JPH0955822A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To communicate even moving image data by normal FAX communication by making the moving image data into the frame of a page unit for each fixed interval, compressing them by a line unit gathered by the same line of the respective frames and transmitting them. SOLUTION: The moving image data image picked up by a video camera 1 are stored in a storage device 11. A controller 13 prepares an index page prior to the segmentation of the moving image data of the storage device 11. Then, the moving image data are segmented by the frames for each fixed interval and the page unit is defined. The segmented frames are arranged with the index page of a first page and compressed by the compression system of the line unit (a compression function provided in a general FAX equipment 9), a compression processing is ended when the arranged image data exceed a final line and they are transmitted. A reception side expands the reception data and the frame of the page unit is prepared from obtained line unit data. By the index page of the first page of the image data, a receiver automatically discriminates the moving image data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine having a simple structure capable of communicating moving picture data by ordinary FAX communication, and more particularly to a facsimile machine which enables a receiver to automatically identify the moving picture data. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a facsimile apparatus for communicating image data via a public communication line is known.
There is a need for a technology that enables the facsimile device to communicate not only still image data but also moving image data.

[0003]

However, conventionally,
Since the communication of the moving image data uses the procedure of the binary communication, there is a drawback that the communication of the moving image data can be achieved only between the facsimile devices having the special device corresponding to the binary communication. In addition, the above moving image data is FA
In order to perform X communication, it is necessary to compress and decompress, but the moving image data consists of a still image for each frame, and the change between frames of the moving image data changes only part of the image. In the case of compression, a compression method is adopted in which the compression of the frame is performed and the compression is performed with the difference from the previous frame. However, in order to execute this compression method, dedicated hardware is required, and there is a drawback that the facsimile apparatus becomes more complicated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a normal FAX.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device having a simple structure in which moving image data can be communicated by communication and a receiver can automatically identify the moving image data.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is a facsimile apparatus for fax-transmitting moving image data, wherein the moving image data is framed in page units at regular intervals. And a compression / transmission unit for compressing and transmitting the page-by-page moving image data in line units in which the same line of each frame is collected. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect further includes receiving / expanding means for receiving the compressed data compressed in the line unit and expanding the compressed data by the number of frames at the constant interval. Means for creating the frame in page units from the line data in line units obtained by decompression. According to the invention described in claims 1 and 2, the moving image data can be communicated by the ordinary facsimile apparatus by performing the ordinary FAX communication of the moving image data.
Also, by applying a line-by-line compression method, which is a compression method for still images, it becomes possible to perform communication of moving image data with conventional hardware, and dedicated hardware is not required.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect further comprises means for creating an index page on the first page of the moving image data and means for identifying the index page. It is characterized by having. According to the third aspect of the present invention, by adding the heading page to the first page of the moving image data, the contents can be understood by the recipient of a normal facsimile apparatus.
Further, by providing a means for identifying the page of the heading of the moving image data, it becomes possible to automatically identify the moving image data.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus embodying the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the facsimile device includes a video camera device 1 for inputting moving image data and a CRT device 3 for displaying moving image data.
A scanner device 5 for inputting a manuscript on paper, a printing device 7 for printing data on paper, a facsimile device 9 for transmitting and receiving FAX communication, a storage device 11 for storing data received by FAX, and the like. Video camera device 1, CRT device 3, scanner device 5, and printing device 7
And a control device 13 for controlling the facsimile device 9 and the storage device 11. Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, the transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step 101 of FIG. 2, when a video image is captured by the video camera device 1 and moving image data is input, the moving image data is stored in the storage device 11.

Next, in step 103, as shown in FIG.
Heading pages as shown in (a) and (b) are created.
Note that FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an example of a heading page in which two frames are arranged on one page of paper.
(B) is a figure showing an example of an identification mark provided at the upper left of the heading page for identifying the heading page. The reason for providing this heading page is that the line-by-line compression method described later compresses page-by-page moving image data collectively on the same line of each frame.
The content is difficult to understand. Therefore, by adding the heading page to the first page, the contents can be understood by the receiver of a normal facsimile apparatus. Further, when the moving image data is received, if the means for identifying the page of this heading is provided, it is possible to automatically identify the moving image data.

Next, in step 105, frames are cut out from the moving image data from the storage device 11 at regular intervals to make a page unit, and in step 107, the frames cut out in page units are the one page. Along with the headline page, it is compressed in the compression process as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Here, in the compression process in step 107, a line-by-line compression method (compression function provided in a general facsimile apparatus), which is a compression method for still images, is used. Since there is little change between the same lines and little change in the same line of each frame, if you compress the same line of each frame by the above line-by-line compression method, you can save video data without the need for dedicated hardware. It means that compression can be performed.

That is, in step 201 of FIG. 4, the line to be processed is initialized to the first line, and in step 203, the line to be processed of each frame is extracted and arranged. The process of step 203 is shown in FIG.
6 and the fixed interval shown in FIG. 6 is three frames, the frame 1 shown in FIGS.
~ Lines processed from each frame of 3 (first line ~
The third line) is taken out and arranged as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (c). 5A is an image of the frame 1, FIG. 5B is an image of the frame 2, FIG. 5C is an image of the frame 3, and FIG. 6A is an example in which lines are extracted from each frame of a) to (c) and arranged, FIG. 6A is an example in which data of the first line is arranged, and FIG. 6B is data of the second line. And (c) is an example in which the data of the third line is arranged.

Next, in step 205, the arranged image data is compressed by the line-by-line compression method, the line to be processed is set to the next line in step 207, and the final line is exceeded in step 209. It is determined whether or not. Then, the above step 209
If the last line is exceeded, the compression process is terminated, and if not exceeded, the process returns to step 203.
Returning to FIG. 2, when the process of step 107 is completed, the process returns to step 105, and when there are no more frames to be cut out, the compressed data is transmitted in step 109, and the transmission process ends. The transmission operation is performed under the control of the control device 13.

Next, the receiving operation of the facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Figure 7
In step 301, the moving image data transmitted by the transmission operation of FIG. 2 and transmitted by FAX is received and stored in the storage device 11, and in step 303, in the upper left of the first page of the data from the storage device 11. It is determined whether or not there is the identification mark (see FIG. 3B). If the identification mark is present in step 303, the heading page with the identification mark is skipped in step 305, and step 307 is executed.
At, it is determined whether there is a next page.

When there is a next page in step 307, the compressed data is decompressed into a frame of page unit in a decompression step as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 in step 309. That is, in step 401 of FIG. 8, the presence or absence of decompressed data is checked, and if decompressed data is present, in step 403, decompression is performed for the number of frames at regular intervals. As a result, line data arranged for each frame as shown in FIG. 6 is obtained. Next, in step 405, the line for each frame is transferred from the line data arranged for each frame, and a frame as shown in FIG. 5 is created. And
Returning to step 401, the decompression process ends when there is no decompressed data.

Returning to FIG. 7, when the decompression processing in step 309 is completed, the CRT is processed in step 311.
The image of the decompressed frame is displayed on the device 3, the process returns to step 307 and continues until the next page runs out (a moving image is displayed), and when the next page runs out, the reception process ends. If there is no identification mark at the upper left of the first page of the data in step 303, it is determined that the data is not moving image data, and normal fax reception processing is performed in step 313. The receiving operation is also performed under the control of the control device 13. In addition, when the moving image data is received by the facsimile device,
An automatic identification device may be provided to automatically identify the identification mark on the heading page and notify the user of the receipt of the moving image data.

[0015]

According to the present invention, moving image data can be converted to normal F data.
By performing the AX communication, the moving image data can be communicated by a normal facsimile device. Also, by applying a line-by-line compression method, which is a compression method for still images, it becomes possible to perform communication of moving image data with conventional hardware, and dedicated hardware is not required. Also, by adding a heading page to the first page of the moving image data, the contents can be understood by the recipient of a normal facsimile device. Further, by providing a means for identifying the page of the heading of the moving image data, it becomes possible to automatically identify the moving image data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus embodying the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing a transmission operation in the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

3A and 3B are explanatory diagrams showing an example of a heading page and an identification mark used in the transmission / reception operation shown in FIGS. 2 and 7.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a compression operation of step 107 of FIG.

5A, 5B, and 5C are explanatory diagrams showing an example of moving image data in which a fixed interval is 3 frames.

6 (a), (b) and (c) are explanatory views showing an example in which lines are taken out from each frame shown in FIG. 5 and arranged.

7 is a flowchart showing a receiving operation in the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

8 is a flowchart of a decompression operation in step 309 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Video camera device, 3 ... CRT
Device, 5 ... Scanner device, 7 ...
Printing device, 9 ... Facsimile device,
11 ... Storage device, 13 ... Control device, 101-109, 2
01-209, 301-313, 401-405 ... Each step,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for fax-transmitting moving image data, comprising means for converting the moving image data into frames in page units at regular intervals, and moving image data in page units combined on the same line of each frame. A facsimile apparatus, comprising: a compression transmission unit that compresses and transmits in line units. 2. The facsimile apparatus further receives the receiving / decompressing means for receiving the compressed data compressed in the line unit and expanding the compressed data by the number of frames at the constant interval, and the line unit in the expanded unit. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit that creates the frame for each page from line data. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for creating an index page on the first page of the moving image data and means for identifying the index page. Facsimile machine.