JPH04150149A - Color facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the processing delay and a defect or a received document due to running short of any of coloring materials by converting a color picture data into a monochroic picture data when any of the coloring materials runs short, and outputting the picture while converting the resolution. CONSTITUTION:When a specific coloring material runs short among plural coloring materials, other coloring material is used for the recording and the resolution is converted and the processing is executed by a main CPU 110. Moreover, when ink of a printer 102 runs short, the main CPU 110 uses a 2nd picture processing section 105 to designate the mode so that color/white black conversion is implemented and the mode is designated. Thus, an RGB picture data is converted into a white/black picture data and a data after the conversion is processed as each RGB signal. Thus, the picture is immediately outputted and a defect of the received document is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile device capable of color image communication.

[Conventional Technique #I] Traditionally, facsimile machines that process black and white images use only one type of ink in the printing section, so if this ink runs out, it is impossible to print. becomes.

Therefore, when copying, it is configured to interrupt copying, and if receiving is in progress, to reject the reception at that point, or to store the received document in memory if it has memory that can perform proxy reception. Ta.

Therefore, if the ink runs out, you will not be able to copy until you replenish the ink, and you will not be able to check the documents stored in memory through proxy reception until you replenish the ink and print them out. .

Furthermore, the memory for proxy reception has a limited capacity, and when a large number of received documents are received, part of the received documents may be lost due to memory overflow.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, even when a facsimile device is configured that has a printing section capable of printing a color image using inks of multiple colors and is capable of communicating color images, if one of the multiple inks is If it runs out, proper color image printing cannot be performed. Therefore, in this case, ";
Similar to the black-and-white facsimile machine mentioned above, it requires processing such as interruption of copying and reception operations and substitute reception, which has the disadvantage of causing delays in copying processing, delays in outputting received documents, and even loss of received documents. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a color facsimile device that processes color images and can effectively prevent delays in processing and loss of received documents due to partially running out of coloring material.

[F-stage unused to solve the problem is a facsimile machine capable of color communication that uses multiple coloring materials in the printing section, and when one of the coloring materials in the printing section runs out, the printing The present invention is characterized by converting color image data into monochrome image data, converting the resolution, and outputting the image.

[Function] In the present invention, when any one of the plurality of coloring materials in the printing section runs out, the color image data to be printed is converted to monochrome image data, and this is printed using the remaining coloring material. By doing this, although color images cannot be output, at least monochrome images can be output immediately, so users can
Received documents, etc. can be checked without waiting for coloring material to be replenished, and missing of received documents can be reliably prevented.

Further, by treating the monochromatic image data obtained from the color image data as each component signal of the color image, even if any coloring material runs out, it is possible to output an equally monochromatic image using other coloring materials.

Note that in addition to outputting monochrome image data, a method of storing original color image data in a memory may also be used.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This unique facsimile device is configured to be able to communicate color image data in red, green, and blue (RGB) in addition to normal black and white image data.
For example, multilevel halftone color image data is converted into binary pseudo halftone color image data for communication. Furthermore, when reproducing a color image, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black (YMCK) are generated from the RGB data, and the color image is printed using ink of each color.

Each element will be explained below.

The scanner IO1 reads a document and outputs the RGB multi-value digitized color image data.

The inkjet printer 102 inputs RGB multivalued color image data from the scanner 101, converts it into YMCK ink characteristics, and prints out a color image on recording paper using inkjet.

The scanner/printer interface 103 interfaces image data and control signals between the scanner 101 and printer 102 and the facsimile main body circuit.

The first image processing unit 104 performs binarization using an error diffusion method and other image processing on the RGB multicolor image.

The second image processing unit 105 performs multi-value processing, color/black-and-white conversion, etc. on the RGB binary color image data. In the color/black-and-white conversion, the black component K is set as a function of RGB = 0.3R + 0. This is done by calculating using the formula: .59G+0.11B.

Encoder 106 converts binary color image data into facsimile codes.

The decoder 107 decodes the received encoded binary color image data.

The image memory 108 is a memory that stores encoded transmitted image data and received image data in page units, and has a capacity of about 2 MB, and is composed of semiconductor memory such as SRAM and DRAM, and includes an address control section. It becomes. Note that this image memory may be an image memory based on a magnetic hard disk, or the like.

A communication control unit (CCU) 109 is connected to one line 112, controls a facsimile protocol, communicates with a communication partner, and sends and receives image data.

The main CPU110 performs overall sequence control and the like.

In particular, in this embodiment, when the remaining amount of a specific coloring material among the plurality of coloring materials runs out or becomes low, recording is performed using another coloring material and the resolution is changed. The main CPU 110 executes such processing based on a program stored in advance.

The operation panel 111 is connected to the main CPU, has a display section and a keyboard, and performs various displays and input operations.

The line 112 is connected from the CCU 109 to a digital data network or an ISDN network.

Next, facsimile transmission and reception operations will be explained.

First, at the time of transmission, image data read by the scanner 101 is binarized by the first image processing unit 104 from the interface 103, facsimile encoded by the encoder 106, and stored in the image memory 108 in page units. .

Following these sequence controls, the main CPUll0 starts up the CCU 109 and starts communication. That is, C
After the CU 109 is connected to the communication partner, the CU 109 retrieves the transmission image data from the image memory 108 and transmits it.

Further, during reception, upon receiving an incoming call from the line 112, the CCU 109 stores the received image data in the image memory 108 in page units.

Following these controls, the main CPUll0 controls the received image to be output to the printer 102. That is, the address of the received image data stored in the image memory 108 is designated and the decoder 107 is activated. Decoder 1
07 decodes the received image data from the facsimile code into binary color image data, and the second image processing unit 105 decodes the received image data.
Convert to multivalued RGB color image data. This image data is then sent from the interface 103 to the printer 102 and output as a YMCK color image.

Next, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation at the time of reception in this embodiment.

First, an incoming call is received from the line 112, and the main CPUll0 is notified from the CCU 109 (S201).Therefore, the main CPUll0 sets the address of the receiving area in the image memory 108 and prepares to receive the image (S201).
202).

Next, the received image is transferred from the CCU 109 to the image memory 108.
The ccUl 09 monitors the completion of reception according to the facsimile protocol, and when the reception is completed, ends the communication and moves to the next step (S204). .

Next, the main CPU110 sets the mode of the decoder 107 and the second image processing unit 105 (S205).
Furthermore, it is determined whether all the ink is present in the printer 102 (5206), and if there is, the received image can be printed out from the single image memory 108 (5206).
207), image processing unit 105. A start command is sent to the decoder 107 (3708), and one page of the received image is printed out by the printer 102 (S209).

Further, in step 5206 above, if the printer 102 is out of ink, the main CPU 110 specifies a mode so that the second image processing unit 105 performs color/monochrome conversion.

As a result, the RGB image data is converted to black and white image data, and the converted data is processed as each RGB signal (S211). In this case, the ink to be used is one of YMCK that is not out of ink.For example, if K remains, this is used with priority, and if there is no K remaining, Allow other inks to be selected.

Furthermore, after this conversion, resolution conversion is performed (5212).
This is convenient because even if an incorrect image is printed, it is printed in a reduced size, so paper is not wasted, and the general state of the image can be seen.

In this way, from the next page onwards, not a color image but a monochrome image will be output by the printer 102 (S207 to S209).

The above operations are performed until all received pages are completed, and the process ends (S210).

It should be noted that among the color image data stored in the image memory 108, data output in a single color due to running out of ink may be retained in the memory and re-outputted as a color image after ink is replenished.

In addition, in the above embodiment, regarding the printing mechanism,
A method using color toner by electrostatic transfer or a method using a color ribbon by thermal transfer may be used.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the ink empty process for detecting ink exhaustion is performed on a page-by-page basis, but it may be monitored on a print-by-line basis or on a print-block basis.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, among the plurality of coloring materials in the printing part,
If any of them runs out, one image can be immediately output by converting the color image data to be printed into monochrome image data and printing this with the remaining coloring material. Therefore, the user can check the received document without waiting for the coloring material to be replenished, and it is possible to reliably prevent the received document from being lost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation at the time of reception in the same embodiment. 101... Scanner, 102... Inkjet printer, 103... Interface 104... First image processing section, 105... Second image processing section, 106... Encoder, 107... Decoder, 108... Image memory, 109... CCU, 110... Main CPU, 111... Operation panel 112... Line. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Agent Arata Yokubo

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a facsimile machine capable of color communication that uses multiple coloring materials in the printing section, if any of the coloring materials in the printing section runs out, the color image data to be printed is converted to monochrome image data. A color facsimile device that outputs an image by converting the image and converting the resolution. (2) A color facsimile apparatus according to claim (1), wherein the monochromatic image data is treated as each component signal of a color image.