JP2904512B2 - Mixed mode device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mixed mode device, and more particularly, to a mixed mode device having G4 facsimile communication information.

(Prior Art) Telematic service terminal devices used in data networks such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Communication Network) include:
There are a G4 facsimile apparatus for transmitting image information, a teletex apparatus for transmitting character information, and a mixed mode apparatus for transmitting document information in which image information and character information are mixed.

Among them, the mixed mode device is realized as a class 3 terminal function of, for example, a G4 facsimile device, and is conventionally configured as a dedicated device.

However, such a dedicated device has a problem that the cost is high and an area for installation is required.

Therefore, a communication adapter device that provides a mixed mode device at a lower cost by using a function of a widely used general-purpose and relatively inexpensive personal computer or workstation has been put into practical use. ing.

This communication adapter device realizes the transmission function of a G4 facsimile device, temporarily stores document information created by a personal computer or workstation as a host device in a storage device, calls a designated destination, and then makes a call. The document information was transmitted to the destination.

Therefore, the mixed mode function can be added to a general-purpose personal computer or workstation, so that the mixed mode function can be realized at low cost, and there is no special need for a place for installation.

However, in such a conventional device, the document information created by the host device is transmitted as it is to the destination terminal as transmission information. Therefore, if the document information does not match the document information that can be received by the destination terminal, the document information is deleted. There was a problem that I could not send.

In order to solve such a problem, the present applicant has proposed a group 4 facsimile communication adapter device as described below (see Japanese Patent Application No. 1-166796).

In this apparatus, the mixed mode data and the teletex mode data of the document information formed by the host device are converted into facsimile image information and stored, and when transmitting the document, the other party of the mixed mode data or the teletex data or the facsimile image information is transmitted. Since the apparatus selects and transmits receivable document information, the destination terminal can reliably receive the document information.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the group 4 facsimile adapter device of the prior application, the mixed mode data and the teletex mode data of the document information created by the host device are always converted to facsimile image information. The original information is stored together with the original information in the memory, and the document information is selected from the memory and transmitted according to the communication function of the partner device. Depending on the communication function of the partner device, the document information is converted to facsimile information. Sometimes it is not necessary to accumulate in memory. That is, when the partner device has the mixed mode function, the data may be transmitted as it is in the mixed mode information, and the data conversion process is useless. Therefore, the memory space is wasted, and a problem that the immediate communication request cannot be dealt with is caused. There is room for improvement in these respects.

(Object of the Invention) Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of transmitting document information, in which, when a communication function of a partner device is instructed and data conversion is not required, the document information is transmitted from the host device in the form of document information. When the communication function of the communication device is unknown, by preparing the transmission data in the form of both the mixed mode data and the facsimile image information in advance before the communication function is identified on the communication protocol, the communication function of the partner device can be improved. It is an object of the present invention to enable efficient transmission of document information and improve the convenience of a mixed mode device.

(Constitution of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention converts a mixed mode data into facsimile image information, and converts the mixed mode data or the mixed mode data according to a communication function of a partner device. Communication means for performing communication in any form of facsimile image information, and recognition means for recognizing the communication function of the partner device based on the input information, and when the communication function of the partner device is recognized,
Before starting communication, after preparing transmission data in either form of mixed mode data or facsimile image information according to the communication function, communication is started, and if the communication function of the partner device is not recognized, The transmission data is prepared in the form of both the mixed mode data and the facsimile image information, and is transmitted in the form of either the mixed mode data or the facsimile image information in accordance with the communication function of the partner apparatus which has become clear after the start of the communication. It is characterized by the following.

 Hereinafter, a specific description will be given based on examples of the present invention.

 1 and 2 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the mixed mode device 1,
The mixed mode device 1 includes a document creation / editing unit 2, an image reading unit 3, a bitmap conversion unit (conversion unit) 4, a facsimile data conversion unit (conversion unit) 5, a printing unit 6,
The system includes a data storage unit 7, a communication control unit (communication unit) 8, a system control unit (recognition unit) 9, and the like.

The mixed mode device 1 has a G4 facsimile communication function as a G4 facsimile class 3 function, and also has an information conversion function of converting the generated document information into facsimile image information and storing it when the generated document information is mixed mode information or teletex information. ing.

The manuscript creation / editing means 2 includes a keyboard, CRT (C-athod
e-raytube), a CPU, and the like, and it is possible to create a mixed mode original by editing character data input from the keyboard and image data read from the image reading means 3 while viewing the CRT. Also, from the keyboard of the manuscript creation / editing means 2, if the receiving function of the partner device for transmitting teletex data (only character data) is known in advance, instruction data for instructing the function (for example, whether the device is a facsimile device or a mixed mode device) Instructions)
Can be entered. That is, a mixed mode document and a teletex mode document can be created from the document creating / editing unit 2, and if only the image data read by the image reading unit 3 is used, the document is a facsimile document.

As the image reading means 3, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupie) is used.
d) is used, and the image reading means 3 reads a document image line by line and outputs it as image data.

When the document information created by the document creating / editing means 2 is mixed mode data or teletex data, the bitmap converting means 4 converts the document information into bitmap data and transfers it to the facsimile data converting means 5 or the data storing means 7. The bitmap conversion means 4 converts the facsimile data into bitmap data and transfers it to the data storage means 7 when the facsimile document created by the manuscript creation / editing means 2 is printed out from the printing means 6.

The facsimile data converter 5 converts the bitmap data transferred from the bitmap converter 4 into facsimile data and transfers the data to the data storage 7.

The printing means 6 includes a hage memory or the like, and temporarily stores the bitmap data stored in the data storage means 7 in the page memory sequentially, and records and outputs each page.

The data storage means 7 stores the bitmap data transferred from the bitmap conversion means 4 and the facsimile data transferred from the facsimile data conversion means 5, and stores the stored data in accordance with an instruction from the system control means 9. Transfer to communication control means 8.

The communication control means 8 transmits and receives mixed mode data, teletex data or facsimile data according to a G4 facsimile communication class 3 communication protocol.

The system control unit 9 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The CPU controls the above-described units according to a program stored in the ROM to execute a communication process as the G4 facsimile class 3, and performs a communication process from the document creation / editing unit 2. The communication function of the partner device is recognized based on the input information, and a data determination transmission process described later is executed at the time of transmission. RAM is C
Configures the PU work area.

 Next, the operation will be described.

In the mixed mode device of the present invention, the communication function of the partner device is instructed in advance at the time of transmission, and when the form of the data to be transmitted matches this instruction communication function, the original data is immediately converted to the original data without conversion. The feature is that transmission is possible. Hereinafter, this transmission processing is described in the second section.
The description will be made according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Now, a mixed mode document is created by the operator using the document creation / editing means 2 and the image reading means 3,
Assuming that a transmission instruction has been input, if the attribute (for example, whether it is a mixed mode device or a facsimile device) of the partner device to be transmitted at the time of the transmission instruction is known, information indicating the attribute is transmitted to the document creation / editing unit. 2 (step P ₁ ). The mixed mode device 1 accumulates the mixed mode data created by the document creating / editing means 2 in the data accumulating means 7 (step P ₂ ), and checks whether or not the attribute of the partner device has been designated (step P ₃ ). When the attribute has not been instructed, it converts the mixed mode data into bitmap data by the bit map conversion means 4, and further converted into facsimile data stored in the data storage unit 7 in the facsimile data converting means 5 (Step P ₄ ). Then, the communication control unit 8 starts communication protocol procedure based on the G4 facsimile Class 3 (Step P _5), checking the communication functions answer indication from the other unit (Step P _6). If the other party device is a mixed-mode device selectively sends mixed mode data among the data stored in the data storage unit 7 (step P _7), data in the case of the partner device is a facsimile device accumulated in the data accumulation means 7 selects and transmits the converted facsimile data among (step P _8).

On the other hand, the attribute is indicated destination device at step P _3, when the attribute of the facsimile device converts the mixed mode data into bitmap data by the bit map conversion means 4, further facsimile data in the facsimile data converter 5 The data is converted and stored in the data storage means 7 (step P ₉ ). Then, to erase the mixed mode data accumulated in the step P ₂ from the data storage unit 7, (step
P _10), the communication control unit 8 G4 facsimile Class 3
Start the communication protocol procedure based on transmitting the converted facsimile data stored in the data storage unit 7 (step P _11).

Further, indicated attribute of the remote device in step P _3, when the attribute of the mixed mode device initiates a communication protocol procedure based on the G4 facsimile Class 3 immediately by the communication control unit 8 data accumulated in the step P ₂ Transmit the mixed mode data stored in the means 7 as it is (step
P ₁₂ ).

When the attribute of the partner apparatus is known in advance as in the transmission processing, the attribute conversion is omitted by designating the attribute, and the data transmission is started immediately.
In addition, since the storage process in the data storage unit 7 accompanying the data conversion process is omitted, the data storage unit 7 can be effectively used. Also at the time of facsimile data transmission, the mixed mode data of the original data is deleted after the conversion to facsimile data, so that the data storage means 7 can be effectively used.

Therefore, data transmission is reliably performed to the partner device, and more efficient data transmission is enabled, and the convenience of the mixed mode device 1 is further improved.

(Effects) According to the present invention, when data communication is not required when the communication function of the partner device is instructed when transmitting the document information, the document information is transmitted in the form of the document information from the host device. If the communication function is unknown, the transmission data is prepared in advance in the form of both the mixed mode data and the facsimile image information before the communication function is identified on the communication protocol. Document information can be transmitted well, and the convenience of the mixed mode device can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 2 are diagrams showing an embodiment of a mixed mode apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the overall configuration, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a program of the transmission process. 1 mixed mode device 2 original creation / editing means
3 ... Image reading means, 4 ... Pit map conversion means, 5
…… Facsimile data conversion means, 6 …… Printing means, 7
... data storage means, 8 ... communication control means, 9 ... system control means, 10 ... bus.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A conversion means for converting mixed mode data into facsimile image information, and communication in either form of misct mode data or facsimile image information converted from the mixed mode data in accordance with a communication function of a partner device. Communication means for performing communication, and recognition means for recognizing the communication function of the partner device based on the input information. If the communication function of the partner device is recognized, the mixed mode is set according to the communication function before the communication starts. After preparing transmission data in either form of data or facsimile image information, communication is started, and if the communication function of the partner device is not recognized, both forms of mixed mode data and facsimile image information are provided before the start of communication. Prepare the transmission data by using the mixed mode data or the mixed mode data according to the communication function of the partner A mixed mode device for transmitting in any form of facsimile image information.