JPH0389664A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the idle time of an equipment to shorten the unnecessary waiting time by calculating and displaying the time required for communication on a transmission-side facsimile based on the quantity of information to be transmitted and reception capacity information and transmitting and reporting this time to a reception-side facsimile. CONSTITUTION:The quantity of information to be transmitted is stored in a storage means 3, and a calculating means 4 calculates the time required for communication based on the quantity of information stored in the storage means 10 and reception capacity information stored in a storage means 2. This time calculated by the calculating means 4 is displayed on the transmission-side facsimile equipment. A transmitting means 5 transmits the time required for communication, which is calculated by the calculating means 4, to the receptionside facsimile equipment. Thus, the time required for communication is reported to the reception-side facsimile equipment and is displayed on a display means 21.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a facsimile device that transmits documents, graphics, etc. to a remote location through a communication line, and an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that reduces a user's waiting time by giving advance notice of the required communication time. 1!1 The invention provides a means for storing the amount of information to be transmitted, a means for storing reception performance information including communication speed and recording speed of a receiving facsimile machine, and a means for storing information on the amount of information stored in the storage means and the information. means for calculating the time required for communication based on the reception performance information stored in the storage means, and configured to display the time required for communication calculated by the calculation means,
A second aspect of the present invention is configured to provide means for transmitting the required communication time calculated by the calculation means to the receiving facsimile device, and a third aspect of the present invention is configured to provide a means for transmitting the required communication time calculated by the calculation means to the receiving facsimile device. The device is configured to provide a means for displaying the information.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a fusing device for transmitting documents, graphics, etc. to a remote location through a communication line.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With the recent automation of offices, document communication by facsimile has become increasingly popular in a wide range of business fields, and facsimile machines have come to be used more and more frequently by a large number of users. Therefore, there is a need for a facsimile machine that can reduce the waiting time between users and enable efficient use.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional facsimile machines only record and output the communication start time and time required for communication after the end of the communication, but do not predict and notify the time required for communication or the end time of communication in advance. .

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, according to the conventional method, the time required for communication or the end time of communication was not predicted and notified in advance.As facsimile machines are used frequently by a large number of people, There is a problem in that the probability that the device is being used when you want to use it increases, resulting in unnecessary waiting time and hindering the rationalization and labor saving of office work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile machine that can reduce a user's waiting time.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1(a) shows a block diagram of the principle of the first and second inventions.

In the figure, 3 is a means for storing the amount of information to be transmitted; 2 is a means for storing reception performance information including communication speed and recording speed of the receiving facsimile device; 4 is a storage means for storing the amount of information stored in the storage means 3; This is means for calculating the time required for communication based on the reception performance information stored in 2.

The transmitting facsimile device is configured to display the required communication time calculated by the calculation means 4. Further, 5 is a means for transmitting the required communication time calculated by the calculation means 4 to the receiving side factor ξ calculation device.

Therefore, it is configured to notify the receiving facsimile machine of the required communication time.

FIG. 1(b) shows a block diagram of the principle of the third invention.

20 is a receiving means for receiving the communication required time information transmitted from the transmission means 5; 21 is a means for displaying the communication required time.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the storage means 3 stores the amount of information to be transmitted, and the calculation means 4 calculates the time required for communication based on the amount of information stored in the storage means IO and the reception performance information stored in the storage means 2. Since the communication duration calculated by the calculation means 4 can be displayed on the sending side facsimile device, the transmission means 5 can display the communication duration calculated by the calculation means 4 on the receiving side facsimile device. Therefore, the required communication time can be notified to the receiving side factor calculation device and displayed on the display means 21.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the figures.

Components in FIG. 2 that correspond to those in FIG. 1 are surrounded by dashed lines.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and only the constituent elements related to the present invention are shown for ease of explanation.

The main control section 10 has a microprocessor sensor and a main memory (not shown), and executes a control program stored in the main memory to control each section and perform the functions of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

The operation unit 13 uses keys and buttons (not shown) to perform transmission/reception operations, manual input of the destination telephone number, etc., as well as the destination telephone number, communication speed of the destination facsimile device, and maximum recording speed set in table 2a to be described later. , manually input reception performance information such as error rate and line quality information. In calculating the required communication time, which will be described later, the error rate is related to the time required to retransmit image data, etc., and the line quality is determined by fallback (downward adjustment of the communication speed to the optimum value according to the error rate that occurs) in the modem training sequence. It is related to the communication speed set.

The reading section 14 reads the original with an image sensor (not shown), converts it into image data, and stores it in the image data memory 1a under the control of the main control section 10.

At this time, since the main control unit 10 recognizes the write address to the image data memory 1a and the first address of writing, it cannot detect the amount of image data stored in the image data memory 1a (the amount of information to be transmitted). , this image data amount is stored in the memory within the main control unit IO.

The image data memory la stores image data in a one-to-one correspondence of memory bits to pixels constituting an image of an original.

The transmission control section 12 compresses and encodes the image data of the document stored in the image information memory la, and transmits the compressed and encoded image data from the line control section 11 to the line.

The line control unit 11 controls the connection of the exchange line by transmitting a telephone number dialing signal manually entered from the operation unit 13 according to the line interface and protocol, and controls the connection of the exchange line to the receiving facsimile machine via the line control unit on the receiving side. It sends and receives command signals to and from the communication device, controls the communication device, and transmits the image data of the original.

The table 2a is a memory in which receiving performance information such as information related to the telephone number, line, communication speed, maximum recording speed, error rate, and line quality of the receiving facsimile device is registered.

The registration unit 3a stores the telephone number and reception performance information input from the operation unit 13, and the time required for pre-communication procedures in a table 2a.
Register by writing in .

When a telephone number is input from the operation section 13, the calculation section 4a calculates the information amount of the image data stored in the image data memory la obtained from the main control section 10 and the pre-communication procedure obtained from the table 2a (for example, Based on the time required for connection procedure (phase B of the G3 facsimile protocol) and the reception performance information corresponding to the telephone number read from table 2a, the predicted communication time required until the end of document transmission is calculated, and the clock 15 The communication end time is displayed on the display unit 16 by adding the communication end time to the time.

The transmitter 5a transmits the required communication time calculated by the calculator 4a to the receiving facsimile via the line controller 11 in a pre-communication procedure.

Therefore, from the operation section 13 through the registration section 3a, the table 2
Receiving performance information is registered in advance in correspondence with the destination telephone number, and when the telephone number is entered manually, the calculation unit 4a
The time required for communication is calculated based on the information amount of the image data read by the reading unit 14 and stored in the image data memory la and the reception performance information registered in the table 2a, and the communication end time is displayed on the sending facsimile. At the same time, the transmitter 5a is configured to notify the receiving facsimile of the required communication time.

In this embodiment, the registration unit 3a shows an example in which reception performance information input from the operation unit 13 is registered in the table 2a. A method of registering the information is also possible as an embodiment of the present invention, and exhibits the same effect.

In addition, when registering the time required for pre-communication procedures in Table 2a when there are many communications, by averaging each required time and registering it in Table 2a, the error in the time required for pre-communication procedures is reduced and the communication time The calculation accuracy will be improved. This averaging is performed as follows. First, the time required for the pre-communication procedure is registered in Table 2a as described above, and based on the registered time required for the pre-communication procedure, the required time for communication is calculated and displayed as described above. When the unit 10 controls the line control unit 11 to perform communication, the main control unit 10 measures the time required for the pre-communication procedure using the clock 15, and calculates the time required for the pre-communication procedure registered in the table 2a with this measured value. The average value of the time is determined by the main control unit 10,
The average value is written into the table 2a, and thereafter, this operation is repeated to rewrite the pre-communication procedure time required in the table 2a. In the receiving facsimile machine, the transmitted communication time information is received by the reception control section 2Qa, which is a receiving means, via the line control section 22, and is displayed on the display section 21a.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the required communication time is calculated and displayed based on the amount of information to be transmitted and reception performance information at the sending side facsimile machine, and is also transmitted to and notified to the receiving side facsimile machine. Therefore, when usage requests from users overlap on both the sending and receiving sides, by knowing the available time of the device, unnecessary waiting time can be shortened.
This has the effect of streamlining office work.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are block diagrams showing the principle of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1.1a is an image data memory, 2 is a storage means, 2a is a table, 3 is a storage means, 3a is a registration unit, 4 is a calculation means, 4a
is a calculation unit, 5 is a transmission means, 5a is a transmission unit, 14
16 is a reading section, 16 is a display section, 20 is a receiving means, and 21 is a display means. 15 is a clock, 20a is a reception control unit, 21a is a display unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) means (3) for storing the amount of information to be transmitted; means (2) for storing reception performance information including the communication speed and recording speed of the receiving facsimile device; and the information stored in the storage means (3). means (4) for calculating the time required for communication based on the information amount of the image data and the reception performance information stored in the storage means (2); and the time required for communication calculated by the calculation means (4). A facsimile device characterized by displaying. (2) The facsimile apparatus according to claim (1), further comprising means (5) for transmitting the required communication time calculated by the calculation means (4) to the receiving facsimile apparatus. (3) receiving means (20) for receiving the communication required time information obtained by the calculating means (5), transmitted by the transmitting means (5); and means (21) for displaying the communication required time. A facsimile machine characterized by: