JPH0548024B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a facsimile device having an image data storage function and a polling function.

[Prior Art] In recent years, facsimile devices have been put into practical use that are equipped with various functions such as image data storage, polling (automatic response transmission), proxy reception, image data transfer, and time-specified automatic transmission.

This facsimile device combines a storage function and a polling function to enable a new form of communication in which one image information is received by multiple stations through polling (hereinafter referred to as multi-polling reception).

However, conventionally, even after all receiving stations that perform multi-polling reception with this facsimile device have received the image data, this image data has been retained, making other forms of communication using the storage function infeasible, and the memory being used up. This caused the problem that it could not be used effectively.

[Objective] It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device that solves the above-mentioned problems and can effectively utilize memory by invalidating accumulated image data after performing polling communication a predetermined number of times.

[Configuration] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile device according to the present invention.
An example of FAX is shown. This facsimile device FAX automatically sends and receives (including polling)
It has a configuration in which a storage and playback section 2 is added to a facsimile section 1 having functions, and is capable of carrying out the above-mentioned multi-polling reception.

In the facsimile section 1, 1a is a scanner that plane-scans a transmission document and photoelectrically converts it to form a transmission image signal, 1b is a printer that prints a dot pattern, and 1c is a scanner that converts the output signal of scanner 1a into an 8-bit parallel signal. At the same time, it is a buffer that converts the output of the code compression/decompression circuit (DCR) 1d into a serial signal and outputs it to the printer 1b.The code compression/decompression circuit 1d encodes and compresses the data added from the buffer 1c, and sends it to the modem 1e. At the same time, the received data added from the modem 1e is decoded, expanded, and outputted to the buffer 1c.

1f is a network control device for controlling a transmission line network such as a telephone line network to establish and disconnect a transmission line, 1g is a clock circuit, and 1h is the above-described scanner 1a, printer 1b, buffer 1c, and code compression/expansion circuit 1d. ,
Modem 1e, network control device 1f and clock circuit 1g
CPU (Central Processing Unit), 1i that controls each
has memorized the program executed by CPU1h.
ROM (read only memory), 1j is CPU1
1k is a SAF interface circuit that exchanges data between the facsimile section 1 and storage/reproduction section 2, and 1l is a facsimile device.
This is an operation input section for operating a fax.

Further, SB is a system bus line that connects each of the elements 1a to 1l of the facsimile section 1 described above.

Note that data transfer between the buffer 1c and the code compression/expansion circuit 1d is not limited to parallel transfer as described above, but may be serial transfer.

In the storage and playback unit 2, 2a is the above-mentioned SAF
A facsimile interface circuit 2b connects to the interface circuit 1k to exchange data between the facsimile section 1 and the storage/reproduction section 2, and a facsimile interface circuit 2b connects to the facsimile interface circuit 2a to suppress the capacity of the image memory 2c. This is a code compression/decompression circuit that code-compresses the image data added to the image memory 2c and decodes and decompresses the data stored in the image memory 2c to restore the original image data.

2e is facsimile interface circuit 2
a, code compression/expansion circuit 2b and image memory 2c
2f is a ROM that stores the program executed by CPU2e, and 2g is a CPU that controls
This RAM serves as a work area for the CPU 2e and also stores memory management information, etc., which will be described later.

In addition, the facsimile interface circuit 2
a, code compression/expansion circuit 2b, image memory 2c,
CPU2e, ROM2f and RAM2g are connected to internal bus line 2d.

FIG. 2 shows the above-mentioned operation input section 1l in detail. In the figure, OP is the operation panel, K1 is the automatic transmission key, K2 is the time specified transmission key, K3 is the polling transmission key, K4 is the copy key, 10K is the numeric keypad for inputting numbers and time, etc., and SK is the start key. The key and CK are stop/clear keys. The contact outputs of these keys are judged by the CPU 1h and the mode is set. Note that other operation keys and various displays are provided on the operation panel OP, but since they are not directly related to the present invention, their explanations will be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows a file management table for managing image data files stored in the image memory 2c.
FMT, FIG. 4 shows a page management table PMT for managing each page forming one image data file, and FIG. Memory management table showing that is stored
Showing MMT.

Of these tables, the number of file management tables FMT and page management tables RMT corresponds to the number of files and pages (number of originals) that can be stored in the image memory 2c, respectively.
Set to RAM2g, memory management table
MMT is the number of image memories 2c (in this case, 1
) is set in RAM2g.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5b, the image memory 2
The storage area of c is divided into blocks of 2K (kilo) bytes (one byte consists of 8 bits), and a block address is assigned to each block to manage its storage contents. Note that the size of this block is not limited to 2K bytes.

The file management table FMT consists of 5 bytes of data, and the 8th, 7th, and 6th bits of the first byte each contain automatic data that indicates which mode is selected: automatic transmission, time-specified transmission, or polling transmission. A transmission flag FAT, a time specified transmission flag FTT, and a polling transmission flag FPT are set, and the first bit of the first byte contains a valid file flag indicating that the image data of the file is valid data to be transmitted. FET is set.

The second and third bytes store a file number (4 digits in BCD (binary coded decimal)) for indexing, and the fourth byte stores a polling counter PTC that sets the number of polling transmissions.
A page management table number TN1 corresponding to the first page of the file is stored in the fifth byte.

The page management table PMT consists of 10 bytes of data, and the first bit of the first byte contains a valid page flag indicating that the image data stored in the page is valid data to be transmitted.
FEP is set, data indicating the linear density of the image data is stored in the second byte, and data indicating the paper size is stored in the third byte.

Furthermore, the fourth, fifth and sixth bytes store a start address (block address) representing the beginning of the storage area where the page is stored in the image memory 2c, and the seventh, eighth and sixth bytes store The end address (block address) of the storage area mentioned above is stored in the 9th byte, and the 10th byte
A page management table number TN2 corresponding to the page following the page is stored in the byte. Note that if the page is the final page of the file, FFH (H indicates hexadecimal) representing the final page is stored in the page management table number TN2.

As described above, the memory management table MMT includes 1-byte data indicating that data is stored in each block of the image memory 2c, corresponding to the number of blocks. Each byte is associated with each block, and when data is stored in the corresponding block, FFH is stored, and when no data is stored, OOH is stored as data indicating each case.

The size L (bytes) of this memory management table MMT is expressed by the following equation, assuming that the storage capacity of the image memory 2c is M bytes and the block length is B (bytes).

L=M/B Therefore, the storage capacity of the image memory 2c is 1M
(mega) bytes, and when the block length is 2K bytes, the size of the memory management table MMT is
It will be 500 bytes.

The procedure for performing polling transmission with the above configuration will be described below.

Figure 6 shows the operation key scan flow for detecting that any operation key is turned on;
The figure shows a polling transmission accumulation flow for accumulating image data used for polling transmission in the image memory 2c, and FIG. 8 shows a transmission flow for transmitting and invalidating the accumulated data. In addition, the CPU
Since 1h and CPU2e work in cooperation with each other,
In the following explanation, explanation of data exchange between CPU1h and CPU2e will be omitted.

When the operator turns on the polling transmission key K3, the results of judgments 10 and 11 in the operation key scan flow become YES, and control moves to the polling transmission accumulation flow.

In the polling transmission accumulation flow, the CPU 2e searches for one free file management table FMT (decision 12) and selects this file management table.
The FMT flag FPT is turned on (processing 13). Next, when the operator operates the numeric keypad 10K and inputs the number of polling transmissions corresponding to the total number of receiving stations, the number data is stored in the file management table.
It is stored in the polling number counter PTC of FMT (determination 14, process 15).

Then, when the operator sets the original on the scanner 1a and turns on the start key (YES in judgment 16), the CPU 2e searches for an empty page management table PMT (decision 17) and determines the number of this page management table PMT. The table number TN1 of the file management table FMT is entered (process 18), and the document mode of the facsimile section 1 is set to the 2nd and 3rd bytes of the page management table PMT (process 19).

Next, the CPU 2e searches for an empty area in the image memory 2c (decision 20), and stores the block address of the empty area as a start address in bytes 4, 5, and 6 of the page management table PMT (processing 2).
1) After this, the CPU 1h operates the scanner 1a to read the image of the document, and this image data is sent to the CPU.
2e, the image is stored in the image memory 2c (processing 22).

When the image for one page of the original has been scanned (Judgment 2)
3) The CPU 2e stores the block address of the image memory 2c at this time as the end address in the 7th, 8th, and 9th bytes of the page management table PMT (process 24), and then turns on the flag FEP of the page management table PMT ( Processing 25). Then, FFH is set in the memory management table MMT corresponding to the block that stores the image data (processing 2).
6).

If there is a next manuscript, the result of decision 27 is YES
Therefore, the CPU2e searches for an empty page management table PMT for the next page (decision 3).
0), the table number of the searched page management table PMT is set to the table number TN2 of the page management table PMT of the page whose storage has ended (process 31), and the process returns to process 19 to perform the process for the next page.

When all the manuscripts are finished, the result of judgment 27 becomes NO, so CPU2e saves the last page management table PMT.
FFH is set in table number TN2 (process 28), flag FEF is turned on (process 29), and image storage is completed.

After this, the facsimile device FAX enters the idle state with a request for polling transmission.

When there is a request for polling transmission, the result of the transmission flow judgment 41 becomes YES, and the CPU 2e executes a loop of processing 42, judgment 43, judgment 44, and judgment 45 to update the file management table in which the flags FPT and FEF are turned on. Search FMT. and,
If the flag FEP of the page management table PMT indicated by table number TN1 of this file management table FMT is on (determination 4
6), CPU2e uses this page management table PMT
One page of image data corresponding to the image data is read from the image memory 2c and transferred to the CPU 1h, thereby transmitting one page of image data to the receiving station (loop of process 47 and judgment 48).

When the image data transfer for all pages is completed, the result of judgment 49 becomes YES. Further, since the flag of the page management table PMT is not operated in the loop of decision 48, the result of decision 50 is normally NO.

Furthermore, if the image data of all pages has been successfully transmitted, the result of judgment 51 becomes YES, and therefore the CPU 2e starts the polling counter.
The PTC is decremented (processing 52). The result of judgment 53 until the value of this polling number counter PTC becomes 0 is NO, so the CPU
2c returns to decision 41 and enters a standby state in which it waits for a polling transmission request from the next receiving station.
Then, the above polling transmission is carried out to all receiving stations, and the polling number counter PTC is
When the value becomes 0, the result of the judgment 53 becomes YES, and the control of the CPU 2e shifts to a process 54 for invalidating the accumulated data.

In this process 54, the CPU 2e turns off the flags FPT and FEF of the file management table FMT for which the flag FPT is turned on to invalidate the image file, and then disables the file management table FMT.
At the same time as turning off the flag FEP of the page management table PMT indicated by table number TN1 of FMT (processing 55), this page management table PMT
The data in the memory management table MMT corresponding to the block managed by the file is reset from FFH to OOH (processing 56), and this is executed for all pages of the file (loop of judgment 57).

In this way, after polling transmission is performed the number of times set by the operator, the image data for polling transmission is immediately invalidated, which prevents the polling transmission from remaining in the polling transmission state for an unnecessarily long time. Prevented and fax machines
Fax operation efficiency will be improved.

In the above embodiment, the judgment 14 and process 1 in FIG.
5 allows the operator to input the polling number data, but if the operator forgets to input the polling number data, the operator will not be able to escape from the loop of judgment 14. Therefore,
Another embodiment that solves these inconveniences will be described next.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the loop of decision 14 determines in decision 60 that there has been no key input for a certain period of time T (for example, 10 seconds), and the result of decision 60 is YES. If the polling time has been exceeded, a preset constant value CD is set in the polling number counter PTC (process 61).

In this way, even if the operator forgets to input the number of polling times, the number data is stored in the polling number counter PTC of the file management table FMT.

Note that the above-mentioned constant value CD is set to the average value (integer) of the number of partner stations during polling transmission, or the number of partner stations with the highest communication frequency.

In addition, if it is possible to perform an operation procedure such as turning on the start key SK immediately after turning on the polling transmission key K3 during polling transmission accumulation, the 10th
Change the polling transmission accumulation flow as shown in the figure. That is, judgment 65 detects that the start key SK is turned on without inputting the number of transmissions after turning on key K3, and step 66 sets the polling number counter PTC to a constant value CD.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, if even one of the receiving stations specified as the destination does not request polling transmission, the number of actual polling transmissions is smaller than the set value, and as a result, the image data is stored forever. will remain retained.
Therefore, the accumulation and retention time of image data is determined in advance, and as shown in FIG.
YES), the above-mentioned inconvenience can be solved by performing image data invalidation processing after step 54 (see FIG. 8).

Furthermore, if the operator is allowed to arbitrarily set the accumulation/holding time when accumulating image data, the utilization efficiency of the facsimile device FAX can be further improved.

In addition, in the embodiments described above, each
Facsimile section 1 with control means consisting of CPU
Although the facsimile device FAX is configured from the storage and reproducing section 2, the facsimile device FAX is not limited to this, and the facsimile device has the device configuration as shown in Fig. 12.
The same process as described above can be performed with FAX'. In addition, CPU1h′ in this case is the CPU mentioned above.
1h and CPU2e, ROM
1i has the contents of both ROM1i and ROM2f as storage contents, and RAM1j' has a storage capacity equivalent to the sum of RAM1j and RAM2g. Also, image memory
The PD may be the same as the image memory 2c.

In the above embodiment, the operation input section and the clock circuit are provided in the facsimile section, but they may be provided in the storage and playback section.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, image data for polling transmission is immediately invalidated when polling transmission is executed a specified number of times or when a specified time elapses. The advantage is that efficiency can be improved, and the efficiency of utilization of memory for image data can also be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partial diagram illustrating an operation panel, Fig. 3 is a memory map illustrating a file management table, and Fig. 4 is a page management table. 5a and 5b are memory maps showing a memory management table and block divisions of image memory, respectively. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a key scan flow, and FIG. 7 is an example of a polling transmission accumulation flow. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the transmission flow, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing another example of the polling transmission accumulation flow, and FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing another example of the polling transmission accumulation flow. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing another example of the polling transmission flow, and FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another example of the facsimile device. 1h, 1h', 2e...CPU (central processing unit),
2g...RAM (Random Access Memory),
10K...Numeric keypad, FMT...File management table, PTC...Polling counter,
PMT...page management table, MMT...memory management table.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a communication system for a facsimile device equipped with a memory for storing transmitted image data and a polling function, a transmission number setting means for setting the number of times the transmitted image data is to be transmitted, a clock circuit for outputting time information, and a clock circuit for outputting time information, and a clock circuit for outputting time information; A time designation means is provided for designating a time at which data is to be held valid, and when the number of polling transmissions matches the setting value of the transmission frequency setting means, or the time information output from the clock circuit is A communication method for a facsimile device, characterized in that the transmitted image data is invalidated when a specified time has elapsed.