JPH0774862A - Portable image transmission equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image transmission equipment which is superior in portability and can send and receive image information at a movement destination. CONSTITUTION:A RAM card 6 is inserted into and connected to a device main body 1 and received image information and discrimination information are stored on the RAM card 6 while made to correspond to each other. When the image information stored on the RAM card 6 is outputted, for example, visually, the RAM card 6 is detached from the device main body 6 and connected to a printer B, and optional image information stored on the RAM card 6 is selected on the basis of the discrimination information and printed out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable image transmission device using a battery as a driving source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Normally, a facsimile as an image transmitting apparatus is used while installed on a desk, and when transmitting, an image is read by the scanning unit and an image is read by encoding the read image. It operates to convert the signal into a signal and transmit the image signal to a destination facsimile machine via a modem. When receiving, the image signal transmitted from the facsimile of the other party is reproduced into an image by the demodulation circuit, and the reproduced image is printed by the printer in the apparatus. As described above, the conventional stationary facsimile has a configuration in which the read information is directly transmitted, and the received information is visually output by the printer in the apparatus.

[0003]

However, in the conventional stationary type facsimile, it was necessary to supply the electric power for driving the printing apparatus from the commercial power source, so that the facsimile could not be brought in and used. Even if the battery is replaced with the electric power for driving the printing apparatus, the electric power is consumed too much to print a large number of sheets, so that a practical portable facsimile cannot be constructed.
Therefore, even if the information to be transmitted is obtained, it is necessary to always go to the place where the facsimile is installed, which causes a problem in the information society in which information is handled in real time.

However, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides a portable image transmission apparatus that can be carried around and that can transmit and receive image information at a destination.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a portable image transmission device for transmitting or receiving image information by battery driving, and transmitting / receiving means for transmitting or receiving identification information related to the image information together with the image information. An external storage unit that stores the image information and the identification information and is configured to be removable from the apparatus main body; and a writing / reading unit that writes or reads the external storage unit and the identification information in the external storage unit. Selecting means for selecting image information stored in the external storage means on the basis of identification information, the image information to be transmitted is selected by the selecting means at the time of transmission, and the image information stored in the external storage means is selected. It is read out and transmitted by the transmitting / receiving means, and at the time of reception, corresponding to the identification information received by the transmitting / receiving means,
In the portable image transmission device, the received image information is stored in the external storage means.

[0006]

According to the structure of the present invention, the image information and the identification information received by the transmitting / receiving means are stored in the external storage means in association with each other by the writing / reading means. And
The image information stored in the external storage means is selected based on the identification information, read out from the external storage means, and transmitted.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a portable facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the portable facsimile apparatus A, 1 is a device body, 2 is an operation panel, and a ten-key button for dialing a destination, A transmission mode button for selecting a transmission mode (fine mode, standard mode, etc.), a communication button for executing transmission, a character input key for inputting a file name, etc. are provided. Reference numeral 3 is a document insertion slot, and 4 is an LCD for displaying transmission contents and the like.
A display, 5 is a voice coupler, 6 is a RAM card that can be inserted into and removed from the device body, and 7 is when stored in the device body 1.
A rechargeable battery for supplying electric power to the apparatus body 1, and 8 is a body cover.

FIG. 2 shows a printer prepared independently of the portable facsimile machine A, and this printer B
Is used as necessary when visually outputting the image information stored in the RAM card 6. In the figure, reference numeral 9 is an operation key including a start button for executing printing, and designates the file name and page number of the file to be read from the RAM card 6. 1
Reference numeral 0 is an LCD display for displaying a file name to be read, 11 is a paper on which the received image information is printed, and 12 is a power cord.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of the main part of the portable facsimile machine A and the structure of the main part of the printer B. In the figure, 20 is a CC as a reading means.
A D sensor, which is a document surface mainly composed of black and white information set in the document insertion port 3 of the portable facsimile apparatus A,
Read images such as characters, figures, and photographs. Reference numeral 21 denotes an image processing unit as a code conversion unit, which is a clock generation circuit 21.
a, sampling circuit 21b, binarization circuit 21c, DM
It is composed of an A circuit 21d and a line memory 21e. The image processing unit 21 divides the image read by the CCD sensor 20 into pixels and divides the decomposed pixels into white and black.
Encode by value.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a CPU as a writing / reading means, which is composed of a microprocessor and has a RAM card 6.
On the other hand, the encoded image information is read at the time of transmission and the demodulated and encoded image information is written at the time of reception. The RAM card 6 as an external storage means is detachably connected to the apparatus main body 1 via the I / O port 23, and when it is in the connection state with the CPU 22, the code information output from the image processing unit 21 is Store as readable. The RAM card 6 also stores the image information combined at the time of reception. Reference numeral 24 denotes an image information transmission unit as transmission control means, which is composed of a modem 24a, a LIU circuit 24b which is a network control circuit, and a voice coupler 24c. The image information read from the RAM card 6 at the time of transmission is transferred to the modem 24a. Is modulated into a voice signal, and this voice signal is sent to a telephone line (not shown) as a transmission line by a voice coupler 24c. When receiving, the voice signal sent from the telephone line is demodulated into image information by the modem 24a and input to the CPU 22.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a main circuit of the printer B, in which only the RAM card 6 in which image information is stored is removed from the apparatus main body 1 and set in the I / D port 26 of the printer B, and then the LCD display 10 is viewed. While operating key 9
Press to input the desired file No. and press the start button to print the received image information. The printer circuit 25 is composed of a print control circuit 25a and a line head 25b.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of data stored in the RAM card 6 described above. The RAM card 6 may have only a memory, and data is written for each address via the I / O port 23. The control area 6a stores data for managing files, and the header information manages pages and one document. Therefore, when reading image information from the RAM card 6, it is possible to output even one image information by specifying the file name and page.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described by dividing it into "reading image information", "sending image information", "receiving image information" and "transmitting image information from telephone BOX".

Reading of image information In FIG. 3, when the image on the document surface is read line by line by the CCD sensor 20 and the sampling circuit 21b,
The read image is digitally encoded into black and white binary by the binarization circuit 21c, and the encoded image information is obtained by converting the encoded information temporarily stored in the line memory 21E by the DMA circuit 21d into I / O. It is stored in the RAM card 6 through the port 23. The procedure for writing image information in the RAM card 6 is as follows.

(1) In the control area 6a of the RAM card 6, the data relating to the image information to be read is put. Data is an address (A in Fig. 4
1, A2. ), A file name set at the time of image input, a date, a time, a telephone number of a sender at the time of reception, and the like.

(2) Header information is inserted before the image information. The header information is data relating to an image encoding system, that is, an MH (Modified Huffman) system, an MR (Modified Read) system, or an algorithm similar to the MMR (MR system), which is a code that improves the maximum compression efficiency. System),
Or encoding method data indicating whether it is another method,
Image quality data such as standard or fine is the number of pages in one file. In this embodiment, the information stored in the RAM card 6 is generally encoded by the MMR method.

(3) The image is stored following the header information. (4) The storage operation is ended by the RTC signal (6 EOL signals indicating the last line of one page). (5) If there is next image information, insert header information and repeat the above procedure. Next, if there is no image information, the bottom address is stored in the control area 6a, and the process ends.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing various data relating to image information stored in six RAMs. In the figure, a control area 6aniha, a current bottom address Ax, an address A1 for transmission data, a file name, a transmission time, an address A2 for reception, a reception time, and a destination telephone number are registered. The number of pages of image information, the encoding method,
Image quality data is stored.

Transmission of Image Information In FIG. 3, when image information is transmitted from the RAM card 6, (1) First, a character input key of the operation panel 2 is operated to input a file name, and the CPU 22 reads R.
The control area 6a in the AM card 6 is referred to, the address of the designated file is searched, and then the image information of the designated file is read.

(2) The image information is once decoded line by line on the line memory 21e based on the header information. (3) Furthermore, the image information for one line is created by re-encoding with the set encoding method, and the created image information is transferred to the modem 24a. (4) The modem 24a sends the transferred image information to the telephone line via the LIU circuit 24b.

Receiving image information (1) The image information is decoded line by line by the same procedure as in the conventional installation type facsimile. However, the received image information is subjected to MMR encoding again instead of being printed, and is stored in the RAM card 6. (2) By referring to the bottom address of the control area 6a, the header information and image information after this address are stored. Also, the destination number, reception time, and address are set in the control area 6a.

(3) The decoding, MMR coding, and RAM card storage processing in the image information proceed at the same time. (4) The header information is set every time the page changes and the next image information is received.

(5) When the image information is completed, the bottom address is set in the control area 6a and the reception is completed. The received image information is printed by replacing the RAM card 6 with the printer B, inputting a facsimile No. with the operation key of the printer B, and pressing the start button.

Transmission of image information from telephone BOX (1) The RAM card 6 is connected to the portable facsimile apparatus A and set to the reading mode. (2) After inputting the file name, the image of the original is read into the RAM card 6. (3) Go to the telephone box. (4) Set the handset on the voice coupler 5 of the portable facsimile machine A. (5) Enter the file name.

(6) Call the other party and confirm the response sound of the other party's facsimile. (7) Press the communication button on the operation panel 2. (8) Image information corresponding to the designated file is read out from the RAM card 6 and transmitted to the destination facsimile. (9) When the transmission is completed, the end sound is emitted by the buzzer. (10) Remove the receiver from the voice coupler 5 and complete the transmission of the image information.

The reading operation of steps (1) and (2) described above may be performed when necessary. Further, the method of visually outputting on the LCD display 4 may be used as the notification of the end of step (9).

[0027]

As described above, according to the portable image transmission apparatus of the present invention, the received image information and identification information can be associated with each other and stored in the external storage means removable from the apparatus body. Therefore, if only the external storage means is carried and connected to, for example, a printer or the like, the received image information can be visually output. Moreover, it is not necessary to mount a printer on the apparatus main body, and the portability of the image transmission apparatus can be improved. Can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a portable facsimile apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a printer used when printing image information.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the portable facsimile device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a RAM card used in the device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing contents stored in the RAM card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A portable facsimile device B printer 1 device body 2 operation panel 6 RAM card 7 rechargeable battery 20 CCD sensor 21 image processing unit 22 CPU 24 image information transmission unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A portable image transmission device for transmitting or receiving image information by battery driving, comprising: a transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting or receiving identification information related to the image information together with the image information; and the image information and the identification information. External storage means that is configured to be stored and removable from the apparatus main body; writing / reading means that writes or reads the external storage means and the identification information in the external storage means; and the external storage means. Selecting means for selecting the image information based on the identification information, at the time of transmission, selecting the image information to be transmitted by the selecting means, reading the image information stored in the external storage means, and transmitting by the transmitting / receiving means, Further, at the time of reception, the received image information is stored in the external storage means in correspondence with the identification information received by the transmission / reception means. A portable image transmission device characterized by being stored.