JPH11164073A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a line from getting busy for a long time and to attain the reduction of communication cost by designating the emergency of originals, immediately transmitting the original of high emergency, storing the original of low emergency and transmitting it in a preset time zone with low utilization frequency/cost. SOLUTION: A time zone with a low possibility for an original to be sent from other equipment or low line utilization cost is designated as an optimum communication time zone. An original is placed and transmission is commanded while designating whether it is an emergency original or not. After an image reading part 3 has been activated, a system control part 1 executes transmission through an ordinary protocol in the case of an emergency original. When it is not an emergency original, data are stored the image memory of the image reading part 3. At encoding/decoding part 5 reads the image data from the image memory of the image reading part 2, performs encoding processing and stores them in a secondary storage device 8. In a time zone optimum of the set transmission, the data in the secondary storage device 8 are automatically transmitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for improving line utilization efficiency and cost in image information processing for electrically handling image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional facsimile apparatus is generally executed in the order in which a transmission procedure operation is performed irrespective of the urgency of a document, and almost all data is transmitted in real time regardless of direct / memory transmission. Even at the same destination, the connection route between the own station and the other station may be different depending on the line usage at that time, and the line quality may be different accordingly. If the connection with the partner station is made in a state where the line quality is poor, a shift down which is not normally required may occur. This will increase the transfer time,
Both line efficiency and cost are disadvantageous.

A conventional example of shortening the communication time is disclosed in
There is a “communication system of a facsimile machine” in JP-A 2-34084 and a “modem rate control method for a facsimile machine” in JP-A-4-33567. In the conventional example of JP-A-2-34084, the receiving side notifies the transmitting side of the detection result of the data error to the transmitting side, so that the transmitting side reduces the repetition of retransmission at high speed, which is prone to errors, and shortens the communication time. The conventional example of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-133567 discloses that when communicating with a registered specific device, an optimum modem rate for communication with the specific device is notified, and an accurate downshift of the modem rate in the transmitting device is enabled. Thus, the number of times of transmission and reception of signals required for establishing the training of the modem is reduced, and the communication time is shortened.

[0004]

However, in the conventional apparatus, an original having a low urgency is generally transmitted in real time, and once transmission is in progress, the apparatus (line) becomes BUSY.
In this state, the sent original cannot be received until BUSY is released. Also, even if the urgency of the original document is low, even if the call charge in that time period is high, the original is transmitted in real time.

When a downshift occurs due to connection with a partner station in a state of poor line quality, especially when the number of documents is large, the transfer is stopped once even if the time allotted to the protocol is wasted, and another transfer is performed. The total cost is lower if you try the possibility of transmission without downshifting during the time zone. Even in the above conventional example, these problems remain because transmission is performed in real time.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of transmitting a document having a low degree of urgency in a time period in which the frequency of entering a reception state is low, so that a document cannot be sent from another device due to the line BUSY. It is an object of the present invention to reduce the line use cost by reducing the frequency or transmitting the data all at once in the middle of the night when the call charge is low.

If the line quality is poor and the number of documents is large, it is estimated whether there is a high possibility of transmission without downshifting, and if it is high, retrying at another time is performed to shift down. An object of the present invention is to prevent an increase in transfer time due to continuation of all transfer.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for designating an urgency of a document to be transmitted, a first determining unit for determining the specification, A first transmission unit that immediately and normally transmits the document when the first determination unit determines that the document is urgent;

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the first storage means for storing the original when the first determination means determines that the document is not urgent; And a second transmitting means for normally transmitting the document stored by the storing means at a preset time.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, for a document stored by the first storage means, at a preset time, whether a plurality of documents for the same destination exist. There is further provided a search / arrangement unit for searching for and organizing each destination, and a third transmission unit for transmitting a plurality of originals to the same destination arranged by the search / arrangement unit using a single protocol. It is characterized by the following.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a second storage means for storing a line state at the time of transmission for each destination.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a second determining means for determining whether the number of pages of the original to be transmitted or the amount of compressed data is larger than a preset reference. It is characterized by.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, when the number of pages of the document or the amount of compressed data is determined to be larger than a predetermined reference by the second determining means, Third determining means for determining the possibility of downshifting based on the line state stored by the second storage means when modem training by a protocol fails during transmission; and The apparatus further comprises means for temporarily stopping transmission when it is determined by the means that the possibility of downshifting is low, and retransmitting after a predetermined time has elapsed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the number of pages of the document or the amount of compressed data is determined to be equal to or less than a predetermined reference by the second determining means, the transmission is performed. In this case, when the modem training in the protocol fails at the time of the transmission, there is further provided a means for continuing the transmission even after the shift down.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Structure> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the structure of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1
Is a system control section, 2 is a system bus, 3 is an image reading section, 4 is an image printing section, 5 is an encoding / decoding section (CODE
C), 6 is a modem, 7 is a network control unit, 8 is a secondary storage device,
9 is a control unit.

The system control section controls the entire system. The system bus has an image data bus and a command bus inside. The image reading unit is a device for inputting image data from a document, and is configured by a known technology such as a light source, a light source conversion element, an A / D converter, and a UAPT. Using filters to obtain color image data, RGB
Reading three colors at the same time. The obtained RGB data is
The image data is sent to another unit through the system bus after performing predetermined image processing.

The image printing section is constituted by a well-known technique such as DMA, busi / f, color ink ribbon, thermal head, color writing unit, and paper transport mechanism. The image data is taken in from the decoding unit or the image reading unit, and a latent image is formed on the photoconductor by laser light according to the color information.

The encoding / decoding unit transfers image data to and from the peripheral units.
In the monochrome binary mode, the image data is compressed and decompressed by various algorithms such as MH and MR. There is no particular limitation on the compression / expansion method.

The modem and the network control unit are connected to the public line, but may be replaced with ISDNi / f for a color image.
It is composed of an F circuit and busi / f. Here, control of a protocol at the time of communication and transmission and reception of compressed encoded data are performed.

The secondary storage device is a magnetic disk used for storing coded data, storing registered telephone numbers and the presence or absence of a past downshift of the numbers, or an optimum transfer rate.

The control unit is a line i / f (modem + NCU),
The secondary storage device is controlled.

<Operation Example> An operation example of the facsimile apparatus having the above configuration will be described below with reference to FIG. In the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, a time zone in which a document is unlikely to be sent from another device or a time zone in which the line use cost is low is designated as an optimal time zone for transmission. The criteria for determining whether the original volume is large or small is that even if the time allotted to the protocol is wasted, it is possible to shorten the transmission time by retransmitting without downshifting. May be determined based on whether or not the encoded data amount has reached. In addition, when the transmission operation is restarted, the past transmission example with the destination is used as a judgment material for predicting whether the transmission rate should be reduced by the downshift or whether the transmission rate is reduced by the downshift. It is good to store the line status of the communication.

The FAX operator sets an original, designates whether or not it is an emergency transmission from the operation unit, and starts transmission.

An instruction from the operation unit is transmitted to the system control unit 1.
Is detected, and the scanner (image reading device 3) is activated first. Here, if it is an urgent manuscript instruction (S201 / YES), the message transmission is completed using the normal transmission protocol (T.30) (S22
1). If it is not an emergency original (S201 / NO), reading of an image is started by the scanner unit 3, and one page of data is sequentially written in the image memory (S202).

When reading is completed, the encoding / decoding section 5 reads data from the image memory of the scanner section 3 and performs an encoding process. The encoded information is sent to the control unit 9
And temporarily stored in the secondary storage device 8 here. (S20
3)

The above procedures (S201 to S203) always occur at an instruction from the operation unit. The above procedure is repeated, and a plurality of data files of the transmission original are accumulated in the secondary storage device 8 until the time zone optimal for transmission (S204).

When the optimal time zone for the transmission specified as described above is reached, the original to be transmitted is searched and arranged.
Here, if there is a document to which the destination is the same, it is grasped. (S205)

The network control unit 7 is started to start the FAX communication protocol. (S206)

If the volume of the original to be transmitted is equal to or smaller than a predetermined amount (S207 / NO), the original to be transmitted is transmitted using the normal transfer protocol (T.30) (S221). If the volume of the original to be transmitted is equal to or more than a predetermined amount (S207 / YES), the presence / absence of a transmission stop history is searched (S208). If there is a transmission stop history (S208 / NO), step S2
Proceed to 21. If there is no history of stopping transmission (S208 / YES), the training is performed according to the protocol. If the training is successful (S209 / YES), the process proceeds to the message transmission phase and the transmission to the last page of the document is completed (S210). If there is another original of the same destination (S21
1 / YES) Return to the message transmission phase and continue transmission.
If there is no original at the same destination (S211 / NO), end the transmission.
(S222).

If the volume of the original to be transmitted is equal to or more than a predetermined amount (S207 / YES) and the history of transmission suspension is searched (S208), and if there is no history of transmission suspension (S208 / YES), training using the protocol is performed. If unsuccessful (S209 / NO), shift down (S
212) Extract the average transfer rate from the information of the transmission history to the past destination and compare it with the transfer rate after downshifting (S213) .If the transfer rate after downshifting is lower (S213 / YES) ) The transmission is stopped (S214) and the end processing is performed (S222).
When the transmission is stopped, a record of transmission failure is left as additional information of the document. If the transfer rate after downshifting is not lower in step S213 (S213 / N
O) Return to training with the protocol (S209) and try again.

In the end processing, if the original to be transmitted still remains in the secondary storage device, the operation from step S206 is repeated (S222).

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention can be operated by designating the urgency of a document, transmitting a document with a high urgency as it is, and setting a document with a low urgency in advance. The transmission can be performed during a time period when the use frequency and cost of the previously set line are low.

Therefore, the user can avoid that the line becomes BUSY due to the transmission of a document having a low degree of urgency, and that a high cost is not required.

Further, originals to the same destination can be searched and arranged, and a plurality of originals to the same destination can be transmitted by a single protocol.

Further, the history of shift-down of frequently-used transfer destinations can be stored, and based on this, if a shift-down occurs in a document having a low urgency and a large amount of data, the shift-down is forcibly performed. The transmission procedure is not continued, and it can be determined that transmission is to be performed again when the line state is a regular state, so that the total transmission time can be saved.

When the data amount is small even if the urgency is low, the transmission of the original can be continued even if the shift is down, and the operation can be performed in consideration of the line use efficiency and the cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example at the time of transmission.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 System control part 2 System bus 3 Image reading part 4 Image printing part 5 Encoding / decoding part (CODEC) 6 Modem 7 Network control part 8 Secondary storage device 9 Control part

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A designating means for designating the degree of urgency of a document to be transmitted, a first determining means for determining the designation, and an immediate normal transmission of the document when the first determining means determines that the document is urgent A facsimile apparatus comprising: 2. A first storage means for storing the document when the first determination means determines that the document is not urgent, and the document stored by the first storage means is stored at a preset time. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second transmission unit that performs normal transmission. 3. Searching and organizing means for searching, at a preset time, whether or not there are a plurality of originals for the same destination with respect to the original stored in the first storage means, and organizing each original. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a third transmitting unit that transmits a plurality of originals by the same destination arranged by the searching / organizing unit by a single protocol. 4. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising second storage means for storing a line state at the time of transmission for each destination. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a second determining means for determining whether the number of pages of the document to be transmitted or the amount of compressed data is larger than a preset reference. 6. If the second discriminating means determines that the number of pages of the document or the amount of compressed data is larger than a predetermined reference, and if modem training by a protocol during transmission fails. Third determining means for determining the possibility of downshifting based on the line state stored by the second storage means, and when the third determining means determines that the possibility of downshifting is low. 6. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for temporarily stopping transmission and retransmitting after a predetermined time has elapsed. 7. When the second discriminating means determines that the number of pages of the document or the amount of compressed data is equal to or less than a predetermined reference, and if modem training by a protocol during transmission fails, 6. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for continuing transmission even after downshifting.