JPH10200681A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the user of a host device using a facsimile equipment as a communication means to recognize the results of a facsimile communication in real time. SOLUTION: This facsimile equipment is provided with a host interface section 1 that makes transmission reception of data with a host device and a host communication control section 2 that reports the communication result of facsimile communication to the host device via the host interface section 1, every time facsimile communication with an opposite facsimile equipment is finished. Furthermore, the host communication control section 2 is configured such that it reports the communication result, only when the facsimile communication with the opposite facsimile equipment is the transmission which has been conducted by an instruction from the host device or the reception addressed to the host device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus communicably connected to a host apparatus such as a personal computer, and more particularly to a facsimile apparatus having a function of notifying a facsimile communication result to the host apparatus in real time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A host apparatus such as a personal computer is connected to a facsimile apparatus in accordance with an interface specification such as RS232C, and a document created by the host apparatus is transmitted to another facsimile apparatus via the facsimile apparatus, or another facsimile apparatus. Facsimile apparatus having a function of passing facsimile image information received from a host device to a host device, outputting data received from the host device to a plotter, and passing image information read by a scanner to the host device. . Conventionally, when a facsimile communication result is notified to a host apparatus in this type of facsimile apparatus, the following procedure has been performed. First,
When the user operates the host apparatus, the host apparatus requests the facsimile apparatus to send all the facsimile communication result information stored in the facsimile apparatus to the host apparatus at that time. Then,
The facsimile device transmits all of the stored facsimile communication result information to the host device in response to the request, and the host device displays the received communication result information on a display device.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the facsimile communication result is not notified unless the user operates the host device to request the facsimile communication result information from the facsimile device.
There is a problem that a user who is working at a location where the host device is located away from the location where the facsimile device is located cannot know the result of the facsimile communication even if he wants to know the result in real time. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus which solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technique and allows a user to know a facsimile communication result in real time in a host apparatus.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a facsimile apparatus communicably connected to a host device transmits and receives data to and from the host device. A facsimile device, comprising: a host interface unit for performing the facsimile communication; and a communication control unit for notifying the host device of a communication result of the facsimile communication each time the facsimile communication with the partner facsimile device is completed. Every time communication is performed, the user can know the communication result in real time in the host device. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the communication result is notified only when the facsimile communication with the other party's facsimile apparatus is performed by an instruction from the host apparatus or when the facsimile communication is received to the host apparatus. By configuring the communication control means, only the communication result of the facsimile communication involving the host device is notified, and only the communication result of the communication relevant to the user of the host device is transmitted to the host device by the user in real time. I was able to know.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a communication system including the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the facsimile apparatus A is, for example, an RS23.
It is connected to the host apparatus B via a 2C interface cable, and is also connected to another facsimile apparatus C via a public telephone line network (actually, a plurality of facsimile apparatuses are provided). FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a facsimile apparatus A showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown,
The facsimile apparatus A includes a host interface section 1 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a host apparatus B, a host communication control section 2 for controlling communication with the host apparatus, and management and control of the entire apparatus according to a built-in program. A control unit 11, a keyboard for the operator to give an instruction to the facsimile device A, an operation display unit 12 comprising a display means for the facsimile device A to give the operator a message, etc., and temporarily stores image information and the like. RAM to keep
13, a scanner 14 for reading the original image, and the received image information decoded by the encoding / decoding unit (DCR) 18
A plotter 15 for outputting via the AM 13; a network control unit (NCU) 16 for setting up a call with a remote facsimile apparatus C via the public telephone network; a communication control unit for performing facsimile transmission / reception in accordance with a G3 transmission control procedure 17, a modem 19 comprising a low-speed modem and a high-speed modem, an image memory 20 for storing image information, a parameter memory 21 for storing control information, and the like. The host interface unit 1 is, for example, RS232C or RS4
22 or a Centronics interface. Further, the parameter memory 21 is backed up by a battery for power-off. In the facsimile apparatus A configured as described above, every time facsimile communication is performed, the communication result information at that time is stored in the communication result table in the RAM 13, the image memory 20, or the parameter memory 21.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the communication result table. In FIG. 2, the TMS indicates that the communication is transmitted (Transm.
issin) and it is a memory transmission (Memory),
It means that the linear density at that time is standard. RD indicates that the communication is received (Reception)
This means that the linear density at that time is fine (Detail). In this facsimile apparatus, the communication result information as described above can be output to a recording sheet as in the related art, and when one communication is performed, the communication result information at that time can be sent to the host device. it can. Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As shown, the facsimile machine first
It is in a standby state (S1). In such a case, if transmission is started by a user's transmission operation or an instruction from the host device, or if there is an incoming call and reception starts (Yes in S2)
s) Transmission / reception processing is performed by the control unit 11 and the communication control unit 17 (S3). Then, when this process is completed, the control unit 11 transmits the communication (communication) mode and the communication result at this time to R
The data is written into a communication result table provided in the AM 13 or the like (S4).

Subsequently, the control section 11 determines whether or not the apparatus is connected to the host device (computer) (S5).
If it is not connected (No in S5), it enters the standby state again (S1). The communication connection between the host device and the facsimile device is made by the host device. on the other hand,
If it is determined in step S5 that the connection is established (Yes in S5), the host communication control unit 2 executes the RT via the host interface unit 1 as shown in the procedure diagram of FIG.
The S (Ready To Send) signal is turned on (active state) and sent to the host device (S6). The RTS signal has a role of notifying the host device of data transmission,
When receiving the above signal, if the host device can receive data, the host device turns on a CTS (Clear To Send) signal and sends the signal to the facsimile device.

After turning on the RTS signal, the host communication control unit 2 monitors the transmission of the CTS signal (No in S7 → S7), and detects the arrival of the CTS signal (Yes in S7). ) The control unit 11 is notified of the fact. Then, the control unit 11 reads the communication result information of the facsimile communication performed at that time from the communication result table, and
Is converted into character information (for example, ASCII information) as shown in FIG. 5 (FIG. 5 shows two examples) and passed to the host communication control unit 2. In FIG. 5, JNL is information indicating communication management information, and CR is information indicating line feed.
The meaning of each of the other terms separated by the + sign can be known in association with FIG. Subsequently, the host communication control unit 2 sends the character information to the host device via the host interface unit 1 (S8), and then turns off the RTS signal to notify the host device of the end of data transmission (see FIG. 4). ) (S9). The type of data format that the host device expects and waits depends on the data communication application program and communication driver of the host device that is trying to receive data, but many data communication application programs use the nonprocedural data transmission / reception mode. Since it has, it is easy to receive character information as shown in FIG. In addition, by using such character information, the length of each information is not restricted, and information other than the communication result information can be notified.

When the host device receives the character information, it can interpret the information and easily display communication result information as shown in FIG. The date and time information shown in FIG. 6 is obtained by the host device from a clock circuit provided in the host device when character information is received from the facsimile device. Further, in the above description, the communication result information is sent to the host device even when the facsimile communication at that time is not related to the host device, but the communication result information is sent only when the host device is involved. It is also possible. In this case, when transmitting, when starting transmission processing in accordance with a transmission instruction from the host device, the control unit 11 sets information indicating that transmission to be performed is transmission relating to the host device in a predetermined area of the RAM 13. When receiving, if the destination extracted from the received information is the host device, when starting the receiving process, the control unit 11 sends the information indicating that the reception to be performed next is the reception related to the host device. Set to a predetermined area. Then, after the end of the transmission or the reception, the control unit 11 does not perform the communication result notification to the host device when the information set in the predetermined area indicates that the information is not related to the host device. With this configuration, the user of the host device can know in real time only the communication result of the facsimile communication that is relevant to the user of the host device.

[0010]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. According to the first aspect of the present invention, each time facsimile communication is performed, the communication result is notified to the host device. Therefore, the user can know the facsimile communication result information in real time at the place where the business is performed. Can be. According to the second aspect of the present invention, each time facsimile communication involving the host device is performed, the result of the communication is notified to the host device. Only the result information of the facsimile communication relevant to the user can be known in real time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a data configuration of a main part of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a communication procedure between the facsimile machine shown in FIG. 1 and a host device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of communication information relating to communication between the facsimile machine and the host device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a communication information display screen in the host device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a system configuration diagram of a communication system including a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 host interface unit, 2 host communication control unit,
11 control unit, 13 RAM, 17 communication control unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus communicably connected to a host apparatus, wherein the host interface unit for transmitting / receiving data to / from the host apparatus and the facsimile communication between the facsimile apparatus and a partner facsimile apparatus each time the facsimile communication is completed. A facsimile apparatus comprising: communication control means for notifying a host apparatus of a communication result of facsimile communication via the host interface unit. 2. The communication control means according to claim 1, wherein the communication result is notified only when the facsimile communication with the partner facsimile device is performed in accordance with an instruction from the host device or when the facsimile communication is received by the host device. Item 1. A facsimile apparatus according to item 1.