JPS644709B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile test method, and in particular, a facsimile test method that allows testing of a recording system and a reading system to be performed simultaneously without providing separate hardware. Regarding the test method used.

(2) Background of the technology Facsimile devices are often used to send text and graphic patterns written on manuscripts to remote locations. This facsimile device uses a reading system in the transmitter to optically read patterns such as characters and figures, converts it into an electrical signal, and transmits it, and then a recording system in the receiver converts this electrical signal into the original text or It reproduces patterns such as figures. If this facsimile device does not reproduce the original picture as originally intended, it would be troublesome to search for the cause, so we test the facsimile device in advance to make sure that the reading system and recording system operate normally. The document transmission/reception operation is performed after the original document is sent/received.

At this time, in the original reading system, the original image is illuminated with a fluorescent light, the reflected light from the black and white of the original is detected by a sensor such as a CCD, and converted into an electrical signal corresponding to the black and white of the original. be exposed. By the way, if the amount of light from the fluorescent lamp is not within a certain allowable range, the output level from the CCD will fluctuate due to fluctuations in the amount of light.
When the output level corresponding to, for example, a black portion of the original image does not reach a certain reference level, this may be extracted as a signal for the white portion. In such a case, the reading system is not operating normally, so when checking the reading system, it is necessary to check the relationship between the amount of light and the sensor in advance to make sure that it is within a certain range.

In addition, in the recording system, we diagnose and evaluate the mechanical operation of the reception system of the facsimile terminal, the mechanical drive circuit, the recording unit drive circuit, the recording unit, and the image quality of the recording unit to ensure that the entire recording system is operating normally. I need to make sure.

(3) Prior Art and Problems Conventionally, when checking the reading system and recording system of a facsimile terminal, the above checks were performed separately using separate circuits each having its own self-check function. For example, in the reading system, a circuit detects changes in sensor output in response to changes in the amount of light from a fluorescent lamp, and displays this on a panel when an abnormality occurs. In addition, in the recording system, a fixed monochrome binary pattern consisting of a combination of white and black is stored in a separate memory, and this test pattern is generated from a pattern generator and recorded and output. When one of the patterns was not reproduced as originally intended, it was detected that there was an abnormality in the function of the recording system related to this pattern.

However, providing separate self-check functions for each of the reading system and the recording system in this way increases the size of the circuit structure, which is contrary to the desire to miniaturize the apparatus and save power, which is not desirable.

(4) Purpose of the Invention Therefore, as described above, the present invention provides a method for testing the reading system and recording system in a conventional facsimile machine using separate self-check functions.
In order to improve the inability to miniaturize the device and save power, we developed a system that reads fixed black and white binary patterns by using the sender printing function without having to provide each device with its own self-check function. The present invention provides a test method for a facsimile terminal in which a reading system and a recording system can be tested simultaneously by recording on a recording paper with a fluorescent light turned on.

(5) Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the facsimile test method of the present invention includes a storage means for storing a plurality of pattern elements constituting a recording output test pattern, and a reading section for checking the operational status. a control means for assembling a normal test pattern using the pattern elements and partially changing the last normal pattern based on an abnormality detection signal from the checking means; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a recording means for recording, and when the abnormality detection signal is transmitted by the control means, a part of the last pattern in the normal state is changed and the part is recorded and outputted by the recording means.

(6) Embodiment of the Invention Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 4.

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 A is an overall view of a test pattern, B is a partially enlarged view of patterns D and E, and Fig. 3 A constitutes Fig. 2 A. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the address transmission format, and FIGS. 4A to 4F are explanatory diagrams for converting each element pattern into data.

In the figure, 1 is a microprocessor control circuit, 2 is a ROM table, and 3 is a table/ROM table.
Address control section, 4 is pattern multiplexer (MPX), 5 is scanning line control section, 6 is image signal 2
7 is an image signal mixing circuit; and 8 is a light quantity check circuit.

The microprocessor control circuit 1 not only generates addresses for accessing the ROM table 2, but also has a readable/writable register, and by writing 4 bytes into this register, the data as shown in Figure 3A is generated. You can specify 8 characters of address. As a result, the test pattern shown in FIG. 2A is generated. Furthermore, when the light intensity of the fluorescent lamp and the abnormality detection signal in the sensor check are transmitted during a test of the reading system, control is performed such that the area F in FIG. 2A is completely blacked out. The test pattern shown in Figure 2A is one that is recorded on the recording paper when the reading system is operating normally and the amount of light from the fluorescent lamp is in a normal state. be. This test pattern consists of a fixed pattern of letters, numbers, and combinations of white and black for origin printing. Here, the F area consists of the last four digit phone number (0123), a hyphen (-), the total number of pages of the original picture (P45) in the upper center, and the remaining white area, the A area is completely black, and the B area is The areas C are made up of alternating black and white patterns at regular intervals, the area C is made up of an inverted black and white pattern from the area B, and the areas D and E are made up of alternating linear striped patterns as shown in FIG. 2B.

The ROM table 2, as shown in FIG. 3A, has numbers, letters, symbols, and pattern elements written therein. These elements are composed of, for example, 16×8 (0 to F×D ₀ to D ₇ ) pixels, as shown in FIG. It is written in the format shown by the hexadecimal symbol. If this element is to be displayed in the size shown in Figure 4B, for example, it will be displayed with 32 x 32 pixels, and in this case, this pattern will have the same pixels in the main scanning direction (horizontal direction). This is when the same pixel is outputted twice each time, and the same pixel is outputted four times each time in the sub-scanning direction (vertical direction). In this case, the white background portions A to F in FIG. 4A correspond to the 1.5 mm character spacing portion in FIG. 4B.

Also, address "0101" of ROM table 2
In the area indicated by , a white area pattern as shown in FIG. The striped pattern shown in Figure 4 is filled in, and the address is "1011".
In the area indicated by , a striped pattern as shown in Fig. 4 (e) is written.

The table ROM address control unit 3 controls the output state of the sections in the main scanning direction indicated by 0 to F in the patterns in which the ROM table 2 is accessed as shown in Fig. 4 A, C to F. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4B, the same pixel is output twice in the main scanning direction.

Pattern MPX4 is created from eight lines in the main scanning direction from D ₀ to _{D 7} output from ROM table 2.
One of them is selectively output based on the control of the scanning line control section 5, for example, the fourth line is output.
In the example shown in Figure 2, the same line is output four lines at a time.

The scanning line control unit 5 controls the number of times the same data is output from the pattern MPX4 in the sub-scanning line direction.

The image signal binarization circuit 6 converts a read signal from a sensor such as a CCD that has read out an original into a binarized electric signal.

The image signal mixing circuit 7 is a circuit that mixes the original reading binary signal and the image signals of the source printing numbers, characters, and fixed patterns.

The light amount check circuit 8 checks the amount of light from a fluorescent lamp used when reading a document, or the magnitude of an output signal from a sensor caused by this fluorescent lamp. When the amount of light or the output signal of the sensor is not normal, an abnormal signal is generated and transmitted to the microprocessor control circuit 1.

Next, the operation of this embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 will be explained.

First, during the test, a fluorescent light is turned on and the reading system is checked. At this time, when the reading system operates normally, that is, when the fluorescent lamp output is normal and the sensor output is also normal, the reading system is transmitted from the light amount check circuit 8 to the microprocessor control circuit 1. A normal state detection signal indicating normality is output.

As a result, the microprocessor control circuit 1 first generates an address to output the pattern of area F in FIG. 2A. For this reason, first 8
Because the characters are white, the address "0101" is output for each character, and the next eight characters are "0123~".
In order to display "P45", addresses corresponding to these are output, and for the last eight characters, the address "0101" is output for the white part. The addresses of 4 bytes each for each of these 8 characters are entered in the register in the microprocessor control circuit 1, and are written in the ROM table 2 one byte at a time in the form of ²⁰ to ²⁷ , as shown in Figure 3B. sent out, 4
Since each bit is sequentially accessed, an output as shown in FIG. 3B is obtained as a result. If control is performed with a resolution of 32 per character, when sequential data is output from the ROM table 2 in synchronization with the timing clock, the table ROM address control unit 3 will output the same data twice in the main scanning direction. Control operation is performed to output the output. In this way, the data from O to F is expanded to 32 in the main scanning direction. Then, the data outputted from the ROM table 2 is now output in a 1/8 pattern MPX4 under the control of the scanning line control section 5 for four consecutive lines of the same main scanning line information in the sub-scanning line direction. As a result, the data of lines D ₀ to D ₇ is again expanded to 32 in the sub-scanning direction. i.e. pattern MPX
4, the data on line D ₀ is first output four times, then the data on D ₁ is output four times, and so on, and finally the data on line D ₇ is output four times. Such a table ROM address control section 3 and a scanning line control section 5
The control can be specified by, for example, a software command. In this way the pattern
The data output from the MPX4 will be mixed with the image signal from the image signal binarization circuit 6 in the image signal mixing circuit 7, but during such a test, the output from the image signal binarization circuit 6 Since no signal exists, the image signal mixing circuit 7 outputs the signal from the pattern MPX4, and first only "0123-P45" in the F area of FIG. 2A is recorded.

Next, only the address "0101" in the remaining white part of the F area is the microprocessor control circuit 1.
As a result, the white portion of the F area is recorded.

When the F area ends in this manner, the microprocessor control circuit 1 continuously outputs the address "1101" and outputs the A area.

Next, the microprocessor control circuit 1 alternately outputs the address "1101" and the address "0101" to output the B area, and then conversely outputs the address "0101" and the address "1101" alternately to output the C area. Output the area. and address "0011"
and the address "1011" are output continuously to output the D area and the E area. In this way the second
A source print test shown in area F in Figure A and a fixed pattern test shown in areas A to E can be performed.

If the reading system does not operate normally in the above case, for example, if the luminous intensity of the fluorescent lamp is low, or if the output of a sensor such as a CCD is abnormally small even though the luminous intensity of the fluorescent lamp is normal, An abnormal state detection signal indicating such an abnormality in the reading system is outputted from the light amount check circuit 8 to the microprocessor control circuit 1. As a result, the microprocessor control circuit 1 continuously outputs the address "1101", so that the F area in FIG. 2A becomes a completely black output.

Therefore, when testing, the operator determines that the reading system function is normal if printing using the source printing function is performed in the F area that is output first, and that the reading system function is normal if the output is all black. Recognize that the function is abnormal. Further, by looking at the printed state and recorded state of the fixed pattern shown in FIG. 2A recorded during the test and checking the location where an abnormal state exists in these recorded portions, the abnormal portion can be detected.

In the above explanation, we explained the case where the resolution of one character is 32 x 32, but of course it is also 16 x 8 even if it is 16 x 8.
However, other sizes than these can be used as appropriate.

(7) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a fixed pattern is recorded in a recording system using the sender printing function, so that abnormalities in the light intensity of the fluorescent lamp can be prevented. Since a part of the fixed pattern is made completely black when the fixed pattern is turned on, it is possible to check the amount of light from the fluorescent lamp without installing any special hardware configuration. Further, when a part of the fixed pattern is not recorded as originally intended, it is possible to obtain a clue as to the abnormality in the recording system, and this also does not require special hardware.

In this way, no special hardware is required,
Since the reading system and recording system can be tested simultaneously, it is possible to reduce the size and power consumption of the equipment, and it is also an efficient testing method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 (a) is a diagram showing a test pattern, Fig. 2 (b) is an enlarged view of a part thereof, and Fig. 3 (a) shows numbers, letters, and addresses of element patterns. Figure 4 (b) shows the address transmission format, Figure 4 (a) shows the data format of the number 1, Figure 4 (b) shows the number display format, and Figure 4 (c) shows the white data format. Figures D and E are diagrams showing the data format of alternating striped patterns, and Figure F is a diagram showing the data format of black. In the figure, 1 is a microprocessor control circuit, and 2 is a microprocessor control circuit.
ROM table, 3 is a table ROM address control section, 4 is a pattern MPX, 5 is a scanning line control section, 6 is an image signal binarization circuit, 7 is an image signal mixing circuit, and 8 is a light amount check circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of pattern elements constituting a recording output test pattern, a checking means for checking the operating state of the reading section, and assembling the pattern elements into a normal test pattern,
and a control means for changing a part of the normal test pattern according to the abnormality detection signal of the checking means, and a recording means for recording based on the output data of the storage means, wherein the abnormality detection signal is detected by the control means. A facsimile test method characterized in that a part of a normal test pattern is changed when transmitted and is recorded and outputted by a recording means.