JPH0278363A - data communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a data communication device, and more particularly to a data communication device having a relay function.

[Prior Art] Currently, there are two types of facsimile relay: primary relay and secondary relay.

This secondary and secondary relay will be explained based on FIG.

The primary relay means, for example, from the source terminal 5-A to the destination terminal 5-A.
-B and 5-C, the relay station 5-D is used as the relay station. That is, it is a system in which data is transmitted via one relay station.

Also, secondary relaying is from the source terminal 5-A to the destination terminal 5-A.
When transmitting an image to F, 5-G, and 5-H, this is a system in which it is relayed via a secondary relay station 5-D and a secondary relay station 5-E.

Now, when actually transmitting an image to a target destination via a relay station, it is necessary to provide instruction information indicating the destination to the relay station.

Normally, this instruction is made by reading an OCR sheet or MR sheet at the beginning of the transmitted image and transmitting it to the relay station.

Here, to explain the case of -next relay, the relay station determines whether the received first image is an image of an OCR sheet or a MR sheet (determination is made by detecting a specific mark). As a result, if it is determined that the image is related to a sheet, the characters or marks written on the sheet image are analyzed, and the destination terminal obtained by analyzing the actual transmitted images received from the second page onwards. The process of sending the data to

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, in recent years, there have been an increasing number of facsimile machines that automatically attach page numbers to transmitted images before transmission. According to this, the receiving side has the advantage of being able to instantly determine whether or not a page is missing.
Problems arise when transmitting images through a relay station.

This is because the first page received by the relay station is an ocR sheet image, and the images actually sent to the destination terminal end up being the second and subsequent pages sent from the source terminal. be. In other words, the first page received by the destination will have characters indicating that it is the second page, leading to a misunderstanding that the first page has disappeared.

The present invention has been made in view of the above prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device for a relay station that makes it possible to prevent a misunderstanding of the number of pages of a received image at a transmission destination.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve this problem, the present invention includes the configuration shown below.

That is, in a data communication device that receives relay instruction information and transmission purpose information from a remote terminal, and transmits the transmission purpose information to a destination terminal obtained by analyzing the relay instruction information, information on the transmission purpose information is provided. A calculating means for calculating the amount of information, a message generating means for generating message information based on the calculated amount of information, and a transmitting means for using the generated message information as a first page image and transmitting the transmission purpose information to the destination terminal. .

[Operation] In the configuration of the present invention, the amount of information of the received transmission purpose information is calculated by the calculation means, and message information based on the calculated amount of information is generated by the message generation means. Thereafter, transmission purpose information is transmitted to the destination terminal using the generated message information as the first page.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows the facsimile machine of this embodiment (which acts as a relay station).
A block diagram of the system is shown.

In the figure, 1 is a control unit that controls the entire facsimile machine, a so-called microprocessor, and has a built-in ROM that stores its operation control procedures and a RAM that is used as a work area.

2 is an operation unit with various function keys including numeric keys from °゛0'' to ``9°゛ (used for inputting the recipient's facsimile number, etc.), and 3 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) and its controller. This is a display unit that displays various messages and operation details. 4
5 is a scanner that reads the original image as black and white pixels, and 5 is a printer that records the received contents on recording paper. 6
7 is a decoding unit that decodes encoded data into an image; 7 is a coding unit that encodes the image; 8
is a character generator (CG) that generates a character symbol pattern for a given character symbol code. 9
10 is at least one data route switch for selecting either the image read from the scanner 4 to be output to the encoding unit 7 or the image decoded by the decoding unit 6 to be output to the printer 5; This is an image memory that can expand one page's worth of images. Reference numeral 11 denotes a hard disk for storing received data and the like, and its input/output is controlled under the control of a hard disk control unit 12 .

13 is a G3 communication control unit, 14 is a modem, 15 is a network control unit (NCU), and 16 is a G4 communication control unit, which performs communication by an I/F card 17 that performs level conversion in accordance with the digital line. It controls the procedure (has its own CPU, etc.).

Description of Outline of Processing (FIG. 2)> The operating principle of the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment with the above-described configuration will be described below.

When an incoming call is detected, reception processing is performed, and all received data is stored in the hard disk device 11. At this time, the number of pages of the received image is stored at a predetermined address in the RAM in the control unit l. after that,
The image of the first page is decoded and expanded into the image memory 10. The developed image is then displayed on an OCR sheet (OCR sheet).
By determining whether the image is an image of an MR sheet (the same applies hereinafter), it is determined whether the received data is a relay instruction. Here, if the data is not an OCR sheet, the data of interest has been transmitted with this device as the transmission destination, so it is sequentially decoded by the decoding unit 6 and output to the printer 5 to perform printing processing.

Now, when it is determined that the image of the first page developed in the image memory 10 is an OCR sheet, each instruction information in the sheet image is recognized (based on a known recognition process), and the recognition result is Based on this, the images from the second page onward will be transmitted to the destination facsimile machine, but if this continues, the images printed out by the destination facsimile machine will be from the second page onwards. In particular, if a page number pattern is assigned to each page of data sent from the source facsimile machine, misunderstandings may occur.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a relay route report is created, and the report is used as the first page to be sent to the destination facsimile.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the relay route report 20
is sent to the destination, followed by the original images 21a to 21c to be actually sent.

As shown in the figure, the relay route report 20 includes a title column 22 indicating that it is a relay route report, a column 23 indicating the source facsimile number and its abbreviation, and the number and abbreviation of the relay station (facsimile device in this embodiment). Column 24 indicating
A column 25 indicating the data reception time from the source facsimile machine, and a column 26 indicating the total number of pages of the relay route report 20 and the transmitted original image (in the case shown, there are 4 pages in total). ) is provided. Note that the information in column 26 is the number of pages of the previously stored information intended for transmission + 1 (relay route report)
It is done in

Therefore, in the destination facsimile, by looking at the relay route report 20 of the first page printed out, it is obvious whether or not there are omissions.

In this case, when this facsimile apparatus is used as a primary relay station, that is, the data flow shown in FIG. ). In the case of a secondary relay station, that is, in terms of data flow, (5-A) - (5-D) - (5
-E) When shouting (5-F-G), 2
Send with one relay route report. Of these, the second page is the same as the relay route report of the primary relay station, and the first page is a relay route report indicating secondary relay, (5-D) - (5-E) - (5 -F-H) and send. At this time, the information of the temporary relay station (5, -D) is added to the column 23 indicating the source of the secondary relay route report, the information of the own device is attached to the column 24 indicating the relay station, and the column 2
5 will include the time information when it was received from the temporary relay station.

Description of Processing Procedures (FIGS. 3 and 4)> Next, the operational processing contents of the control unit 1 of the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment based on the above-mentioned principle will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Although the description will be repeated later, the processing procedure based on the flowcharts of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, which will be described later, is stored as a program in the ROM in the control unit 1.

Now, in FIG. 3, when it is determined in step S1 that there is an incoming call from an analog/digital line, the process proceeds to step S2, and the received data is stored and accumulated in the hard disk 11 via the image memory 10. Next, the data corresponding to the first page of the accumulated data is decoded and developed in the image memory 10, and it is determined whether or not it is a relay instruction based on an OCR sheet. If it is determined that the received data is not a relay instruction, the received data is destined for this apparatus, so the process advances to step S15 and sequential printing is started.

On the other hand, if it is determined that it is a relay instruction, step S
Proceed to step 4 to determine whether the relay type is primary relay or secondary relay. - If it is determined that it is the next relay instruction, the process advances to the next step S5, and it is determined whether or not to create a relay route report. Note that this judgment criterion is based on the assumption that the instruction information is written on the OCR sheet from the instruction station (sender facsimile) and that the instruction information is identified.

Now, if you want to attach a relay route report, step S6
Then, a relay route report is created on the image memory 10 (details will be described later). Then, proceed to step S7,
The relay route report image created in the image memory 10 is encoded, and the data stored in the hard disk 11 with the relay route report at the beginning is transmitted to the transmission destination obtained by analysis. If it is determined that the transmission process has been completed in the next step S8, the process advances to step S13 to create a relay result report (a report indicating whether or not the transmission was successful), and in step S14, the transmission process is completed. Send the relay result report.

If it is determined in step S4 that it is a secondary relay instruction, the process advances to step S9, and it is determined in the same way as before whether or not to create a relay route report. When creating a relay route report, a relay route report is created in step SIO, and a relay is requested to the secondary relay station using a known communication procedure in step Sll. After this, wait for the relay result to arrive from the secondary relay station, and step S13
Proceed to processing.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the page number of the image to be transmitted is clearly indicated as the first page, it becomes possible to easily determine whether there is a missing page.

Furthermore, by printing out a relay route report indicating that the image has been relayed as the first page, it becomes clear at a glance whether the received image is normal reception or relay reception.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, by simultaneously transmitting a message indicating the amount of information intended to be transmitted, the destination can easily determine whether or not there is a missing page. Be able to make judgments.

Furthermore, by including information indicating that the message is a relay transmission, it becomes possible to determine whether the received image is a normal reception or a relay reception.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block configuration diagram of the facsimile machine in this embodiment, Figure 2 is a diagram showing a relay route report in this embodiment, and Figures 3 and 4 are flowcharts of the operation processing procedure of the facsimile machine in this embodiment. , FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining relay communication. In the figure, 1...control unit, 2...operation unit,
3...Display unit, 4...Scanner, 5...Printer, 6...Decoding unit, 7...Encoding unit, 8...Character generator, 9...Data route switch, 10... Image memory, 11...
Hard disk, 12... Hard disk control unit, 13... G3 communication control unit, 14... Modem, 15... NCU,... 16... G4 paper feeding control unit, 17... I/ F card, 20... Communication route report. Patent applicant: Canon Co., Ltd.-4, 5: [(”. Figure 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a data communication device that receives relay instruction information and transmission purpose information from a remote terminal, and transmits the transmission purpose information to a destination terminal obtained by analyzing the relay instruction information, the transmission purpose information The apparatus comprises: a calculating means for calculating the amount of information; a message generating means for generating a message based on the calculated amount of information; and a transmitting means for setting the generated message as a first page image and transmitting the transmission purpose information to the destination terminal. A data communication device characterized by: (2) The data communication device according to claim 1, wherein the message information includes a message indicating that the message has been relayed.