JPH0546746B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a facsimile device, and more particularly to a facsimile device that divides and records received image information onto a plurality of recording sheets.

[Prior Art] Conventional facsimile machines mainly use roll-shaped recording paper and sheet-shaped recording paper as recording paper. In the case of roll-shaped recording paper, the image information size is not limited by the paper size in the sub-scanning direction, and the image information is recorded continuously. Therefore, when filing the recording paper, it is necessary to perform troublesome work such as using a copy that has been made once or cutting the recording paper into an appropriate size and filing it.

On the other hand, with devices that use sheet-like recording paper (hereinafter referred to as cut paper) or devices that cut roll paper into appropriate sizes after recording, filing the recording paper is somewhat easier, but there are restrictions on the size of image information. arise. Due to the recording or paper feeding mechanism, it is generally difficult to record across the entire surface of the recording paper, and if a document with image information outside this effective recording range is sent, that image information will be transferred to the next recording paper. The disadvantage is that it will be recorded. In extreme cases, only a few millimeters of information may be recorded on the second recording paper. This wastes both recording paper and file space.

Furthermore, in recent years, facsimile devices have become known that add management information such as communication time and originating station to the image information and transmit it, but this management information is transmitted so that it is recorded on the receiving side outside the original image. Therefore, in an apparatus using cut paper, recording is performed in parts in the same manner as described above, resulting in waste of recording paper.

The conventional divided recording as described above is extremely wasteful and may have a large effect on the lifespan of the recording mechanism and the like.

In order to solve these problems, a method can be considered in which the received image data is temporarily stored in a memory, an appropriate reduction ratio is determined from the total number of lines, and lines are thinned out to perform reduction recording. However, in this case, since it is necessary to calculate the total number of receiving lines, an enormous capacity of image memory is required, which may even be a disadvantage.

[Objective] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device that can effectively utilize recording paper.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, the reference numeral 1 denotes a control section, which is usually composed of a microprocessor and its control memory, and controls the entire operation of each section described below.

The signal received from line 8 is NCU (Network Control Unit)
2 is input. The NCU 2 is a known device that controls connections with attached telephones, connection exchanges with communication networks, and the like. The control unit 1 performs communication procedures before and after transmission via the NCU 2, and obtains information necessary for image transmission.

On the other hand, the image data transmitted from the other party is demodulated by the demodulator 3 based on a known predetermined method.
When the demodulator 3 is a digital modem, such as a G3 machine, the signal output from the demodulator 3 is a compression-encoded binary signal, so this signal is decoded by the decoder 4. At this decoding stage, it is known how many lines in the sub-scanning direction are receiving the image signal.
The decoder 4 generates a pulse on the signal line 9 every time it decodes one line, and notifies the control section 1 of the number of received lines. Therefore, by accumulating these pulses, the control section 1 can know the number of reception lines at that point in time.

The decoded image data is sequentially stored in the image memory 5 starting from the reference point (address). however,
In the present invention, it is necessary to store data in such a way that line breaks can be recognized during subsequent reading.

However, if the decoded signal is binary black-and-white image data, the control unit 1 recognizes the number of bits along one line in the main scanning direction in the pre-transmission procedure, so the special signal is stored in the image memory. It is not necessary to store the data in 5 bits, and it is sufficient to read out each predetermined bit. However, in order to save memory capacity, when decoding into a fixed-length run-length code and storing it in the image memory 5, the run-length code is added from the beginning and the line length is checked to recognize line changes. , etc. are required.

However, in the following, it is assumed that binary black and white image data is stored in the image memory 5 to simplify the explanation, but the same processing as described below is possible even if the image memory is stored in other data formats. be.

A thinning device 6 is connected to the subsequent stage of the image memory 5 via signal lines 14 and 15. This thinner 6 is designed to prevent the disadvantages shown in the prior art section.
By changing the method of reading data from the image memory 5, image information can be thinned out and recording can be performed using fewer sheets of recording paper. The image information that has been thinned out as necessary is stored in a recording section 7 similar to a known one, which is constructed from a thermal printer or the like.
recorded by.

The control procedure of the control section 1 during image recording in the above configuration will be explained in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, an appropriate value R is set. This value is determined depending on the scanning line density, recording paper size, etc. This value is used as a reference value for determining whether to perform thinning as described later. The reference value R is a ratio to the mechanically limited maximum number of recording lines of the recording section 7 that can be recorded on one sheet of recording paper without damaging image information when line thinning is performed.

In step S2, the maximum number of lines N that can be recorded on one sheet of paper by the recording section 7 is calculated from information such as the scanning line density obtained through the communication procedure.

Further, the end of receiving the image data is recognized by the control unit 1 from the decoder 4 via the signal line 10 or from the demodulator 3 via the signal line 11.

In step S3, a counter for the number of lines received so far is cleared. Hereinafter, the counted value of this line counter will be expressed as M0. The line counter is constituted by the memory and registers of the control section 1.

In step S4, one line of image information is received. That is, it waits until the decoder 4 completes decoding one line and outputs a pulse to the signal line 9. The decoded image information is sequentially stored in the image memory 5.

When one line of image information is received, the step
In S5, the count value M0 of the line counter is incremented by one.

Next, in step S6, the count value of the line counter is
It is determined whether the quotient obtained by dividing M0 by the maximum number of recording lines N is greater than R. That is, the number of lines stored in the image memory 5 up to now is reduced to a reduction ratio of 1/R.
Determine whether the image can no longer fit on one sheet of recording paper even if it is reduced. If this step is affirmative, the process moves to step S7, and if this step is negative, the process moves to step S9.

In step S7, N lines of the unrecorded leading portion of the image data in the image memory 5 are outputted to the recording section 7 to be recorded. The area of the image memory 5 vacated by this recording output is used for storing the subsequent received image data.

In the next step S8, the N lines recorded in step S7 are subtracted from the value of the line counter, and then the process returns to step S4.

On the other hand, in step S9, it is determined whether all image data has been received from the transmitting side. This determination may be made by detecting a signal output from the decoder 10 via the signal line 10 indicating the completion of decoding of all received data, or by checking whether a known procedure signal transmitted from the image transmitting side has been received. This can be done by If step S9 is affirmative, the process moves to step S10, and if negative, the process returns to step S4.

In step S10, the count value M0 of the line counter
It is determined whether the quotient obtained by dividing N by the maximum number of recording lines is less than or equal to R. If this step is affirmative, the process moves to step S11, and if this step is negative, the process moves to step S12. Combined with the conditions at step S6, M0/
When N≦R and M0/N≦1, the process moves to step S12 when 1<M0/N≦R.

In step S11, the count value M0 of the line counter is
(As described above, when recording is performed, that amount is subtracted, so this value is equal to the number of unrecorded received lines) does not exceed the maximum number of recording lines N, so no thinning is performed and the remaining M0 lines are The recording section 7 records the line.

Furthermore, in step S12, 1<M0/N≦R, that is, even if the number of recording lines exceeding the maximum number of recording lines is thinned out and reduced, there remain lines within the range that can be recorded without damaging the image. The image data exceeding the maximum number of recording lines, ie, M0-N lines, are thinned out and recorded in the recording section 7.

Here, if real-time processing is possible, the image memory 5 is
Every time a predetermined number of lines of data are read out from the memory, a predetermined number of lines are thinned out (ignored) and sent to the recording section 7 for recording. Alternatively, if the recording speed of the recording section 7 is slow, the thinned data is returned from the thinning device 6 to the image memory 5 and stored again in an empty area, and then this thinned data is stored in the recording section 7. Make sure to record it.

According to the above configuration, when image information a of a long document with a total of 280 lines as shown on the left side of FIG. 3 is transmitted, recording sheets b, c, and d as shown on the right side of the figure can get. In this case, the reference value R=
1.2. If the maximum number of recording lines in the recording unit is N=100, recording is performed 100 lines at a time from the beginning of image information a. Recording on the first sheet of recording paper b starts when the transmitted image information a up to point X is received.
Similarly, recording on the second recording paper c is started when the transmitted image information a up to point Y is received. This is done by jumping from step S6 to S7 described above. That is, the received image data is stored in the image memory until it can no longer be recorded on one sheet of recording paper even if it is reduced at a predetermined reduction ratio.
No recording is made. In this case, since R=1.2, recording will not start unless the excess of M0 over N exceeds 20 lines.

At the end of recording on recording paper C, only 80 lines (≦N) of unrecorded image information remain, so recording without thinning is performed by jumping to steps S6 to S9 and S10 to S11. It can be done. Therefore, image information a is stored on three sheets of recording paper b, as before.
Recorded in c and d.

On the other hand, in the case of image information as shown on the left side of FIG. 4, it is processed as follows.

The image information e on the left side of FIG. 4 consists of 310 lines, and assuming that the maximum number of recording lines N is the same as above, according to the conventional method, recording must be performed by dividing into four recording sheets.

However, according to the above configuration, first, just as in the case of FIG.
Recording is performed at g.

When recording up to the second sheet is finished, 110 lines of image information remain (MO/N≦1), so
A jump is made from step S10 to S12,
Due to thinning, the remaining 110 lines are covered by one sheet of recording paper.
is reduced to 100 lines and recorded.

As described above, even if there is slight protrusion of image information, recording can be performed on fewer sheets, and recording paper is not wasted.

In the above configuration, data up to 1.2 times the maximum number of recording lines (=R) of cut paper-like recording paper can be accommodated on one recording paper by thinning.
This may be changed in any way as long as the image can be recognized. Alternatively, in a special case, R may be set to 2, 3, etc., and the image may be reduced to 1/2 or 1/3 of its size and output.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the present invention includes means for storing received image information, means for thinning out image information, and means for recording image information, and the amount of received image information is reduced. When the amount of image information exceeds a certain amount determined in relation to the maximum amount of image information recorded on the recording paper, unrecorded image information corresponding to the maximum amount of image information recorded is repeatedly recorded by the recording means, and image information reception ends. At the time when the amount of unrecorded image information exceeds the maximum recorded image information amount, the excess amount is thinned out by the thinning means and recorded by the recording means. It is possible to provide an excellent facsimile device that can effectively use paper.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart explaining the control procedure in the configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG.
4 are explanatory diagrams showing the recording operation in the apparatus of the present invention, respectively. 1...Control unit, 2...NCU, 3...Demodulator,
4... Decoder, 5... Image memory, 6... Thinner, 7... Recording section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Memory means for storing received image information; Recording means for recording the image information read from the memory means on a cut sheet; and Counting the number of scanning lines of the image information. a counting means; and a control means for controlling divided recording in which the image information is divided and recorded on a plurality of cut sheets based on the count value of the counting means, and controlling for omitting some scanning lines of the image information. and the control means prevents the count value from exceeding a predetermined value greater than the number of recordable scan lines when the count value by the count means exceeds the number of recordable scan lines according to the size of the cut paper. If the count value exceeds the predetermined value, the image information is divided and recorded onto multiple sheets of paper by omitting some scanning lines of the image information. A facsimile device characterized by: