JP3030592B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to an improvement in transmission control for eliminating redundant reading operation of originals having the same contents existing at every transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in facsimile transmission, every time a document is transmitted, a document having the same content is often included in a part of the document to be transmitted. In a conventional general facsimile apparatus, even when originals having the same contents are included, all the originals have to be read and scanned and transmitted to the destination each time transmission is performed.

In such a conventional facsimile apparatus, even if the original is frequently transmitted, such as a transmission table having the same contents attached to the cover of the original, the original having the same contents must be read and scanned together with other originals. As a result, the same document is read many times throughout the entire transmission operation, resulting in a complicated transmission operation and a long communication time.

[0004]

As described above, in the above-described conventional facsimile apparatus, even when originals having the same contents are included, all originals must be read from the beginning and transmitted every time transmission is performed. As a whole, a document having the same content is read many times, and there is a problem that the transmission operation must be performed extremely inefficiently.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems and eliminates the repeated reading operation for each transmission of a document of the same content when performing individual transmission including a document of the same content, thereby improving the efficiency of the transmission operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile machine.

[0006]

The present invention includes a document registering means for registering a predetermined document as a file in a memory, an arbitrary registered document file from the registered document files, and at least an additional page of the registered document file. A registered document transmission designating means for designating transmission conditions, and
A transmission control unit for adding the registered original file designated by the registered original transmission designation unit to a transmission original in accordance with the designated transmission conditions and transmitting the transmission original.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a predetermined manuscript is registered as a file in advance, and when a new manuscript is transmitted, a desired registered manuscript file among the registered manuscript files is transmitted including at least an additional page of the registered manuscript file. Specify with the condition,
It has a registered document addition transmission function of automatically adding the designated registered document file to the original transmission document in accordance with the transmission conditions and transmitting the original document.

[0008] According to the registered original addition transmission function, if an original is registered as a file in advance, when another original is to be sent later, a desired registered original file is added to at least the additional page of the registered original file. The registered original file can be added to the page specified by the above transmission conditions of other originals and transmitted simply by specifying the transmission conditions including In a situation where transmission is repeated repeatedly, it is possible to eliminate waste such as reading the same document many times for each transmission, thereby greatly improving the transmission operation.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A control unit 1 for controlling each unit described below, an input unit 2 for an operator to perform a predetermined operation, and a document are sequentially sent. A reading unit 3 for reading the image information while reading, an image information memory 4 for storing the image information of the transmitted document and the image information of the file registered document, a transmitting and receiving unit 5 for transmitting and receiving the image information and the control signal, and recording the image information A recording unit 6 for recording on paper, a liquid crystal display, a buzzer, an LED, and the like, a notification unit 7 for notifying a user of a ringtone, an operation state, and the like, and a telephone 8 for connecting to a partner station when transmitting a document. It is composed.

In this facsimile apparatus, a predetermined manuscript is registered in advance in the image information memory 4 as a file, and a registered manuscript file (hereinafter, referred to as a designated manuscript) is selected from the manuscript as needed.
(Referred to simply as a registration file) following the predetermined page of the current transmission original document.

First, a file registration process in the facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. That is, in this facsimile apparatus, the control unit 1 checks whether a file registration request has been generated by a predetermined operation of the input unit 2 (S201).

Here, when the file registration request is accepted, the control unit 1 requests input operation of the file name to be registered by, for example, displaying guidance on a display of the notification unit 7 (S202). Then, it is determined whether or not the input operation has been completed (S203).

When the input operation of the file name is completed (YES in S203), the control section 1 starts reading scanning of the file original set in the reading section 3 (S20).
4) The image information of the read file document is accumulated in a free area of the image information memory 4 (S205), and the process is continued until the last page of the registered file document is reached.

When the reading / accumulation processing up to the last page of the registered file document is completed (NO in S206), the control unit 1 issues a file number, and corresponding to the file number, a file name and its management information. Is performed (S207).

Thereafter, the control unit 1 checks whether or not there is a next file registration request (S208). If the file registration request is successively accepted, the above-described series of processing is repeated to register a new file, and register the new file. When there is no more request, the series of file registration processing ends.

Although file registration is possible as described above,
FIG. 3 shows a specific management image of the registration file. That is, in the present invention, the control unit 1
In the management area a shown in (a), the head address in the management area b (see FIG. 3 (b)) in which the management information is stored is stored in the order of the number of the already registered file. The image information of each registered file corresponding to the management information stored in the image information is managed on the image information memory 4 as shown in FIG.

As can be seen from FIG. 1B, the management information of each registered file according to the present invention includes, for example, the head address of the registered file on the image information memory 4, the size of the registered file, Linear density,
There are a file name, a registration time, a registration number, and the like.

Documents suitable for file registration by the above processing include, for example, a. A fixed-content original such as a “transmission table” attached to the beginning of the original at the time of transmission b. Notification text such as "The telephone number has been changed on the sending side." C. A road map to the company, etc. can be considered. These registration files may have an information amount of one or more pages depending on the content thereof, and the present invention is configured to be able to cope with such information amount file registration.

Next, an example of an operation when the registration file is transmitted together with another document will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. The transmission operation shown in FIG. 4 is particularly intended for a facsimile apparatus having a memory transmission function.

When a new document is transmitted, the control unit 1 monitors whether there is a registration file addition transmission request (S401). Here, if there is a registration file addition transmission request, the registration file list is displayed on the display unit of the notification unit 7 (S402), and the setting of the transmission condition is accepted (S40).
3).

As an example of the display of the registered file list, as shown in FIG. 7A, a method of displaying a file name input at the time of registration corresponding to a file number can be considered. In this case, as a procedure for setting the registered file transmission conditions, the user inputs the file number of the registered file name to be transmitted from the input unit 2 based on the display, and then determines the page number of the original to be transmitted. A method is conceivable in which the page information is input depending on whether the user wants to send the registration file, and the number of pages is input depending on how many registration files are to be sent.

As another method, the method shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the registered file number and its file name may be printed out, and the same registered file transmission condition setting may be made based on this output list.

In the process of receiving the transmission condition setting in S403, the control unit 1 fetches information such as a registration file to be added, an additional page, and an additional number, which are input through the above-described operations, and holds the information ( S404). Subsequently, the control unit 1 monitors whether the transmission condition setting operation is completed (S
405), the processing is continued until it ends.

When the transmission condition setting operation is completed (S405 YES), the scanning of the transmission original set in the reading unit 3 is started (S406), and the read image information is sequentially stored in the image information memory 4 (S406). S407). The above process is continued while determining whether there is a next original to be read (S408), until there is no more original to be read.

When the reading of all the originals is completed (NO in S408), the control unit 1 first determines whether or not the page is the additional page of the registration file before starting the transmission of the read image information (S408). (S409) If the page is the designated additional page of the registration file (S409YE)
S), the designated registration file is read from the image information memory 4 (S410), and transmitted through the transmission / reception unit 5 (S412).

On the other hand, if the page is not the specified additional page of the registration file (S409: NO), the newly read /
The image information of the first page in the stored image information of the transmission original is read from the image information memory 4 (S411), and transmitted as described above (S412).

Subsequently, the control unit 1 checks whether or not there is a subsequent page to be sent (S413). If there is a subsequent page, the same processing is continued from S409 described above. The registration file addition transmission operation ends.

The above is an example of a registration file addition transmission operation of a facsimile apparatus having a memory transmission function of reading a transmission document, storing it in a memory, and then transmitting the transmission document. This type of transmission operation has a memory function. It is possible to support even a model without it.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of a registration file addition transmission operation in a facsimile apparatus which does not have a memory transmission function and transmits a set original while sequentially reading the original. Basic operations related to file registration and setting of a registered file transmission condition in this model are the same as those of a model having a memory transmission function, but special control is required for subsequent transmission operations.

That is, in the facsimile apparatus of this example, after confirming that the transmission condition setting operation has been completed through the same processing (S501 to S504) as the apparatus having the above-mentioned memory transmission function (S505 YES), the control unit 1 Before reading the transmission original set in the reading unit 3, first, it is determined whether or not the page is an additional page of the registration file (S506).

Here, if the page is the specified additional page of the registration file (S506 YES), the reading of the transmission original set in the reading unit 3 is temporarily stopped (S506).
507), the designated registration file is read from the image information memory 4 (S508), and transmitted through the transmission / reception unit 5 (S509).

On the other hand, if the page is not the designated additional page of the registration file (S506 NO), reading scanning of the document to be newly sent this time in the set is started (S510), and the read image information is read. Is transmitted in the same manner as described above (S509).

Subsequently, the control unit 1 checks whether there is a subsequent page to be sent (S511). If there is a subsequent page, the same processing is continued from the above S506. The registration file addition transmission operation ends.

In this manner, even if the facsimile apparatus does not have a memory transmission function, the registration file addition transmission function can be realized.

By the way, in each of the above-described embodiments, the size of the transmission original or the registered file does not always match the size receivable at the receiving side when the registered file is added and transmitted. In such a case, it is necessary to match transmission and reception sizes between the transmission side and the reception side.

For this size matching, for example, during the processing of S410 or 411 and S412 shown in FIG. 4 (or between the processing of S508 or S510 and S509 shown in FIG. 5), size conversion according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The problem can be solved by intervening the processing.

In this case, after fetching the image information of the read original or the registered file (S601), the control unit 1
These sizes are compared with the reception capability of the partner device (obtained by negotiation at the start of communication) (S60).
2) If they do not match, the image information is size-converted in accordance with the receiving capability of the partner device (S603), and the process shifts to transmission preparation (S604).

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified or applied without departing from the above-mentioned gist.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A predetermined manuscript is registered in advance as a file, and when a new manuscript is transmitted, a desired registered manuscript file is designated from among the registered manuscript files together with a transmission condition including at least an additional page of the registered manuscript file. A registered document addition and transmission function that automatically adds the registered document file to the original transmission document according to the above transmission conditions and transmits the document is provided. At this time, simply specifying the desired registered manuscript file together with at least the transmission condition including the additional page of the registered manuscript file adds the registered manuscript file to the page of the other manuscript specified by the transmission condition. In a situation where a document that can be sent and a document to be newly sent contains a document with the same content as the previous one, transmission of the same content will be repeated for each transmission. It can also eliminate waste such read time, can be much more efficient transmission operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a file registration operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a memory structure for managing a registration file of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a transmission operation in a facsimile apparatus having a memory transmission function to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a transmission operation in a facsimile apparatus having no memory transmission function to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a size matching process with a partner machine when transmitting a registration file of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a display example and an output example of a registered file list of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Input part 3 Reading part 4 Image information memory 5 Transmission / reception part 6 Recording part 7 Information part 8 Telephone

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-319864 (JP, A) JP-A-60-182257 (JP, A) JP-A-5-89182 (JP, A) 129947 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00 H04N 1/21 H04N 1/387

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A document registration means for registering a predetermined document as a file in a memory, and a registered document transmission for designating an arbitrary registered document file and a transmission condition including at least an additional page of the registered document file from the registered document file. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a designation unit; and a transmission control unit that, when transmitting a document, adds a registered document file designated by the registered document transmission designation unit to a transmission document according to the designated transmission condition and transmits the document. 2. The transmission control means according to claim 1, further comprising a memory transmission function for starting transmission after storing the transmission original in a memory, wherein said transmission control means adds a registered original file to the transmission original stored in said memory. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 3. The transmission control means has a function of transmitting a document while sequentially scanning the document, and the transmission control means temporarily stops the scanning of the document at a timing designated in the transmission condition. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a registered document file is added. 4. A size conversion means for converting a registered document file into a receivable size with the partner machine, and adding the registered document file to a transmitted document in a state where the registered document file matches a size suitable for the receiving capability of the partner machine. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.