JPH04264877A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save a picture information memory, and to cancel a waiting time in the case of a memory full, in a memory transmission. CONSTITUTION:The picture element density of picture information read by a reader is converted according to a planned picture element density set value by a picture element density converting part 10. A picture element density set value at that time is set by a resolution setting switch 11. The picture element density is converted according to the value set by this resolution setting switch 11 only when a picture information memory 3 has much room to spare. When a memory capacity shortage judging part 13 judges that the residual amount of the picture information memory 3 is less than a reference value, the set picture element density set value is changed to be the lower value. Thus, the information amount of the picture information can be reduced, and the picture information memory can be saved. Moreover, this device is equipped with also a means which switches the memory transmission to a real time transmission when the residual amount of the picture information memory 3 is less than the planned amount.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a facsimile machine having a function of storing image information.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Apart from special purpose small facsimile machines, many facsimile machines are equipped with an image information memory for storing image information. When image information is transmitted using such a facsimile device with a memory, image information of a document inputted by a reading device or the like is temporarily stored in the image information memory. Then, the accumulated image information is transmitted document by document in the order in which it was accumulated, or transmitted document by document at a set desired transmission time. Such a transmission method is generally known as memory transmission. On the other hand, in this specification, a method of simultaneously reading image information from a document and transmitting it without storing the image information in the image information memory is referred to as real-time transmission.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above memory transmission has the following problems. During memory transmission, if a large amount of image information is accumulated in the image information memory because the recipient's facsimile device is in use or the transmission is at a specified time, the memory capacity decreases and there is not much left. Accumulation of image information is prohibited. Depending on the model,
At this point, some devices display a message indicating that the memory is full.

As described above, the image information memory has a limited storage capacity and cannot store a large amount of documents. In particular, when image information is input in high-resolution mode or ultra-high-resolution mode, the amount of image information for a certain amount of documents is 2 to 4 times that in standard image quality mode, so the time for memory full will arrive sooner. do.

[0005] When the memory is full, conventional facsimile machines with memory display the memory full message and temporarily stop the reading operation, and when a certain amount of image information is transmitted and there is free memory capacity, the document is read. There was something that resumed reading.

However, due to the operator's circumstances, it may not be possible to wait until the memory capacity becomes available. That is, when it becomes necessary to edit a manuscript set in a facsimile machine for transmission and use it for another purpose after transmission, or to hand over the original manuscript to another party.

[0007] In such a case, the document may be transmitted by real-time transmission without using memory. However, if you read multiple originals halfway into the image information memory and then recognize that the memory is full and try to send it in real time at this point, you have to restart the original reading operation from the beginning. there were.

[0008] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
To provide a facsimile device which can store as many documents as possible in an image information memory and eliminates the need to wait for reading a document or redo a reading operation because the memory is full.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, the present invention provides a memory remaining amount detection means for detecting the remaining memory capacity of an image information memory, and a pixel density conversion means for image information. and when it is determined that the remaining memory capacity is below a predetermined reference value, the pixel density is reduced by the pixel density conversion means and the transmitted image information is stored in the image information memory. has the first characteristic.

The present invention also includes means for determining whether or not the set image quality is a high image quality mode, and means for selecting between memory transmission and real-time transmission, and when it is determined that the high image quality mode is set. The second feature is that the image information is transmitted in real time when the image information is transmitted in real time.

Furthermore, in addition to the second feature, the present invention includes a remaining memory capacity detection means for detecting the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory, and determines that the remaining set memory capacity has fallen below a predetermined reference value. The third feature is that the switching to the real-time transmission is performed when the transmission is performed.

0012

[Operation] According to the present invention having the above-mentioned first feature, when the remaining memory capacity decreases below the reference value, image information with reduced pixel density is stored in the image information memory, so that it remains constant. A large amount of image information can be stored in a large capacity image information memory.

[0013] Furthermore, according to the present invention having the second feature, transmission in the high image quality mode is transmitted in real time without being sent to the memory, and according to the present invention having the third feature, the image information memory capacity can be reduced. If there is little remaining, memory is sent in standard definition mode, and memory is sent in high definition mode. Therefore, memory can be saved.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a facsimile machine with memory, which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an image processing section 1 has a function of converting image information of a document read by a reading device 2 into a predetermined pixel density, and an encoding/decoding function of encoding and decoding the image information.

When transmitting image information, the image information processed by the image processing section 1 is sequentially input to the image information memory 3 and stored therein. The accumulated image information is sequentially sent to the next line via the modem 4 and network control unit (NCU) 5.

On the other hand, during reception, image information taken in from the line via the NCU 5 and modem 4 is stored in the image information memory 3. The received image information stored in the image information memory 3 is subjected to pixel density conversion, paper size conversion, etc. according to the communication partner station, and is further decoded and output to the printing device 6 for printing. Partner station information necessary for image processing, that is, device constants of the partner station, is taken in from the modem 4 to the image processing section 1 as protocol information.

The operation panel 7 is equipped with a keyboard, switches, and a display device, and is used for inputting and setting various instructions and displaying processing results. Each of the above elements is controlled by the system control unit 9 according to the program and management data stored in the management memory 8. This system control section 9 can be configured by a microcomputer (CPU).

Next, the functions of this embodiment will be explained. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main functions of this embodiment. In the figure, the pixel density conversion section 10 performs
One of the registered pixel density setting values is selected. Therefore, the pixel density of the image information supplied from the reading device 2 is converted by the pixel density conversion section 10 according to the selected pixel density setting value, and the pixel density is outputted to the image information memory 3.

The remaining memory capacity detecting section 12 detects the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory 3 based on the amount of accumulated image information. This detected value is determined by the memory capacity insufficient determination unit 13.
The memory capacity reference value is supplied to the reference value setting section 14 and compared with the reference value of the memory capacity set in advance. Memory remaining amount detection unit 12
When the value supplied from the memory is less than the reference value, the memory capacity shortage determination unit 13 outputs a memory full detection signal a. This memory full detection a is input to the pixel density conversion section 10. The pixel density converter 10 switches the pixel density setting value to a lower value than the currently set value in response to the memory full detection signal a. However, if the facsimile device is set to the lowest pixel density, it goes without saying that it cannot be switched to a lower pixel density.

In this embodiment, the term "memory full" does not mean that the memory is completely full, but rather means that there is still enough room left to store a certain amount of documents at low pixel density.

As a result of the setting of the pixel density converter 10 being switched to a lower value in this manner, the number of pixels per constant document amount input to the image information memory 3 is reduced thereafter.

The image information stored in the image information memory 3 is outputted to the transmission/reception control section 15 in a predetermined order and sent out to the line.

In order to reduce the pixel density in the pixel density conversion section 10, a method such as a logical sum method or a thinning method, which is known as an image information reduction means or an image quality conversion means, may be used. In other words, in the logical sum method, the logical sum of the image information of two scheduled scanning lines is used as one scanning line after conversion, and the number of pixels is reduced, whereas in the thinning method, the pixels of the original image are regularly selected to reduce the number of pixels. This reduces the number of

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to a flowchart. In FIG. 3, in step S1,
Determine whether to send or not. That is, it is determined whether there is a document to be transmitted based on whether a transmission instruction has been received from the operation panel 7 or whether a document has been set in the reading device 2 or not.

For example, if a document is set in the reading device 2 and the determination in step S1 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S2. In step S2, it is determined whether memory transmission is to be performed. This determination is made based on the switching position of the memory transmission/real-time transmission setting switch provided on the operation panel 7.

If it is memory transmission, proceed to step S3;
The image memory 3 depends on the presence or absence of the memory full detection signal a.
It is determined whether the remaining memory capacity of is less than the reference value set in the reference value setting section 14. If the remaining memory capacity is not below the reference value, the process advances to step S4 to start storing image information.

On the other hand, if the remaining memory capacity is below the reference value, the process advances to step S6, and the pixel density conversion section 1
It is determined whether the pixel density setting value of 0 is a setting value for high image quality mode or standard image quality mode. This determination can be made from the switching position of the resolution setting switch 11. Note that here, the high image quality mode and the super high image quality mode are equally judged as high image quality modes.

If the setting for the high image quality mode has been made, the process advances to step S7 and the pixel density setting value is changed to the lowest value. If settings have been made for the standard image quality mode, the process moves to step S4, where the pixel density is converted using the currently set pixel density setting value (that is, the pixel density is actually converted without any pixel density conversion). Information is information memory 3
is accumulated in

If the determination in step S2 is negative, that is, real-time transmission, the process advances to step S8, and transmission is performed immediately in the order in which the data is read.

In this way, the transmission or storage process continues until it is determined in step S5 that there are no more originals set in the reading device 2. The image information stored in the image information memory 3 is transmitted at the time when the scheduled time set by the timer means is reached, or at an arbitrary time (time) according to the operator's instructions.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing main functions of the second embodiment,
The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 indicate the same or equivalent parts. In the figure, when the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory 3 is less than the reference value set in the reference value setting section 14, the memory full detection signal a is set to a high level (=1). Further, the resolution setting switch 11 sets the setting signal b to a high level if the switching position is the high image quality mode. These signals a
, b are input to the AND gate 16. And signal a
, b are both at high level, the output signal c of the AND gate 16 becomes high level.

The switching section 17 includes a signal path for inputting the image information read by the reading device 2 into the image information memory 3 via the pixel density converting section 10, and a signal path for inputting the image information read by the reading device 2 into the image information memory 3. This is means for selecting one of the signal paths directly input to the transmission/reception control section 15 without going through the transmission/reception control section 15. This switching section 17 switches the signal path to the transmission control section 15 side in response to the signal c output from the AND gate 16 being at a high level. That is, memory transmission is switched to real-time transmission. If real-time transmission has already been selected, the switching unit 17 does not change the switching position even if the signal c is at a high level.

As described above, in the second embodiment, when an attempt is made to store image information in the high image quality mode when the memory capacity of the image information memory 3 is below a certain amount, other images are stored in the image information memory 3. Even if information has been accumulated and is waiting for transmission, image information is preferentially transmitted in real time.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be explained with reference to a flowchart. In FIG. 5, step S10
Then, it is determined whether to send or not. For example, if a document is set on the reading device 2 and the determination in step S1 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, it is determined whether memory transmission is to be performed. Step S for memory transmission
The process advances to step S12, and if it is not memory transmission, that is, if it is real-time transmission, the process advances to step S15, where the image information is immediately transmitted.

In step S12, it is determined whether the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory 3 is below a reference value. If it is determined that the value is below the standard value, step S
If not, the process advances to step S17 and the image information is stored in the image information memory 3.

In step S13, it is determined whether the pixel density setting value is a value for high image quality mode. If the pixel density setting value has been set for the high image quality mode, the process advances to step S14, and if the pixel density setting value has been set for the standard image quality mode, the process advances to step S17.

In step S14, the memory transmission mode is switched to real-time transmission mode. That is, the switching section 17 is switched to select a path in which the original image information read by the reading device 2 is directly input to the transmission/reception control section 15 without going through the image information memory 3.

In step S15, the read image information is transmitted.

In step S16, it is determined whether or not the scheduled storage or transmission of image information for all manuscripts has been completed.

In the second embodiment described above, when the remaining capacity of the image information memory 3 falls below a certain reference value, the transmission is switched to real-time transmission. Regardless, real-time transmission may be selected if the pixel density setting for high-quality mode has been made.

Note that if some image information has already been accumulated, that is, if there are other documents waiting to be transmitted, real-time transmission may be selected. This is because if the pixel density is set for high image quality mode, it is expected that a considerable amount of memory capacity will be required to store the documents of the communication.

[0042] Furthermore, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be combined. That is, a reference value for determining memory capacity shortage is set in two levels, high and low, and first, when the memory capacity has decreased to the high reference value, the pixel density is switched to a low pixel density setting. Then, when the memory capacity is further reduced to a lower reference value due to subsequent accumulation of image information, a switch is made to real-time transmission.

[0043] In this embodiment, a case has been described in which image information of a document read by a reading device is transmitted, but the data stored in the image information memory 3 is not limited to data input by such means. The data may be data directly read from another information processing device or storage medium, such as a personal computer.

[0044]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when the capacity of the image information memory falls below a predetermined standard value, the pixel density is converted to a lower density to reduce the amount of information. By doing so, it is possible to extend the time until the image information memory becomes full (substantially full). In other words, a large amount of documents can be stored as needed.

In addition, when the capacity of the image information memory falls below the scheduled standard value, or when documents are already stored and are waiting to be sent, the system automatically switches to real-time transmission. This eliminates the need to wait to read a document until the space becomes available or to redo the reading operation, which saves time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing main functions of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a facsimile device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing main functions of a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

2...Reading device, 5...NCU, 7...Operation panel,
9... System control unit, 10... Pixel density conversion unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11...Resolution setting switch, 12...Memory remaining amount detection section, 13...Memory capacity shortage determination section, 14...Reference value setting section, 15...Transmission/reception control section, 17...Switching section

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: A facsimile machine equipped with an image information memory for storing transmission image information inputted by an image information input means, comprising: a remaining memory capacity detection means for detecting the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory; The apparatus includes a memory capacity insufficient determination means for determining whether the remaining memory capacity is below a scheduled reference value, and a pixel density conversion means for image information, and when it is determined that the remaining memory capacity is below the scheduled reference value. The facsimile apparatus is characterized in that the pixel density of the transmitted image information is reduced by the pixel density conversion means and stored in the image information memory. 2. A facsimile apparatus comprising an image information memory for storing transmission image information inputted by an image information input means, comprising means for determining whether or not a set image quality mode is a high image quality mode; and real-time transmission selection means, and is configured to select real-time transmission and transmit image information when it is determined that a high-quality image mode is set. 3. Remaining memory capacity detection means for detecting the remaining memory capacity of the image information memory; and memory capacity insufficient determination means for determining whether the remaining memory capacity is below a predetermined reference value. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the facsimile apparatus is configured to select the real-time transmission when it is determined that the remaining memory capacity is less than a predetermined reference value.