality than the above example, so the other party device can receive outline data. If so, the original image is, for example, 16 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 7.7 lines / in the sub scanning direction.
Read in mm and perform out column processing.

In the following, a case will be described in which the destination device determines whether or not outline data can be received by a signal exchanged after the line is actually connected. A memory for storing the function information of the destination device may be provided, and the determination may be made before the line connection by referring to this memory.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram showing the structure of the facsimile apparatus according to the eighth embodiment. In FIG. 50, 5
Reference numeral 01 is a CPU that controls the entire apparatus, 502 is a ROM that stores a control program for the apparatus and a transmission control program for facsimile communication, 503 is a RAM used as a work area when the control program is executed, and 504 is for transmission. The scanner unit (SCN) reads an image original. 507 is an image memory, outline data,
Used for storage of smoothed data. Reference numeral 508 denotes a smoothing circuit, which performs arithmetic processing on the outline data stored in the image memory 507 to smooth the image, generate smoothed data, and output the smoothed data to the image memory 507. 509
Is a modem for transmitting and receiving image data according to a transmission control procedure. A binary image generation circuit 510 generates binary image data from the outline data. A printer 513 outputs the generated binary image. A resolution conversion circuit 518 performs resolution conversion on the outline vector to generate a resolution-converted outline vector, and outputs the outline vector to the image memory 507. Reference numeral 514 is a CPU bus for connecting the above-mentioned device components.

51 to 52, the operation of the facsimile apparatus having the above-described structure for transmitting an image original to the facsimile apparatus having the same structure as that of the facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving outline data will be described. It will be described with reference to FIG. Therefore, in order to explain the operation of the device on the receiving side, the same components will be described with the same numbers as those on the transmitting side.

FIG. 51 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the transmitting side apparatus, and FIG. 52 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the receiving side apparatus. Here, the resolution of the image original designated by the operator for the transmission side device is 8 pe in the main scanning direction.
l / mm, 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction, and the recordable resolution of the receiving device is 16 pels / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction. Also, the transmission control procedure for facsimile communication performed between the sending side device and the receiving side device handles image data at a resolution of 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 7.7 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction. To do.

First, in step S410, the image original to be transmitted to the transmitting side device is set in the scanner unit (SCN) 504, and dialing is performed in step S45 to call the receiving side device. On the other hand, in the receiving device, step S5
When the call is awaited at 00 and the call is received from the transmission side device, the process proceeds to step S505, and the CED signal corresponding to the call is transmitted. Subsequently, in step S510, the outline data can be received by the receiving side device, and a resolution lower than the resolution capable of outputting an image (here, 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction, and in the sub scanning direction).
Receiving image data at 7.7 lines / mm),
Also, other necessary information is set in the NSF and DIS codes and transmitted.

When the transmitting device receives the CED signal in step S420, the process proceeds to step S425, and when the NSF and DIS codes are subsequently received, the process proceeds to step S430. Next, in step S430,
The information shown in the received NSF and DIS codes is analyzed, and the receiving side device recognizes that the outline data can be received. Further, in step S435, the resolution of the received data presented by the receiving device is compared with the resolution specified by the operator in the transmitting device, and it is confirmed that the resolution of the receiving device is lower than the resolution specified by the operator. Then, if this is confirmed, various mode settings of the device are performed so that the image data is transmitted at the resolution presented by the receiving device, and in step S440, the mode setting information is sent to the receiving device as NSS and DCS codes. . Therefore, the device on the sending side reads at a resolution lower than the resolution specified by the operator, converts it into outline / image data with a resolution of 8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 7.7 lines / mm in the sub-scanning direction, and sends it out. Mode setting is performed.

When the receiving side apparatus receives the NSS and DCS codes in step S520, the process proceeds to step S525 to prepare for the outline vector reception based on the information of the NSS and DCS codes. At this time, the resolution of the received image data is the value presented by the receiving device (8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 7.7 lines / m in the sub scanning direction).
m).

In step 445, the transmission side device transmits the training signal to the reception side device, and the processing is step S45.
The process proceeds to 0 and waits for the CFR signal. On the other hand, the receiving side apparatus receives the training signal in step S530, and if the training of the operation of the modem 509 is successful, step S530 is performed.
At 535, the CFR signal is sent to the transmission side device.

When the transmitting side device receives the CFR signal, the process proceeds to step S455, where the transmitting side device receives the scanner unit (S
CN) 504, for example, starts reading the image original at the determined resolution, and sets the resolution set in step S460 (8 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 7.7 lines / m in the sub scanning direction).
Outline data is extracted from the image m), and the transmission of the extracted outline data is started.

When the reading of the image original for one page is completed, the process ends the process by sending an EOP signal to the receiving side device in step S465. When the receiving device receives the outline data in step S540, the EO
Until the P signal is received (that is, until the image data for one page is completely received), the received outline data is temporarily stored in the image memory 507 in step S545. Succeedingly, in a step S550, the outline vector data stored in the image memory 507 is read and inputted to the smoothing circuit 508 to generate a smoothed outline vector. Then, by storing the generated outline vector in the image memory 507, the outline vector data at the time of reception is replaced.

Further, in step S555, the smoothed outline vector is input to the resolution conversion circuit 518 to be doubled in each of the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction, and this data is used to smooth the image memory 507. Updated outline vector. The enlargement ratio is obtained by calculating the ratio between the resolution of the received data and the highest resolution of this device. At this point, the outline data in the image memory 507 becomes 16 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and 15.4 lines / mm in the sub scanning direction.

In step S560, the binary image generating circuit 5 is generated based on the outline vector whose resolution has been expanded.
Binary data is generated at 10 and is output to the printer 513 to output the received image, and recording of one page is completed.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the resolution of the transmitted image data is doubled in the main scanning direction and doubled in the sub-scanning direction by the receiving side device to obtain 16 pel / mm in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. Since it is possible to output an image with a resolution of 15.4 lines / mm in the direction, high-definition image data can be reproduced from image data with a small transmission amount. Moreover, since the amount of image transmission is reduced, high-speed image transmission becomes possible.

In the present embodiment, the magnification at the time of resolution conversion is set to double in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the main scanning direction,
Different magnifications can be used in the respective sub-scanning directions.

As described above, according to the eighth embodiment, the facsimile data is transmitted at a low resolution at the time of transmission, and the facsimile data received at the receiving side is converted into a high resolution at the time of image reproduction and outputted. Therefore, the amount of communication data is reduced, the data transmission time is shortened, and a high-definition image can be reproduced.

Further, in the eighth embodiment, when the original image is read at a low resolution, it is read at the resolution designated by the operator and the image is thinned out inside the apparatus to substantially reduce the resolution. May be.
Further, although the receiving side has instructed the resolution of the transmission data, the transmitting side may perform it.

Further, in the eighth embodiment, the resolution at which the receiving side device exchanges signals with the transmitting side device determines in advance at what resolution the data will be sent, but in the previous example. As described above, the resolution information may be added to the data transmitted by the transmission side device and then transmitted.

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

[0257]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of transmitting and / or receiving high-quality images.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to a second embodiment,

FIG. 2A is a flowchart of a transmission process according to the second embodiment,

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of a transmission process according to the second embodiment,

FIG. 2C is a flowchart of a transmission process according to the second embodiment,

FIG. 3A is a flowchart of a reception process in the second embodiment,

FIG. 3B is a flowchart of a reception process in the second embodiment,

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a copying process according to the second embodiment,

FIG. 5 is a block configuration diagram of a contour extraction circuit according to a second embodiment,

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a unit of contour vector extraction in the second embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a table of horizontal rough contour vectors in the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a table of vertical rough contour vectors in the second embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a vector table in the second embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a block configuration diagram of a smoothing / coordinate conversion circuit 109 according to a second embodiment,

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 13A is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit in the second embodiment;

FIG. 13B is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 14A is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 14B is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 16A is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 16B is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 16C is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit in the second embodiment;

FIG. 17A is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit in the second embodiment;

FIG. 17B is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 18A is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 18B is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 18C is a diagram showing an example of the processing contents of the first smoothing circuit in the second embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of processing contents of a first smoothing circuit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of an intermediate coating circuit according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of an input image,

22 is a diagram showing an example of outline vector data based on the image of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a view showing an input image example for explaining the principle of contour vector extraction in the second embodiment;

24 is a diagram showing changes in horizontal and vertical coarse contour vectors based on the input image of FIG. 23;

FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining the principle of correction when a document is read in an oblique direction;

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a data communication system according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 27 is an internal block configuration diagram of the data communication device in FIG. 26,

28 is an internal block diagram of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the computer in the third embodiment;

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the data communication device in the third embodiment,

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the facsimile apparatus according to the third embodiment,

FIG. 32 is a configuration diagram of a data communication system according to a fourth embodiment,

FIG. 33 is an internal block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to a fourth embodiment,

FIG. 34 is an internal block configuration diagram of a data communication device according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the contents of transmission processing of the facsimile apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing the receiving process contents of the data communication device in the fourth embodiment,

FIG. 37 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to a fifth embodiment,

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of the internal block diagram of an image processing unit in the facsimile apparatus of the fifth embodiment;

39 is a diagram showing an example of a storage state of data in the pixel configuration information storage section in FIG. 38;

FIG. 40 is a system configuration diagram in the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing the contents of data transmission processing in the fifth embodiment,

FIG. 42 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus in the sixth embodiment,

43 is a block configuration diagram of the data communication device in FIG. 42,

44 is a block configuration diagram of the image processing unit in FIG. 43,

45 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the computer in FIG. 42,

FIG. 46 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data communication device in FIG. 42,

FIG. 47 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to a seventh embodiment,

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing a data flow of the facsimile apparatus in the seventh embodiment;

FIG. 49 is a diagram showing transmission data and reproduction data in comparison with each other in the seventh embodiment.

FIG. 50 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an eighth embodiment,

FIG. 51 is a flowchart showing the contents of transmission processing in the eighth embodiment,

FIG. 52 is a flow chart showing the contents of a reception process in the eighth embodiment,

FIG. 53 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to the first embodiment,

FIG. 54 is a block configuration diagram of a transmission image generation circuit in the first embodiment,

FIG. 55 is a block configuration diagram of a binary image generation circuit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 56 is a flowchart showing the contents of transmission processing in the first embodiment, and

FIG. 57 is a flowchart showing the content of a receiving process in the first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 601 CPU 602 ROM 603 RAM 604 SCN 605 Transmission image generation circuit 607 Image memory 608 Smoothing circuit 609 MODEM 610 Binary image generation circuit 613 Printer

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image processing device for transmitting image data to a destination device, comprising outline vector extraction means for extracting outline vector data from image data to be transmitted, and outlines extracted by the outline vector extraction means. An image processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that transmits vector data to a destination apparatus. 2. Based on the states of a predetermined number of continuous vector data in the outline vector data extracted by the outline vector extracting means, the locus represented by the vector data is smoothed,
The smoothing means for correcting the vector data included in the vector group is provided, and the transmitting means transmits the outline data smoothed by the smoothing means to the destination device as transmission data. The image processing apparatus according to item 1. 3. An image processing apparatus for receiving image data from a destination apparatus and outputting the received image data to a visible image generating apparatus in a predetermined manner, the receiving section receiving outline vector data, and the receiving section. An image processing apparatus comprising: a reproduction unit that reproduces image data to be transferred to the visible image generation apparatus based on the received outline vector data. 4. The vector group so that the locus represented by the vector data is smoothed based on the states of a predetermined number of continuous vector data in the outline vector data received by the receiving means. A smoothing means for correcting vector data included in the reproducing means, wherein the reproducing means reproduces the image data to be transferred to the visible image generating device based on the outline data smoothed by the smoothing means. The image processing device according to claim 3, wherein the image processing device is a device. 5. An image processing apparatus comprising a first means for transmitting image data and a second means for receiving the image data, wherein the first means extracts outline vector data from the image data to be transmitted. An outline vector extracting means for transmitting the outline vector data, and a transmitting means for transmitting the outline vector data extracted by the outline vector extracting means to a destination device, the second means includes a receiving means for receiving the outline vector data, and a receiving means for receiving the outline vector data. An image processing apparatus comprising: reproduction means for reproducing image data to be transferred to the visible image generation apparatus based on the outline vector data received by the means. 6. The trajectory represented by the vector data is smoothed based on the states of a predetermined number of continuous vector data in the outline vector data extracted by the outline vector extraction means.
The smoothing means for correcting the vector data included in the vector group is provided, and the transmitting means transmits the outline data smoothed by the smoothing means to the destination device as transmission data. The image processing apparatus according to item 5. 7. The vector group so that the locus represented by the vector data is smoothed based on the states of a predetermined number of continuous vector data in the outline vector data received by the receiving means. A smoothing means for correcting the vector data contained in the reproducing means, wherein the reproducing means reproduces the image data to be transferred to the visible image generating device based on the outline data smoothed by the smoothing means. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that