JPH06105120A - Picture recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the operator to easily recognize the result of split recording in the recorder recording a long sized picture onto plural recording paper sheets separately. CONSTITUTION:Coded data (a) of an input picture are decoded by a data decoding section 10 and a picture signal by one recording paper is stored in a memory section 11. The picture signal is transferred to a recording section 15, where the signal is recorded. Upon the receipt of coded data of a final line of an input picture and a transfer end notice signal (y), a character storage section 12 outputs a character code of a comment and it is converted into a picture signal by a character conversion section 13 and stored additionally to the memory section 11, the picture signal in the memory section 11 is transferred to the recording section 15, where the signal is recorded. A comment representing the split recording is recorded on final recording paper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording a long image which cannot be recorded on one recording sheet by dividing it into a plurality of recording sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an image recording apparatus is known in which, when a received image of a facsimile is larger than a recording sheet size, the received image is divided into a size corresponding to the recording sheet size and then recorded. In addition, when split recording,
There is known an image recording apparatus having a structure in which an image portion of a division boundary is overlapped and recorded on a sheet of recording paper, and a mark for discriminating an image area overlapped with the immediately preceding recording paper is recorded on the recording paper. (JP-A-2-42870).

[0003]

However, the conventional image recording apparatus as described above has a problem that it is difficult for the user of the apparatus to know whether or not divided recording is performed. For example, there is a case where there is no image information on the last recording paper of the divided recording and this is output as a blank sheet. In this case, a blank sheet is output as a result of the divided recording, or another device is used. There is an inconvenience that it is difficult to determine whether a blank page has been output due to a failure or the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and makes it possible for the user of the apparatus to easily recognize that the input image is divided and recorded no matter what form it is. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording device having the above structure.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an image signal of an input image is divided into a plurality of blocks having a size corresponding to a recording paper size and transferred to a recording unit. In the image recording device for recording the input image on a plurality of recording sheets in the recording section, a unit for generating an image signal of a comment sentence indicating that the divided recording is performed, and a comment sentence generated by this unit. And a means for transferring the image signal to the recording unit subsequently to the image signal of the divided final block.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a long input image that cannot be recorded on one recording sheet is divided and recorded on a plurality of recording sheets by the above-described structure. Even if the comment text is recorded, at least the comment text for division is recorded on the last recording sheet, so that the device user can immediately recognize whether or not the comment text is divided according to the presence or absence of the comment text. Become.

Even in the case of division recording in which the image information of the input image is not recorded on the last recording sheet, the comment text is recorded on the last recording sheet, so that a blank sheet is not output.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of the main part of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image data input to the image recording apparatus is encoded data such as facsimile reception data, but the circuit portion related to the input of this image data (hereinafter referred to as a circuit not shown) is not shown in FIG. The circuit (not shown) may be a circuit integrated with the image recording apparatus or may be an external circuit.
For example, in the case of an image recording device built in a facsimile machine, this circuit (not shown) is a circuit integral with the image recording device. In the case of an independent image recording apparatus that is externally used for a facsimile machine, a personal computer, or the like, the unillustrated circuit is an external circuit.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a data decoding unit for decoding encoded data of an image input from a circuit (not shown) into an image signal, 11 is a memory unit for storing the image signal, and 12 is a comment indicating that recording is divided. A character storage unit that stores a sentence as a character code, a character conversion unit 13 that converts a character code into an image signal, a recording unit 15 that uses cut paper as recording paper, and records the image signal on the recording paper, 14
Is a control unit that controls the respective units 10, 11, 12, and 13 and interfaces with a circuit (not shown) and the recording unit 15. The image recording apparatus may include the recording unit 15 or may be externally attached.

Reference numeral a is coded data of an image input from a circuit not shown, and 20 is an input terminal thereof. Reference numeral a'denotes a transfer clock for the encoded data a input from a circuit (not shown), and 28 denotes its input terminal. p is a signal for requesting the start of transfer of encoded data to a circuit (not shown), and 21 is its output terminal. z is recording information input from a circuit (not shown), and 26 is an input terminal thereof. y is a signal for notifying the end of the transfer of encoded data from a circuit not shown, and 27 is its input signal. s is an image signal transferred to the recording unit 15, and 23 is an output terminal thereof. t is a transfer clock of the image signal s and is 24
Is its output terminal. r is a signal for requesting the recording unit 15 to start recording, and 25 is an output terminal thereof. q is a signal for requesting the transfer of the image signal of one line from the recording unit 15, and 22 is its input terminal. b to o and u to w are internal signals, the contents or roles of which will be described later.

The operation of the image recording apparatus having the above structure will be described below. Note that the input image will be described here as a long image that is divided and recorded on the two recording sheets of the recording unit 15.

First, the control unit 14 generates an initialization signal v to initialize the data decoding unit 10, the memory unit 11, the character conversion unit 13 and the character storage unit 12. The memory unit 11 can store the image signal from the head address, and the character storage unit 12 can read the head character. Then, the control unit 14 recognizes the amount of data that can be recorded on one recording sheet (the maximum number of lines that can be recorded) from the recording information z input from a circuit (not shown), and based on this, the data decoding unit 10 It outputs the decryption information o necessary for decryption. Further, the recognized maximum number of recordable lines is set as the number of writable lines in the memory unit 11.

After that, the control unit 14 validates the signal p requesting the start of the encoded data transfer to the circuit (not shown), and the signal i requesting the data decoding unit 10 to decode the encoded data of one line. Output. In response to the encoded data transfer start request signal p, the encoded data a is input from a circuit (not shown) in synchronization with the transfer clock a ′. Data decoding unit 1
0 performs a decoding operation according to the recording conditions of the recording unit 15 based on the decoding information o, decodes the encoded data a into an image signal, outputs the decoded image signal b and its transfer clock d, and stores it in the memory. The image signal b is written in the memory unit 11 by enabling the image signal write signal c for the unit 11. When the decoding of the encoded data a of one line is completed, the decoding end signal j is output and
The image signal write signal c is invalidated.

When the decoding end signal j is input, the control unit 14 increments an internal counter (initially cleared to 0) for counting the number of lines of the image signal written in the memory unit 11, While temporarily disabling the encoded data transfer start request signal p for the circuit not shown,
The decoding request signal i is output in order to cause the data decoding unit 10 to decode the next line, and subsequently the coded data transfer start request signal p is validated. As a result, the coded data a of the next one line is input from the circuit (not shown), the data is decoded in the data decoding unit 10, and the decoded image signal is written in the memory unit 11.

Image signals are accumulated in the memory section 11 by similar control. In the control unit 14, the number of image signal lines accumulated in the memory unit 11 is counted by the counter, but until the value of the counter reaches the number of lines that can be recorded on one recording sheet recognized from the recording information z. Repeats similar control. When the value of the counter increases to the number of recordable lines, it means that the image signal for one sheet of recording paper (the image signal for one block described above) has been accumulated in the memory unit 11, so that the control unit 14 , Control for recording this image signal is started.

That is, the control unit 14 stops the transfer of the encoded data from the circuit (not shown) by invalidating the encoded data transfer start request signal p, and the signal r requesting the recording unit 15 to start recording. To enable. Recording unit 1
In response to the recording start request signal r, the signal 5 outputs a signal q requesting the transfer of the image signal of one line. In response to this, the control unit 14 outputs the read start signal n. as a result,
The image signal s for one line is transferred from the memory unit 11 to the recording unit 15.
Is transferred in synchronization with the transfer clock t, and is recorded on the recording paper by the recording unit 15. The memory unit 11 outputs a read end signal u every time one line of the image signal s is transferred. In addition, the recording unit 15 outputs one image signal s each time one line is transferred.
The line image signal transfer request signal q is output.

When the read end signal u is input and then the 1-line image signal transfer request signal q is input, the control unit 14 outputs the read start signal n to output the image of the next 1 line from the memory unit 15. The signal s is transferred to the recording unit 15. When the read end signal u and the 1-line image signal transfer request signal q are generated similarly to the first line after the transfer of the 1 line is completed, the control unit 14 outputs the read start signal n and the image signal of the next 1 line. s is performed.

In this way, the control unit 14 controls the memory unit 1
The image signals accumulated in 1 are sequentially transferred to the recording unit 15 in units of one line. By counting the number of lines of the transferred image signals by an internal counter, the amount of one block accumulated in the memory unit 11 can be increased. The completion of the transfer of the image signal of is monitored. When the completion of the transfer is detected, the recording start signal r is invalidated, the recording unit 15 ends the recording of one recording sheet, and the recording sheet is output.

Here, since a long input image which is divided and recorded on two recording sheets is assumed, at the stage of recording the first recording sheet, the unrecorded portion of the input image is recorded. Is left. That is, since the encoded data for the same input image remains, the encoded data transfer end notification signal y is not input from the circuit (not shown). In this case, the control unit 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes the same control as that relating to the first recording sheet, thereby inputting and decoding the encoded data to be recorded on the second recording sheet, and storing the decoded image signal in the memory unit 11. To perform. Then, in the middle of this operation, when the encoded data a of the last line of the input image is input, the encoded data transfer end notification signal y is output from the circuit (not shown).

When the encoded data transfer end notification signal y is input, the control unit 14 determines the number of lines of the image signal accumulated in the memory unit 11 at that time (counted by the internal counter of the control unit 14). , The number of lines (N1) to which the number of lines of the image signal of the comment sentence indicating the divided recording (which is predetermined) is added, and the maximum number of lines (N2) that can be recorded in advance on one recording sheet. Compare with. And N1
If ≦ N2, the control for inserting the comment sentence is performed, and then the control for transferring and recording the image signal in the memory unit 11 is performed.

That is, the control unit 14 validates the character code read signal 1 and outputs the conversion start signal w. The character storage unit 12 outputs the transfer clock m and, in synchronization with this, outputs the character code h of the comment sentence. The character conversion unit 13 validates the image signal write signal f, converts the input character code h into an image signal, and outputs it as an image signal e in synchronization with the transfer clock g. In this way, the memory unit 11
The image signal of the comment text is written after the image signal of the input image inside. Then, the character conversion unit 13
When detecting that the end code is input as the character code h, the conversion operation is stopped, the image signal write signal f is invalidated, the writing in the memory unit 11 is stopped, and the conversion end signal k is output.

When the conversion end signal k is input, the control unit 14 invalidates the character code read signal 1 and stops the read operation of the character storage unit 12. Next, the control unit 14 outputs the recording start request signal r, and the memory unit 1
Control for transfer and recording of all image signals in 1 in units of one line is performed.

FIG. 2 shows an output example when the input image is divided and recorded on two recording sheets as described above. Reference numeral 31 is a first recording sheet, and 32 is a second recording sheet. On the second sheet of recording paper 32, a comment sentence 33 (“*** This page has been divided and recorded.
*)) Is recorded, so that the device user immediately recognizes that the second recording paper 32 is the last one, that the second recording paper 32 is the last one, etc. It can be understood.

On the other hand, by comparing the numbers N1 and N2 of the previous lines, N
When 1> N2, the control unit 14 transfers the image signal for one block accumulated in the memory unit 11 to the recording unit 15 for recording before inserting the image signal of the comment sentence. Control is performed to empty the memory unit 11. next,
The comment sentence image signal insertion control described above is performed, and the image signal of the comment sentence is stored in the memory unit 11. Then, control is performed to transfer and record the image signal of the comment sentence to the recording unit 15. Therefore, following the second recording sheet on which the latter half of the input image is recorded, the third recording sheet on which only the comment text of divided recording is recorded is output. Even in this case, the device user can easily recognize that the input image is divided and recorded on the two recording sheets by looking at the comment text on the third recording sheet.

The case where the encoded data of the image is decoded and divided and recorded is described above. However, the image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment causes the data decoding unit 10 to transfer the input data as it is to the memory unit 11 so that the decoding information o
By setting, it is also possible to capture image information of an image as an image signal which is not encoded and perform divided recording. If it is premised that an unencoded image signal is input, the data decoding unit 10 may be omitted (however, a means for controlling the image signal writing to the memory unit 11 is necessary). The control unit 14 may be configured by only hardware, or may be configured by a combination of software and hardware. The data decoding unit 10 may have the same configuration as the decoder used in the facsimile machine. The memory unit 11 and the character storage unit 12 are composed of a memory and peripheral circuits for address control and the like. The recording unit 15 includes an electrostatic recording method, a heat-sensitive recording method, and
Alternatively, a general configuration such as an inkjet system or an electrophotographic system may be used.

Incidentally, the comment text of this embodiment is "*** This page was divided and recorded ***", but it is not limited to this.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides an image recording apparatus for dividing and recording a long input image, which cannot be recorded on one recording sheet, on a plurality of recording sheets.
The image signal of the comment text of the divided recording is generated, and the image signal of the comment text is transferred to the recording unit and recorded continuously at the end of the image signal of the divided and recorded input image. Even if divided and recorded in any form, since at least the divided comment text is recorded on the last recording paper, the device user is divided and recorded based on the presence or absence of the comment text on the output recording paper. Whether or not it is possible to immediately recognize whether or not a blank sheet is output as a result of division recording, and thus it is easy to identify the cause when a blank sheet is output. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a divided and recorded image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Data Decoding Section 11 Memory Section 12 Character Storage Section 13 Character Conversion Section 14 Control Section 15 Recording Section 20 Code Data Input Terminal 23 Image Signal Output Terminal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording unit for recording the transferred image signal on a recording sheet, and an image signal of an input image divided into a plurality of blocks having a size corresponding to the size of the recording sheet and transferred to the recording unit. A unit for recording the input image on a plurality of recording sheets in the recording unit, a unit for generating an image signal of a comment sentence indicating that the recording is divided, and an image signal for the comment sentence generated by this unit And a means for transferring the divided final block image signal to the recording unit.