JP2001136307A - Communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication terminal that can circulate image data to a prescribed circulation destination by using a conventional protocol signal in a shorter communication time in comparison with that of a conventional embodiment. SOLUTION: A facsimile terminal 20 is a terminal that acts like a circumferential request source device or a circulation processing unit. Each of plurality of facsimile terminals 20 going to circulate image data is provided with a RAM 7 that has one circulation destination list box 7a that stores in advance circulation destination telephone numbers corresponding to record numbers by each box number. A main control section 1 of the circulation request source facsimile terminal selects a telephone number among the telephone numbers of circulation destination stored in the circulation destination list box 7a (step S3 in Figure 3), sets a box number and a record number that is a plurality of sets of destination information denoting the selected circulation destination respectively to a SUB signal and a SID signal being a protocol signal of facsimile terminals, transmits the resulting protocol signal (step S10, S11 in the Figure 3) and then transmits image data to be circulated (step S14 in Figure 4).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device having a circulation function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile apparatus having a circulation function, data of a list of telephone numbers to be circulated is transferred to the next facsimile apparatus by a dedicated and unique communication procedure, or a telephone number to be circulated is transmitted. The image data to be circulated is sequentially transferred to the next facsimile machine and circulated by transmitting the list by a special communication procedure such as inserting the list into the image data and transmitting the list.

[0003]

However, the conventional facsimile apparatus having a circulation function has a problem that it takes a long time to transfer data of a list of telephone numbers to be circulated. In addition, it is necessary to perform a special procedure such as a dedicated communication procedure for exclusive use or a list of telephone numbers to be circulated in image data.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a communication terminal capable of circulating image data to a predetermined circulation destination using a normal procedure signal in a shorter communication time as compared with the conventional example. It is to provide a device.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal device comprising: a storage unit for storing a telephone number of a circulation destination in advance; and a telephone number of the circulation destination stored in the storage unit. And means for storing destination information indicating the selected circulation destination in the procedure signal and transmitting the same, and means for transmitting image data to be circulated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the communication terminal device of the first aspect, the storage means stores a telephone number of a circulation destination for each predetermined box and specifies a box to be circulated. The information processing apparatus further comprises means for storing information in a procedure signal and transmitting the information.

Further, a communication terminal device according to a third aspect of the present invention,
3. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when image data cannot be transmitted to the selected first circulation destination, another second circulation destination is selected and the image to be circulated is transmitted. The information processing apparatus further comprises means for storing destination information including the first circulation destination in the procedure information and transmitting the stored procedure information.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus 20 having a circulation function according to an embodiment of the present invention. When circulating image data using the facsimile device 20 having the circulation function of the present embodiment, circulation is started from the circulation request source device, and the circulation processing device relays and transmits image data to be circulated sequentially to a predetermined circulation. Send the image data to the destination.

The facsimile machine 20 of this embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of facsimile apparatuses 20 which can operate as a circulation requesting apparatus or a circulation processing apparatus and which should circulate image data have a circulation destination corresponding to a record number for each box number. In the RAM 7, the same circulation destination list box 7a that stores the telephone number of the same in advance is provided. Then, the main control unit 1 of the circulation request source device selects from the telephone numbers of the circulation destinations in the circulation destination list box 7a (step S3 in FIG. 3) a box which is a plurality of pieces of destination information indicating the selected circulation destination. SUB, which is the procedure signal of the facsimile machine,
(Sub address) signal and SID (sender identification) signal are stored and transmitted (steps S10 and S11 in FIG. 3),
The image data to be circulated is transmitted (step S1 in FIG. 4).
4) is characterized. Here, the SUB signal and SI
The D signal is a predetermined procedure signal in the so-called F code communication of the facsimile machine. Further, when image data cannot be transmitted to the selected first circulation destination (NO in step S6 of FIG. 3 or NO in step S14 of FIG. 4), the main control unit 1 selects another second circulation destination. Then (step S8 in FIG. 3 or step S17 in FIG. 4), the image to be circulated is transmitted (step S14 in FIG. 4).
At the same time, the destination information including the first circulation destination is stored in the procedure information and transmitted (steps S10 and S1 in FIG. 3).
1). The processing of the main control unit 1 is similarly executed in the circulation processing device.

In FIG. 1, a facsimile machine 20 comprises
It has a facsimile communication function such as the conventional G3 system and a circulation function. The main control unit 1 is specifically composed of a CPU, and is connected to the following hardware units via a bus 13 to control them.
It executes various software functions to be described later. The image reading unit 2 reads an original with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted to binary black and white. The image recording unit 3 is a printer device of an electrophotographic system or the like, and prints out and records, as a hard copy, image data received from a facsimile machine of the other party by facsimile communication. The display unit 4 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and displays an operation state of the facsimile machine 20, and displays image data of a document to be transmitted and received image data. .

The operation unit 5 includes a character key, a dial numeric keypad necessary for operating the facsimile machine 20,
It has speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys, and various function keys. In addition, the operation unit 5
The circulation processing apparatus further includes a circulation key for operating whether to continue the circulation processing to another destination to be circulated after receiving the image data to be circulated. The display unit 4 may be configured to be a touch panel type so that some or all of the various keys of the operation unit 5 can be substituted.

The ROM 6 stores in advance various software programs necessary for the operation of the facsimile machine 20 and executed by the main control unit 1, wherein the programs include at least the circular programs shown in FIGS. It includes a program for the transmission processing and the circulation reception processing of FIGS. 5 to 7. The RAM 7 is composed of an SRAM, a flash memory, or the like, and is used as a working area of the main control unit 1 and stores temporary data generated when a program is executed. Here, a circulation destination list box 7a, an example of which is shown in FIG. 2, is stored in the RAM 7 in advance. Note that R
When a flash memory is used as the AM 7, even if the power is cut off due to a power failure, movement of the device, or the like, the contents of the data are not lost. The image memory 8 is a DRAM
And the like, and stores image data to be transmitted or received image data. Note that the RAM 7 and the image memory 8 may be constituted by a hard disk memory.

The fax modem 10 is connected to a public telephone line L
And demodulates the data of the outgoing telephone number information received as the FSK signal and outputs it to the main control unit 1. NCU (Network control circuit: Networ
k Control Unit) 11 is a hardware circuit that performs closing and opening operations such as a DC loop of the analog public telephone line L and has an automatic dial function. The fax modem 10 is connected to the public telephone line L as necessary. Connecting.
Here, the NCU 11 detects an ID receiving terminal activation signal and a normal telephone call signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service, and transmits a primary response signal and a secondary response signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service as necessary. can do. The NCU 11 is connected to a predetermined terminal adapter and DSU (Digital Service Unit: Digital Service Unit).
Unit) may be connected to a digital line of the baseband transmission system (for example, an ISDN line).

The facsimile apparatus 20 of the present embodiment configured as described above has a circulation function in addition to a normal facsimile communication function of the G3 system or the like. In the facsimile communication function, dot image data read by the image reading unit 2 is encoded by software according to an encoding system such as MH, MR, MMR or the like defined in the standard of facsimile communication, and then the other party's facsimile apparatus. On the other hand, the encoded data received from the other party's facsimile machine is also decoded into image data by software and output from the image recording unit 3 as a hard copy. The image memory 8 stores the image data as needed, and outputs the stored image data as needed.

FIG. 2 shows the circulation destination list box 7 shown in FIG.
It is a figure showing an example table of a. The circulation destination list box 7a is provided in each device of the circulation request source device and the circulation processing device. As shown in FIG. 2, a circulation destination list box is stored for each box number. The telephone number of the facsimile machine to be circulated is input and stored in advance using the operation unit 5. Here, the box number is stored in the SUB signal as a number indicating a group including a plurality of destinations to circulate the fax document image, and the record number is destination information indicating the destination to circulate, and the SID signal Are excluded from the record number list in the SID signal (see FIG. 3).
Step S11 and Step S53 in FIG. 7). That is, when the circulation is completed, the circulation process is continued until the record number in the SID signal is lost by sequentially removing the record number from the record number list in the SID signal.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are flow charts showing the circulation transmission processing executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation request source device of the facsimile machine of FIG. In FIG.
First, in step S1, the box number of the circulation destination list box is input using the operation unit 5, and in step S2, the circulation destination list of the input box number is read from the circulation destination list box 7a and displayed on the display unit 4. Next, a circulation destination is selected from the circulation destination list displayed in step S3 using the operation unit 5, and step S4 is performed.
In step S5, a first destination which is a predetermined one of the circulation destinations selected in step S5 is selected, and a call is made to the destination selected in step S5. Then, in step S6, it is determined whether or not the destination facsimile machine has responded.
If NO, the line is released in step S7, another destination is selected in step S8, and the process returns to step S5 to call another selected destination. On the other hand, if YES in step S6, D
The IS signal is detected, a box number is inserted into the SUB signal in step S10, and the SUB signal is transmitted. In step S11, a record number of a destination to be circulated other than the destination called is inserted into the SID signal and transmitted. The DCS signal, the training signal, and the TCF signal are transmitted, and the CFR signal is detected in step S13. Then, the process proceeds to step S14 in FIG.

In step S14 of FIG. 4, the original is read using the image reading unit 2, and the image data is transmitted.
In step S15, it is determined whether the transmission is OK or not.
If NO, the DCN signal is transmitted in step S16, then the line is opened in step S16A, and step S17 is performed.
In, another destination is selected, and the process returns to step S5 in FIG. If YES in step S15 in FIG. 4, an EOP signal is sent out in step S18, and after detecting an MCF signal in step S19, the line is opened in step S20 and the circulation transmission process ends.

FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 are flow charts showing the circulation reception processing executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation processing device of the facsimile machine of FIG. In FIG. 5, first, it is determined whether or not a call is received in step S21, and the process of step S21 is executed until YES is determined. When YES is determined, DI is determined in step S22.
S signal, and then, in step S23, SU
The B signal is detected, the SID signal is detected in step S24, and the DCS signal, the training signal, and the TCF signal are detected in step S25. And step S
In step S27, the CFR signal is transmitted. In step S27, the image data is received and stored in the image memory 8. In step S28, the EOP signal is detected.
At 29, an MCF signal is transmitted. Further, after the line is released in step S30, the image of the image data stored in the image memory 8 is printed in step S31. Next, in step S32, it is determined whether or not the circulation button has been turned on, and the process of step S32 is performed until YES, and when YES, the process proceeds to step S41 in FIG.

In step S41 in FIG. 6, one of the destinations specified by the SID signal is selected from the list of box numbers specified by the SUB signal, and step S4 is performed.
Place a call to the destination selected in 2. Then, in step S43, it is determined whether or not the destination has responded.
If it is O, it is determined whether or not the time is up in step S44. If it is NO, the process returns to step S43. If it is YES, the line is opened in step S45, and there is another destination in step S46. Is determined. If YES in step S46, another destination is selected in step S47, and the process returns to step S42 to call another destination. On the other hand, if NO in step S46, a circulation error end report for notifying that a communication error has occurred during circulation in step S48 is printed using the image recording unit 3, and the circulation termination processing ends. I do. Step S43
If the answer is YES, the process proceeds to step S51 in FIG.

In step S51 of FIG. 7, a DIS signal is detected. Next, in step S52, SUB
The box number is inserted into the signal and transmitted, and step S53 is performed.
In, the record number of the destination to circulate other than the called destination is inserted into the SID signal and transmitted. Here, when there is no destination to be circulated, information for indicating the destination, for example, a record number of 0000 is inserted. Then, in step S54, a DCS signal, a training signal, and a TCF signal are transmitted.
After detecting the FR signal, the document is read using the image reading unit 2 in step S56, and the image data is transmitted. Next, it is determined in step S57 whether the transmission is OK or not.
After transmitting the N signal, the line is opened in step S59, another destination is selected in step S60, and the process returns to step S42 in FIG. 6 to call another destination. On the other hand, when YES is determined in the step S57, E is determined in a step S61.
After transmitting the OP signal and detecting the MCF signal in step S61, the line is opened in step S62, and the circulation termination processing ends.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in each of the circulation request source device and the circulation processing device,
The same circulation destination list box 7 in which telephone numbers of circulation destinations are stored in advance corresponding to record numbers for each box number.
a is stored in the RAM 7, and the destination to circulate is specified by the box number stored in the SUB signal and the record number stored in the SID signal. Specifically, the circulation request source device selects from the telephone numbers of the circulation destinations in the circulation destination list box 7a (step S3 in FIG. 3) a box number and a plurality of destination information indicating the selected circulation destination. The record numbers are stored in the SUB signal and the SID signal, which are the procedure signals of the facsimile machine, and transmitted (steps S10 and S11 in FIG. 3), and the image data to be circulated is transmitted (step S14 in FIG. 4). In the circulation processing device, one of the destinations specified by the record number of the SID signal is selected from the list of box numbers specified by the SUB signal, and a call is made to indicate the circulation destination. The box number and the record number (excluding the calling destination) are stored in the SUB signal and the SID signal, which are the procedure signals of the facsimile machine, and transmitted (FIG. 7).
Steps S52 and S53), and transmits the image data to be circulated (step S56 in FIG. 7). Therefore, destinations that call the circulation destination and respond to the destination are excluded from the record number list in the SID signal (step S11 in FIG. 3 and step S53 in FIG. 7). By sequentially removing the record numbers from the record number list in the SID signal, the circulation process is continued until there is no more record number in the SID signal. By the above processing, it is not necessary to transfer the list of the circulation destination information, and only the information designating the telephone number in the list is inserted into the procedure signal of the facsimile apparatus and transmitted. It can be greatly reduced. Further, since one of a plurality of circulation lists can be designated as a group, a predetermined circulation destination can be designated for each group, and the usability of the operator can be improved.

If image data cannot be transmitted to the selected first circulation destination (NO in step S6 in FIG. 3 or NO in step S14 in FIG. 4), another second circulation destination is selected ( Step S8 in FIG. 3 or Step S in FIG.
17) The image to be circulated is transmitted (step S14 in FIG. 4), and the destination information including the first circulation destination is stored in the procedure information and transmitted (step S10 in FIG. 3).
And S11). Therefore, when the image data to be circulated cannot be transmitted, the next circulation processing device can be instructed to communicate the unreachable destination, so that the circulation time can be greatly reduced.

<Modification> In the above embodiment, an example of the facsimile apparatus 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is connected to a public network such as a public telephone network or a public digital network. For example, the present invention can be applied to a communication terminal device including a telephone, a data communication device, and the like. Step S32 in FIG. 5 may be omitted.

[0025]

As described in detail above, according to the communication terminal device of the first aspect of the present invention, the storage means for storing the telephone number of the circulation destination in advance, and the communication destination of the circulation destination stored in the storage means are stored. There are provided means for storing destination information indicating the circulation destination selected from the telephone number in the procedure signal and transmitting the same, and means for transmitting image data to be circulated. Therefore,
It is not necessary to transfer the list of circulation destination information, and only information specifying the telephone number in the list is inserted into the procedure signal of the facsimile machine and transmitted, so that the communication time is greatly reduced as compared with the conventional example. Can be.

According to the communication terminal device of the second aspect, in the communication terminal device of the first aspect, the storage means stores a telephone number of a circulation destination for each predetermined box,
There is further provided means for storing information for designating a box to be circulated in the procedure signal and transmitting the procedure signal. Therefore, one of a plurality of circulation lists can be designated as a group, so that a predetermined circulation destination can be designated for each group, and the usability of the operator can be improved.

Further, according to the communication terminal device of the third aspect, in the communication terminal device of the first or second aspect, when the image data cannot be transmitted to the selected first circulation destination, the other second communication destination device receives the image data. Means for selecting the circulation destination and transmitting the image to be circulated, and storing destination information including the first circulation destination in the procedure information for transmission. Therefore, when the image data to be circulated cannot be transmitted, the next circulation processing device can be instructed to communicate the unreachable destination, so that the circulation time can be greatly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile apparatus 20 having a circulation function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a table of an example of a circulation destination list box 7a in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a first part of a circulation transmission process executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation request source device of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a second part of the circulation transmission process executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation request source device of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a first part of a circulation reception process executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation processing device of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a second part of the circulation reception processing executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation processing device of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a third part of the circulation reception processing executed by the main control unit 1 of the circulation processing device of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main control part, 2 ... Image reading part, 5 ... Operation part, 6 ... ROM, 7 ... RAM, 7a ... Circulation destination list box, 8 ... Image memory, 10 ... Fax modem, 11 ... NCU, 13 ... Bus, 20: facsimile machine, L: public telephone line.

Claims (3)

[Claims] A storage means for storing in advance a telephone number of a circulation destination, and destination information indicating a selected circulation destination selected from the telephone numbers of the circulation destinations stored in the storage means, are stored in a procedure signal. A communication terminal device comprising: means for transmitting; and means for transmitting image data to be circulated. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storage means further comprises means for storing a telephone number of a circulation destination for each predetermined box, storing information designating a box to be circulated in a procedure signal, and transmitting the information. The communication terminal device according to claim 1. 3. When image data cannot be transmitted to the selected first circulation destination, another second circulation destination is selected, the image to be circulated is transmitted, and the first circulation destination is transmitted. 3. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that stores the destination information including the procedure information and transmits the procedure information.