JP2006042286A - Data communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably transmit untransmitted image data set to be transmitted at a designated time, even if the present time is updated to a time advanced from an already set time. <P>SOLUTION: If the present time received from an external device (NTP server 204) is a time after a time measured by a time measuring means (RTC 108), untransmitted image data which should have been transmitted before the present time by a setting means (operation panel 110) is transmitted in response to the fact that a time measured by the time measuring means (RTC 108) has been updated on the basis of the present time information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a data communication apparatus.

  Conventionally, it is connected to a local area network (LAN: Local Area Network) and transmits / receives data to / from other network devices on the LAN, and other functions using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure through a public line. A communication apparatus having a facsimile function for transmitting / receiving image data to / from the terminal apparatus is known.

In the communication device described above, the current time is accurately set to reserve the transmission time of facsimile data to other terminal devices and to keep the transmission time of facsimile data and other data as a history. Therefore, a clock circuit is provided inside the device. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the clock circuit inside the device loses its accuracy over time, the time is periodically set to a server for time adjustment (NTP server or SNTP server) connected on the LAN. It is known to make an inquiry and set the time received from an NTP server (SNTP server) in a clock circuit inside the apparatus (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-50004 A

  In the communication apparatus as described above, a problem may occur when the time acquired from the NTP server (SNTP server) is a time advanced from the time already set in the clock circuit of the communication apparatus. For example, when a transmission job such as facsimile transmission is reserved between the time currently set in the clock circuit and the time acquired from the NTP server, the reserved transmission job is updated by updating the time. There was a problem of not being executed. Furthermore, in the case of a transmission job that performs facsimile transmission through a public line, there may be a charge depending on the transmission time between the transmission start time and the transmission end time, but the actual transmission can be performed by updating the time. There is also a problem that the time is different from the time between the transmission start time and the transmission end time left as the transmission history, and charging cannot be performed accurately.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and even when the current time is updated at a time that is ahead of the time that has already been set, the present invention is not set to transmit by specifying the time. An object of the present invention is to provide a data communication apparatus capable of reliably transmitting image data to be transmitted.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an input means for inputting image data, a transmission means for transmitting image data input by the input means, and a setting means for setting a time at which the transmission means should transmit image data. Time measuring means for measuring time, receiving means for receiving current time information from an external device connected via a network, and the current time received by the receiving means after the time measured by the time measuring means In response to the update of the time measured by the time measuring unit based on the current time information, the setting unit transmits untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time. And control means for controlling.

  According to the present invention, when the current time received from the external device is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means, the time measured by the time measuring means is updated based on the current time information. Since the untransmitted image data that is supposed to be transmitted before the current time by the setting means is transmitted, even when the current time is updated at a time that is ahead of the already set time, It is possible to reliably transmit untransmitted image data set to be transmitted by designating time.

  Further, according to the present invention, when the current time received from the external device is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means, the time measured by the time measuring means is updated based on the current time information. In response to this, it is selected whether or not to transmit untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time. The selected untransmitted image data can be reliably transmitted.

<Example 1>
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a data communication apparatus having a print function for forming an image on a sheet.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a data communication apparatus, which includes a system control unit 101 for controlling the entire data communication apparatus 100, a printer control unit 102 for controlling the printer unit 105, and a scanner for reading a document as image data. An input from an operator (operator) of the data communication apparatus 100, a communication control section 104 for transmitting / receiving image data to / from a data communication apparatus such as another facsimile apparatus via the public line 109, a scanner control section 103 for controlling 106 And an operation panel 110 for accepting the operation and displaying the operation status of the data communication apparatus 100 to the operator. In addition, the system control unit 101 includes an RTC 108 that is a real-time clock chip that performs time measurement for performing various types of time management in the data communication apparatus 100. The RTC 108 is provided on a board on which the system control unit 101 is mounted, and operates while receiving power from the built-in battery while the power supply to the system control unit is cut off (the power is turned on). While receiving power from an external power source). The MPU 101a acquires the time from the RTC 108 when the data communication apparatus 100 is activated, and thereafter counts time based on the time acquired independently by the MPU 101a.

  Here, the system control unit 101 is a network for transmitting and receiving data between the MPU 101a that controls each unit of the data communication apparatus 100 via the address bus 101b and the data bus 101c, and an external apparatus connected via the LAN 107. The interface unit 101d, the ROM 101e that stores the boot program of the data communication apparatus 100, parameters fixed to the apparatus, and the like, and temporarily stores data (for example, image data) and the like when the MPU 101a controls the data communication apparatus 100. A RAM 101f for storing data, and an NVRAM 101g for storing various parameters of the data communication apparatus 100 (for example, the total number of prints in the printer 105).

  The printer control unit 102 includes an MPU 102 a, a printer interface unit 102 b, a ROM 102 c, a RAM 102 d, and the like independent of the system control unit 101, and executes all control of the printer unit 105. The printer interface unit 102 b transmits print image data input via the LAN 107 or the public line 109 to the printer unit 105.

  The scanner control unit 103 controls the scanner unit 106 that reads an original as image data by an image reading element such as a CCD. The scanner unit 106 reads the original and reads out the original as image data from the scanner unit 106. The input image data is transmitted to the RAM 101f of the system control unit 101 via the data bus 101c.

  In addition, the communication control unit 104 encodes image data read by the scanner unit 106 and stored in the RAM 101f into a predetermined encoded signal, and then connected via the public line 109 according to a facsimile transmission procedure. For transmitting / receiving image data to / from the data communication apparatus (206 in FIG. 2).

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a network system including the data communication apparatus 100.

  In FIG. 2, reference numerals 201 to 203 denote host computers that are external devices for the data communication apparatus 100, and print data including image data to be printed by the printer unit 105 of the data communication apparatus 100 is transmitted via the LAN 107. The data is transmitted to the network interface unit 101d of the data communication apparatus 100 using a communication protocol. An NTP server 204 is connected to the data communication apparatus 100 via the LAN 107. The NTP server 204 is a server used to prevent an error from occurring in the time measured by each terminal among a plurality of terminals (the host computers 201 to 203, the data communication apparatus 100, etc.) on the LAN 107. A terminal on the LAN 107 can correct the current time by acquiring the current time information from the NTP server 204 using the NTP protocol. Note that the NTP server 204 itself accesses the NTP server in the upper layer on the Internet, which can measure an accurate time using a GPS clock or an atomic clock, via the router device 205, and periodically By acquiring time information, it is possible to measure the exact time.

  When the NTP server 204 receives a command requesting the current time information from the data communication apparatus 100, the NTP server 204 transmits the current time information to the data communication apparatus 100 in response to receiving the command. Here, the data communication apparatus 100 and the NTP server 204 perform transmission / reception of the current time using the NTP protocol (Network Time Protocol). In FIG. 2, the NTP server 204 is provided on the LAN 109 to which the data communication apparatus 100 is connected. However, the NTP server 204 may be provided on the Internet connected through the router apparatus 205. Reference numeral 206 denotes another data communication apparatus that can be connected to the data communication apparatus 100 via the public line 109, and can send and receive facsimile data to each other in accordance with a facsimile transmission procedure. Although an NTP server using the NTP protocol will be described here, the network time defined by the NTP protocol (RFC (a series of documents grouped by the IETF, which is a standardization body for Internet-related technologies) 1305, even if not the NTP protocol. The same as an SNTP server using the SNTP protocol (RFC (a network time protocol defined by a series of documents compiled by IETF, a standardization body for Internet-related technologies) 1769) based on the protocol. It goes without saying that the effect of can be obtained.

  Next, in the network system configured as shown in FIG. 2, the data communication device 100 acquires the current time measured by the NTP server 204 and corrects the time measured inside the data communication device 100 as shown in FIG. It demonstrates using a flowchart.

  In step S301, the MPU 101a of the data communication apparatus 100 transmits a current time acquisition request to the NTP server 204 as a command, and receives current time information transmitted from the NTP server 204 in response to the command.

In step S302, the MPU 101a transmits the original image data read by the data communication apparatus 100 by the scanner unit 106 or the image data received from the host computer 201 or the like via the LAN 107 to another data communication apparatus or host computer. It is determined whether or not the job is being executed. If it is being executed, the process proceeds to step S303. If it is not being executed, the process proceeds to step S304. Here, the data communication apparatus 100 can execute the following job as a transmission job.
(1) Facsimile transmission job: a job for transmitting image data obtained by reading a document with the scanner unit 106 to another data communication device 206 (facsimile communication device) connected through the public line 109, and a communication control unit This is realized by executing a facsimile communication procedure 104.
(2) Network file transmission job: image data obtained by reading a document by the scanner unit 106 or image data received from the host computer 201 or the like and stored in an external storage device (not shown) such as the RAM 101f or HDD. This is a job for transferring existing image data to other data communication apparatuses (host computers 201 to 203) on the LAN 107 using a predetermined file transfer protocol. The image data is transmitted as, for example, data in TIFF format or PDF format. Further, in order to specify another data communication device, a method of specifying an IP address possessed by the other data communication device or a method of specifying a path to a folder managed by the transfer destination data communication device is used. Note that FTP, SMB, IPX, or the like is used as the predetermined file transfer protocol.
(3) E-mail transmission job: A data communication device (host computers 201 to 201) on the LAN 107 is attached with image data obtained by converting image data obtained by reading a document with the scanner unit 106 into a predetermined file format such as TIFF. 203) or a job transmitted from the router device 205 to another data communication device connected via the Internet. As a method of specifying the data communication device of the connection destination, a method of inputting an e-mail address in the data communication device 100 that is the transmission source is used. The image data attached to the e-mail is transmitted to the mail server specified by the address, and the destination data communication device accesses the mail server, so that the image data is the destination data. It is transmitted to the communication device.

  In step S301 and step S302, the MPU 101a determines whether or not the transmission job is being executed after acquiring the current time from the NTP server 204. This is done in the reverse order (transmission job). This is because the following problems may occur in the order of acquiring the current time after determining whether or not is being executed. That is, when it is determined whether or not a transmission job is being executed and the current time is acquired, it may take several tens of seconds for the data communication apparatus 100 to acquire the current time from the NTP server 204. This is because, if it is attempted to update the time by acquiring the current time, it is possible that a subsequent transmission job has already started. In such a case, the time is updated even though the transmission job is being executed. For example, an error occurs in the required time from the start of execution to the end of execution, resulting in an error when charging. A malfunction will occur.

  In step S303, if the data communication apparatus 100 is executing a transmission job and the MPU 101a updates the time to the current time acquired from the NTP server 204, the execution time or the like of the currently executing transmission job is updated. In order to correct the current time after execution of the transmission job, there is a problem (for example, an error occurs in the time required from the start of execution to the end of execution and an error occurs when charging). Wait for 1 minute. Although an example of 1 minute is shown, it may be set to an arbitrary time in consideration of the time required for one transmission job to end even if it is not 1 minute. In step S303, in response to determining that one minute has elapsed since the MPU 101a determined that the transmission job is being executed, the MPU 101a executes step S301 in order to request the NTP server 204 to acquire the current time again. Execute.

  In step S304, the MPU 101a updates the time counted by the data communication apparatus 100 to the current time acquired from the NTP server 204. As described above, the data communication apparatus 100 acquires the current time measured by the RTC 108 when the apparatus is activated, and thereafter the MPU 101a measures the current time. Therefore, the MPU 101a updates the current time measured by the RTC 108 based on the current time acquired from the NTP server 204, and also updates the current time being measured by the MPU 101a.

  In step S305, the MPU 101a determines whether or not the current time has advanced from the time before the update by updating the time in step S304. If the current time has advanced, the process proceeds to step S306. If not, the flow ends.

  In step S306, the MPU 101a determines whether or not there is a reservation job between the pre-update time and the post-update time when the current time is advanced from the time before the update by the time update in step S304. If there is, the process proceeds to step S307, and if there is no reservation job, this flow ends. Here, the reserved job refers to a transmission job set by specifying an execution time. Here, the setting of the reservation job will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation panel setting screen for setting a transmission destination of a transmission job.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation panel setting screen for setting the transmission execution time of the transmission job. In FIG. 4, when the operator of the data communication apparatus 100 executes, for example, a facsimile transmission job among the plurality of transmission jobs described above, the operator presses the fax button 401 on the operation panel 110 to set the facsimile destination telephone number. An input screen is displayed (not shown), and the destination is set by inputting the facsimile destination telephone number from the input screen. Further, when the operator of the data communication apparatus 100 presses the transmission setting button 402 in FIG. 4, a screen for inputting setting conditions for executing the transmission job is displayed (not shown), and a timer button ( The execution time of the transmission job can be set by inputting the execution time for executing the transmission job (for example, facsimile transmission job) in the input field 501 by pressing (not shown). The operator can reserve a plurality of transmission jobs, and the reserved transmission jobs are executed when the MPU 101a determines that the execution time of each job set in advance has been reached.

  Here, FIG. 6 shows a reserved job table for managing a plurality of reserved transmission jobs. In the reserved job table of FIG. 6, a column 601 is an ID table indicating an ID for distinguishing each of a plurality of reserved jobs. In the example of FIG. 6, numbers 1 to 4 are assigned to four reserved jobs. Has been. A column 602 is a time table for designating the time at which the reserved job is executed, and the time up to the time that can be designated in units of seconds is set together with the year and month. A column 603 is a destination table, which shows destinations designated from the operation panel 110 shown in FIG. A column 604 is a job type table for managing the type of the reservation job, and is set as one of the plurality of transmission jobs (facsimile transmission job, network file transmission job, and e-mail transmission job) described above. . A column 605 is a user management table in which an operator (user) who has registered a reservation job is set. A column 606 is a department management table in which the department to which the operator (user) who registered the reservation job belongs is set. The department management table shows which department for each job when charging is performed according to the transmission time in a facsimile transmission job, the transmission file size in a network file transmission job, or the file size of an attached file in an e-mail transmission job. Is a table for determining whether to be charged.

  Next, the relationship between the time update and the reservation job when the current time measured by the data communication apparatus 100 is updated using the current time information acquired from the NTP server 204 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that description will be made assuming that four reservation jobs described in the reservation job table of FIG. 6 are set as reservation jobs. First, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the data communication apparatus 100 has acquired 13:35 on April 20, 2004 as the current time from the NTP server 204. It is assumed that the time measured by the MPU 101a before updating the current time is April 20, 2004, 13:00. Then, when updating the current time information of the data communication apparatus 100 based on the current time information acquired from the NTP server 204, the MPU 101a advances the time by 35 minutes and sets it. As jobs that are reserved in the reserved job table and have not yet been transmitted, all jobs with IDs 1 to 4 exist as of 13:00:00 on April 20, 2004. In such a case, if the current time is updated, the job with the reservation job ID No. 4 is later than the updated time (13:35 on April 20, 2004), so the time is There is no worry that it will not be executed by updating. On the other hand, since the execution time is set before the time after the update (13:35 on April 20, 2004) for the jobs with the reserved job IDs 1 to 3, the time is updated. This causes a problem that it is not executed. Therefore, in step S306, the MPU 101a checks whether or not there is a reservation job between the pre-update time and the post-update time, and if there is a reservation job (reservation job with ID 1 to 3 in FIG. 7), In addition to updating the current time, control is performed so that reservation jobs with reservation IDs 1 to 3 are executed in accordance with the update of the current time. Then, after executing the reservation job before and after the update of the time, execute the job with the reservation ID 4 for which the execution time is set after the current time after the update set in the reservation table. At the same time, this flow is finished.

  Next, NTP setting using the operation panel will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 801 denotes a setting ON button for setting whether to periodically acquire the current time from the NTP server 204 using the NTP protocol, and reference numeral 802 denotes a setting OFF button. The operator presses the setting ON button 801 to periodically acquire the current time from the NTP server 204 using the NTP protocol. Reference numeral 803 denotes a polling interval input box. When the minus button 804 next to the box is pressed, the polling interval is decreased by 1 hour, and when the plus button 805 beside the box is pressed, the polling interval is increased by 1 hour. Can do. Here, the polling interval is an interval at which the data communication apparatus 100 requests the NTP server 204 to acquire current time information. Reference numeral 806 denotes an NTP server address input field, which is a field for the data communication apparatus 100 to input an IP address for specifying the NTP server 204 on the LAN 107.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, when the current time received from the external device (NTP server 204) is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means (RTC 108), the time measuring means ( In response to the update of the time counted by the RTC 108) based on the current time information, the setting means (operation panel 110) transmits untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time. Even when the current time is updated at a time that is ahead of the already set time, untransmitted image data that is set to be transmitted by specifying the time can be reliably transmitted.

  According to the first embodiment, when the current time received from the external device (NTP server 204) is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means (RTC 108), the time measuring means (RTC 108) measures the time. Select whether or not to transmit untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time according to the updated time based on the current time information. The untransmitted image data selected to be transmitted and set to be transmitted can be transmitted reliably.

<Example 2>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the second embodiment, the configuration of the data communication apparatus 100 and the overall configuration of the network system are the same as those described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in the first embodiment. In the embodiment, when the current time acquired from the NTP server 204 is updated, a reservation job between the pre-update time and the post-update time is executed. Whether or not to execute a reservation job is selected by an operator (user), and the reservation job is executed only for the selected job.

  As described above, since the configuration of the data communication apparatus 100 is not different from that of the first embodiment, the time update process executed by the MPU 101a of the data communication apparatus 100 and the handling of the reservation job associated therewith will be described using the flowchart of FIG. . Note that steps S901 to S906 in the flowchart of FIG. 9 are the same as steps S301 to S306 in the flowchart of FIG. 3 and thus will not be described, and steps S907 and S908 will be described below.

  In step S907, the MPU 101a displays an operation screen shown in FIG. 10 on the operation panel 110 in order to allow the operator to input which of the reservation jobs between the time before and after the time update should be executed. FIG. 10 is a screen for selecting whether or not a reservation job between the time before and after the time update should be executed. The operator checks the check box of the execution / non-execution selection table 1001 to check the time. A reservation job to be executed is selected from reservation jobs between the time before update and the time after update. The reason for not executing all the reservation jobs between the time before the time update and the time after the time update as in the first embodiment but executing only the selected job is as follows. In other words, a reserved job is a job in which an execution time is designated in advance and is set to be transmitted at the designated time. Therefore, when the job is executed in response to the update of the time, it is transmitted at the update time. Thus, transmission is performed at a time different from the transmission time that was initially set. In such a case, it is desirable for the operator to select whether the transmission should be performed even if the transmission time is different, or whether the transmission should not be performed undesirably if the transmission time is different. Therefore, in the second embodiment, only what is selected by the operator is executed.

  In step S908, the MPU 101a makes a reservation job between the time before and after the time selected on the screen on the operation panel 110 in FIG. 10 (reservation jobs with IDs 2 and 3 in FIG. 10). For the job), the reservation job is executed, and the reservation job not selected (ID is 1 in FIG. 10) is terminated without being executed.

  In the above description, in performing the time update accompanying the time acquisition from the NTP server 204, it is determined whether to execute a reservation job between the time before the time update and the time after the time update. Although the embodiment has been described in which the operator inputs data on the operation panel 110 of the apparatus 100, other methods may be used. For example, when updating the time, if there is a reservation job between the time before the time update and the time after the time update, the operator of the target reservation job is specified based on the reservation job table of FIG. The specified operator may be inquired of whether or not the reservation job should be executed to the host computer used. In order to specify the host computer used by the operator, for example, the IP address of the host computer used by the operator is registered in advance in the data communication apparatus 100, and a reservation job is sent to the host computer having the IP address. Inquire whether or not to execute. After making an inquiry to the host computer used by the operator, the operator transmits a command indicating whether or not the reservation job should be executed to the data communication apparatus 100 (for example, a Web on the host computer). The table shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the browser, and the operator transmits a command by selecting a check box of the execution / non-execution selection table 1001 on the host computer). Non-execution may be selected. In the example of FIG. 10, the user A is inquired about the reserved jobs with IDs 1 and 3, and the user B is inquired about the reserved job with ID 2.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when the current time received from the external device (NTP server 204) is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means (RTC 108), the time measuring means ( In response to the update of the time counted by the RTC 108) based on the current time information, all the untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time by the setting means (operation panel 110). Since the image data selected as kimono is transmitted, even if the current time is updated at a time that is ahead of the already set time, unsent The image data selected by the operator to be transmitted can be reliably transmitted.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a data communication apparatus. It is a figure which shows the whole network system structure containing a data communication apparatus. 4 is a flowchart of an operation for acquiring the current time measured by the NTP server 204 and correcting the time measured in the data communication apparatus 100. It is a figure which shows the setting screen of the operation panel which sets the transmission destination of a transmission job. It is a figure which shows the setting screen of the operation panel which sets the transmission execution time of a transmission job. It is a figure which shows the reservation job table which manages the some transmission job reserved. It is explanatory drawing about the relationship between the time update based on the present time information acquired from the NTP server, and a reservation job. It is a figure for demonstrating the NTP setting using an operation panel. 4 is a flowchart of an operation for acquiring the current time measured by the NTP server 204 and correcting the time measured in the data communication apparatus 100. It is a screen for selecting whether or not to execute a reservation job between times before and after time update.

Explanation of symbols

100 Data Communication Device 101 System Control Unit 101a MPU
101b Address bus 101c Data bus 101d Network interface unit 101e ROM
101f RAM
101g NVRAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 102 Printer control part 103 Scanner control part 104 Communication control part 201,202,203 Host computer 204 NTP server 205 Router apparatus 206 Data communication apparatus

Claims (11)

Input means for inputting image data;
Transmitting means for transmitting the image data input by the input means;
Setting means for setting a time at which the transmission means should transmit the image data;
A time measuring means for measuring time;
Receiving means for receiving current time information from an external device connected via a network;
When the current time received by the receiving means is a time later than the time measured by the time measuring means, in response to updating the time measured by the time measuring means based on the current time information, A data communication apparatus comprising: control means for controlling transmission of the untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time by the setting means. Having reading means for reading a document as image data;
The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs the image data read by the reading unit.   The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external apparatus is an NTP server that transmits current time information based on an NTP protocol.   The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external apparatus is an SNTP server that transmits current time information based on an SNTP protocol. Request means for requesting the current time information to the external device at a predetermined time interval,
5. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit receives the current time information transmitted from the external device in response to a request from the request unit.   When the transmission unit is transmitting image data when the reception unit receives the current time information from the external device, the timing unit determines that the transmission unit has finished transmitting the image data. 6. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time is updated based on the current time information accordingly.   The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the image data to another data communication apparatus connected via the network.   8. The data communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the transmission unit transmits the image data to the other data communication apparatus by attaching the image data to an e-mail.   7. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the image data in a facsimile transmission procedure with another data communication apparatus connected via a public line. . Selecting means for selecting whether or not to transmit the untransmitted image data that should be transmitted before the current time by the setting means;
The control means updates the time measured by the time measuring means based on the current time information, and then selects the transmission of the image data by the selection means. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein transmission is performed. Whether or not to transmit the image data that has not been transmitted and is set to be transmitted before the current time by the setting means and in which a time that is a predetermined time or more before the current time is set Having a selection means for selecting
The control unit updates the time measured by the time measuring unit based on the current time information, and then selects the time before the predetermined time when the selection unit selects to transmit the image data. 10. The data communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein image data for which is set is transmitted.

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