JP2003219134A - Facsimile apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a transmission capable of rapidly eliminating an original on a feeder without wasting stored data when it becomes a transmission setting time during storage of the original data in an image memory, in a facsimile apparatus capable of communicating in memory having a transmitting time setting means. <P>SOLUTION: The facsimile apparatus transmits stored data in the image memory when it arrives at a set time while the original is read and stored in the image memory (16), reads the original on the feeder (3), and transmits the original (S15 to S14). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting data to a memory. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique in which an image memory is provided in a facsimile apparatus so that the contents of a document can be stored in the image memory and then transmitted. When transmitting, since the contents of the original are stored in the image memory, the original can be eliminated from the feeder section (original platen), so that other originals can be transmitted when the feeder section is empty. At the designated time, the contents of the original in the image memory are read from the image memory and automatically transmitted,
Upon completion, the contents of the image memory are erased. However, the capacity that can be stored in the image memory is limited, and depending on the contents of the original, the number of originals, and the number of reservations for time-specified transmission, it may not be possible to store all originals. is there. In other words, if there is a reservation for memory communication first, the free area of the image memory is small, and there is not enough free space to read the original, the original is read,
As the document is stored in the image memory, the capacity of the image memory becomes full in the middle of the document, and all the contents of the document read and stored up to that point are canceled. Therefore, the original is transmitted at the designated time while the original is left on the feeder unit. Therefore, even if another operator tried to transmit, the document could not be transmitted because the document was on the feeder unit. Therefore, according to the present invention, when the entire document cannot be read, a setting is made so that the document is transmitted from the feeder unit, and as soon as the free space in the image memory is available, the image is read accordingly.
The purpose of this is to reduce the number of originals on the feeder as much as possible. By utilizing this fact, even when the transmission set time comes while the original is being read for storage in the image memory, the contents in the image memory are not wasted,
In addition, the original on the feeder section is quickly eliminated. [0005] In order to solve the above problems,
Means for solving the problem according to the present invention is a facsimile apparatus including an image memory and capable of memory communication,
A facsimile apparatus having an image memory and capable of memory communication, provided with a transmission time setting means, and when a set time is reached while a document is read and stored in the image memory,
This means transmitting the data stored in the image memory, and subsequently reading and transmitting the document on the feeder unit. Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a facsimile, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an original reading operation. In FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus has an operation panel 2 disposed on the front side of an upper part of a main body case 1, a scanner 18 serving as a document reading device disposed below the operation panel 2, and a document supply tray 3 disposed at a rear portion thereof. And a feeder unit is configured so that the originals can be fed one by one. A paper discharge port 4 is provided at a lower rear portion of the document supply tray 3, a recording unit and a control circuit board are accommodated in the main body case 1, and a paper feed cassette 5 for accommodating recording paper is arranged at a lower portion. On the upper surface of the operation panel 2, numeric keys 6, one-touch dial keys 7, copy keys 8, memory communication keys 9, and a start key 11 for communication are provided. And the like, and a liquid crystal display 10 serving as a means for displaying a dialed number, an operation method, an alarm, and the like, and displaying an empty state of the image memory. As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit configuration of the facsimile includes a main controller 13 for controlling the entire facsimile.
A ROM (read only memory) 14, a RAM (random access memory) 15, an image memory 16, respective operation keys on the operation panel 2, an operation unit 17 such as a liquid crystal panel, a scanner 18, a modem 19, a printer 22, etc. Is connected. The ROM 14 stores a control program, and also stores a memory communication program described later. The RAM 15 temporarily reads an input signal from the operation unit 17, a command signal, a signal from a line, and the like. The image memory 16 temporarily stores the contents of the document read by the scanner 18 when performing memory communication, and stores a certain amount of transmission contents when the recording paper runs out during reception. The scanner 18 reads an original, and the printer 22 prints the image data transmitted at the time of reception, and copies the image data at the time of copying. The modem 19 is an NCU (Network Control Unit)
It is connected to a telephone line 21 through 20 and modulates and demodulates transmission and reception data, and generates and detects a command signal and the like. The main control unit 13 calculates a document capacity to be described later, calculates an empty capacity of the image memory, holds the original in the feeder unit when there is no free capacity, and deletes the original when there is free capacity. It serves as a means for performing a reading process and the like, and controls the scanner 18, the reading drive unit, the modem 19, the printer, and the like. In such a configuration, when performing memory communication, an original to be transmitted is set on the original supply tray 3, memory communication is selected on the operation unit, a designated transmission time is input, and a telephone number is input. Then, these data are stored in RAM
15, the original is read by the scanner 18, and the content is stored in the image memory 16. At the designated time, the other party is called, and if the other party is ready to receive, the image memory 16
When the data in the image memory 16 is exhausted, the transmission is terminated and the image memory is erased. Such facsimile transmission is a case where the free space in the image memory 16 is sufficiently secured for the transmission original. If the number of memory transmissions becomes two or three, the image cannot be stored in the image memory. When transmission is performed by designating the original, the original is left on the original supply tray 2, and a later sender cannot transmit. Therefore, the present invention performs processing as shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, first, the designated transmission time is input from the operation unit 17 and stored in the memory (S1), and the other party number is input from the operation unit 17 and stored in the memory (S1).
2) The number of originals to be transmitted is also input from the operation unit 17 and stored in the memory (S3) [this is stored in the A register (reg) of the main control unit 13]. Then, the free space of the image memory 16 is calculated (S4). This free space is represented by bytes, and is assumed to be X bytes. Next, assuming that the amount of space consumed in the image memory when the standard original is read by the scanner is N bytes, the amount of memory required for the original to be transmitted is calculated as A register × N bytes (S5). The required capacity for storing all originals to be processed is calculated as Y bytes. However, when reading the standard document, if the designated linear density is different, the storage capacity N bytes will be different, and the N bytes can be changed so that the setting bytes of the standard document storage bytes can be changed by the operation unit. The Y bytes are compared with the X bytes of the free space (S
6) If there is more free space, the original is read by the scanner 18 and stored in the image memory 16 (S7).
When the transmission time comes during the accumulation, the data in the image memory is transmitted, and then the original in the feeder section is read by a scanner and transmitted. If all the originals have been read into the image memory and the memory is not over at this time (S8), when the transmission time comes (S9), the other party is called, and when the transmission / reception is ready, the data in the image memory is read. Is transmitted to the other party (S10), and if there is an original on the feeder unit (S11), this is transmitted. In this case, since all of the originals have been read into the image memory 16, there is no original on the original supply tray, and When all data is transmitted, the image memory is erased (S1
3) Then the transmission is completed. In step S6, if the free space is small (Y ≧ X), the entire document cannot be stored in the image memory (actually, the document can be stored depending on the content of the document). Before the transmission time (S14), the process returns to step S4 to calculate the free space in the image memory. At this time, when the contents of the document previously stored in the image memory are communicated by memory and the free space increases to reach a capacity capable of storing all the documents, the process proceeds to step 7. In step S14, when the transmission time comes with the original placed on the original supply tray 3, the process proceeds to step S10, where the original is transmitted from the feeder unit. In step S8, since the calculation can be stored in the image memory, when the original to be transmitted is stored in the image memory, if the content of the original is larger than the standard original, for example, a photograph or a detailed drawing When transmitting a document including the document, the memory capacity of the image memory is exceeded. At this time, a message "Whether to save only the stored pages" is displayed on the display 10 together with an alarm (S15) to urge the operator to respond. If not, the contents of the document are deleted from the image memory (S16). In step S15, when only the stored pages are to be stored in the image memory, the number of stored pages is subtracted from the number of documents, the remaining number is stored in the A register, and the process proceeds to step S14. In the same manner as described above, if there is free space before the transmission time, the content is read, and when the transmission time is reached, the content in the image memory is transmitted, and then the original on the feeder unit is transmitted. According to the present invention having the above-described structure, the following effects can be obtained. In other words, even if the time reaches the set time while reading the original to be stored in the image memory, in this case, the data already stored in the image memory is transmitted. Then, by continuously transmitting the document on the feeder unit, the document content stored in the image memory and the document content not stored are transmitted. Therefore, the entire contents of the original can be transmitted to the other party at the set time, and even in the facsimile apparatus, the stored contents in the image memory can be effectively used, and the original in the feeder unit can be eliminated as soon as possible. Can be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a facsimile. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a document reading operation. [Description of Signs] 2 Operation panel 3 Original supply tray 9 Memory transmission key 10 Display 16 Image memory

Claims (1)

Claims 1. A facsimile apparatus having an image memory and capable of communicating with a memory, wherein a transmission time setting means is provided, and while a document is read and stored in the image memory, a facsimile is transmitted at a set time. A facsimile apparatus for transmitting data already stored in the image memory when it reaches the destination, and subsequently reading and transmitting a document on a feeder unit.