JP3830280B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication device having a charging device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the facsimile apparatus as the conventional example 1, it is known that the communication fee is calculated from the time taken for the actual facsimile communication.
[0003]
Further, in the facsimile apparatus as the conventional example 2, the communication fee is charged by predicting the communication fee, and the communication operation is stopped by stopping the accumulation operation with the number of originals that is predicted not to be short of the balance. There are known ones that can limit the accumulation operation in consideration.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the facsimile apparatus shown in the conventional example 1, since the communication fee is calculated from the communication time required for the actual communication, it is not possible to charge according to the communication fee. There was a problem that could not be done.
[0005]
In the facsimile apparatus shown in the conventional example 2, the accumulation operation can be limited in consideration of the communication fee by the above method, but unsent files that are already accumulated but not transmitted are not considered. There was a problem.
[0006]
The first object of the present invention is to predict not only the accumulation operation being executed at the present time but also the estimated communication fee for the transmission file that has already been accumulated. In consideration of the above, it is an object to provide a communication apparatus that can limit storage operation more accurately based on a predicted communication fee.
[0007]
A second object of the present invention is to provide a communication apparatus that can reduce the amount of remaining funds by stopping the subsequent transmission operation from the time when the shortage of remaining funds occurs.
[0008]
The third object of the present invention is to display a warning to the operator that a transmission file whose transmission operation is stopped remains, and to resume the transmission operation when the operator who has recognized the warning display adds a fee. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication device that can perform the above-described operation.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, a first aspect of the present invention, means for storing the images data, and an image size calculating means for calculating the size of the image data accumulated by the accumulation means, the telephone number of the destination A charge data table for obtaining a communication charge from the communication time, the image data size calculated by the image size calculation means, a communication charge prediction means for predicting a communication charge from the charge data table, and a balance information notification to and a charging means, the sum of the predicted communication charge predicted accumulated already document in advance and the communication charge with respect to the document in the current stored in the storage means, and balance information notified from the charging means The storage operation is performed while comparing the two, and when the remaining amount is insufficient, the storage operation is controlled to be stopped.
[0010]
According to the second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when the original document accumulated by the accumulating unit remains but the remaining amount notified by the remaining amount information from the accounting unit is insufficient, the subsequent transmission operation It is characterized by controlling not to perform.
[0011]
In the invention described in claim 3, in the invention described in claim 2, when the document accumulated by the accumulating unit is stopped due to insufficient balance due to the balance information from the accounting unit, the transmission operation is stopped. It has a display means for displaying that the document remains, and is controlled so that the transmission operation can be resumed when a fee is added after being displayed by the display means.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a facsimile apparatus with a charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a facsimile apparatus with a billing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a CPU 1, an encoder / decoder 2, a SAF memory 3, a transmission apparatus 4, an image size calculation apparatus 5, and a communication charge prediction apparatus 6. And a display device 7, a document reading device 8, and a charging device 9.
[0013]
The CPU 1 governs overall control of the facsimile apparatus. The encoder / decoder 2 compresses the image data of the document read by the document reading device 8 and expands the received image data. The SAF memory 3 stores a file waiting for transmission and a file waiting for reception printing. The transmission device 4 is for transmitting a file waiting for transmission stored in the SAF memory 3. The image size calculation device 5 detects the size of image data that has been compressed or expanded by the encoder / decoder 2 and stored in the SAF memory 3. The communication fee prediction device 6 predicts the communication fee using a fee data table in which the communication fee is known from the telephone number and the call time, and the communication time predicted from the image size calculated by the image size calculation device 5. The display device 7 displays the operation status of the facsimile apparatus. The reading device 8 is for reading a transmission document prepared by an operator. The charging device 9 which is a feature of the present invention notifies the balance information. This facsimile apparatus is constituted by the above-described parts.
[0014]
Next, an operation example of the facsimile apparatus with a billing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example in the first embodiment of the present invention. First, the balance information is taken out by the charging device 9 (step S1). After the balance information is extracted, the first page of the document to be transmitted is stored as image data in the SAF memory 3 (step S2). Next, the image size calculation device 5 calculates the image size of the image data stored in the SAF memory 3 (step S3). A predicted communication charge is calculated based on the image size information calculated by the communication charge prediction device 6 and the predicted communication time information (step S4). The result is added to the communication charge of the file waiting for transmission (step S5) and compared with the balance information extracted in step 1 (step S6). In this case, the operation is terminated even if there is a transmission document remaining.
[0015]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example in the second embodiment of the present invention. First, as with the first embodiment of the present invention, the balance information is taken out by the charging device 9 (step S11). After the balance information is extracted, the estimated charge of the file waiting for transmission is extracted (step S12), compared with the balance information extracted in step S11 (step S13), and if it is large, a transmission operation is executed (step S14). ), If not, the mode shifts to the transmission operation stop mode (step S15).
[0016]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example in the third embodiment of the present invention. First, as with the first and second embodiments of the present invention, the balance information is taken out by the charging device 9 (step S21). After the balance information is extracted, the estimated charge of the file waiting for transmission is extracted (step S22) and compared with the balance information extracted in step S21 (step S23). S28) If it is less, the process proceeds to the transmission stop mode (step S24).
[0017]
In step S24, when the mode is shifted to the transmission stop mode, a transmission stop file warning is displayed (step S25), and it is further detected whether or not there is an additional charge (step S26). If there is no additional charge, the process returns to step S26 again to detect whether there is an additional charge. In step S26, if there is an additional fee, it is compared again with the added balance information (step S27). If there is more, a transmission operation is executed (step S28). Returning to S25, transmission stop file warning display processing is performed.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, not only the accumulation operation is stopped at the number of documents corresponding to the predicted communication fee according to the balance information notification from the charging device, but also the transmission waiting state. This makes it possible to limit charging in consideration of the predicted communication charge of the file, and to prevent a state where charging cannot be performed due to a shortage of the remaining balance.
[0019]
According to the second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the actual communication fee is higher than the predicted fee, the transmission operation is stopped, so that it becomes impossible to charge due to a shortage of the balance. The state can be prevented.
[0020]
According to the invention described in claim 3, in the invention described in claim 2, since the information that the amount is insufficient is displayed to the operator, the transmission operation does not remain stopped as it is, and the operator charges the fee. By adding, the transmission operation of the file waiting for transmission can be continued.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a facsimile apparatus with a charging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the third embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 CPU
2 Encoder / Decoder 3 SAF Memory 4 Transmitter 5 Image Size Calculator 6 Communication Charge Prediction Device (Charge Data Table)
7 Display device 8 Document reading device 9 Billing device

Claims (3)

Storage means for storing image data;
Image size calculation means for calculating the size of the image data stored by the storage means;
A charge data table for obtaining communication charges from the destination telephone number and communication time,
A communication charge prediction means for predicting a communication charge from the size of the image data calculated by the image size calculation means and the charge data table ;
A billing means for notifying the balance information,
Storing said accumulation means and the sum of the predicted communication charge predicted accumulated already document in advance and the communication charge with respect to the document in the current storage, while comparing the balance information notified from said charging means A communication apparatus that performs an operation and controls to stop an accumulation operation when a remaining amount becomes insufficient. The control is performed so as not to perform a subsequent transmission operation when a document accumulated by the accumulation unit remains but a remaining amount notified by the remaining amount information from the charging unit is insufficient. The communication apparatus according to 1. A display unit for displaying that an unsent document remains in the storage unit when the transmission unit stops the transmission operation due to a shortage of the remaining amount information from the charging unit due to the remaining amount information from the charging unit; And
3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein control is performed so that the transmission operation can be resumed when a fee is added after being displayed by the display means.

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