JPH0670131A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a facsimile equipment which can delete the unnecessary blank parts in an original and can surely transmits the data. CONSTITUTION:The original sent to a facsimile equipment 1 is read by a reading means 4. In regard of the read data, a full white line detecting part 5 decides whether the 1-line data is equal or not to the full white line data which is white on an entire line. The full white line data is not transmitted. Meanwhile a FILL signal 16 (0-bit) and an EOL signal (line termination code) 17 are successively added to the full white line data when a counter 2b continuously counts the full white lines up to the line number N2. Then the full white line data is transmitted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine for communicating information using a public telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a facsimile machine utilizing a public telephone line, a document to be transmitted is read by a reading means, converted into an electric signal, and sent to a receiving side facsimile machine through a connected public telephone line. When the transmitted data is received, the electric signal is restored and printed out by the printing means. In such a facsimile apparatus, the focus is on faithfully sending out the read original and printing the received data accurately.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a reading operation of a conventional facsimile apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing an interrupt process.

At step c1, it is judged by a control unit realized by, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) whether or not a document to be transmitted has been conveyed into the facsimile apparatus.
The document is detected by a change in the output signal when the document comes into contact with a document detection sensor having an actuator. If the original detection sensor is turned on and it is determined that the original has been conveyed, the process proceeds to step c2, and if it is determined that the original has not been conveyed, the reading operation ends.

In step c2, the control section determines whether or not there is read data in the read line memory that stores the data read by the reading means realized by, for example, a contact photosensor. If there is data, the process proceeds to step c3, and if there is no data, the process returns to step c2 to determine again whether there is read data. The reading line memory is a storage unit that stores the read image data line by line and has a ring buffer configuration, so that the storage data can be sequentially rotated.

At step c3, the read data of one line stored in the read line memory is encoded by the encoding means. Subsequently, in step c4, a "0" bit (FILL signal) for guaranteeing the minimum transmission time and a line end code (EOL signal) are added to the encoded read data and stored in the encoded line memory. It The coded line memory is a storage unit that stores coded read data, and has a ring buffer configuration like the read line memory. In step c5, the reading line memory stores data, and the control unit determines whether the storage line is full or full. If it is in the full state, proceed to step c6. If it is not in the full state, step c8.
Proceed to.

In step c6, the data in the read line memory is rotated by the control section,
At 7, the reading of the original by the reading means is started. In step c8, the data in the encoded line memory is rotated, and the process proceeds to step c9. In step c9,
The control unit determines the end of the document. The document is finished by, for example, changing the output signal from the document detection sensor. If it is determined that the document detection sensor is turned off and the document is completed, the reading operation is ended, and if it is determined that the document detection sensor remains on and the document is not completed, the process returns to step c1 to perform the reading operation again. repeat.

Next, referring to FIG. 8, DMA (Direct M
emory Access) Describe the interrupt process by the controller. The DMA controller is a control unit that directly acts on the data stored in the storage unit to control the data.
In step d1, the DMA controller determines whether or not the read line memory is in the full state. If it is in the full state, the interrupt process is terminated, and if it is not in the full state, step d
Go to 2. In step d2, the DMA controller rotates the data in the read line memory,
In step d3, reading of the document by the reading means is started, and the interrupt processing is ended.

As described above, the conventional facsimile machine operates so as to faithfully transmit the read data of the document.

[0010]

In the conventional facsimile apparatus, since the main purpose is to faithfully transmit the read document, the all-white line where the image data does not exist in the document is the same as the line where the image data exists. It is read and transmitted. Therefore, when a document having a large number of all-white lines is transferred, the receiving side receives an image containing a large amount of unnecessary all-white lines on the recording paper, which causes a problem that the usage amount of the recording paper increases. Occurs. In addition, there is a problem that the space for storing the recording paper containing a large amount of unnecessary all-white lines increases.

When an unnecessary all white line is extracted and transmitted, in the case of a document in which all white lines are continuous, the data to be transmitted is lost halfway and the facsimile apparatus stops the transmission. Therefore, so-called underrun occurs in which the data is cut off on the way. Also, as a measure against underrun, instead of all white line data, the FI
It has been proposed to add an LL signal, but CCIT
According to the T (International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee) recommendation, the maximum transmission time per all encoded scan lines is less than 5 seconds, so if the data transmission time for one line exceeds 5 seconds, the receiving side disconnects the line. Carry out the procedure. Therefore, there arises a problem that normal data transmission cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of deleting unnecessary blank portions of an original and transmitting data reliably.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is based on a reading means for optically reading a document, converting it into image data composed of a plurality of line data, and outputting one line data at a time, and an output of the reading means. When one line data is all white line data in which all the lines are white, and when a predetermined number of all white line data are continuously detected based on the output of the detection unit, And a transmission means for thinning out all the white line data and transmitting the thinned line data to the public line.

[0014]

According to the present invention, the original document conveyed to the facsimile is optically read by the reading means, converted into image data composed of a plurality of line data, and output line by line. The detection means detects, based on the output of the reading means, whether or not one line data is all white line data in which all one lines are white. When the detecting means continuously detects all white line data by a predetermined number, the transmitting means thins out all the white line data and transmits the thinned white line data to the public line.

Therefore, it is possible to delete an unnecessary blank portion of the original, and to reliably transmit the data.

[0016]

1 is a block diagram showing the electrical construction of a facsimile apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The facsimile apparatus 1 includes a control unit 2 that controls the entire apparatus. The control unit 2 includes a recording unit 3, a reading unit 4, an all-white line detection unit 5, a DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller 6, and The modem 9 and the power supply 11 are connected.

The control unit 2 includes an all-white flag area 2 which will be described later.
A and a counter 2b for counting the number of all white lines are provided. The recording means 3 is realized by a thermal head, for example, and prints out the received data on a recording paper such as a thermal paper. The reading unit 4 is realized by, for example, a contact photosensor, optically reads a document, converts the image into image data composed of a plurality of line data, and outputs the data line by line. The output data is input to the control unit 2 and also given to the all-white line detection unit 5 to detect whether or not one line data is all-white line data in which all one lines are white. .

The DMA controller 6 includes a read only memory (ROM) 7 and a random access memory (RA).
M) 8 is connected to control the data stored in the ROM 7 or the RAM 8 and perform an interrupt transfer for the control of the control unit 2. The ROM 7 stores fixed parameters such as a control program. The RAM 8 includes a read line memory in which read data is stored and an encoded line memory in which encoded data is stored, and the variation parameter is stored therein.

In the modem 9, the signal is modulated or demodulated, and the transmission timing is adjusted by the line control unit 10 connected to the modem 9, and the public telephone line 12 is connected.
The data is transmitted to a facsimile device (not shown) via the. Further, the line control unit 10 adjusts the reception timing and receives the data transmitted from the facsimile device (not shown) via the public telephone line 12. Electric power for operating the facsimile device 1 is supplied from the power supply 11.

The original document conveyed to the facsimile device 1 is
Whether the read data is read line by line by the reading unit 4 and the read data is input to the control unit 2, and whether the one line data by the all white line detection unit 5 is an all white line in which all the lines are white. Is detected. The read data is stored in the read line memory of the RAM 8 via the DMA controller 6. If the read data is an all-white line, the control unit 2 sets an all-white flag indicating that it is an all-white line, and starts counting the number of all-white lines with the counter 2b. If the read data is not an all-white line, the above-mentioned all-white flag is not set and the counter 2b does not count.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration example of the all-white line detecting section 5. The all-white line detection unit 5 includes a NAND (logical sum negation) circuit 13 and a flip-flop circuit 14. The NAND circuit 13 has read data DAT
A and the data valid signal S are input to the NAND circuit 13
Is output to the inverting reset terminal of the flip-flop circuit 14. The data valid signal S is also input to the CK terminal of the flip-flop circuit 14. The flip-flop circuit 14 has two stable states, that is, a stable state indicating that it is white data and a stable state indicating that it is not white data. For example, when a white data signal is input,
The state indicating white data is held until the next non-white data signal is input. In this way, it is detected whether or not all one line is white line data, and a signal corresponding to this is output.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the reading line memory. The reading line memory can store up to, for example, 8 lines, and the storage capacity of one line is, for example, 2 lines.
It is 56 bytes. The reading line memory has a ring buffer structure. If the read data is all-white line data, encoding processing and data transmission described later are not performed, so when new data is input,
Data rotation is not performed and newly input data is stored on the all-white line data. Therefore, when all white lines are read, only the number of all white lines is counted, and no data is stored.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of transmitted data. The data stored in the reading line memory is controlled by the controller 2 or the DMA controller 6. First, the data stored in the read line memory is encoded, and a "0" bit (FILL signal) 16 for guaranteeing the minimum transmission time is added in front of the line end code (EOL signal) 17 to obtain a code. Stored in the memory line memory.

The minimum transmission time is the minimum transmission time per line defined by the CCITT recommendation. If this minimum transmission time cannot be satisfied, normal transmission cannot be performed. Therefore, in order to guarantee this minimum transmission time, FIL is added to the encoded data 15.
The L signal 16 is added. That is, the transmission time T1 is set in advance within a range not less than the minimum transmission time and not more than the maximum transmission time (5 seconds) of one line defined by the CCITT recommendation,
The FILL signal 16 is added until the transmission time T1 is reached. If only the read and encoded data 15 satisfies the minimum transmission time, it is not necessary to add the FILL signal 16.

When the read data is all-white line data, the above-mentioned encoding process is not performed and the data is not transmitted. Generally, in a facsimile machine, it is stipulated that the transmission is stopped when the number of lines N1 or more is not transmitted. Therefore, when all white lines are continuous, the transmission is stopped and the data is cut off in the middle. , So-called underrun occurs.

In the present embodiment, in order to prevent such an underrun, the total number of white lines is counted by the counter 2b of the control unit 2, and the predetermined number of lines N2, that is, the predetermined number of lines N1 or less is counted. When the arbitrary number N2 of lines set to 1 is continuously counted by the counter 2b, the FILL signal 16 and the EOL signal 17 described above are sequentially inserted, and the transmission is performed in the same manner as in the case of not all white line data. Similar to the above, the FILL signal 16 is added until the predetermined transmission time T1 is reached within the range of the minimum transmission time or more and the maximum transmission time or less. In this way, the occurrence of underrun is prevented and the coded data is modulated by the modem 9 and transmitted through the public telephone line 12 by the timing adjustment of the line control unit 10.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the reading operation of the facsimile apparatus 1, and FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the interrupt processing. In step a1, for example, it is determined by the control unit 2 whether or not the document is conveyed by the change of the output signal due to the document coming into contact with the document detecting sensor having the actuator installed in the facsimile apparatus 1. When the document detection sensor is turned on and it is determined that the document is conveyed, the process proceeds to step a2, and when it is determined that the document is not conveyed, the reading operation is ended. In step a2, the control unit 2 determines whether or not there is read data in the read line memory. If there is read data, the process proceeds to step a3, and if there is no read data, the process proceeds to step a10.

In step a3, one line of the read data stored in the read line memory is encoded, and in step a4 the FILL signal 16 which satisfies the minimum transmission time.
And the EOL signal 17 are sequentially added and stored in the coding line memory. In step a5, the control unit 2 determines whether or not 8 lines of the reading line memory are filled with data, and if it is full, the process proceeds to step a6, and if not, the process proceeds to step a8.

At step a6, the data in the reading line memory forming the ring buffer structure is rotated, and at step a7, reading of the original is started. At step a8, the data of the coded line memory having the ring buffer structure is rotated like the read line memory, and the process proceeds to step a9, where step a9
Then, it is determined whether or not the document is finished according to the output change of the document detection sensor. When it is determined that the document detection sensor is turned off and the document is finished, the reading operation is ended, and when it is determined that the document detection sensor remains on and the document is not finished, the process returns to step a1 and the document is again scanned. The reading operation is performed.

At step a10, it is judged whether the count value of all white lines in the counter 2b of the control unit 2 has reached N2. If the count value of all white lines has reached N2, proceed to step a11. If not, proceed to step a11.
Returning to step 2, it is again judged whether or not there is read data in the read line memory. At step a11, the FILL signal 16 is added to the encoded line memory until the predetermined transmission time T1 is reached. When the FILL signal 16 is added, the process returns to step a2, and it is again determined whether or not there is read data in the read line memory.

Next, the interrupt processing by the DMA controller 6 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step b1, the DMA controller 6 determines whether the input line data is an all-white line, based on the detection result of the all-white line detection unit 5. If it is an all-white line, proceed to step b2. If it is not an all-white line, step b5.
Proceed to.

At step b2, it is judged whether or not the data one line before the input line data is an all white line. This determination is made based on the state of the all-white flag. If the all-white flag is on and it is determined that the line is the all-white line, the process proceeds to step b3. If the all-white flag is not set and it is determined that the line is not an all-white line, the process proceeds to step b4, and the counter 2b of the control unit 2 starts counting the number of all-white lines. When the counting by the counter 2b is started, the process proceeds to step b9.

At step b3, the counter 2 of the control unit 2
It is determined whether or not the number of lines counted in b has reached the specified number of lines N2. If not, the process proceeds to step b9, and if it is reached, the process proceeds to step b6.

When it is determined that the line data input in step b1 is not an all white line and the process proceeds to step b5,
At step b5, it is judged whether or not the data one line before the input line data is an all-white line. This determination is made based on the state of the all-white flag as in the case of step a2. If the all-white flag is set and it is determined that the line is the all-white line, the process proceeds to step b6. If it is determined that the all-white flag is not set and the line is not the all-white line, the process proceeds to step b7.

At step b6, the counter 2b of the control unit 2
Is cleared and set to "0", and it is determined in step b7 whether or not the 8 lines of the reading line memory are full of data. If it is in the full state, the interrupt processing is ended, and if it is not in the full state, the process proceeds to step b8.
The data in the reading line memory is rotated and the process proceeds to step b9. In step b9, reading of the original is started and the interrupting operation is completed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the data read by the reading means 4 is detected by the all-white line detection unit 5 as all-white line data. If the read data is all-white line data, neither encoding processing nor transmission is performed. Further, when the total number of white lines is counted by the counter 2b and continuously detected by the specified number of lines N2,
The FILL signal 16 for guaranteeing the minimum transmission time is added until the predetermined transmission time T1 is reached, and the EOL signal 17 is further added and transmitted.

Therefore, unnecessary transmission of all white lines is deleted, and recording paper can be saved on the receiving side.
The storage space for recording paper can be reduced. Also,
Since it is possible to prevent the facsimile apparatus 1 from stopping the transmission, it becomes possible to reliably transmit the information.

In this embodiment, the number of all white lines is counted by the counter 2b, and when the number of all white lines continuously counted reaches the predetermined prescribed line number N2, FI
Although the example in which the LL signal 16 and the EOL signal 17 are sequentially added has been described, a timer is provided instead of the counter 2b to measure the transmission time of all white lines, and the specified number of lines N
It is also within the scope of the present invention to set a prescribed time T2 corresponding to 2 and add the FILL signal 16 and the EOL signal 17 in sequence when the time T2 is reached.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the document is read by the reading means, and the read data output one line at a time is judged by the detecting means whether it is all white line data. When all white line data is detected, the next data is read without transmitting all white line data. Further, when all the white line data are continuously detected by a predetermined number, these all white line data are thinned out and transmitted.

Therefore, since unnecessary white paper is not transmitted to the receiving side, it is possible to reduce the amount of recording paper used and to reduce the storage space for recording paper. Also, when all white line data is continuously detected, all white line data is thinned and transmitted,
It is possible to reliably transmit data without the facsimile apparatus stopping transmission. Furthermore, since unnecessary white paper portions are not transmitted, it is possible to shorten the time required for transmitting information.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an all-white line detection unit 5.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a reading line memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of transmitted data.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a reading operation of the facsimile apparatus 1.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process of the facsimile device 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a reading operation of a conventional facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process of a conventional facsimile device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Facsimile device 2 Control part 2a All white flag area 2b Counter 4 Reading means 5 All white line detection part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit which optically reads a document and converts it into image data composed of a plurality of line data, and outputs one line data at a time; and based on the output of the reading unit, one line data is all one line. Based on the detection means that detects whether or not all white line data is white, and when the predetermined number of all white line data are detected continuously based on the output of the detection means, these all white line data are detected. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a transmitting unit that thins out and sends out to a public line.