JPH0352374A - Facsimile 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 facsimile device, and particularly to a facsimile device connected to an ISDN network.

(Conventional technology) With the development of an advanced information society, opportunities to use facsimiles are increasing, and in recent years facsimiles have been added with various functions, making them more convenient and convenient for anyone to use. : It is becoming more and more expensive.

In the use of facsimile machines, which are becoming increasingly popular, there is an increasing need to properly know how much communication charges are currently being incurred in order to use facsimiles efficiently. There is.

(Problem to be solved by Akira J'3) However, in the past, when a facsimile communication was made, the receiving party could not easily know how much the other party's (calling party's) communication charges were.

ISDN provides billing information services, but such I
Even in SDN, in a facsimile device connected to an ISDN network, billing information after the end of communication is notified only to the calling party, and therefore, the receiving party cannot know the communication charges of the other party.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that allows even the called party to know the communication fee in facsimile communication.

(Means and effects for solving the problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a facsimile device connected to an ISDN network, which includes means for notifying billing information to the other party after communication is completed. This allows the receiving side to know the communication charges.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. I is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, the facsimile machine +00 has a central control unit denoted by 1 and a communication control section denoted by 8. The central control unit 1 controls the entire system, and the communication control section 8 controls the entire communication system. control.

That is, the central control unit l controls the facsimile machine 1
00, a ROM 3 that stores control programs, etc. according to the control system shown in FIGS. It is composed of a RAM 4 which is used as a temporary evacuation area, and a central control unit 1 centrally controls the entire wood facsimile apparatus by a CPU 2 based on a program stored in a ROM 3.

A billing information transmission flag that is set to ON by a changeover switch on the operation unit, which will be described later, is a flag that is used to indicate whether or not a notification mode for notifying billing information to the other party's facsimile terminal is selected after communication ends. The value is R
It can be stored in AM4.

The central control unit l is connected to a bus, and the bus includes the communication control section 8, a reading section used for transmission, that is, an image scanner 5 that reads input information such as a document as an image, and an image scanner 5 that reads input information such as a document as an image. A printer that prints the original document, that is, a printing unit 7 that prints images on recording paper, and a call control unit 9 that controls the protocol when making and receiving calls are connected, and furthermore, there are ten (10) keys, function keys, etc. An input section 6 as an operation unit consisting of
is connected to the charging information storage unit 10, and a character generator 1l that creates characters when transmitting section information.
and an MMR encoding unit 12 for transmitting billing information together with image data. At the time of transmission, the image scanner 5 reads the transmitted image and outputs white pixel data.

Reading can be performed by a reading mechanism including, for example, an optical system for reading the transmitted original, a CCD line sensor, and the like.

The printing unit 7 prints black and white binary data on recording paper, and has a recording mechanism unit, and uses, for example, image data input in page units to print original images on the sending side onto recording paper-L. draw. The recording mechanism may be of any appropriate type, such as a thermal recording type or a laser beam type.

Transmission and reception as described above are performed via the communication control section 8. That is, the communication control unit 8 for transmitting and receiving the facsimile device ffiloO to and from the outside is connected to the external ISD.
The image scanner 5, the printing section 7, the call control section 9, and the M line 200 are connected to each other via a bus.
M['{It is also connected to the encoding unit 12 and the like, and controls the entire communication. In this transmission, billing information is sent as image data to the ISDN line 200 under certain conditions as described below.
It also performs the process of sending the data immediately.

This device, as an ISDN terminal connected to an ISDN network, effectively transmits billing information from the ISDN network, which is one of the characteristics of the ISDN network, so that the communication fee can be known on the receiving side. That is, if the facsimile device 100 is in the mode of notifying the other party of billing information, the billing information storage unit 10 automatically notifies the other party of the billing information after the communication ends. Is
Used to store billing information received from the DN network,
Also, based on this, the character generator 1l creates a transmission manuscript for the charging information to be notified to Kawate according to a predetermined form (for example, see the charging information report in FIG. encoded as data.

n;i The input unit 6 is provided with various push switches operated by the operator as described above, that is, buttons for inputting information at the time of transmission such as the destination.
Furthermore, it is provided with a changeover switch that is used to selectively change whether or not to notify the calling side of the charges from the calling side.

In this embodiment, in this way, the operator selectively operates the switch, and the transmission process f! notifies the calling party of the charges from the calling party. v, and the changeover switch is set to notification mode, by notifying the other party of the billing information after the end of the communication, the receiving party can use the information as a guideline for the charges when sending to the same party. The control unit 6 can be used to make notifications available, or to grasp the communication charges of each child terminal if the other party's terminal (i.e., the receiving terminal) is a central machine-like 7RE. - Therefore, in 1, a program for mode setting by a changeover switch and for selecting a billing information report is stored in advance in the ROM 3, which is a program storage unit, for example, as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively. C['U2 executes the program shown in FIG. 3 for each communication, and sends billing information from the ISDN network and billing information in the RAMd (based on the a flag, etc., when notification mode is selected, After the communication ends, control is performed so that billing information is notified to the other party.

Hereinafter, with reference also to FIGS. 2 to 4, the control procedure of the facsimile apparatus 100 of this embodiment with the above configuration will be described according to the illustrated flowchart.

In the tree example, as described above, the changeover switch is set using the input unit 6, and the flowchart in FIG. 2 shows the process.

The procedure is as follows.

First, in step St, it is determined whether the changeover switch has been operated by the operator, that is, the ON/OFF state of the changeover switch.

If the answer to step St is Yes, that is, the changeover switch is set to set the notification mode, and this is detected,
Proceed to step S2 and turn on the billing information transmission flag here.
to return to standby mode.

Thus, by performing the above-described processing, the notification mode is selected, and the flag information of the RAM J- is applied to the determination at step Sl6 of the program described later.

Next, the processing including the billing information report transmission procedure after image transmission will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Note that this program is executed for each communication.

To explain below, if the operator inputs information such as a destination manually using the input unit 6 and calls the other party's facsimile terminal, the call is made to the other party's terminal (step Sll). That is, in step Sl1, a calling procedure is performed and a connection is made to the other party. Next, in step SI2, transmission is performed to the destination terminal. In this way, when the image is transmitted in step SI2 and the process is completed, the process proceeds to step 313, where a cutting procedure is executed.

Next, the following step Sl. Step 4 waits for the billing tn report from the network, and if a Yes answer is obtained, that is, if it is received, the process proceeds to step SI5. In step Sl5, the section surplus ↑1j information is written into the billing information storage section 10. In this way, for each communication, the billing information sent to the Yushin side after the end of the communication is stored.

Therefore, once the above processing has been performed, step S16
Then, it is determined whether the billing information transmission flag is ON. If the answer to step Sl6 is NO, the image transmission (
Regarding step S12), it is assumed that the notification mode is not selected, and the process returns to the standby state. On the other hand, when the answer to step S16 is Yes, that is, the notification mode has been selected by the operator, and therefore the billing information transmission flag is set. If it is ON, the process proceeds to step SI7 and subsequent steps, and a certain notification process is performed from reading billing information, creating a transmission manuscript using the character generator, MMR encoding the created manuscript, and transmitting it as image data (steps SI7 to S20). Execute.

That is, first, in step SI77-, billing information is read from the billing information storage section 10, and the process proceeds to step SI8. Next, in step Sl8, the character generator 1
1, a transmission manuscript regarding billing ti'f information to be notified to the other party is created.

Furthermore, in the following step SI9, the MMR encoding unit l2 performs MMR encoding, and in step S20, the billing information report 1 is sent as image data to the same party, that is, to the party to which the image was sent in step SI2. Send.

In this way, in the facsimile device 100 connected to the ISDN network, after the end of communication, the changeover switch changes to the notification mode by a switch that changes to a mode for notifying billing information to the other party's terminal, and a means for notifying. If it has been switched, billing information can be automatically notified to the other party after the communication ends, and the receiving party can use the notification for various purposes. As a result of being able to know communication charges on the receiving side, when transmitting from the receiving side, it can be used as a reference for communication charges when transmitting to the same recipient.

4-1 shows an example of a billing information report as a transmission document created in step SI8.

In the tree example, the report is ``Date and time J, ``Sender'', ``Destination'', rFAX. NOJ, ``We are careful about each item of transmission fee J. In this case, CANON USA, which received the billing information report as shown in Figure 4, becomes the sender and sends it to CANON INC. When doing so, the ``transmission fee of 70 yen'' in Report 1 will be helpful.

Further, if the receiving facsimile device that receives such a report is a center machine, this can be used to manage the toll charges of each child terminal.

In this embodiment, in this way, in step S20, the department report as shown in FIG. 4 is transmitted, and the process returns to the standby state.

According to this embodiment, when a facsimile device connected to an ISDN network receives billing information after communication ends, if the changeover switch is turned on, the receiving side can send a billing information report. However, you can know the communication charges, and you can select whether or not to go into notification mode using the switch.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, communication charges can be known on the receiving side, and billing fee notification information from the transmitting side can be used for various purposes.4. It has the effect of being able to be used for various purposes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 showing an example of a procedure for setting a changeover switch. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a billing information report transmission procedure, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a billing information report. l...Control unit, 2...CPU, 3...ROM
, 4... RAM, 5... Image scanner, 6...
・Input section, 7...Printing section, 8...Communication control section, 9.
...Call control section, 10...Charging information storage section, 11...
Character generator, I2/MMR encoder, l0
0...Facsimile machine, 200...ISDN line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile device connected to an ISDN network, characterized in that the facsimile device is equipped with means for notifying billing information to the other party after communication is completed.