JP3203051B2 - 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 having a built-in or connectable answering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recent facsimile apparatus, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-63280,
A telephone with a built-in answering machine or a connectable answering machine has been developed. When the answering machine receives a call and responds, the control unit of the facsimile apparatus receives a CNG signal and a fixed time (for example, 5 to 7 seconds). ) Is detected, and when any of them is detected, the transmitting side determines that the apparatus is a facsimile apparatus, switches the telephone line from the answering machine to the facsimile apparatus, and performs facsimile reception.

[0003]

In general, a telephone answering machine has a remote control function which can control various functions of the telephone answering machine by sending a control signal from a telephone outside the home. Even if a control signal can be sent from the previous telephone, if the answering machine continues to be silent for a certain period of time due to rewinding of the recording tape, etc., the control unit of the facsimile apparatus sets the telephone line as described above. Is switched from the answering machine to the facsimile machine side, so that the remote control function of the answering machine becomes invalid.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a CNG signal detecting means, a silence state detecting means for a fixed time, a DTMF signal detecting means, and a password storing means. And control means for controlling so as to stop the detection of the silent state detecting means when the personal identification number detected by the DTMF signal detecting means coincides with the personal identification number stored in the personal identification number storing means. .

[0005]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, when a personal identification number is input from an outgoing telephone and transmitted by a DTMF signal, the control means of the facsimile apparatus which has detected the personal identification number stops detecting the silent state detecting means. Therefore, even if the silent state continues for a certain period of time or more, the telephone line is not switched from the answering machine to the facsimile machine, but is kept connected to the answering machine, so that the remote control of the answering machine can be surely performed. Can do it.

[0006]

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

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. (1) is a control device for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus, which is composed of a microprocessor and has a program memory (2) for storing a processing program. Each part is controlled according to the program. The control device (1) performs signal processing of the read transmission original data and processing of the received signal, and generates various control signals. (3) a reading unit that optically reads a transmission original, converts the read black-and-white data into an electric signal, and supplies the electric signal to the control device (1). (4) a recording unit that drives a recording head such as a thermal head and performs printing under the control of the control device (1) based on the received signal. Reference numeral (5) denotes a data memory for storing original data read by the reading unit (3) or data subjected to signal processing, and the writing and reading of data are controlled by the control unit (1). (6) is a password memory for storing password data for remotely controlling an answering machine described later. (7) is a keyboard composed of a communication key, a mode key or a numeric keypad, and the control device (1) which has received the key signal controls according to the program of the program memory (2) according to the key signal.
(8) A modem circuit for modulating a signal transmitted to the telephone line (L) and demodulating a signal received from the telephone line (L).
(9) is an answering machine (10) on the telephone line (L),
A line switching circuit that switches and connects the modem circuit (8).
It is composed of a relay circuit, and is controlled by the control device (1) to switch. In a standby state, the answering machine (1)
0) side. (11) is a DTMF signal detection circuit connected to an answering machine connection terminal of the line switching circuit (9) via a capacitor (12) and a transformer (13), and is an answering machine transmitted to the telephone line (L). A DTMF signal indicating a personal identification number for remotely controlling the device (10) is detected, and the detected personal identification number data is supplied to the control device (1). (14) is also a telephone line (L) via a capacitor (12) and a transformer (13).
A silence state detection circuit connected to the telephone line detects a silence state of the telephone line (L) and supplies the same to the control device (1). (1
5) Similarly, a capacitor (12) and a transformer (13)
A CNG signal detection circuit connected to the telephone line (L) via the GW detects a CNG signal transmitted when the transmitting side is a facsimile apparatus in the automatic transmission mode, and supplies the CNG signal to the control device (1). (16) is an incoming call detection circuit that detects a ringer signal at the time of incoming call and supplies an incoming call detection signal to the control device (1).

Next, the operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the user is out of the office, the answering machine (10) is set to the out-of-home mode. In the standby state, the control device (1) detects whether there is an incoming call by checking the output of the incoming call detection circuit (16) in step (S1).

[0010] Then, when a person on the calling side makes a call for the purpose of a telephone call, an answering machine (1
0) responds, sends a response message to the telephone line (L), and is set to the message recording mode.
When the caller transmits the message, a recording is made on the answering machine (10). While the answering machine (10) is operating in this way, the control device (1) of the facsimile machine is
When an incoming call is detected in step (S1), step (S1)
Proceeding to 2), it is detected whether or not the CNG signal is transmitted by checking the output of the CNG signal detection circuit (15). Subsequently, in step (S3), the output of the silent state detection circuit (14) is checked to detect whether or not the telephone line (L) is in a silent state. Further, in step (S4), the output of the DTMF signal detection circuit (11) is checked. Then, it detects whether or not the DTMF signal is transmitted. In this case, since the calling side is for the purpose of talking and neither the CNG signal nor the DTMF signal is transmitted, the control device (1) returns to the standby state when a predetermined time has elapsed from the incoming call in step (S5).

Next, when the originating side is an automatic transmission facsimile machine, the answering machine (10) first responds to the incoming call in the same manner as described above, and the control unit (1) performs steps (S2) to (S5). Since the processing is repeated, when the CNG signal instructing the automatic transmission is transmitted from the facsimile machine on the transmitting side, the control unit (step S2) detects the CNG signal from the output from the CNG signal detection circuit (15). 1) The process proceeds to step (S7) to control the line switching circuit (9) to switch the telephone line (L) to the modem circuit (8) side, and then proceeds to step (S8) to perform a receiving process, and (4) Receive and record. During this time, the answering machine (10) responding first has returned to the standby state. When the facsimile reception is completed, the control device (1) proceeds to step (S10), and the line switching circuit (9)
To switch the telephone line (L) to the answering machine (10), disconnect the line, and return to the standby state.

Next, in the case where the calling side is a facsimile apparatus of manual transmission, even after the answering machine (10) answers,
Since the person on the transmitting side does nothing and keeps the silent state, the control device (1) that has detected that the silent state has continued for a certain period of time or more in step (S3) proceeds to step (S7) and performs the same operation as described above. Perform the receiving operation.

Next, an operation for remotely controlling the answering machine (10) from outside will be described. When a remote control such as listening to a business message recorded on the answering machine (10) from the outside or monitoring the situation of the room where the answering machine (10) is installed, an incoming call is received. After the answering machine (10) answers and listens to the sent response message, the caller inputs a password for instructing remote control from the numeric keypad of the telephone. Since the input personal identification number is transmitted to the telephone line (L) as a DTMF signal, the answering machine (1) receiving the DTMF signal
In 0), a password is detected from the DTMF signal, and the corresponding control is performed. For example, in the case of remote control to listen to a recorded message, the DTMF of the corresponding security code
The answering machine (10) that has detected the signal starts rewinding the tape for recording the business message, and starts the playback operation when the rewind is completed, so that the recorded business message is transmitted to the telephone line ( L), the user can listen to the message recorded on the go.

At the time of such remote control, when the control device (1) of the facsimile apparatus detects the DTMF signal from the output of the DTMF signal detection circuit (11) in step (S4), the process proceeds to step (S6) and the detected DTMF is detected. It is determined whether or not the password represented by the signal matches the password previously stored in the password memory (6), and if not, it is determined that the signal is not an official DTMF signal (step S5).
Then, the processes of steps (S2) to (S5) are repeated. If the passwords match, the process returns to the standby state and the detection operations of steps (S2) to (S4) are stopped.
As a result, the remote control for listening to the recorded message is performed as described above, and even if the silent state continues while the tape is rewound, the control device (1) detects the silent state. Since there is no telephone line (L), the telephone line (L) is not switched to the modem circuit (8), and is held in the answering machine (10), so that remote control can be reliably performed to the end.

[0015]

As described above, when the facsimile apparatus of the present invention detects the password signal for remotely controlling the answering machine, it detects the silent state of the telephone line and invalidates the function of switching the telephone line to the facsimile apparatus side. With this configuration, the remote control of the answering machine can be surely performed, and the present invention has a great effect when applied to a facsimile apparatus connected to the answering machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation state of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 control device 3 reading unit 4 recording unit 6 password memory 9 line switching circuit 10 answering machine 11 DTMF signal detection circuit 14 silent state detection circuit 15 CNG signal detection circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/32 H04M 11/00 303

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A first DTMF signal detection circuit is provided on a telephone line .
A facsimile apparatus having a line switching circuit for switching between a built-in external answering machine and a built-in modem circuit for connection, wherein a second DTMF signal detection circuit connected to the answering machine connection terminal side of the line switching circuit, A silent state detecting circuit for detecting a silent state of the line for a certain period of time, and CNG
Signal detection circuit, incoming call detection circuit, and answering machine
A memory in which a password for remotely controlling the telephone line is stored, and a control device that controls the line switching circuit by detecting the CNG signal or a silent state for a predetermined time to switch a telephone line to the modem circuit side, The control device is configured to control the second DTMF detection circuit, the silent state detection circuit, and the C
The detection operation of the NG detection circuit is started, and the second
Second DTMF detected by the output of the DTMF detection circuit
Determine whether the password represented by the signal matches the password stored in advance in the password memory,
A facsimile apparatus wherein when the passwords match, the detection operations of the CNG signal detection circuit, the silent state detection circuit, and the second DTMF signal detection circuit are stopped.