JPH05219295A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the facsimile equipment which is capable to record a message of the opposite operator by replying a conversation reservation with a synthesized voice and connecting a line to an automatic answering telephone function when the conversation reservation is requested from the opposite party while the operator is absent. CONSTITUTION:A control section 13 receives a picture signal via an NCU 11 and a MODEM 12 and receives a PRI-EOP signal from a sender side facsimile equipment 2, then a sounder 22 is operated to generate a call alarm. In this case, when the automatic answering telephone function is in operation, the control section 13 replies the facsimile equipment 2 and receives the signal informing it that a telephone set of the facsimile equipment 2 is hooked off, a voice synthesis section 18 is operated to send a message urging the transmission of a message to the operator of the sender side. Then the line is switched to the position of an automatic answering telephone circuit 19 to record the message sent from the sender side facsimile equipment onto a cassette tape recorder 20.

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 conversation reservation function and an answering machine function, and more particularly to a structure for linking both functions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus having both a conversation reservation function and an answering machine function has been developed.
Here, the conversation reservation function means that, for example, when a user wants to have a conversation with a destination operator by telephone after transmitting a document, if the conversation reservation is made at the transmitting or receiving facsimile device at the time of transmitting the document, Even if the facsimile machine receives a document, the line is not disconnected, and the operator on the transmission side and the operator on the reception side can talk using the telephones attached to the facsimile machines on the transmission side and the reception side. However, the conversation reservation function and the answering machine function are not linked, and the conversation reservation function cannot record a message in the answering machine function of the facsimile machine of the other party. For this reason, a message has to be recorded in the answering machine function of the other party by making an ordinary call instead of the conversation reservation function, and there is a drawback that two communications are required for the original transmission and the call.

To explain the above-mentioned problems in a more concrete case, when the operator of the destination facsimile machine is absent when the operator on the document transmitting side makes a conversation reservation during document transmission, Is automatically received by the destination facsimile machine. After that, even if a control signal for making a conversation reservation is sent from the sending facsimile machine to the destination facsimile machine, only a ringing tone is generated from the destination facsimile machine, and the line is not connected to the answering machine function side. .. Therefore, the operator on the transmitting side temporarily disconnects the line for transmitting the original document, then calls the destination from the nearest telephone again and connects the line to the answering machine function provided in the destination facsimile machine. After that, the message had to be recorded, which was troublesome and the telephone charges were extra.

[0004]

Even if the facsimile machine of the other party has a conversation reservation function and an answering machine function, if the other party operator is not present when the conversation reservation is made and the manuscript is transmitted. However, although the original is received by the automatic reception function of the other party, there is a drawback that the message cannot be recorded in the answering machine function of the other party by the conversation reservation function. Therefore, the operator on the transmitting side temporarily disconnects the line for transmitting the original document, then calls the destination from the nearest telephone again and connects the line to the answering machine function provided in the destination facsimile machine. After that, the message had to be recorded, which was troublesome and the telephone charges were extra.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and when the operator is out of the office, if the other party makes a conversation reservation,
An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device capable of recording a message of an operator of the other party by connecting a line to an answering machine function after responding with a synthetic voice.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in a facsimile apparatus having a conversation reservation function and an answering machine function, a voice response means for generating a predetermined voice message and transmitting it to the other party of the line connection destination, and an answering machine. When a control signal relating to a conversation reservation is input from the facsimile apparatus on the transmission side after the document is received in the state that the function is activated, the voice response means operates the voice response means to make a voice response, and the voice response means causes the voice message. Is transmitted to the transmitting side, and then the line connected to the transmitting side is connected to the answering machine function so that a predetermined signal for urging the other party to transmit is transmitted from the answering machine function.

[0007]

In the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the voice response means generates a predetermined voice message and sends it to the other party of the line connection destination. The control means operates the voice response means to make a voice response when a control signal relating to a conversation reservation is input from the facsimile apparatus on the transmission side after the document is received while the answering machine function is operated. The switching means, after transmitting the voice message to the transmission side by the voice response means, connects the line connected to the transmission side to the answering machine function and transmits a predetermined signal from the answering machine function to prompt the other party to speak. Let

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a facsimile machine on the receiving side having a conversation reservation function and an answering machine function, 2 is a facsimile machine on the transmission side having at least a conversation reservation function, and 3 is a public line network connecting the facsimile machines 1 and 2 to each other. is there. The facsimile machine 1 is composed of functional blocks as described below. 11 is an NCU that captures and releases the line, 12 is a data change,
A modem for demodulation, a control unit 13 for transmitting / receiving image data and controlling various functions, a DTMF receiver 14 for receiving a multi-frequency signal, and a reference numeral 15 for inputting a signal received by the DTMF receiver 14 to the control unit 13. Input port, 1
6 is an image processing unit that performs various image processing on the transmitted and received image data, 17 is a recording unit that prints the image data on recording paper and outputs it, 18 is a voice synthesizing unit that synthesizes voice, and 19 is voice mail An answering machine circuit for performing, a cassette tape recorder 20 for recording a voice transmitted by a telephone, a scanner unit 21 for reading an original document and converting it into image data, and a sounding member 22 for generating a call alarm.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
Now, it is assumed that there is no operator on the side of the facsimile machine 1 on the receiving side, the facsimile machine 1 is in the automatic reception mode, and the answering machine function is operating.
When a call is made from the facsimile machine 2 on the transmission side to the facsimile machine 1 on the receiving side via the public line network 3, the control unit 13 of the facsimile machine 1 on the transmitting side makes an NCU 11 and a modem 1.
An incoming call from the facsimile machine 2 on the transmitting side is detected via 2 and the line is connected. After that, after the preprocessing of the G3 mode protocol communication as shown in FIG. 2 is performed between the two facsimile devices 1 and 2, the image signal is received from the transmitting facsimile device 2 at the timing shown in FIG. It is sent to the facsimile machine 1 on the side. At this time, the operator of the facsimile device 2 on the transmission side performs a conversation reservation operation. The control unit 13 of the facsimile machine 2 on the receiving side is N
When the image signal is received via the CU 11 and the modem 12, the image signal is passed to the image processing unit 16 to be subjected to various image processing, and then the recording unit 17 prints it on recording paper and outputs it.

After that, when the transmission of the image signal from the transmission side facsimile apparatus 2 to the reception side facsimile apparatus 1 is completed, the transmission side facsimile apparatus 2 sends the PRI-EOP signal to the reception side facsimile apparatus 2 as shown in FIG. Output at the timing shown in. Upon receiving the PRI-EOP signal, the control unit 13 of the facsimile machine 1 on the receiving side operates the sounding body 22 to generate a call alarm. At this time, if the control unit 13 determines that the answering machine function is operating, the operation of the sounding body 22 is stopped and then the PI
The P signal is transmitted from the NCU 11 to the facsimile machine 2 on the transmitting side at the timing shown by C in FIG. Upon receiving this PIP signal, the facsimile machine 2 on the transmitting side generates a calling alarm, and the operator on the transmitting side hears this alarm and picks up the attached telephone. When the telephone is picked up, the facsimile machine 2 on the transmission side transmits the PRI-EOP signal to the facsimile machine 1 side at the timing shown in FIG. Upon receiving the PRI-EOP signal, the control unit 13 on the side of the facsimile device 1 operates the voice synthesis unit 18. As a result, the voice synthesizing unit 18 generates a voice message such as "Please send a message because the operator is out." Therefore, after this voice message is modulated by the modem 12, the voice message is transmitted via the NCU 11 to the facsimile apparatus 2 on the transmission side at the timing shown in FIG. After the voice message is sent from the voice synthesizer 18, the controller 13 controls the answering machine circuit 19
Is operated to generate a predetermined signal for prompting the operator on the transmitting side to send a message, and this is transmitted to the facsimile apparatus 2 on the transmitting side through the NCU 11 at the timing shown in FIG. When the operator of the facsimile machine 2 on the transmitting side hears the signal through the receiver, the operator speaks a message to the transmitter. Sent to. When the answering machine circuit 19 of the facsimile machine 1 on the receiving side receives the message via the NCU 11, it records the message on the cassette tape recorder 20. afterwards,
Since the operator of the transmitting facsimile machine hangs up the telephone, the line between the facsimile machine 2 and the facsimile machine 1 is disconnected. When the operator of the facsimile machine 1 on the receiving side returns, by performing a predetermined operation, the operator's message recorded on the cassette tape recorder 20 can be heard. Incidentally, the DTMF receiver 14 receives a multi-frequency signal received when the recorded contents of the cassette tape recorder 20 are heard by remote control by a telephone such as an external touch-tone phone, and outputs this to the control unit 13 via the input port 15. Used for.

According to the present embodiment, even if a call is made by conversation reservation after receiving an original, if the answering machine function is operated at that time, a predetermined voice response is given from the voice synthesizing section 18 and the facsimile on the transmitting side is sent. Since the operator of the device 2 can be made to record a message on the answering machine, even if the operator of the facsimile device 1 on the receiving side is absent, the operator on the transmitting side can receive the message in one communication by making a conversation reservation. The answering machine of the facsimile machine 1 on the side can be recorded. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the operation of the operator of the facsimile apparatus 2 on the transmission side in the above case and save the line usage. If a high-performance answering machine function installed in the facsimile machine 1 is used, the operator on the receiving facsimile machine 1 side calls the facsimile machine 1 from the place where the cassette tape recorder 2
The message recorded at 0 can be heard and it can be known that the manuscript has arrived.

[0012]

As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, when the operator is absent, if there is a conversation reservation from the other party, the line is connected to the answering machine function after responding with the synthesized voice. You can record the message of the operator on the other side.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a transmission / reception procedure between the facsimile devices shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 ... Facsimile device 3 ... Public network 11 ... NCU 12 ... Modem 13 ... Control unit 16 ... Image processing unit 17 ... Recording unit 18 ... Voice synthesis unit 19 ... Answering machine telephone circuit 20 ... Cassette tape recorder 22 ... Sounder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a facsimile apparatus having a conversation reservation function and an answering machine function, a voice response means for generating a predetermined voice message and transmitting it to the other party to which the line is connected, and a state where the answering machine function is operated. When a control signal relating to a conversation reservation is input from the facsimile apparatus on the transmission side after receiving the original, the control means for operating the voice response means to make a voice response, and after transmitting the voice message to the transmission side by the voice response means A facsimile apparatus comprising: a switching means for connecting a line connected to a transmitting side to an answering machine function and transmitting a predetermined signal from the answering machine function to the other party.