JPH0686043A - Facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To compress a picture without information loss to save recording paper and to attain the restoration of an original at the time of necessity by recording the number of all white lines that are continuously skipped as a bar code and restoring all the white line spaces by reading the recorded contents. CONSTITUTION:On a transmission side, the white line part being the continuity of the white line parts L1, L2... of a transmission side original 1 is transmitted by skipping and the bar code of the skipped continuous white line number information is also transmitted. Then, on a reception side, a reception copy without the white line parts L1, L2... is prepared and at the time of necessity, a reproductive copy 3 is prepared based on the bar code of skipped white line number information. With this constitution, the picture can be compressed without information loss to save recording paper and at the time of necessity, the original can be restored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile system capable of saving recording paper in order to prevent the loss of communication information when recording paper is unexpectedly used and to collect a large amount of information by a portable facsimile. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when the recording paper runs out on the receiving side,
The communication is interrupted, and if the communication is not completed, the sender has to retry the transmission. It is well known that a memory for storing received information is provided in order to prevent the transmission from being retried, but this means is not adopted in a popular price range facsimile because the cost is high. Further, in order to save the recording paper, a means for reducing the recorded image in the sub-scanning direction by the user's selection is also used. However, in this case, the recorded image is difficult to read and the original image cannot be restored. If a digital copier is used, it can be restored for the time being, but the deterioration in image quality cannot be denied. Further, it is also known to detect all white lines and stop the sub-scanning on the recording side when the number of continuous white lines continues for a certain number (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-20213).

[0003]

In this case, however, readability is somewhat improved, but restoration of the original image is completely impossible. Especially when transmitting a figure including a space, the original figure cannot be restored at all, which is fatal. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to save the recording paper, and even when the recording paper is saved and used, the output does not unduly become difficult to read, and when necessary, the original image is reproduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile system that can be restored and to provide such a facsimile system at a low price.

[0004]

Therefore, in the facsimile system according to the present invention, the transmitting side or the receiving side skips all white lines in the main scanning direction. In a normal case, a plurality of all-white lines as described above often appear continuously in the sub-scanning direction. In that case, the system counts the number of all white lines that are continuous in the sub-scanning direction and encodes this number to form a bar code. This barcode is recorded by occupying a space of 1 to 3 lines in the skipped space. Therefore, a bar code containing information on the number of skipped all-white lines is recorded between lines containing black dots of characters. The above operation is performed on either the transmitting side or the receiving side, but in any case, the receiving side can obtain the receiving paper with all white lines skipped. When the receiver side replenishes the chart paper, the system reads the number of all white lines from the bar code and skips all white lines and instead copies the received paper containing the bar code, , Which results in a copy that is equal to the original image.

The operation of skipping the all-white line should be performed mainly when the remaining amount of recording paper on the receiving side is small, but this operation may be performed at any time, especially in the case of a portable facsimile. This operation may be always performed, and only a part of the received paper may be restored by self-copying.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. First, the basic method of the system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the transmission-side document shown in FIG. 1 includes four groups of all-white lines which are continuous by L1, L2, L3, and L4 in the sub-scanning direction. 1. Sending side When skipping white on the sending side. When receiving the recording paper near-end information from the receiving side, the transmitting side skips all white information. The number of skipped all-white lines continuous in the sub-scanning direction is encoded to form a barcode, and only the lines other than all-white and the information of this barcode are transmitted. When skipping white on the receiving side. The sender performs normal transmission.

2. Receiving side When sending side skips white. The receiving side receives and prints the common name. When skipping white on the receiving side. When the near end of the recording paper is detected, the receiving side skips all white lines, at the same time counts the number, encodes it into a bar code, and prints only lines other than all white and information of this bar code. 3. When reproducing a copy (reception side) Read the bar code and display the number of lines L1
Only shift the chart paper. As usual, the letters A, B,
Print C and D. Similarly, the line information is shifted by L2 and the image information is printed. When all line shifting and printing are completed, an image equivalent to the original is obtained from the copied image. In FIG. 1, a received copy is a reduced copy image obtained on the receiving side, and a reproduction copy is a restored image obtained at the time of copy reproduction.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged detail of a part of the reduced copy of FIG. There is a non-fillable space at the upper end of the recording paper, and a bar code indicating the first total number of white lines L1 is printed below the space. If black appears for the first time on the nth line of the document, this bar code represents n-1. In this embodiment, one white line is inserted between the bar code and the character in order to improve the discrimination between the bar code and the character. After that, an image including characters is printed from the nth line to the mth line. After that, since the all-white line continues from the (m + 1) th line to the (p) th line, p-m + 1 is bar-coded and printed. In the same way, the character image and the barcode are printed repeatedly in the same way, but the barcode does not have to be printed as line 1, and to avoid malfunctions,
A few lines may be used.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a printed bar code. Since the bar code indicates the number of all white lines to be skipped, the length in the vertical direction of A4 size 29
If the number of lines up to 297 x 7.7 = 2287 can be expressed as 7.7 lines per 7 mm and 1 mm, A
It is possible to skip one copy of the 4th edition. In this embodiment, the numbers up to 2287 are represented by 4-digit decimal numbers A, B, C and D. Therefore, the number of all white lines to be skipped is 10 ³ A + 10 ² B + 10 ¹ C + D. Although any barcode itself may be used, the interleaved 2of5 code is used in this embodiment. The code order is STA
The order is RT, A / B, C / D, STOP, where the symbols A and B and C and D are interleaved with each other.

FIG. 3 shows the number of skips of about 25.4 mm, that is, 196 lines. That is, A = 0, B
= 1, C = 9, D = 6. An example of the 2of5 code and the interleave scheme is shown in FIG. According to it, 0 is 00110, 1 is 10001, 9 is 01010,
6 is 01100. According to the interleave method,
Among the interleaved A and B, 1 is represented by a thick bar and 0 is represented by a thin bar, and B is represented by 1 by a thick space and 0 by a thin space.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the facsimile system according to the present invention. CPU
A (central processing unit) 1 controls all the functions according to the procedure stored in a ROM (read only memory) 2. First, if you want to skip all white lines on the receiving side,
Information received via line b and NCU 5 is
Digitized by RAM (random access memory)
It is stored in the memory 3. The CPU 1 checks the contents of the RAM 3 according to the procedure of the ROM 2, and if there is black in one line, the P / S conversion unit 9 uses this one line as image information.
To the thermal head 10 for printing, and the motor 8 is driven via the motor driver 7 to feed one line of paper.

If there is no black in one line in RAM3,
The CPU 1 recognizes this as an all-white line and checks the content of the next one line. This operation is continued until black appears in one line, and when black appears, before printing this line, based on the table included in ROM2, the number that has been recognized and counted as an all-white line so far is calculated. It is converted into a bar code, and this bar code is sent as image information to the thermal head 10 via the P / S converter 9 for printing. In that case, the CPU 1 drives the motor 8 via the motor driver 7 to make a space of 1 line before and after the barcode, and feeds 1 line before the barcode printing and 2 lines after the barcode printing. To do.

When all white line skip is performed on the transmitting side,
The information read by the scanner 13 is sent to the modem 4 via the S / P conversion unit 14, where it is digitized and stored in the RAM 3. The CPU 1 checks the contents of the RAM 3 according to the procedure of the ROM 2, and if there is black in one line, sends this one line to the line 6 via the NCU 5. If there is no black in one line in RAM3, C
The PU1 recognizes the line as an all-white line and checks the contents of the next line. This operation is continued until black appears in one line, and when black appears, the number that has been recognized and counted as an all-white line is converted into a barcode as described above before transmitting this one line. Then, it is sent to the line 6 through the NCU 5. At this time, it is desirable to transmit all white information for each line before and after the barcode information.

Whether a white line is skipped on the transmitting side or on the receiving side, it is desirable to assign two or three lines to one bar code in order to prevent malfunction. In any case, the skip of the all-white line is performed only when the near-end sensor 11 on the receiving side indicates that the remaining amount of recording paper is small.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the receiving unit when the receiving side skips all white lines. The encoded reception data received through the line 27, NCU 26, and modem 25 is the control unit 2
4 are sequentially combined and stored in the buffer memory 23. The image information in the buffer memory 23 is checked for all white by the control unit 24. In the case of all white lines, the number of continuous all white lines is converted into a bar code as described above, and this bar code is recorded. Is sent to the recording unit 21 via.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the above receiving section. First, the received data is combined into one line by the control unit and stored in the buffer memory (step 3
1). Next, it is checked whether or not the data of one line is all white (step 32). If it is not all white (step 32; N), the address of the buffer memory is updated (step 33), The printing is performed and the recording paper is fed (step 34). Then, it is judged whether or not the recording is completed (step 35), and if it is completed (step 35; Y), the process is ended, but if not completed (step 35; N), the process returns to step 31.

When the data of one line is all white (step 32; Y), the all white line is effectively erased by not updating the address of the buffer memory in the controller (step 36). Next, the number of all white lines is counted by the controller (step 37). Then, it is determined whether or not the next line is completely white (step 38), and if it is completely white (step 38; Y), the process returns to step 36. Also,
If it is not all white (step 38; N), the bar code corresponding to the number of all white lines counted so far is taken out, combined, and converted into image information (step 39). Then, the process returns to step 32.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the transmitting unit when the transmitting side skips all white lines. The reading unit 41 starts scanning in response to the reading instruction a from the control unit 44. The read line-by-line serial analog data is
It is digitized and parallelized by the reading control circuit 42 and stored in the buffer memory 43. The data in the buffer memory 43 for each line is checked for all white by the reading control circuit 42, and in the case of all white lines, the number is counted and stored in the control unit 44. Then, the number of all white lines is the line 47 through the modem 45 and the NCU 46 as a bar code.
Sent to.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the transmitting section. First, the image data read by the reading unit is stored in the buffer memory in units of one line (step 51). Next, it is judged whether the data of this one line is all white (step 52). Here, if it is not completely white (step 52; N), after updating the address of the buffer memory (step 53), it is judged whether or not it is finished (step 54), and if it is not finished (step 54;
N), and returns to step 51. On the other hand, if it is all-white (step 52; Y), the all-white line number counter of the control unit is set to +.
Then, at the start of all white, the relevant line number is stored in the memory of the control unit (step 55). After that, it is determined whether or not it is finished (step 54), and if it is not finished (step 54; N), the process returns to step 51.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the coding process of the transmitting section. Here, it is first determined whether the data of one line stored in the buffer memory is all white (step 61). If all white (Step 6
1; N), one line is encoded (step 62), and the memory address is updated (step 63). On the other hand, if it is all white (step 61; Y), the image information of the bar code corresponding to the number of all white lines is extracted (step 6).
4) Update the memory address (step 63). After that, it is determined whether or not the process is to end (step 65). If not (step 65; N), the process returns to step 61.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a portion for copying the compressed image to restore the same image as the original. Reading unit 71
The image data read by is stored in the buffer memory 3 via the reading control circuit 72. The control unit 74 determines the data in the buffer memory 73, and if it is normal image information, sends it to the recording unit 76 via the recording control unit 75 to perform normal printing. In the case of a bar code, the control unit 74 reads the number and causes the recording unit 76 via the recording control unit 75 to perform line feed corresponding to the number.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for explaining the image restoration operation. First, the reading unit reads an image for one line (step 81) and stores it in the buffer memory (step 82). It is determined whether the restoration operation is currently being performed (step 83), and if the restoration operation is not being performed (step 8).
3; N), the printing operation and line feed are performed as usual (step 85). Next, it is judged whether or not the data on the line is a bar code (step 84), and if it is not a bar code (step 84; N), normal printing operation and line feeding are performed (step 85). If the information is bar code information (step 84; Y), the information is read (step 86), line feeding is performed by the number of all white lines (step 87), and it is judged whether or not the process is completed (step 88). If not completed (step 88; N),
Return to step 81.

[0022]

In the facsimile system according to the present invention, recording paper can be saved without causing information loss. Since there is no loss of information, the full original can be reproduced from the compressed image. Moreover, since the number of additional hardware components is small, the cost can be reduced. If the image is compressed on the transmission side, the transmission time can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a transmission document, a reduced copy, and a restored copy.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a reduced copy of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a printed barcode.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a 2of5 code and an interleave scheme.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a receiving unit that performs all white line skip.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of the receiving unit of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a transmitting unit that skips all white lines.

9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the transmission unit in FIG.

10 is a flowchart showing a coding operation of the transmission unit of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an image restoration unit.

12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image restoration unit in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 4 Modem 5 NCU 6 Line 7 Motor Driver 8 Motor 9 P / S Converter 10 Thermal Head 11 Near End Sensor 13 Scanner 14 S / P Converter

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. When the facsimile transmitter is notified that the receiver has a small amount of recording paper, the transmitter omits transmission of all white lines in the main scanning direction and continues in the sub scanning direction. The number of all white lines is encoded into a bar code, and the last 1 or 2 of the continuous all white lines is encoded.
The image information can be sent to the position corresponding to three lines and recorded as it is in the facsimile receiver. However, when the recording paper is replenished, when the printed receiving paper including the barcode is self-copied, the barcode A facsimile system characterized by being able to read the number of all white lines from and restore all white lines to form a copy equal to the original. 2. When the facsimile receiver detects that the remaining amount of recording paper is small, the receiver erases information of all white lines in the main scanning direction among the received information,
The number of continuous all-white lines in the sub-scanning direction is encoded into a bar code, and the last 1 or 2 of the continuous all-white lines is encoded.
When recording as image information at a position corresponding to 3 lines and refilling the recording paper, when the printed receiving paper including the barcode is self-copied, the number of all white lines is read from the barcode and all white lines are read. A facsimile system characterized by being able to restore and form a copy equivalent to the original. 3. When the transmitter is informed that the remaining recording amount of the receiver is low when transmitting to the portable facsimile, the transmitter transmits the line of all white in the main scanning direction. By omitting, the number of all white lines continuous in the sub-scanning direction is encoded into a bar code, and transmitted as image information to a position corresponding to the last 1 or 2 to 3 lines of the continuous all white lines, and facsimile. Although this image information can be recorded as it is in the receiver, when the recording paper is replenished, the number of all white lines is read from the bar code to restore the all white line when self-copying the printed receiving paper including the bar code. A facsimile system characterized by the ability to form a copy identical to the original. 4. In a portable facsimile receiver,
The receiver erases information of all white lines in the main scanning direction from the received information, encodes the number of all white lines continuous in the sub-scanning direction into a barcode, and encodes the continuous all white lines. When image data is recorded at the position corresponding to the last 1 or 2 to 3 lines and the recording paper is replenished, the number of all white lines is read from the barcode when the printed receiving paper including the barcode is self-copied. , A facsimile system characterized by being able to restore all white lines to form a copy equivalent to the original.