JPH0888763A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To conduct flexible variable power processing in response to the request of the operator by setting a variable power rate based on the ratio of a routine size designated by the operator to an original size. CONSTITUTION: When a sensor of a scannere 10 senses an original, the size of the original is detected by preliminary scanning and in the case of no automatic variable power mode, the input of the variable power in the main scanning direction and the subscanning direction by the operator is urged through guidance display. Furthermore, in the case of the automatic variable power mode, when no routine size is designated, a routine size having a width closest to the width of the original is selected and the variable power in the main scanning direction is calculated through the comparison between the selected routine size width and the original width and an image variable power processing section 18 is used to conduct variable power processing. Furthermore, the variable power in both the directions is individually set based on the ratio obtained by comparing the designated routine size and the original size in the main and subscanning directions respectively to eliminate a blank and to use recording paper effectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a facsimile machine for reducing and enlarging image information read from a document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, the size of a document is determined based on the length of the document in the main scanning direction, that is, the document width. Therefore, when a document of an irregular size is transmitted, the following problems occur. Could occur. When the receiving side uses cut sheets, a one-page original is divided into two pages and recorded on the receiving side. It is recorded smaller than the original. Extra margins occur. If the receiving side uses roll paper, it will not be recorded in a standard size, and the size will vary depending on the length of the original (long, short, etc.). These problems occur due to the relationship between the size of the original document to be sent and the size of the recording paper on the receiving side. However, due to the occurrence of these defects, the user is divided into two pages, so Is difficult to read, and communication costs and recording paper are wasted. Since the size is reduced uniformly regardless of the contents of the manuscript, it becomes difficult to read depending on the contents and direction of the manuscript. The recording area of the recording paper cannot be effectively used, which is wasteful. Since various sizes are mixed, it becomes difficult to sort the recording paper and organize files. It caused such an inconvenient result. In order to solve such problems, it is necessary for the sending side to edit an irregular-sized original to a regular size with a copier, cut and paste, and recreate the original in the regular size. Either the receiving side or the receiving side will be burdened. Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
A facsimile apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 170865 has been proposed. Such a facsimile apparatus determines the width of a set original document, and based on the determined original width, an original of an irregular size is automatically scaled to a standard size and transmitted. Therefore, according to this facsimile device, it is possible to eliminate at least the above-mentioned problems.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus, the scaling processing is performed to the fixed standard size regardless of the operator's intention, so that the scaling processing with a high degree of freedom cannot be performed. In addition, since the scaling processing is performed based on the document width, there is a problem that, for example, even if the document width is a standard size 4A size width, it is not possible to deal with an irregular size document whose document length is A4 size or more. . Such a problem occurs due to the fact that the scaling process is forcibly performed to a standard size that is close to each other, and the document size is determined based only on the document width.
As a result, the flexible variable magnification treatment was hindered.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of arbitrarily selecting a standard size in response to an operator's request. Another object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus that can perform optimum scaling processing according to the size of a document including the length of the document.

[0005]

The above-described object is to have a document reading unit for reading a document and outputting image information, and an image scaling processing unit for scaling the image information output from the document reading unit. Then, in a facsimile apparatus for scaling read image information to a standard size, an operator specifies a standard size to be scaled, a manuscript size detecting unit for detecting a manuscript size, and a specified standard size and detection. This is achieved by a facsimile apparatus characterized in that the image scaling processing unit is provided with a scaling ratio setting unit for setting a scaling ratio based on the ratio of the document size. Furthermore,
The above-mentioned object has a document reading unit for reading a document and outputting image information, and an image scaling processing unit for scaling the image information output from the document reading unit. In a facsimile apparatus for changing the size of a document, an operator specifies a standard size to be changed, an original size detecting unit that detects a size of an original in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and a specified standard size. Scale ratio setting means for comparing the detected document sizes in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and individually setting the scale ratios in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction in the image scaling processing means based on the ratio. It is achieved by a facsimile machine characterized by including.

[0006]

In the facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the scaling ratio is set by the designating means so that the standard size is designated by the operator, flexible scaling processing can be performed according to the operator's request. it can. In the facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the scaling factors in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are individually set, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of blank spaces and effectively use the recording area of the recording paper. The facsimile apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention reads the image information that has been subjected to the scaling processing and outputs it visually, so that the scaling result can be confirmed before transmission. In the facsimile apparatus according to the invention described in claim 4, since the scaling factors in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are respectively set according to the scaling factor input by the operator, a finer scaling process is performed in accordance with the contents of the document or the like. be able to.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings by taking a facsimile machine as an example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, numeral 10 is a scanner for reading an original at a predetermined linear density, and numeral 11 is for recording and outputting image information to be recorded on a recording paper surface by an electrophotographic system or a thermal recording system using a laser writing system. It's a plotter. 12
Is an operation display unit including various operation keys and a display, which is used for the operator to input various information and instructions and to display various guidance information to the operator. Further, 13 is an image storage unit for storing image information, 14 is an encoding / decoding unit for compressing and encoding image information by a known encoding method, and reproducing and decoding the compression-encoded image information, Reference numeral 15 is a network control unit having an automatic call-in / out function and having a connection I / F function for connection with a public telephone network such as detection of a calling signal and closing of a line, and 16 is a low-speed modem function for exchanging transmission procedure signals. , Has a built-in modem mainly having a high-speed modem function for exchanging image information, and communicates with a communication partner according to ITU-T Recommendation T.264. A communication control unit that executes a predetermined transmission control procedure such as 30. Further, 17 is a system control unit for controlling the entire facsimile machine,
An image scaling processing unit 8 performs a scaling process on image information.
Although not shown in the figure, the system control unit 17 is a ROM in which programs necessary for system control are stored.
A RAM is built in which constitutes a work area and stores various parameters necessary for controlling the facsimile apparatus.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. It should be noted that each step in the figure is executed by the system control unit 17 unless otherwise specified.

When the document presence / absence sensor provided on the document placing table of the scanner 10 detects the presence of the document (step 201).
YES), first, it is determined whether or not the scaling process is necessary, and if the scaling process is disabled (NO in step 202), the scaling process described below is not necessary, so the process is skipped and the same as the conventional method. Scan the original at the same size. On the other hand, if the scaling process is required (YES in step 202), it is subsequently determined whether or not the automatic scaling is designated. If the automatic scaling is not designated (NO in step 203), the operator In response to the guidance, the operator is prompted to input the scaling factors in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, respectively, and the operator inputs desired scaling factors individually in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction (step 204). When automatic scaling is designated (YES in step 203), the size of the original is subsequently detected (step 205). After the original is automatically conveyed to the predetermined original reading position, the reading optical system is moved while the original is fixed at that position to read the original (so-called book-type reading device). By prescanning with the document fixed, it is possible to accurately grasp the width of the document in the main scanning direction and the length in the sub scanning direction. Therefore, in step 205, the size is detected by such a prescan.

After the size of the original is detected as described above, whether or not a standard size is designated is determined. The standard size designation is a mode in which image information to be transmitted is scaled to a standard size designated in advance. If this mode is designated, the receiving side can always receive the image information on the recording paper of a uniform size, which is effective in sorting the recording paper and organizing the files. Therefore, when using this mode, the operator also specifies the desired standard size. Returning to FIG. 2 again, when the standard size is not designated (step 206N
O), the standard size having the document width closest to the document width (length in the main scanning direction) detected in step 205 is specified (step 207), and the document width of the specified standard size and the detected document width are determined. A scaling factor in the main scanning direction is calculated by comparison (step 208). If the standard size is designated (YES in step 206), it is then determined whether or not independent scaling is designated. With independent scaling, the scaling factor can be set individually for the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, so even if a non-standard size original is scaled to a standard size, the margin It is possible to effectively use the recording area of the recording paper without the occurrence.

When such independent scaling is designated (YES in step 209), the document width (length in the main scanning direction) and the document length (length in the sub scanning direction) detected in step 205 The original width and the original length of the standard size designated in step 206 are compared with each other, and the scaling factors in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are calculated individually (step 21).
0). If independent scaling is not designated (NO in step 209), the document width (length in the main scanning direction) detected in step 205 is compared with the designated standard size document width to perform main scanning. The scaling factor of the direction is calculated (step 211).

Then, the scaling ratio input in step 204 or the scaling ratio calculated in step 208, step 210 or step 211 is set in the image scaling processing unit 18 (step 212), and reading by the operator is started. Reading of the original is started according to the instruction (step 213). The image information read by the scanner 10 is transferred to the image scaling processing unit 18, is scaled by the image scaling processing unit 18 according to the scaling ratio set in step 212 (step 214), and is further encoded / decoded. After being encoded in 14, the image is accumulated in the image accumulating unit 13 (step 215)
The transmission waits (step 216). A file number is given to the accumulated image information, and this file number is stored in the management table set in the RAM together with the telephone number of the transmission destination, the address of the image storage unit 13, and the like.

Here, when confirming the contents of the scaled image information, a predetermined operation key of the operation display unit 12 is operated to instruct the readout of the image information and the 10 key or the like is used. Enter the file number. Then, the system control unit 17 refers to the management table on the basis of the input file number to identify the file to be read, and the image storage unit 13 stored in the table.
The corresponding image information is read from the image storage unit 13 by referring to the address of. Since the read image information is in an encoded state, it is once decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 14 and then recorded and output by the plotter 11 or displayed on the display of the operation display unit 12. By confirming the image information recorded or output or displayed, the operator can grasp the status of the image information subjected to the scaling processing.

The above-described scaling processing may be performed by using a conventionally known method. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei.
No. 170865, in the case of reduction, the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction are thinned out at predetermined intervals according to the scaling factor, and in the case of enlargement, the main scanning direction at predetermined intervals according to the scaling factor. , And a method of inserting in the sub-scanning direction. Also, in steps 204 and 210,
The scaling ratios are set for both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, but in step 208 and step 211, only the scaling ratios in the main scanning direction are calculated.
The same scaling factor as in the main scanning direction is applied to the sub scanning direction. Furthermore, whether or not the scaling processing in step 202 is necessary,
Whether automatic scaling is possible in step 203, step 20
The presence / absence of the standard size designation in 6 and the size designation, and the possibility of independent scaling in step 209 may be displayed on the display of the operation display unit 12 according to the flow of the flowchart of FIG. 2, and may be input by the operator each time. Such information may be stored in the RAM as one of the operation parameters of the facsimile device in advance, and the system control unit 17 may automatically determine by referring to the parameter when the document is set.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to flexibly meet the demands of the operator by performing various forms of scaling processing.

[0017]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the scaling ratio is set based on the ratio between the standard size specified by the operator and the detected document size, flexible scaling processing can be performed according to the operator's request. Can be applied. Moreover, since the scaling process is performed so that the standard size is achieved, the image information can be transmitted to the other party within the range of the standard facsimile procedure, and
There is no loss of image information.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the standard size designated by the operator and the detected document size are compared in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction, respectively, and the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are compared based on the ratio. Since the scaling factors are individually set, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of blank spaces and effectively use the recording area of the recording paper.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the image information that has been subjected to the scaling processing is read out from the image storage means and is visually output. Therefore, the operator can directly confirm the scaling result before transmission.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the scaling factors in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction are set in accordance with the scaling factor input by the operator, a finer scaling process is performed according to the contents of the original document. You can

[0021]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Scanner 11 Plotter 12 Operation Display Section 13 Image Storage Section 14 Encoding / Decoding Section 15 Network Control Section 16 Communication Control Section 17 System Control Section 18 Image Magnification Processing Section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An original reading unit for reading an original and outputting image information, and an image scaling unit for scaling the image information output from the original reading unit, and the read image information is standardized. In a facsimile machine that scales to the size,
An operator designates a standard size to be scaled, a document size detecting means for detecting a document size, and the image scaling unit based on the ratio between the designated standard size and the detected document size. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a variable magnification setting means for setting a magnification. 2. The original size detecting means detects the size of the original in both the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction, and the scaling ratio setting means determines the specified standard size and the detected original size in the main scanning direction. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scaling ratios in the main scanning direction and in the sub scanning direction are individually set based on the ratios of the comparisons in the sub scanning direction and the sub scanning direction. 3. The image storage means for storing the scaled image information, wherein the scaled image information is read out from the image storage means and visually output.
The described facsimile machine. 4. An operator is provided with an input unit for inputting a scaling factor in the main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction, respectively, and the scaling factor setting unit sets the scaling factor input from the input unit. The facsimile apparatus according to Item 1.