JP2005026778A - Facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile communication system capable of realizing the reduction of the communication quantity of a network and the storage capacity of a facsimile machine by reducing the data quantity of a plurality of sending sheets to be transmitted from an information processing apparatus to the facsimile machine, when the sending sheets for each transmission destination are added to a common original which original is then transmitted to a plurality of destinations by facsimile. <P>SOLUTION: In the facsimile communication system, the common original data for the plurality of destinations and the sending sheet data for each transmission destination are transmitted to the facsimile machine connected to the information processing apparatus via a communication medium from the information processing apparatus, so that the facsimile machine successively performs facsimile communication to the plurality of destinations. The information processing apparatus transmits the common original data and the sending sheet data for a first transmission destination to the facsimile machine, and transmits data different from the sending sheet data of the first transmission destination as sending sheet data for each transmission destination after a second transmission to the facsimile machine. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention, when facsimile transmission is performed to a plurality of destinations with a similar cover page attached, the cover page data and difference data from the cover sheet are received for each destination, and The present invention relates to a facsimile communication system for creating and adding a cover sheet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for facsimile transmission in companies and public offices, a cover sheet is attached to the first page together with a document to be transmitted. This one-page cover page usually includes a destination name, destination phone number, person in charge, subject, transmission date, number of documents to be sent, source name, source phone number, sender name, etc. A simple message is often written.
[0003]
Further, with the expansion of networking, the facsimile apparatus is not a stand-alone type that is used independently as in the prior art, but is increasingly connected to an information processing apparatus. The facsimile apparatus connected to the network in this way receives a command related to transmission input via the fax driver software installed in the information processing apparatus, and transmitted manuscript data and cover page data from the information processing apparatus. A document with a cover sheet attached is sent to the specified destination by facsimile.
[0004]
The manner in which such document data and cover page data are transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus via the network will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a transmission form of document data and cover sheet data transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus when facsimile transmission is performed to a plurality of transmission destinations. FIG. 10A is common to each transmission destination. (B) shows a case where the common manuscript data and different cover page data for each destination are transmitted, and (b) shows a case where the common manuscript data is transmitted once and then different cover page data is sequentially transmitted for each destination. Show.
[0005]
In the conventional method, as shown in FIG. 10A, it is necessary to transmit document data and a cover letter from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus for each transmission destination even if the documents to be facsimile-transmitted to a plurality of transmission destinations are common. was there. For this reason, there has been a problem that the amount of communication on the network and the capacity of the storage device of the facsimile apparatus that stores document data and cover page data for each transmission destination increase.
[0006]
In Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), common document data is transmitted from an information processing apparatus to a facsimile apparatus via a network and a facsimile server and stored in a plurality of transmission destinations, and then the common document data is stored. Proposes a method of transmitting a cover page for each destination for which manuscript data is specified to the facsimile machine, and the facsimile apparatus attaches common manuscript data for each cover page received and performs facsimile transmission to the specified destination. ing.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-247416
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As is clear from the comparison between FIGS. 10A and 10B, compared with the conventional method, the method according to Patent Document 1 enables a reduction in the amount of communication on the network and the storage capacity required for the facsimile apparatus. Is. However, if the number of transmission destinations to which a common document is transmitted increases or if the data amount of the common document is small, the data amount of a cover sheet transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus for each transmission destination cannot be ignored. It becomes.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. When a common original is facsimile-transmitted by adding a cover letter for each transmission destination to a plurality of transmission destinations, a plurality of transmissions are transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile communication system that realizes a reduction in the amount of network communication and the storage capacity of the facsimile apparatus by reducing the data amount of the cover sheet.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a plurality of common original data for transmission destinations and cover sheet data for each transmission destination are transmitted from the information processing apparatus to a facsimile apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus via a communication medium. In the facsimile communication system in which the facsimile apparatus sequentially transmits a facsimile to a plurality of transmission destinations, the information processing apparatus transmits the common original data and the cover sheet data for the first transmission destination to the facsimile apparatus, A portion of data different from the cover page data for the destination is transmitted to the facsimile apparatus as cover page data for the second and subsequent destinations.
[0011]
The common document data, the first cover page data for the destination, and the cover page data for the second and subsequent destinations are encoded (compressed) by the information processing apparatus and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus.
[0012]
The data of the different parts includes image data of different parts in the cover data for the first transmission destination and the image data (bitmap data) of the second and subsequent transmission cover data, and the different parts of the data. Address.
[0013]
The facsimile apparatus has a cover sheet preparation means, which replaces the area indicated by the address of the different part of the cover sheet data for the first transmission destination with the image data of the different part. Create by combining cover page data for each destination.
[0014]
Common facsimile data for a plurality of destinations and cover sheet data for each destination are transmitted from the information processing apparatus to a facsimile apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus via a communication medium. In the facsimile communication system that sequentially performs facsimile transmission, the cover page data includes character data that fluctuates for a plurality of destinations, form image data common to the cover page data for each of the plurality of destinations, and the form image data The information processing apparatus transmits the common document data, the form image data, and the address data to the facsimile apparatus, and the character data that varies for each transmission destination. The data is transmitted to the facsimile machine as data different from the form image data.
[0015]
The common document data and form image data are encoded (compressed) by the information processing apparatus and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus.
[0016]
The facsimile apparatus has a cover sheet preparation means, and the cover sheet preparation means replaces the area indicated by the address data of the form image data by converting the character data of each destination into a bitmap, thereby replacing the cover letter for each destination. Synthesize and create data.
[0017]
The communication medium described above is configured by a local area network (LAN).
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the details of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an example of a facsimile machine for explaining the present invention.
[0019]
The facsimile apparatus 1 includes an automatic document feeder 2 that automatically feeds pages of a document one by one in order to read a document composed of a plurality of pages, and a scanner 3 that reads the fed pages and converts them into image data. And an operation unit 4 for inputting and displaying operations, a printing unit 5 for printing an image on a sheet, and a control unit 6 for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus 1.
[0020]
The automatic document feeder 2 includes a document feed table 7 that stores stacked pages of documents, and a document discharge unit 8 that discharges and stores read pages. The operation unit 4 includes a display unit 9 for displaying and notifying operation, and an operation input unit 10 having a plurality of keys for operation input. The printing unit 5 includes a paper feeding unit 11 that houses and feeds paper as a printing medium, an image forming unit, a fixing unit, and the like (not shown).
[0021]
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a facsimile communication system of the present invention. The facsimile apparatus 1 is connected to an information processing apparatus 16 via a network 15 such as a local area network (LAN). In the case of a small-scale system, the facsimile apparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 16 may be directly connected one-to-one via an interface such as RS232C, IEEE1394, USB, or printer parallel. Here, the facsimile apparatus 1 is connected to a communication line 17 such as a general public telephone line network, and performs facsimile communication with an external transmission destination.
[0022]
Next, the electrical configuration of the facsimile machine 1 will be outlined with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of main circuits of the facsimile machine 1. The control unit 6 of the facsimile apparatus 1 includes a CPU 21 that is a control circuit, a ROM 22a that stores programs and control data, and a font for expanding character data included in the data into bitmap data when used as a printer. Font ROM 22b for storing data, RAM 23 for temporarily storing work data, frame memory 24 serving as a transmission buffer memory for transmission data during facsimile transmission, and document data from information processing device 16 (FIG. 2) As image data or an image memory 25 for storing a document read by the scanner 3 as image data, and when the image data is read into the image memory 25 and read out, it is compressed and decompressed. Sign when send data is sent The scanner 3 can be connected to the CODEC unit 26 that decodes the data received at the time of reception, the cover sheet creation unit 29 that creates a cover sheet for each destination and adds it to the document to be transmitted, and the scanner 3. The scanner I / F (interface) 3a and the automatic document feeder I / F (interface) 2a that enable connection to the automatic document feeder 2 are included.
[0023]
The facsimile apparatus 1 further converts the transmission data read into the frame memory 24 into an audible signal, converts the audible signal into reception data at the time of reception, the NCU 28 that controls communication, and information via the network. The network interface card (NIC) 30 that enables communication with the processing device 16, and the operation unit 4 and the printing unit 5 shown in FIG. 1 are provided.
[0024]
Based on the facsimile apparatus 1 and the facsimile communication system described above, the common manuscript data and the respective cover letters are sent from the information processing apparatus 16 to the facsimile apparatus 1 in order to facsimile-transmit the common manuscript data and the respective cover letters to a plurality of destinations. A transmission method and a method in which the facsimile apparatus 1 that receives the transmission forms a cover sheet will be described based on two embodiments.
[0025]
First, a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an example of a cover page for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention. When a common original is sent from the information processing apparatus 16 of FIG. 2 by facsimile with different cover pages added to a plurality of destinations, a common original and a cover page are created by an application program (not shown) of the information processing apparatus 16. In this case, normally, the cover sheet has a different part such as a destination name, a destination number, a person in charge for each destination, and the other parts are often common. The cover sheet 40 is added to, for example, a first transmission destination document. The second and subsequent transmission destinations to which the same common document is transmitted are appended with a part of the cover sheet 40 rewritten. In this example, the name of “transmission destination”, the number of “transmission number”, and the name of “person in charge” are rewritten for each transmission destination. Is possible.
[0026]
Facsimile transmission operations to a plurality of transmission destinations are performed via a fax driver software for the facsimile apparatus 1 (not shown) installed in the information processing apparatus 16. With the fax driver software, a common document to be transmitted is selected, and a first cover sheet to be added to the first transmission destination is selected. Further, a transmission control command such as a transmission destination telephone number required for the first transmission, a transmission image quality mode, and whether or not timer reservation transmission is possible is input via the fax driver software. The second to Nth destinations perform the same operation.
[0027]
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the common manuscript, cover page, and transmission control command input / set through the fax driver software in this way. When a transmission button (not shown) is pressed in the information processing device 16, the second and subsequent cover pages are sequentially compared with the first cover page based on the image data (bitmap data) of the first cover page. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the fax driver software divides the image data of the first cover page into a plurality of predetermined areas and assigns addresses to the respective areas. In the example of FIG. 4, in order to simplify the description, an area is created in a band shape (row), and hence it is hereinafter referred to as a row address. Row addresses 0-9 are assigned to the cover page.
[0028]
When comparing the image data of the other cover pages based on the image data of the first cover page, the fax driver compares each of these row addresses, and compares the line address different from the first cover page, The image data of the cover page of the different row address part is extracted and used as differential image data of the corresponding cover page. The same operation is continued until differential image data of the Nth cover page is extracted. In the example of FIG. 5, the difference image data of the second cover page (hatched portion in the figure) is of the row address 2-3, and the difference image data of the Nth cover page (hatched portion in the figure) is 2 Two spaced areas, row addresses 1 and 7.
[0029]
When the extraction of the difference image data of the second to Nth cover pages is completed in this way, the image data of the common original, the image data of the first cover page, the difference image data of the second cover page,. The difference image data of the second cover page is encoded by the same encoding (compression) means as that of the facsimile apparatus 1 provided by the fax driver software, and the respective data sizes are reduced. The image data of the common document thus encoded, the image data of the first cover page, the difference image data of the second to Nth cover pages, the different row addresses of the second to Nth cover pages, It is transmitted to the facsimile apparatus 1 together with the first to Nth transmission control commands.
[0030]
FIG. 6 shows image data of a common document, image data of the first cover page, differential image data of the second to Nth cover pages, different row addresses of the second to Nth cover pages, first to Nth FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing processing performed by the facsimile apparatus 1 that has received the transmission control command. First, the image data of the common manuscript and the image data of the first cover page that have been encoded and input to the facsimile apparatus 1 are already encoded and are stored in the image memory 25 (FIG. 3) as they are. The image data of the first cover page is simultaneously decoded (expanded) by the CODEC unit 26 and temporarily stored in the cover sheet creating unit 29 having a memory function. Next, since the differential image data of the 2nd to Nth cover pages that are sequentially input as they are through a buffer memory (not shown) are encoded, the CODEC unit 26 temporarily decodes them to create a cover page. Input to the unit 29. Further, the different row addresses of the second to Nth cover pages are sequentially input to the cover page creating unit 29 in synchronization with the difference image data of the corresponding cover pages.
[0031]
When the image data of the common original and the image data of the first cover page are transmitted from the image memory 25 to the first transmission destination, the cover sheet creating unit 29 then decodes and inputs the first input data. In the image data of the cover page, the portion corresponding to the different row address of the second cover page is replaced with the difference image data of the second cover page that has been decoded and input, and the synthesized second cover page The image data is sent to the CODEC unit 26. The image data of the second cover page encoded by the CODEC unit 26 is sent to the image memory 25 by the control unit 6 and is replaced with the image data of the first cover page that has been transmitted, and the second transmission destination. Transmission to will start. In this way, transmission up to the Nth is performed in the same procedure as the second transmission.
[0032]
As described above, in the first embodiment, the image data of the common document, the image data of the first cover page, and the difference image data of the second to Nth cover pages are transmitted from the information processing apparatus 16 to the facsimile apparatus. Therefore, the amount of communication on the network can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional technology, and the capacity of the image memory 25 for storing the data in the facsimile apparatus 1 can be saved. Further, since the image data is encoded and transmitted from the information processing device 16, it is possible to further reduce the amount of communication on the network.
[0033]
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIGS. FIG. 7 is an example of a cover page for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention. When a common document is sent by facsimile with different cover pages added to a plurality of transmission destinations from the information processing apparatus 16 in FIG. 2, the common document and a cover sheet are created by an application program (not shown) of the information processing apparatus 16. . In this case, normally, the cover sheet differs for each transmission destination, for example, a transmission destination name, a transmission destination number, a person in charge, etc., and other parts are often common. This cover sheet 50 is added to the original document of the first transmission destination. The second and subsequent transmission destinations that transmit the same document are added with a part of the cover sheet 50 rewritten. In this example, it is assumed that the name of “transmission destination”, the number of “transmission number”, the name of “person in charge”, and the date of “transmission date” are rewritten for each transmission destination.
[0034]
The difference between the cover sheet 50 and the cover sheet 40 (FIG. 4) of the first embodiment is that the cover sheet 50 is clearly divided into a variable data section 51 and other fixed data sections. is there. That is, the fixed data portion of the cover sheet 50 is a part common to all cover sheets, and is in the form of a so-called form or template. In FIG. 7, the actual form portion is in a state where no character data is input to the variation data portion 51. Therefore, in the second embodiment, it is assumed that image data in the form format is used for a common cover page, and variation data that differs for each transmission destination is handled as character data.
[0035]
Facsimile transmission operations to a plurality of transmission destinations are performed via a fax driver software for the facsimile apparatus 1 (not shown) installed in the information processing apparatus 16. A common document to be transmitted is selected by the fax driver software, and a common form of a cover sheet to be added to the first to Nth transmissions is selected. This is the common procedure for the 1st to Nth transmissions. Next, enter the necessary information for the first transmission on the cover sheet form in text, and at the same time, send the fax driver software with a transmission control command such as the destination telephone number, transmission quality mode, and timer reservation transmission. Input through. The second to Nth destinations perform the same operation.
[0036]
FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing the common document, cover page form, character data, and transmission control command input / set in this way. When a transmission button (not shown) is pressed on the information processing device 16, the fax driver software encodes the image data of the common document and the cover sheet form and transmits them to the facsimile device 1. At the same time, the start address (start bitmap address) of the variation data portion 51 on the image data of the cover sheet form, the respective character data input to the variation data portion 51 of the first to Nth cover pages, and 1 to N The transmission control command of the first destination is transmitted to the facsimile machine 1.
[0037]
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing processing performed by the facsimile apparatus 1 that receives the image data of the common document, the image data of the cover sheet form, the start address of the variation data section 51, and the first to Nth character data. is there. First, the image data of the common document and the image data of the cover sheet form that are encoded and input to the facsimile apparatus 1 are already encoded and are stored in the image memory 25 (FIG. 3) as they are. At the same time, the image data of the cover sheet form is decoded (expanded) by the CODEC unit 26 and temporarily stored in the cover sheet creating unit 29 having a memory function. The first to Nth cover page character data sequentially input via the control unit 6 are sequentially bitmapped by the font ROM 22 b and input to the cover sheet creating unit 29 together with the start address of the variation data 51.
[0038]
The cover sheet creation unit 29 writes the bitmapped character data from the start address indicating the variation data section 51 on the image data of the input cover sheet form. After that, the synthesized cover page image data is encoded by the CODEC unit 26 to replace the cover page image data stored in the image memory 25. This procedure is performed before the first transmission. After the first transmission is completed, the same processing is performed for the second cover sheet, and after the second transmission is completed, the same processing is sequentially performed until the Nth transmission is completed.
[0039]
As described above, in the second embodiment, only the image data of the common document and the image data of the cover page form are transmitted from the information processing device 16 to the facsimile apparatus 1 as a large amount of data, and the characters having a small data capacity are used thereafter. Data may be transmitted. Therefore, compared with the prior art, the amount of communication on the network can be greatly reduced, and the capacity of the image memory for storing image data in the facsimile apparatus 1 can be saved. Furthermore, since the image data is encoded and transmitted from the information processing device 16, the amount of communication on the network can be further reduced.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, image data of a common document and image data of one cover page are transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus, and difference image data or character data having a small data capacity is transmitted for the cover sheet for each destination. do it. Therefore, compared with the prior art, the amount of communication on the network can be greatly reduced, and the capacity of the image memory for storing image data in the facsimile apparatus 1 can be saved.
[0041]
Further, since the image data of the common original and the image data of one cover page are transmitted to the facsimile apparatus after being subjected to the same encoding process as the encoding performed by the facsimile apparatus by the information processing apparatus, the amount of communication on the network Can be further reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an example of a facsimile machine for explaining the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a facsimile communication system of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of main circuits of the facsimile machine 1;
FIG. 4 is an example of a cover page for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a common document, a cover page, and a transmission control command input / set via the fax driver software.
FIG. 6 shows image data of a common document, image data of the first cover page, differential image data of the second to Nth cover pages, different row addresses of the second to Nth cover pages, and first to Nth. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing processing performed by the facsimile apparatus 1 that has received the transmission control command.
FIG. 7 is an example of a cover page for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing an input / set common document, a cover page form, character data, and a transmission control command.
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing processing performed by the facsimile apparatus 1 that receives image data of a common document, image data of a cover page form, start address of a variation data unit 51, and first to Nth character data. is there.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a transmission form of document data and cover sheet data transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the facsimile apparatus when facsimile transmission is performed to a plurality of transmission destinations. FIG. 10A is common to each transmission destination. (B) shows a case where the common manuscript data and different cover page data for each destination are transmitted, and (b) shows a case where the common manuscript data is transmitted once and then different cover page data is sequentially transmitted for each destination. Show.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Facsimile apparatus 2 Automatic document feeder 3 Scanner 4 Operation part 5 Printing part 6 Control part 7 Original feed stand 8 Original discharge part 9 Display part 10 Operation input part 11 Paper feed part 15 Network 16 Information processing apparatus 17 Communication line 21 CPU
22a ROM
22b Font ROM
23 RAM
24 frame memory 25 image memory 26 CODEC unit 27 modem 28 NCU
29 Cover page creation section 40, 50 Cover sheet 51 Fluctuation data section

Claims (8)

Common facsimile data for a plurality of destinations and cover sheet data for each destination are transmitted from the information processing unit to a facsimile machine connected to the information processing apparatus via a communication medium. In a facsimile communication system that sequentially performs facsimile transmission to a destination,
The information processing apparatus transmits the common manuscript data and the first cover page data for the destination to the facsimile apparatus, and the second and subsequent portions of the data different from the first cover page data for the destination. A facsimile communication system, wherein a cover sheet data for each destination is transmitted to the facsimile apparatus. The common manuscript data, the first cover page data for the destination, and the cover page data for the second and subsequent destinations are encoded (compressed) by the information processing apparatus and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1. The different part data includes different parts of image data (bitmap data) of the first destination cover page data and the second and subsequent destination cover page data, and different parts thereof. 2. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile communication system comprises: The facsimile apparatus has a cover sheet preparation means, and the cover sheet preparation means replaces the area indicated by the address of the different part of the cover sheet data for the first transmission destination with the image data of the different part, 4. The facsimile communication system according to claim 3, wherein the cover page data for each of the second and subsequent destinations is synthesized and created. Common facsimile data for a plurality of destinations and cover sheet data for each destination are transmitted from the information processing unit to a facsimile machine connected to the information processing apparatus via a communication medium. In a facsimile communication system that sequentially performs facsimile transmission to a destination,
The cover sheet data includes character data that varies for each of the plurality of destinations, form image data common to the cover sheet data for each of the plurality of destinations, and the character data is input on the form image data. Address data indicating the area,
The information processing apparatus transmits the common document data, the form image data, and the address data to the facsimile apparatus, and character data that varies for each transmission destination as data different from the form image data. A facsimile communication system, wherein 6. The facsimile communication system according to claim 5, wherein the common document data and form image data are encoded (compressed) by the information processing apparatus and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus. The facsimile apparatus has a cover sheet preparation means, and the cover sheet preparation means replaces the area indicated by the address data of the form image data by converting the character data of each of the transmission destinations into a bitmap, thereby replacing the transmission destination. The facsimile communication system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the cover page data is synthesized and created. The facsimile communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the communication medium is configured by a local area network (LAN).

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