JPS60244147A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminate a sound data part from a picture data part by putting an EOL (end of line) signal which indicates a line feed between sound and picture signals into a synthetic signal and decreasing the number of EOL signals compared with the number of plural continuous EOL signals added to the end of a page. CONSTITUTION:A synthesizer 600 reads the serial digital sound signals out of a memory 300 in response to the start of a picture reading action. These sound signals are synthesized with the serial digital picture signals given from a compressor 500 into a series of signals. These signals are sent to the print side. Here an EOL signal is added to indicate a line feed in case the sound signals are read out of the memory 300 and the picture signals undergo the parallel/serial conversion. Thus the EOL signals are put every prescribed lot unit between the sound and picture signals and into the picture signal. Then the number of continuous inserted EOL signals is set less than the continuous number of normal EOL signals which are added to the end of a page. Thus a sound data part can be easily discriminated from a picture data part in the synthetic signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine that has a function of handling audio signals.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of device equipped with image reading and printing functions handled only images and did not transmit an audio signal at the same time as one image signal. For this reason, it has been difficult to simultaneously record audio, such as a human voice, which cannot be expressed using images alone. On the other hand, when transmitting images to a remote location using a facsimile device, etc., the contact information for the other party,
For example, it is often necessary to send audio information such as the number of sheets to be sent or a message to a specific person. In addition, it is often convenient to visualize audio related to explanations and the like and print and record them on the same sheet of paper together with images of blueprints and the like.

[Purpose] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention converts audio into a signal, visualizes the audio signal on the printing side, and prints the audio and image on the same sheet of paper, thereby simultaneously producing audio and images. The purpose of this invention is to relate to an image forming apparatus that is capable of recording and storing information.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can distinguish between audio data and image data in a composite signal.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the device of the present invention. Here, l
010 to 60o are image reading side devices.

100 is a microphone that converts audio into electrical signals; 200
is an encoder that encodes and compresses the audio signal; 300 is a memory that temporarily stores the audio signal; 400 is a league that reads the original image; 500 is a compression device that compresses the image signal;
and 800 are synthesis devices that synthesize audio signals and image signals in a predetermined format.

The message voice such as the explanation of the manuscript is converted into an analog voice signal by the microphone 100, and the encoder 200 converts it into an analog voice signal.
After ID (analog/digital) conversion, the signal is encoded, compressed, converted into a serial digital audio signal, and temporarily stored in the memory 300 in order to be combined with a serial image signal, which will be described later.

On the other hand, the image of the original is read by the reader 400, roughly converted into a digital image signal by A/D conversion, data is compressed by the compression device 500, and after being subjected to parallel-to-serial conversion, it is sent to the composition device 600. The synthesizing device reads a serial digital audio signal from the memory 300 in response to the start of image reading, connects this audio signal with the serial digital image signal from the compression device 500, synthesizes it into a series of signals, and transmits the signal to the printing side.

At this time, by adding an EOL (end of line) signal when reading from the memory 300 and when converting the image signal from parallel to serial, a predetermined difference between the audio signal and the image signal in the composite signal and between the image signal and the image signal is added. intervening an EOL signal in units of lofts (for example, in units of rows);
The number of consecutive intervention EOL signals is made smaller than the number of consecutive EOL signals added to the end of one page so that the audio data part and the image data part in the composite signal can be easily distinguished.

Further, 700 to 1200 are printing side devices, and 700 to 1200 are printing side devices.
1-000 is a separating device that extracts only the audio signal portion from the received composite signal; 1-000 is a memory that temporarily stores the separated audio signal in order to output it at an arbitrary time; and 1100 is a decoding device that decodes the digital audio signal read out from the memory 1000. ,
A decoder for D/A (digital-to-analog) conversion, and a speaker 1200 for converting analog audio signals into audible audio. Furthermore, 800 is a decoding device that decodes the compressed digital image signal in the composite signal into a signal before compression, and 800 is a printer that visualizes and prints the image signal and the audio signal. Printed on the same sheet of paper along with the image in compressed digital signal format.

The digital image signal portion in the composite signal transmitted from the reading side is decoded by the decoding device 800, and sent to the printer 800 together with the compressed digital audio signal in the composite signal.
Print on the same paper. At that time, the audio portion is printed at a predetermined position on the paper.

At the same time, the separation device 700 separates and extracts only the digital audio signal portion from the composite signal, and stores it in the memory 100.
Temporarily stored in memory 0 and memory 1000 according to the operator's specifications.
The signal is read out from the source, converted into an analog audio signal by the decoder 1100, and converted into audible audio by the speaker 1200. In this way, the audio signal can be visualized and recorded on the paper along with the image, and at the same time, the user can hear the explanation about the printed image in real voice.

Figure 2 shows the paper 85 printed by the printer 9oo in Figure 1.
An example of printing on 0 is shown. Here, 851 is an audio recording area;
952 is an image recording area, and the circular area is usually set at a predetermined position in advance. Note that the audio recording area is not limited to the same surface as the image, and may be provided on the back side of the image recording. Further, X indicates the main scanning direction, and Y indicates the sub-scanning direction. In this way, for example, the audio area θ is placed at the tip of the image side it2952.
A digital audio signal that has been AID converted and compressed can be visualized and recorded as 5I.

Furthermore, to reproduce the audio recording signal recorded in the audio recording area 951 on the paper 85θ into audio, a dedicated device that reads only the audio portion and reproduces it into audible audio may be created, but it is separate from the above-mentioned reader 400. Device 7o.

reader 4 by shorting them with a suitable switch.
It can also be easily obtained by reading the audio recording part with 00, converting the read digital audio signal into an analog audio signal with the decoder 1100, and converting it into audio with the speaker 1200.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a data compression device 500 and a decoding device 800 from the embodiment of the present invention in FIG.
This is the case when it is configured by removing . Therefore, in this example, since compression encoding and decoding of the image signal are not performed, the data transmission efficiency is lower than that of the previous example, but the configuration is relatively simple.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the above-mentioned encoder 200 that encodes and compresses an audio signal. Here, 210 to 21
6 is a comparator, which converts the analog audio signal from the microphone 100 into a 7-bit digital signal AΩ.
6~AID conversion to ArJO. 241 and 242 are OR circuits that compress the A/D converted digital signal. That is, the comparators 210 to 2+6 linearly
/D-converted digital audio signals ADO to ADO are converted into a non-linear 3
bit parallel digital signal VD2. VDI and v
Encode and compress into DO. At this time, the comparator 210
- AND circuit 22 between 218 and OR circuit 241 and 242
1 to 224 and inverters 231 to 234 are connected as shown, the output signals VD2. VDl, V[IO are as follows.

VDO-AD3 VD1=AD1-AD3+AD5 VD2=ADO-AD1+A[12-AD3+A[14
-AD5+ADfl This parallel audio signal VD2~VD
O further parallel serial (para-serial) converter 250
is converted into a serial signal 280 and sent to the memory 300.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the internal configuration of the above-mentioned reader 400 that reads a document. As shown in the figure, the light from the light source 402 is reflected by a reflecting plate 40.
3 and then illuminates the document 401 on the document table from below, and the reflected light image of the document 401 is focused by a condenser lens 404 and received by a solid-state imaging device (CCD) 405 . At this time, scanning of the original 401 in the main scanning direction is controlled by CC.
Scanning is performed in the full width of D405, and the scanning in the sub-scanning direction is performed on document 4.
01 with the optical system by a motor (not shown).
This is done by making 00405 a relative sacrament.

As a result, the image of the original 401 is sequentially scanned page by page and converted into an analog electrical signal 406 by the COD 405 . The converted analog signal 406 is sent to the amplifier 41
0, converted into a digital signal 450 by an A/D converter 420, and further subjected to parallel-to-serial substitution.
The converted serial image signal 450 is sent to the compression device 500. At this time, an image clock signal 460 and a video enable (VE) signal 47 are output from the clock signal generator 440.
0, and the transmission timing of the digital image signal 450 to the compression device 500 is determined by this double image a check signal 460.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the main part configuration of the above-mentioned A/D converter. Here, 411 is an image amplifying section constituting the above-mentioned amplifier 410, and 412 is a feedback resistor thereof. As shown in the figure, the analog image signal amplified by the amplifier 410 is converted into 4-bit digital image signals D3 to DO by the voltage dividing resistor lags -421 to 425 of the A/D converter 420 and the high speed comparators 430 to 433. .

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of the above-mentioned compression device 500, and in this example, a run-length data compression method using a one-dimensional MH (Modified Huffman) encoding method is shown. Here, 510 is a change point detection circuit that detects a change point where a pixel of a digital image signal input from the reader 400 changes from white (low level) to black (high level) or from black to white, and 520 is a change detection circuit. Output signal of output circuit 510, 75
This is a run-length counter circuit that counts the number of consecutive black or white colors using 16 as a load signal. Also, 530
This is an MH code table ROM (read-only memory) in which the run length (consecutive number) of each white and black is used as an address and the corresponding M)l code is stored in advance, and the output signal 521 of the run length counter circuit 520 is used as a counter. Accessed as an address. Furthermore, 540 is R
A byte pack circuit divides the MH code 531 read from the OM 530 into a fixed length, for example 8 bytes, and packs it. 5'50 is a parallel-serial converter circuit that converts the packed MW code 541 into a serial signal 560. be.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the main part configuration of the above-mentioned change point detection circuit 510. Here, 511 is a D-type flip-flop (D-FF) for signal delay, 513 is an exclusive OR circuit,
515 is an inverter for signal inversion.

The digital image signal 450 is branched and one is inputted to one input terminal of the exclusive OR circuit 513, and the other is inputted to the other input terminal through the D-FF 511. The image signal 450 input to the D-FF 511 appears at the output terminal Q2 with a delay of one clock of the clock signal 460 (see FIG. 9).

Therefore, in the exclusive off circuit 513, a change point detection signal 514 is obtained which is 0°' when the phases of both the image signals 512 and 450 input to the input terminals match, and becomes "I" when they do not match. (See Figure 3). This change point detection signal 514 is inverted by an inputter 515 to obtain a counter load signal 516, which is sent to a ten-length counter circuit 520.

As a result, the above-mentioned counter load signal 51B has a rising and falling point that becomes a change point from white to black or from black to white in the image signal 512 (see FIG. 8). It is loaded at the rising edge of pixel clock 450, and the time until it falls is determined by pixel clock 450.
Count the results by #*! It is output as 4M counter address 521 (see FIG. 8). M)I code table ROM 530 is accessed by counter address '521 to generate the corresponding M)I code.

In the example of FIG. 8, the Ml code at this time is as follows.

Run length M)l code White run 2 0111 Black run 211 White run 4 1011 Black run 3 10 This MH code 531 is packed by the byte pack circuit 540 and furthermore, the serial digital image signal 560 is obtained by adding EOL by the parallel-serial conversion circuit 550. Convert to

As a result, the MH code becomes a serial data signal 580 as shown below.

Ichimu 匪 性vμm once L self L self ox and look.

EOL White run 2 Black run 2 White run 4! Run 3 However, EO
L represents an end of line (END OF [, INE), and the code is (000000000001), which is added to the beginning of one page and the end of each line as shown in FIG. 12, which will be described later. In this way, since data is compressed by the MH method in this example, data transmission efficiency can be improved. Furthermore, the application of other data compression methods is also possible.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration example of the above-mentioned synthesis device 800.

Here, 610 no running gate signal JR-821, 1-Ryoru +
6 is the -L signal generation circuit, 622 is the H of the gate signal 821
823 is an inverter that inverts the gate signal 821; 624 is an AND circuit that opens the gate and passes the audio signal 26θ when the inverted signal of the inverter 623 is at H level. Yes, the inverter 623 is used to switch the gate signal 623. Further, 825 is an OR circuit that synthesizes the audio signal 260 from the AND circuit 624 and the image signal 560 from the AND circuit 622, and sends out a composite signal 630 of ``image+audio'' to the separation device 700.

The gate signal fi21 switches from L (low) level to H level at the timing shown in FIG. 11, for example. As a result, the synthesized signal 830 is extracted from the OR gate 825, in which the first line to the third line of the format is an audio signal area, and the fourth line and subsequent lines are an image signal area.

In FIG. 11, the VE signal 470 is a signal indicating the valid period of one line of video signal.

FIG. 12 shows a detailed configuration example of the format of the synthesized signal 830 output from the above-mentioned synthesizer 600.

The EOL code shown in the figure may be added by the synthesis device 800, but the EOL in the audio signal area may be added when audio data is read from the memory 300, and the EOL in the image signal area may be added during parallel-to-serial conversion.

In addition, the EOL between lines is single, but the EOL between audio data and image data is 2, and the EOL at the end of the page is 3, and the number of EOLs is different to differentiate between the audio part and the image part. It is clear, and the end of the page is also clear.

FIG. 813 shows a configuration example of the above-described separation device 700 for signal separation. Here, 710 is a gate signal generation circuit that generates the gate signal 721, 722 and 723 are AND circuits, and 724 is an inverter that inverts the gate signal 721. One input terminal of the AND circuit 722 receives the composite signal 8.
30 is input, and a gate signal 721 is input to the other input terminal. Furthermore, the composite signal 830 is input to one input terminal of the AND circuit 723, and the input/output signal 830 is input to the other input terminal.
The inverted signal of the gate signal 721 inverted by the S-724 is input. Since this gate signal 721 is generated in the same phase as the gate signal 621 of the synthesizer 600, the AND circuit 723 outputs the audio signal 740.
Only the image signal 7 is taken out from the AND circuit 722.
Only 30 are taken out.

FIG. 14 shows an example of the configuration of an optical system when a laser printer is used as the printer 800 described above, and FIG. 15 shows its NP configuration.
An example of the internal configuration of the image forming system of the process is shown. As shown in the figure, a laser beam generated from a semiconductor laser 911 of a laser oscillator 810 is modulated by the above-mentioned audio signal and image signal, and is turned into a narrow parallel beam by a collimator lens 812.
The light is reflected by the light beam 20 and scanned in the horizontal direction of the arrow x in the figure, and is further imaged by the imaging lens 821 and irradiated onto the rotating photosensitive drum 930 to form a latent image. Further, the laser beam 922 is reflected by a mirror 923 at one end of the drum 930 and enters a horizontal synchronization signal generator 824 to generate a horizontal synchronization signal.

At this time, the surface of the insulating layer of the photosensitive drum 330 cleaned by the cleaning roller 831 is removed by the high-voltage charger 83.
The surface of the drum 830 is charged to a positive charge by the uniform positive corona discharge of the AC charger 932, and simultaneously with the AC corona discharge of the AC charger 932, the surface of the drum 830 is irradiated with the laser beam 822 to form a latent image. The photosensitive drum 930 rotates and the developing device 85
When the latent image reaches 0, toner is applied by the developing cylinder 936 to visualize the latent image. When the photosensitive drum 830 further rotates and reaches the transfer charger 938, the transfer charger 838
38 places a positive charge on the surface of the paper 850, and by attracting the negatively charged toner on the surface of the drum 830, the visualized toner image is transferred to the paper 950.

On the other hand, the paper feed roller 981 rotates in synchronization with the drum's main motor (not shown), and when the paper feed signal is turned on,
Paper feed solenoid (not shown) is ONL, paper feed roller 981
is pushed down into the cassette 840 and paper 950 is fed. The registration roller 982 stops rotating at the same time as the paper is fed, and the registration roller 862 starts rotating at a timing when the leading edge of the paper 950 and the leading edge of the toner image on the photosensitive drum 930 match, and transfers and charges the paper 850. vessel 83
8 and the photosensitive drum 830. The paper 950 on which the toner image has been transferred is transferred to a fixing device 98 by a conveyor belt 963.
4, the toner image is fixed on the paper 850 by heat roller fixation of the fixing roller 965 of the fixing device 864,
The paper is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 966. When printing for one page is completed, a print end signal is issued and the next print command is waited for.

Note that the printer 800 is not limited to the above-mentioned laser beam printer, but may also be applied to a printer such as an inkjet printer. Further, in this example, a case has been described in which an image signal from the league 400 is handled, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to handle an image signal from, for example, a CRT display. It can also be applied to cases where audio data and image data are not compressed.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, audio is converted into a digital signal and transmitted together with a digital image signal, and the digital audio signal is visualized on the printing side and printed together with the image on the same sheet of paper. This makes it possible to save images and audio at the same time.

Further, according to the present invention, a plurality of consecutive EOLs are inserted between the audio data and image data of the composite signal, and the number of EOLs is made smaller than the number of EOLs at the end of the page. Data parts can be easily distinguished.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a printing example printed by the printer shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. A circuit diagram showing an example of the configuration of an encoder, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic internal configuration example of the league in FIG. 1 or 2, and FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the A/D converter in FIG. 5. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the compression device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the configuration of the change point detection circuit of FIG. 7, and FIG. Waveform diagram showing the timing of the signal in Figure 8, No. 10
The figure is a circuit diagram showing an example of the configuration of the synthesizer shown in FIG. The explanatory diagram shown in FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the separation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 or 2. 14 and 15 are a perspective view and a schematic front view showing an example of the internal configuration of the optical system and image forming system of the printer shown in FIG. 1 or 2, respectively. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100... Microphone, 200... Encoder, 300... Memory, 400... League, 420... A/D converter, 500... Compression device, 510... Change point detection circuit 1 ．． 600...Synthesizing device, 630...Synthesizing signal, 700...Separating device, 800...Decoding device, θOO...Printer, 822...Laser beam, ! 151... Audio recording area, 852... Image recording area, 1000... Memory, 1100... Decoder. 1200...Speaker. X (It scanning direction) Fig. 5 400 11 scanning

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] l) Means for converting an image into a digital image signal, means for converting sound into a digital audio signal, and means for synthesizing the digital image signal and the digital audio signal to form a composite signal. and a means for forming a visible image of an image and an audio signal from the composite signal, and a plurality of means for instructing a change between the audio signal and the image signal in the composite signal when the composite signal is synthesized. An image forming apparatus characterized in that a continuous EOL (end of line) signal is inserted, and the number of the EOL signals is smaller than the number of a plurality of continuous EOL signals added to the end of one page. 2. In the device described in claim 1, the digital image signal is an encoded and data-compressed digital image signal, and the digital audio signal is an encoded and data-compressed digital audio signal. Characteristic image forming device. (Margin below)