JPS6129271A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the loss of picture date by receiving and storing picture read-out data and limiting a power source off of a device in the stored state. CONSTITUTION:Even when a printer part 3 of a facsimile equipment at the receiving side cannot print data due to the shortage of tone, etc., picture data from a device at the transmitting side is received and stored in a picture memory 23. Since a control part 25 outputs an H level to a line 252 under the situation where the picture data is stored, the data is ignored in a power control 5 and a power source is not turned off even if an operator sets a power source switch PSW to the off side. When toner is made up, a decoder 24 is energized, and then the printer part 3 is driven and records data.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a facsimile device, and in particular to an image memory that can store received image data, a printer that records image data read from the image memory on paper, and a device that restricts power off. The present invention relates to a facsimile machine having a power control unit capable of controlling the power supply and a determining means for determining whether certain conditions essential for printing are satisfied.

[Prior art] Early facsimile machines had slow data transmission speeds and were single-function devices, so the image was read on the sending side, the encoded and transmitted image signal was immediately decoded and played back on the receiving side, and recorded as is in real time. was. In this type of apparatus, the receiving side apparatus must be kept operational at all times, so there is an inconvenience in that, for example, one must always be careful about replenishing toner and paper. That is, in this type of apparatus, even if there is a data transmission request from the sending side, if the receiving printer is unable to print due to lack of toner, there is a problem in that the sending side also cannot read and transmit the image.

Advances in data compression technology in recent years have made it possible to transmit substantially large amounts of image information in a short period of time. Some receiving devices include
In order to solve the problem that the own reproducing/recording means cannot keep up with such a substantially large capacity of image input information, some devices are equipped with a considerable buffer image memory. but,
Even with recent facsimile machines that have advanced in this way, significant progress has been made in terms of improving image quality, such as increasing pixel density and expressing halftones, but even so, as mentioned above, the receiving device is unable to print due to lack of toner. However, there is no improvement in the inconvenience caused by the fact that the sending device cannot read and transmit images.

Specific examples of such problems in use are as follows. FIG. 2 is a timing chart illustrating a reception printing procedure of a conventional facsimile machine having an image memory. In the figure, the communication control procedure is such that when the image sending side issues a [transmission request], the receiving side declares the [receiving function]. The contents declared in [C transmission request] are the encoding method, document size, transmission speed, etc. of the sending side, and the contents declared in [Receiving function] are the encoding method, paper size, recording speed, etc. of the receiving side. The presence or absence of paper, etc. but,
If the receiving printer lacks certain requirements that make it impossible to print at the time of receiving the [transmission request], a reception-inoperable state is indicated as the [reception function]. A lack of a certain requirement essential to printing may be, for example, when the receiving printer runs out of toner, print ribbon, or ink, runs out of recording paper, or jams recording paper. In this case, the sending device cannot send image data until the receiving (G) side printer becomes operational, so the sending device is either forced to wait for data transmission by the receiving device, or This had the inconvenience of interrupting communication.

Further, even if data transfer was performed reliably, there was no guarantee that it would be reliably recorded. For this reason, there is an inconvenience that the image data that has been stored is not recorded and is lost when the operator turns off the power.

[(1) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, and its object is to provide a system in which the printer of the receiving facsimile machine lacks certain conditions essential for printing. By receiving and storing the image reading data from the transmitting device regardless of the situation, and by restricting the power off of the device under the stored state, the stored image data can be saved by the operator's power off operation. To provide a facsimile machine that does not have to worry about being lost without being recorded.

Specifically, even if the receiving facsimile machine's printer is out of toner and cannot print,
Regardless of this, the image data from the transmitting device is received and stored, preferably the transmitting device is disconnected immediately after receiving the image data, and the operator is restricted from turning off the power of the device under the stored state. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine that does not have to worry about losing stored image data due to an operator's power off operation.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1(A) is a block diagram showing the configuration of a main receiving print path in a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Although not shown, the apparatus of this embodiment may be a so-called facsimile transmitting/receiving apparatus that further includes a document image reading section and a transmission control section for the read image data.
In Figure 1, l is a data communication line, 2 is a control board equipped with a control unit, 3 is an electrostatic recording heat fixing printer unit, 4 is a toner sensor that detects the presence or absence of toner in the printer unit 3, and 5 is a control board equipped with a control unit.
6 is a power controller that controls power supply and power supply timing to each part of the apparatus, and 6 is an operation panel that includes a power on/off switch for the apparatus main body and various status notification means.

Inside the control board 2, a functional block configuration for executing various functions is shown. 21 is a receiving circuit that receives communication control messages and encoded image data from the transmitting device;
22 is a transmitting circuit that transmits a response message to the transmitting side;
3 is an image memory for storing received encoded image data;
24 is a decoder that decodes the encoded image data read out from the image memory 23, and 25 is a control unit that centrally controls the entire apparatus. The control unit 25 is a ROM containing a program.
It includes a RAM necessary for control, a PIO for inputting and outputting control data, etc., and is mainly composed of a chip CPU. Further, the decoder 24 is a device that decodes and reproduces encoded image data compressed and transmitted using, for example, a run-length method, and simultaneously performs a decoding test.

The printer section 3 is an electrostatic recording type that forms an electrostatic latent image on a charging drum using the reproduced image signal from the decoder 24, develops it by applying toner to it, transfers it to plain paper, and then thermally fixes it. It is a thermal fixing printer. Of course, various other types of printers, such as ink type printers, ribbon type printers, etc., may be used. In general, the printer unit feeds paper,
It consists of various mechanical parts such as toner or ink accumulation, printing, recording paper conveyance, and paper ejection, and if any of these is disturbed, normal printing cannot be performed.

FIG. 1(C) is a block diagram showing a state in which conditions essential for printing are detected and collected for each mechanical section (not shown) constituting the printer section 3. As shown in FIG. In the figure, 43 is a latch circuit to which detection signals from various sensors for detecting states essential for the function execution of each mechanical section are input. For example, the toner-free detection signal is a detection signal from the toner sensor 4 that optically detects the presence or absence of toner between the issuing unit 41 and the light receiving unit 42 as shown in FIG. 1(A),
This signal has a level of 1 when there is no toner.

Similarly, the detection signals for recording paper out and recording paper jam are 1 when there is no recording paper in the paper feed hopper and when recording paper is jammed in the transport mechanism, respectively. The signal is stored once in the latch circuit 43 at the time of generation, and is read out to the control unit 25 via the line 44 at an appropriate time.

Power controller 5 supplies power to printer section 3 via line 51 and to the remaining sections via line 52. In this case, the control board 2 is constantly supplied with power even when it is not printing because a [transmission request] may come from the sending side at any time. On the other hand, while the printer section 3 is not printing, power is not supplied to the printer section 3 except for necessary portions in order to save power.

The operation panel 6 is the power on/off switch PS of the main body of the device.
W and various status notification means. The means of notification is
For example, an LED that visually or audibly informs the operator when certain conditions described below occur.
and a speaker. Also power on/off switch PSW
is an operation switch for turning on and off power to all or one device.

FIG. 1 CB) is a circuit diagram of a configuration for controlling power on and off of the entire device, and is included in the power controller 5. In the figure, when PSW is turned on, the level of line 61 becomes HIGH due to pull-up resistor R.
H, turns the solid state relay SSR ON via the NOR gate, connects the AC input AC-I to the AC output AC-〇, and when the PSW is turned OFF, the line is disconnected by the contact between the contact and GND. 61 level is L
It becomes OW, turns off the SSR via the NOR gate, and cuts off the connection between AC-I and AC-0. However, even in this case, the control unit 25 is in line 2 due to certain conditions that will be described later.
While outputting HIG/H level through 52, NOR
The gate output is kept at LOW level, and AC-I and AC-
There is no interruption between 0 and 0.

The operation of the above configuration will be explained below.

Note that the following description will be made regarding conditions without toner. The same applies to other cases.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating the reception print procedure of the apparatus of this embodiment. When a [transmission request] is issued from the image sending side, the receiving side of this embodiment immediately declares the "receiving function" without checking certain conditions essential for printing, or even after checking. When the sending side receives the [receiving function], it sends out the [receiving command], and then continues [
encoded image data]. When the control unit 25 receives the [reception command], it sends an image memo via the line 253.
3, and the writing of the received encoded image data is started. The writing is performed by the control unit 2 using DMA.
5 is carried out independently. After transmitting the [encoded image data], the transmitting side then transmits [end of transmission]. The control section 25, which has received the [transmission end] message, checks the toner sensor at this point.

If there is no toner, a [reception confirmation] is sent back to the transmitting side to notify that the encoded image data has been successfully received, without operating the decoder 24 and printer unit 3.

This point differs from the conventional example shown in FIG. That is, conventionally, a [receipt confirmation] is sent back after playback and recording.

This is because the decoder performs a decoding check on the image data during reproduction and recording on the receiving side, and returns a [reception confirmation] as a final confirmation including the presence or absence of errors. On the other hand, in the case of the device of this embodiment, if there is toner at the time when it receives [End of transmission], it returns [Confirmation of reception] after playback and recording in the same way as in Fig. 2. The difference in control depending on the presence or absence of the message will be clarified by the explanation of the flowchart to be described later. According to FIG. 3, the transmitting side that has received the [receipt confirmation] is released after transmitting [communication termination]. You are also free to make new communications with other facsimile machines. On the other hand, even after receiving the [end of communication] message, the receiving device waits until toner is replenished. Eventually, the toner will be replenished,
When the printer section 3 becomes ready for recording, the control section 25 energizes the decoder 24 via line 254 and starts the printer section 3 via line 255. The decoder 24 reads encoded image data from the image memory 23, outputs an image signal to the printer section 3 while decoding and reproducing it, and the printer section 31 records the image signal on paper.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the above-described received printing process performed by the control section 25.

In step Sl, the process waits for a [transmission request] from the other party. When the receiver accepts the [transmission request], the process advances to step S2 and transmits the [receiving function] to the sending side. In step S3, a [reception command] from the sending side is waited for.

When the receiver receives the [receive command], the process advances to step S4, and writing to the image memory 23 is activated. In step S5, the controller waits for [end of transmission] from the sending side, for example, waits for the end of receiving encoded image data for one page.

When the receiver accepts [End of transmission], the process advances to step S6 and writing to the image memory 23 is disabled. In step S7, it is determined whether or not there is toner. This determination is made by checking the detection signal from the toner sensor 4. The judgment is YE
When it is S, it is detected that there is toner, and the printing operation can be performed immediately. The flow is step S8
In step S9, the decoder 24 is energized, and the printer unit 3 is started to be driven in step S9. The encoded image data read out from the image memory 23 in this state is decoded by the decoder 24 and replaced with an image signal. The image signal is sent to the printer section 3, and an image for one page is recorded on recording paper. During this interval, the decoder 24 also checks for decoding errors. The control unit 25 executes step S10 and waits for the series of recording operations described above to be completed. At the end of recording, it is also determined whether a decoding error has occurred. Normally, when the data is decoded without error and reproduced and recorded, the process ends normally, and the flow proceeds to step Sll, where a [receipt confirmation] is sent. Step S1
In step 2, wait for [end of communication] from the sending side. [Communication ended]
When the request is received, the process returns to step S1 and waits for the next [transmission request].

If the lack of toner is detected in step S7 (NO), the printing operation is disabled and the flow advances to step S13. A situation like this occurs, for example, when the user is unaware of the toner-out condition that occurred at the end of the previous received print. However, the other party's device★ will not make you wait at all. In step 513, a [reception confirmation] is immediately transmitted. Although it is not known at this point whether a decoding error will occur later, such processing is originally permissible due to the redundancy of the image signal. Further, even if a decoding error is detected later and an abnormality is found in the recorded image, a retransmission request can be made using other appropriate communication means (telephone, etc.). In step S14, the process waits for [end of communication] from the sending side. After the sending device sends [Communication End], it is released. When the receiving side receives [Communication End], it proceeds to step 515 and restricts power off. That is, since the control section 25 outputs a HIGH level to the line 252, even if the operator turns the PSW to the OFF side thereafter, it will be ignored within the power controller 5, and the power will not be turned off.

In step S16, the notification means is energized. When the receiver is unable to record captured image data due to a lack of toner, it is necessary to notify the operator of this in some way. Specifically, a speaker is made to sound or an LED to that effect is lit. In step S17, the process waits for toner to be replenished. When the toner is replenished, the process proceeds to step 518 and the decoder 24 is activated. Step S19
Then, the printer section 3 is started to be driven, and the end of recording is waited for in step S20. When the recording ends, the process advances to step S21 and the notification means is deactivated. This is because the image memory 23 no longer holds any unimportant data to be recorded. In step S22, the power off restriction is canceled. The operator is already PSW
If you set it to the OFF side, the power to the device will automatically turn off.

If not, the process returns to step S1 and waits for a [transmission request] from the other party's device.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, even when the printer of the receiving facsimile machine does not satisfy certain conditions essential for printing, the image data sent from the facsimile machine of the other party can be processed regardless of the conditions. Since the image is received and stored in the image memory, the sending device can read and transmit the image without waiting. Moreover, since the operator is restricted from turning off the power of the apparatus under the memorized state, there is no fear that the stored image data will not be recorded and will be lost due to the operator's power off operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(A) is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main receiving/printing path for a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1(B) is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main receiving/printing path for a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 (C) is a block diagram showing the configuration in which the conditions essential for printing are detected and collected for each mechanical part that makes up the printer section, and Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram of the configuration that controls the conventional FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating the reception print procedure of a facsimile machine having an image memory; FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating the reception print procedure of the apparatus of this embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the reception print process performed by the control section It is. Here, l...data communication @ line, 2...control port, 3...printer section, 4...toner sensor, 5...
・Power controller, 6...operation panel, 21...
- Receiving circuit, 22... Transmitting circuit, 23... Image memory, 24... Decoder, 25... Control unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) a communication control unit that performs data communication according to a predetermined communication control procedure; an image memory unit that stores received image data; and a printer unit that records the image data read from the image memory unit on paper; In a facsimile machine, the facsimile apparatus includes a power control unit capable of restricting power off, a determination unit determining whether certain conditions essential for printing are satisfied, and a control unit controlling each of the units and the unit, wherein the control unit receives the image data transmitted from the other party's facsimile device and stores it in the image memory unit even when certain conditions essential for printing are not satisfied, and restricts the device from being powered off in the stored state. A facsimile device characterized by: (2) The control unit, after receiving the image data and storing it in the image memory unit, immediately transmits a response signal indicating normal reception completion to the other party's facsimile machine. facsimile machine. (3) The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining means determines the presence or absence of toner, the presence or absence of a print ribbon, the presence or absence of ink, or the presence or absence of recording paper. (4) The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining means determines whether or not there is a recording paper jam.