JPS61288555A - Drawn picture communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To send a hand-written input picture not only to a draw picture communication equipment but also to a facsimile equipment being a communication party by providing a coding circuit, a buffer memory, a modulation circuit and a switch circuit. CONSTITUTION:When the operator indicates the transmission of a picture to a facsimile equipment, a control circuit 3 throws switch circuits 7,8 to the position shown in solid lines and throws a switch circuit 15 to the position as shown in broken lines. The control circuit 3 reads a picture signal stored in a picture memory 10 one by one line sequentially and adds a white picture element being a space so as to form the same picture element number the same as the standard of the facsimile equipment being a communication party, transfers the result to a compression coding circuit 12 so as to apply compression coding, the data is outputted to a buffer memory 13 and stored, the data is read sequentially by a high speed MODEM14, where the data is modulated and outputted to a telephone line 16 from the switch circuit 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a drawn image communication device for transmitting and receiving handwritten images along with voice using a general telephone line. The present invention relates to a drawn image communication device configured to be able to transmit handwritten images even to general facsimile machines.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art An image communication device has been developed that transmits and receives handwritten images along with audio using ordinary telephone lines. This drawing image communication device inputs and outputs audio signals via a telephone as in the past, and electrically records the trajectory of a drawing pen drawn on the input surface of a drawing band using a pressure-sensitive couplet. , which is then converted into a digital image signal and transmitted. At this time, the audio signal and the image signal are multiplexed and simultaneously transmitted through a general telephone line. The signal output to the telephone line in this way is received by the other party's graphic communication device and separated into an image signal and an audio signal.The image signal is displayed on a display device such as a CRT display, and the audio signal is sent from the telephone. Output as audio.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In this way, with the drawing image communication devices that have already been developed, it is possible to simultaneously transmit handwritten images and audio, and the other party's drawing image communication device can also receive them at the same time. It is necessary to use the equipment. On the other hand, facsimile machines are already widely used as devices that transmit and receive only images in relatively high quality using telephone lines. For this reason, if one side has only a graphic image communication device and the other does not have a graphic image communication device but has a facsimile device, image communication is impossible or In order to send an image received through communication between image communication devices to a communication partner whose facsimile device has it but whose image communication device does not, it is necessary to send the image input to the image communication device using the hardware. After the hard copy is output as a copy, it is necessary to send the hard copy using a facsimile machine, which is a complicated operation and results in a decrease in image quality.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and
Conventionally developed image communication devices have the function of transmitting image signals to a facsimile machine, specifically, an encoding circuit that compresses and encodes image signals, and this encoded image signal is commonly used. By adding a modulation circuit for transmitting images using a telephone line, and a switching circuit for switching between the original function of the image communication device and the function for transmitting images to a facsimile machine, it has already become widely used. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a graphic image communication device that is capable of transmitting images even to facsimile machines that are currently operating.

The present invention provides a drawing input device for inputting a handwritten image, an image memory for temporarily storing an image signal input from the drawing input device, and an image signal input from the drawing input device and modulated. A graphical image communication device comprising: a multiplexing circuit that multiplexes an audio signal input from a telephone and outputs the same to a telephone line; an encoding circuit that compresses and encodes the image signal stored in the image memory; , a buffer memory that temporarily stores the image signal encoded by the encoding circuit, a modulation circuit that sequentially reads and modulates the signals stored in the buffer memory, and an output signal of the modulation circuit and the multiplexer. The present invention is characterized by comprising a switching circuit that selectively outputs the output signal of the circuit to the telephone line.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on drawings showing examples thereof.

The drawing is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the image communication device according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a drawing pad connected to the control circuit 3, and an image is input by hand onto the input surface of the drawing pad 1 using a drawing pen or the like.

The DPCM encoding circuit 2 encodes a handwritten image signal input to the input surface of the drawing pad 1 using a DPCM (predictive encoding) method and outputs the encoded signal as a digital signal. - The control circuit 3 can be operated as described above by the operator instructing the control circuit 3 to use only the telephone 6, use it as an image communication device, or send images to a facsimile device using a switch (not shown). Control and switching circuit for signal processing by each circuit component described later 7.8.1
5, or performs signal transfer processing by appropriately selecting a transfer destination.

The FSK modem (modulation/demodulation circuit) 4 transmits the image signal subjected to DPCM encoding processing by the DPCM encoding circuit 2 to the FS via a general telephone line 16.
encyShift Keying). In addition,
Conversely, this FSK modem 4 connects to the telephone line 16 as described later.
It also demodulates the modulated image signal received from the communication partner via the .

The demultiplexer circuit 5 multiplexes the image signal modulated by the FSK modem 4 and the audio signal input from the telephone 6 and outputs the multiplexed signal to the telephone line 16. Conversely, the demultiplexing circuit 5 separates the multiplexed signal received from the other party via the telephone line 16 into an audio signal and an image signal modulated on the transmitting side, and sends the audio signal to the telephone 6 and the image signal. Signal as mentioned above
Output to modem 4.

Also, 9 in the figure is sent from the other party and the FSX modem 4
The image signal decoded by this DPCM ji encoding circuit 9 is given to an image memory 10.

The image memory 10 stores the image signal of the handwritten image input from the drawing pad 1 during transmission and displays it on the CRT display 11, and stores the image signal decoded by the DPCM decoding circuit 9 during reception. The information is displayed on the CRT display 11 in the same manner as when transmitting.

A switching circuit 7 is interposed between the telephone 186 and the demultiplexing circuit 5, and when the switching circuit 7 is switched as shown by the solid line, the telephone 6 is connected to the switching circuit 8. , the telephone 6 is connected to the demultiplexer circuit 5 when switched as shown by the broken line. Furthermore, when the switching circuit 8 is switched as shown by the solid line, the switching circuit 7 is connected to the switching circuit 15, and when the switching circuit 8 is switched as shown by the broken line, the demultiplexing circuit 5 is connected to the switching circuit 15. Ru. When the switching circuit 15 is switched as shown by the solid line, the switching circuit 8 is connected to the telephone line 16, and when the switching circuit 15 is switched as shown by the broken line, the high-speed modem 14, which will be described later, is connected to the telephone line 16. be done.

Therefore, by switching all the switching circuits 7, 8, and 15 as shown by solid lines, the telephone 6 can be directly connected to the telephone line 16 and can be used as a normal telephone.

Further, by switching the switching circuit 15 as shown by the solid line and the switching circuits 7 and 8 as shown by the broken line, the audio signal input from the telephone 6 is given to the multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit 5. In this case, when transmitting, the audio signal input from the telephone 6 and the F
The image signal modulated by the SK modem 4 is multiplexed by the demultiplexer circuit 5 and output to the telephone line 16.
At the time of reception, the signal received via the telephone line 16 is separated into an audio signal and a modulated image signal by the demultiplexing circuit 5, and the audio signal is sent to the telephone 6 and the modulated image signal is sent to the FSK modem 4. and operates in the same manner as conventional image communication devices.

The configuration described above is basically completely the same as that of a conventionally known image communication device except that the switching circuit 15 is provided. A compression encoding circuit 12 is added as a circuit member to realize this function.
．． A buffer memory 13 and a high speed modem 14 are provided.

When the device of the present invention transmits an image to a facsimile device, the compression encoding circuit 12 receives an image signal inputted from the drawing band 1 and stored in the image memory 10 or received from another drawing image communication device. image memory 1
The image signal stored in MH (Modified
The signal is converted into a digital signal (encoded signal) with redundancy compressed using a compression encoding method such as the Huffman knee-dimensional run-length encoding method.

The high-speed modem 14 uses, for example, a Gm type high-speed modem for communicating with a facsimile machine of the communication partner.

Furthermore, the buffer memory 13 is configured to control the speed at which the compression encoding circuit 12 sequentially outputs and compresses and encodes the image signals stored in the image memory 10, and the speed at which the high-speed modem 14 modulates the encoded image signals. used to absorb the difference between That is, the buffer memory 13 sequentially temporarily stores the signals compressed and encoded and outputted by the compression encoding circuit 12, and the high-speed modem 14 sequentially reads and modulates the signals, and transmits the modulated signals to the telephone line. By outputting to 16, compression encoding circuit 12 and high-speed modem 14
This absorbs the difference in signal processing speed between the two.

Note that the above-mentioned compression encoding circuit 12 and buffer memory 13
When transmitting an image to a facsimile machine by operating the high-speed modem 14, the switching circuits 7 and 8
Regardless of the switching state, the output signal of the high-speed modem 14 is output to the telephone line 16 when the switching circuit 15 switches as shown by the broken line.

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention configured as described above will be explained below.

Needless to say, when the operator instructs the device of the present invention to use only the telephone 6, the control circuit 3 switches all of the switching circuits 7, 8 and 15 as shown by solid lines. This allows the operator to use the telephone 6 alone like a normal telephone.

Next, when the operator instructs the device of the present invention to use the device of the present invention as a graphic image communication device, which is the original function of the device of the present invention, the control circuit 3 switches the switching circuits 7 and 8 as shown by the broken line. 15 as shown by the solid line. As a result, the device of the present invention basically operates in exactly the same way as the conventional image communication device. That is, a signal of a handwritten image such as a character or a figure inputted by handwriting with a drawing pen or the like on the drawing pad 1 is given to the DPCM encoding circuit 2, encoded by the DPCM method, and then sent to the FSK modem via the control circuit 3. 4, FSK modulated, and provided to the demultiplexer circuit 5. In the demultiplexing circuit 5, the modulated signal given from the FSK modem 4 and the audio signal input from the telephone 6 are multiplexed, and this multiplexed signal is output to the telephone line 16 and transmitted to the other party of communication. be done. In addition, at the time of the above-mentioned transmission, the signal of the image input by hand on the drawing pad l is given to the DPCM encoding circuit 2 for signal processing, and at the same time is also given to the image memory 10 via the control circuit 3, and is sent to the CRT display. will be displayed.

On the other hand, when receiving a signal sent from the other party,
The received signal is first separated into an audio signal and a modulated signal in a demultiplexing circuit 5, the audio signal is applied to a telephone 6 to be generated as audio, and the modulated signal is applied to an FSK modem 4 for demodulation. The demodulated signal is applied to the opcMfJ encoding circuit 9 via the control circuit 3, decoded, and applied to the image memory 10. The image memory 10 is npcMf
In addition to storing the signal given from the jt encoding circuit 9,
CI? Output to T display 11. As a result, CR
The T-display 11 displays an image sent from the other party of communication.

Now, when the operator instructs the transmission of an image to the facsimile machine, the control circuit 3 switches the switching circuits 7 and 8 as shown by the solid line, and switches the switching circuit 15 as shown by the broken line. It becomes possible to send an image to the facsimile machine, which is a feature of the device of the present invention. That is, the image input by hand on the drawing pad 1 or the image received from the other party of communication is stored in the image memory 10. , in this state, the control circuit 3 first controls the telephone 6.
is connected via the telephone line 16 to a facsimile machine of another communication partner. When an instruction to send an image is given, the control circuit 3 sequentially reads out the image signal stored in the image memory 10 one line at a time, and reads out the image signal stored in the image memory 10 one line at a time.
After adding blank pixels to the GI (1728 pixels in the case of I standard A4 version), the compression encoding circuit 12
Transfer to. The compression encoding circuit 12 compresses and encodes the transferred signal and outputs it to the buffer memory 13 for storage. The signal stored in the buffer memory 13 in this way is transmitted at the same signal transmission rate as the standard of the facsimile machine of the communication partner (GI[r standard is 9600b
ps.

or 4,600 bps), are sequentially read out by the high-speed modem 14, modulated, and output from the switching circuit 15 to the telephone line 16. The signal outputted to the telephone line 16 in this way is received by the other party's facsimile machine, and
Replayed as an image.

〔effect〕

As described in detail above, according to the device of the present invention, it is possible to transmit an image input by hand to not only a similar image communication device but also a facsimile device of a communicating party. Therefore, image communication is possible not only when both parties have image communication devices, but also when the receiving side only has a facsimile device, which contributes to the expansion and popularization of image communication. It's a huge amount.

Furthermore, when transmitting an image received through communication between image communication devices to a communication partner that only has a facsimile device, it is best to reproduce it as a hard copy and then transmit it between the facsimile devices. This makes it possible to send directly to a facsimile machine without having to send a message directly to a facsimile machine.

This has the effect of avoiding deterioration in image quality compared to when an image once reproduced as a hard copy is transmitted by a facsimile device.Furthermore, in the above embodiment, image transmission to a facsimile device is achieved. Rather than having a special image memory to use when
Since the image memory used in conventional image communication devices is used, the circuit configuration is simplified and manufacturing costs are reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an apparatus of the present invention to illustrate an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A drawing input device for inputting a handwritten image, an image memory for temporarily storing an image signal input from the drawing input device, and an image signal input from the drawing input device and modulated. A graphical image communication device comprising a multiplexing circuit that multiplexes an image signal input from a telephone and an audio signal input from a telephone and outputs the same to a telephone line, the image signal stored in the image memory is compressed and encoded. an encoding circuit; a buffer memory that temporarily stores the image signal encoded by the encoding circuit; a modulation circuit that sequentially reads and modulates the signals stored in the buffer memory; and an output of the modulation circuit. 1. A graphical image communication device comprising: a switching circuit that selectively outputs the signal and the output signal of the multiplex circuit to a telephone line.