JPH06253117A - Picture transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a picture transmitter capable of storing picture data for automatic reception or the like automatically and efficiently even when no sufficient idle area is in existence in a storage device. CONSTITUTION:The transmitter is made up of a communication interface 2 used for transmission and reception of a picture, a picture processing section 4 executing expansion processing or the like of set picture information, a reception memory 5 storing picture data after processing tentatively, a D/A conversion/video output section 6, a display device 7, a camera 8 for picture input, an A/D conversion/video input section 9 at an output stage of the camera, a transmission memory 10, a system control section 3 writing/reading data to/from the reception memory 5/transmission memory 10, a storage device 13, a storage device control section 12, a picture data information memory 14, an operation section 11, an idle area detection circuit 15 detecting an idle area when an idle area is produced in the storage device 13, and a comparator circuit 16 sequentially comparing the size of the idle area of the storage device 13 with the size of picture data stored in the memory 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image transmission device such as a TV telephone or a facsimile which can send and receive image data via a line and which is provided with a storage device for storing the image data. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional image transmission apparatus is shown in the block diagram of FIG. 4 and will be described below.

The image transmission device is equipped with a communication interface 2 connected to a communication line 1, and images are transmitted and received via this communication interface 2.

The image transmission apparatus temporarily stores the image processing unit 4 for converting the transmitted image information into parallel data for image reception, and then performing the decompression process, and the processed image data. A reception memory 5, a D / A conversion / video output unit 6 for converting the image data accumulated in the reception memory 5 into an analog value, and a display device 7 for displaying the image information received based on the analog output. I have it.

Further, since the image transmission device transmits images,
A camera 8 for inputting an image, an A / D conversion / video input unit 9 for digitally converting an output from the camera 8, and a transmission memory 10 are provided. At the time of image transmission, the image processing unit 4 described above performs image compression and image high-efficiency encoding processing.

Writing to and reading from the reception memory 5 and the transmission memory 10 are performed under the control of the system control unit 3.

The system control unit 3 also controls the storage device control unit 12 and is configured to store the transmitted and received images in the storage device 13 as appropriate.

The operation unit 11 inputs a dial number at the time of making a call, gives an instruction to send an image or gives an instruction to store image data in a storage device, and an operation instruction signal is supplied to the system control unit 3 for various operations. Is processed.

The operation of the conventional image transmission apparatus having the above configuration will be described below.

The image information received through the communication line 1 is
It is supplied to the image processing unit 4 under the control of the system control unit 3 via the communication interface 2. In the image processing unit 4, serial image information is converted into parallel digital information, and the compressed and transmitted image information (image data) is decoded (decompressed) and then stored in the reception memory 5. The image data stored in the reception memory 5 is converted into an analog video signal in the D / A conversion / video output unit 6, adjusted to a prescribed level, and then supplied to the display device 7. The display device 7 functioning as a monitor displays the received data on the screen.

Further, when transmitting the image information, the image information converted into the analog signal by the camera 8 is the image input / input.
The image data is converted into digital data by the A / D conversion unit 9 and stored in the image transmission memory 10. Transmission memory 10
Under the control of the system control unit 3, the image data stored in is output from the D / A conversion / video output unit 6 to the display device 7 and the image information obtained from the camera 8 is displayed. After image compression and high-efficiency encoding processing are performed and a digital image information signal is formed, it is sent to the communication line 1 via the communication interface 2.

The image data from the communication line 1 or the image data taken from the camera 8 by an instruction from the operation unit 11 or an automatic incoming call control unit (not shown) is recorded in the storage device 13 via the storage device control circuit 12. .

Further, in the conventional image transmission apparatus, for example,
When the image data is transmitted from the line when the user is away from the image transmission device as in the case of automatic reception, a function of automatically accumulating the image data in the storage device is provided.

[0014]

However, in the above-mentioned image transmission device, when the storage device does not have sufficient free space, the image data transmitted is not accumulated on the receiving side, and the cost and time required for the transmission are reduced. Is wasted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when the image data transmitted by automatic reception or the like is automatically stored in the storage device, when the storage device does not have a sufficient free area. However, it is possible to store the transmitted image data, and to provide an image transmission device that does not waste the cost and time required for the transmission.

[0016]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an image transmission apparatus according to the present invention includes an area for storing an identifier indicating a storage location of image data, an area for storing the size of the image data, and the image. An image data information memory having an area for storing the start address of the data storage location,
When image data cannot be stored in the storage device, an unused area of the system memory or the image memory is searched, the image data is stored in the unused area, and an identifier indicating the storage location of the image data in the image data information memory, A means for supplying the size and the starting address of the storage location, an empty area detection circuit for detecting the empty area when the empty area occurs in the storage apparatus, and an empty area of the storage apparatus obtained by the empty area detection circuit. And a comparison circuit for comparing the image size stored in the image data information memory, and the image data saved in the system memory or the image memory, which can be stored in the empty area, in response to the comparison circuit, It is composed of means for reading out based on the information stored in the image data information memory and automatically transferring it to the storage device.

[0017]

With the above configuration, when there is no room to store the image data transmitted from the line in the storage device, an empty area of the memory is detected and the image data is temporarily stored in that area. At the same time, the storage location and size of the image data are stored in the image data information memory. After that, when the user exchanges the media of the storage device or deletes unnecessary image data from the storage device, the free space detection circuit detects the free space of the storage device, and the image data in the image data information memory is detected. Are compared by the comparison circuit, and if there is a sufficient free area to be stored, they are stored in the storage device.

Therefore, the cost and time required for transmitting the image data are not wasted.

[0019]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image transmission apparatus of the present invention.

The image transmission device has a communication interface 2 connected to the communication line 1, and transmits and receives images via the communication interface 2.

The image transmission device converts the transmitted image information into parallel data for image reception, and then temporarily stores the image processing unit 4 for performing decompression processing and the processed image data. A reception memory 5, a D / A conversion / video output unit 6 for converting the image data accumulated in the reception memory 5 into an analog value, and a display device 7 for displaying the image information received based on the analog output. I have it.

Further, the image transmission device transmits the image,
A camera 8 for inputting an image, an A / D conversion / video input unit 9 for digitally converting an output from the camera 8, and a transmission memory 10 are provided. At the time of image transmission, the image processing unit 4 described above performs image compression and image high-efficiency encoding processing.

Writing to and reading from the reception memory 5 and the transmission memory 10 are performed under the control of the system control unit 3.

The system control unit 3 also controls the storage device control unit 12, stores transmission / reception images in the storage device 13 as appropriate, and is supplied with an error signal indicating a region shortage from the storage device control unit 12. In this case, the receiving / transmitting memories 5, 10 or an unused area of a system memory (not shown) is searched and the image data is stored in the unused area.

The image data information memory 14 stores the identifier, size, and start address of the storage location when the image data is stored in the receiving and transmitting memories 5 and 10, or in an unused area of the system memory (not shown). These information are written by the system control unit 3. FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the image data information memory 14. The memory 14 is composed of three areas, the first area stores the storage location identifier, the second area stores the storage start address, and the third area stores the image data size. It is a thing.

The operation unit 11 inputs a dial number at the time of making a call, gives an instruction to send an image or gives an instruction to store image data in a storage device, and an operation instruction signal is supplied to the system control unit 3 for various operations. Is processed.

The free space detection circuit 15 detects the free space when the storage device 13 has a free space.

The comparison circuit 16 sequentially compares the size of the free area of the storage device 13 detected by the free area detection circuit 15 with the size of the image data stored in the image data information memory 14.

The operation of the image transmission device having the above configuration will be described in detail below.

The image information received through the communication line 1 is
It is supplied to the image processing unit 4 under the control of the system control unit 3 via the communication interface 2. In the image processing unit 4, serial image information is converted into parallel digital information, and the compressed and transmitted image information (image data) is decoded (decompressed) and then stored in the reception memory 5. The image data stored in the reception memory 5 is converted to an analog video signal in the D / A conversion / video output unit 6 for output to the display device 7 functioning as a monitor, and after being adjusted to a prescribed level, The received data is displayed by being supplied to the display device 7.

When transmitting the image information, the image information converted into the analog signal by the camera 8 is the image input / input.
Converted to digital data by the A / D converter 9,
This is stored in the image transmission memory 10. Transmission memory 1
The image data stored in 0 is output from the D / A conversion / video output unit 6 to the display device 7 under the control of the system control unit 3 to display the image information obtained from the camera 8 and at the same time, the image processing unit. Image compression and high-efficiency encoding are performed at 4 to form a digital image information signal, which is then sent to the communication line 1 via the communication interface 2.

Image data from the communication line 1 or image data fetched from the camera 8 by an instruction from the operation unit 11 or an automatic incoming call control unit (not shown) is recorded in the storage device 13 via the storage device control unit 12. It At this time, if the storage device 13 does not have enough free space to record the image data and the image data cannot be recorded, an error signal indicating this is sent from the storage device controller 12 to the system controller 3 Is supplied to. When the error signal is supplied from the storage device controller 12, the system controller 3 searches the unused area of the reception memory 5, the transmission memory 10 or a system memory area (not shown). The image memory is stored in the detected area, and, for example, when the storage location is the reception memory 5, RECEI is stored in the storage location identifier column of the table of the image data information memory 14.
VE_MEM, in the case of the transmission memory 10, SEND_
MEM, SYS_M for system memory area
EM is written, the size of the image data is recorded in the data size column, and the head address is recorded in the head address column. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the table of the image data information memory 14 when the image data of 32000 bytes is saved from the address $ A0000 of the receiving memory and the image data of 20000 bytes is saved from the address $ 1E00 of the transmitting memory The state is shown in FIG.

After that, when the user deletes the image data in the storage device 13, that is, the storage device control unit 1
When the free space detection circuit 15 detects the WRITE signal from the storage device 13 to the storage device 13, the free space detection circuit 15 detects the free space of the storage device 13 via the storage device controller 12. At the same time, the system control unit 3 searches the table of the image data information memory 14 and reads the image data size. When the image data in the table is stored in the storage device 13, the information in the table is cleared. Therefore, the search is performed, for example, by searching for the data whose storage location identifier column is not cleared. Then, the size of the image data temporarily stored in the memory and the size of the empty area of the storage device 13 are sequentially compared by the comparison circuit 16. Then, the image data having a size smaller than the empty area of the storage device 13 is stored in the image data information memory 14
Image data in the table, the image data is read from the memory indicated by the storage location identifier and stored in the storage device 13. At the same time, in the corresponding image data column in the table, it is confirmed that the image data does not exist in the memory. In order to indicate, it clears with "00", for example.

The same operation is performed when the user replaces the medium of the storage device 13.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when image data is accumulated when there is no free area in the storage device, the image data is temporarily saved in the memory area and free in the storage device. Since the saved image data can be automatically stored when an area is created, it means that the received image data cannot be stored even if there is no free space in the storage device, especially when receiving and storing the image data through the line. The communication cost and time for that can be reduced. Also, because the free space of the system memory and image memory is used, there is no need to add new memory,
Very practical effect is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a storage example of image data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example of contents stored in an image data information memory used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 communication line 2 communication interface 3 system control unit 4 image processing unit 5 reception memory 6 D / A conversion / video output unit 7 display device 8 camera 9 A / D conversion / video input unit 10 transmission memory 11 operation unit 12 storage device control Part 13 Storage device 14 Image data information memory 15 Free area detection circuit 16 Comparison circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 5/76 Z 7916-5C 7/14 7251-5C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Image data can be transmitted and received via a line,
In an image transmission device having a storage device for storing image data, an area for storing an identifier indicating a storage location of image data, an area for storing the size of the image data, and a start address of the storage location of the image data are set. An image data information memory having an area to be stored, and when the image data cannot be stored in the storage device, searches an unused area of the system memory or the image memory, stores the image data in the unused area, and stores the image data information. Means for supplying an identifier indicating the storage location of the image data to the memory, a size, and a start address of the storage location, a free area detection circuit for detecting the free area when the free space occurs in the storage device, and the free space. The free area size of the storage device obtained by the area detection circuit and the image size stored in the image data information memory A comparison circuit for comparison and, in response to the comparison circuit, the image data saved in the system memory or the image memory, which can be stored in the empty area, is read out based on the information stored in the image data information memory, and is automatically read. And a means for transferring to the storage device.