JPH10271298A - Method and device for facsimile transmission of image data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile equipment which performs transmission without paper and satisfies the real time property. SOLUTION: An image picked up by a video camera is not only displayed on an LCD display device but also temporarily latched in a VRAM 13. A touch panel 3A is attached to the display screen. Image data in the VRAM 13 is subjected to dither processing and is binarized. Meanwhile, hand-written graphics on the touch panel 3A are read and are temporarily latched in a VRAM 12. Hand-written graphics are transmitted by facsimile together with the binarized signal subjected to dither processing after being overwritten.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for performing facsimile transmission without using paper or photographs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Transmission by a facsimile apparatus is performed by reading paper (or a photograph). There is also a method of reading paper, storing it in a memory, and transmitting the data from the memory.

[0003]

Transmission by inputting paper is the most widespread method, but it requires a procedure of recording or printing on paper, which is inconvenient and wasteful of paper. It was connected. Even in the case where the data is temporarily stored in the memory, there is a similar problem irrespective of paper input. In addition, real-time processing is often required at the time of transmission, and this real-time processing may be lost due to the procedure of recording on paper.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus which can satisfy not only transmission by paper but also real-time properties.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image input device, a VRAM for temporarily latching the image, and a VRAM.
Means for facsimile transmitting an image in a RAM in real time, and a facsimile transmitting apparatus including the means are disclosed.

Further, the present invention provides an image input device, a display device for displaying the image, a first VRAM for temporarily latching the image, a touch panel attached to a display screen of the display device, and a touch panel on the touch panel. A facsimile transmission apparatus comprising: a second VRAM for storing a read output of a handwritten graphic of the first VRAM; .

Further, the present invention comprises a video input device, a VRAM for temporarily latching this video, and means for facsimile transmitting binary image data obtained by dithering the image of the VRAM. A facsimile transmission device is disclosed.

Further, the present invention provides a video input device, a display device for displaying the video, a first VRAM for temporarily latching the video, a touch panel attached to a display screen of the display device, and a touch panel on the touch panel. And a second VRAM for storing the read output of the handwritten figure, and dithering the image of the first VRAM to obtain binary image data.
Disclosed is a facsimile transmission apparatus including: means for obtaining a superimposed image in which the content of a first VRAM is overwritten with the content of a second VRAM; and means for facsimile transmitting the superimposed image.

Further, the present invention discloses a method of transmitting facsimile data, in which image data from a video input device is subjected to dither processing and then converted to binary facsimile data.

Further, the present invention relates to a method of transmitting facsimile data, wherein the image data from the video input device is dithered and then binarized, and the handwritten graphic data is overwritten and transmitted as facsimile data. Disclose.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an external view of an LCD display device. The video camera 1 captures an image of a subject (for example, a human or a scenery) 2. The LCD display device 3 has a video input terminal 7, a telephone connection terminal 8, and a telephone line connection terminal 9, and connects the video camera 1 to the video input terminal 7 in FIG. By attaching the touch panel 3A to the display screen of the LCD display device 3, handwriting input on the panel 3A, instructions on the screen, and selection thereof can be performed. Terminal 8 of LCD display device 3
Connect the phone to. The line connected to the terminal 9 is connected to the other party's fax machine 5 via the public line network 4.

The LCD display device 3 captures an image captured by the video camera 1 via a terminal 7 and displays the image on an LCD screen. If the captured images are continuous, the display is also performed continuously. The LCD display device 3 has a built-in VRAM having a capacity of at least one screen. Of course, a capacity for two screens may be used. The VRAM is also used for temporarily latching a still image and temporarily latching handwritten input information (images and characters) from the touch panel 3A. This temporary latch is a temporary latch for facsimile transmission, and is a memory capable of high-speed writing and high-speed reading. Providing such a memory enables real-time facsimile transfer of captured images and handwritten information.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for LCD display and facsimile transmission. This system uses LCD
Display unit 10, VRAMs 12, 13, video input circuit 11,
Touch panel 3A, AD converter 14, MPU 15,
It comprises a RAM 16, a serial controller 17, and a FAX modem 18.

The LCD display unit 10 is a display main body of the display device 3, and is connected to the handwriting RAM 12 and the video input circuit 11. The video input circuit 11 is a video camera (1 in FIG. 1).
Interface means for capturing video from The touch panel 3A is a transparent sheet-like indicator mounted on the display screen, and is used for various instructions such as selection of an image displayed on the panel 3A or an overlapped back side and various menu instructions, and on the panel. Used to input the handwriting result handwritten on the computer. The instruction and the handwriting result are automatically written in the handwriting unit VRAM12.

The image VRAM 13 is a memory having an image capacity of at least one screen, and captures and latches an image selected and instructed by the video camera 1.
The designated point on the touch panel 3A is the AD converter 14
After that, the data is fetched into an MPU (microprocessor) 15 via the CPU and stored in the handwritten VRAM 12.

The MPU 15 performs various controls and processes, and the RAM 16 is used for temporarily latching software and work data. MPU1
5 receives a transmission / reception interrupt from the FAX modem 18 and controls data transmitted to the FAX modem 18.
The transmission data from the MPU 15 is transmitted to the serial controller 1
At 7, the FAX transmission data is converted from parallel to serial data, sent to the fax modem 18, and transmitted by fax. The data to be transmitted by facsimile is the instruction content of the VRAM 12 and / or handwritten data, and the selected image data in the VRAM 13.

The control and processing contents of the MPU 15 are as follows. (1) The image data taken into the image VRAM 13 is taken out, subjected to dither processing, and then converted into facsimile transmission data. (2) Monitor the coordinate data from the AD converter 14,
The operation menu and the handwriting data are written in the handwriting VRAM 12. (3) Control the FAX modem 18 and transmit facsimile data via the serial controller 17.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram of software for realizing the operation. The software includes a monitor 21, an operation task 22, a facsimile task 24, a touch panel driver 23, a video input circuit driver 25, a facsimile communication driver 26, and a facsimile data encoding driver 2.
7 Each software has the following functions. Monitor 21: Manages task services. Operation task 22: Monitoring of pen input via the touch panel driver 23, and when there is an input, operation menu data, handwritten VR of handwritten data with respect to the input coordinates
The writing to the AM 13 and the control of the image via the video input circuit driver 25 (the capture of the video signal into the image VRAM 13) are performed. The touch panel driver 23 starts the AD converter 14 connected to the touch panel 3A by periodic interrupt processing, checks whether the touch panel 3A is pressed from the A / D converted value, and if pressed, A / D Convert the converted value to coordinates and write to the buffer. The operation task 22 checks whether there is data in this buffer and monitors pen input. Video input circuit driver 25: An image displayed normally (moving image) on the LCD is taken into the image VRAM 13 as a still image by an operation using a pen input. Facsimile task 24 ... Converts image data to facsimile data via a facsimile data encoding driver 26 and transmits facsimile data to a receiving facsimile machine via a facsimile communication driver 26. Facsimile data encoding driver 27 ... VRA for image
Image data is read from M13, error diffusion dithering is performed, binarized, and then encoded into facsimile data (MH,
MR coding). Facsimile communication driver 26... The facsimile data encoded by the facsimile encoding driver 27 is transmitted to the FAX modem 18 via the serial controller 17.

FIG. 5 shows an example of dither processing when converting image data into facsimile data, which is one of the operations of the video input circuit driver 25. As the dither processing, for example, error diffusion dither is employed. The error diffusion dither refers to a processing method in which, when binarizing each pixel, an error value resulting from the binarization is diffused to a pixel value at a nearby pixel position. This will be described with reference to the example of FIG.

For example, two lines A and B in the vertical direction (Y direction) on the VRAM 13 shown in FIG. The pixel value takes a value of 0 to 255, and binarization of "1" and "0" is performed depending on whether the pixel value is larger or smaller than the threshold value 128. The pixel values at the first two positions (A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2) of the two lines are 10, 100, 150, and 200 as shown in FIG. First, the head position A-1 is binarized. Since the pixel value of the position A-1 is 10, which is smaller than the threshold value 128, the pixel value of the position A-1 is set to "0". At this time, while the original pixel value at the position A-1 is 10, the pixel value (10) −2 value (0) = 10 remains as an error by setting it to “0”. Therefore, this error value is, for example,
3/8 at position-2, 4/8 at position B-1, 1 / at position B-2.
Diffusion at a rate of 8. This error diffusion result is shown in FIG.
The pixel value at the position A-2 is 103, the pixel value at the position B-1 is 155, and the pixel value at the position B-2 is 201. Therefore, binarization is determined for the pixel value 103 at the position A-2 by comparing the pixel value 103 with the threshold value 128. Since the pixel value at the position A-2 is smaller than the threshold value 128, it becomes "0". Here, the pixel value (103) −2 value (0) = 103 remains as an error again. In the same manner as described above, the position 4 near the position A-2
Error diffusion to points.

The binarized line A is created by performing the above-mentioned error diffusion dither processing on all the pixels of the line A, and the binarized line is subjected to facsimile coding (M
H encoding). For facsimile coding, ITU
-T. Recommendation T. The description is omitted because it is standardized by four recommendations. The facsimile-encoded line data is transferred to a transmission buffer and transmitted to a connected facsimile machine. The image data can be transmitted to the facsimile by repeating the facsimile encoding of the image line data and the transfer of the facsimile data to the transmission buffer for one screen captured in the image VRAM. Further, since dither processing is performed when image line data is converted to facsimile data, a beautiful image can be transmitted to a facsimile more simply than a facsimile machine that simply binarizes pixel values.

Handwritten contents (memos, judgments, etc.) in image data
If the facsimile transmission can be performed by superimposing (overwriting)
This is convenient on the receiving side because the judgment and instruction by the human hand on the image data can be understood on the image. Therefore, the touch panel 3A is used to realize such a thing. The superimposition processing and transmission will be described below.

When handwriting is performed on the touch panel 3A,
The pixel value of the coordinates (Xi, Yj) (i, j arbitrary and i, j is plural) pressed by the handwriting is automatically written into the VRAM 12 so that the pixel value becomes “1”. This writing procedure is as follows. First, when handwriting (handwriting of characters and figures and various instructions) is performed on the touch panel 3A, the touch panel reading means (attached to the panel; not shown) converts the handwritten characters and the like to a plurality of coordinates (X
i, Yj). The coordinates (Xi, Yj) are converted into data by the AD converter 14, provided as an address of the handwritten VRAM 12 via the MPU 15, and data "1" is written to this address. Thus, "1" has been written in the VRAM 12 corresponding to the handwritten characters and the like.

When binarizing the image data by performing dither processing, the handwritten data "1" is added to the address of the handwriting VRAM 12 which corresponds to the same position as the pixel position of the extracted line data to be binarized. Is written, and if it is written, the pixel value at the pixel position is set to black ("1" as binarization). In this way, a superposition process (overwriting process) in which the handwriting position is prioritized can be realized. By performing this for all pixel positions, superimposed image data indicating a state where the handwritten content is superimposed on the image is obtained.

FIG. 6 shows a display example at that time. FIG.
In (a), a human image 30 is stored in the image VRAM 13, and a hand-drawn figure 31 is drawn on the touch panel 3 </ b> A, which is a straight line and the tip of which is an arrow.
It is assumed that it is stored in AM13. Then, when both are superimposed, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), a superimposed figure in which a hand-drawn figure 31 having a straight line and the tip of an arrow is overlapped with the human figure 30 is obtained.

At the time of the above-mentioned superimposition, at the position of the superimposition, either the case where the dither processing of the image data itself to be superimposed is performed or the case where the dither processing is not performed can be adopted. . In the former case, for example, a dithering process is performed at all pixel positions before performing the overlaying process, and the binarization is performed, and thereafter, the overlay checking / overlaying process is performed. In the latter, for example, the overlay check is performed with priority, and the dither processing is not performed on the image data at the overlay position.
Dither processing is performed only on pixel positions where there is no overlap, and binarization is performed. However, in the latter example, since there is a pixel position where error diffusion is not performed, the accuracy of the image may be reduced.

Since the VRAMs 12 and 13 can perform high-speed reading and can perform dither processing and superposition processing at high speed, transmission to a facsimile can be realized in real time. Further, since the output by facsimile is performed by binarization, if the normal binarization processing result is sent to the facsimile as it is, the sharpness of the image is reduced. On the other hand, since the binarized output after the dither processing is sent, a clearer image can be sent even in the binarized output type facsimile. Also, since handwritten figures can be sent in an overlapping manner, the amount of information received from a facsimile has been increased. Also, since the transmission side can directly send the data from the VRAM, the transmission side has been made paperless. Note that the error diffusion processing as the dither processing is an example, and other dither processing can be employed.

Although the touch panel is provided so as to be superimposed on the display screen, there is a method in which the touch panel is provided at a position separate from the display screen without being superposed. In this case, a handwritten figure (including characters) on the touch panel is stored in the VRAM 12. Subsequent superposition processing may be performed in the same manner as the above-described superposition processing.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Realization of facsimile transmission of images in real time. (2) Realization of clean output due to dither processing. (3) Realization of a rich amount of information due to the superimposed image of handwritten figures. (4) Realization of paperless transmission side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a facsimile transmission system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of an LCD display device.

FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram for realizing a facsimile transmission system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of software under the configuration of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of dither processing.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of overwriting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Video camera 2 Subject 3 LCD display device 4 Switching network (network) 5 Facsimile 6 Reception paper 3A Touch panel

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile transmitting apparatus comprising: a video input device; a VRAM for temporarily latching the video; and means for facsimile transmitting the image of the VRAM in real time. 2. An image input device, a display device for displaying the image, and a first VRA for temporarily latching the image.
M, a touch panel attached to the display screen of the display device, a second VRAM for storing a read output of a handwritten figure on the touch panel, and a second VRAM for storing contents of the first VRAM.
Facsimile transmission means for facsimile transmitting an image obtained by overwriting the contents of the VRAM. 3. A facsimile transmission apparatus comprising: a video input device; a VRAM for temporarily latching the video; and means for facsimile transmitting binary image data obtained by dithering an image of the VRAM. . 4. An image input device, a display device for displaying the image, and a first VRA for temporarily latching the image
M, a touch panel attached to the display screen of the display device, a second VRAM for storing a read output of a handwritten figure on the touch panel, and dithering an image of the first VRAM to obtain binary image data. Together with the first VR
A facsimile transmission apparatus comprising: means for obtaining a superimposed image in which the content of the second VRAM is overwritten on the content of the AM; and means for facsimile transmitting the superimposed image. 5. A method for transmitting facsimile data, wherein image data from a video input device is subjected to dither processing and then transmitted as binary facsimile data. 6. A method for transmitting facsimile data, wherein image data from a video input device is dithered and then binarized, and handwritten graphic data is overwritten and transmitted as facsimile data.