JPH03201768A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select an optimum telephone line by obtaining a communication time based on number of sheets of transmission originals and a transmission mode data and selecting the telephone line offering the cheaper charge based on the communication time. CONSTITUTION:A line selector 6 consists of an arithmetic circuit or the like calculating a communication charge and generates a 4-digit code number representing a selected telephone company. In order to calculate the communication charge when the line selector 6 selects a line, a 2nd data memory 7 stores a toll number, a charge table data by weekdays and time, and a communication time data or the like for one sheet transmission in the standard mode as basic data for the charge calculation. Then a control circuit 1 fetching a key signal controls the equipment according to a program of a program memory 2 in response to the key signal. That is, the communication time is calculated based on number of sheets of the transmission original and the transmission mode and a line is selected based on the time. Thus, an optimum telephone line is selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a facsimile machine equipped with a telephone line selection function.

(b) Conventional technology Recently, so-called LCR (List Cost Routing), which automatically selects the cheapest route including communication charges among the telephone lines of multiple telephone companies, is used to communicate or make a call. ) communication devices such as telephones and facsimile machines are being developed (for example, see the instruction manual for facsimile machine 5anfax-5 manufactured by Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.).

By the way, in communication equipment equipped with LCR function,
In order to select the cheapest route, please enter your area code,
It has a data table by day of the week, time zone, etc., and when a dial number is entered when making a dial call, it will tell you which telephone company's phone line to use based on the entered dial number, day of the week, time zone, etc. The system is configured to calculate whether the charge will be cheaper, generate a 4-digit code number indicating the telephone company selected as a result of the calculation, and send the telephone number to be called following the code number to the telephone line. The telephone company's exchange that detects the code number then operates to connect to the telephone company's line corresponding to the code number.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the LCR function mentioned above, one of the conditions for selecting a line is the communication or call time, and currently the time limit for facsimile communication is 1 minute, and for telephone calls it is 3 minutes. Although the line is selected based on the calculation, the communication time varies depending on the number of documents to be sent and the transmission mode such as standard, fine, super fine, halftone, etc., so if there is a large deviation from the actual communication time, It cannot be said that the optimal selection is always made, as the charges may be cheaper if a different telephone line is selected. To solve this problem, it is conceivable for the user to predict and input the communication time, but it is difficult to predict the communication time for multiple documents to be sent by considering the transmission mode, so it is difficult for general users to It is not possible to request such a thing from the manufacturer, and there are problems such as the LCR function may not function effectively.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and includes means for inputting the number of documents to be transmitted and the transmission mode, and means for storing data serving as a reference for communication time. Then, the communication time is calculated from the input data and the reference data, and the line selection means selects the telephone line with the cheapest communication fee, along with other selection conditions.

(E) Function Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the communication time is calculated based on the number of documents to be sent and the transmission mode, and the line selection is performed based on that, so the communication time can be calculated quite accurately and the actual communication time can be compared with the actual communication time. This reduces errors in the selection of the optimal telephone line.

(f) Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

(1) is a control circuit that controls the entire facsimile machine,
It is controlled by a microprocessor, and each part is controlled according to a program in a program memory (2) in which processing programs are stored. The control circuit (1) also performs signal processing of read transmission original data and processing of received signals.

(3) is a reading unit that optically reads the transmitted original, converts the read black and white data into electrical signals, and supplies it to the control circuit (1). It has bottomed out.

(4) is a recording unit that drives a recording head such as a thermal head to perform printing under the control of the control circuit (1) based on the received signal, and is formed by a recording paper, a recording paper transport mechanism, and the recording head. .

(5) is a first data memory in which data inputted from the keyboard or signal processed by the control circuit (1), etc., which will be described later, is stored, and reading and writing of data is performed under the control of the control circuit (1). It is done. (6) is a line selection device that performs the LCR function, which is operated by an arithmetic circuit that calculates communication charges, etc., and generates a four-digit code number indicating the selected telephone company. (7) is a second data memory that stores basic data for calculating communication charges when selecting a line with the line selection device (6), including table data of charges by area number, day of the week, and time of day. Also stored are communication time data and the like when transmitting one sheet in standard mode.

(8) is a keyboard consisting of a communication key, a mode key, a numeric keypad, etc., and a control circuit (1) that captures key signals.
) is controlled according to the program in the program memory (2) in response to the key signal. (9) is a clock circuit which outputs day of the week and time data, and the control circuit (1) reads the data as appropriate. (10) is a clock circuit (9
), data entered from the keyboard (8), or data processed by the control circuit (1), etc., is displayed.The bottom of the display is a liquid crystal display, and the displayed data can be switched as appropriate. However, the current time data is usually displayed. (11) is a dial signal generation circuit that generates a pulse or tone dial signal based on the dial number data supplied from the control circuit (1), and is connected to the telephone line (L) via the line switching circuit (12). be done. (1
3) is a modem circuit that modulates the signal sent to the telephone line (L) and demodulates the signal from the telephone line (L), and is connected to the line switching circuit (12). Line switching circuit (12
) is a dial signal generation circuit (11) on the telephone line (L),
A relay circuit connects the modem circuit (13) and the telephone (14) to each other, and the switching is controlled by the control circuit (1). Further, this line switching circuit (12) has a built-in incoming call detection circuit that generates an incoming call detection signal by detecting an incoming bell signal.

Next, the operation of the present invention having such a configuration will be explained.

When transmitting, first, the original to be transmitted is set in the reading section (3), and then the number of originals to be transmitted is input by operating a predetermined key on the keyboard (8), and then the transmission mode is selected. As the transmission mode, there are standard, fine, super fine, and halftone modes depending on the sub-scanning density, and one of them is selected. These data are stored in a predetermined area of the first data memory (5). Next, when the dial number of the communication destination is input using the numeric keys of the keyboard (8), the input dial number data is stored in a predetermined area of the first data memory (5) and is also supplied to the line selection device (6). be done. The line selection device (6) that has received the dial number data then retrieves the transmission number data and transmission mode data stored in the first data memory (5) and the standard mode stored in the second data memory (7). Calculate the approximate communication time from the communication time data when sending one sheet. That is, the total communication time for the number of sheets to be transmitted is calculated by multiplying by 2 in the case of fine mode and 4 times in case of super fine mode. Also, from the area code data of the supplied dial number, a predetermined calculation is performed based on the table data stored in the second data memory (7) to determine the communication distance, and the day of the week read from the clock circuit (9). and time, perform a predetermined calculation based on the table data in the second data memory (7), and make a comprehensive judgment to determine which telephone company's telephone line should be used for the lowest cost including communication charges. As a result of the determination, a four-digit code number indicating the selected telephone company is generated and output to the control circuit (1). After receiving the code number, the control circuit (1) first controls the line switching circuit (12) to connect the line, and then subsequently transmits the dial number data stored in the first data memory (5). Dial signal generation circuit (11)
supply to. The dial signal generation circuit (11) generates a pulse or tone dial signal based on the supplied code number and dial number data, and connects the telephone line (L
).

When the other party's facsimile machine responds to the dial call and returns a response signal, the control circuit (1) that has detected the response signal via the modem circuit (13) performs normal control signal exchange with the other party's facsimile machine. , controls the reading section (3), performs signal processing such as encoding of the read original data, and transmits it to the telephone line 11 (L) via the modem circuit (13).

The facsimile machine of the other party is connected to the line of a pre-selected telephone company, and the transmission is performed via that line.

In this way, it is possible to send data at low communication charges, and since the communication time is determined and the telephone line is selected based on the transmission mode and data on the number of sheets sent, the difference between the actual communication time and the actual communication time is reduced, and the most suitable telephone line is selected. Line selection can be made.

Next, when receiving a transmission from another facsimile machine, when the line switching circuit (12) detects the incoming call, the control circuit (1) sends and receives control signals to and from the other facsimile machine, and then By receiving the signal, performing signal processing such as decoding, and supplying the processed signal to the recording section (4), a recording head such as a thermal head is driven to perform reception recording on recording paper.

Next, the operation when dialing to make a call will be explained.

In this case as well, if you enter the dial number to make a call using the numeric keypad of the keyboard (8) as described above, the line selection device (6) will It determines that it is in call mode, sets the call time to a preset 3 minutes, calculates the charge, and selects the most suitable telephone line. However, in this case, if the actual call time deviates significantly from the predicted three minutes, it may be cheaper to use another telephone line.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the facsimile device of the present invention is configured to calculate the communication time based on the number of documents to be sent and the transmission mode data, and select the telephone line with the lowest charge based on that time. , the communication time can be determined quite accurately, and the optimum telephone line can be selected, which has an extremely large practical effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a block diagram showing the tea of the facsimile machine of the present invention. (1)...control circuit, (3)...reading section, (4)...
...recording section, (5)...first data memory, (6).
... Line selection device, (7) ... Second data memory, (
8)...Keyboard.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A facsimile machine equipped with a so-called LCR function that automatically selects a telephone line with lower communication charges has a means for inputting the number of documents to be sent and the transmission mode, and stores data that serves as a standard for communication time. The facsimile apparatus is characterized in that it is comprised of a line selection means that calculates communication time from input data and reference data, and selects a telephone line with the lowest communication charge, along with other selection conditions.