JPH1056544A - Communication terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To absorb processing time on an decoder side by providing a plurality of storage means between the decoder and a recorder in a communication terminal device and to rapidly carry out smooth processing even when it is provided with a high performance recorder. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a decoding means 2 which decodes encoded data, a recorder 4 which records the data which is decoded by the means 2 and a storage control means 3 which is intervened between the means 2 and the recorder 4 and has the plurality of storage means. The means 3 controls the write of the data which is received from the means 2 to the plurality of storage means and the read of data from the plurality of storage means to send to the means 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device having a high-speed printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, communication terminal devices having enhanced copy (copy) functions are becoming popular, with facsimile devices as a representative, and are equipped with a printer of a laser recording system or the like. Quality images can be obtained. However, in this type of facsimile apparatus, when printing a facsimile-received image on a printer, the time required for decoding the received coded data exceeds the processing time of the printer because the performance of the printer has been improved. However, the functions of high-performance printers have not been fully utilized, and the speed of processing has been limited.

In order to solve this problem, the following methods have been proposed, but each method has another problem. As a first method, it is conceivable to use a high-performance decoder, but such a decoder has a high unit price and leads to an increase in manufacturing cost. As a second method,
There is a method of using a page memory for one page, temporarily storing the image data decoded by the decoder in this page memory, and then outputting the image data to a printer. However, even in this case, the cost increases and the amount of memory is reduced. However, there is a problem that the total printing speed is reduced.

Accordingly, as a third method, a method of providing a line buffer for two lines between a decoder and a printer has been proposed. FIG. 5 shows a main configuration of the facsimile machine in this case. In the figure, 101 is a control unit composed of a CPU or the like, 102 is a decoder for decoding coded data received by facsimile, 103a and 103b are line buffers for storing one line of coded data, 104
Is a recording device that is a printer, 105 is a switching unit that controls writing of decoded data from the decoder 102 to the line buffers 103a and 103b, and 106 is a line buffer 1
A switching unit that controls reading of decoded data from the recording devices 03a and 103b to the recording device 104.

The control unit 101 stores the coded data received by facsimile in the RAM 101a, for example, one page at a time, and the decoder 102 stores the coded data in the RAM 101a every predetermined line.
At the same time as storing the data in M102a, the data is read and decoded line by line. At this time, in the illustrated example, since the switching unit 105 connects the contact a side, the decoding data is sequentially written to the line buffer 103a, while the switching unit 106 connects the contact b side opposite to the switching unit 105. Therefore, the decoded data of the previous line is read from the line buffer 103b and transferred to the recording device 104. Then, writing to the line buffer 103a and the line buffer 103
When the reading from b is completed, the contact of the switching unit 105 is changed from the a side to the b side, and the contact of the switching unit 106 is changed from the b side to the a side, and the writing and reading to the line buffers 103a and 103b are reversed. To continue the process.

[0006] Such two line buffers 103
When the decoder 102 finishes reading and decoding all lines of a predetermined line of data from the RAM 102a by repeating the toggle operation by the a and 103b, the decoder 102 exchanges control signals with the control unit 101 to set the next process. (Interrupt processing time) can be absorbed. That is, by providing the line buffers 103a and 103b, the interrupt processing time can be reduced by the recording apparatus 10
4 is prevented from affecting the processing.

[0007]

However, the conventional communication terminal device has a high-speed and high-performance recording device such as a laser printer even when the third method having two line buffers is used. In such a case, the following problem occurs. FIG. 6A is a time chart showing an operation when a conventional high-performance printing apparatus is provided, and FIG. 6B is a time chart showing an operation when a high-performance printing apparatus is provided.

The decoder (control unit) receives the horizontal synchronizing signal s1 from the recording device to write one line of decoded data into the line buffer and, at the same time, synchronizes with the transfer clock in synchronization with the signal s1. Accordingly, data is transferred from the other line buffer to the recording device. In the figure, t1 is the image information transfer time required for writing and transferring (reading), t2 is determined by the performance of the decoder, etc., the interrupt processing time generated for each predetermined line, and t is the recording start position of each line. This is the waiting time required to adjust.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in the conventional apparatus, an interrupt processing time t2 generated for each predetermined line after the end of the image information transfer time t1 occurs between the horizontal synchronization signal s1 and the next horizontal synchronization signal s2. Is sufficiently secured, but as shown in (b), the recording device has a high performance and the image information transfer time t
If 1 ′ is shortened and the transmission interval of the horizontal synchronizing signal s1 from the recording apparatus is shortened, the next horizontal synchronizing signal s2 ′ is transmitted during the interrupt processing time t2 (arrow X), and the reception is performed. In some cases, malfunctions such as printing of an image different from the image information obtained may occur.

As described above, even if the line buffer is used, the transfer speed can be increased only up to the transfer clock of the line buffer, and the line buffer has only two lines. The time exceeded the processing time of the recording device, and the decoding process could not catch up with the data recording process. Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and by providing a plurality of storage units between a decoder and a recording device, a processing time on the decoder side is absorbed, and a high-performance recording device is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal device that can execute high-speed and smooth processing even when it is provided.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises the following means. According to the first aspect, a decoding unit for decoding encoded data, a recording unit for recording data decoded by the decoding unit, and a plurality of storage units interposed between the decoding unit and the recording unit are provided. Storage control means for controlling writing of data received from the decoding means to the plurality of storage means and reading of data to be sent to the recording means from the plurality of storage means.

Here, in the case of facsimile communication, the decoding means decodes data encoded by the MH method or the MR method into bit image data. The recording means includes a high-speed printer using a laser recording method. According to a second aspect, the storage control means of the first aspect writes a predetermined unit of data received from the decoding means to the plurality of storage means in order each time a data transfer request is made to the decoding means, Each time the data is received, a predetermined unit of data is sequentially read from the plurality of storage means and transferred to the recording means.

In other words, the storage control means sends a data transfer request to the decoding means in accordance with the storage conditions of the plurality of storage means, and sends data in response to the data transfer request received from the recording means. Is performed asynchronously and in parallel.
Each of the storage units may store, for example, one line of image data. According to the third aspect, the plurality of storage means of the first or second aspect is configured by a first-in first-out type memory or a dual-port RAM.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the communication terminal device. Here, an example of a facsimile apparatus is shown as one of the communication terminal apparatuses, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to a computer or the like having a communication function of transmitting and receiving compressed data.
Therefore, the decoder described later also includes processing functions called decompression, decompression, and decompression.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit composed of a CPU or the like, 2 denotes a decoder (decoding means) for decoding coded data received by facsimile, and 3 denotes a plurality of buffers (storage means). Buffer controller (storage control means) for controlling writing and reading to and from the buffer
Is a recording device which is a printer, 5 is a data receiving unit provided with a modem or NCU for facsimile reception, and 6 is a reading unit which reads image data for facsimile transmission from a document.

Here, the control unit 1 stores the encoded data received by the data receiving unit 5 in the RAM one page at a time.
1a, and the decoder 2 stores 53 lines of data in the RAM 2a while reading the 53 lines of coded data that were previously stored, one line at a time, and decodes them.
Output to the recording device 4. The present invention is characterized in that a buffer controller 3 is interposed between the decoder 2 and the recording device 4, and writes data received from the decoder 2 into the buffer and data transmitted to the recording device 4. Of the high-performance recording device 4.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the basic operation of the buffer controller 3. (A) is a vertical synchronization signal which is a transfer request for data of one page sent from the recording device 4, (b) is a data transfer request signal to be sent to the decoder 2, and (c) is provided in the buffer controller 3. The storage status of the plurality of buffers (four in this case) is shown, and (d) shows a horizontal synchronization signal which is a transfer request of one-line data sent from the recording device 4.

When the vertical synchronizing signal is received, first, regardless of the horizontal synchronizing signal (without synchronizing), a data transfer request signal is transmitted, data is received line by line from the decoder 2, and all the buffers are received. Are sequentially stored (written). In this state, if a horizontal synchronizing signal is received from the recording device 4, data is sequentially read from the buffer and transferred to the recording device 4, and if there is an empty buffer, the decoder 2 is asynchronously and in parallel. To send a data transfer request.

In this manner, the writing and reading of each buffer are repeated.
When the decoding of the data of 53 lines stored in the AM 2a is completed, the interrupt processing is started. Therefore, during the interrupt processing time T, the transmission of the data transfer request signal to the decoder 2 is stopped, and the horizontal synchronization is performed. Only data transfer to the recording device 4 for signals is performed. And the interrupt processing time T
Is completed, the transmission of the data transfer request signal is restarted, and the received data is stored in an empty buffer.

Therefore, the recording apparatus 4 can continuously receive the data for the horizontal synchronizing signal without interruption. The number of buffers is determined based on the interrupt processing time T and the difference between the time required for data transfer between the decoder 2 and the recording device 4 when receiving the horizontal synchronization signal.
Data is always stored in one of the buffers,
Any number can be used as long as data can be sent to the recording device 4.

Next, FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the buffer controller 3. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a first-in first-out (FIFO) memory corresponding to the plurality of buffers in FIG. This memory is a dual-port RAM with two ports
According to these, a predetermined unit of data to be written by transmitting one data transfer request signal or data to be read when receiving a horizontal synchronization signal can be freely set.

When the enable generator 16 receives a cue signal from the controller 1 and a vertical synchronizing signal from the recorder 4,
The transmission of a data transfer request signal from the data transfer request generator 14 to the decoder 2 is started. Then, the decoded input data signals are sequentially stored in the memory 10 via the serial / parallel converter 11. This accumulation status is indicated by the flag unit 1
When the horizontal synchronization signal is received from the recording device 4 to the enable circuit 16, the parallel / serial conversion unit 12 that receives this signal via the counter unit 17 sequentially reads data from the memory 10. The data is converted and sent to the recording device 4.

Here, the counter section 17 measures the accumulation of data for a predetermined line in the memory 10 and controls a predetermined waiting time t (see FIG. 6) for adjusting the recording start position of each line. The clock generation unit 15
Controls the write / read clock and the like. If the data transfer request generation unit 14 receives a stop signal from the control unit 1 due to interrupt processing or the like, the data transfer request generation unit 14 transmits the data transfer request signal even if there is a free space in the memory 10 by referring to the flag unit 13. To stop.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the buffer controller 3. Here, S1 to S9 indicate processing on the decoder 2 side, and S10 to S13 indicate processing on the printer (recording device 4) side, and both are performed in parallel. Upon receiving the vertical synchronization signal from the printer 4 (S1), the decoder 2 sequentially sends out data transfer request signals (S2), and accumulates data for one line in each buffer (S3). Here, when N lines (four lines in FIG. 2) of data corresponding to all the buffers are accumulated (S4), a horizontal synchronization signal from the printer 4 is received (S5). ), Referring to the empty state of the buffer (S6). If there is an empty buffer, a data transfer request signal is sent (S7), and the received data is accumulated in the buffer (S8), and this is stored in one buffer. The process is performed until the data reception is completed (S9).

When the start of the interrupt processing is received, the same processing as the processing when there is no free space in the buffer in S6 is repeatedly performed. Sends a data transfer request signal. On the other hand, if the reception of the horizontal synchronizing signal is permitted in S5 (S10), and the horizontal synchronizing signal is received (S11), the printer 4 sequentially outputs 1 from each buffer.
Data is sent out after a predetermined time t (see FIG. 6) has elapsed to read out the data for the line and adjust the recording start position on the recording paper (S12). Then, the reception of the horizontal synchronization signal is continued until all the buffers become empty (S1).
3).

[0026]

As can be understood from the above description, the communication terminal apparatus according to the present invention has the following effects. According to the first aspect, if storage control means having a plurality of storage means is provided between the decoding means and the recording means, the storage control means allows the data received from the decoding means to be transferred to the plurality of storage means. Since the writing and the reading of the data to be sent to the recording unit from the plurality of storage units can be controlled, even if the recording unit has a high performance and the processing time is shortened, the storage unit has a plurality of storage units. Thus, the processing of the decryption means can be executed asynchronously with the processing of the recording means. Therefore, the processing time of the decoding means can be increased, and the processing of the recording means is not delayed.

Also, within the interruption processing time of the decoding means, a data transfer request signal (horizontal synchronization signal) is sent from the recording means.
Is received, the data is always stored in the recording means, so that the data may be sent to the recording means, and no malfunction occurs. As described above, the present invention can be suitably used for a facsimile apparatus (copy / facsimile multifunction peripheral) having an enhanced copy (copy) function.

According to the second aspect, the storage control means can perform the data transfer request to the decoding means and the acceptance of the data transfer request from the recording means in parallel. If the device configured to make a data transfer request is provided with this storage control means, smooth processing using a high-performance recording device can be performed. According to the third aspect, since a first-in first-out memory or a dual-port RAM is used for the plurality of storage means, the number of dots and the number of lines per line exchanged between the recording means and the decoding means can be reduced. It can be set freely within the capacity range.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a main configuration of a communication terminal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a basic operation of the communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a buffer controller.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a basic operation of the buffer controller.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a conventional communication terminal device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a basic operation of a conventional communication terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part 2 ... Decoder (decoding means) 3 ... Buffer controller (storage control means) 4 ... Recording device (recording means) T ... Interrupt processing time

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Decoding means for decoding encoded data, recording means for recording data decoded by the decoding means, and a plurality of storage means interposed between the decoding means and the recording means. Storage control means for controlling writing of data received from the decoding means to the plurality of storage means and reading of data to be sent to the recording means from the plurality of storage means. A communication terminal device. 2. The storage control means writes data of a predetermined unit received from the decoding means to the plurality of storage means in order each time a data transfer request is made to the decoding means.
Each time a data transfer request is received from the recording unit, a predetermined unit of data is sequentially read from the plurality of storage units,
2. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal device transfers the data to a recording unit. 3. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of storage means are constituted by a first-in first-out memory or a dual-port RAM.