JPH05160984A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automate dialing operation at the time of transmission. CONSTITUTION:Document information which is read by a read means 1 is stored in a storage means 2. When a symbol and a telephone number showing dial information are entered into the document information, they are recognized by a telephone number recognizing means 3 and this telephone number is automatically dialed by a dial means 4. Consequently, a signal indicating the selected numbers is generated and sent out by a transmitting means 5 to a communication line. After the communication line is connected, the document information stored in a storage means 2 is sent out to an opposite side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine capable of automatically dialing a telephone number of a destination entered on a manuscript.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, when transmitting a manuscript, the manuscript is set on a manuscript table, the operator dials the telephone number of the other party and the manuscript is read after the communication line is connected. It is usually sent.

[0003]

Such a facsimile machine is troublesome because the operator has to dial the telephone number of the other party. Also, because the number of digits in a telephone number is large, dial operations are often mistaken and sometimes sent to unrelated parties.

In this case, the data must be sent to the correct party again, resulting in wasted time and communication costs.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and proposes a facsimile apparatus capable of automatically dialing a telephone number entered in a manuscript.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, a telephone number recognizing means for recognizing a telephone number written on a manuscript to be transmitted and a dial means for dialing the recognized telephone number. It is characterized by having.

[0007]

In FIG. 1, the document information read by the reading means 1 is stored in the storage means 2. If a symbol indicating dial information and a telephone number are entered in this manuscript information,
This is recognized by the telephone number recognition means 3 and this telephone number is automatically dialed by the dial means 4.

As a result, a signal of the selected numeral is generated, and this is sent to the communication line by the transmitting means 5. Then, after the communication line is connected, the document information stored in the storage means 2 is transmitted to the other party.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows functional blocks of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a document reading unit, which reads a document set on a document table or the like.
Reference numeral 2 denotes a storage unit that stores read document information.

Reference numeral 3 is a telephone number recognition means for recognizing a telephone number if it is written in a predetermined place on the manuscript.
As the telephone number recognition means 3, an OCR (optical character recognition device), a business card recognition device, or the like can be used. The dial information symbols and telephone numbers can be printed or handwritten.

A dial means 4 automatically dials the telephone number recognized by the telephone number recognition means 3. This produces a selected digit signal indicating the telephone number. 5
Is a transmission means for transmitting the selected numeral signal transmitted from the dial means 4 and the document information stored in the storage means 2 to the communication line.

The above-mentioned plurality of means constitute a part of the transmission / reception control means 10 shown in FIG. 11 in the figure
Is a CPU that manages transmission / reception control, 12 is a ROM in which various control programs such as transmission / reception programs are stored, 13
Is a RAM that stores image information to be transmitted.

The image information read by the image reading unit 14 is stored in the RAM 13 via the interface 15 or is directly supplied to the modem and the network control circuit (NCU) 16 functioning as a transmitting / receiving means. In addition, the image information input from the communication line is
The data is stored in the RAM 13 via 16 or is directly supplied to the recording unit 18 functioning as a printer via the interface 17 to record its contents.

The telephone number of the transmission destination is displayed by being supplied to the display unit 20 through the interface 19. The operation unit 21 is provided with a plurality of keys (not shown), and when these keys are operated, the contents thereof are taken into the CPU 11 via the interface 22. This facsimile machine has a telephone number recognition unit 2
3 is provided and recognizes the telephone number entered in the manuscript.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the procedure of the transmission process 30 in this facsimile apparatus. In this transmission processing 30, when the original is first set (step 31), it is then determined whether or not the telephone number recognition mode is set (step 32).

In the case of the telephone number recognition mode, the original is next read (step 33) and this is input to the memory (step 34). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a symbol indicating dial information (step 35).

As the symbol indicating the dial information, for example, the "TEL" symbol shown in FIG. 4 can be used. The telephone number can be distinguished from other information by entering it after the symbol indicating this dial information. The place to enter the telephone number can be the beginning of the manuscript, and can be clearly separated by a dial information distinguishing line such as a horizontal line.

If it is determined in step 35 that there is a symbol indicating dial information, then it is determined whether or not a telephone number is entered following this symbol (step 3).
6). If the telephone number has been entered, then a telephone number recognition process is performed (step 37) and the telephone number is automatically dialed (step 38).

Thus, after the communication line is connected, the document information stored in the memory is transmitted to the other party (step 39), and the transmission process 30 ends.

If it is determined in step 35 that there is no symbol indicating dial information, and if it is determined in step 36 that there is no telephone number, the dial information symbol or information indicating that there is no telephone number is displayed ( Step 4
0).

Then, the operator performs a dial operation (step 41), whereby the communication line is connected and, thereafter, the manuscript information is transmitted in step 39, and the transmission processing 30 ends.

If it is determined in step 32 that the telephone number recognition mode is not in effect, then the operator performs a dial operation (step 42), whereby the original is read after the communication line is connected (step 42). Four
3) Then, in step 39, the manuscript information is transmitted, and the transmission process 30 ends.

As described above, in this facsimile apparatus,
Once the original is set, it can be sent without any other operation.

In the above-described embodiment, only the telephone number is recognized, but it is also possible to recognize the resolution, shade, etc. and perform a predetermined process. Further, even if the symbol indicating the dial information is not entered, it can be clearly recognized by entering the telephone number in a predetermined position.

[0026]

As described above, the present invention makes it possible to recognize the telephone number of the other party described in the manuscript and automatically dial the telephone number.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the operator does not need to dial the telephone number, it is possible to prevent the manuscript information from being erroneously transmitted to an unrelated party. As a result, it is possible to prevent communication costs and time from being wasted, and it is possible to simplify the operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a procedure of a transmission process.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of how to enter a telephone number.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Document Reading Means 2 Storage Means 3 Phone Number Recognition Means 4 Dial Means 5 Sending Means 11 CPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 Image Reading Part 18 Recording Part 20 Display Part 21 Operation Part 23 Phone Number Recognition Part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a telephone number recognizing means for recognizing a telephone number entered in a manuscript to be transmitted; and a dial means for dialing the recognized telephone number.