JP4227549B2 - Image communication method, communication apparatus, and control program for communication apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image communication method in an image communication system including an image communication apparatus connected to a communication line, and a portable terminal capable of communicating with the image communication apparatus via an IrDA interface, and communication that operates as the portable terminal or the image communication apparatus. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a control program for a communication apparatus that controls the portable terminal or the image communication apparatus.

  In recent years, mobile terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) are increasingly equipped with wireless communication means such as IrDA (InfraRed Data Association) and Bluetooth in order to interface with other devices.

  By using such wireless communication means, data in the mobile terminal, for example, phone book data (address data), JPEG images taken with a digital camera built in the mobile phone, music data downloaded through the simple Internet, For example, electronic data stored in a portable terminal can be transferred to an external device, a printer, a PC (personal computer), another cellular phone, or the like.

  Among such wireless communication means, although IrDA has a problem that directivity is strong and a reachable range is short, the cost for realizing the means is low, and the cost risk for mounting is small, so in recent years. As such, it is rapidly being mounted on mobile phones.

  The initial IrDA has been proposed and used as a wireless communication means between a PC and its peripheral devices. However, in recent years, the image data capacity of digital cameras and the like has increased dramatically, and as a result, the communication speed has been further increased. The high-speed interface such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) is mainly used between the PC and peripheral devices.

  However, IrDA has the advantages of wireless and the recent IrDA, which has improved communication speed, has been reviewed as one of the output means such as mobile phones in recent years.

  On the other hand, many mobile phones are equipped with a digital camera function, and image data captured by a digital camera or images downloaded from the simple Internet are stored in a memory in the mobile phone, When the memory slot is built into a mobile phone or the like when it is taken out and used, a memory card (smart media, CF card, memory stick, SD card, etc.) in the memory slot is inserted and removed, and the PC There was a need to transfer data.

  In such an environment, in recent years, from the viewpoint of improving the convenience of the user, a home peripheral device such as a PC, a printer, and an MFP (multi-function peripheral) and a copying machine that is an apparatus placed in a convenience store are also used. It is important to install an IrDA interface.

  Here, image data (JPEG images are generally used) taken with a digital camera built in a mobile phone or the like is now more than 1 million pixels and 2 million pixels. For this reason, the size of the photographed image is as large as that of a digital camera. The captured image data is stored in a memory in a mobile phone or the like. In recent years, the number of memories such as mobile phones, which are detachable in the same way as digital cameras (names such as memory cards and memory sticks) are increasing.

  On the other hand, the number of peripheral devices to which these memory cards can be directly inserted is increasing in MFPs, but there are still few in PCs, printers, and facsimile terminals (hereinafter referred to as FAX terminals).

A configuration has been already proposed in which destination data is transferred from a mobile phone or the like to an image processing apparatus via IrDA or Bluetooth, and FAX transmission (or mail transmission, etc.) is performed to the destination (the following patent Reference 1).
JP 2003-319093 A

  When data is transferred from a mobile phone or the like to an image processing apparatus such as an MFP or a facsimile apparatus or a counterpart device of a PC, if it is a relatively large amount of data such as a color image, It is conceivable to transfer data to a counterpart device using the above-described removable memory medium. However, when the mobile phone or the like does not have a memory slot, the means for retrieving the digital camera data stored in the memory in the mobile phone or the like is a PC or the like via an e-mail attached with image data from the mobile phone or the like. There was no choice but to send it to. In addition, when transferring such image data to a partner who does not have a processing device such as a PC, the image data must be temporarily recorded on a medium such as paper and then mailed or faxed (including color fax). It was.

  Although data transmission / reception between PCs and peripheral devices using IrDA is widely known, currently known technology is to extract image data from a mobile phone etc. and send it by fax. As described above, there is a problem that takes a very large amount of time and effort.

  For example, in the configuration of the above Patent Document 1, it is considered that image data is input from a scanner or the like on the image communication apparatus side, and only a destination to which the image data is transmitted is transmitted from the portable terminal side. It touches on the technology required for transferring from a mobile terminal to the image communication apparatus, for example, how to send image data transferred from a mobile phone (for example, conversion to facsimile image data). However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 alone cannot achieve the purpose of transmitting image data of a portable terminal using an image communication apparatus.

  Further, in the configuration of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is mainly considered that the destination to which an image is transmitted is specified from the mobile terminal side, and conversely, the use of telephone book data on the image communication apparatus side is used. Not considered. For this reason, even if the telephone directory data is complete on the image communication apparatus side, the destination data cannot be used, and the same destination data may have to be input again.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, transfer image data directly from a portable terminal such as a mobile phone or PDA to an image communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus or an MFP via IrDA, and use a facsimile communication system or the like. In this case, in addition to designating the transmission destination from the portable terminal side, the telephone book (address) data of the image communication apparatus can be used, and between the portable terminal and the image communication apparatus. Therefore, the convenience of data communication using IrDA can be improved.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an image communication method in an image communication system including an image communication apparatus connected to a communication line, and a portable terminal capable of communicating with the image communication apparatus via an IrDA interface.
Transfer the transmission data together with the destination data designating the transmission destination from the portable terminal to the image communication device via the IrDA interface,
In the image communication apparatus, when transmission data is transferred from the portable terminal, it is determined whether the destination data is transferred together with the transmission data, and it is determined that the destination data is not transferred together with the transmission data. Accordingly, the user selects on the mobile terminal side whether to use the address data stored in the image communication apparatus as a transmission destination, and the address data stored in the image communication apparatus is used as the transmission destination. In response to the user selecting on the portable terminal side to use, the address data stored in the image communication apparatus is transferred to the portable terminal via the IrDA interface, and the portable terminal is transferred from the address data. Specify the destination to be specified as the transmission destination via the user interface of
In the image communication apparatus, the transmission data is converted into a facsimile image format, and facsimile image data is generated by adding information capable of identifying the portable terminal,
The facsimile image data employing a configuration in which facsimile transmission to the transmission destination the portable terminal is specified from the image communication apparatus.

  According to the above configuration, transmission data can be directly transferred from the portable terminal to the image communication apparatus via the IrDA interface for facsimile transmission by an extremely easy operation. Since the transmission data is automatically converted into a facsimile format in the image communication apparatus, the user does not need to perform a troublesome conversion operation.

  In addition to specifying the destination of the transmission from the mobile terminal side, the telephone book (address) data of the image communication apparatus can be used, and the convenience of data communication using IrDA between the mobile terminal and the image communication apparatus is possible. Can be greatly improved.

  In the following, an embodiment in an image communication system composed of an image communication apparatus 100 configured as a facsimile apparatus or MFP and a mobile terminal 13 such as a mobile phone or a PDA will be described.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image communication system employing the present invention. This system includes an image communication apparatus 100 configured as a facsimile apparatus or an MFP, and a mobile terminal 13 such as a mobile phone or a PDA.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a control unit for controlling the entire image communication apparatus 100 embodying the present invention, 2 is a ROM in which a control program is stored, 3 is used for calculations necessary for control, and user settings are set. Work memory to be stored, 4 is a storage means (memory) for storing received images and e-mails from the slave units, and 5 is an image transmitted from a cellular phone or the like as a FAX transmission image. An image data conversion means 6 for conversion is an operation unit including a display unit and an input unit.

  Reference numeral 7 denotes an image reading means including CIS and document conveying means, 8 denotes a recording section for recording an image by an arbitrary recording method such as an ink jet method, a thermal transfer method, a thermal method, an electrophotographic method, and 9 denotes a facsimile communication. A modem (FAX modem) for performing modulation / demodulation of image / procedure signals, 10 is a data modem for performing data transfer using the Internet network (however, it is not always necessary for facsimile transmission of images as will be described later), Reference numeral 11 denotes an NCU (network control unit) for interfacing with the telephone line 14, and reference numeral 12 denotes an infrared communication means for communicating with a mobile phone or the like by IrDA (infrared communication).

  The control unit 1 in FIG. 1 and other units, that is, ROM 2, work memory 3, memory 4, image data conversion unit 5, infrared communication unit 12, image reading unit 7, operation unit 6, recording unit 8, and fax modem 9 The data modem 10 is connected by a bus, and the FAX modem 9, the data modem 10 and the NCU 11 are connected by a signal line.

  The image communication apparatus 100 described above can be configured as, for example, a facsimile machine or an MFP. This image communication apparatus 100 is connected to a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA indicated by reference numeral 13 and an IrDA (infrared communication) system. Communication is now possible. Therefore, an infrared communication unit 12 is provided on the image communication apparatus 100 side in order to communicate with the portable terminal 13 by IrDA.

  The portable terminal 13 is provided with an IrDA interface (not shown) for communicating with the infrared communication means 12 on the image communication apparatus 100 side in addition to the display 13a and the keyboard 13b from a color LCD or the like. Further, it is assumed that the portable terminal 13 is provided with means for inputting and storing some image data. For example, the portable terminal 13 is provided with a digital camera (not shown), and image data captured by the digital camera can be stored in an internal memory or a removable memory medium. Alternatively, not only the digital camera but also the mobile terminal 13 downloads image data from the Internet or the like, and holds it in the internal memory or a removable memory medium.

  In this embodiment, the input image data on the portable terminal 13 side is transferred to the image communication apparatus 100 by IrDA, and the image communication apparatus 100 (facsimile apparatus or PC) is remote from the image communication apparatus 100. ) By facsimile.

  The image communication apparatus 100 side stands by so that IrDA communication can be started at any time. In other words, the infrared communication means 12 is kept on standby so that it can be received whenever a communication request by IrDA is transmitted from the mobile terminal 13, and when an IrDA communication request is received from the mobile terminal 13, IrDA communication with the mobile terminal 13 is performed. Start.

  The communication details such as the IrDA communication protocol are not described here because IrDA is a technique that is already widely used. In this embodiment, from the mobile terminal 13 side to the image communication apparatus 100 side. When the data is transferred by IrDA and transmitted from the image communication apparatus 100 side, the data file of the image data (or mail text or the like) and the destination information can be transferred in association with each other.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the data format of image data and destination information transferred from the portable terminal 13 to the image communication apparatus 100 by IrDA can be considered. In the example of FIG. 3, the data format is obtained by adding destination data 31 in CSV (Comma Separated Value) format to the head of image data (here, JPEG format) 32. The CSV format is a data expression in which each field consisting of a character code string is delimited by “,” (actually ASCII half-width characters), and is relatively widely compatible between various systems and applications. It has been.

  The destination data 31 shown in FIG. 3 is configured as “Yama x Husband, 03-xxx x-xxx-xxx, mobile 01, 090-ΔΔΔΔ-ΔΔΔΔ,... However, the meaning of each field delimited by “,” is determined in advance between the image communication apparatus 100 and the portable terminal 13. In the example of FIG. 3, the meaning of each field is “destination name, destination number, transmission”. "Terminal name, calling terminal number". In the present embodiment, the “destination name, destination number, caller terminal name, caller terminal number” in the first half is used when the image communication apparatus 100 makes a call, The “name, transmission terminal number” portion indicates identification information of the portable terminal 13 (ID information that can identify the portable terminal or transmission data from at least the portable terminal 13 to the image communication apparatus 100 when generating a header of a facsimile image to be described later. Is used as information for identifying that the message is being transferred.

  The example of FIG. 3 is a case where the meaning of each field delimited by “,” is determined in advance between the image communication apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal 13, or “ The identifiers such as “destination:”, “destination number:”, “sending terminal:”, and “sending terminal number:” may be placed at the beginning of each field delimited by “”.

  In FIG. 3, the image data 32 is made continuous by narrowing an appropriate EOF code after the destination data 31, but the destination data 31 can be associated with the image data 32 and can be decomposed later. The storage format of the destination data 31 and the image data 32 does not matter. For example, a data format in which data representing the data length of the 8 to 16-bit destination data 31 portion is placed at the beginning of the destination data 31, and image data such as JPEG format is continued immediately after the destination data 31, Alternatively, if the image data 32 is in JPEG format, the destination data 31 can be stored inside the JPEG data using an appropriate marker code as part of the control information.

  Next, the operation in the above configuration will be described.

  When the user wants to transmit an image from the portable terminal 13 via the image communication apparatus 100, the user selects an image to be transmitted by the portable terminal 13, and selects or inputs a FAX number of a destination to which the image is FAX-transmitted. The user interface at this time can be configured by modifying the user interface when browsing images on the portable terminal 13 (for example, “FAX transmission” for causing the image communication apparatus 100 to transmit a displayed image). Add a button to the user interface when browsing images).

  The destination telephone (FAX) number data (or address data, dial data) can be transmitted to the image communication apparatus 100 together with the image data as shown in FIG. The designation of the destination telephone (FAX) number data may be input by the user using the user interface of the telephone directory used in the portable terminal 13.

  If the destination FAX number is not in the address data of the portable terminal 13 and is in the address data on the image communication apparatus 100 side, as will be described later with reference to FIG. The address data is transferred to the mobile terminal 13 side. The user selects a destination telephone number from the transferred address data, and transmits the IrDA light emitting unit to the image communication apparatus 100 again.

  The image communication apparatus 100 that has received the image data via the infrared communication means 12 converts the received image data into a format suitable for FAX transmission. For example, conversion from JPEG format to MH, MR format.

  Similar processing is performed when the image communication apparatus 100 is compatible with color FAX, but data processing for each color of R, G, and B is performed. That is, the image communication apparatus 100 develops the received JPEG image data in a memory and converts it into R, G, and B color data. Color-to-monochrome conversion is performed depending on whether the other party is a monochrome FAX or a color FAX. For example, whether the other party is a monochrome FAX or a color FAX can be determined by a facsimile pre-procedure when actually communicating. Therefore, if the other party is a monochrome FAX machine, each color data is prepared in advance with a gamma table. Is converted into halftone image data of monochrome gradation. In addition, if the determination result of whether the destination is a monochrome FAX or a color FAX has been communicated with the destination in the past, and the determination result is stored in the image communication apparatus 100, the color / monochrome conversion described above is not performed. It can also be done before the call.

  Further, when the size of the image data is larger than the width of the image to be faxed, for example, the A4 size width, a scaling process is performed such that the image size is changed and reduced in the FAX apparatus. Here, since the aspect ratio is maintained, the image itself is not distorted. Further, here, the image is pasted on paper format data for FAX transmission prepared in advance. Conversely, when the image data is small, it is enlarged to a size suitable for the paper format.

  In addition, the FAX transmission image generated in this manner is inserted and attached with a part where information of a transmission source called a header is recorded. This header may include the telephone number or name of the mobile terminal 13 as information indicating that the image data of the main body has been transferred from the mobile terminal 13. The telephone numbers and names of these portable terminals 13 can be transmitted together with the destination telephone number by using the format shown in FIG. 3 (the part of “calling terminal name, calling terminal number” described with reference to FIG. 3).

  Further, this header can include the telephone number of the image communication apparatus 100, the apparatus name, ID, and transmission date / time stored in the image communication apparatus 100, as in known facsimile communication. Normally, such header image information can be generated using a character generator ROM or the like. Here, for the sake of convenience, the identification information of these portable terminals (or at least the identification information identifying transmission data transferred from the portable terminal) has been described as being added as a header. Needless to say, it can be added to other positions.

  Here, the converted image data and the above paper format are combined, and stored again in the memory as FAX data such as MR and MH.

  Then, the telephone number received together with the image or the telephone number designated by the portable terminal 13 as described later is called, and the data generated as described above is transmitted by FAX communication.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the data transferred from the portable terminal 13 to the image communication apparatus 100 and transmitted is image data such as a digital photograph is considered. In this case, the photograph mode, that is, the halftone mode is set. Send image data. However, even if the file selected to be transmitted by the portable terminal 13 is not an image file but a text file or a spreadsheet file, it can be converted into a facsimile image by the image communication apparatus 100 and transmitted by facsimile. That is, in the case of a text file, a spreadsheet file, or the like, the facsimile transmission mode is not a halftone mode, but is transmitted using a transmission mode mainly composed of characters called a binary mode. At this time, text data such as a text file or a spreadsheet file is converted into a binary image by the image communication apparatus 100 using, for example, a character generator and transmitted by facsimile. Since the transmission modes such as the halftone mode and the binary mode in the facsimile communication and the protocol in each mode are well known, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The above operation is shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 2 shows a state of communication performed by the image communication apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal 13 of FIG. The illustrated communication procedure is controlled by the control unit 1 on the image communication apparatus 100 side and by the control unit (not shown) of the mobile terminal 13 on the mobile terminal 13 side. The program for executing the communication procedure of FIG. 2 can be stored in the ROM 2 on the image communication apparatus 100 side, and can be stored in the same ROM on the portable terminal 13 side.

  In step S201 in FIG. 2, it is assumed that the image communication apparatus 100 is turned on but is in a standby state that is not an operation state such as copying, FAX transmission / reception, or a call. Here, the image communication apparatus 100 is in a reception standby state so that IrDA communication can be started at any time.

  In step S202, the user transmits an image stored in the mobile terminal 13, for example, a JPEG image file captured by the digital camera function of the mobile phone, to a remote facsimile apparatus by FAX transmission. Start that.

  First, an image file to be transmitted by IrDA is selected using the user interface of the mobile terminal 13, and a transmission key (or button or the like) arranged in the user interface is operated on the mobile terminal 13. Here, IrDA transmission / reception is started between the image communication apparatus 100 and the portable terminal 13 that have received the IrDA transmission request.

  When receiving the IrDA communication request, the image communication apparatus 100 proceeds to step S203, and otherwise returns to step S201.

  In step S <b> 203, image data is transmitted from the mobile terminal 13 to the image communication apparatus 100. Then, the image communication apparatus 100 determines whether the simultaneously received image file is a JPEG file, another image format file, or a data file such as a text file other than an image.

  In step S204, it is determined whether or not the destination address data is transmitted together with the image in the format shown in FIG. If the user inputs the destination FAX number or quotes from the mobile terminal 13 side address data at the time of transmission from the mobile terminal 13 in step S202, the destination address data is displayed together with the image in the format shown in FIG. Since the destination FAX number is transmitted, the image communication apparatus 100 recognizes / stores the destination FAX number and proceeds to step S208. If the FAX number data is not input, that is, the destination is not set, the destination address data is not transmitted together with the image. In this case, the process proceeds to step S205.

  When the address data of the destination is not transmitted together with the image, in step S205 to S210, the user selects on the portable terminal 13 side whether or not to use the address data (phone book data) on the image communication apparatus 100 side as the FAX transmission destination. Let That is, when the user of the portable terminal 13 designates using the address data (phone book data) on the image communication apparatus 100 side as a FAX transmission destination in step S205, the process proceeds to step S206, and the portable terminal 13 uses the numeric keypad. When inputting (or quoting from the mobile terminal 13 side address data), the process proceeds to step S210.

  In step S206, address data is transferred from the image communication apparatus 100 to the mobile terminal 13 via IrDA. As the data format of the address data of the image communication apparatus 100, a CSV format similar to the destination data 31 of FIG. 3 may be used. The address data transmitted from the image communication apparatus 100 to the portable terminal 13 in step S206 may be configured as shown in FIG. 4, for example. The address data 40 in FIG. 4 includes destination data 42, 43,..., And these destination data 42, 43,... Include a partner name (or other management information) and a destination telephone (FAX) number as shown. They are entered by separating them with “,”. The end of each destination data 42, 43... Is expressed by ASCII LF (or CR, CRLF, etc.).

  Subsequently, in step S207, for example, the user of the portable terminal 13 is made to specify a desired destination by a user interface as shown in FIG. Here, the portable terminal 13 receives the address data in the format as shown in FIG. 4, analyzes the data, and displays the data on the display 13 a of the portable terminal 13 to the user. The display format at this time can be configured as shown in FIG. 5, for example. In FIG. 5, the destination name and the destination telephone (FAX) number transmitted in the format of FIG. 4 are displayed on the display 13a of the portable terminal 13, and the user uses a cursor key or a jog dial (not shown) Specify the destination. Since there may be a case where the desired destination is not included in the address data transferred from the image communication apparatus 100, the user interface shown in FIG. 5 is further provided with an input field for manually inputting the destination telephone (FAX) number. It is good to keep.

  On the other hand, if the user of the portable terminal 13 selects not to use the address data on the image communication apparatus 100 side in step S205, since the FAX transmission destination is not input in step S210, the user of the portable terminal 13 is again given a number. Prompt for input. The telephone (FAX) number can be input manually using the numeric keypad or by using the phone book data (and its user interface) on the portable terminal 13 side.

  If the telephone (FAX) number is not input even in step S210, the process ends in error in step S211. At this time, using the display 13a of the portable terminal 13 or the display (not shown) of the image communication apparatus 100, an error display indicating that the image transmission cannot be performed because the destination is unknown is performed.

  As described above, after the destination telephone (FAX) number is determined via step S204, steps S205 to S208, or step S210, the process proceeds to step S208.

  In step S208, the image data in JPEG format received from the portable terminal 13 is converted into FAX communication image data (referred to as MH and MR) by the above processing. At this time, as described above, trimming and enlargement / reduction in accordance with the FAX transmission size, and synthesis with a template (paper format) are performed, and an ID such as a telephone number of the portable terminal 13 is transmitted as user information in the header. , Name, transmission date and time, destination information, etc. are automatically entered. These pieces of information are information held by either the mobile terminal 13 or the image communication apparatus 100 through IrDA communication.

  Subsequently, in step S209, information such as the type of image data determined in step S203, the type of the partner image communication apparatus 100, whether it is compatible with color FAX, communication speed, and the like is obtained by FAX communication, and the image to be transmitted is sent. Fax transmission that is more suitable for the combined mode, that is, whether it is color FAX, halftone, or binary.

  As described above, transmission data can be directly transferred from the portable terminal to the image communication apparatus for facsimile transmission by an extremely easy operation. At that time, image data in a format such as JPEG (or other application data such as text data) generally used in a portable terminal is automatically converted into a facsimile format by the image communication apparatus, so that the user can perform troublesome conversion operations. There is no need to do it.

  Further, since the image transmission destination can be transmitted together with the image data in the format shown in FIG. 3, for example, the processing can be performed at a high speed. In this case, the image data and the destination data are associated with each other. Therefore, the possibility of transmission errors and the like can be reduced. Furthermore, not only the phone book (address) data of the mobile terminal but also the phone book (address) data on the image communication apparatus side is transferred to the mobile terminal and displayed on the user interface as shown in FIG. A destination can be designated from among them, and according to the present embodiment, the address data of the existing portable terminal and image communication apparatus can be effectively used very easily without causing the user to repeatedly input the same data.

  In addition, the facsimile image transmitted from the image communication apparatus includes, as a header or the like, information that can identify whether the facsimile image is data transferred from a portable terminal or from which portable terminal. Can be added.

  In the above embodiment, in order to simplify the description, the image communication apparatus 100 is considered to accept IrDA communication from the mobile terminal 13 unconditionally. However, considering security, for example, the image communication apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal By performing an appropriate authentication process between the terminals 13 (or the user identification information), the image communication apparatus 100 can be controlled so as to accept only the image transmission designation of a specific portable terminal 13 (or user) via IrDA. Needless to say, you can.

  In the above embodiment, the apparatus shown as the image communication apparatus 100 may be an apparatus having an image communication function. As the image communication apparatus, in addition to the facsimile apparatus and MFP described above, a PC, a FAX modem, a scanner, and an image An image communication system configured using an application for communication is conceivable. As the mobile terminal 13, a small terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA having an IrDA interface can be used. The software for executing the image communication procedure of the present invention can be installed in the ROM (or HDD) of the image communication apparatus 100 and the portable terminal 13, or can be introduced into these apparatuses via a network.

It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the image communication system which employ | adopted this invention. It is the flowchart figure which showed the mode of the communication control in the image communication system of FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of image / destination data transferred from the mobile terminal to the image communication apparatus in the image communication system of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of destination data transferred from the image communication apparatus to the portable terminal in the image communication system of FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the user interface implemented with a portable terminal in the image communication system of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

100 Image Communication Device 1 Control Unit 2 ROM
3 Work memory 4 Memory 5 Image data conversion means 6 Operation section 7 Reading means 9 FAX modem 10 Data modem 11 NCU
12 Infrared communication means 14 Telephone line 31 Destination data 32 Image data 13 Mobile terminal 13a Display 13b Keyboard

Claims (7)

In an image communication method in an image communication system including an image communication apparatus connected to a communication line, and a portable terminal capable of communicating with the image communication apparatus via an IrDA interface,
Transfer the transmission data together with the destination data designating the transmission destination from the portable terminal to the image communication device via the IrDA interface,
In the image communication apparatus, when transmission data is transferred from the portable terminal, it is determined whether the destination data is transferred together with the transmission data, and it is determined that the destination data is not transferred together with the transmission data. Accordingly, the user selects on the mobile terminal side whether to use the address data stored in the image communication apparatus as a transmission destination, and the address data stored in the image communication apparatus is used as the transmission destination. In response to the user selecting on the portable terminal side to use, the address data stored in the image communication apparatus is transferred to the portable terminal via the IrDA interface, and the portable terminal is transferred from the address data. Specify the destination to be specified as the transmission destination via the user interface of
In the image communication apparatus, the transmission data is converted into a facsimile image format, and facsimile image data is generated by adding information capable of identifying the portable terminal,
An image communication method comprising: facsimile-transmitting the facsimile image data from the image communication apparatus to the transmission destination designated by the portable terminal.   2. The image communication method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission data is an image or text data in a format different from a facsimile image format, and the transmission data is converted into a facsimile image format in the image communication apparatus. Image communication method. 2. The image communication method according to claim 1, wherein an input field is provided for manually inputting a telephone number of the transmission destination on the user interface for displaying address data stored in the image communication apparatus transferred to the portable terminal. An image communication method comprising: providing an image communication method. An image communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the communication apparatus characterized by operating as the mobile terminal. An image communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the communication apparatus characterized by operating as the image communication apparatus. Communication apparatus control program, wherein the controlling the communication device to operate as the mobile terminal in order to implement an image communication method according to any one of claims 1-3. A communication apparatus control program for controlling a communication apparatus to operate as the image communication apparatus so as to perform the image communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

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