JPH1023276A - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a facsimile machine capable of confirming a color image received on a host device side when a color image is received, even if the device configuration has only a single-color or two-color printing function. I do. When a color image is received, one of a normal print mode, a storage mode, and an automatic transfer mode is performed. The selection of the operation mode is made by the user. In the normal print mode, even if the received document is a color image, the document is printed by the plotter 2 as a normal single color image. In the accumulation mode, when the received document is a monochrome image, the received document is printed by the plotter 2, and when the received document is a color image, the received document is stored in the SAF 3 and the image of the first page is included. Report to plotter 2
To print. The document data stored in the SAF 3 can be taken out by a computer, and the received document can be viewed as it is on a monitor. In the automatic transfer mode, when the received document is a color image, the image is transferred to the computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a color image receiving function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile machine, a document sent through a communication line such as a telephone line or a facsimile line is transferred to a host device such as a computer, and a document created by the host device is separated through the communication line. Some have a function of transmitting to a computer or a facsimile machine. Further, some facsimile apparatuses of this type have a function of receiving a color facsimile image and performing color printing of the image.

[0003]

However, since an engine capable of performing color printing is expensive, a facsimile machine equipped with such an engine has a lower product cost than an engine equipped with an engine capable of monochrome or two-color printing. Is significantly higher. For this reason, the spread rate of facsimile machines capable of color printing is currently one, and an image transmitted as a color image is often output by a facsimile machine having only a single-color or two-color image reception function. For this reason, there has been an inconvenience that a document transmitted as a color image can only be viewed as a single-color or two-color image. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described disadvantages of the conventional technology and to provide an inexpensive apparatus configuration having only a single-color or two-color printing function, but having a color facsimile image receiving function and receiving a color image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of confirming the image on the host device side.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention receives transfer means for transferring document data to a host apparatus and a color facsimile image. Receiving means, printing means for performing monochrome or two-color printing, and storage means accessible from the host device, if the received document is a monochrome facsimile image, the received document is printed by the printing means, When the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is stored in the storage means. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 has only a single-color or two-color printing function as a function of the printing unit, but when the received document is a color facsimile image,
Since the received document is stored in a storage unit accessible from the host device, the stored image data can be taken out on the host device side and color-displayed or color-printed to be confirmed as a color image. .

A facsimile apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is based on the apparatus configuration of the first aspect, and includes a report including an image of the first page of the received document stored in the storage means. Is provided with a function of printing by the printing means. According to the facsimile apparatus of the second aspect, the fact that the received document of the color image has been stored in the storage means can be notified to the user together with the contents of the first page of the received document. It is possible to prevent a document from being left unnoticed by the user or delaying confirmation of a document having a high degree of urgency.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus, comprising: transfer means for transferring document data to a host device; receiving means for receiving a color facsimile image;
A printing means for performing single-color or two-color printing, wherein when the received document is a single-color facsimile image, the received document is printed by the printing means, and when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is read by the host. It is characterized by automatic transfer to a device. The facsimile apparatus according to the third aspect has only a single-color or two-color printing function. However, when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is automatically transferred to the host apparatus. By taking it out and performing color display or color printing, it can be confirmed as a color image. In this case, since the received document is automatically transferred to the host device, there is no need for the user to operate the host device and take out the received document from the facsimile device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus, comprising: a transfer unit for transferring document data to a host device; a receiving unit for receiving a color facsimile image; a printing unit for performing monochrome or two-color printing; A first operation mode for printing a received document by the printing unit when a color facsimile image is received, and receiving the color facsimile image when the color facsimile image is received. One of a second operation mode for storing a document as image data in the storage means and a third operation mode for automatically transferring a received document to the host device when a color facsimile image is received can be selected. It is characterized by the following. In the facsimile apparatus according to the fourth aspect, by selecting a desired operation mode from the first to third operation modes, it is possible to use the received document in various ways according to the purpose of use and the environment of the user. . For example, when the host device is not connected to the facsimile device, or when the power of the host device is turned off, by selecting the first operation mode or the second operation mode, Wasteful data transfer operation can be omitted.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the facsimile apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the second operation mode includes an image of a first page of the received document stored in the storage means. A report is printed by the printing means. According to the facsimile apparatus of the fifth aspect, by selecting the second operation mode, the fact that the received document of the color image has been stored in the storage means is notified to the user together with the contents of the first page of the received document. Since the notification can be made, it is possible to prevent the received document of the color image from being left unnoticed by the user or delaying the confirmation of the document with high urgency.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a reading unit (scanner) for reading an original, 2 is a plotter as a printing unit having the capability of monochromatic or two-color printing, 3 is an image information storage unit (SAF), 4 is a communication control unit (CCU) 5 is a modem, 6 is a facsimile control unit, 7 is an operation display unit (operation board), 8 is a page memory, 9 is an image information compression and reproduction unit (D
CR), 10 is a computer (PC) which is a host device
The CPU in the facsimile control unit 6 controls each of the units 1 to 10 according to a program stored in the ROM. Here, a nonvolatile memory or a large-capacity hard disk is used for the SAF3. Also,
Examples of the connection mode of the connection I / F control unit 10 include Bi Centro and RS232C, but 10BaseT / 2 and Lo.
Network connection such as calltalk or TokenRing is more preferable. In the facsimile apparatus configured as described above, the document data received through the communication line is decoded by the modem 5,
After being sent to R9 and reproduced, the image is developed on the page memory 8 as image data for one page. The image data developed on the page memory 8 is printed by the plotter 2 or transferred to a computer through the connection I / F 10. On the other hand, the image data read by the scanner 1 is expanded on a page memory 8 and image-compressed by the DCR 9, then sent to the modem 6 through the CCU 4, encoded and sent to the communication line.

When the facsimile apparatus receives a color facsimile image, the first operation mode is a normal print mode, the second operation mode is an accumulation mode, and the third operation mode is an automatic transfer mode. Perform one of the above operations. The selection of the operation mode is
This is performed by a user operating a mode changeover switch provided on the operation display unit 7. In the normal print mode, even when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is printed by the plotter 2 as a normal monochrome image.

In the storage mode, when the received document is a single-color facsimile image, the received document is printed by the plotter 2, and when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is stored in the SAF 3 and one of the received documents is stored. A report including the image of the page is printed by the plotter 2. In this case, the document data stored in the SAF 3 can be taken out by the computer via the connection I / F 10, and the user can view the received document as it is on the monitor of the computer. Also, the received document can be color-printed by a color printer connected to the computer. Further, the user can know from the report printed by the plotter 2 that the color received document is stored in the SAF 3 and what kind of content the received document is. In the automatic transfer mode, when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is transferred to the computer via the connection I / F 10. In this case, the user can view the received document in color on the monitor of the computer. Also, the received document can be color-printed by a color printer connected to the computer.

Next, the processing operation of a color received document in the facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Upon receiving a document, the facsimile apparatus first determines whether the received document is a color image (step S101). As a result, if it is not a color image (No in S101), the received document is printed by the plotter 2 (step S104). on the other hand,
If the received document is a color image (Yes in S101), the operation mode for receiving the currently set color image is determined (step S102). As a result, if the normal print mode is set, the received document is printed by the plotter 2 as a normal monochrome image (step S10).
4). If the result of determination in step S102 is that the storage mode has been set, the received document is stored in the SAF 3, and a report including the image of the first page of the received document is printed by the plotter 2. (Step S10
5). Further, no problem occurs even when the power of the computer is turned off or when the storage capacity of the computer is full and the transferred document cannot be received.

Also, as a result of the determination in step S102,
If the automatic transfer mode is set, it is determined whether the computer to be transferred is connected, that is, whether the received document can be transferred (step S103). as a result,
If the computer is connected (Yes in step S103), the received image is transferred to the computer via the connection I / F 10 (step S106). On the other hand, if it is determined that the computer is not connected, that is, it is impossible to transfer the received document (No in step S103),
The received document is stored in the SAF 3, and a report including the image of the first page of the received document is printed by the plotter 2 (step S105). As described above, when the automatic transfer of the received document cannot be performed, the received document is transferred to the SA.
By storing the data in F3, useless data transfer operation to the computer can be omitted.

As described above, in the facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment, a desired operation mode can be selected from the above three operation modes, so that a user can receive a color according to his / her environment. You can receive documents. Note that the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is not limited to one having all of the above three operation modes. Also, those having two operation modes consisting of In addition, those having only one of the accumulation mode and the automatic transfer mode are also included.

[0015]

In summary, the present invention exhibits the following excellent effects. According to the facsimile apparatus of the first aspect, if the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document can be accessed from the host apparatus even if the apparatus has only a single-color or two-color printing function. Since the image data is stored in the means, the stored image data can be taken out by the host device and subjected to color display or color printing, so that the image can be viewed as a color image. According to the facsimile apparatus of the second aspect, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the fact that the received document of the color image is stored in the storage means can be notified to the user together with the contents of the first page of the received document. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the received color image document from being left unnoticed by the user or delaying the confirmation of the urgent document.

According to the facsimile apparatus of the third aspect, if the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is automatically transferred to the host apparatus even if the apparatus has only a single-color or two-color printing function. Therefore, the received document can be taken out on the host device side and color-displayed or color-printed to be viewed as a color image. In this case, since the received document is automatically transferred to the host device, it is not necessary for the user to operate the host device and take out the received document from the facsimile device. According to the facsimile apparatus of the fourth aspect, by selecting the first operation mode, a document received as a color image can be printed in a single color or two colors by the printing means, and by selecting the second operation mode, a color image can be obtained. A document received as an image can be stored as image data in a storage unit, and a document received as a color image can be automatically transferred to a host device by selecting a third operation mode. By selecting a mode, a document received as a color image can be received according to the user's environment.

According to the facsimile apparatus of the fifth aspect, in addition to the effect of the fourth aspect, by selecting the second operation mode, the fact that the received document of the color image has been stored in the storage means can be confirmed. Since the user can be notified together with the contents of the first page of the received document, it is possible to prevent the received color image document from being left unnoticed by the user or delaying the confirmation of a highly urgent document.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation of a color received document in the facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 scanner, 2 plotter (printing means), 3 image information storage unit (SAF, storage unit), 4 communication control unit (CC
U), 5 modems, 6 facsimile control section, 7 operation display section, 8 page memory, 9 picture information compression and reproduction section (D
CR), 10 connection I / F control unit (transfer means)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transfer device for transferring document data to a host device, a receiving device for receiving a color facsimile image, a printing device for performing one-color or two-color printing, and accessible from the host device. Storage means, wherein when the received document is a monochrome facsimile image, the received document is printed by the printing means, and when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is stored in the storage means. Facsimile machine. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of printing a report including an image of the first page of the received document stored in said storage means by said printing means. And a transfer means for transferring the document data to the host device, a receiving means for receiving the color facsimile image, and a printing means for performing monochromatic or two-color printing, wherein the received document is a monochromatic facsimile image. In this case, the received document is printed by the printing means, and when the received document is a color facsimile image, the received document is automatically transferred to the host device. 4. A transfer device for transferring document data to a host device, a receiving device for receiving a color facsimile image, a printing device for performing one-color or two-color printing, and accessible from the host device. A first operation mode in which, when a color facsimile image is received, the received document is printed by the printing unit; and when the color facsimile image is received, the received document is stored as image data in the storage unit. A facsimile apparatus characterized in that it is possible to select one of a second operation mode for accumulation and a third operation mode for automatically transferring a received document to the host device when a color facsimile image is received. 5. In the second operation mode, a report including an image of a first page of a received document stored in the storage means is provided.
5. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said printing means prints said document.