JPH07226817A - Color facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To hold color picture data even if a color picture is not immediately outputted to a received color picture so as to conduct an appropriate processing. CONSTITUTION:At the time of receiving the color picture, an identification sensor 6 checks whether a color cartridge or monochrome cartridge is installed in a printer part 5 or not. When the monochrome cartridge is installed, received data are temporarily stored in RAM 3. When the installation of the color cartridge is recognized, the color picture is outputted. When monochrome output is instructed from a console panel 8, the color picture is converted into a monochrome picture and it is outputted in a picture processing unit 4. When data eliminated is instructed, received color picture data of RAM 3 are eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile machines have become faster, have higher resolution, and have become colorized. In particular, facsimile machines capable of transmitting and receiving color images are highly promising in the design field.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when a color image is received by a facsimile apparatus capable of receiving a color image, for example, the printer section of the apparatus can accidentally run out of toner or ink and output color. However, when a monochrome image is output instead, the received image is automatically deleted from the memory, so that the received color information is lost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and retains the color information even when a color image cannot be output.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a color facsimile apparatus capable of outputting the color image at a later opportunity and taking other measures.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the color facsimile apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a color facsimile apparatus capable of receiving color image data from a line and outputting a color image to a recording medium, and receiving means for receiving the color image data from the line, and receiving means by the receiving means. Output means for forming and outputting color image data using a color recording material, storage means for storing the received color image data, discriminating means for checking the presence or absence of the color recording material, and discrimination by the discriminating means. According to the result, there is provided a color facsimile machine characterized by having control means for controlling the storage means to store the received color image data.

[0006]

With the above construction, the present invention operates to store the received color image data in the storage means according to the presence or absence of the color recording material.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a color facsimile apparatus which is a typical embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a CPU that controls the operation of the device based on a control program, 2 is a ROM that stores the control program, 3 is a work area when the CPU 1 executes the control program, and at least one page. The RAM 4 used for storing the received image data and the transmitted image data is used when the facsimile device of the communication partner is a monochrome facsimile device and cannot receive the transmitted color image data, or receives the color image data. However, it is an image processing unit that converts color image data into monochrome image data when a color ink cartridge (hereinafter referred to as a color cartridge) is not attached to the printer unit described later.

Further, 5 is a bubble jet printer unit for mounting a black ink cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as a monochrome cartridge) or a color cartridge to output a color image or a monochrome image, and 6 is mounted on the printer unit 5. An identification sensor capable of identifying whether the selected cartridge is a monochrome cartridge or a color cartridge, and 7 is a scanner unit (hereinafter referred to as a scanner) which irradiates an image document with light and receives the reflected light, converts the reflected light into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal. ), 8 is an operation panel equipped with a keyboard (KB) as a man-machine interface for controlling the apparatus and a display section for notifying the user of the status of the apparatus, and 9 is a network and a facsimile apparatus according to a communication control procedure. Connect to send and receive image signals, or to send image data for image transmission. Or perform over de or, CCU for decoding the received image signal (communication control unit), and 10 is a system unit that exchanges the components are connected to one another data exchange and control signals of the device.

The received image data is transferred from the CCU 9 to the RAM 3 via the system bus 10, and the transmitted image data read by the scanner 7 is sent to the system bus 10.
After that, it is transferred to the RAM 3 and temporarily stored. Also,
The CPU 1 controls the start / stop of the reading of the image original by the scanner 7.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a communication control procedure when the apparatus of this embodiment executes transmission / reception of image data with a communication partner via a line. The communication control procedure of this embodiment is ITU-
TS of T.S. According to the procedure of 30, the transmitting side device can transmit a color image and the receiving side device can receive a color image. In FIG. 2, the upper half shows the control procedure of the transmitting side device, and the lower half shows the control procedure of the receiving side device.

The outline of communication control between the transmitting and receiving devices according to the communication control procedure shown in FIG. 2 is as follows.

First, when a line is connected between the image data transmission / reception devices, the reception side device operates as NSF / DIS.
(21 and 22 in FIG. 2) are output. At this time, a bit indicating that "color reception is possible" is set by using the extension field of NSF to notify the transmitting side device to that effect. The transmitting device that received the NSF / DIS sends N
Output SS / DCS (23 and 24 in FIG. 2). Here, since a color image is transmitted, the transmission side device is notified that a color image is to be transmitted by setting a bit indicating "receive color" using the NNS extension field.

The transmitting device then sends a TCF (Training Check: 25 in FIG. 2) to see if the line is available at the modem training data rate. If the modem training is OK, the receiving device is CFR
Is transmitted (26 in FIG. 2). When the transmission side device receives the CFR, it transmits the color image data (27 in FIG. 2), and when the transmission of the color image data is completed, it transmits EOP (28 in FIG. 2). When the receiving device receives the EOP, if the image is correctly received, it sends MCF (29 in FIG. 2), and when it receives the DCN (30 in FIG. 2) from the transmitting device, it releases the line. To do.

Next, a reception process when color image data is received by using the apparatus and the communication control procedure having the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S31, the CCU 9 operates as shown in FIG.
The color image data is received from the transmission side device of the communication partner via the line in accordance with the communication control procedure described in. Next, in step S32, the identification sensor 6 checks whether the printer unit 5 is loaded with a monochrome cartridge or a color cartridge. Here, if the identification sensor 6 detects that the color cartridge is attached, the process proceeds to step S33, and the color image is output from the printer unit 5. On the other hand, the identification sensor 6
If it detects that the monochrome cartridge is mounted, the process proceeds to step S34, and the received color image data is temporarily stored in the RAM 3 via the system bus 10.

Next, in step S35, the type of the printer cartridge mounted on the printer unit 5 is checked again by using the identification sensor 6 to check whether the monochrome cartridge is changed to the color cartridge. Here, if the mounting of the color cartridge is confirmed, the process proceeds to step S33 to output the color image data stored in the RAM 3 in color. On the other hand, if the attached printer cartridge remains the monochrome cartridge, the process proceeds to step S36, and it is determined whether the monochrome cartridge is used for output.

In step S36, if the device user desires monochrome output and inputs a monochrome output instruction from the operation panel 8, the process proceeds to step S37, and the color image data received by the image processing unit 4 is monochrome. After being converted into image data, in step S38 a monochrome image is output using the converted monochrome image data. On the other hand, if the device user does not desire monochrome output, the process proceeds to step S39.

In step S39, it is determined whether the received color image data should be erased. Here, if the user of the apparatus desires to erase the received image data and inputs an instruction to erase the received image from the operation panel 8, the process proceeds to step S40 and the color image temporarily stored in the RAM 3 is processed. Erase. On the other hand, if the device user does not desire to erase the stored color image data, the process returns to step S35 to use the identification sensor 6 again to determine the type of the printer cartridge mounted in the printer unit 5. Find out.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, even when the color cartridge is not installed, the data is temporarily held in the RAM when the color image data is received. Therefore, the color image is output until the color cartridge is installed. After that, the color image can be output after that, or the color image data can be output as a monochrome image or the color image data can be erased from the RAM according to the judgment of the user of the apparatus.

Further, although the description has been given of the case where the bubble jet type printer is adopted as the printing unit and the monochrome or color cartridge is used for the print output in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a laser beam printer that uses toner in the printing unit may be used, or a printer that uses an ink ribbon may be used.

Further, in the present embodiment, whether the monochrome or color cartridge is attached to the bubble jet printer is discriminated to control whether the received color image data is temporarily stored. The invention is not limited to this. For example, in a printer in which both a monochrome cartridge and a color cartridge can be mounted, it may be judged whether or not the ink has run out and whether or not to temporarily store the received color image data.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single 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.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the received color image data is stored in the storage means according to the presence or absence of the color recording material. Even if the image cannot be output, the color information is not lost.

Even if the color recording material is exhausted and the received color image data cannot be immediately output as a color image, the color image output is suppressed until the color recording material is mounted.
There is also an effect that the color image can be output after mounting the color recording material.

Further, means for converting the color image data into monochrome image data, means for deleting the color image data stored in the storage means, output of the color image data as monochrome image data, and storage in the storage means. By providing the means for instructing the deletion of the color image data, it is possible to finally leave the determination to the apparatus user when the color image data cannot be immediately output as a color image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a color facsimile apparatus that is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image data transmission / reception procedure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a color image receiving process executed by the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 4 Image Processing Unit 5 Bubble Jet Printer 6 Identification Sensor 7 Scanner 8 Operation Panel 9 CCU (Communication Control Unit) 10 System Bus

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A color facsimile apparatus capable of receiving color image data from a line and outputting a color image to a recording medium, comprising: receiving means for receiving the color image data from the line; Output means for forming an image of the received color image data by using a color recording material and outputting; storage means for storing the received color image data; determination means for checking the presence or absence of the color recording material; A color facsimile apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls the storage unit to store the received color image data according to a determination result of the unit. 2. A conversion means for converting the received color image data stored in the storage means into monochrome image data, wherein the output means forms an image using a black recording material and outputs a monochrome image. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color facsimile apparatus is capable of performing the following operations. 3. A first instruction for instructing conversion of the received color image data into monochrome image data and output using the conversion means and the black recording material when there is no color recording material. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means and second instruction means for instructing to delete the received color image data stored in the storage means when the color recording material is not present. Color facsimile machine. 4. The deletion means for deleting the received color image data stored in the storage means based on an instruction from the second instruction means. Color facsimile machine. 5. According to the discrimination result by the discrimination means,
After the received color image data is stored in the storage means, a suppressing means for suppressing the color image output until the color recording material is mounted, and the presence or absence of the color recording material is checked again by the determining means, The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a releasing unit that releases the inhibition of the color image output after confirming the mounting of the color recording material. 6. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the output means stores the color recording material in a first cartridge and the black recording material in a second cartridge. . 7. The bubble jet printer according to claim 7, wherein the output means is equipped with one of the first and second cartridges and outputs a color image or a monochrome image. Item 7. A color facsimile apparatus according to Item 6. 8. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the output unit is a printer that mounts the first and second cartridges and outputs a color image or a monochrome image. .