JPS63305671A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the quality of an output image in copy processing by printing selectively facsimile communication data and read data from the reader means of the equipment in the copy mode. CONSTITUTION:In the transmission mode, a read signal 101 is binarized, then subjected to the compression processing in an image compression part 19, and stored in a memory 19. In the copy mode, a CPU 1 controls to transmit an output from a multiplexer 11 to a signal line 103, then to input said output to a demultiplexer 22. The CPU 1 activates reader 4 and a printer 5, and the reader 4 reads from the surface of an original and outputs the result in form of a read data in 256 gradations. The printer 5 receives directly this data and prints also directly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine having a copying operation mode.

[Prior Art] Facsimile machines have become widespread, and multi-purpose machines have appeared that have various functions in addition to the normal facsimile communication function.

Some machines have a facsimile function and a copying function using a reader and printer included in the device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in conventional devices of this type, even when using the copying function (copy mode), copies are made using image signals output for communication, so the facsimile communication image and Only duplicate images of the same quality could be obtained.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, and in order to solve the problems, the present embodiment has the following configuration.

That is, a reading means for reading image data as a multivalued signal;
2. Binarize the read information of the reading means using a specific threshold value.
A digitizing means, a dithering means for binarizing the information read by the reading means by a dithering method, a determining means for determining whether the information read by the reading means is data in a halftone area or data in a character area, and said determining means. selection means for selectively outputting either the output of the binarization means or the output of the dithering means according to the determination result of the means;
a compression processing means for compressing the selection information of the selection means; a communication means for transmitting the compressed data of the compression means to another device via a communication medium and receiving communication data from the communication medium; The apparatus includes a decompressing means for decompressing data received from the decompressing means, and an output means for selecting and printing out the decompressed data of the decompressing means or the information read by the reading means.

[Operation] With the above configuration, when a copying operation is performed, the information read by the reading means is supplied as is to the output means, so that high quality output can be obtained in accordance with the performance of the output means.

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

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a control device (CPU) that controls the entire embodiment according to a program stored in a ROM 2. , which controls all other components shown in FIG. 2 is a read-only memory (ROM) that stores programs, etc., 3
Reference numeral 4 indicates an operation unit for inputting instructions for the operation of the device of this embodiment; 4 a reader that optically scans the surface of the set document and reads it as 256-gradation information; and 5 a laser beam that scans the recording paper in 256 gradations. A printer 11 is capable of printing out a read signal that is outputted in parallel to a signal line 101 as 8-bit parallel grayscale information, which is 256 @ tone data for each pixel, sent from the reader 4, according to the control of the CPU. Signal line 1
This is a demultiplexer that outputs to either signal line 103 or signal line 103, and in the case of copy mode, which will be described later, signal line 1
03, and in other cases, read signals are output to the signal lines 102, respectively.

12 captures the upper bits of the 8-bit parallel read signal 102 for each pixel, compares it with a preset threshold p, and if the input signal is large, outputs the output 104 (High
) level, and if it is small, it becomes a (Low) level. 13 is an 8-bit parallel read signal 1 for each pixel.
02, the upper m bits are fetched and the line counter 1
5 and the dither threshold determined by the output from the dot counter 16, a 1-bit dithered signal 105 is generated for each pixel.
4 is a dither circuit that obtains the high-order n bits of the 8-bit parallel read signal for each pixel. This is a discrimination circuit that determines whether the image is in a region (halftone region), and outputs the discrimination signal 106 to "L" if the discrimination result is a character region, and to "H" if the discrimination result is a photographic region. Here, cput is the binarization circuit 12, the dither circuit 1
3. The discrimination circuit 14 and counters 15 and 16 are controlled and synchronized so that the binarized signal 104 or dithered signal 105 at this time corresponds to the pixel of interest.

17 is a multiplexer, in which the discrimination signal 106 from the discrimination circuit 14 is "H" and it is character area data, the binarized signal 104 from the binarization circuit 12 is "L" and it is photo area data. If so, the dithered signal 1o5 from the dither circuit 13 is selected and outputted to the image compression unit 18.The image compression unit 18 compresses this image signal by a known compression method every fixed amount, and under the control of the CPUI. memory 19
Temporarily stored within. In addition to storing this compressed image data, the memory 19 also stores data received from other devices sent from the communication unit 2o.

20 is a communication unit, which is connected to the public line network 150 via the public line 110, for example, the public line network 150.
Image data transfer processing and the like are executed with other facsimile machines 160 connected to the facsimile machine 160 according to known communication control procedures.

21 is an image decompression unit that decompresses received data stored in the memory 19 using a known method; 22 is a cp
Decompressed data 108 from the image decompressing section 21 under the control of υ1,
It is a multiplexer that selects either the data 103 read from the demultiplexer or the data 103 read from the demultiplexer and outputs the selected data to the printer 5. The multiplexer 22 receives read data 103 when in copy mode and decompresses data 108 when in receive mode.
are selected and sent to the printer 5 as print data 109. At this time, the decompression data 108 is 1 per pixel.
The print data to the printer is 8-bit parallel data. Therefore, the multiplexer 22 converts this 1-bit binary data into the same 8-bit parallel data and outputs it. That is, one pixel is black (256)
, is output to the reader 5 as white (0).

The detailed configuration of this multiplexer 22 is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, 201 and 202 are selectors having enable terminals, and when the enable terminal is at "L" level, the input signal is used as an output signal, and in other cases, the output signal is set in a high impedance state. Read data 103, which is 8-bit parallel data, from the demultiplexer 11 is input to the selector 201, and when the control signal 203 from the CPUI is at "H" level, the input data is output as print data 109.

On the other hand, the selector 202 has 1-bit expanded data 108 supplied to each input AO to A7, and similarly, when the control signal 203 is at "L" level, the print data 109
The same data is supplied for each bit.

Next, an example of the printing operation of the printer 5 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
This will be explained below with reference to the figures.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the laser beam oscillation device in the printer 5, and FIG. 4 is its timing chart.

In FIG. 3, 301 is a clock signal CK with a constant period.
310, a sawtooth wave generation circuit that generates a sawtooth wave; 302, a digital-to-analog conversion circuit that converts the digital gradation value data indicated by the 8-bit parallel print data 109 into a corresponding analog level signal 312; Sawtooth wave 311 and analog level signal 31
2, and when the analog level signal 312 is larger, the output signal 313 is set to "H" level, that is, turned "on." 304 is a laser beam that drives a laser (not shown) according to the output signal 313 of the comparison circuit 303. It's a driver.

FIG. 4 shows "256", 192", and '64" as inputs to the digital-to-analog conversion circuit 302.

The output is shown when each value of "128" is manually entered in sequence.

Comparison circuit 3 that compares this output with sawtooth wave 3-11
An example of the output of clock signal CK3 is shown in Figure 4.
converted into a predetermined pulse width signal within one period of 10,
When the output is "on", the laser beam driver 304 emits a laser beam to expose a photosensitive drum (not shown) to form an electrostatic latent image, which is then visualized and fixed on recording paper.

Since these electrophotographic processes are well known, their explanation will be omitted.

In this way, it is possible to realize a printer capable of printing out a maximum of 256 gradations for each pixel using an 8-bit multi-value signal.

Note that if the print data 109 is the expanded data 108 from the image expansion section 21, either the value "O" or "256"' will be input for each pixel, and the digital/analog The analog level signal from the conversion circuit 302 becomes a binary signal of "256" and "0", and the comparison circuit 303 outputs a signal of 1' by one cycle of the clock signal CK310, or a signal of all "0". is output.

This state is shown in the lower part of FIG.

All of the above controls are performed by the CPUI.
A control flowchart of I is shown in FIG.

That is, in steps 31 to S3, there is an operation mode instruction from the operation section 3 and it is a communication mode (transmission mode) input or a copy mode input, or there is no input from the operation section 3 and the call from the line 110 is received. I'm monitoring to see if it's there or not.

Here, when the communication mode (transmission mode) is input, the process proceeds from step S1 to step Stt, where the demultiplexer 11 is controlled to output the read signal 101 to the signal line 102, and the reader 4 is activated in step S12. As a result, the reader 4 reads the original and outputs it as a read signal 101. This read signal 101 is binarized by predetermined processing and sent to the image compression section 18. The image compression unit 18 compresses this binarized data in step S13,
Store in memory 19. Then, in step S14, start up the communication unit 20, call and connect to the desired destination,
The transmission data is read from the memory 19 and transmitted to the desired destination via the line 110.

On the other hand, when the copy mode is input, the process proceeds from step S2 to step S21, in which the output of the multiplexer 11 is controlled to become the signal line 103, and in step 522, the output of the demultiplexer 22 is changed to the human input signal from this signal line 103. control so that Subsequently, in step 323, the reader 4 and printer 5 are activated. As a result, reader 4
reads the surface of the document and outputs it as read data of 256 gradations. The printer 5 receives this rust removal data as it is, and uses the circuit shown in FIG.
Print out in 1st key.

Further, when a call from the line 110 is detected in the standby state, the communication unit 20 notifies the CPU 1 of this fact. Upon receiving this notification, the CPU proceeds from step S3 to step S31, and sends the multiplexer 22 to the decompressed data 10.
8 is selected and controlled to be output as print data 109, and the image decompression unit 21 is activated in the subsequent step S32.

As a result, the data received by the communication unit 20 is
The image is input manually to the image decompression section 21 via the memory 19 or directly, and is decompressed there and then output to the printer 5. Therefore, the CPU 1 starts up the printer 5 in the next step 333 and causes the print data 109 to be printed.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, in the copy mode, 2 pixels of each pixel, which is the data read by the reader 4,
Send the 56wJ tone image data as is to the printer 5,
Here, the image is printed out as a 256-gradation image. on the other hand,
In the case of data received through facsimile communication, the data is printed out as a standardized binary image.

(Other Embodiments) In the above description, an example was described in which the demultiplexer 11 is provided and the read signal 101 is outputted to either the signal line 102 or the signal line 103, but the read signal 10
1 can be directly connected to the signal lines 102 and 103 as it is, and the read data from the reader 4 can be transmitted to another device via the line 110 and outputted from the printer 5 at the same time. However, in this case, standardized binary (two-tone) data is output to the line 110, and a 256-tone image is output from the printer 5, and the image quality of both image data is different. Become.

In order to avoid this, the data stored in the memory 19 together with the transmission data is read out and decompressed by the image decompression unit 21 in the same way as in the data reception mode, and this decompressed data 108 is sent via the multiplexer 22. All you have to do is send it to printer 5.

In addition, when the quality of the configuration is not required to select the binarization circuit 12 and the dither circuit 13 based on the read data and perform optimal image processing, or when the original data is fixedly determined in advance as either data. In some cases, the configuration may include only either the binarization circuit 12 or the dither circuit 13, whichever is required.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention as described above, the print data to be printed out can be of the highest quality that the device can supply, and the facsimile communication data and the reader equipped with the device can be The data read by the means can be selected and printed.

Therefore, the output image quality in copying processing, which is an additional function of the facsimile machine, can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the multiplexer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the laser beam oscillation device in the printer shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an operation timing chart of the laser beam oscillation device shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the control device of this embodiment. In the figure, 1--CPU, 2--ROM, 3-- Operation unit, 4-- Reader, 5-- Printer, 11-- Demultiplexer, 12-- Binarization circuit, 13 ... Dither circuit, 14... Discrimination circuit, 15... Line counter, 16... Dot counter, 18... Image compression unit, 19... Memory, 20... Communication unit, 21...
...Image decompression unit, 22...Multiplexer, 150.
・Public line network, 160 ・Partner device, 201, 20
2...Selector, 301...This gigantic wave generator,
302...Digital-to-analog conversion circuit, 303...
Comparison circuit 304: laser beam driver.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A reading means for reading image data as a multivalued signal, a binarizing means for binarizing the information read by the reading means using a specific threshold value, and a dithering means for binarizing the information read by the reading means by a dithering method. a discriminating means for discriminating whether the information read by the reading means is data in a halftone area or data in a character area; and either an output from the binarizing means or an output from the dithering means according to the discriminating result of the discriminating means. a selection means for selectively outputting a selection information; a compression processing means for compressing selection information of the selection means; and a compression processing means for transmitting compressed data of the compression means to another device via a communication medium and receiving communication data from the communication medium. A facsimile machine comprising: a communication means for decompressing data received from the communication means; and an output means for selecting and printing out the decompressed data of the decompression means or the information read by the reading means. Device.