JP3061705B2 - 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 machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus having a storage means such as a memory or a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as a first conventional apparatus), there is a state in which image data is stored in the storage means.

For example, an image that is waiting for output due to running out of recording paper or confidential reception, an image that is waiting for redialing, or waiting for transmission for time-specified transmission, polling transmission, or the like, performs output operation. , The state stored in the storage means until the transmission is completed.

Normally, the usage rate of the storage means for storing these images is displayed on the display means when the user performs an operation such as a transmission reservation which requires the storage means. However, only the used amount or the available remaining amount for the total capacity of the storage means is displayed.

Further, a facsimile apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a second facsimile apparatus) is known in which all originals are once read into a memory, and after the reading is completed, a calling operation is started and transmission is performed. ing. Unlike a facsimile apparatus that transmits data in synchronization with the reading of a document, such a facsimile apparatus does not need to wait until the transmission is completed and the document is released. This is convenient when transmitting a large number of originals or an original having a complicated picture which requires time for communication.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned first conventional apparatus, since the type of the image occupying the storage means is not known, the available remaining amount is small and the operation which requires the storage means such as reservation of transmission is performed. If the facsimile machine cannot be used, the user has to wait until the storage unit becomes empty, and the use efficiency of the facsimile apparatus is deteriorated.

Further, in the above-described second conventional apparatus, when the transmission reservation operation is continuously performed, a situation may occur in which a large amount of image data exists in the memory and is waiting to be transmitted. In this case, since it is not known when the next book to be sent will be sent, some users may feel insecure and feel inconvenient to use, and if the original has a fixed expiration date, use the communication reservation function. However, there is a drawback that smooth use of the facsimile machine is hindered, such as searching for another facsimile machine or forcibly performing an interrupt operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of improving the use efficiency.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a storage means for storing data such as image data and management information; Control means for classifying the use status of the storage means according to the type of data stored in the storage means and displaying the information on the display means. Means is provided, wherein the control means classifies the type of data into an image which is waiting for transmission by performing a transmission operation and an image which is waiting for output after the reception operation is completed.

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a storage unit for storing data such as image data and management information, and stores information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. A facsimile apparatus comprising a display unit for displaying, and a control unit for controlling the use state of the storage unit according to the type of data stored in the storage unit and displaying the classification on the display unit, The control means classifies data types based on image data and other management information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus for storing data such as image data and management information, and displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a control means for classifying a use state of the storage means according to a type of data stored in the storage means and controlling the display state on the display means; Is characterized in that the classification of the data type is performed by the recording system error such as out of recording paper and the confidential reception among the images that are received and waiting to be output.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus for storing data such as image data and management information and displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. In the facsimile apparatus provided with a display means of the above, and a transmission reservation means for making a call after storing the original in the storage means, the time until the transmission of the image stored in the storage means for transmission is completed. It is characterized in that a calculating means for calculating from the usage amount of the storage means and the communication speed, and a display control means for displaying on the display means the scheduled transmission time when the next transmission reservation operation is performed. In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the facsimile apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the calculating means further calculates a time from an encoding method to the completion of the transmission. It is characterized by. Also,
In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to claim 6 of the present invention is the facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the calculating means includes a communication speed and an encoding method used for calculating the time until the transmission is completed. When selecting a parameter, if the parameter of the transmission reservation partner is stored in the storage means in advance, the parameter is used, and if not stored, a general-purpose parameter is used. Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to claim 7 of the present invention is a facsimile apparatus according to claim 5,
The calculation means is provided with a change means for changing a parameter of a communication speed and a parameter of an encoding method to be referred to when calculating the time until the completion of the transmission according to a past history.

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU (central processing unit).
Thus, the entire apparatus is controlled according to the contents of a program stored in a ROM (read only memory) 2. Also,
The RAM 3 is used as a work area as needed.

An original is read by a contact sensor (CS) 10 and read control gate array (R-CN).
T) 8, the data is compression-coded and stored in an image memory (DRAM) 4 as a storage means. When a recording request is issued from the CPU 1, the image data stored in the image memory 4 is expanded and combined by a recording control gate array (W-CNT) 9 and recorded on a recording sheet by a laser printer (LBP) 11. When a transmission request is issued from the CPU 1, the image information stored in the image memory 4 is transmitted to the CPU 1.
Is compressed and encoded according to the mode of the partner device,
After being subjected to PM-AM modulation by a modulation demodulator (MODEM) 12, it is output to a line 14 through a network control unit (NCU) 13.

The image data received through the line 14 is transmitted to the modulation demodulator 1
2 and demodulated by the demodulator 12 and CP
The image data is expanded and decoded by U1 and image errors are checked. If correct, the image data is compression-coded by the CPU 1 and stored in the image memory 4.

When the operator presses various keys on the key (KEY) board 7 serving as information input means, various instructions, settings and information can be input. The content of the information is indicated on the display (L
The information can be confirmed by being displayed on (CD) 6. In this case, the CPU 1 detects key input data from the keyboard 7 through the operation panel control gate array (OP-CNT) 5 and causes the display 6 to display necessary data.

Next, a record for managing an image stored in the image memory 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a record managing images stored in the image memory 4, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing contents of an image attribute field of an image management record,
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a use state of the image memory 4. All images stored in the image memory 4 are stored in RAM
3 is managed by a management record as shown in FIG. The attribute shown in FIG. 3 is written therein for the reason stored in the image memory 4.

When the operator performs an operation requiring a memory, such as a transmission reservation, and a request for displaying the amount of used memory occurs, the CPU 1 searches the management record of FIG. 2 and classifies the management record for each image attribute. , Calculate memory usage. And
The display as shown in FIG.

When the remaining amount of memory is insufficient and the processing desired by the operator cannot be continued, a message to that effect is displayed on the display 6.

When the operator cannot perform the intended operation due to lack of memory, the operator looks at the display on the display 6 and, if there is an image that can be output, performs appropriate processing, for example, alternate reception for running out of recording paper. If there is a confidential reception, if there is a confidential reception, the output operation is performed by the destination person to perform the output operation, etc., and the memory is vacated to continue the intended operation. be able to.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the basic configuration of the facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 1 in the above-described first embodiment, and furthermore, the configuration and image of a record that manages images stored in the image memory 4. Since the contents of the image attribute field of the management record are the same as those in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the first embodiment, FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of the use status of the image memory 4 and the scheduled transmission time.

When the operator performs an operation requiring a memory, such as a transmission reservation, and a request for displaying the amount of used memory is generated, the CPU 1 searches the management record shown in FIG. 2 and classifies the management record for each image attribute. , Calculate memory usage.

From the image data amount reserved for transmission, the total communication time is calculated from the following equation (1) according to the following equation.

Procedure time before communication = device specific value Image transmission time = data amount / communication speed Procedure time after communication = device specific value Total transmission time = (pre-communication procedure time + post-procedure time + α) × number of communication + image transmission time formula (1) The correction parameter α, the communication speed, and the device-specific value are registered in the image memory 4 in advance by a key input operation of the keyboard 7. Then, the display as shown in FIG.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the above-described second embodiment, the transmission time of an image depends on the communication speed and the amount of data. , Respectively, are not uniform since they are determined in the pre-communication procedure. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to increase the accuracy of calculating the total transmission time, the image transmission time is calculated for each reserved communication.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a management table of information on the other party who has performed communication. The management table shown in FIG. 6 is created on the RAM 3, and the ID number, telephone number, previous communication speed of the other party are shown. , And information such as the communication coding method and the presence / absence of ECM.

When the image management record of the image waiting for transmission shown in FIG. 2 is searched, the destination information (octet 4) of the destination of the transmission reservation is checked, and the ID of the destination management table of FIG.
Alternatively, if the telephone number matches, the previous communication speed written in the destination management table is referred to. If the coding method used for communication is different from the coding method of the image stored in the memory, the data amount is corrected and the communication time is calculated.

If a partner that is not stored in the partner management table is reserved, the communication speed and data amount used for general use are assumed, as in the second embodiment. Thus, the communication time is calculated.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described first embodiment, in the case where images are classified and displayed for each attribute, FIG.
In addition to the graph display as shown in the above, any combination of display methods is possible, such as displaying the usage ratio or available remaining amount with respect to the total capacity by a number, or displaying both the graph and the number.

Further, the classification is not limited to only one layer, and a plurality of images are displayed according to the instruction of the operator, such as displaying the data in a waiting state for transmission and a waiting state for recording first, and then displaying a breakdown of the images waiting for recording. It is also possible to display by dividing into layers.

[0034]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the facsimile apparatus described in any one of (1) to (3), the amount of use of the storage means is classified and displayed according to the type of data stored in the storage means, whereby the type of image occupied by the user in the storage means It is possible to clear the storage means by performing an appropriate process, it is not necessary to wait until the usable amount of the storage means increases,
Improves usage efficiency

According to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the time until all the reserved data is transmitted is calculated, and the next reserved image is transmitted. By displaying, the usability of the user improves, and even if you are in a hurry to send, you can check whether it is in time, so unnecessary interrupt processing is reduced,
Use efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a record managing an image stored in an image memory of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of an image attribute field of an image management record in the same device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a use state of an image memory in the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a use state of an image memory and a scheduled transmission time in a facsimile apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a management table of information on a communication partner in a facsimile apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 CPU (control means) 4 Image memory (storage means) 6 Display (display means)

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-59058 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing data such as image data and management information; and a display unit for displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. Control means is provided for classifying the situation according to the type of data stored in the storage means and controlling the situation to be displayed on the display means. The control means performs the transmission operation by performing the transmission operation. A facsimile apparatus which performs an operation on a waiting image and an image waiting for output after a receiving operation is completed. 2. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing data such as image data and management information; and a display unit for displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. Control means is provided for classifying the situation according to the type of data stored in the storage means and controlling the situation to be displayed on the display means. The control means classifies the type of data into image data and other management information. A facsimile machine characterized in that it is performed with information. 3. Use of the storage means in a facsimile apparatus having storage means for storing data such as image data and management information and display means for displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus. Control means is provided for classifying the situation according to the type of data stored in the storage means and controlling the situation to be displayed on the display means. The control means receives the classification of the data type and waits for output. Of the recorded images are due to recording system errors such as running out of recording paper,
A facsimile machine characterized by performing confidential reception. 4. A storage device for storing data such as image data and management information; a display device for displaying information such as input characters and the state of the apparatus; In a facsimile apparatus having transmission reservation means for calling, a calculation means for calculating a time until transmission completion of an image stored in the storage means for transmission from a usage amount of the storage means and a communication speed, A facsimile apparatus, further comprising: display control means for displaying a scheduled transmission time at the time of performing a transmission reservation operation on the display means. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said calculating means further calculates a time from the encoding method to the completion of the transmission. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said calculating unit stores parameters of a transmission reservation partner in said storage unit in advance when selecting a communication speed and an encoding system parameter used for calculating said time until said transmission is completed. 6. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a general-purpose parameter is used if stored, and if not stored. 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said calculating means includes a changing means for changing parameters of a communication speed and an encoding method to be referred to when calculating the time until the completion of the transmission according to a past history. Item 7. A facsimile apparatus according to item 5.