JPH1023235A - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To make facsimile transmission wait until a designated time. A control unit performs control of each unit of a facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure, and a system memory configuring a work area required for control of the control unit.
A parameter memory 3 for storing various information unique to the facsimile apparatus, various operation keys for giving instructions necessary for an operator to operate the facsimile apparatus, and various information such as an operation state of the facsimile apparatus. Operation display unit 7 having a display device capable of displaying sequentially
An encoding / decoding unit 8 for decoding received image information which has been compression-encoded on a transmission path, or for encoding a transmission original image read by a scanner or the like, and storing and recording the transmitted or received image information It comprises an image storage device 9, a facsimile modem 10 having a low-speed or high-speed modem function for executing a facsimile transmission control procedure, and a network control unit 11 for connecting the facsimile device 12 to a public line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting data at a designated time.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a facsimile apparatus in which image information stored in an image information storage apparatus is automatically transmitted at a designated time by designating a facsimile transmission destination and transmission time in advance. Further, there is a case where transmission is performed by a plurality of operators to the same destination. In such a case, it is more efficient to collectively transmit than to individually call. In such a case, it is also possible to use a queue function for transmitting a plurality of documents at once. At present, facsimile machines that provide such advanced functions are generally known. However, such an advanced function is usually specified in advance by an operator conscious of using the advanced function at the time of operation. Therefore, in an environment where several people use a high-performance facsimile machine jointly,
Unless everyone actively uses each function, it is difficult to increase the use efficiency.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

At present, the operator must be conscious of using the high function of the facsimile machine. In addition, to execute such a function uniformly for all the documents merely unnecessarily narrows the usage of the apparatus and is not practical. On the other hand, in office work, facsimile communication is often performed concentrated on a specific partner. In such a case, the efficiency of the receiving operation is higher if the documents are sent to the other party at once. Therefore, when facsimile communication is concentrated on a specific partner, a facsimile apparatus is required that automatically performs transmission standby, queue communication processing, and the like without the operator's awareness.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a facsimile apparatus capable of designating a transmission start time, when an operator who intends to transmit a transmission document to a destination inputs a destination telephone number. Search for the same phone number with the transmission start time set,
When a matching telephone number is detected, the transmission start time registered and associated with the matching telephone number is displayed,
When the operator selects transmission standby, the transmission standby state is set until the transmission start time.

[Action]

[0005] With the above configuration, the operator can set the transmission start time when performing transmission to a specific party without performing the operation of setting the transmission start time.

【Example】

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The facsimile apparatus 12 controls a unit of the facsimile apparatus and performs a facsimile transmission control procedure process. The control unit 1 stores a control processing program and various data necessary for the control unit 1 to perform a control process. System memory 2 forming a work area necessary for controlling the facsimile apparatus, and parameter memory 3 storing various information unique to the facsimile apparatus.
A clock mechanism 4 for obtaining current time information, a scanner 5 for reading a document at a predetermined resolution, a plotter 6 for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and an operator necessary for operating the facsimile apparatus. Various operation keys for giving instructions, an operation display unit 7 including a display device capable of sequentially displaying various information such as the operation state of the facsimile apparatus, and received image information compression-encoded on a transmission path. An encoding / decoding unit 8 for decoding a transmission original image read by a scanner or the like, an image storage device 9 for storing and recording transmitted or received image information, and a facsimile transmission control procedure FAX modem 10 having a low-speed or high-speed modem function and a facsimile machine 1
2 is connected to a public line.

In the parameter memory 13 of the facsimile apparatus 12, telephone numbers and transmission start times are registered in advance in association with the telephone numbers. These telephone numbers and transmission start times are input by the operator from the operation display unit 7 when the facsimile machine 12 is not performing a facsimile operation.

Here, S1 represents step 1. The operator sets a document to be transmitted on the scanner 5 (S1). Subsequently, the other party's telephone number is input from the input keys of the operation display unit 7 (S2), and the start start key is depressed (S3). The control unit 1 confirming the operation of the entire apparatus by depressing the start start key starts the transmission operation.

First, it is checked whether a document is set on the scanner 5, and when it is confirmed that the document is set, the reading operation of the document is started. If the original is not set or if the original is not set at a position where a predetermined operation can be performed, an error state is displayed on the governor display unit 7 and the transmission operation ends. The image information read via the scanner 5 is sequentially stored and recorded in the image storage device 9. After reading all the set originals, the control unit 1 acquires the destination telephone number input to the operation display unit 7.

Next, the control section 1 searches whether the same telephone number as the acquired telephone number is registered in the parameter memory 3 or not. When a telephone number matching the parameter memory 3 is not detected, a call is started for the telephone number acquired by the control unit 1 (NO in S4 → S7). Here, a case where the same telephone number as the telephone number acquired by the control unit 1 is registered in the parameter memory 3 will be described.

When the same telephone number as the telephone number obtained by the control unit 1 is registered in the parameter memory 3, the control unit 1 reads out the transmission start time registered corresponding to the telephone number, and performs the operation. The data is converted into a format that can be displayed on the display unit 7 and sent to the operation display unit 7. The operation display unit 7 displays a message as shown in FIG.

Here, the operator depresses the operation key "NO" when immediate transmission is desired, and depresses the operation key "YES" when transmission is possible at the transmission start time. When the "NO" operation key is depressed, a call is started to the telephone number acquired by the control unit 1 (S4).
NO → S7). When the operation key of "YES" is depressed, the process shifts to the transmission standby state (S5). In the transmission standby state, the control unit 1 checks the designated start time in parallel while executing other processing (normal facsimile operation). For example, in the transmission standby state, the control unit 1 performs an operation of acquiring the current time with respect to the clock mechanism 4 at predetermined time intervals to acquire the current time. The acquired time is compared with the transmission start time of the document waiting to be transmitted, and if they match or exceed, the call is immediately made to the corresponding destination telephone number (S7).

If the same telephone number as the telephone number obtained by the control unit 1 is registered in the parameter memory 3, the control unit 1 reads out the transmission start time registered corresponding to the telephone number, and The message is converted into a format that can be displayed on the display unit 7 and sent to the operation display unit 7 to display the message shown in FIG. Here, if the operator does not depress any key, the operator performs a preset operation. For example,
If no input has been made for five minutes, the operation key of "NO" can be automatically set to be depressed.

The number of documents in the transmission standby state is not limited to one. In the image storage device 9, a plurality of documents in a transmission standby state can be registered. When the transmission standby is selected (the document in the standby state is managed by the management table), the information indicating the storage location of the image storage device 9, the transmission start time, and the destination telephone number are associated with each other. It is recorded in a transmission standby management table created in the memory 2. Thereby, the control unit 1
Can know the existence and storage location of the document waiting for transmission.

When the operator desires immediate transmission, the operator depresses the "NO" operation key, and the
Sets the document to be acquired and transmitted on the scanner 5 (S
1). Subsequently, the other party's telephone number is input from the input keys of the operation display unit 7 (S2), and the start start key is depressed (S3). The control unit 1 confirming the operation of the entire apparatus by depressing the start start key starts the transmission operation.

At this time, if there are documents waiting to be transmitted to the same telephone number, they can be transmitted together. The control unit 1 searches the transmission standby management table in the system memory 2 to search for a document having the same telephone number in the transmission standby state. Here, when a transmission standby document of the same telephone number is detected, a message as shown in FIG. 4 may be displayed.

Here, when the operation key "YES" is depressed, the document is transmitted together with the document in the transmission standby state.
When the "NO" operation key is depressed, other documents in the transmission standby state are not transmitted. In this case, if the operator performs an operation of designating the transmission time, the transmission start time can be prioritized.

When the original to be transmitted is set on the scanner 5 and the destination telephone number is input from the input key of the operation display unit 7 and the start start key is depressed, the control unit 1 sets the transmission start time before starting the transmission operation. Check if the destination is set. At this time, even if the telephone number of the other party to be transmitted is the other party whose transmission start time is set, if the difference between the set transmission start time and the current time is within a certain range (before the specified time, And sometimes later)
It can also be set so as not to wait for transmission. Such designation may be set individually for each telephone number, or may be set for all registered telephone numbers. In particular, it is possible to set in advance that such a control need not be performed when the transmission start time is close to the time when notifying the operator. At this time, settings such as earlier than the designated time and later than the designated time can also be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the facsimile apparatus of the document storage type in which all the documents to be transmitted are read and then processed is described. It may be a facsimile machine.

In order to confirm a document in a transmission standby state,
It is also possible to create and output a transmission time registration report as shown in FIG. In this case, when the operator gives an instruction to output a transmission time registration report by key input from the operation display unit 7, the control unit 1 reads out information of the document whose transmission start time is specified in the system memory 3 and stores the information in the system memory. Convert to a format that can be displayed in the work area and create a transmission time registration report. After that, the data is output to the plotter 6 in accordance with the instruction of the operator or the initially set contents. Further, it is also possible to display on the operation display unit 7.

[0021]

According to the present invention, even when a plurality of documents are transmitted to the same destination, communication costs are not wasted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a message displayed on the operation display unit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a message displayed on the operation display unit of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an output example of a transmission time registration report created by the facsimile machine of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part 2 ... System memory 3 ... Parameter memory 4 ... Clock mechanism 5 ... Scanner 6 ... Plotter 7 ... Operation display part 8 ... Encoding composite part 9 Image storage device 10 FAX modem 11 Network control device 12 Facsimile device

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a facsimile apparatus capable of designating a transmission start time, when a telephone number is inputted from an operation input means, a transmission start time for searching whether the same telephone number is registered in the transmission start registration means. When the search means and the transmission start time search means detect a matched telephone number, the transmission start time registered in association with the matched telephone number is displayed and transmitted until a transmission instruction is given by the operator. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a control unit that enters a standby state.