JP4416271B2 - Image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus control method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving image data using a public line or the Internet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a conventional facsimile apparatus, when it is necessary to check a communication history of image data transmission / reception, the available information includes, for example, data such as a destination, time, or transmission / non-transmission data. There were only communication reports that were output.
[0003]
On the other hand, in recent years, a new facsimile apparatus has been devised that can be connected to a LAN, the Internet, etc., and has a function of transmitting and receiving image data as an attached file of an electronic mail in addition to directly transmitting image data by facsimile.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, even in a new facsimile apparatus that can be connected to a LAN, the Internet, etc., as with conventional public lines, the LAN, the Internet, etc. are considered as just one communication medium. Is used to transmit / receive image data, and what image data is transmitted / received is not recorded.
[0005]
Therefore, even if a company wants to strictly manage the transmission / reception history of a facsimile machine, it can determine what image data has been sent / received after the transmission / reception by the facsimile machine is completed, even if the communication partner and time can be specified. There was no way to do it.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to provide image data transmitted and received together with a communication destination and communication time each time a user transmits and receives image data. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which all image data transmitted and received to a management storage device can be referred to on a management terminal.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes an image data transmission unit that transmits image data, and an image data storage unit that stores image data transmitted by the image data transmission unit. Management information storage means for storing management information relating to transmission of image data by the image data transmission means, image data transmitted by the image data transmission means stored in the image data storage means, and management information storage means Management information transmission means for transmitting the management information relating to transmission of the image data stored in the information to a predetermined transmission destination, and the management information transmission means determines the image data and the management information as the predetermined information. A notification means for notifying the operator of transmission to the destination, a first mode for performing the notification to the operator by the notification means, and the communication And a setting means for setting either one of the second mode is not performed, the notification unit, when the first mode is set by said setting means performs the notification, the second If the mode is set, the notification is not performed .
[0015]
An image forming apparatus control method according to another aspect of the present invention includes an image data transmission step of transmitting image data by a transmission unit, and an image storing the image data transmitted in the image data transmission step in an image data storage unit. A data storage step, a management information storage step for storing management information relating to transmission of image data in the image data transmission step in a management information storage unit, an image data stored in the image data storage unit, and the management information storage unit A setting step of setting, by setting means, one of a first mode for notifying an operator that the management information stored in the information is transmitted to a predetermined transmission destination and a second mode not for notification. and the management information stored in said image data storing said management information storage means and image data stored in the unit by the management information transmitting unit Notification and management information transmission step of transmitting to said predetermined destination, that said image data in the management information transmitting step and the management information is transmitted to a predetermined destination by the notifying means to the operator A notification step that performs the notification when the first mode is set by the setting step, and performs the notification when the second mode is set. It is characterized by not .
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0017]
In this embodiment, the facsimile apparatus is described. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the description example.
[0018]
[System configuration of facsimile machine]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram functionally showing the system of the facsimile apparatus 100.
[0019]
The central control unit (CPU 1) controls the entire facsimile apparatus 100 in accordance with the contents of the program stored in the ROM 2. This program is divided into operation units called tasks by function. Hereinafter, operations executed by the respective tasks will be described with reference to FIG.
[0020]
[Reading operation]
First, the reading operation will be described. A document is irradiated with a light source, and image data obtained by the contact sensor (CS) 11 is subjected to shading correction, binarization, and image conversion processing by an image processing circuit (RCNT) 10, followed by reading and recording. A serial signal is input to an input unit (not shown) of the encoding / decoding device (RW-CODEC) 9.
[0021]
The input image data is expanded in an internal RAM (not shown) of the RW-CODEC 9, compressed and encoded by an encoding unit (not shown) of the RW-CODEC 9, and used as an image memory as a DRAM 5 Accumulated in. The DRAM 5 is backed up by a battery BAT4.
[0022]
In addition, the RAM 3 used as a work area in accordance with the encoded image data stored in the DRAM 5 has an acceptance number, destination information, the number of pages, the number of lines of each page, the read width of each page, and image storage memory block information. Management information such as is stored.
[0023]
[Recording operation]
Next, the recording operation will be described. The encoded image data stored in the DRAM 5 is expanded and decoded by a decoding unit (not shown) of the RW-CODEC 9 and developed as image data in the internal RAM.
[0024]
The developed image data is output as a serial signal from a recording unit (not shown) of the RW-CODEC 9, and is subjected to correction and image conversion processing by a recording image processing circuit (LCNT 12). Subsequently, the image data subjected to the image conversion process is output as an image on a recording sheet by a laser beam printer (LBP13).
[0025]
Note that the LCNT 12 can read the abnormality of the LBP 13 from the CPU 1 by issuing a status signal indicating the abnormality when the LBP 13 has an abnormality.
[0026]
[Transmission operation in facsimile procedure]
Next, the transmission operation in the facsimile procedure will be described. First, a process of establishing synchronization with a facsimile apparatus (not shown) as a receiver by the T30 protocol which is an ITU-T standard is performed.
[0027]
Subsequently, the encoded image data stored in the DRAM 5 is decompressed and decoded by a decoding unit (not shown) of the first CODEC 14 which is a communication encoding / decoding device, and then stored in the buffer in the DRAM 5 as image data. Be expanded.
[0028]
Subsequently, the image data developed in the DRAM 5 is reduced by the CPU 1 as necessary, and again developed in the buffer.
[0029]
Thereafter, the image data is encoded by the encoding unit (not shown) of the first CODEC 14 into image encoded data, and is transferred as transmission data to the RAM 6 used as a transmission buffer.
[0030]
The encoded image data, which is transmission data transferred to the RAM 6, is sent to the public line 24 via the first network control unit (NCU) 16 by the first modulation / demodulation unit (MODEM) 15 byte by byte. The
[0031]
[Receiving operation in facsimile procedure]
Next, the reception operation in the facsimile procedure will be described. First, a process of establishing synchronization with a facsimile apparatus (not shown) as a transmitter by the T30 protocol which is an ITU-T standard is performed.
[0032]
Subsequently, after synchronization is established, the encoded image data received from the public line 24 is input to the MODEM 15 via the first NCU 16, demodulated by the MODEM 15, and transferred to the reception buffer of the RAM 6 byte by byte.
[0033]
The reception data transferred to the reception buffer is decompressed and decoded by a decoding unit (not shown) of the first CODEC 14, further checks for image errors, and is developed as image data in the internal RAM.
[0034]
The expanded image data is compressed and encoded by the encoding unit of the first CODEC 16 and stored in the DRAM 5.
[0035]
Further, in accordance with the encoded image data stored in the DRAM 5, the work area RAM 3 stores an acceptance number, destination information, number of pages, number of lines of each page, read width of each page, image storage memory block information, and the like. Management information is stored.
[0036]
[Telephone operation on public line]
Next, the telephone operation on the public line 24 will be described. When the operator lifts the handset (HANDSET) 21, the hook circuit (HOOK) 20 detects that the HANDSET 21 has been lifted, and connects the facsimile apparatus 100 to the public line 24.
[0037]
[Transmission / reception in the mail procedure]
Next, the transmission / reception operation in the mail procedure will be described. The network control device (NIC) 19 performs communication with a mail server device (not shown) via the LAN 23 using a TCP / IP transport layer transmission protocol and SMTP in accordance with a communication management procedure for network connection. .
[0038]
When transmitting the image data, the image data stored in the DRAM 5 is converted into MIME format by the second image conversion device (CODEC) 17 for mail, and then the mail server device (not shown) is connected via the network controller NIC 19. Send to
[0039]
When receiving image data, an e-mail is received from a mail server device (not shown) via the network control device NIC 19 using a protocol such as POP.
[0040]
Subsequently, the image data attached to the received e-mail is stored in the DRAM 5, the stored image data is decoded so that it can be recorded by the CODEC 2, and then stored in the DRAM 5 again.
[0041]
Further, in accordance with the encoded image data stored in the DRAM 5, the work area RAM 3 stores an acceptance number, destination information, number of pages, number of lines of each page, read width of each page, image storage memory block information, and the like. Management information is stored.
[0042]
The operator presses a key (KEY) 8 to specify an image data communication method, input an image data destination, start a document reading process, open a transmission, stop an instruction, and the facsimile apparatus 100. You can make settings such as When the CPU 1 detects the input key input data, the CPU 1 displays necessary data on the LCD 7. The contents set by the operator are stored and stored in the RAM 3.
[0043]
[Image transfer to management address]
Next, the image data transmission operation to the management address executed by the CPU 1 in the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0044]
First, in step S1, when an operator inputs a transmission destination and a transmission method using KEY8 and performs a document reading process, in step S2, an image is stored in the RAM 3 by a task that controls the reading operation. File management information is created, and image files are stored in the DRAM 5.
[0045]
Subsequently, in step S3, the task that manages the transmission operation refers to the destination information in the management information held in the RAM 3, and starts the transmission operation according to the facsimile procedure or the mail procedure. When the transmission operation ends, the process proceeds to step S4, and information necessary for history management such as communication time, destination, communication result, etc. is held in the management information of the RAM 3.
[0046]
Next, in step S5, it is checked whether or not transmission has been completed for all destinations. If transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step S3 to continue the transmission operation. If transmission to all destinations has been completed, step S5 is performed. In S6, it is checked whether the history management address is set in the facsimile apparatus.
[0047]
If the history management address shown in FIG. 4 is set, the process proceeds to step S7, and the image file and the communication result information for each destination transmitted are transmitted to the management address by the mail procedure. . When the transmission of the image file and the communication result information to the management address is completed, the process proceeds to step S8, where the image file and all the management information associated with the image file are deleted, and the series of operations is completed.
[0048]
On the other hand, if the history management address is not set in step S6, the process proceeds to step S8, where the image file and all management information associated with the image file are erased, and the series of operations is terminated.
[0049]
In FIG. 2, the transmission operation has been described as an example, but the operation at the time of reception is the same. When the facsimile apparatus 100 finishes receiving the image data, the history management address shown in FIG. 4 is checked according to the procedure shown in FIG. 2, and the received image file and communication result information are transmitted to the management address.
[0050]
The program for each task described above is held in a storage medium such as the ROM 2 as shown in FIG.
[0051]
Further, the facsimile apparatus 100 can display or hide the fact that the contents of the transmitted image file are automatically transmitted to the management address to the user of the facsimile apparatus 100 using the LCD 7 or an LED provided separately. it can.
[0052]
Further, the facsimile apparatus 100 further has a mode of displaying or not displaying that the content of the transmitted image file is automatically transmitted to the management address, so that the administrator of the facsimile apparatus 100 switches the mode. It can also be.
[0053]
[Other Embodiments]
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, and a printer), and a device (for example, a copying machine and a facsimile device) including a single device. You may apply to.
[0054]
Also, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) that records a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to perform computer (or CPU or CPU) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, this can also be achieved when the MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.
[0055]
Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0056]
When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowchart described above (shown in FIG. 2).
[0057]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, every time a user transmits / receives image data, the image data transmitted / received together with the communication destination and communication time are transmitted to the management storage device, and the transmitted / received image data, etc. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can be referred to all on a management terminal.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of a memory management task.
FIG. 3 is a logical diagram in a recording medium of a transmission / reception history management program.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting a transmission / reception history management address.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Central control unit (CPU)
2 Program storage area (ROM)
3 Image information storage memory (RAM)
4 Image memory backup battery (BAT)
5 Image data storage memory (DRAM)
6 Transmission / reception buffer (RAM)
7 Display (LCD)
8 Operation keys (KEY)
9 Reading / Recording Code / Decoding Device (RW-CODEC)
10 Image processing / correction circuit (RCNT)
11 Contact sensor (CS)
12 Recorded image processing circuit (LCNT)
13 Laser beam printer (LBP)
14 First Communication Coding / Decoding Device (CODEC)
15 First modulation / demodulation device (MODEM)
16 First network control unit (NCU)
17 Second Communication Coding / Decoding Device (CODEC)
18 Second modulation / demodulation device (MODEM)
19 Network controller (NIC)
20 Hook detection circuit (HOOK)
21 Handset (HANDSET)
22 Second network control unit (NCU)
23 Internet 24 Public line

Claims (7)

Image data transmitting means for transmitting image data;
Image data storage means for storing the image data transmitted by the image data transmission means;
Management information storage means for storing management information relating to transmission of image data by the image data transmission means;
The image data transmitted by the image data transmission unit stored in the image data storage unit and the management information regarding transmission of the image data stored in the management information storage unit are transmitted to a predetermined transmission destination. Management information transmitting means for transmitting;
Notification means for notifying an operator that the management information transmitting means transmits the image data and the management information to the predetermined transmission destination;
Setting means for setting one of a first mode for performing the notification to the operator by the notification means and a second mode for not performing the notification;
Equipped with a,
The notification unit performs the notification when the first mode is set by the setting unit, and does not perform the notification when the second mode is set. apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined transmission destination is an e-mail address set in the image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information includes at least one of a reception number, destination information, a communication time, and a communication result. The image data transmitting means is capable of transmitting image data to a plurality of destinations,
The management information transmission unit transmits the image data and the management information to the predetermined transmission destination when the image data transmission unit completes transmission to all of the plurality of destinations. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Image data receiving means for receiving image data transmitted from outside is further provided,
The image data storage means further stores management information related to reception of image data by the image data receiving means,
The management information transmitting means includes image data received by the image data receiving means stored in the image data storage means, and management information relating to reception of the image data stored in the management information storage means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus transmits the image to a predetermined transmission destination.   A transmission destination to which the management information transmission unit transmits image data and management information when the image data transmission unit transmits image data, and a management information transmission unit when the image data reception unit receives image data. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a destination to which image data and management information are transmitted can be set independently in the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus control method comprising:
An image data transmission step of transmitting image data by a transmission means ;
An image data storage step of storing the image data transmitted in the image data transmission step in an image data storage unit;
A management information storage step of storing management information related to transmission of image data in the image data transmission step in a management information storage unit;
A first mode and notification for notifying the operator that the image data stored in the image data storage means and the management information stored in the management information storage means are transmitted to a predetermined transmission destination A setting step of setting any one of the second modes not to be performed by the setting means;
A management information transmission step of transmitting to said image data storage means to the transmission and the management information stored in the image data and the management information storage means stored said predetermined destination by the management information transmitting unit,
A notification step of notifying an operator that the image data and the management information are transmitted to a predetermined transmission destination in the management information transmission step by a notification unit;
Equipped with a,
The notifying step performs the notification when the first mode is set by the setting step, and does not perform the notification when the second mode is set. Control method of the device.

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