JPH05328105A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an original and to facilitate the reading on a reception side. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 11 reads the document of B4 size in a main scanning direction by the line sensor of a read processing part 12 and writes it in a RAM 13 and a line memory 17. The read processing part 12 successively reads picture data from the original in a subscanning direction. Picture data by one- page portion of the original is written in the RAM 13. Data '1' is written in the line memory 17 when a part of black data is present on each main scanning-direction line. The result of the OR operation to the subscanning direction is written for the whole of one page of the original. The part of continuity of data '0' on the line memory 17 is discriminated as a blank part; and if the blank part is sufficient, the blank part is enlarged to perform the reduction processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine for transmitting image data via a telephone line, and more particularly to a facsimile machine having a function of reducing the width of recording paper on the receiving side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a schematic electrical configuration of a conventional facsimile machine. The facsimile machine calls the other party through the public telephone line and transmits the image data obtained by reading the original. A central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “CPU”) 1, a reading processing unit 2, a random access memory (hereinafter abbreviated as “RAM”) 3 for performing processing for reading and transmitting a document in a facsimile device. , Modem 4, line controller 5, and read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as "RO
“M” is abbreviated as “6” and the like.

The CPU 1 calls the receiving side using the programs and data stored in the ROM 6. CPU1
The signal for calling by is modulated by the modem 4 and transmitted to the other party's device connected to the telephone line via the line controller 5. When the line control unit 5 receives a signal indicating that the reception is completed from the other party, it is demodulated by the modem 4. The CPU 1 controls the reading processing unit 2 to start reading a document. The reading processing unit 2 is provided with a one-dimensional image sensor extending in the main scanning direction, and the document is conveyed at a constant speed in the sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. Image data obtained from the image sensor is RAM3
Is written once. The CPU 1 calls the image data of the RAM 3 in accordance with the communication speed of the modem 4 and writes it in the modem 4. The signal modulated by the modem 4 is transmitted to the other party's device through the line controller 5.

The facsimile machine has a recording sheet for reception. The recording paper is generally in the form of a roll having a recordable width on the short side of B4 or A4 (Japanese Industrial Standard B4 row 4 or A row 4) and having a length of several tens of meters. If the facsimile machine calls the other party before starting the transmission, the other party also sends information about the recording paper width. When a document of size B4 is transmitted in a portrait state and the recording capacity of the recording paper of the other party is only A4, if it is transmitted as it is, the image will be out of the recording paper on the receiving side.

A conventional facsimile apparatus has a function of reducing the width of an original and transmitting it when the width of the recording paper on the receiving side is smaller than the width of the original. When the width is reduced, the CPU 1 controls the reading process to uniformly reduce the B4 width image data obtained from the image sensor to A4.
It is converted into a width, written in the RAM 3 and transmitted.

[0006]

In the conventional facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 5, uniform reduction processing is performed in the main scanning direction. When the reduction processing is uniformly performed in the main scanning direction regardless of the content of the original document in this manner, it becomes difficult to see characters and the like, which makes it difficult to discriminate and information may be lost. Documents usually have a large amount of white space, and even if the white space is reduced, less information is lost. In the conventional reduction processing in a facsimile apparatus, a portion containing a large amount of information, such as a character, and a portion containing a small amount of information, such as a blank space, are similarly reduced, so that the character information is sacrificed due to the blank space.

An object of the present invention is not to reduce the character portion in an original composed of only characters, but instead to reduce only the margin portion to obtain a recording result that is easy to read on the receiving side. It is to provide a facsimile machine that can do this.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when the width of the recording paper of the receiving side in the main scanning direction is smaller than the width of the original of the transmitting side in the main scanning direction, the transmitting side is the main recording paper of the receiving side. In a facsimile apparatus capable of reducing an image of a document in the main scanning direction and sending the image in accordance with the width in the scanning direction, an image memory for storing data representing the image of the document and all data in the sub-scanning direction on the image memory data. In response to the output from the blank line detection means for detecting a blank line area in the range and the blank line detection means, a predetermined reduction process is performed only for the blank line area so that the original in the main scanning direction is scanned. And a processing unit for reducing the width to the width of the recording paper in the main scanning direction.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the facsimile apparatus includes the image memory, the blank line detecting means, and the processing means. The data indicating the image of the original is stored in the image memory. The blank line detecting means detects a blank line-shaped area on the data in the image memory for the entire range in the sub-scanning direction. The processing means responds to the output from the blank line detecting means and performs a predetermined reduction process only on the blank line-shaped area. Even if the width of the document in the main scanning direction is reduced to the width of the recording sheet in the main scanning direction, the non-blank region in the entire range in the sub scanning direction is not reduced, so that the character information is not damaged by the reduction. In this way, even if the width of the recording paper on the receiving side in the main scanning direction is smaller than the width of the original on the transmitting side in the main scanning direction, it is possible to obtain an easily readable recording result on the receiving side.

[0010]

1 shows a schematic electrical construction of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The CPU 11 reads the image data from the original by the line sensor of the reading processing unit 12. The line sensor reads the one-dimensional image data extending in the main scanning direction while shifting it in the sub scanning direction at a constant speed. The image data of the entire original read in this manner is sequentially written in the RAM 13. CPU11, RAM13
The image data in the inside is read out and modulated by the modem 14,
It is transmitted to the telephone line via the line control unit 15. CPU1
The programs and data for 1 to perform the transmission operation are RO
It is stored in advance in M16. The line memory 17 is
Used when performing reduction processing.

The facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 transmits an original having a size of B4, that is, a width of 25.7 cm and a length of 36.4 cm, and the recordable width on the recording paper on the receiving side is A4 in the horizontal direction. Assume a certain 21 cm. In this case, it is necessary to reduce the width of 25.7 cm to the width of 21 cm. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, if there is a sufficient margin portion, it is possible to reduce only the margin portion and transmit easy-to-read image data.

FIG. 2 shows a process when image data is reduced and transmitted according to the embodiment shown in FIG. Step a
Starting from 1, in step a2, the reading processing unit 12
The RAM 13 and the line memory 17 sequentially write line-shaped image data in the main scanning line direction. RAM13
Has a capacity enough to store data for one B4 original. The line memory 17 has a capacity capable of storing image data corresponding to the width of the document in the main scanning line direction. Data in the main scanning line direction is written in the RAM 13 by sequentially changing the address in the sub scanning line direction. The initial values of the line memory 17 are all 0, and when the image data in the main scanning line direction is transferred from the reading processing unit 12 to the RAM 13, if there is a black data portion, 1 is set at the corresponding position of the line memory 17. Written. Nothing is done for the white data. By such an operation, the vertical direction of the B4 document,
That is, the lines in the sub-scanning direction can be ORed.

At step a3, when the data transfer for one B4 original is completed, the line memory 17 is checked. In the line memory 17, the data which is the result of the OR in the main scanning line direction from the B4 original is written in the main scanning line direction.
If there is at least one black data in the sub-scanning line direction, "1" is written in the corresponding line memory 17 portion. Therefore, the portion where the data in the line memory 17 is "0" indicates that the line in the vertical direction, that is, the sub-scanning line direction in which it is located is blank.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the image data stored in the RAM 13 and the data stored in the line memory 17. Data in the main scanning line direction is stored in the RAM 13 in the line direction as 1 line, 2 lines, 3 lines, 4 lines, ... If there is at least one black data on the same sub-scan line, "1" is written in the line memory 17.

When the line of step a3 shown in FIG. 2 is completed, the process proceeds to step a4. At step a4, it is judged whether or not there is a sufficient portion of data "0" in the line memory 17. At the time of this determination, the data "0" portion is only the continuous portion. Margin lines that do not continue for two or more consecutive times are not counted. If there are only enough lines corresponding to the reduction ratio to move to the a5 step, the process moves to step a5 and discards all white line data of the image data in the RAM 13 where the entire sub-scanning line direction is a blank line. Reduction processing is performed by transmitting the remaining image data, and the processing ends in step a6. If the margin is not sufficient in step a4, the process proceeds to step a7. At step a7, the image data in the RAM 13 is uniformly reduced in the main scanning line direction as in the conventional case. As the reduction processing, the image data at a constant interval is ORed with the adjacent image data and the adjacent image data, and the image data is thinned out at a constant interval. In this way, the conventional uniform reduction process ends at step a8.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the reduction processing as shown in FIG. 4 can be performed. That is, FIG.
The width W1 in the W1 direction is B in the main scanning direction as shown in (1).
A document having a width of 4 can be reduced so that the width W2 in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG. 4B becomes a width of A4. It is not reduced in the sub-scanning direction. If the blank line 20 and the character string 21 exist in the W1 width original, the portion corresponding to the blank line 20 is reduced to a reduced blank line 22 in the received original, but the portion corresponding to the character string 21 has the same size. It becomes the character string 21 of. In this way, distinguish the character part and the margin part,
The reduction of the character portion can be suppressed as compared with the reduction of the size of the original. In general, B4 originals are horizontally long, so horizontal writing 2
Pages are often used in a two-page spread. In such a case, the reduction method according to the present invention can be effectively used.

Although the above embodiment shows the case where the B4 original is transmitted to the receiving apparatus having the A4 width recording capability, the same reduction can be applied to the A3 original for the B4 width or the A4 original.
It can also be used when transmitting to a device having a 4-width recording capability, and a manuscript that is easy to read can be transmitted. Further, in this embodiment, the RAM 13 and the line memory 17
Although, and are provided, it goes without saying that a storage area for the line memory 17 may be allocated in one RAM 13. Of course, the CPU 11 may perform a calculation process in the sub-scanning direction on the image data in the RAM 13 after the writing of one page of the original is completed to detect a blank portion. R as in this embodiment
If the writing to the AM 13 and the writing to the line memory 17 are performed in parallel, the time required for processing can be shortened.

Further, in the above embodiment, although the uniform reduction processing is performed only in the main scanning direction when the margin is not sufficient, one page of image data to be processed is written in the RAM 13. Therefore, it goes without saying that the entire document may be uniformly reduced by performing the reduction process also in the sub-scanning direction by the calculation process. If the entire original is uniformly reduced, it is possible to prevent the original and the received image from being deformed due to the reduction in the main scanning direction and the same in the sub scanning direction as in the conventional reduction processing. ..

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the width of the recording paper on the receiving side is smaller than the width of the original on the transmitting side, only a blank line-shaped area extending in the sub-scanning direction is formed. Since the size is reduced, it is possible to obtain a readable recording result on the receiving side.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a reduction process according to the embodiment shown in FIG.

3 is a diagram showing image data in a RAM 13 and data in a line memory 17 in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a reduced state of a document according to the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic electrical configuration of a conventional facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 CPU 12 Read processing unit 13 RAM 14 Modem 15 Line control unit 16 ROM 17 Line memory 20 Blank line 21 Character string 22 Reduced blank line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When the width of the recording paper of the receiving side in the main scanning direction is smaller than the width of the original of the transmitting side in the main scanning direction, the transmitting side adjusts the original according to the width of the receiving side of the recording paper in the main scanning direction. In a facsimile machine that can reduce the size of the image in the main scanning direction and send it, the image memory that stores the data that represents the image of the document and the line-shaped area that is blank in the entire range in the sub-scanning direction on the image memory data In response to the output from the blank line detection means and the blank line detection means, predetermined width reduction processing is performed only on the blank line-shaped area, so that the width in the main scanning direction of the document is determined in the main scanning direction of the recording paper. And a processing unit for reducing the width of the facsimile machine.