JPH08336023A - Method and device for managing image memory - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a method and a device for managing an image memory, capable of efficiently utilizing a memory, suppressing a useless communication cost and improving the handleability of a facsimile equipment. CONSTITUTION: At the time of starting the use of the image memory 6, the attributes of the images are written in the management information of an image file. When some kind of an error is generated while performing storage in the memory 6, in the case of the attributes of reception images, the memory block of all pages stored before the error is preserved and turned to the object of output. In the case of the attributes of the images received once and scheduled to be transmitted in the future such as relay and transfer, etc., erroneous pages are eliminated leaving normally stored pages. When the attributes of transmission by read are indicated, the entire image file is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image memory management method and apparatus for a facsimile machine having an image memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a facsimile apparatus which temporarily stores received image data in a memory and then records the image data. In such a facsimile machine, the reception speed can be determined without being influenced by the printing speed of the image at the output means, and thus there is an advantage that the communication time can be shortened.

Further, since the image is not directly recorded but stored in the memory, confidential reception is performed in which the personal identification number is input and then recorded, or relay transmission is performed in which the image is not erased even after the recording is finished and the image is transmitted again. There is an advantage that more advanced functions such as can be performed.

[0004]

By the way, in such a conventional apparatus, since the entire image for each communication is used as a unit of memory management, the image is stored in the image memory during reading or receiving for transmission. Even if some kind of error occurs, there are only two methods: to store the image in the image memory as a target for recording and transmission, or to invalidate the image and erase the entire image.

Therefore, for example, when a communication error occurs during reception of a document of all three pages and only half of the last page can be stored in the memory, if the entire image is subject to relay transmission, it makes sense. It will also send a page with no communication, resulting in unnecessary communication cost. On the other hand, if the entire image is invalidated and erased, the communication cost for the first two pages that can be normally received is wasted.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image memory management method and apparatus which can efficiently use a memory, suppress unnecessary communication costs, and improve the usability of a facsimile machine. To do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the use of the image memory is started, the attribute of the image is written in the management information of the image file, and some error occurs during the accumulation in the memory. In this case, if it is the attribute of the received image, the memory blocks of all the pages accumulated by the time of the error are saved and output, and the attributes of the image that is to be received once such as relay or transfer and to be transmitted in the future. In that case, if the error page is erased by leaving the page that was normally stored, and if the attribute of transmission by reading is indicated, the entire image file can be erased, so that the memory can be efficiently used and wasteful. The communication cost can be suppressed, and a device with good usability can be provided.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus having an image memory management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The CPU 1 is a central control unit and is a ROM
The entire device is controlled according to the contents of the program stored in 2. The program is divided into operation units called tasks according to functions, and the execution order is similarly managed by a program called an operating system (OS) stored in the ROM 2 to enable pseudo-parallel operation. . The following operations are executed by each task.

First, the reading operation will be described. For a document, a signal obtained by the contact sensor (CS) 13 is processed by a correction circuit (MACS) 12 such as shading correction. Furthermore, an image processing circuit (GENE
SIS) 11 performs binarization and image conversion processing, and a reading / recording encoding / decoding device (RW-COD)
It is serially input to the reading unit (SCN) of the EC) 10. Then, the input image data is RW-COD
It is expanded in the internal RAM (CODEC_BUF) of the EC 10, compressed and encoded by the encoding unit (ENC), accumulated in the image memory (DRAM) 6, and RAM3.
The management information such as the reception number, the destination information, the number of pages, and the stored image memory block information is stored in the.

Next, the recording operation will be described. DRA
The image coded data accumulated in M6 is RW-CODE
Decompression and decoding are performed by the decoding unit (DEC) of C10, and C
It is expanded as image data in ODEC_BUF. The expanded image data is serially output from the recording unit (PRN) of the RW-CODEC 10 and is subjected to correction and image conversion processing by the recording image processing circuit (CUTE) 14 and then the control circuit of the laser printer (LBP) 15. (L
Under the control of the CNT) 19, the LBP 15 prints and records on the recording paper. The recorded recording paper is
Sorted by size, etc.
It is discharged to 9. The LCNT 19 has a sensor for detecting an abnormal state during recording of the LBP 15, an abnormal state of discharge of the SOLTER 9, and the number of recording sheets existing in the recording conveyance path, and the recording sheet is clogged, the ink runs out, the LBP1.
5 Internal abnormality or the like can be read from the CPU 1 as a status.

Next, the transmission operation will be described. DRA
The encoded image data stored in M6 is the decoding unit (DEC) of the communication encoding / decoding device (C-CODEC) 16.
It is decompressed and decoded by and expanded in CODEC_BUF as image data. The expanded image data is CC
It is encoded into transmission data by the encoding unit (ENC) of the ODEC 16 and transferred to the transmission buffer of the RAM 5. The transmission data transferred to the transmission buffer is sent to the line by the MODEM 17 byte by byte.

Next, the receiving operation will be described. The received data is input to the MODEM 17 through the NCU 18, demodulated and transferred byte by byte to the receive buffer of the RAM 5. The received data transferred to the receive buffer is
The decoding unit (DEC) of the C-CODEC 16 expands and decodes to inspect an image error, and develops it as image data in CODEC_BUF. The developed image data is C-
The image management information is stored in the RAM 3 while being compressed and encoded by the encoding unit (ENC) of the CODEC 16 and stored in the DRAM 6.

Further, the operator can perform various instructions / settings by pressing a key (KEY) 8.
The contents are stored and held in the RAM 3, and the display unit (LC
It can be confirmed in D) 7. The CPU 1 detects the key input data and displays the necessary data on the LCD 7.

Next, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of managing the image memory of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, all the individual communications are managed by the image management records 21, 22, 23. The image management record includes items such as a management number, a creation time, an attribute of an image file, a destination, a pointer to the next image management record, a pointer to a page management report, and the like, and is arranged on the RAM 3.

All pointers to the image management records are written in a management table on the RAM 3 called the queue 20, and when a plurality of image management records are connected to the same queue, as indicated by 21 and 22. A pointer to the image management record to be connected is written in the [Next image management record] field in the last image management record.

When transmitting or recording, the next image management record is searched in order from the pointer of the image management record written in each queue, and the target image is selected. At the time of initialization, all management records are connected to an empty queue.

The image of one page is managed by the page management records 24 and 25. It is created each time one page is read or received, and consists of items such as the recording mode, page status, page number, line number, pointer to the next page management record, and the first memory block number. To be done. At the time of initialization, all page management records are connected to empty management records (not shown).

The image memory (DRAM) 6 is 16 Kby
It is managed by being divided into memory blocks of te. A management number is sequentially associated with each block from 0 and managed by the memory block management table 26. In addition,
At the time of initialization, a code indicating empty is written in the item corresponding to each block in the memory block management table.

When the image memory is used for storage operation such as transmission and reception, one image management record is removed from the empty queue and connected to the recording queue. Next, one page management record is removed from the empty management record, and the pointer is written in the item of the page management record of the image management record acquired earlier.

If this image is stored by reading for transmission, the BI being read in the item of [File attribute].
T and BIT to be transmitted are set. In the case of accumulation by normal reception, the BIT to be recorded is set up, and if the transmission such as transfer is also performed at the same time, the BIT to be transmitted is set up.

Next, from the memory block management table,
Select the block number in which an empty code is written, and in the item of the first memory block number of the page management record,
Write the block number to be used. At the same time, a code indicating the final block is written in the memory block management table. When two or more memory blocks are used, the next memory block management number is written, and the final block code is written in the column corresponding to the next memory block.

When erasing an entire image, the image management record is reconnected to the empty queue 20, the top page management record is reconnected to the empty management record,
In the management table of the memory block, the items from the first block indicated by all the page management records to be erased to the last block consecutive thereto are rewritten with a code indicating empty.

When erasing only a certain page, the page management record is reconnected to an empty management record, and the pointer indicating the page management record of the image management record is rewritten to the pointer of the next deleted page.
At the same time, in the management table of the memory block, the items from the first block indicated by the page management record to be erased to the last block consecutive thereto are rewritten to a code indicating empty. When erasing a certain block, the item of the block to be erased in the management table of the memory block is rewritten to a code indicating empty, and the item indicating the block to be erased is rewritten to indicate the next block to be erased.

Next, a method of managing deletion of stored images, which is a part of the program executed by the CPU 1, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When an error such as a memory full or line disconnection occurs during the storage in the image memory (S1), the item of the file attribute of the image management record shown in FIG. 4 is checked to read the BIT (b2). If is set (S2), it is known that the image file cannot be correctly transmitted, and the operator can redo it, so the entire image file is deleted (S3).

If the BIT (b0) to be transmitted is standing (S4), the normally stored pages are saved so that halfway pages are not transmitted, and the page in which the error occurred is erased (S5). ). If the BIT for image output is standing, all the memory blocks including the last line that was normally stored are saved.

Although the facsimile apparatus has been described above as an example, the present invention can be applied to various apparatuses having an image memory.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the use of the image memory is started, the attribute of the image is written in the management information of the image file, and if any error occurs while accumulating in the memory, management of deletion of the image file is performed according to the attribute of the image. By changing from the block unit to the page unit and the image file unit, it is possible to efficiently use the memory, suppress unnecessary communication costs, and improve the usability of the apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of managing an image memory in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing deletion management of an accumulated image in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing file attributes of an image management record in the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... CPU, 2 ... ROM, 3 ... CS, 14 ... CUTE, 15 ... LBP, 16 ... C-CODEC, 17 ... MODEM, 18 ... NCU, 19 ... LCNT.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image memory for storing image data is divided into blocks of a plurality of bytes, use and release of each block are managed, and a group of the memory blocks is managed as a page by page management information. In the memory management method of managing the collection of page management information as an image file by the image management information, transmission, recording of the image file in the memory according to the attribute of the image file included in the image management information, An image memory management method, characterized in that erase management is changed from block units to page units to image file units. 2. An image memory for accumulating image data is divided into blocks of a plurality of bytes, use and release of each block are managed, and a group of the memory blocks is managed as a page by page management information. In the memory management method of managing the collection of page management information as an image file by the image management information, the attribute of the image is written in the image management information of the image file at the start of storage in the image memory, If an error occurs during storage of image data in the memory, if it is the attribute of the received image, the memory block that has been stored by the time of the error will be saved for output and received once and sent in the future. If there is an attribute of a scheduled image, erase the error page, leaving the page that was normally stored, and send by reading If shows the attributes, image memory management method, characterized by erasing the entire image file. 3. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, having the image memory management method. 4. An image memory for accumulating image data is divided into blocks of a plurality of bytes, use and release of each block are managed, and a group of the memory blocks is managed as a page by page management information. In the memory management device that manages the collection of page management information as an image file by the image management information, the image file in the memory is transmitted and recorded according to the attribute of the image file included in the image management information. An image memory management device characterized in that erasing management is changed from block units to page units to image file units. 5. An image memory for accumulating image data is divided into blocks of a plurality of bytes, use and release of each block are managed, and a group of the memory blocks is managed as a page by page management information. In the memory management device that manages the collection of page management information as an image file by the image management information, the attribute of the image is written in the image management information of the image file at the start of accumulation in the image memory, If an error occurs during storage of image data in the memory, if it is the attribute of the received image, the memory block that has been stored by the time of the error will be saved for output and received once and sent in the future. If the attribute of the image has a schedule, erase the error page, leaving the page that was normally stored, and then read it. If shows the attributes of the transmission by the image memory management apparatus characterized by erasing the entire image file. 6. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, comprising the image memory management device.