JP5078553B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus provided with a communication processing means for adding and transmitting transmission source information to a transmission document between the own machine and a partner machine, and in particular, by appropriately performing addition control of the transmission source information. The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of realizing a friendly information presentation mode.

  2. Description of the Related Art A recent facsimile apparatus is known that transmits source document information added to a transmission document between the own machine and a partner machine.

  However, it may be inconvenient if sender information is added to the received facsimile document. For example, when another document is created by using a facsimile document printed on the receiving side as it is, it is better that no sender information is added.

  In response to such a request, Patent Document 1 proposes a facsimile apparatus that automatically detects a sender record added by a sender on the receiving side, and automatically deletes and prints the sender record. ing. According to the transmission source information deletion technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to obtain a facsimile apparatus having a transmission source information deletion function that requires no operation and has a simple configuration.

  However, since the transmission source information deletion technique of Patent Document 1 is applied to the reception side and works, generally, when transferring a facsimile reception document with the transmission source information added to another facsimile apparatus, The sender information deletion function does not work. For this reason, the receiving side that has received this is duplicated between the first source information added by the first source and the second source information added by the second source that forwards the information. The facsimile original attached to the mail arrives. In this case, a user who comes into contact with a document to which the sender information is added twice may be confused as to who the document is sent from. Further, in a document with the sender information added twice, the transmitted document is reduced and transmitted by that amount, which causes a problem that it is difficult to see the facsimile received document on the receiving side.

JP 2002-101292 A

A problem to be solved is, a user in contact with the source information is added on top document, to it could remember the confused whether a document which has been sent from anyone, difficult to see the received document will be reduced There is also a problem of becoming.

The present invention provides a facsimile apparatus capable of realizing a user-friendly information presentation mode by appropriately performing additional control of transmission source information, and transmits a transmission document between the own machine and the other machine. A facsimile apparatus comprising communication processing means for adding and transmitting original information, wherein the setting information preset by the user as to whether or not to add the transmission source information of the own apparatus to the transmission original is stored in the own apparatus. Setting information acquisition means acquired from the above, addition presence / absence determination means for determining whether or not transmission information other than its own device has been added to the transmission document in advance , and result of determination by the addition presence / absence determination means An addition control means for performing control based on the setting information when it is determined that sender information is added to the transmission document in advance , and the addition control means includes the setting Information overwrites the source information of its own to me part of the source information the is previously added when the is information indicating that adding the source information of its own to transmit the document, the setting information is the transmission When the original information is not added to the original, the additional control is performed to make use of the previously added source information as it is without adding the source information of the own machine .

Facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, the own apparatus and a facsimile apparatus having a communication processing means for transmitting added the source information to the transmission document between the destination machine, the source of its own in the transmission document A setting information acquisition unit that acquires setting information preset by the user from the storage unit of the own device as to whether or not to add information, and whether or not transmission source information other than the own device is added to the transmission document in advance. Control based on the setting information when it is determined that the transmission source information has been added to the transmission document in advance as a result of the determination by the addition presence / absence determination unit; and a additional control means for the additional control means, published portions of the source information the is previously added when the setting information is information indicating that adding the source information of its own to the transmission original To overwrite the source information of the own device, the are added in advance without adding the source information of the own device when the setting information is information indicating that adds no sender information of its own to the transmission original is performed directly utilize additional control the source information are, therefore, through possible to properly carry out the additional control of the sender information, a situation which the source information is added on top document is delivered to the receiving side is obviated As a result, it is possible to embody a user-friendly information presentation mode without bothering the receiving-side user and reducing the size of the received document and making it difficult to view.

  The purpose of obtaining a facsimile machine capable of embodying a user-friendly information presentation mode by appropriately performing addition control of sender information is preliminarily applied to a transmission document as a result of addition presence / absence determination by an addition presence / absence determination unit. When it is determined that the original source information has been added, this is realized by an additional control unit that performs control to add the source information based on the setting information acquired by the setting information acquisition unit to the transmission document.

  Hereinafter, a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  Hereinafter, as a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a digital multifunction machine having various functions related to image formation such as a copy function, a printer function, and a scanner function in addition to a facsimile communication function will be described as an example. .

[Schematic Configuration of Facsimile Apparatus (Digital Multifunction Machine) According to Embodiment of the Present Invention]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile apparatus (digital multifunction peripheral) according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external view of an operation panel unit in the facsimile apparatus (digital multifunction peripheral).

  The facsimile machine 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention has a communication processing function for adding transmission information to a transmission document between the own machine and the other machine and transmitting the original. That is, the apparatus 10 can use various functions including a copy job, a print job, or a network transmission (email transmission or data transmission) job in addition to a facsimile communication job, such as a microcomputer and a dedicated hardware circuit. It is controlled by the main control part 11 comprised from these. As an input / output device connected to the main control unit 11 and responsible for various functions, the apparatus 10 includes a scanner unit 21, an image processing unit 31, an engine unit 41, an operation panel unit 51, an HDD (hard disk drive) 61, a network I / O. An F (interface) unit 63 and a facsimile communication unit 65 are provided.

  The main control unit 11 includes a scanner controller 13 that performs operation control for realizing a scanner function, a copy controller 15 that performs operation control for realizing a copy function, and a printer controller 17 that performs operation control for realizing a printer function. In addition, a facsimile controller (which constitutes a part of the “communication processing means” of the present invention) 19 that performs operation control for realizing the facsimile function is built in, and performs overall control of the operation of the entire apparatus.

  The scanner unit 21 includes an image irradiation lamp 23 and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor 25 constituting a scanner (not shown). The scanner unit 21 irradiates the document with the image irradiation lamp 23, receives the reflected light with the CCD sensor 25, reads an image from the document, and outputs image data corresponding to the read image to the image processing unit 31. .

  The image processing unit 31 includes a correction unit 33, an image processing unit 35, and an image memory 37. The image processing unit 31 processes the image data read by the scanner unit 21 with the correction unit 33 and the image processing unit 35 as necessary, and stores the processed image data in the image memory 37, the engine unit 41, Output to the facsimile communication unit 65 or the like. The correction unit 33 performs predetermined correction processing such as level correction and Y correction on the image data read by the scanner unit 21. The image processing unit 35 performs various types of processing such as image data compression or expansion processing and enlargement or reduction processing.

  The engine unit 41 includes a sheet conveying unit 43 including a sheet feeding cassette and a sheet feeding roller (not illustrated), an image forming unit 45 including a photosensitive drum, an exposure device, a developing device, and the like (not illustrated), a transfer roller (not illustrated), and the like. And a fixing unit 49 including a fixing roller (not shown). The engine unit 41 includes image data read by the scanner unit 21, image data transmitted from a client PC (personal computer) or the like by a LAN (Local Area Network) via the network I / F unit 63, and a facsimile communication unit 65. The image is printed on a sheet using image data such as fax data received from an external facsimile machine. Specifically, the paper transport unit 43 transports the paper to the image forming unit 45, the image forming unit 45 forms a toner image corresponding to the image data, the transfer unit 47 transfers the toner image to the paper, The fixing unit 49 fixes the toner image on a sheet to form an image.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation panel unit 51 includes a touch panel unit 53 and an operation key unit 55. The operation panel unit 51 is used for a user to perform operations related to a facsimile function, a scanner function, a printer function, a copy function, and the like, and gives an operation command or the like by the user to the main control unit 11.

  The touch panel unit 53 includes a touch panel unit that combines a touch panel and a color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays various operation screens, for example, information regarding the document size, copy size, number of copies, and the like when executing the copy function. In addition, operation buttons for inputting various operation commands are displayed by the user touching the corresponding part.

  The operation key unit 55 includes a plurality of operation keys for accepting user operation inputs. For example, a key input of a required function is selected from various functions such as a facsimile function, a copy function, a printer function, and a scanner function. Used when the user selectively executes the operation. Specifically, for example, it is used when a user performs a numeric keypad input operation for selecting a transmission destination fax number when using a facsimile function, or when performing an input operation related to a one-touch dial or an abbreviated dial.

  An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 61 stores image data read by the scanner unit 21 and various data such as an output format set in the image data. The image data stored in the HDD is not only used inside the image forming apparatus, the program, and the recording medium, but also confirmed from the client PC or the like via the network I / F unit 63 as necessary, It is transferred to a predetermined folder such as a PC or FTP server.

  The network I / F unit 63 uses a network interface (10 / 100Base-TX) or the like to control transmission / reception of various data to / from a user terminal 67 such as a client PC connected via a LAN.

  Facsimile communication unit (corresponding to “communication processing means for adding transmission source information to transmission document between own device and partner device” of the present invention) 65 is an image of the transmission document read by scanner unit 21. It has a function of transmitting data to the partner device 73 via the public line network 71 and receiving image data transmitted from the partner device 73, and includes an encoding / decoding unit 67, a modem unit 68, and network control. A portion 69 is included.

  The encoding / decoding unit 67 has a function of compressing and encoding image data related to a transmission document and expanding and decoding received image data.

  The modem unit 68 has a function of modulating the compressed / encoded image data into an audio signal and demodulating the received audio signal into the image data.

  The network control unit 69 corresponds to an NCU (Network Control Unit), and has a function of performing network control such as sending a dial signal to the public network 71.

  By the way, in order to obtain a facsimile apparatus capable of embodying a user-friendly information presentation mode through appropriate control of sender information, the facsimile controller 19 built in the main control unit 11 automatically transmits a transmission document. A setting information acquisition unit (corresponding to “setting information acquisition means” of the present invention) 75 for acquiring setting information relating to whether or not to add the sender information of the machine, and a transmission document, or An identification information acquisition unit (corresponding to “identification information acquisition means” of the present invention) 77 for acquiring transmission source information presence / absence identification information included in communication data between the own machine and the partner machine, and the sub-scanning direction of the transmission original The line number counting unit (corresponding to the “line number counting unit” of the present invention) 79 that counts the number of lines and the line number counted by the line number counting unit 79 exceed the predetermined number of lines. A line number determination unit (corresponding to the “line number determination unit” of the present invention) 81 for determining whether or not the original transmission source information is previously added to the transmission document. As a result of determination by the addition presence / absence determination unit (corresponding to “additional presence / absence determination unit” of the present invention) 83 that performs addition presence / absence determination and the addition presence / absence determination unit 83, the original transmission source information is added to the transmission document in advance. When the determination is made, an additional control unit (corresponding to the “addition control unit” of the present invention) that performs control to add source information based on the setting information acquired by the setting information acquisition unit 75 to the transmission document. 85. Note that when the setting information acquisition unit 75 acquires the setting information for adding the sender information of the own machine to the transmission document, the addition control unit 85 includes the original sender information added in advance in the posted part. While performing additional control to overwrite the sender information of the machine, the sender information of the own machine is added when setting information indicating that the sender information of the machine is not added to the transmission document is acquired from the setting information acquisition unit 75. It operates so as to perform additional control that makes use of the original transmission source information added in advance without any change.

[Operation of Facsimile Apparatus According to Embodiment of Present Invention]
Next, an operation flow of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows an operation flowchart of the facsimile machine (own machine) 10, and FIG. 4 (1) is an explanatory diagram relating to a transmission document when the original source information is overwritten on the original source information posted portion. FIG. 4 (2) shows an explanatory diagram relating to a transmission original when the original transmission source information is utilized as it is, and FIG. 5 is an illustration illustrating the transmission source information presence / absence identification information attached to the transmission original. The figure is shown.

  First, the flow of processing related to a facsimile transmission procedure when original transmission source information is not added in advance to a transmission original will be described. It is assumed that the sender information addition mode setting in the facsimile apparatus 10 is set so that the sender information should be added to “outside the original”. Here, the mode setting that the sender information should be added to the “outside of the document” refers to the area of the top part of the document without allocating the number of lines allocated to the posted portion related to the sender information in the transmitted document. This means a mode for creating a transmission document by adding the sender information of the own device to the outside (outside). On the other hand, the mode setting that the sender information should be added to the “inside of the manuscript” means that the number of lines allocated to the posted portion related to the sender information is allocated within the inner area of the sending manuscript, This means a mode for creating a transmission document while maintaining the image size as it is by overwriting and adding the sender information of the own device to the image of the transmission document. Further, the mode setting of “not adding” transmission source information means a mode for creating a transmission original without adding the transmission source information to the transmission original.

  As shown in FIG. 3, prior to facsimile transmission, the setting information acquisition unit 75 acquires setting information regarding whether or not to add transmission source information related to the own device 10 to the transmission original (step S <b> 11). . In this setting information, it is assumed that whether or not the transmission source information related to own device 10 is added according to the user's selection operation is set in advance. Next, the addition presence / absence determination unit 83 performs addition presence / absence determination related to whether or not the original transmission source information is previously added to the transmission original (step S12). Here, the determination of presence / absence of addition according to step S12 will be described by exemplifying a case where a document received by facsimile is transferred to another facsimile apparatus. First, image data related to the received document is read from the image memory 37 and read. Whether or not the source information is added based on the image of the head (header) portion of the developed bitmap image. Such addition presence / absence determination is performed.

  In step S13, the main control unit (including the facsimile controller 19; the same applies hereinafter) 11 refers to the addition presence / absence determination result in step S12, and whether the original transmission source information has been added to the transmission document in advance. Based on the result of the presence / absence determination on whether or not to add, the flow of processing to proceed is branched. In the case of this example, since the original source information is not added to the transmission document in advance because of the precondition, the main control unit 11 advances the process flow to step S14.

  As a result of the presence / absence determination in step S13, when it is determined that the original transmission source information has not been added to the transmission document in advance, the addition control unit 85 determines that the content related to the setting information acquired in step S11 is For example, even if the content is that the sender information related to the own machine 10 is not added, by adding the sender information related to the own machine 10 to the top part of the sent original, the image data related to the sent original is changed. Create (step S14). In addition, instead of the embodiment of step S14, when the content related to the setting information acquired in step S11 is content indicating that the source information related to the own device 10 is not added, the source related to the own device 10 A configuration in which image data relating to a transmission original is created without adding information may be employed. In this case, no transmission source information is added to the transmission original.

  Next, the main control unit 11 sends out a command signal for causing the facsimile communication unit 65 to execute transmission processing to the counterpart machine 73 using the image data relating to the transmission original created in step S14. In response to this, the facsimile communication unit 65 executes the transmission process to the partner apparatus 73 with the image data relating to the transmission document created in step S15 (step S15). When transmission of a DCN (Disconnect) signal (disconnection command signal) addressed to the machine 73 is detected, a series of transmission processing is terminated.

  Steps S11 to S15 described above are the flow of processing related to the facsimile transmission procedure when the original transmission source information is not added to the transmission original in advance.

  Next, a description will be given of the flow of processing related to a facsimile transmission procedure when original transmission source information is added to a transmission document in advance.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when it is determined that the original transmission source information has been added to the transmission document in advance as a result of the addition presence / absence determination according to step S13, the main control unit 11 further performs step S11. Based on the acquired setting information, it is determined whether or not the sender information related to own device 10 should be added (step S16). In step S16, the transmission source information to which the original transmission source information is added in advance is overwritten with the transmission source information related to the own device 10 in the posted portion of the original transmission source information, or the transmission related to the own device 10 is transmitted. A branching decision is made as to whether the original source information should be used as it is without adding the original information.

  As a result of the necessity determination for addition in step S16, when the content related to the setting information acquired in step S11 is content indicating that the sender information related to the own device 10 is added, the addition control unit 85 displays the information shown in FIG. As shown in (1), the image data related to the transmission original is obtained by performing additional control to overwrite the transmission source information related to the own device 10 in the posted original information related to the head part of the transmission original. Create (step S17). Here, in step S17, “additional control for overwriting the source information related to own device 10 on the posted original information related to the first part of the transmitted original” is performed. Operation when setting to be added to “inside” is made, that is, the number of lines allocated to the posted portion related to the sender information is allocated within the area (inside) of the transmission original, and the image of the transmission original is assigned. By overwriting and adding the transmission source information related to the own device 10, this means that the operation of creating a transmission original while maintaining the image size as it is is performed. As a result, the original source information posted at the top of the transmitted original is erased by overwriting and adding the source information related to own device 10. Accordingly, a transmission document to which the sender information related to the own device 10 is added instead of the original sender information is delivered to the receiving side. In other words, a situation in which a transmission document to which transmission source information is added twice is delivered to the receiving side is avoided.

  On the other hand, when the content related to the setting information acquired in step S11 is the content indicating that the transmission source information related to the own device 10 is not added as a result of the determination of necessity for addition related to step S16, the addition control unit 85 As shown in FIG. 4 (2), image data related to the transmission original is created by performing addition control that makes use of the original transmission source information as it is without adding the transmission source information related to own device 10 (step S18). ). Here, in the step S18, “additional control that makes use of the original source information as it is without adding the source information relating to own device 10” is set to “not add” the source information. That is, the operation of creating the transmission original without adding the sender information of the own machine to the transmission original. As a result, the original transmission source information posted at the top of the transmission original is utilized as it is without adding the transmission source information related to own device 10. Therefore, the transmission document with the original transmission source information added is delivered to the receiving side without adding the transmission source information related to the own device 10. In other words, a situation in which a transmission document to which transmission source information is added twice is delivered to the receiving side is avoided.

[Effect of Example]
As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the addition control unit 85 acquires the setting information indicating that the sender information of the own machine is added to the transmission document from the setting information acquisition unit 75. At the same time, additional control is performed to overwrite the original sender information on the part of the original sender information added in advance, while setting information indicating that the original sender information is not added to the transmission document is set information. When it is acquired from the acquisition unit 75, it operates so as to perform additional control that makes use of the original transmission source information added in advance without adding the transmission source information of the own device. As a result of avoiding the situation where the original document with the sender information added twice is delivered to the receiving side through proper operation, the receiving side user will not be confused and the received original will be reduced. Without becoming difficult to see is, it is possible to embody the friendly information presentation mode to the user.

  Further, according to the facsimile apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a particularly excellent clarification effect relating to a facsimile document is expected in a usage mode in which transmission and reception of a document are repeated a plurality of times using a facsimile circulation function. Can do.

[Others]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit or technical idea of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and a facsimile apparatus with such a change. Is also included in the scope of the technical scope of the present invention.

  That is, for example, in the presence / absence determination (step S12) according to the embodiment of the present invention, the image data related to the received document is read from the image memory 37, the read image data is decoded, and the read image data is stored in the image memory 37. Although the example of performing the addition presence / absence determination related to whether or not the transmission source information is added based on the image of the head (header) portion of the developed bitmap image has been explained. The invention is not limited to this example.

  Specifically, for example, sender information presence / absence identification information that presents a specific image pattern (which may be a barcode) as shown in FIG. The determination unit 83 is configured to perform addition presence / absence determination regarding whether or not the original transmission source information is added to the transmission document in advance based on the content related to the transmission source information presence / absence identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 77. It may be adopted. If comprised in this way, based on the content which concerns on transmission origin information presence / absence identification information, the presence or absence of the original transmission origin information which concerns on a transmission original can be recognized without an error.

  Further, transmission source information presence / absence identification information is added to communication data between the own device and the partner device, and the addition presence / absence determination unit 83 is based on the content related to the transmission source information presence / absence identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 77. Thus, a configuration may be adopted in which the presence / absence determination of whether or not the original transmission source information has been added to the transmission document in advance is performed. In this case, in the communication data between the own device and the other device, for example, the source information presence / absence identification information is determined by whether or not the source information is added to a specific bit area in the non-standard function setting (NSS) signal. When the transmission side apparatus adds the source information, the value of the bit area is set to “1”, and when the information is not added, the value of the bit area is set to “0”. For example, the sender information presence / absence identification information may be transmitted. If comprised in this way, based on the content which concerns on the sender information presence / absence identification information contained in the communication data, the presence / absence of the original sender information on the transmission original can be recognized without error.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the line number counting unit 79 that counts the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction of the transmission document, and the line number counted by the line number counting unit 79 exceeds the predetermined number of lines. A line number determination unit 81 that determines whether or not there is a line number, and the addition presence / absence determination unit 83 preliminarily adds the original transmission source to the transmission document based on the line number determination result according to the line number determination unit 81. You may employ | adopt the structure which performs the addition presence / absence determination which concerns on whether the information is added. Specifically, the apparatus that receives the facsimile document determines that the sender information is added when it is determined that the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction of the received document exceeds a specific number of lines. To do. This is a determination mode based on the fact that when the sender information is added to the outside of the document, the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction tends to be longer than that of a normal standard size document. According to this configuration, it is possible to recognize the presence / absence of the original transmission source information related to the transmission original even if the transmission original information identification information is not added to the transmission original.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an external view of an operation panel unit in the facsimile apparatus. FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart of the facsimile apparatus. Fig. 4 (1) is an explanatory diagram relating to a transmission document when the original source information is overwritten on the original source information posting portion, and Fig. 4 (2) is when the original source information is utilized as it is. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates the sender information presence / absence identification information attached to the transmission document.

Explanation of symbols

11 Main control unit 19 Facsimile controller (communication processing means)
65 Facsimile communication section (communication processing means)
73 partner machine 75 setting information acquisition unit (setting information acquisition means)
77 Identification information acquisition unit (identification information acquisition means)
79 Line number counting unit (line number counting means)
81 Line number determination unit (line number determination means)
83 Addition presence / absence determination unit (additional presence / absence determination means)
85 Additional control unit (additional control means)

Claims (4)

A facsimile apparatus comprising a communication processing means for adding and transmitting transmission source information to a transmission document between the own machine and a partner machine,
Setting information acquisition means for acquiring setting information preset by the user from the storage means of the own apparatus as to whether or not to add sender information of the own apparatus to the transmission original ;
Addition presence / absence determination means for performing addition presence / absence determination relating to whether or not transmission source information other than the own device is previously added to the transmission original;
Addition control means for performing control based on the setting information when it is determined that sender information has been added to the transmission document in advance as a result of the determination by the addition presence / absence determination means;
Said additional control means overwrites the source information of its own to me part of the source information the is previously added when the setting information is information indicating that adding the source information of its own to the transmission original When the setting information is information indicating that the transmission source information of the own device is not added to the transmission original, the additional control that makes use of the transmission source information added in advance without adding the transmission source information of the own device. I do,
A facsimile machine characterized by the above. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1,
The addition presence / absence determination means acquires transmission source information presence / absence identification information representing an image pattern attached to the transmission original, and adds the information to the transmission original in advance based on the content of the transmission source information presence / absence identification information. The presence / absence determination on whether or not the sender information is added is performed.
A facsimile machine characterized by the above. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2,
The addition presence / absence determination means acquires the sender information presence / absence identification information included in communication data between the own device and the partner device,
A facsimile machine characterized by the above. The facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Line number counting means for counting the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction of the transmission document;
Line number determination means for performing line number determination according to whether or not the number of lines counted by the line number counting means exceeds a predetermined number of lines;
The addition presence / absence determination means performs addition presence / absence determination on whether or not the transmission source information added in advance is added to the transmission document based on the line number determination result according to the line number determination means.
A facsimile machine characterized by the above.

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