JPH04368068A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the facsimile equipment capable of reducing the occupying time of a communication line at the communication of halftone picture information. CONSTITUTION:Image information inputted from a read circuit 1 is coded by a coding circuit 2 and the result is stored in a picture memory 3 as coding information and the image information not coded is simultaneously stored in the picture memory 3. Then a control circuit 7 selects the picture information with less information quantity from the coded information and the image information stored in the picture memory 3 and sends the selected information via a communication circuit 4.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus that performs memory transmission and halftone transmission.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, facsimile apparatuses compress the amount of image information to be transmitted using encoding rules such as Modified Huffman (MH) and Modified Read (MR) in accordance with CCITT recommendations.

[0003] Transmitting images whose information amount has been compressed using encoding rules can generally shorten the time required for communication and reduce running costs, compared to transmitting image information that has not been compressed. becomes possible.

However, in communication between facsimile machines that do not have a memory transmission function, even though the amount of information can be significantly compressed by encoding, the ability of the receiving side to receive it (the processing capacity of the recording unit) The minimum transmission unit time per line is determined by the CCITT recommendation, and a lower limit is placed on the amount of code. If the transmission time of one line of an image compressed by encoding is
If the transmission time is shorter than the specified minimum transmission time, fill data called fill bits must be inserted into the image information to satisfy the specified minimum transmission time.

[0005] On the other hand, in communication between facsimile machines having a memory transmission function, it is possible to eliminate the restriction on the minimum transmission time due to the processing time of the recording unit on the receiving side. By setting this bit to 0, it becomes possible to communicate image information with the fill bit omitted. Therefore, if the encoding rule enables a significant amount of information to be compressed, that effect can be directly linked to a reduction in communication time.

On the other hand, when a halftone image is encoded using a coding rule such as MH or MR in a facsimile machine having the above-mentioned memory transmission function, the amount of information in the image after encoding is The amount of image information may increase several times the amount of image information before conversion. This is due to the characteristics of halftone images; in general, in halftone images, the pixels constituting the image rarely have the same information and are continuous, and there are many points of change.

[0007] Therefore, the transmission time of one line of the halftone image to be transmitted is longer than the minimum transmission time specified for communication between facsimile machines, most of which do not have a memory transmission function, and there is no need to insert fill bits. Therefore, even in transmission between facsimile machines having a memory transmission function, it is difficult to obtain the effect of shortening the transmission time by omitting fill bits.

[0008] To solve this problem, the communication time is shortened by performing non-memory transmission that does not use memory when setting halftone transmission (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-2000
675 Publication) and one that compares the amount of information encoded for each line with the information before encoding and transmits the image information with the smaller amount of information (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-059464). be.

[0009]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, when setting halftone transmission, even when performing non-memory transmission that does not use memory, the amount of information in the encoded image is equal to the amount of information in the image before encoding. Despite the fact that encoded image information is often larger than , encoded image information is always being transmitted, which poses a problem that communication time becomes unnecessarily long.

[0010] Furthermore, when comparing the amount of information encoded for each line with the amount of information before encoding and transmitting the image information with the smaller amount of information, the image information to be transmitted is There will be a mixture of unencoded image information and encoded image information. In other words, when the amount of information encoded for each line is compared with the amount of information before encoding, and the image information with the smaller amount of information is transmitted, the receiving device determines the type of encoding of the information for each line. There is a problem in that the information cannot be received unless one has the ability to judge the information, and the amount of information becomes large due to the encoding information included in each line.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a facsimile apparatus that has a simple configuration and can effectively transmit a halftone image in accordance with the image.

0012

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes an input means for inputting a manuscript, an encoding means for encoding all image information for one transmission inputted by the input means, and an encoding means for encoding all the image information inputted by the inputting means. storage means for storing image information encoded by the encoding means and image information encoded by the encoding means; and an image with a smaller amount of information from among the image information before encoding and the image information after encoding stored in the storage means; The apparatus includes a selection means for selecting information, and a communication means connected to a communication line and transmitting the image information selected by the selection means.

[0013]

[Operation] The input means inputs a manuscript, the encoding means encodes all the image information for one transmission inputted by the input means,
The storage means stores the image information input by the input means and the image information encoded by the encoding means, and the selection means selects information from the image information before encoding and the image information after encoding stored in the storage means. The image information with the smaller amount is selected, and the communication means connects to a communication line and transmits the image information selected by the selection means.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a reading circuit as an input means such as an image sensor that inputs the original to be transmitted as binary image information, and 2 encodes the image information input from the reading circuit 1 to generate encoded information. An encoding circuit 3 serves as an encoding means for inputting image information input from the reading circuit 1 and encoded information encoded by the encoding circuit 2;
Alternatively, the image memory 4 is a storage means for storing image information, encoded information, etc. received from the communication partner, and 4 is composed of a modem, NCU, etc., and is connected to the communication line K to execute the communication control procedure of the facsimile machine and perform communication. A communication circuit as a communication means for transmitting and receiving image information to and from a line; 5 a decoding circuit that decodes encoded information sent from a communication partner; 6 a decoding circuit that decodes image information decoded by the decoding circuit 5, such as recording paper, etc. 8 is an operating section through which the operator operates the facsimile machine, such as starting transmission/reception and setting halftone transmission; 7 is a control circuit connected to each component and in charge of overall control; be. The control circuit 7 is
It also functions as a selection means for selecting the image information from the reading circuit 1 stored in the image memory 3 and the encoded information encoded by the encoding circuit 2, which has a smaller amount of information.

A case in which such a device communicates with a facsimile device having a similar configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a transmission operation according to an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

When the control circuit 7 detects that the start switch provided in the operation section 8 is pressed, the control circuit 7 starts the original reading operation of the transmitted original from the reading circuit 1 (step 201). The control circuit 7 also checks the halftone selection switch provided in the operation unit 8 (step 202), and if it detects that halftone transmission is set, the control circuit 7 stores the image input from the reading circuit 1 in the image memory 3. An area for storing information (hereinafter referred to as area A) and an encoding circuit 2 for storing information.
An area for storing encoded information encoded in (hereinafter referred to as area B)
(Step 203)
and starts encoding in the encoding circuit 2 (step 20
4). At the start of encoding, image information input from the reading circuit 1 is encoded by the encoding circuit 2 and stored in area B of the image memory 3 as encoded information. At this time, the encoding circuit 2 stores the encoded information after encoding and also stores the image information before encoding into the area A of the image memory 3.

When the control circuit 7 detects that all the image information and encoded information have been stored in the image memory 3 (step 207), the control circuit 7 saves the storage capacity required to store the image information for each of the areas A and B. That is, the information amount of each of the image information before encoding and the encoded image information (hereinafter referred to as information amount A for area A and information amount B for area B) is calculated. The calculation is based on area A,
Step 2 in the image memory 3 for each area B
It is obtained by subtracting the start address of the storage area in step 203 from the end address at the end of image information storage in step 07 (step 208).

When the control circuit 7 finishes calculating the information amounts A and B, the communication circuit 4 sets up a line with the communication partner according to the line connection procedure (step 209). The control circuit 7 detects the reception capability of the communication partner that is sent from the communication partner in the control procedure at the start of communication according to the line settings (step 210), and detects the image that the communication partner is not encoding. When it is detected that information can be received, the process proceeds to step 2011, and the information amounts A and B calculated in step 208 are compared. In this comparison, if the information amount of the image information before encoding (information amount A) is smaller than the information amount of the encoded image information (information amount B), area A where the image information before encoding is stored The start address of is set as the start address of the transmitted image (step 21).
2), is transmitted (step 213). In addition, if the amount of encoded image information (information amount B) is smaller than the information amount of image information before encoding (information amount A), the start of area B where the encoded image information is stored. address is set as the start address of the transmitted image (step 2)
14), is transmitted (step 215).

In step 202, when the control circuit 7 detects the setting of halftone transmission, if it is detected that the halftone transmission is not set, the image information carried out at the time of halftone transmission is not stored; Only encoded information is stored. Therefore, the start address of area B is set in the image memory 3 (step 216), and encoding is started in the encoding circuit 2 (step 217).
Only the encoded information encoded in step 2 is stored.
18).

When the control circuit 7 confirms that the storage of the encoded information in the image memory 3 is completed (step 219), it sets up the communication line (step 220) and starts the area B where the encoded information is stored. The address is set as the start address of the transmitted image (step 214), and the encoded information is transmitted (step 215).

[0024]

According to the present invention, when transmitting a halftone image, the image information input from the input circuit,
The amount of information is compared with the encoded information encoded by the encoding circuit, and the image information with the smaller amount of information is selected and transmitted, so the conventional transmission image information is fixed to the encoded information. Compared to facsimile machines, which send the same document, it takes the same or shorter communication time than conventional methods.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart diagram for explaining the operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Read circuit 2 Encoding circuit 3 Image memory 4 Communication circuit 5 Decoding circuit 6 Memory circuit 7 Control circuit 8 Operation circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An input means for inputting a document as image information; an encoding means for encoding all the image information for one transmission inputted by the input means; A storage means for storing image information encoded by the encoding means, and a selection for selecting image information with a smaller amount of information from the image information before encoding and the image information after encoding stored in the storage means. 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: means for transmitting image information selected by said selecting means; and communication means for connecting to a communication line and transmitting image information selected by said selecting means.