FR2627921A1 - Telecopier system with address scrutiny - has pages for transmission carrying address block which authenticates operation, initiates connection, and is memorised until series ends - Google Patents

Abstract

Pages authorised for transmission by telecopier carry an address block in which a suitable address code is displayed, usually in bar form, by printing or fixing stickers. When these are placed in the machine, the code is read and memorised, and the appropriate telephone number is automatically dialled. Transmission begins as soon as connection is established and continues until a fresh code is detected. Re-dialling then takes place, and material following is directed to the new address. Coding is only necessary for the first paper in a sheaf, the machine's memory holding the address until the series ends. Reading may be effected by a separate unit, or may use the point-image scanner of the machine itself. ADVANTAGE - Coded address system and automatic dialling simplifies and expedites transmission process whilst avoiding overloading of facility by ensuring that only properly authorised documents are handled.

Description

FAX MACHINE
The present invention relates to facsimile apparatus.

 The use of these devices in businesses, administrations and various organizations has become very widespread in the last ten years.

 Not only are they found everywhere, but their rate of use is very important because people who have to transmit urgent messages in writing tend more and more to replace the transmission by teletype (called telex) by a transmission by fax.

 Fax transmission is a telephone line transmission of a written or drawn page, the transmitted information being in the form of bits representing the image points of the page, points which are scanned by an optical detector.

 The convenience of fax transmission is greater than that of telex. Indeed, the telex can only transmit alphanumeric characters; the international transmission standard even limits characters to a reduced number since practically only capital letters with no accentuation of Latin characters can be transmitted. On the contrary, faxing makes it possible to transmit documents printed with any type of characters, Latin or other, accented or not, as well as handwritten documents, drawings etc., the only condition being that the pages to be transmitted can be read by the optical system of the fax machine, that is to say on condition that they are sufficiently contrasted.

 This exceptional convenience has generated a very keen interest on the part of the users who began to transmit not only all the documents that could not be transmitted before because they were not suitable for transmission by telex, but also the most of the documents which could very well have continued to be transmitted by telex. Some people even start using faxes as they used to use postal services, that is, they even use them for non-emergency messages and simply send their faxes. In some cases even, messages sent by fax are no longer "messages" with the connotation of brevity that one generally gives to this word, but are real files.

 It is only necessary to mention, moreover, on this subject, the fact that most patent offices of the whole world plan to accept the filing by fax of texts and drawings of patents which are however documents which can have several dozen pages.

 As a fax machine requires a specific telephone line and the telephone lines cannot be multiplied indefinitely, the fax machines installed in organizations, businesses and administrations are congested.

 This is all the more true since the transmission of a fax page takes considerable time.

 Among the negative consequences of this bottleneck, in addition to the fact that truly urgent messages may be delayed because they are in the queue after other less urgent messages, there is a noticeable decrease in efficiency. of the work of those responsible for sending faxes: the premises where the fax machines are installed can become real waiting rooms where it is very convenient to come to rest and chat a little instead of working.

 This is why the present invention provides a means for partially reducing the congestion of facsimile apparatuses of organizations using this means of transmission a lot. Furthermore the invention also aims to facilitate the work of people who are not well familiar with these devices.

 The invention starts from the remark that a fraction of the time necessary for sending a message is reserved for dialing a telephone number and waiting for various signals and tones indicating that the device is ready. to operate.

 According to the invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus comprising means for reading a coded telephone number written on the header of a page to be transmitted, means for automatically dialing a telephone number from the number read, and means for then automatically triggering the optical scanning and the transmission of the information present on the page to be transmitted.

 Thus, instead of the operator dialing a telephone number on the keyboard before inserting his first page to be transmitted on the device's glass, he will now directly insert the first page containing the coded number. The recipient's phone number will be dialed automatically and transmission will begin as soon as the call is established.

 If the following pages do not have a coded number, they are transmitted after the first during the same telephone call. If, on the contrary, a page with an encoded telephone number appears, the communication is interrupted and a new numbering is carried out with a view to transmitting a new series of pages to another recipient.

 It can be provided that the telephone number of the call in progress is kept in memory for the duration of the call, which is easy since the device has read this number and used it to dial the number. In this way if a new page is presented with a coded number which is exactly the same as that of the current transmission, it is advantageously provided that the communication is not interrupted and that the transmission continues for a new series of pages.

 It follows that the persons responsible for transmitting the faxes will be able to prepare in advance bundles of pages to be transmitted, taking care to write on the first page of each document to be sent to a specific recipient the coded telephone number of this recipient.

 The number can be coded using bar codes (succession of contrasting lines of defined widths and intervals), this type of coding being particularly suitable for optical reading.

 The telephone number entered in coded form will be placed in a specified area of the header of the first page of the document.

 The telephone number can be read by the optical reader of the fax machine (the one used to scan the whole page to convert the image points into bits) or by a separate reader.

 A separate reader can be provided, capable of recognizing Arabic figures and transmitting them for automatic dialing. In this case, the recipient's telephone number may be entered in clear form in typed form in the specified area of the header. If, on the other hand, bar codes are used, provision may be made, for example, to stick in the specified area self-adhesive butterflies bearing the bar code corresponding to the recipient's telephone number, these butterflies being able to be distributed by the recipient himself to persons and organizations with which it is most often in contact.

Claims (5)

 1. Facsimile apparatus, characterized in that it comprises means for reading a coded telephone number inscribed on the header of a page to be transmitted, means for automatically dialing a telephone number from the number read , and means for automatically triggering the optical scanning and the transmission of the information present on the page to be transmitted.  2. Facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for keeping in memory the telephone number of the communication in progress, throughout the duration of the communication, means for authorizing the continuation of the transmission if a new page is presented with a header corresponding to a telephone number identical to that of the transmission in progress, and means for interrupting the transmission and redialing a telephone number if a new page is presented with a telephone number different from that of the current transmission.  3. Facsimile apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the means for reading a telephone number are constituted by a barcode reader.  4. Facsimile apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the means for reading the telephone number comprise a detection strip also used for reading the content of the page to be transmitted.  5. Facsimile apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that it comprises, for reading the coded telephone number, a reader separate from the detector used for the detection of the information to be transmitted.