JPS61253971A - Facsimile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a transmission time when one station which processes high-density data transmits data to the opposite station which processes low density data by converting the density of transmit data according to the specified opposite station. CONSTITUTION:A document is edited on a CRT 60 firstly and then it is judged whether one-page edited information is divided into plural blocks r not. The 1st block is checked to judge whether the block consists of image data or character data. When the block consists of the image data, the opposite station scans a table map memory which contains terminal numbers and density data to make a decision between 8pel/mm and 16pel/mm. A table map is registered in the ROM of a PMEM 23 previously. When the data is transmitted at a rate of 8pel/mm, 1/2 density conversion is performed by a BMU 24 and an IMEM 25. Therefore, when one station processes high-density data and the opposite station processes low-density data, the amount of information to be transmitted decreases, so the speed of transmission to the opposite station is increased.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field 1 The present invention relates to facsimile.

[Prior Art] When receiving a conventional facsimile, data sent from a line is temporarily stored in a RAM (random access memory).
The printer prints on a predetermined paper based on the stored contents. On the other hand, in the case of transmission, a predetermined league reads the manuscript, temporarily stores this read data in RAM, and sends a signal according to the stored contents to the line. compression,
It is being expanded.

By the way, the above-mentioned RAM has a drawback that its stored contents are lost when the power is turned off.In order to overcome this drawback, it is possible to use a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk instead of the RAM.

In this case, if an abnormality occurs between the CCU (Community Control Unit) etc. and the non-volatile memory mentioned above during reception, the non-volatile memory will not be able to store the received contents correctly. You will no longer be able to print.

The sending side may not notice the abnormality.

In this case, there is a problem in that the reliability of the received content decreases. From the perspective of the sending side, this becomes a problem in that the reliability of the transmitted content decreases.

On the other hand, there are two types of facsimiles: Class 1, which can send and receive only image data, and Class 2, which can send and receive image data and only receive character data.
and last 3, which can transmit and receive image data and character data. Class 3 adopts mixed mode (a mode for efficiently transmitting documents in which text and images are mixed on the page).

By the way, there is a problem in that it is inconvenient because it is not possible to send a single character from the mixed mode terminal device to the class 1 terminal device. Another problem is that it is not possible to send data to Teletex from a mixed mode terminal device.

Furthermore, it is conceivable to connect a display means such as a CRT to the main body of the facsimile and display the received image data on the CRT. It is also conceivable to edit the images and characters to be transmitted using the CRT described above. If there is a reception during the concentration operation, an indicator such as a lamp may be turned on, and in this way, the reception can be known with certainty.

However, in the above case, an indicator must be provided in addition to the CRT, resulting in an increase in the number of parts.

On the other hand, if non-volatile memory is connected to the facsimile itself, in order to receive automatic reception, it is necessary to leave the power on at the receiving station, but this has the disadvantage of wasting power. ,Also.

In that case, there is a drawback that the life of the hard disk is shortened because the hard disk or the like is rotated for a long time.

In order to overcome this drawback, it is conceivable to turn off the power to the facsimile until one call arrives, and then turn on the facsimile after the first call arrives. However, in this case, it takes a certain amount of time for the facsimile to start up, so there is a problem in that one line is left waiting.

If your league has a high resolution and the other station's printer has a low resolution, transmitting the high-density data read by the league as is and having the other station perform density conversion will increase the transmission time. There is a problem.

In order to shorten the above transmission time, it is conceivable to perform density conversion on the transmitting side before transmitting. In this case, if the density of the partner station is requested each time a transmission is made during communication negotiation (protocol conversation) with the partner station, there is a problem in that the transmission time becomes long.

[Object of the invention J The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine that can shorten the transmission time when transmitting data from a local station that processes high-density data to a partner station that processes low-density data.

[Embodiment J of the invention - FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the above embodiment.

The league IO reads a predetermined original and outputs an electrical signal.

The facsimile body 20 includes a league/printer interface 21, an image compression unit (hereinafter referred to as rICUJ) 22, a program memory (hereinafter referred to as rPMEMJ) 23, and a bit move unit (hereinafter referred to as rPMEMJ).
rBMUJ) 24, image memory (rIMEMJ trailer) 25, and bidet*RAM (rIMEMJ) 24,
"VRAM") 26, and a central processing unit M (referred to as "rcp") 26.
27, a communication interface 28, a bus 29, and a communication control unit (hereinafter referred to as rccUJ) 30.

The ICU 22 compresses or expands data, and in order to increase the encoding rate, two-dimensional compression (high compression) is used.
has been adopted. The PMEM 23 is an OS program for controlling the input/output devices provided around the facsimile main body 20 and each unit within the facsimile main body.
The application cage has a single program memory area, and also has a font memory area for converting character codes into image data.

The PMEM 23 also has a memory management unit (MMEU) and a work area as a buffer for transmission data to be transmitted from the hard disk via the CCU 3O and stored from the CCU 3O to the hard disk. Note that the buffer described above is for adjusting the speed of the disk, line, etc.

The BMU 24 performs editing (image processing) of one image in the CRT 60, and enlarges, reduces, rotates, moves, or cuts a predetermined image.

IMEM25 reserves 4 bytes and stores images from the reader, images edited by BMU24,
It stores data decompressed by the ICU 22, word processing code data based on key code characters, mixed data, or.

It stores data in which character codes are exchanged into images. Here, in the case of mixed data, an identification code is attached to the image block and character block and stored. Also, the IMEM 25 temporarily stores predetermined data.

To match the speed of reader 10 and line 40.
The VRAM 26 stores image data to be displayed on the CRT 60 in bitmap code.

Furthermore, a hard disk device 50 and a floppy disk device M51 are provided as external storage devices. Although these devices are non-volatile memories, backup memories may be used as the non-volatile memories.

The keyboard 61 is used to input characters and the like and to specify a position on the CRT 60 using a cursor. Mouse 62 is one of the pointing devices. In addition, a printer 70 is provided.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the transmission operation in the above embodiment. The flowchart below shows PMEM2
The CPU 27 executes the program based on the program stored in the CPU 27.

First, it starts negotiation with the other station (31), then judges whether or not it is possible to communicate with the other station (52). If communication is possible, one block of the transmission data is sent from the hard disk via the memory 23. (33), and then it is determined whether or not the reception confirmation signal (acknowledgement) for one block has been received from the partner station (S4).Before Sl, the binary image data or mix from the reader IO is Store data on the hard disk.

If the reception confirmation signal is received, it is determined whether the next block to be transmitted remains (S5), and if the first block still remains.

Returning to S3, the above operations are repeated, the final block is transmitted, and the process ends (56).

If a reception confirmation signal cannot be received from the other station after transmitting one predetermined block (S3), the data of the block corresponding to the reception confirmation signal that was not received is transmitted from the hard disk (37). , that is, the data of the block is retransmitted. This improves the reliability of transmitted data.

In S2, if it is determined that communication with the other station is not possible due to a problem such as line disconnection or a difference in communication mode, an error is displayed (S8) and the transmission operation is terminated (S6).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which a part of the transmission operation shown in FIG. 3 is changed.

Note that the transmitting side is assumed to be a mixed mode terminal device. Here, the mixed mode is a mode in which image pixel data (MMR code data) and character data (ASCII code data) can be sent and received, and is used to efficiently transmit documents in which text and images are mixed on the page. mode. Further, the same steps as those shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is an example in which transmission data is converted into a signal format that can be received by the partner station and then transmitted.

After starting the negotiation (31),
First, it is determined whether the partner station is class 1 (a station that can only send and receive image data) (521). If it is class 1, the character code data is converted to image data and compressed in the ICU 22. S25 ) after
The above conversion, which is transmitted in units of one page per block (53), is executed by a character generator that outputs a bit pattern signal corresponding to character data. After this S3, the process is the same as in the case of FIG.

If the other station is not class 1, the other station is class 2 (
It is possible to send and receive image data.

In addition, it is a station that can only receive character data mixed data) or a class 3 (a station that can send and receive image data and character data, and is a mixed station that can efficiently transmit documents in which a single character and an image are mixed within a page). mode)) (32
2.523).

If the class is 2.3, the process advances to S3, where each block is transmitted.

If the partner station is not one of classes 1 to 3, it is determined whether the partner station is Teletex (52
4) If it is teletex, first send a message to the effect that images cannot be sent 32B), then send only character data (S27), which is class 1.
Similarly, send one block to Teletex as one page. Teletex can display the text of the block on one screen of the CRT 60, and also displays the message.

Therefore, multiple blocks result in multiple pages of print. In addition, class 2. Class 3 is for displaying or printing a single page by reorganizing data into a single page divided into multiple blocks so as to be compatible with mixed mode. However, class 1. Teletex cannot reorganize blocks, so it plays one block and one page.

This allows the mixed mode terminal device to communicate with a partner station that only transmits and receives image data, and also to communicate with teletex. When communicating with Teletex, a message is sent to the effect that image data cannot be sent, so that the other station does not misjudge that a failure has occurred due to not receiving an image.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, when communicating with Teletex, the character data is transmitted (or while the character data is being transmitted).

You may also send a message to the effect that images cannot be sent.

Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3.4, for each block,
Although it is checked whether or not a reception confirmation signal has been received from the partner station, the presence or absence of a reception confirmation signal may be checked for each wind size or for each document.

Next, the operation when transmitting will be explained in more detail.

First, a document is read by the reader IO, and its image data is stored in the IMEM 25 via the reader/printer interface 21 and saved on the hard disk. The data saved on the hard disk is
After being stored in the MEM 23, it is sent to the partner station via the CCU 3O and the line 40.

In order to edit the data stored on the hard disk, the data is imported into the IMEM 25, and the BMU 24 performs scaling, movement, etc. of one image. In this editing, to mix characters, input characters from the keyboard 61 and convert them to character data (or character data saved on the hard disk) and store them in the character block of the image edited by the BMU 24. To send the edited data, first save it on the hard disk, then write and read it to PMEM23.

CCU30. It is sent to the other party via line 40.

To print the edited results: 1. Write the edited result data to the IMEM 25, take it out, and send it to the printer 70 via the reader/printer interface 28. 0. Display the edited result or process data on the CRT 60.
2, V II AM 26 2 Writes and retrieves the data and sends it to the CRT60.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the receiving operation in the above embodiment.

First, negotiation is started (551), and it is determined whether or not it is possible to communicate with the other party (S52). If communication is possible, information about reception, terminal number, class type, etc. of the other party is sent to the CRT 60. Display on (353)
This indication of reception is made when the partner station is specified.

In addition, the reception display appears even when one editing operation is being performed, so the CRT
60 appears at the bottom of the screen, and the display flashes. In addition,
BMU24. IMEM25, CRT60 and keyboard 61. When an incoming call signal is received while collecting the mix 1a of character images and league images using the mouse 62, the CPU 60 uses the interrupt and multitasking functions to send the CCU 30a without interrupting the mix editing process. stored on the hard disk via the EM23, and
1 block worth of data is received (354) and saved on the hard disk. Confirm the storage of this l block worth of data.S55) If so, send a reception confirmation signal to the other station (a signal indicating that the reception of l block worth of data has been confirmed).
Then, it is determined whether the next block remains or not (357), and if the next block remains, reception, storage on the 8-hard disk, and transmission of a reception completion signal are repeated; , if communication with the partner station is not possible, an error message is displayed (358).

As described above, since the reception confirmation signal is sent after storing the received data one block at a time in the eight-hard disk, the reliability of the received data is increased.

Note that instead of sending the reception confirmation signal for each block, the reception confirmation signal may be sent for each window size or for each document.

When actually receiving, first, line 40. CCU3O
, the received data is written to and read from the PMEM 23 via the communication interface, and is stored on the hard disk. This hard disk cannot be taken out by the user and does not disappear even when the power is turned off, so it is highly reliable for storing received data.6 Figure 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram. Note that the same members as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the CCU 3 is installed outside the facsimile main body 20a.
This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that a CCU 30a is provided and this CCU 30a controls the power supply 35 of the facsimile main body 20a.

The CCU 30a includes a memory 31 that temporarily holds received data, and a battery 32 for preventing momentary power outages. The power supply 33 is a main power supply, and the power supply 35 is a power control section of the facsimile main body 20a.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 will be explained.

When automatic reception is not to be performed, the switch 34 is connected to the right (opposite to the state shown in FIG. 6); in this case, the operation is substantially the same as that in FIG. 1.

When performing automatic reception, the switch 34 is switched to the left as shown in FIG. In this case, since the CCU 30a does not supply power to the facsimile main body 20a, the hard disk drive 50 is stopped and the screen of the CRT 60 is turned off. Therefore, if there is no reception at night etc.
Saves energy. Furthermore, since the hard disk device 50 and the like are stopped while not receiving data, the lifespan of the hard disk and floppy disk is extended.

After receiving an incoming call signal from the other station and performing a short period of predetermined negotiation with the other station, the timer is activated and the memory 31 stores the received data. On the other hand, simultaneously with the reception of the incoming call signal, power is supplied from the power supply 35 to each part of the facsimile main body 20 and peripheral devices. After that, around the time when the hard disk started to be able to store data.

As the timer counts up, the received data stored in the memory 31 is sent to the hard disk and stored. Also, at this time, the reception is displayed on the screen of the CRT 60.

Therefore, since data reception does not have to wait until the hard disk is started up, line utilization efficiency can be improved.

Next, a case will be described in which a signal is sent from a mixed mode terminal device to a teletex or class 1 terminal device.

When sending to Teletex, either send only text without sending an image, or send text and add a message to the image area.

The information from the mixed mode terminal is either all image information on one page, character information on one page, or a mixture thereof. This mixed information is.

One page is divided into multiple blocks, and these blocks are composed of at least one character information block and at least one image information block (this is shown in FIG. 7). .

When transmitting the image information to the teletex, the block (or page) containing the image information is erased and the operator is notified of this erasure. When the operator requests a message regarding the erased image information, the message is expressed in characters at the location of the block (or page) of the erased image information.

And finally, it does not have a block structure 1
Send a document containing only one page of character information. If you do not need the above message, leave the image part blank (blank) and send.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for sending signals from a mixed mode terminal to a teletex terminal.

First, after editing the document (T1), it is determined whether the editing information of one page on the CR7 screen is divided into multiple blocks constituting mixed mode (T2). If there are multiple blocks, the first block of ilI It is determined whether or not the information is image information (T3 to T4). This determination is made based on the identification symbol attached to each block when mix editing is performed.

If it is image information, it displays on the CRT 60 whether or not the image information should be deleted (T5), and waits for an input instruction from the operator.

When receiving the instruction to delete, it waits for an input instruction from the operator as to whether or not to send a substitute message (T8).

When receiving an instruction to send a message, the next input key data becomes a message character (T7),
The block information of the image data is converted into message information (T8). In this case, the block information is
Even if it disappears from the screen, it may be kept separately.

In this way, the remaining blocks are processed in the same manner as above (T9, T10).

If the above block is image character information, leave it on the CI'1T60 without erasing it, and if you do not wish to erase the image data, display 1 communication unavailable (Tl1), and if you do not wish to receive an alternative message. leaves the image data block blank (T12)
.

When all the blocks have been checked, the boundaries between the blocks are deleted and the character information of one page is automatically re-edited (T13).

This is because Teletex does not send and receive blocks.
This is because it takes into account that it is a page unit. Note that deleting the above boundaries means creating a code data map for one page by memory scanning the code data for each block expanded in the main memory from the initial address to the final address in page units. That's true.

In addition, if it is determined at T2 that the block does not have multiple blocks, and if it does have image data (T15),
(716) to determine whether an alternative message is necessary.
, enter the message character if necessary (T1
7) In the above case.

If there is no image data, or if there is, but no substitute message is required, the process ends.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart when a signal is sent from a mixed mode terminal device to a class 1 terminal device.

In this case as well, the flowchart is basically the same as shown in Figure 8, and the first three steps are the same (
Then, the image data is transmitted as is, and the character data is converted to image data and then stored in the engineering MEM 25 (U4, U5).
), check these operations for all blocks (
U6, U7), in the case of figures, the figure code data is converted to image data for each block and IMEM25
Store in.

After this, block boundaries are deleted and converted to one page of image information (U8).This is done by scanning the pixel data for each block developed in memory.
Page's pit datum.

This is to create a pool.

Then, it is transmitted to the class 1 terminal device (U9), unless there are multiple blocks.

Transmit the page in the same way as in Figure 8 (UIOloll
).

Next, density conversion will be explained.

The resolution of the reader 10 and printer 70 is a high resolution of 16 p@i/l. In addition, the facsimile body 2
The data at 0 corresponds to the 15 pal/m layer. Therefore, in the local mode in which the data read by the reader lO is simply copied as is by the printer 70, the data remains at 16 pels/layer l.

By the way, there are cases where a terminal device that processes data at a rate of 1 g pet/1 min becomes the other party's station. In this case, on the sending side, 8
If the data is density-converted into pH/m2 data and then transmitted, the amount of information during transmission is reduced compared to the case where density conversion is performed on the receiving side, so the transmission time can be shortened.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of density conversion in mixed mode.

First, after editing the document on the CRT 60, it is determined whether one page of editing information is divided into multiple blocks as shown in Figure 7 (T2). When one page of read data includes character code data from the keyboard (in the case of mixed data), a plurality of blocks are formed.

Therefore, check the first block first (T3)
, determine whether it is image data or character code data in the same manner as in FIG. The document data may be edited document data.

If it is image data, the other station is 8
Determine whether it is pel/peng or l 6 pet/■ layer (■
5) In this case, 8 psl/- rin or l 8 pe+/ is determined based on the terminal number of the partner station inputted by the operator on the keyboard. Specifically, the terminal number and density data (8 pal/am, 16
By preparing a table map memory with data such as pal/s+s, etc., and scanning this, 8 pe
You can tell whether l/s■ or 16 pel/sense.

The table map above is based on PMEM as shown in Figure 11.
It is registered in advance in 23 ROMs.

8 When transmitting with pel/am, BMU24 and IME
M25 performs 54 density conversion (same operation as reduction processing such as pixel thinning) (vs), tepa +/
■When sending in Peng, do not perform density conversion, and 8p
It may be converted to other densities other than sl/layer, and in this case, the BMU 24 performs a predetermined calculation to
Perform density conversion to other pel/-■.

Next, check the 28th block (V7) and repeat the above operation.

By the way, if the block is composed of character code data instead of image data, density conversion is not performed.
This is because it is better to send document information as it is based on code data such as ASCII code that was originally edited. However, when mixed data is sent to a class 1 terminal as shown in FIG. 9, the character code is converted into image pixel data and then the data is density-converted.

As above, checking of all blocks is completed (v
8) and determine whether a transmission command has been input V9)
, if there is such a command, transmission is started (V10).

Therefore, when the local station processes high-density data and the other station processes low-density data, the amount of information to be transmitted is reduced, so the transmission speed to the other station is increased.

Furthermore, when all blocks have been checked in v8 above, the data to be transmitted is stored in the IMEM 25 or the hard disk, and at this stage, the necessary density conversion has been completed and transmission has not started. Before transmission, the density transformation is finished, after which transmission can begin. For this reason, even if density conversion is necessary, the density conversion is not included in the transmission time, so the transmission time is also shortened from this point of view.

In this way, the density can be converted before transmission by
This is because the density of the other station can be known before transmission using the table map shown in FIG. If the registration data of the partner station does not exist in the above table, the density of the partner station is learned during communication negotiation (protocol conversation) with the partner station, and density conversion is performed after line connection. In this case, one line is forced to wait for the time required for density conversion.

In v2 above, if it is determined that the edited document is not divided into multiple blocks, it is determined whether all the data in MEM25 is an image (Vll), and if it is image data, density conversion is performed. However, if it is character code data, it is not converted (V12.V13
) to send.

Note that, if the partner station receiving the character code data has a character generator using a font memory corresponding to the resolution of the printer on the receiving side, it will generate a character pattern image of that resolution in accordance with the sent code.

In each of the above flowcharts, the same applies even if the character code is replaced with a graphic code (vector code).

In each of the above flowcharts, the final data transmission is performed by reading from the hard disk.
Among the mixed data that has undergone various processing such as density conversion message addition, image pixel data is sent to the ICU.
The pixel data of the image is compressed and encoded by I
The data is temporarily stored from the MEM 25 to the hard disk.

In addition, image blocks transmitted from the hard disk,
A character block has a header (identification symbol) in front of each data and is designated as CCU3O or 30a.
transmitted via.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, when transmitting data from a local station that processes high-density data to a partner station that processes low-density data,
This has the effect of shortening the transmission time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the above embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the transmission operation in the above embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another example of the transmission operation in the above embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the receiving operation in the above embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a plurality of blocks constituting a mixed mode. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation when transmitting from a mixed mode terminal to a teletex terminal. 9th rI! J is a flowchart showing the operation when transmitting from a mixed mode terminal to a class 1 terminal. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of density conversion in mixed mode. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a table map showing the relationship between the terminal number of the partner station and the density data. 10...League. 20.20a...Facsimile body, 22...IC
U. 23...PMEM, 24...BMU, 25...IMEM, 26-V It AM, 30.30a---CCU. 40... line. 50... Eight-head disk device. 60・-CRT. 70...Printer. Patent applicant: Canon Co., Ltd. Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A table map memory in which data for density conversion corresponds to each of a plurality of partner stations; and a density conversion means for density converting transmission data according to a designated partner station; facsimile. (2) The facsimile machine according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing the density-converted transmission data.