JPH06303417A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lighten loads on a transmission side and a reception side. CONSTITUTION:One line of a document mounted on a document read part 1 is read with high resolution. Then the data of the line are stored in a buffer memory 2 temporarily and then a rough/close judgement means 3 compares the number A of black pixels of the line with a threshold value TH to judge the rough/close state of the line. Thus, the rough/close states of, for example, 100 lines are judged. Then it is judged that the document is 'rough' on the whole when there are rough lines, for example, >=1/5 time as many as the 100 lines, i.e., >=20 lines and 'close' when not. When it is judged that the document is 'rough', a resolution setting means 4 sets read resolution to low resolution and remaining documents are read with the low resolution. Consequently, the need to specify the resolution is eliminated and a received image is always clear, so the load on both the transmission side and reception side are lightened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of setting plural kinds of reading resolutions.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a facsimile apparatus, a plurality of types of document reading resolutions, for example, two types, normal and fine, are prepared, and an optimum resolution can be selected from these, depending on the contents of the document. It is common. And, normally, the original is read at normal resolution,
Fineness is usually set manually for particularly complicated originals.

[0003]

In a conventional facsimile apparatus, a document of any content can be read at normal resolution unless otherwise specified. Therefore, when a complicated drawing or the like is transmitted, the reception side discriminates it. It may not be possible. In this case, the receiving side had to contact the transmitting side and request that the same document be read finely and then transmitted. Therefore, there is a problem that both the transmitting side and the receiving side waste time and communication costs.

On the other hand, when the resolution is designated, it may be difficult to determine which resolution is most suitable for the original document, and the reality is that the resolution is designated by intuition. If you specify the highest resolution from the beginning, clear image information can be obtained on the receiving side, but in this case even normal and sufficient originals will be sent fine, so the communication cost will be high. Occurs.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and the optimum reading resolution is automatically set in accordance with the contents of the original document even if the transmission side does not specify the resolution. The present invention proposes a facsimile machine.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a document reading unit capable of reading a document at a plurality of different resolutions and image information read by the document reading unit are predetermined. A buffer memory that stores only lines, a density determination unit that determines the density of black pixels included in the image information supplied from the buffer memory, and a document reading unit that corresponds to the density state determined by the density determination unit. It is characterized by comprising a resolution setting means for setting the resolution and a resolution changing means for changing the resolution of the image information in the buffer memory in accordance with the state of density determined by the density determination means.

[0007]

In FIG. 1, the highest resolution, fine in this example, is set by the resolution setting means 4 at the start of reading the original. Then, one line of the document placed on the document reading means 1 is finely read. Next, the data of the line is once stored in the buffer memory 2, and then the density determination unit 3 compares the black pixel number A of the line with a threshold value TH to determine the density. In this way, the density of 100 lines, for example, is determined. Here, for example, if the rough lines are ⅕, that is, 20 lines or more, the entire document is determined as “coarse”, and if it is less than 20 lines, it is determined as “dense”.

When the original is judged to be "coarse", the resolution of the resolution setting means 4 is set to normal, and the data in the buffer memory 2 is changed to the resolution corresponding to normal by the resolution changing means 5 and stored. It is set in the means 6. Then, the rest of the document is normally read by the document reading unit 1 and stored in the storage unit 6, which is transmitted by the transmitting unit 7.

If the original is judged to be "dense",
The fine set in the resolution setting means 4 is maintained as it is, and the data in the buffer memory 2 is set in the storage means 6 without change. Then, the remaining portion of the document is finely read by the document reading means 1 and stored in the storage means 6, which is transmitted by the transmission means 7.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 shows functional blocks of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a document reading unit, which can read image information described in a document at a plurality of resolutions. 2 is a buffer memory,
Image information for at least one line is stored. A coarse / fine determination unit 3 counts the number of black pixels included in the image information supplied from the buffer memory 2. If the number is less than a threshold value, it is determined to be coarse, and the others are determined to be fine. .

Reference numeral 4 denotes a resolution setting means, which sets the reading resolution of the document reading means 1 on the basis of the judgment result of the density determination means 3. Reference numeral 5 is a resolution changing means, which changes the resolution of the image information in the buffer memory 2 based on the determination result of the density determination means 3. A storage unit 6 stores the image information supplied from the resolution changing unit 5 and the image information read by the document reading unit 1. Reference numeral 7 is a transmission means, which is connected to a communication line and transmits the image information in the storage means 6.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of this facsimile apparatus. In the figure, 11 is a CPU that manages transmission / reception control,
Reference numeral 12 is a ROM that stores various control programs such as transmission / reception programs, and 13 is a RAM that stores image information to be transmitted. The image information read by the document reading unit 14 is stored in the RAM 13 or directly after functioning as a transmitting / receiving means and a network control circuit (NCU).
15 are supplied.

The image information input from the communication line is stored in the RAM 13 via the modem and the NCU 15 or directly in the recording section 16 which functions as a printer.
And the contents are recorded. The telephone number and the like of the transmission destination are displayed by being supplied to the display unit 17. The operation unit 18 is provided with a plurality of keys (not shown), and when these keys are operated, the contents thereof are taken into the CPU 11.

FIG. 3 shows a procedure for reading a document in this facsimile apparatus. In this reading process 30,
First, it is determined whether or not the resolution is designated (step 31). If it is determined that the resolution is not designated, then one line of image information is read and stored at the highest resolution, for example, fine (step). 32). In this example, it is assumed that a fine line has a resolution of 7.7 lines / mm. Then, the density of the line is judged as follows (step 33).

FIG. 4 shows the procedure for determining the line density. In the density determination processing 34, the number A of black pixels included in one line is first counted (step 51). Next, it is determined whether or not the counted number of black pixels A is equal to or more than the threshold value TH (step 52). If it is determined that the number is equal to or more than the threshold value TH, the line is a dense line, that is, a complicated line. It is judged (step 53). This completes the line density determination processing 34.

Further, in step 52, the black pixel number A is the threshold value T.
When it is determined that the number of lines is less than H, it is then determined that the line is a rough line, that is, a simple line (step 54), and the line density determination process 34 ends.

Now, in FIG. 3, after the density of the lines is judged in step 33, it is judged whether or not the number B of lines read next is a predetermined number, for example 100 lines (step 34). . At this time, since it is still the first line, it is determined whether the number C of lines that is determined to be "coarse" has reached a predetermined number, for example, 20 lines which is ⅕ of 100 lines (step 35). . Still 20 here
If it is determined that the line is not in line, then step 3
In step 2, the next line is read and stored, and then the same processing as described above is performed.

When it is determined in step 35 that the number of lines C determined to be "coarse" has become 20 lines, the data in the buffer memory 2 is reduced to the normal one step below by thinning or smoothing. It is converted to a corresponding resolution and set in the RAM 13 (step 36). At the same time, the reading resolution of the document reading unit 14 is normal, which is 3.85 lines / m in this example.
is changed to m (step 37). Then, the remaining image information is read at the normal resolution (step 38),
The reading process 30 ends.

In other words, in this case, the first read 10
Of the 0 lines, 1/5 or more of the lines are judged to be "coarse", so that the entire document is judged to be rough, and the initially set fine is changed to normal and read. .

If it is determined in step 34 that the number of read lines B has reached 100 lines, the line data in the buffer memory 2 is set in the RAM 13 as it is (step 39), and then in step 38, the remaining data is set. The image information is read at the same resolution, that is, fine, and the reading process 30 ends.

In other words, in this case, of the 100 lines that have been read, the line that is judged to be "coarse" is 1/5, which is 20
Since the number of lines is less than the line, it is determined that the entire document is complicated, and the original set fine is read.

When it is determined in step 31 that the resolution is designated, the original is read in the designated resolution (step 40), and the reading process 30 ends.

FIG. 5 shows the degree of burden on the transmitting side and the receiving side with respect to the density of the original in the present invention, as compared with the prior art. As can be seen from the figure, the most heavy burden has hitherto been in the case of reading and transmitting a simple original document and a complicated original document at high resolution, but according to the present invention, a simple original document is not read at high resolution. Since a complicated document is automatically read in high resolution, the burden on both sides is reduced, such as the key operation for specifying the resolution becomes unnecessary.

In this example, the case where there are two kinds of resolutions, normal and fine, has been described. However, when it is possible to read with three or more kinds of resolutions, the highest resolution is read first, and the number of black pixels in each is read. The density may be determined by comparing with the threshold TH set for the resolution, and the resolution for the remaining originals may be set accordingly.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a predetermined amount of an original is read, the density of the original is determined, and the reading resolution of the remaining originals is automatically set according to the result. .

Therefore, according to the present invention, the operation of specifying the resolution is not required on the transmitting side, and the receiving image is always clear on the receiving side, so that it is not necessary to request retransmission, and the burden on both sides is increased. It has the effect of being reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a document reading procedure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of determining the density of each line.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the degree of burden on the transmission side and the reception side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Original reading means 2 Buffer memory 3 Coarse / fine determination means 4 Resolution setting means 11 CPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 Original reading section 15 Modem and network control circuit 16 Recording section 17 Display section 18 Operation section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document reading unit capable of reading a document at a plurality of different resolutions, a buffer memory for storing image information read by the document reading unit for a predetermined line, and a buffer memory supplied from the buffer memory. Coarse / fine density determining means for determining the coarse / fine density of the black pixels included in the image information, resolution setting means for setting the resolution of the document reading means corresponding to the coarse / fine density state determined by the coarse / fine density determining means, and the coarse / fine density determining means. A facsimile apparatus comprising a resolution changing means for changing the resolution of image information in the buffer memory in accordance with the state of coarseness and fineness determined in.