JP2001358822A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify a destination and a transmission route by a smaller number of operations and to simplify the operations of a user in a facsimile equipment, capable of performing facsimile communications by both routes of a public line network and the Internet. SOLUTION: One of one-easy-touch buttons for destination information registration is selected, and an addressee, a telephone number and an electronic mail address are inputted (S10-S40). At this time, priority is set to the telephone number as the normal route for facsimile transmission to the calling party, when the telephone number is inputted first, and the priority is set to the electronic mail address, when the electronic mail address is inputted first (S50-S80). In this manner, the priority of the transmission route at normal facsimile transmission is individually registered for each destination together with the addressee to each one-easy-touch button, and the user selects the route at normal facsimile transmission time together with the destination, merely by pressing the one-easy- touch button.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile transmission via both a public line network and the Internet (hereinafter, "facsimile" means in the following detailed description and drawings). Is abbreviated as "fax" or "FAX".)

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent spread of the Internet, several proposals have been made for an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile communication via the Internet (for example, JP-A-8-242326, JP-A-9-149189). No.).

[0003] Among them, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-149189.
According to the Internet fax apparatus described in the official gazette, when a telephone number is specified as a destination, fax transmission is performed via a public network, and when an e-mail address is specified as a destination, fax transmission is performed via the Internet. It is possible to execute.

[0004]

According to the storage format of the destination information disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 5 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-149189, a telephone number or an e-mail address is registered for each destination. It has a configuration. Therefore, if fax communication is possible regardless of whether the same destination goes through the public line network or the Internet, registration of a telephone number and registration of an e-mail address for the same destination must be performed separately. There's a problem.
Therefore, as a method for solving this problem, a method is conceivable in which both a telephone number and an e-mail address can be registered for one one-touch button.

[0005] However, this time, there is a problem that an operation for selecting whether to send a fax to a telephone number or to send an email to an e-mail address after designating a destination with a one-touch button is required. For example, when a fax is sent to a certain destination via the Internet and only the important documents are sent via the public network, the operation is complicated if the transmission route is selected each time the fax is sent. Problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile communication through both the public line network and the Internet, so that a destination and a transmission path can be designated with fewer operations. And

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus for performing a facsimile transmission via a public line network when a telephone number is designated as a destination. Internet transmission means for executing transmission via the Internet when an e-mail address is specified as a destination, and destination registration means capable of registering, for a plurality of destinations, a telephone number and an e-mail address for the same destination,
Destination selection means for selecting a desired destination from the plurality of destinations registered in the destination registration means; and one of the telephone number and the e-mail address for the destination selected by the destination selection means. According to a selection designating means for selecting and designating, a selection designation result of the selection designation means
A facsimile machine comprising: a transmission path determining unit that determines which of the public line facsimile transmitting unit and the Internet transmitting unit performs transmission,
The destination registration unit includes a plurality of one-touch buttons for registering a destination, and is configured as a unit for registering a telephone number and an e-mail address for each one-touch button, and the destination selection unit includes the plurality of one-touch buttons. Is configured as a means for selecting a destination by pressing any of the buttons, the selection designation means,
It is characterized in that it is configured as means for selecting and specifying one of the telephone number and the e-mail address in accordance with the number of times the one-touch button is pressed in selecting the destination.

According to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, a destination can be selected by pressing a one-touch button, and at this time, one of a telephone number and an e-mail address is selected according to the number of times the one-touch button is pressed. be able to. For example, when the one-touch button is pressed once, the telephone number and the e-mail address of the destination are used to select a predetermined frequently used one, or the transmission path selected by the previous operation is specified. If it is configured so that a frequently used transmission path can be selected with a minimum operation, and if the one-touch button is pressed again in that state, the transmission path is switched, otherwise Can be easily and quickly selected. Therefore, selection of a destination at the time of fax transmission and selection of either the telephone number or the e-mail address of the destination can be realized by a simple operation of pressing a one-touch button.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall configuration of a facsimile communication system assumed in this embodiment will be described.
Internet fax device 1 in the present embodiment
Is a local area network (L) as shown in FIG.
AN) 2 through an in-house personal computer (P
C) 3, printer 4, mail server 5, and network router 6. In the present embodiment, a similar Internet fax device 11 is assumed as a device capable of performing fax communication with the Internet fax device 1. The other party's Internet fax device 11 is connected to an in-house PC 13, a printer 14, a mail server 15 and a network router 16 via a LAN 12 in the same manner as the Internet fax device 1, and the public line network 3
2 so that fax transmission / reception is possible. The Internet fax device 1 and the Internet fax device 11 are connected to their respective LANs.
It is configured so that facsimile transmission and reception can be performed via the Internet 31 via the network routers 6 and 16 connected to the network routers 2 and 12.

Next, the configuration of the Internet facsimile apparatus 1 itself will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The Internet fax machine 1 includes a CPU 41, a ROM 43, a RAM 45, a scanner 4
7, encoder 49, printer 51, decoder 53, operation panel 55, LCD 57, modem 59, line controller 61, P
A C interface 63, a mail control unit 65, and a LAN control unit 67 are provided. Then, while being connected to the public line network 32 via the modem 59 and the line control unit 61,
It is connected to LAN2 via LAN control section 67.

The CPU 41 controls the control of the apparatus 1 and sends and receives faxes, registers destinations, registers titles, and performs other operations in accordance with control programs stored in the ROM 43.
It executes various control processes such as communication management. In the ROM 43, a program for control processing executed by the CPU 41, necessary data, and the like are stored in advance. As shown in FIG. 3A, the RAM 45 is used as a work memory 45a for fax transmission / reception control, a transmission / reception data storage unit 45b, and also as a destination information storage unit 45c, a title registration unit 45d, and a communication result storage unit 45e. used. The scanner 47 is for reading an original when transmitting a fax. The encoder 49 executes an encoding process to convert the image data read by the scanner 47 into G3 compression format image data which is a facsimile format. Also, the decoder 53
Conversely, it decodes fax format image data. The printer 51 prints out image data decoded by the decoder 53 on recording paper. The operation panel 55 is for inputting various operations such as registration of a destination, designation of a destination, input and selection of a title, output command of a communication management report, and the like. The LCD 57 is provided for displaying various messages such as operation procedures and error messages. In addition, the LCD 57 can display a one-touch button and can function as a touch panel when specifying a destination or registering destination information.

The modem 59 transmits and receives a fax to and from the public line network 32 via the line control unit 61. The line control unit 61 performs operations such as sending a dial signal to the public line network 32 and responding to a call signal from the public line network 32. The PC interface 63 is used when connecting and using the PC and the apparatus 1.

The mail control unit 65 transmits a fax as an electronic mail via the Internet.
An e-mail format image capable of transmitting fax-format image data as e-mail by converting the binary image data encoded by the encoder 49 into text-encoded image data and adding header information such as a destination mail address. It performs format conversion to data, or reversely converts e-mail format image data received via the Internet to fax format image data. The data which has been reverse-format-converted into fax format image data by the mail control unit 65 is decoded into image data which can be output by the printer 51 by the decoder 53 and then printed out on recording paper. The LAN control unit 67
2 for controlling input and output when performing facsimile transmission / reception using image data in an e-mail format with the MFP 2.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the destination information storage section 45c of the RAM 45 stores both a telephone number and a mail address for one destination. It is configured so that destination information can be registered. Therefore, when the destination can receive a fax from both the public line network 32 and the Internet 31, both the telephone number and the mail address can be registered together with one address.

In the present embodiment, when registering a telephone number and a mail address in the destination information storage section 45c, the one registered in the upper row is given priority in normal fax transmission. That is, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which the unique priorities at the time of normal fax are simultaneously registered according to the input order of the telephone number and the e-mail address when registering the destination information.

Next, a description will be given of the contents of main processing for executing facsimile transmission and reception in the Internet facsimile apparatus 1.

First, the registration processing of the destination information will be described. This process is executed when the destination information registration process is instructed using the operation panel 55. The outline is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. When this processing is started, the one-touch buttons of the addresses 1 to n are set to L
It is displayed on the CD 57 (S10). At this time, LCD5
The one-touch button that cannot be displayed on 7 is the operation panel 55
Selection is possible by scrolling up and down with a scroll key or the like.

The user selects one of the one-touch buttons displayed on the LCD 57 by pressing a button for which destination information is to be registered (S20). Then, the addresses 1 to n in FIG.
Is entered in a column corresponding to "", such as a person name or a company name, for specifying the other party (S30). Then, the user inputs both the telephone number and the e-mail address of the fax machine relating to the name or the destination of the name (S
40).

At this time, it is determined whether the telephone number has been entered first or the e-mail address has been entered first (S5).
0) If the telephone number is input first, the priority is set to the telephone number as a normal route for fax transmission to the destination (S60), and the destination information storage unit 45c
As shown in FIG. 3 (B), the telephone numbers are registered in the upper tier with higher priority (S70). On the other hand, if the e-mail address is input first, the priority is set to the e-mail address as a normal route for fax transmission to the destination (S80), and the destination information storage unit 45c stores the priority shown in FIG. Like address 4 to address 6,
The e-mail address is registered in the upper tier having the higher priority (S90).

Next, the contents of the fax transmission process will be described. This process is configured by the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, and is started when a fax transmission instruction is input from the operation panel 55.

First, a list of one-touch buttons is displayed (S110), and a selection by the user is waited for (S12).
0). The user specifies a transmission destination by pressing any one-touch button from this list.
At this time, if the one-touch button of the destination to be transmitted is not displayed on the LCD 57, the user operates the scroll key or the like so that the one-touch button of the desired destination is displayed. The panel 55 is operated.

When the destination is designated by the one-touch button, the registered contents of the destination are displayed on the LCD 5.
7 is displayed (S130). At this time, in the case of a destination where a telephone number is given priority, as shown in FIG. 6A, registered contents are displayed in the order of address, telephone number, and e-mail address, and conversely, e-mail address is given priority. In the case of the destination, the registered contents are displayed in the order of the destination name, the e-mail address, and the telephone number as shown in FIG. 6B. By displaying the registered contents, the user can easily know whether the selected destination has the normal route via the public line network or the Internet as the normal route.

After the registered contents of the destination are displayed, the process waits for the user to press the transmission start button (S140).
Before the transmission start button is pressed, LC
When the one-touch button displayed on D57 is pressed again (S150: YES), the display positions of the telephone number and the e-mail address are exchanged among the contents currently displayed on the LCD 57 (S160). Specifically, the display state shown in FIG. 6A is first switched to the display state shown in FIG. 6B when the one-touch button is pressed for the second time.

If the transmission start button is pressed (S140: YES), it is determined which of the telephone number and the e-mail address is displayed first in the display of the registered contents for the one-touch button at that time (step S140). S170). If the telephone number is displayed first, an instruction is given to set the original (S180), the original is read by the scanner 47 (S190), and the image data read from this original is encoded by the encoder 49 into an image in G3 compression format. The data is encoded into data (S200), and a facsimile transmission is executed via the public line network 32 to the Internet facsimile apparatus 11 on the receiver side via the modem 59 and the line controller 61 (S210).

On the other hand, when the electronic mail address is displayed first, that is, when the electronic mail address is higher in the priority order, an instruction is given to set a document (S22).
0), the original is read by the scanner 47 (S23).
0), the image data read from this document is encoded by the encoder 49 into image data in the G3 compression format (S240). Up to this point, the process is the same as that via the public line network, but this G3 compressed image data cannot be transmitted to the Internet 31 as e-mail as it is. Then, subsequently, the image data in the G3 compression format is input to the mail control unit 65,
The format is converted into text-coded image data that can be transmitted to the Internet 31 (S25)
0). In addition, instead of the processing of S230 to S250,
The data read by the scanner 47 may be converted to a format that can be directly transmitted to the Internet. Further, the mail control section 65 creates header information including the selected e-mail address, data representing the sender, information necessary for the recipient to perform printout or display of the viewer (S260). .
Then, the text-coded image data to which the header information is attached is given to the LAN control unit 67,
After being sent from N2 to the mail server 5, it is transmitted to the Internet 31 via the network router 6 (S270).

Next, a description will be given of the process of changing the priority order among the registered contents in the destination information storage unit. This process is started by the procedure shown in FIG. 7 when an input for executing the priority change process is made by the operation panel 55.

First, a list of the one-touch buttons in which the destination information is currently registered is displayed on the LCD 57 (S310), and one of the one-touch buttons displayed on the LCD 57 is to be changed in priority order. Is selected (S20). When the one-touch button to change the priority order is selected (S320:
YES), the registered content for the one-touch button is L
It is displayed on the CD 57 (S330). Then, an inquiry is made as to whether the priority order may be changed (S340), and "YE
When "S" is input, the priority is changed between the telephone number and the e-mail address registered in the one-touch button, and the registration is performed again (S350). If “NO” is input, the process exits the process without changing the priority.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when registering the destination information in the one-touch button, whether the telephone number or the e-mail address is input first is determined by the one-touch button. The priority of the public transmission line network or the Internet as a normal fax transmission path to the destination selected by the user can be registered individually for each destination. Therefore, when registering the destination information, the fax transmission path to be prioritized in the normal transmission for each destination can be registered in either the public line network or the Internet. As a result, at the time of fax transmission, the transmission route to be prioritized for each destination can be easily specified by a simple operation of pressing the one-touch button once and instructing the start of transmission.

Although the transmission route to be prioritized during normal fax transmission is registered as described above, the individual operation is performed by simply pressing the one-touch button twice so as to reverse the normal transmission. Fax transmission can be performed using a route. Therefore, it is possible to easily select a frequently used route, and also to easily perform the operation for specifying the fax transmission on the reverse route to the normal route.

Further, since the priorities once registered can be changed later, even when the initial circumstances have changed, the priorities can be easily changed for each destination.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and it is possible to adopt various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course.

For example, when the number of times the priority is changed by pressing the one-touch button twice when the fax transmission is performed reaches a predetermined number of times, for example, ten times, the priority is automatically registered for the one-touch button. A learning function such as changing the number of characters may be provided.

[0034]

According to the present invention, in a facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile communication through both the public line network and the Internet, it is possible to specify a destination and a transmission route with less operations, and The effect of simplifying the operation can be exhibited.

That is, it is possible to specify the fax transmission by the normal route by a simple operation of pressing the one-touch button, and it is possible to change the fax transmission route by the number of times the one-touch button is pressed. It becomes very simple.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire Internet fax system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of the Internet fax device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing main storage contents of a RAM in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing contents of destination information registration processing executed in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of a fax transmission process executed in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a display state of registered contents when a one-touch button is pressed in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of a priority change process executed in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,11 ... Internet fax machine, 2,1
2 ... local area network (LAN), 3,
13 Personal computer (PC), 4, 14
... Printer, 5,15 ... Mail server, 6,1
6 Network router, 31 Internet, 32 Public network, 41 CPU, 43
..ROM, 45... RAM, 45a... Work memory, 45b...
Destination information storage unit, 47 scanner, 49 encoder, 51 printer, 53 decoder, 55
・ Operation panel, 57 ・ ・ ・ LCD, 59 ・ ・ ・ Modem,
61: line control unit, 63: PC interface, 65: mail control unit, 67: LAN control unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/32 H04N 1/32 Z F Term (Reference) 5C062 AA02 AA05 AA14 AA29 AA30 AA35 AB41 AB43 AC05 AF02 AF03 AF05 BA00 BD00 5C075 AB90 BA08 BA09 CA90 CD07 CD09 5K036 AA15 BB01 DD11 5K101 KK01 LL01 LL02 NN03 NN21 QQ11

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A public line facsimile transmission means for executing facsimile transmission via a public line network when a telephone number is specified as a destination, and executing transmission via the Internet when an e-mail address is specified as a destination. Internet transmission means, destination registration means capable of registering a telephone number and an e-mail address for the same destination for a plurality of destinations, and a desired destination among the plurality of destinations registered in the destination registration means. Destination selecting means to be selected; selecting and specifying means for selecting and specifying one of the telephone number and the e-mail address for the destination selected by the destination selecting means; Which of the following is used for transmission: the line facsimile transmission means or the Internet transmission means Facsimile apparatus comprising: a transmission path determining means for determining, wherein the destination registration means includes a plurality of one-touch buttons for registering a destination, and registers a telephone number and an e-mail address for each one-touch button. The destination selecting means is configured as a means for selecting a destination by pressing one of the plurality of one-touch buttons, and the selection specifying means presses a one-touch button when selecting the destination. A facsimile apparatus configured as means for selecting and specifying one of the telephone number and the e-mail address according to the number of times to be performed.