JP3392443B2 - Control method for facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling a facsimile apparatus capable of selecting a large number of individual functions for a plurality of apparatus functions. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile apparatuses have been provided with a variety of individual functions for each of a plurality of transmission functions and other device functions, so that a wide variety of communication operations can be performed. . [0003] However, such a conventional apparatus has the following disadvantages. That is, for example, when a user performs an image information transmission operation using a desired transmission function, there are many setting items to be operated by the user, which is complicated. In addition, for this reason, the operation of transmitting image information is performed without using a useful transmission function, which may cause a situation in which the utilization efficiency of the facsimile apparatus is reduced. [0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a method of controlling a facsimile apparatus which can improve operability. According to the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a facsimile apparatus capable of selecting a large number of individual functions for a plurality of apparatus functions. The history information representing the statistical result of the above is formed for each user identification information set in advance for the user, and the history information corresponding to predetermined general-purpose user identification information is formed. When information is input, the order in which the individual functions are presented to the user at the time of the operation of selecting the device function is set based on the history information corresponding to the user identification information input by the user. Sometimes, when no user identification information is entered,
Based on the history information corresponding to the general-purpose user identification information, an order in which the individual functions are presented to the user when the device function is selected is set. [0009] Therefore, when the facsimile apparatus is operated, the contents frequently used by the user are preferentially presented when selecting and operating each operation item. Can easily set a desired transmission function. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a control unit 1 performs a control process of each unit of the facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure process.
The control unit 1 stores a control processing program to be executed, various data necessary for executing the processing program, and the like, and constitutes a work area of the control unit 1. This is for storing various information unique to the facsimile machine. The scanner 4 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 5 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 6 is a facsimile apparatus. To operate,
It consists of various operation keys and various indicators. The encoding / decoding section 7 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal.
This is for storing a large number of image information in a coded and compressed state. The group 3 facsimile modem 9 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile. The group 3 facsimile modem 9 has a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals and mainly exchanges image information. High-speed modem function (V.33 modem, V.33
29 modem, V.29. 27ter modem etc.). The network control device 10 is for connecting the facsimile machine to a public telephone line network and has an automatic transmission / reception function. These control unit 1, system memory 2,
The parameter memory 3, the scanner 4, the plotter 5, the operation display unit 6, the encoding / decoding unit 7, the image storage device 8, the group 3 facsimile modem 9, and the network control device 10
It is connected to a system bus 11 and exchanges data between these elements mainly with the system bus 1.
One is done through. Data exchange between the network controller 10 and the group 3 facsimile modem 9 is directly performed. The group 3 facsimile apparatus is shown in FIG. 2 (a) for each user so that the user can reduce the burden of the operation of operating and inputting the group 3 facsimile apparatus. Thus, the function execution history table for storing the history of the user operating each transmission function is formed and stored. Here, each function execution history table is a history table group including a history table including user identification information (user ID) for identifying a corresponding user and history information relating to selection of a plurality of functions. It is composed of The function execution history table includes a general-purpose function execution history table in which a general value that does not specify a user is set as user identification information. One history table is formed for each function group representing each device function, such as, for example, the linear density and the density at the time of image reading.
As shown in (1), function group identification information (function group ID) indicating each function group, a default flag indicating that a default value of a function set in the function group is used, and a default function set as a default function in the function group Value identification information (default ID value) for storing the value of the identification information of the function
Further, it is composed of m individual function history data representing the history of the selected state of each function for each function. As shown in FIG. 3C, the individual function history data includes function identification information (function ID) set for each function, and execution number information for storing the number of times the function is selected. , Last execution time information for storing the previous execution time, latest execution interval information for storing the execution interval time (in minutes) of the previous execution, and average execution for storing the average value of the execution interval time Interval information, and
It consists of priority information indicating the priority of the function in the function group. Here, the priority information indicates that the smaller the value, the higher the priority. For example, a function having a priority information value of 1 is the highest priority function. With the above configuration, in a standby state in which the group 3 facsimile apparatus does not perform any transmission operation, reception operation, or any other operation (for example, various setting operations by the user), the control unit 1 The operation as shown in FIG. 3 is performed. First, a function execution history table in which the value of the user identification information is a general value is extracted (step 10).
1) The history table is extracted for each function group of the functions displayed on each display of the operation display unit 6,
The function having the highest priority is selected, and the selected function is determined as a set value for the function group (process 102). And for each functional group,
The determined function is displayed on the display of the operation display 6 as a set value (process 103). Therefore, in the standby state, the operation display unit 6
, A general-purpose function that does not specify a user is selected for each function group, and the selected content is displayed on the operation display 6. FIGS. 4A and 4B show an example of processing at the time of transmission by the group 3 facsimile apparatus. When a document is set on the scanner 4, for example, "Please input a user ID. [YES / N]
O] "is displayed, and the user is requested to input user identification information (process 201). When the user inputs user identification information in response to the user ID input guidance message,
If the result of determination 202 is YES, the function execution history table corresponding to the value of the input user identification information is extracted (process 203), and one transmission condition that needs to be set at the time of transmission is selected (process 203). 204), the function having the highest priority is determined from the history table of the function group corresponding to the selected transmission condition (process 206),
The determined function is set to a selected state and displayed on the operation display unit 6 (process 207). Next, all function groups (transmission conditions)
It is checked whether or not the setting has been completed (decision 208). If the result of decision 208 is NO, the process returns to step 204 to select a function for the next function group. When the setting of transmission conditions is completed and the result of determination 208 is YES, and when the user ID
If the user has not entered the user identification information in response to the input guidance message, the result of determination 202 is NO.
, A function setting input process (described later) for causing the user to execute an individual operation is started for each function (process 208). At the same time, the user is requested to input a transmission destination (step 209). When the input of the destination is completed, a request is made to instruct transmission start (step 210). Thus, when the user inputs a command to start transmission, the function setting input process is stopped (process 211), and the finally set transmission conditions are input and stored (process 212). Then, a call is made to the transmission destination designated at that time (process 213), and when the partner terminal responds to the incoming call,
A predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed to negotiate a transmission function to be used at that time (step 214), and the image of the transmission original set on the scanner 4 at that time is read.
The image signal obtained thereby is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 7 in the encoding method set at that time, and the image information obtained thereby is transferred to the group 3 modem 9 and the image information is transmitted to the partner terminal. (Step 215). When the transmission of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 216), and the line is restored (step 2).
17), a series of image transmission operations ends. Next, the content of the function execution history table used at that time is updated according to the transmission condition used at that time (process 218). That is, in the history table of the function group ID corresponding to each transmission condition,
Update the contents of the individual function history data corresponding to the function ID of the function used at that time, end the operation at that time,
Return to the standby state. FIG. 5 shows an example of the function setting input processing. In this processing, first, it is monitored whether the user executes any operation input or whether a stop command is issued from another processing process (judgment 301,
NO loop of 302). When the user makes an operation input and the result of determination 301 is YES, the item that was input at that time is determined, and the item corresponding to the operation item is selected in the function execution history table that is selected at that time. In the history table of the selected function group, the individual function of the priority order next to the individual function in the selected state at that time is determined (step 303), and the determined individual function is set to the selected state. (Process 304) The display content is changed so that the function is displayed in a selected state (Process 305). Then, the process returns to the determination 301. If the processing stop is instructed by another processing process and the result of determination 302 is YES, this function setting input processing ends. As described above, in this embodiment, when a user inputs a user ID at the time of transmitting image information, an initial value of a transmission condition is set by referring to the function execution history table corresponding to the user ID. At the same time, when each transmission condition is changed, the function selected as each transmission condition is sequentially selected according to the transmission history of the user. As a result, the efficiency of the operation when the user sets and inputs the transmission condition can be improved. When the transmission operation is completed, the display returns to the standby state and is changed to the display contents of the standby state. When transmitting the image information, the user enters the user ID.
Is not entered, the initial value of the transmission condition is set and the transmission condition is changed with reference to the general-purpose function execution history table selected in the standby state. It is possible to avoid a situation where the contents of the function execution history table of the user are changed. In the above-described embodiment, only the transmission operation has been described. However, in the same manner as in the transmission operation, each user ID can be used in the copy operation, the reception operation, and the other function operations. Can be executed by referring to the function execution history table corresponding to the function execution history table. The value of the priority can be appropriately set according to the values of the execution count information, the average execution interval information, the latest execution interval information, and the previous execution time information. In addition, when there are a plurality of individual functions having the same priority, the priority order is determined, for example, by setting the one with the larger number of executions to the higher priority, and selecting the one whose previous execution time is closer to the current time to the higher priority. , Set the latest execution interval shorter to the higher priority, set the average execution interval shorter to the higher priority, set the smaller function ID value to the higher priority. The priority order is determined in the order of setting. At the time of the determination, a plurality of conditions can be added. In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the group 3 facsimile apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the group 4 facsimile apparatus. As described above, according to the present invention,
When operating the facsimile apparatus, when frequently selecting each operation item, the content frequently used by the user is preferentially presented, so that the user can easily set a desired transmission function. Get the effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a function execution history table, a history table, and an individual function history table. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example in a standby state; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing example at the time of transmission. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a function setting input process. [Description of Signs] 1 control unit 2 system memory

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-63-10221 (JP, A) JP-A-3-297261 (JP, A) JP-A-4-117059 (JP, A) JP-A-4-53359 (JP) , U) (58) Fields studied (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 H04N 1/32-1/36 101

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] In a control method of a facsimile apparatus capable of selecting a large number of individual functions for each of a plurality of apparatus functions, statistics of the selection and use status of each of the large number of individual functions are provided. History information indicating a target result is formed for each user identification information set in advance for the user, and the history information corresponding to predetermined general-purpose user identification information is formed. When input, based on the history information corresponding to the user identification information input by the user, the order in which the individual functions are presented to the user at the time of the operation of selecting the device function is set, When the user identification information is not input, the device device is configured based on the history information corresponding to the general-purpose user identification information. Control method for a facsimile apparatus characterized by setting the order of presenting the individual function to the user at the time of selection operation.