JP2003087455A - Facsimile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile terminal by which a user can confirm contents of a plurality of image data stored in a facsimile terminal main body, select the image data desirably to be sent according to an instruction from a slave device, and transmit the selected image data from the facsimile main body. SOLUTION: When information stored in an image storage medium and various control commands from a controller 24 are given to a cordless control circuit 217, the information and the control commands are sent to the slave device 3 via an antenna 218 as an electromagnetic wave. Thus, the facsimile main body 2 can provide information on the basis of a plurality of image data as thumbnail data or voice, the user selects image data desirably to be sent and faxes the selected data through a telephone line network 21 according to the instruction of the slave device 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus including a facsimile apparatus main body for transmitting and receiving image data and a slave unit for communicating with the facsimile apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-56454, there is known a cordless facsimile apparatus provided with a facsimile controller for transmitting / receiving image information on the cordless telephone handset side. . This facsimile machine can instruct the start of the facsimile operation from the slave unit. However, when operating the cordless slave unit at a position distant from the facsimile main unit, the person who performs the facsimile transmission does not receive the transmitted original document. There was a problem that it was not possible to confirm whether or not it reached the destination. As a solution to such a problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-273755 discloses a facsimile apparatus including a control unit that outputs transmission report information at the end of facsimile transmission based on a transmission operation of a cordless cordless handset. ing. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-83458 discloses a method of solving a problem that a document is removed by a third party after the document is set at the document reading position of the facsimile apparatus main body. There is disclosed a facsimile apparatus capable of confirming whether or not is set on a slave unit side. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-91238 discloses a cordless facsimile apparatus capable of switching transmission / reception modes by independently providing a facsimile transmission instruction button and a reception instruction button. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-212515 discloses a facsimile apparatus that allows a user to view a history list and perform predetermined processing on the contents. Furthermore, JP-A-9-3
Japanese Patent No. 12754 discloses a facsimile device that transmits an image read by a scanner of a facsimile device body to a slave device, edits the image on a slave device screen, and can transmit or print the edited image by facsimile. There is.

[0003]

In the conventional facsimile apparatus, it is possible to confirm whether the transmitted image data is surely transmitted to the other party, perform facsimile communication in the transmission / reception mode intended by the user, Look at the list,
Although it is possible to re-display, check and correct the image data, and to send the image data read by the scanner to the slave unit and edit the image on the slave unit screen, the user operates the slave unit to operate the facsimile machine. It is not possible to confirm the contents of a plurality of image data stored in the main body and to instruct to select the image data to be transmitted and to transmit it from the facsimile apparatus main body. In addition, when the image data selected from a plurality of image data stored in the facsimile apparatus main body is transmitted from the facsimile apparatus main body to a plurality of destinations according to an instruction from the slave unit, the selected image data and the destination are transmitted. Facsimile communication cannot be performed promptly while checking.

The object of the present invention is to instruct by a slave unit,
Provided is a facsimile device capable of confirming the contents of a plurality of image data stored in the facsimile device main body, selecting the image data to be transmitted, and transmitting the selected image data from the facsimile device main body. That is.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a facsimile apparatus comprising a facsimile apparatus main body for transmitting and receiving image data, and a slave unit for communicating with the facsimile apparatus main body. Storage means for storing information based on the information, and transmission means for transmitting the information to the slave unit, wherein the slave unit has an output means for receiving and outputting the information transmitted from the transmission means, and an output means. And a facsimile communication instruction means for instructing the facsimile apparatus main body to transmit image data corresponding to the information selected by the user based on the above information to a specified destination. .

According to the present invention, the main body of the facsimile device stores the information based on the image data, transmits the stored information to the slave, and the slave receives and outputs the transmitted information, and outputs the information. The facsimile device main body is instructed to transmit the image data corresponding to the information selected by the user to the specified destination based on the information stored in the facsimile device main body. It is possible to confirm the contents of a plurality of image data stored therein and to select the image data to be transmitted. Therefore, it is possible to quickly transmit while confirming the selected image data and the other party.

Further, in the present invention, the facsimile apparatus main body has thumbnail data creating means for creating thumbnail data obtained by reducing the image data as information based on the image data, and the transmitting means includes the thumbnail data. It is characterized in that it is transmitted to a child device.

According to the present invention, the main body of the facsimile device creates thumbnail data obtained by reducing the image data as information based on the image data and transmits the thumbnail data to the slave unit. The data amount of the information that can be provided to the child device and transmitted to the child device can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, the output means displays the received thumbnail data, and the facsimile communication instruction means transmits the image data corresponding to the thumbnail data selected by the user from the facsimile apparatus main body. Characterized by instructing.

According to the present invention, since the slave unit displays the received thumbnail data, the user can check the contents of the image data at a glance, and the image data to be transmitted can be promptly confirmed based on the plurality of thumbnail data. You can choose to.

In the present invention, the information is sound data,
The facsimile apparatus main body has a sound data creating means for creating sound data for specifying the image data, and the transmitting means sends the sound data to the slave.

According to the present invention, the facsimile apparatus main body can create sound data for specifying image data and send the sound data to the slave.

According to the present invention, the output means outputs the received sound data, and the facsimile communication instructing means transmits image data corresponding to the sound data selected by the user from the facsimile apparatus main body. Characterized by instructing.

According to the present invention, since the slave unit outputs the received sound data, the slave unit having no display function is
Information can be provided by hearing, and the user can quickly select image data to be transmitted based on a plurality of sound data.

[0015]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The facsimile device 1 includes a facsimile device main body 2 and a slave device 3. The facsimile apparatus main body 2 includes a network control device 22, a modem 23, a control device 24, and an image storage device 2.
5, printing device 26, image reading device 27, storage device 2
8, operation keys 29, dial keys 210, handset 21
1, a display device 212, an image reduction control unit 213, a voice synthesizing unit 215, a cordless control circuit 217, and an antenna 218, and performs facsimile communication through the telephone network 21.

The network controller 22 monitors the state of the telephone line network 21 and connects the telephone line network 21 to the modem 2
3 and the handset 211 side. The modem 23 demodulates the modulated analog signal into a digital signal, and also modulates the digital signal of the image data to be transmitted into an analog signal suitable for the telephone network 21. The handset 211 transmits and receives a sound signal.

The control device 24 is based on the operation program stored in the storage device 28, and has the operation keys 29 and the dial keys 2 including a reception start button and a transmission button.
The entire operation of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 is controlled in accordance with the instruction information input by the telephone 10, the information from the telephone network 21, the signal information indicating the state of each device and each part of the facsimile apparatus main body 2. Then, the control device 24 instructs each device and each part constituting the facsimile apparatus main body 2 to operate, causes the telephone line network 21 to send a predetermined signal, and displays the image data and guidance received on the display device 212. Display it.

The image reading device 27 reads the image data to be transmitted. For reading image data, for example, C
A contact sensor array using a micro lens array in which a CD (charge coupled device) line sensor and a lens are combined is used.

The image storage device 25 is a storage means,
The image data read by the image reading device 27, information based on the image data, received information, and the like are stored.

Image reduction controller 213 and controller 24
Is a thumbnail data creating means for creating thumbnail data by reducing the image data stored in the image storage device 25. The image to be stored is JBIG (Joint Bi-l
evel Image experts Group) method or JPEG (Join
Photographic coding Experts Group) method. Particularly in the case of a color image, the image reduction control unit 213
Image data is converted between color space coordinates. The created thumbnail data is stored in the image storage device 25 together with the management data including the title of the image data.

The voice synthesizer 215 and the control device 24 are
The sound data creating means creates a sound that specifies the image data stored in the image storage device 25, and enables the provision of information through the auditory sense. The voice synthesizer 215 can be built in the slave unit 3 as necessary.

Cordless control circuit 217, antenna 2
18 and the control device 24 are transmission means for transmitting thumbnail data and audio data to the slave unit 3, and various control commands from the information stored in the image storage device 25 and the control device 24 to the cordless control circuit 217. Given this information and control commands, antenna 2
An electromagnetic wave is transmitted to the mobile device 3 via 18. As a result, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 can provide the slave unit 3 with information based on a plurality of image data as thumbnail data or voice.

The printing device 26 prints the received image data and the image data read by the image reading device 27 as an image on a recording paper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the slave unit 3. The child device 3 includes a tuner 32, a child device control device 34, a storage device 38, operation keys 39, dial keys 310, a microphone 311, a display device 312, a speaker 313, and an antenna 318. The cordless handset 3 is capable of extension communication with the facsimile apparatus main body 2, and this extension communication is performed via a wireless transmission path. The slave unit 3 receives the information transmitted from the facsimile apparatus main body 2 as an electromagnetic wave at the tuner 32 equipped with the antenna 318. Based on the operation program stored in the storage device 38, the child device control device 34 displays the instruction information input by the user using the operation keys 39 and the dial keys 310 and the state of each device and each part constituting the child device 3. The entire operation of the child device 3 is controlled according to the signal information and the like.

The display device 312 and the speaker 313 are
The output means displays information based on the received image data as thumbnail data or outputs it as sound from the speaker 313. Thereby, the user can confirm the image data to be transmitted based on the information such as the plurality of thumbnail data and the sound data.

The handset controller 34, dial keys 310,
The operation keys 39 and the display device 312 are facsimile communication instruction means, and operate the image data that the user wants to transmit based on the thumbnail data displayed on the display device 312 or the information such as the voice output from the speaker 313. The facsimile device main body 2 is instructed to select the image data with the key 39 and transmit the selected image data to the specified destination. With this, the user can confirm the contents of the plurality of image data stored in the facsimile apparatus main body by the operation of the child device and select the image data to be transmitted. While confirming, it is possible to quickly transmit through the telephone line network 21.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation procedure in the facsimile apparatus 1, FIG. 4 is a table showing a concrete operation example of the operation procedure in the facsimile apparatus 1, and FIG. 5 is a display device 212 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of a display device 312 of the child device 3. FIG.

In the facsimile main body 2, the facsimile communication mode is set. First, when the MEMORY key of the operation keys 29 is pressed, the display device 212 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 displays four modes of the facsimile communication mode “1 =” as shown in FIG.
MEMORY BOX "," 2 = MEMORY T
X "," 3 = BROADCAST "and" 4 = DOC "
"UMENT TX" is displayed. Dial key 2
After selecting “1” from 10, input the transmission type and subject of the read image data, and press STA on the operation key 29.
Press the RT key to complete the input. As the transmission type and subject of the image data, for example, “LETTER1” can be input as shown in FIG. The subject of this image data is used by the handset 3 for identification when selecting image data to be transmitted.

Here, in the "MEMORY BOX" mode, the image data once stored can be taken out, and the transmission is instructed by the operation of the main body 2 of the facsimile apparatus or the operation of the slave unit 3, or the image is transmitted from the other party. In this mode, it is possible to instruct to receive image data, or to print an image by the printing device 26 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2. The "MEMORY TX" mode is a mode in which the read image data is stored in the image storage device. For the time being when reading image data,
By selecting the "MEMORY TX" mode and specifying a plurality of destinations later, image data can be transmitted to the plurality of destinations. The "BROADCAST" mode is a mode for transmitting image data to a plurality of destinations. The "DOCUMENT TX" mode is a mode used for transmitting image data having a large amount of data such as a photo original or an original having a large number of sheets, and is a mode for performing facsimile communication while reading image data when executing facsimile transmission. .

Then, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 scans the image data. By pressing the START key of the operation keys 29, the image reading device 27 starts reading the image data to be transmitted. As shown in FIG. 5C, the "SCANN"
ING ”is displayed. Then, when the scanning is completed, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 enters the standby state. The read image data is reduced by the image reduction control unit 213 to generate thumbnail data, which is stored in the image storage device 25 together with management data such as the image size and the number of pages. As a result, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 can provide a plurality of image data as thumbnail data to the child device 3, and can reduce the data amount of information transmitted to the child device.

In the slave unit 3, the facsimile unit body 2 is instructed to disclose the "MEMORY BOX" information. FUNCTIO among the operation keys 32 of the child device 3
When the N key is pressed, the "MEMO
It is possible to instruct to transmit the “RY BOX” information.

Then, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 transmits the "MEMORY BOX" information to the slave unit 3. In the facsimile apparatus main body 2, as shown in FIG. 5D, “1 = Fo” which is the title of the image data stored in the image storage device 25 as “MEMORY BOX” information.
rmat-A ”,“ 2 = Format-B ”and“ 3
= LETTER1 "is displayed and is transmitted to the child device 3 together with information such as management data and thumbnail data. Therefore, the user selects" MEMO "from the display device 312 of the child device 3.
You can check the "RY BOX" information. Since the display device 312 of the child device 3 is small, in addition to displaying the thumbnail data that displays the entire image data, it is possible to automatically display the area in which the header, footer, or subject of the image is displayed. You can also LCD (Liquid C
Handset 3 that does not have a display function such as rystal display)
On the other hand, a sound for specifying image data can be output from the speaker 313 so that information can be provided through hearing.

In the slave unit 3, the image data to be transmitted is selected. For example, "3 = LETTER
If you want to send "1",
Select “3”. The display device 312 of the cordless handset 3 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (e), "3 SELECTED" is displayed.

In the slave unit 3, the partner is determined. Select the other party's telephone number or E-Mail address by auto dialing or enter manually. As shown in FIG. 5F, the display device 312 of the child device 3 displays the name of the other party “ABC Corp.” and the telephone number of the other party “12344567XY”. It is also possible to specify a plurality of destinations.

Then, the slave unit 3 gives an instruction to transmit the selected image data. START among operation keys 39
By pressing the key, the facsimile communication instruction by the handset 3 is completed.

Then, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 starts transmitting image data to the other party.

The above is one example of the embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the communication system of the present invention at all. In a communication device such as a facsimile device supporting the Internet facsimile function, the communication via the Internet facsimile is performed. You can also send. Further, in a communication device such as a facsimile device equipped with an E-mail function, thumbnail data can be transmitted as attached data of E-mail.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the user confirms the contents of the plurality of image data stored in the main body of the facsimile apparatus by operating the slave unit and selects the image data to be transmitted. Therefore, it is possible to quickly send the image data while checking the selected image data and the other party.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a plurality of image data as thumbnail data to the slave unit, and it is possible to reduce the data amount of information transmitted to the slave unit.

Further, according to the present invention, the user can check the contents of the image data at a glance and can quickly select the image data to be transmitted based on the plurality of thumbnail data.

Further, according to the present invention, the facsimile apparatus main body can create sound data for specifying image data and send the sound data to the slave.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide auditory information to the child device having no display function, and the user can quickly select the image data to be transmitted based on a plurality of sound data.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a child device 3.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation procedure in the facsimile apparatus 1.

FIG. 4 is a table showing a specific operation example of an operation procedure in the facsimile apparatus 1.

5 is a diagram showing a display example of a display device 212 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 and a display device 312 of the slave unit 3. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Facsimile machine 2 Fax machine body 3 cordless handsets 21 Electric network 22 Network control device 23 modem 24 Control device 25 image storage 26 Printer 27 Image reader 28 storage 29 Operation keys 32 tuner 34 Remote unit control device 38 storage device 39 Operation keys 210 dial keys 211 Handset 212 display device 213 Image reduction control unit 215 Speech synthesizer 217 Cordless control circuit 218 antenna 310 dial keys 311 Mike 312 display device 313 speaker 318 antenna

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile device comprising a facsimile device main body for transmitting and receiving image data, and a slave device for communicating with the facsimile device main body, wherein the facsimile device main body includes storage means for storing information based on the image data. A transmission unit that transmits the information to the slave unit, the slave unit outputs an output unit that receives and outputs the information transmitted from the transmission unit, and a user based on the output information. A facsimile apparatus, comprising: facsimile communication instructing means for instructing a facsimile apparatus main body to transmit image data corresponding to selected information to a designated destination. 2. The facsimile apparatus main body has thumbnail data creating means for creating thumbnail data obtained by reducing the image data as information based on the image data, and the sending means sends the thumbnail data to the slave unit. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile apparatus transmits. 3. The output unit displays the received thumbnail data, and the facsimile communication instructing unit instructs the facsimile apparatus main body to transmit image data corresponding to the thumbnail data selected by the user. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The information is sound data, the facsimile apparatus main body has sound data creating means for creating sound data for specifying the image data, and the transmitting means sends the sound data to the slave unit. The facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the facsimile apparatus transmits the fax to the facsimile machine. 5. The output unit outputs the received sound data, and the facsimile communication instructing unit instructs the facsimile apparatus main body to transmit image data corresponding to the sound data selected by the user. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: