JP2000032184A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the quality of an image from being deteriorated at the time of transmitting the image data of an original from an image processor to a specified transmitted party and to reduce manual work. SOLUTION: A CPU 2 in the image processor automatically sets up the reading condition of an image reading part 1 in accordance with the environments (a printing condition, a communication condition, etc.), of a transmitted party (any one of plural facsimile equipments (FAXs) 9 or personal computers(PCs)) specified by the operation of an operation part 4 or automatically selects the transmission method (FAX transmission or electronic mail transmission) of image data by an I/F control part 5. Consequently image data read out from an original under a proper reading condition is transmitted to a specified transmitted party by a suitable transmission method, and when the transmission is not normally executed by any communicating trouble, the transmitted party of the image data is changed to another previously recorded party and the image data are retransmitted to the changed transmitted party.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a destination designating means for designating a destination of image data, an image reading means for optically reading an image of a document, and an image reading means for reading the image data read by the means. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus and a personal computer (hereinafter, abbreviated as “PC”) having an image transmitting unit (communication device) for transmitting to a destination specified by a specifying unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Scanners which read an image of a document and convert the image into electronic information (image data) have been widely used with the recent spread of personal computers, copying machines and facsimile machines. In addition to a facsimile machine, a personal computer equipped with a scanner device can easily obtain a situation of communicating with an external device via a telephone line or other communication network.

For example, when transmitting image data from a personal computer, the image data can be transmitted directly to a facsimile apparatus via a modem, or can be transmitted to another personal computer via a telephone line or a communication network.
However, when performing such transmission, it is necessary to specify a transmission destination (destination) of image data in advance.

[0004] Here, as one of services using the Internet, for example, there is a character-based data transmission / reception service called electronic mail. According to this, the image data can be appropriately converted and attached to the main body of the e-mail, so that the image data can be transmitted to a destination that can receive the e-mail. Many current e-mail receiving applications have a function as this data attachment means, and anyone can easily exchange image data.

[0005]

As described above, even if anyone can easily transmit image data from an image processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a facsimile apparatus, generally, the image data on the side receiving image data can be transmitted. There are restrictions on external devices (transmission destinations). For example, in a facsimile apparatus, the upper limit of the recording paper size is determined, and in many cases, A3 size image data cannot be received and recorded on the recording paper. In addition, in many cases, the received image data cannot be sufficiently reproduced (printed or displayed) at the destination due to not only the recording paper but also the definition of the image data and the limitation of the memory capacity of the destination.

Therefore, it is necessary to divide the image data to be transmitted from an image processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a facsimile machine into two pieces of A4 size image data or to compress the image data to half the size. , And manual work was involved. Recently, mediation of these restrictions between devices has been circulating, but these devices have to reduce the image quality and force the transmission of image data when the capacity of the transmission destination is low. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in image quality when image data of a document is transmitted from an image processing apparatus to a designated destination, and to reduce a manual operation. And to improve work efficiency.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transmission destination designating unit for designating a transmission destination of image data, an image reading unit for optically reading an image of a document, and an image data read by the unit. In order to achieve the above object, an image processing apparatus having an image transmitting means for transmitting an image to a destination designated by a destination designating means is characterized as follows.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reading condition setting means for automatically setting a reading condition of the image reading means in accordance with a destination environment specified by the destination specifying means. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus of the first aspect, a transmission method selection for automatically selecting a transmission method of image data by the image transmission unit according to a destination environment specified by the destination specification unit. Means are provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus of the second aspect, the image data is transmitted to the destination designated by the destination designation means normally due to some communication failure. If not, the destination of the image data is changed to another destination registered in advance, and a means for retransmitting the image data to the destination is provided.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus embodying the present invention. This image processing apparatus includes an image reading unit 1, a CPU 2, a display unit 3, an operation unit 4, an I / F (interface) control unit 5, an image processing unit 6, an image storage unit 7, and the like.

The image reading section 1 is a general scanner device, and reads an image of a document optically at a resolution (precision) designated in advance according to an instruction from the CPU 2 and outputs it as image data (digital data). The CPU 2 is a microcomputer including a central processing unit, a ROM, a RAM, a nonvolatile memory, and the like.
The entire image processing apparatus is totally controlled.

The display unit 3 includes various displays including a display, and displays various information. The operation unit 4 is an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse, and can input various information by an operation of an operator.

The I / F control unit 5 is a public line (telephone line)
Communication control (I / F control) with an external device such as a facsimile machine (FAX) 9 via the PC 8 or a personal computer (PC) 11 via the Internet (or another communication network) 10. It controls communication with external devices, and generally includes a modem device and a network I
/ F card.

The image processing section 6 performs necessary image processing on the image data read by the image reading section 1. The image storage unit 7 temporarily stores image data read by the image reading unit 1 (image data subjected to necessary image processing by the image processing unit 6).

The operator can input a plurality of image data transmission destinations (addresses) by operating the operation unit 4 and store and register them as a destination list in a nonvolatile memory in the CPU 2 (see FIG. 1). Another storage device such as a hard disk device may be newly provided and stored and registered therein.) Each unit shown in FIG. 1 functions as an image reading unit, a destination designation unit, and an image transmission unit.

Hereinafter, the processing according to the present invention in the image processing apparatus will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. First, the processing according to the first aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this case, each unit shown in FIG. 1 also functions as a reading condition setting unit of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a destination registration process according to the first aspect of the present invention. This routine is started by being called by a main routine (not shown).
U2 checks whether there is an instruction to input a destination (FAX number or mail address to which the image data is transmitted), and if there is no instruction to input the destination, returns to the main routine.

When a destination input is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, a destination input screen for enabling the input of a destination is displayed on the display of the display unit 3 in step 2 and then in step 3 The presence or absence of a destination input is checked, and when a destination is input by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the input destination is stored and registered in a non-volatile memory (not shown) in step 4,
Returning to step 1, the same processing as described above is performed.

Here, when the operator registers the addresses of Mr. Yamada and Mr. Suzuki by operating the operation unit 4, for example, "Yamada: 03-1234-56"
78, and then enter "Suzuki: suzuki @
aaa. co. By inputting "jp", the input information is stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of an image transmission process according to the first aspect of the present invention. This routine is also called and started by the main routine, and first, in step 11, the CPU 2 checks whether there is a destination selection instruction, and if there is no destination selection instruction, returns to the main routine.

When a destination selection is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, a destination selection screen including a plurality of selectable destinations is displayed on the display of the display unit 3 in step 12, and then in step 13 It is checked whether or not a destination has been selected. If any one of a plurality of destinations on the destination selection screen is selected by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the selected destination is temporarily stored in a RAM (not shown) in step 14. To memorize.

Next, in step 15, it is determined whether or not the destination external device selected earlier is a facsimile device.
If the facsimile device 9 is not the facsimile device 9 but another information processing device such as the personal computer 11, the presence or absence of a transmission start instruction is checked in step 19, and when the transmission start is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, step 20 The image of the document is read by the image reading unit 1 under the set conditions, and the image data is read in step 21 by the external device (information processing device) of the destination previously selected by the I / F control unit 5.
Send to

If the destination external device selected earlier is the facsimile device 9, the image reading unit 1 is selected in step 16 according to the environment (printing conditions such as recording paper size and resolution).
Restrict reading conditions by. That is, the reading area and the resolution of the image reading unit 1 are set according to the printing conditions of the external device (the facsimile machine 9) of the selected destination.

For example, if the resolution of the image reading unit 1 is 600d
When the image reading unit 1 is set to 600 dpi, the image reading unit 1 reads the image of the original at 600 dpi.
If printing can be performed only at a resolution lower than 600 dpi, the image data read at 600 dpi cannot be transmitted to the facsimile machine 9, and in such a case, the resolution of the image reading unit 1 is set to 300 dpi.
Reset to a lower resolution such as.

When the facsimile machine 9 can print only image data of up to A4 size even when the image of the A3 size document is read, the image reading section 1 transmits the A3 size image data to the facsimile machine 9. Since the image cannot be transmitted, in such a case, the image reading unit 1
Is divided into two. Then, the entire image of the document is read in two separate scans, and each image data is sequentially transmitted to the facsimile machine 9 and the A4 size recording paper 2 is read.
It can be printed on a sheet.

When the reading conditions of the image reading unit 1 are restricted in accordance with the printing conditions of the facsimile machine 9, it is necessary to recognize the printing conditions. When the apparatus is the facsimile apparatus 9, the printing conditions may be input at the same time, and stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory. After the reading conditions are restricted, a screen prompting the user to select whether or not the reading conditions are OK is displayed on the display unit 3 in step 17.

Next, in step 18, it is checked whether or not the reading condition is OK or not. When “OK” is selected by the operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, a transmission start instruction is issued in step 19. Check for
When transmission start is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the image of the original is read by the image reading unit 1 in step 20 under the set conditions.
In step 1, the image data is transmitted to the external device (facsimile device 9) of the destination previously selected by the I / F control unit 5.

If the facsimile machine 9 can print only image data of up to A4 size even when the image of the A3 size document is read, the image reading section 1 sends the A3 size image data to the facsimile machine 9. Since the image cannot be transmitted, in such a case, the image reading unit 1
By compressing the image data read in step A4 to A4 size and sending it to the facsimile machine 9, printing can be performed on A4 size paper.

As described above, the image processing apparatus automatically sets the reading conditions of the image reading unit 1 in accordance with the environment of the selected (designated) external device, and transmits the read condition to the selected external device. By transmitting the image data read from the original document under appropriate reading conditions, it is possible to prevent a decrease in image quality. In addition, manual work is reduced, and work efficiency is improved.

Next, in the image processing apparatus,
The processing according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In this case, each unit shown in FIG. 1 also functions as a reading condition setting unit according to claim 1 and a transmission method selecting unit according to claim 2. The destination registration process is the same as that in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of an image transmission process according to the second aspect of the present invention. This routine is also called and started by the main routine, and first, in step 31, the CPU 2 checks the presence or absence of a destination selection instruction, and returns to the main routine if there is no destination selection instruction.

When a destination selection is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, step 12 in FIG.
After performing the same processing as in steps 18 to 18, the presence or absence of a transmission start instruction is checked in step 32, and when transmission start is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the image reading unit 1 in step 33 Is read under the set conditions.

Next, the I / F control unit 5 according to the environment (communication conditions) of the external device of the destination previously selected in step 34
Is selected, the image data read by the image reading unit 1 is transmitted to the external device of the destination previously selected by the I / F control unit 5 in step 35. I do.

When the transmission method by the I / F control unit 5 is selected in accordance with the communication condition of the external device of the previously selected destination, it is necessary to recognize the communication condition. When the destination is input, the communication condition of the external device at the destination may be input at the same time, and may be stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory.

For example, when the operator inputs the address of Mr. Yamada by operating the operation unit 4, "Yamad
a: 03-1234-5678 ", and Mr. Yamada inputs that he wants to receive it by fax (communication conditions), and the respective data are stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory correspondingly.

When the operator inputs the address of Mr. Suzuki by operating the operation unit 4, "Suzuk"
i: suzuki @ aaa. co. In addition to inputting "jp", Mr. Suzuki inputs that he / she wants to receive it by e-mail (e-mail or the like), and each data is stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory correspondingly.

This image processing apparatus converts the image data read from the original into facsimile data when "Yamada" is selected as the destination and the start of transmission is instructed after the above-mentioned registration is performed. Public line 8
To the facsimile machine 9 of Mr. Yamada. When "Suzuki" is selected as the destination and transmission start is instructed, predetermined compression processing or the like is performed on the image data read from the manuscript, and the compressed data is attached to an e-mail. PC 11
Send to

As described above, the image processing apparatus automatically sets the reading conditions by the image reading unit 1 according to the environment of the external device of the selected destination, and sets the image data by the I / F control unit 5. Is automatically selected and the image data read from the original document under appropriate reading conditions is transmitted to the external device of the selected destination by an appropriate transmission method, whereby the following effects can be obtained.

That is, a decrease in image quality can be prevented.
In addition, manual work is reduced, and work efficiency is improved. Furthermore, since the transmission of the image data to the external device of the selected destination can be reliably performed by the transmission method corresponding to the communication condition of the external device, the reliability is improved.

Next, in the image processing apparatus,
The processing according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this case, each unit shown in FIG. 1 also functions as a reading condition setting unit according to claim 1, a transmission method selecting unit according to claim 2, and an image transmitting unit according to claim 3.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a destination registration process according to the third aspect of the present invention. This routine is also called and started by the main routine. First, in step 41, the CPU 2 checks whether or not there is an instruction to input a destination (FAX number or mail address to which the image data is transmitted). Return to

When the destination input is instructed by the operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, a destination input screen for enabling the input of the destination is displayed on the display of the display unit 3 in step 42, and then in step 43. Is checked to see if there is a destination input, and when a destination is input by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the input destination is stored in a non-volatile memory and registered in step 44.

Next, if the data is not delivered at step 45 (if the transmission of the image data to the external device of the destination registered at step 44 is not performed normally due to some communication problem), another destination is set. After displaying a screen prompting the user to select whether or not to input, on the display of the display unit 3, it is checked in step 46 whether or not there is a selection as to whether or not to input another destination in the case of failure.

When "do not input" is selected by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the process returns to the step 41 to perform the same processing as described above, but when "input" is selected, Checks again whether there is a destination input in step 43, and when a destination is input, registers the destination in step 44 in correspondence with the previously registered destination, and thereafter performs the same processing as described above.

Here, when the operator registers the address of Mr. Yamada by operating the operation unit 4, for example, "Y
After inputting "amada: 03-1234-5678", considering that the transmission of the image data to the external device of the destination was not performed normally due to some communication trouble, "03 -1234-567
9 "and" ymada@bbb.co.jp "are sequentially input, and the input information is stored and registered in the nonvolatile memory as shown in FIG. At this time, priority is given to each of the input information.

When the operator registers the address of Mr. Suzuki by operating the operation unit 4, for example, "Su"
zuki: suzuki @ aaa. co. After inputting "jp", in consideration of a case where the transmission of the image data to the external device of the destination is not normally performed due to some communication problem, "03-5555-66" is set as another destination.
66 ", the input information is shown in FIG.
Is stored and registered in the non-volatile memory as shown in FIG.
At this time, priority is given to each of the input information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the image transmission processing according to the third aspect of the present invention. This routine is also called and started by the main routine, and first, in step 41, the CPU 2 checks the presence or absence of a destination selection instruction, and if there is no instruction of destination selection, returns to the main routine.

When a destination selection is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, step 12 in FIG.
After performing the same processing as in steps 18 to 18, the presence or absence of a transmission start instruction is checked in step 42, and when transmission start is instructed by an operation on the operation unit 4 by the operator, the image reading unit 1 in step 43 Is read under the set conditions.

Next, the I / F control unit 5 according to the environment (communication conditions) of the external device of the destination previously selected in step 44
Is selected, and the image data read by the image reading unit 1 is transmitted to the external device of the destination previously selected by the I / F control unit 5 in step 45. After that, at step 46, it is checked whether or not the communication has been normally performed.

When the transmission of the image data to the external device of the selected destination has been normally performed, the process returns to the main routine. However, when the transmission of the image data to the external device of the selected destination is not normally performed due to some communication failure, and an error is detected, the transmission destination of the image data is set in step 47 to another registered destination. Change to the destination (at this time, the next destination is determined based on the priority order).

Thereafter, the flow returns to step 44 to select a transmission method (one of facsimile transmission, e-mail transmission, etc.) by the I / F control unit 5 according to the environment (communication conditions) of the external device of the changed destination. The image data that could not be transmitted normally in step 45 (stored in the image storage unit 7 in FIG. 1) is retransmitted by the I / F control unit 5 to the external device of the changed destination, and thereafter, the same as described above Is performed. When the destination external device after the change is the facsimile device 9, the illustration is omitted in FIG.
The same processing as 18 is performed.

As described above, the image processing apparatus automatically sets the reading conditions of the image reading unit 1 according to the environment of the external device of the selected destination, and sets the image data by the I / F control unit 5. After automatically selecting the transmission method, the image data read from the original document under the appropriate scanning conditions is transmitted to the external device at the selected destination using the appropriate transmission method, and if the transmission is normal due to some communication failure If not, the destination of the image data is changed to another destination registered in advance, and the image data is retransmitted to an external device at the destination, thereby obtaining the following effects.

That is, a decrease in image quality can be prevented.
In addition, manual work is reduced, and work efficiency is improved. Furthermore, the transmission of the image data to the external device of the selected destination can be performed by a transmission method corresponding to the communication condition of the external device, and even if the transmission is not performed normally due to some communication failure, Since retransmission to an external device at another destination can be performed, reliability is greatly improved.

Although the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image processing apparatus has been described, the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus which handles a still image operation such as a video camera or a digital camera.

[0056]

As described above, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, image data read from a manuscript under appropriate reading conditions is transmitted to a designated transmission destination (external device of a destination). It is possible to prevent the image quality from deteriorating, and to reduce the number of manual operations, thereby improving the operation efficiency.

According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention,
Since image data read from the original document under appropriate reading conditions is transmitted to the specified destination by an appropriate transmission method, reliability is also improved. According to the image processing apparatus of the third aspect, when the transmission of the image data to the designated destination is not performed normally due to some communication failure, the image data is re-transmitted to another destination. Since transmission is performed, reliability is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a destination registration process according to the invention of claim 1 in the image processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a destination list registered by the destination registration process of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of an image transmission process according to the invention of claim 1 in the image processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of an image transmission process according to the invention of claim 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a destination registration process according to the invention of claim 3;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a destination list registered by the destination registration process of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of an image transmission process according to the invention of claim 3 in the image processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Image reading section 2: CPU 3: Display section 4: Operation section 5: I / F control section 6: Image processing section 7: Image storage section 8: Public line 9: Facsimile apparatus 10: Internet 11: Personal computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] A destination designation unit for designating a destination of image data; an image reading unit for optically reading an image of a document; and image data read by the unit designated by the destination designation unit. An image processing apparatus comprising: an image transmitting unit that transmits an image to a destination; a reading condition setting unit that automatically sets a reading condition of the image reading unit according to an environment of the destination specified by the destination specifying unit. An image processing apparatus comprising: 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
An image processing apparatus comprising: a transmission method selection unit that automatically selects a transmission method of image data by the image transmission unit according to an environment of a transmission destination specified by the transmission destination specification unit. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image transmitting unit does not normally transmit image data to a destination specified by the destination specifying unit due to some communication problem. An image processing apparatus comprising: means for changing a destination of the image data to another destination registered in advance, and retransmitting the image data to the destination.