JPH058907B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine using two-color thermal recording paper.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional facsimile machines, when printing all the pixels of each line obtained by a one-dimensional image sensor in one line, if there are many pixels that print black, the printing power supplied to the thermal head is large, making the equipment large and expensive. At the same time, since the recording paper is moved line by line after the print recording is completed, the slight sound of the recording paper is loud, so one line is divided into N blocks and the printing is recorded in blocks to reduce the printing power and to move the recording paper line by line. was divided into M segments, and the recording paper feed for each line was moved by a factor of M to reduce light noise.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, conventional facsimile devices are configured to divide one line of pixel elements into N blocks and print and record each block, so the printing time per line is shorter when printing and recording one line all at once. The problem was that the communication time was delayed for a long time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that solves the above problems.

[Means for solving problems]

The facsimile device according to the present invention sets a travel time T _T for all white-only blocks, which is smaller than the printing time T _P for printing and recording in the case of a mixed black block in which black is mixed in the pixel elements of each block to be printed. and print.

Therefore, in addition to a line pixel register that stores the pixel elements of the image signal to be recorded line by line, the facsimile apparatus also includes a recording signal supply means, a block pixel element determination means, a block determination storage means, a print recording drive means, and a motor drive. have the means.

The recording signal supplying means divides one line of pixel elements into N blocks, takes out each block in a predetermined print recording order, and outputs a signal of the pixel to be printed to the thermal head. The block pixel element determining means determines whether all the pixel elements of each block of the image signal to be printed are white or not, and outputs the result. The block judgment storage means judges the block pixel elements for each line by N.
Memorize blocks. The print recording driving means takes out the judgment of N blocks for each line in accordance with the recording order, and determines the printing time T _P for the mixed black block in which black is mixed to be printed on the pixel elements in the block.
Further, for an all-white block in which all of the pixel elements are white, the thermal head is driven with a moving time T _T smaller than the printing time T _P to control print recording. The motor driving means drives the motor during a line printing time T _L that differs for each line, and moves the recording paper by a minute amount until it reaches the next line position. The line printing time T _L is (S _W · T _T + S _B · T _P ) based on the number of all white blocks S _W and the number of mixed black blocks S _B in one line.

In one specific example of the motor driving means, when the motor is a pulse motor and the driving signal is a driving pulse, an equal number M of driving pulses are output for each line printing time T _L.

〔Example〕

Next, a facsimile apparatus of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a shift register 1, a line pixel element register 2, a recording signal supply means 3, a head 4 for thermal recording, a recording paper 5, a roller 6, a motor 7, a block pixel element determination means 8, a shift register 9, a block A determination storage means 10, a print recording drive means 11, and a motor drive means 12 are shown.

The shift register 1 stores at least one line pixel element and transfers the signal of the stored one line pixel element to the line pixel register 2 using a line synchronization signal. The pixel elements recorded in the line pixel element register 2 are taken out for each thermal recording block by the recording signal supply means 3, and the record of the taken out pixel signal in the line pixel element register 2 is erased by reception of the next line synchronization signal. be done. The recording signal supply means 3 supplies pixel signals to be recorded to the head 4 under the control of the print recording drive means 11. The head 4 prints and records the black pixel signal on the recording paper 5 by the print recording drive means 11 over a printing time T _P , and for the pixel block of only white color (referred to as an all-white block), the following Recording is stopped at the travel time T _T for moving to the block. The recording paper 5 is moved to the recording position of the head 4 by a roller 6 driven by a motor 7.

The motor 7 is normally a pulse motor and receives drive pulses from the motor drive means 12 to slightly rotate the roller 6. The block pixel element determination means 9 extracts the pixel elements of each block from the received image signal based on the relationship between the line synchronization signal and the clock signal, checks the presence or absence of a black pixel signal, and determines whether the pixel element is an all-white block with no black elements or a single pixel element. At any given time, any mixed black block containing a black element is determined and outputted to the shift register 9. Of course, the mixed black block also includes a case where all the pixel elements are black. The shift register 9 has at least as much judgment as to whether each block is an all-white block or a mixed-black block for the block capacity of the shift register 1, and outputs it to the block judgment storage means 10 upon reception of a line synchronization signal. Block judgment storage means 1
0 stores the judgment result of the block for each line at least until the line print recording is completed, and the memory is erased by reception of the next line synchronization signal. The print recording driving means 11 extracts the block judgment for each line according to a predetermined order, and notifies the recording signal supply means 3 of the extracted pixel signal at the block position to supply it to the head 4, and also outputs the pixel signal for the mixed black block. Then, the head 4 is driven to perform print recording. The motor driving means 12 retrieves the number S _W of all white blocks and the number S _B of mixed black blocks in one line from the block judgment storage means 10 and calculates the moving time T _T for moving the all white blocks and the printing of the mixed black blocks. The line printing time (S _W · T _T + S _B · T _P =) T _L of this line is calculated from _the time T P, and M driving pulses are output to the motor 7 for each line printing time T _L. Since the distance that the motor 7 moves the recording paper 5 with one drive pulse is the same, M
These driving pulses can set the scanning line spacing to a predetermined value.

Next, the time intervals for line block division, print recording, and motor drive are shown in Figure 1.
This will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing an example of the time relationship between pixel division, print recording, and motor drive. The pixel elements of one line of the input image signal are divided into N blocks, and each block is printed by the thermal recording head 4. Therefore, the number of pixel elements in each block is equal except for the end. The number of pixel elements in the last block will be equal if the total number of pixel elements is an integral multiple of the number N of blocks. If there is no black character in the pixel signal in the block and the block is entirely white, the block is designated as an all-white block, and a symbol W is assigned thereto.If there is even one black character, the block is designated as a mixed-black block, and a symbol B is assigned thereto. Block numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. assigned to blocks in Figure 2
5, . . . , N-2, N-1, N, block judgments W, B, W, W, . It is stored in the means 10. The length of the signal used by the print recording drive means 11 to drive the recording signal supply means 3 for print recording is the travel time T _T for the all-white block W until it moves to the next block, and for the mixed black block B. is the printing time T _P required for print recording. Therefore, for each line of N blocks, the line printing time T _L when the number of all white blocks S _W and the number of mixed black blocks S _B is T _L
S _W・T _T + S _B・T _P , and the time is variable for each line. The motor 7 drives the recording paper 6 with one drive pulse.
Since the distance to be moved is determined in advance, the number M of drive pulses required to reach the distance between the lines is determined. Therefore, the motor 7 receives M drive pulses during the variable line printing time _TL . Second
In the figure, _the motor driving means ₁₂ in FIG. Occur.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing an example of print recording and motor drive when one line consists of only all white blocks and only mixed black blocks. In Figure 3, for a line with only all white blocks, the line printing time T _L = N・T _T
In addition, for a line containing only mixed black blocks, the line printing time T _L =N·T _P. Therefore, the drive pulse intervals are N·T _T /M and N·T _P /, respectively.
It becomes M.

Next, FIG. 4 is a time chart showing an example for explaining the print recording timing for the image signal, line synchronization signal, and print end signal exchanged with the outside in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 4, the image signal has pixel A in the first line and pixel elements B and C in the second and third lines, respectively. The line synchronization signal is generated after the reception is completed if there is an image signal being received, and by the print end signal indicating the end of print recording if the image signal is being received, and is generated by the shift registers 1 and 8, line pixel element register 2, and block pixel element. The determination means 9, the block determination storage means 10, the print recording drive means 11, and the motor drive means 12 receive the information. The line synchronization signal moves the pixel element of the image signal received by the shift register 21 to the line pixel element register 2, starts print recording of the moved pixel element, and if there is an image signal of the next line, the shift register 1 And block pixel element determining means 8 receives the image signal. The clock signal determines the position of the pixel signal on the basis of the line synchronization signal, and thus makes it possible to determine the block position. The print recording is controlled by the print recording driving means 11 with a line printing time T _L according to the determination as to whether it is all white or mixed black stored in the line pixel element register 2. The print end signal is generated when printing of one line is completed.

In FIG. 4, the print recording time of the first line A is longer than the image signal reception time of the second line B. In this way, if the printing time for each line of print recording is constant at the time to print black pixel elements, that is, the longer time, even if the image signal transmission time is shortened, it will be shorter than the printing recording time for each line. I can't. When the printing time of an all-white block is reduced or deleted, the shortest signal transmission time can be obtained by shortening the transmission time of each line of the image signal to the time equivalent to the print recording time of an all-white block.

Next, the above general operation procedure will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 and FIG. 1. First, the shift register 1 and the block pixel element determining means 8 receive an image signal (operation procedure 1).
The received image signal is stored as a pixel element in the shift register 1 (operation procedure 2), and the block pixel element determining means 8
The color judgment is made for each block as to whether it is an all-white block or a different color (operation procedure 3), and the judgment is stored in the shift register 9. The line synchronization signal is received when one line of pixel elements has been received and there is no print record (operation procedure 4). That is, the line synchronization signal for the image signals from the second line onward is received when the reception of the image signal ends and the print end signal is sent.
When a line synchronization signal is received, the storage contents related to print recording and each means are set to the initial state, and the shift register 1 is set to the line pixel register 2.
In addition, the shift register 9 transfers the stored contents to the block judgment storage means to set the pixel elements of the line and the block judgment (operation procedure 5).
When the block judgment storage means 10 stores the block judgment according to the block judgment setting, the print recording drive means 11 drives the recording signal supply means 3 to take out pixel element signals for each block from the line pixel element register 2 and send them to the head 4. It is sent out and recorded on the recording paper 5 (operation procedure 6). Also, motor drive means 1
2 obtains the judgment result for one line from the block judgment storage means 10 and slightly operates the motor 7 with a drive pulse, and when the print recording of one line of pixel elements is completed, the recording paper 5 is moved to the next line position and the roller 6 is moved. Complete the move. When the print recording is thus completed (operation procedure 7), the print recording driving means 11 sends out a print end signal (operation procedure 8), and the procedure is ended.

In the above embodiment, the functional means are divided into blocks and illustrated and explained in FIG. 1, but the division of functions by dividing and merging these blocks is not limited to the above explanation as long as the function of the above embodiment can be achieved. Although the driving pulses for driving the motor are illustrated and described as being at equal intervals, the intervals may be freely set by preparing a separate table or program.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention has a determining means for checking the black characters of the pixel elements for each block of the received image signal and determining whether it is an all-white block or not. By reducing the time equivalent to printing as much as possible, it is possible to shorten the reception recording time of the facsimile device and shorten the hold on communication channels.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the printing part of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a time chart showing an example of the time relationship between pixel division, print recording, and motor drive. Figure 2 is a time chart showing an example of only all white blocks and mixed black blocks. Figure 4 is a time chart showing an example of the time relationship between input/output signals and printed records. Figure 5 is a time chart showing the main features of the present invention. It is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure. 2... Line pixel element register, 3... Recording signal supply means, 4... Head, 5... Recording paper, 7...
Motor, 8... Block pixel element determination means, 10
. . . Block judgment storage means, 11 . . . Print recording drive means, 12 . . . Motor drive means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a facsimile device in which a pixel signal is supplied to a thermal head to perform thermal recording on a recording paper, and a motor moves the recording paper minutely to perform print recording, the pixel elements of the image signal to be recorded are arranged in a line. a line pixel element register for recording each line, a recording signal supply means for extracting pixels obtained by dividing one line into N blocks from the line pixel register in a predetermined print recording order and outputting them to the thermal head; block pixel determining means for determining and outputting line pixel elements of the image signal as to whether each block is an all-white block in which all pixels are white; A block judgment storage means stores the judgments for the N blocks for each line, and a printing time T _P is set for the mixed black blocks whose extraction judgment is not all white according to the recording order of the blocks, and the judgment of the N blocks for each line. , and an all-white block has a travel time T _T (T _T <
<T _P ) from the print recording drive means that drives the recording signal supply means and the thermal head, and from the block judgment storage means the number of all-white blocks S _W and the number of mixed black blocks included in each line.
Take out S _B (S _W + S _B = N) and calculate the _line printing time T _L (T _{L =} S _W・T _T + S _B・T _P ) and a motor driving means for outputting a drive signal for moving the recording paper by a minute amount to form a predetermined line interval to a motor for moving and feeding the recording paper. 2. When the motor is a pulse motor and the drive signal is a drive pulse, the motor drive means outputs an equal number M of drive pulses for each line printing time T _L , according to claim 1. fax machine.