JP2001045255A - Data communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a data communication device having higher operability enabling a transmitter to know a transmission result on his (or her) required place without going to the installed position of a transmitting source data communication device. SOLUTION: After executing initialization and starting a main timer, the data communication device executes input processing for executing data communication in a step S503. A transmitter registers an address to which the transmission result is to be reported. Data transmission processing for practically transmitting data is executed in a step S504 and result notification processing for receiving the transmission result information is executed in a step S505. Finally normal data reception is executed in a step S506. Since the notification address of the transmission result is registered, the transmission result information can be received on a required place immediately after the transmission of data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication apparatus, and more particularly, to a data communication apparatus such as an Internet facsimile apparatus for performing facsimile communication through an Internet line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a data communication device, even if data is transmitted, if the destination terminal device is busy or has an abnormality, the data to be transmitted does not reach the destination. . For this reason, even if the data transmission operation is performed in a correct procedure, the data may not be normally received at the transmission destination.

[0003] Therefore, conventionally, in a data communication device on the transmission side, when data is transmitted, the contents indicating whether or not transmission was normally performed to the reception side (destination) are notified by printout, display display, or the like. The method of doing was adopted.

However, in such a data communication device,
The transmission result indicating whether or not the transmission was successful is notified only to the device that has transmitted the data. Therefore,
The sender must always go to the data communication device to check the transmission result.
This is extremely inconvenient and extremely inconvenient when, for example, it is necessary to be away from the data communication device and be in another place after instructing data transmission.

Recently, an Internet facsimile apparatus for communicating image data through an Internet line has begun to spread. In this Internet facsimile apparatus, since data does not reach a destination at the same time as transmission, transmission is not possible. After sending instructions
It is almost always necessary to move away from the data communication device. For this reason, in order to confirm the transmission result, it is necessary to go to the data communication apparatus without fail, and when using an Internet facsimile apparatus, this inconvenience is felt more than before.

To solve such inconvenience, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. 0-224584 discloses a method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus that can clearly notify a transmission error without going to a data communication apparatus that has transmitted data.

[0007]

However, in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-224584, only a workstation connected to a facsimile machine via a network is targeted, and a facsimile designated by the workstation is used. If the transmission is an error, the transmission source is notified of the error. Therefore, when the user leaves the workstation after issuing a transmission instruction from the workstation, or when using a facsimile apparatus not connected to the network, the transmission result is not notified at all.

The present invention has been conceived in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object the purpose of being able to know the transmission result at a place desired by the sender without going to the data communication device of the transmission source. It is to provide a more convenient data communication device.

[0009]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data communication apparatus, comprising: a data transmitting unit for transmitting data; and a data transmitting unit for transmitting the transmitted data to a transmission destination normally. A determination unit for determining whether or not the notification destination is input; an input unit for inputting a notification destination; and a notification unit for notifying the determination result by the determination unit to the input notification destination.

[0010] According to the present invention, the transmission result is notified to the input notification destination, so that the transmission result can be known at a place desired by the sender without going to the data communication device of the transmission source. Therefore, a more convenient data communication device can be provided.

[0011]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an Internet facsimile apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "I-
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a “FAX device”. Referring to FIG. 1, an I-FAX device 1 includes a document feed tray 101 for supplying a document image for transmission, a document discharge tray 103 for discharging a document image after reading, and a reception tray. Recording paper supply tray 107 for supplying recording paper for printing out data, and recording paper discharge tray 105 for discharging printed out recording paper
And an operation panel 10 for operating the I-FAX device 1
9 is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the operation panel 109 of FIG. The operation panel 109 includes a numeric keypad 21 used for inputting a transmission destination, registering an address, and the like, and inputting a contact information such as a mobile phone as a notification destination of a transmission result.
A notification destination key 22 for instructing the data input by the numeric keypad 21 to be registered in the RAM as a notification destination telephone number or the like.
A fax number, a mail address and the like are registered in each key, and a destination selection key 23 for selecting a transmission destination by operating any key, a start key 24 for starting data transmission, and And a display unit 25 for displaying a message or the like.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a use form of the I-FAX apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the I-FAX device 1 is connected to the I-FAX device 2 via a telephone line and an Internet line, and can transmit and receive data via these lines.

Here, the I-FAX device 1 transmits data to the I-FAX device 2 using the Internet line. Then, the I-FAX device 2 which has received the data from the Internet line transmits a reception report such as reception time data via the telephone line to the I-FAX device on the transmission side.
-Returned to FAX machine 1. I received the reception report
-The FAX apparatus 1 notifies the notification result (reception report) as text mail to a notification destination (here, the mobile phone of the sender) designated by the sender in advance.

It should be noted that even if a predetermined time has passed, I
-If there is no report from the FAX machine 2, I-
The facsimile device 1 sends a non-delivery notification to the sender's mobile phone indicating that transmission was not performed normally.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of an overall configuration of the facsimile apparatus 1. The I-FAX device 1 is a CP that controls the entire device.
U400, an operation unit (operation panel) 109 for designating and registering a transmission destination, designating a notification destination, and the like, and a reading unit 401 for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution
And a network communication unit 403 for transmitting and receiving data using the Internet line, and a telephone communication unit 405 for transmitting and receiving data using the telephone line.
And the network communication unit 403 or the telephone communication unit 405
A print unit 407 for outputting data and the like received at a predetermined resolution, and a back-up RAM 4 which is a work area of the CPU 400 and stores a control program, received data, a destination of a transmission result, and the like.
09.

FIG. 5 shows the CPU 400 of the I-FAX apparatus 1.
5 is a flowchart showing a main routine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 5, in CPU 400 of I-FAX device 1, first, in step S501, initialization such as resetting of a redial counter and a non-delivery confirmation timer described later is performed. Next, in step S502, a main timer for measuring a waiting time when the main routine is repeated is started.

Subsequently, in step S503, an input process for performing data transmission is performed.
At 504, a data transmission (FAX transmission) process for actually transmitting data is performed. And step S
At 505, a result notification process for receiving notification of the transmission result is performed.

When these processes are completed, step S5
At 06, normal data reception (FAX reception) is performed. That is, if normal data is transmitted by facsimile by the network communication unit 403 or the telephone communication unit 405, data reception (FAX reception) processing is performed. If normal data is not transmitted, the process proceeds to step S507.

At this point, the process enters a state of waiting for the timer started at step S502 to finish counting. When the preset time has been reached and the timer has finished counting,
Returning to the processing of step S502, a series of processing is repeated again (steps S502 to S507).

FIG. 6 shows the input processing of FIG. 5 (step S50).
It is a flowchart which shows the subroutine of 3). FIG.
In the input processing, first, in step S601, it is determined whether or not the terminal itself is transmitting. If not, in step S602, the notification destination key 22 is transmitted.
Is turned on.

If it is determined that the notification destination key 22 has not been turned on, the process proceeds to step S604. However, if it is determined that the notification destination key 22 has been turned on, in step S603, a ten-key is input at the time when the notification destination key 22 is turned on. The stored number is stored in the RAM 409 as the telephone number of the notification destination mobile phone.

Next, in step S604, it is determined whether a destination is selected by operating the destination selection key 23 or not. If it is determined that no selection has been made, step S
The process proceeds to step 607. If it is determined that the destination is selected, it is determined in step S605 whether the destination is an Internet address.

If the selected destination is an Internet address, an "Internet transmission mode" in which data is transmitted using an Internet line by the network communication unit 403 is selected in step S606, and the selected destination is a telephone number. If so, step S
In step 609, the "telephone line transmission mode" in which the telephone communication unit 405 transmits data using a telephone line.
Is selected.

When the start key 24 is turned on in step S607, a transmission instruction state is entered in step S608, and the subroutine ends.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of the facsimile transmission process (step S504) of FIG. Referring to FIG. 7, in the FAX transmission process, first, in step S701, it is determined whether or not itself is transmitting, and if it is not transmitting, in step S702,
It is determined whether there is a transmission instruction.

If transmission is in progress, step S708
In the above, other processes such as redialing at the time of transmission via the telephone line and the accompanying redialing counter incrementing process are performed.

If it is determined in step S702 that there is a transmission instruction, it is determined in step S703 whether the instruction is in the "Internet transmission mode". If the mode is the “internet transmission mode”, in step S704, the network communication unit 403 starts data transmission processing via the Internet.

In step S705, in the "Internet transmission mode", a non-delivery confirmation timer for measuring a reference time for determining whether or not the data has reached the transmission destination is started. Then, the subroutine ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S703 that the telephone line mode is set, the process proceeds to step S70.
In step 6, the telephone communication unit 405 starts data transmission processing via the telephone line.

Then, in step S707, in the "telephone line mode", a redial counter for counting the number of dials used as a reference when determining whether or not data has reached the destination is reset. Then, the subroutine ends, and the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the result notifying process (step S) in FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the subroutine of (505).
Referring to FIG. 8, the result notifying process is performed first in step S8.
At 01, it is determined whether or not the redial counter has reached a predetermined value. That is, here, it is determined whether or not the data transmission over the telephone line has been normally performed.

The redial counter has a predetermined value, for example, 1
If it reaches 0, it means that the data transmitted by the telephone line has not been received by the transmission destination before reaching the predetermined value 10, and the process proceeds to step S802.
On the other hand, if the redial counter does not reach the predetermined value,
The process proceeds to step S805.

Then, in step S805, it is determined whether or not the counting of the non-delivery confirmation timer has ended. That is, here, it is determined whether or not the data transmission through the Internet line has been normally performed.

When the time of the non-delivery confirmation timer has expired and a predetermined time, for example, 30 minutes has elapsed, the data transmitted by the Internet line has not been received by the transmission destination until the lapse of 30 minutes. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S802. On the other hand, if the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process proceeds to step S806 to determine whether there is a reception report.

That is, if the redial counter has reached a predetermined value in step S801, or if the non-delivery confirmation timer has finished measuring a predetermined time in step S805, the transmitted data is Has not been reached, so step S802
In, it is determined whether or not the notification destination data of the sender is registered in the RAM 409.

If the notification destination is registered,
In step S804, a non-delivery notification is sent to the registered notification destination mobile phone. If the notification destination is not registered, the non-delivery notification is printed out by the printing unit 407 in step S803.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S801 that the redial counter has not reached the predetermined value, and if the predetermined time of the non-delivery confirmation timer has not been counted in step S805, the process proceeds to step S806. It is determined whether there is a reception report from the data transmission destination.

If it is determined in step S806 that there is a reception report from the transmission destination, first, in step S806,
At 807, the non-delivery confirmation timer being counted is reset. Subsequently, in step S808, it is determined whether the notification destination is registered in the RAM 409,
If the notification destination is registered in the RAM 409, step S
At 809, a notification report is sent to the registered notification destination indicating that the data has been received normally.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S806 that there is no reception report, or in step S808
If it is determined that the notification destination has not been registered, the subroutine ends and the process returns to the main routine.

The above processing procedure is summarized as follows. In other words, when the redial counter reaches a predetermined value or the non-delivery confirmation timer reaches a predetermined time, the transmitted data is normally received at the transmission destination for some reason such as busy or failure. Will not be. Therefore, in this case, if a notification destination is registered by the sender, a non-delivery notification report is made to the notification destination.

On the other hand, if there is a reception report from the transmission destination before the redial counter reaches the predetermined value and before the non-delivery confirmation timer also reaches the predetermined time, the transmission destination receives the transmitted data. Is normally received. Therefore, in this case, if the notification destination is registered by the sender, the notification destination is notified that the reception has been normally performed.

As described above, according to the I-FAX apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, when data is transmitted, a mobile phone or the like can be used without having to go to the place where the transmitting apparatus is located. Can be known at the place desired by the sender. Therefore, the usability of the Internet facsimile machine is greatly improved.

In the present embodiment, a mobile phone is designated as the notification destination, and the result is notified to the mobile phone by text mail. However, the method of notifying the result is not limited to this. Therefore, for example, a pager, electronic mail, or the like may be used. Also, for example, Win
You may use a chat tool such as Popup attached to the Windows 95.

The embodiment disclosed this time is an example in all respects, and should not be construed as limiting. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of an I-FAX device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the operation panel 109 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a use form of the I-FAX device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of the I-FAX device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a main routine of a CPU 400 of the I-FAX device 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of the input process (step S503) of FIG. .

FIG. 7 is a facsimile transmission process of FIG. 5 (step S504);
9 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a subroutine of a result notification process (step S505) of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 I-FAX device, 22 notification destination key, 23 destination selection key, 101 document feed tray, 103 document discharge tray, 105 recording paper discharge tray, 107 recording paper supply tray, 109 operation unit (operation panel), 400 C
PU, 401 reading unit, 403 network communication unit, 4
05 Telephone communication unit, 407 print unit, 409 RA
M.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kenichi Morita 2-3-113 Azuchicho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City Inside Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. (72) Keisuke Hashimoto 2-chome Azuchicho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City No. 13 Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA29 AB20 AB22 AB23 AC29 AE14 AF01 AF03 AF13 BA00 BD09 5C075 AB90 BA08 CD07 CF01 FF03 5K101 KK01 KK20 PP05

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data transmission unit for transmitting data, a determination unit for determining whether the transmitted data has been normally transmitted to a transmission destination, an input unit for inputting a notification destination, and the determination unit A notification unit that notifies the input notification destination of the determination result.