JP3305434B2 - 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 function of inputting data from an external device such as a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as a personal computer).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile apparatus which records and outputs a past communication history as a communication management report is often used. In the communication management report, for example, in the case of reception processing, the reception date and time, the destination, the size and number of received documents, and the like are recorded in a list format. Therefore, the operator can easily grasp the consumption of the recording paper during a certain period, such as the past one month, from the recording information. This makes it possible to predict the amount of recording paper required for the next one month.

There is known a facsimile apparatus having a general-purpose digital signal input / output interface, which can be connected to a personal computer via the interface. Such a facsimile apparatus is generally used to transfer document data created by a personal computer to a facsimile apparatus and record and output the document by a plotter built in the facsimile apparatus. That is, the facsimile machine is used in place of the printer of the personal computer.

Conventionally, such a facsimile machine has been
Even if you input document data from a computer and record the document,
As in the communication management report, the history information of the document record is not left. For this reason, the operator could not easily grasp the consumption of the recording paper of the facsimile apparatus as described above.

[0005]

[0006]

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional facsimile machine, it is difficult to grasp the consumption of the recording paper.
When registering a fixed image, there was a problem that the registration operation was troublesome and time-consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus which solves the above-mentioned problem and makes it easy to grasp the consumption of recording paper, while simplifying the work of registering a fixed image.

[0009]

For this purpose, the present invention relates to a document image received and recorded from another facsimile apparatus and a document image recorded by document data input from an external apparatus within a fixed period in the past. The recording date and time, document size and number of documents are collectively recorded and output.

[0010]

[0011]

According to the present invention, since the recording histories of all the recorded documents are collectively described, the operator can easily grasp the consumption of the recording paper.

[0012]

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a telephone line and a personal computer 2 are connected to the facsimile machine 1.

In the facsimile apparatus 1, a scanner 101 reads an original image.
02 records an image on a recording sheet. The encoding / decoding unit 103 restores the received data to the original image information while compressing the image information to be transmitted. The modem 104 transmits and receives image information and various procedural signals for transmission control. The network control device 105 is connected to a telephone line, and performs predetermined line control when making and receiving calls.

The image memory 106 stores image information. The printer interface unit 107 is connected to the personal computer 2 via a known interface for a printer, and inputs document data from the personal computer 2.
The image data conversion unit 108 converts the input document data into image data, that is, image information of one bit per pixel.

The operation display section 109 is used by the operator to perform various operations, and displays the operation state of the apparatus. The system memory 110 stores various information. The system control unit 111 is a microcomputer that monitors and controls the above units.

Next, a first embodiment of the operation of the communication system having the above configuration will be described.

The facsimile machine 1 responds to an incoming call and receives and records and outputs a document image transmitted from the other party. Also, when the transmission operation is started by the operator, the image is transmitted by transmitting to the destination. PC 2
When document data is input from the plotter 102, the plotter 102 records and outputs it as a document image.

FIG. 2 shows a data flow when document data of the personal computer 2 is recorded and output. That is, in this case, the operator creates a document on the personal computer 2 using, for example, software of a word processor. Then, when recording and outputting the created document, the corresponding document data is input from the personal computer 2 to the facsimile machine 1. This document data is composed of, for example, known character code data and control codes.

The facsimile apparatus 1 inputs the document data via the printer interface unit 107, and converts the document data into image information of one bit per pixel by the image data conversion unit 108. Then, the converted image information is sequentially
To be recorded and output as a document. Document 1
For each page, the system control unit 111 outputs image information indicating a page number and combines the image information with the converted image information. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the page number PN is automatically inserted and recorded at a fixed position on each page of the document image.

As shown in FIG. 4, the facsimile apparatus 1 always monitors the execution of facsimile communication (steps 1001 and N in step 1001) and also monitors the recording operation by inputting document data (step 1001). 1002,
Processing 1001) from N of processing 1002).

Now, it is assumed that facsimile communication is executed by an incoming call or an operator's transmission operation. In this case (Y in the process 1001), the communication history is stored when the communication is completed. This communication history, if the receiving operation is performed, the date and time of reception, the destination, the number of received documents,
Information such as the document size. If the transmission operation is performed, the transmission date and time, the destination, the number of transmitted documents,
Information such as the document size. After storing these communication history information in the system memory 110 (process 1003),
The process returns to the monitoring operation (process 1001).

On the other hand, when the document data is input from the personal computer 2 and the document is recorded and output (Y in the process 1002),
The record history is stored. This recording history is information such as the date and time when the document was output, the number of documents, and the document size. After storing these record histories in the system memory 110 (process 1004), the process returns to the monitoring operation (process 100).
1).

Thus, every time a document is recorded and output by the plotter 102, its history information is stored.

When the operator wants to know the history of past document records, he requests an operation report by a predetermined operation as shown in FIG. 5 (process 2001). As a result, the facsimile apparatus 1 records and outputs the stored communication history and the information of the recording history by the plotter 102 as an operation report (process 2002).

In this operation report, for a document received by facsimile communication and a document recorded by document data input from the personal computer 2, the recording date and time, the number of copies, the document size, and the like are described. This allows
For example, the operator can easily grasp the consumption of the recording paper within a certain period such as one month.

Next, a description will be given of a second embodiment of the operation of the communication system having the configuration shown in FIG.

The facsimile apparatus 1 of this embodiment has a one-touch key on the operation display unit 109, and has a one-touch dial function using the one-touch key and a function of transmitting a fixed image.

When using the communication system of this embodiment,
First, a facsimile number registration process and a fixed image registration process are executed.

FIG. 6 shows a facsimile number registration process. That is, in this case, the operator first sets the facsimile machine 1 to the communication partner registration mode (process 3001). Then, the user presses one desired one-touch key (process 3002), and inputs the destination facsimile number to be registered (process 3003). The facsimile machine 1 stores the correspondence information between the pressed one-touch key and the destination facsimile number (process 3004).

The operator determines whether or not to register another destination (step 3004). If the destination is to be registered (Y in step 3004), the same operation is repeated (step 3).
002). When all registrations have been completed (processing 300
5) N), the above processing ends.

FIG. 7 shows a process of registering a fixed image. In this case, the operator first operates the facsimile machine 1
Is set to the image registration mode (process 4001). Then, after pressing one desired one-touch key (processing 40
02), input document data from the personal computer 2 (Process 4)
003). The document data is registered as a fixed image, and is, for example, a location, a map, a greeting, or character information such as "important document" or "urgent". These are arbitrarily created by software of a word processor, for example, as in the above-described embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows the flow of input data in this case. That is, the facsimile machine 1 inputs the document data via the printer interface unit 107. Then, the image data is converted into image information by the image data conversion unit 108 and stored in the image memory 106 (process 4004).
Then, the correspondence between the stored image information and the one-touch key is stored (process 4005).

The operator determines whether or not to register another image (step 4006). If the image is to be registered (Y in step 4006), the same operation is repeated (step 4).
002). When all registrations are completed (step 400
6N), the above processing ends.

By the above two types of registration processing, the input fixed image is stored in the image memory 106 as shown in FIG. Further, the system memory 110 stores a destination facsimile number and a pointer indicating a storage position of a fixed image, together with the identification symbol of the one-touch key.

FIG. 10 shows a process of transmitting a document image. In this case, the operator sends the transmitted document to the scanner 10.
It is set to 1 (process 5001), and a desired fixed image is designated by a one-touch key (process 5002). Then, a destination is designated using the same one-touch key (process 500).
3). In this case, the designation of the fixed image or the designation of the transmission destination by the one-touch key is switched by, for example, operating a shift key (not shown).

As a result, facsimile machine 1 calls the designated destination (process 5004). When the other party responds, the designated fixed image is transmitted first,
Next, the image of the transmission original is transmitted (process 5005).

As described above, in this embodiment, the personal computer 2
Is input directly to the facsimile machine 1 and registered as a fixed image. This eliminates the need for the operator to create a fixed image document and execute the reading operation of the document as in the related art, thereby simplifying the work of registering the fixed image.

In the above embodiment, the fixed image is registered in correspondence with the one-touch key. However, another registration method such as storing the fixed image in correspondence with the code number may be adopted.

Although the document data is input from the personal computer 2 using character code data or a control code, it is also possible to create image information on the personal computer 2 and input and register the image information as it is. Good. Further, in this case, the document data is input through an interface for a printer, but it goes without saying that any document data input / output interface may be used.

Further, although the facsimile apparatus inputs document data from a personal computer, the facsimile apparatus may input document data from another information device such as a word processor.

Further, it is conceivable that the document data input from the external apparatus is transmitted to another facsimile apparatus instead of being recorded or registered.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, information on the recording date and time, the document size, and the number of documents of documents received and recorded within a certain period in the past and documents input and recorded from an external device are summarized. The recording output is performed, so that the operator can easily grasp the consumption of the recording paper.

[0045]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when recording a document on a personal computer in the first embodiment of the operation of the communication system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of page numbers recorded in a document.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a management operation of the facsimile machine.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of an operation report output process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of registering a communication partner number to a facsimile apparatus in a second embodiment of the operation of the communication system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process of registering a fixed image to a facsimile machine in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the fixed image registration processing.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a stored image and each information stored in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an image transmission process of the facsimile machine in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Facsimile apparatus 2 Personal computer 101 Scanner 102 Plotter 103 Encoding / decoding part 104 Modem 105 Network control device 106 Image memory 107 Printer interface part 108 Image data conversion part 109 Operation display part 110 System memory

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-72859 (JP, A) JP-A-5-61620 (JP, A) JP-A-6-350786 (JP, A) 128341 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 G06F 3/09-3/12 G06F 13/00 351-357 B41J 29/00 -29/70

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having a function of recording and outputting document data input from an external apparatus on a recording sheet as a document image, wherein a document image received and recorded from another facsimile apparatus within a predetermined period in the past and A facsimile apparatus comprising means for collectively recording and outputting information of a recording date and time, a document size, and the number of documents of a document image inputted and recorded from an external device.