JP6802526B2 - Fax machines and fax programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a facsimile machine and a facsimile program for faxing an image read from a manuscript.

As a conventional facsimile apparatus, there is known an apparatus that executes fax transmission at a timing according to a priority included in a transmission start request transmitted from an external information processing terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, as a conventional facsimile machine, types of fax transmission jobs such as memory transmission in which all documents are read by a reading device and stored in a storage device and then faxed, and direct transmission in which documents are read by a scanning device and faxed are transmitted. It is known that the priority is determined according to the above-mentioned, and the job of fax transmission is executed at the timing according to the determined priority (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-098605 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-012873

However, the facsimile machines described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a problem that fax transmission cannot be executed at a timing according to the contents of the manuscript.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus and a facsimile program capable of executing fax transmission at a timing according to the contents of a manuscript.

The facsimile apparatus of the present invention generates a reading device that reads an image from a document, a fax device that performs fax communication, and a fax transmission job that causes the fax device to fax an image read from the document by the reading device. Priority of the fax transmission job based on the job generation means, the character acquisition means for acquiring characters by performing OCR processing on the image read from the document by the reading device, and the characters acquired by the character acquisition means. The fax transmission job generating means includes a priority setting means for setting a degree, and is characterized in that the execution timing of the fax transmission job is set according to the priority set by the priority setting means. To do.

With this configuration, the facsimile machine of the present invention sets the priority of the fax transmission job based on the characters obtained by performing OCR processing on the image read from the original by the scanning device for the fax transmission job. Since the fax transmission job is executed at the timing according to the set priority, the fax transmission can be executed at the timing according to the content of the manuscript.

In the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, in the fax transmission job generating means, a low priority job as the fax transmission job whose priority set by the priority setting means is lower than a specific priority executes the fax transmission job. When the fax transmission job whose priority set by the priority setting means is the specific priority when the fax transmission job is generated, the execution timing of the fax transmission job is set to the low priority. It may be set at a timing before the job.

With this configuration, the facsimile machine of the present invention generates a fax transmission job having a specific priority when a fax transmission job having a priority lower than the specific priority is included in the execution queue of the fax transmission job. A fax transmission job with a specific priority is executed before a fax transmission job with a priority lower than the specific priority contained in the queue, so that the fax transmission job with a specific priority can be executed earlier. ..

In the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, when the fax transmission job generating means generates the fax transmission job in which the priority set by the priority setting means is a specific priority, the fax transmission job is executed. The timing may be set to a specific time.

With this configuration, the facsimile machine of the present invention executes a fax transmission job of a specific priority at a specific time, so that a time that is less burdensome even if the fax transmission job is executed is set as a specific time. , It is possible to reduce the burden of executing a fax transmission job of a specific priority.

In the facsimile machine of the present invention, in the priority setting means, a keyword indicating a deadline and a character indicating a date arranged at a position within a specific range with respect to the keyword indicating the deadline are displayed from a document by the reading device. When it is included in the scanned image, the priority may be set according to the time relationship between the date and today.

With this configuration, the facsimile machine of the present invention executes the fax transmission job with the priority according to the date of the deadline included in the manuscript and the time relationship with today, and thus is based on the date of the deadline included in the manuscript. The fax transmission job can be executed at the timing according to the degree of urgency.

The facsimile program of the present invention is a facsimile program executed by a facsimile apparatus including a reading device for reading an image from a manuscript and a fax device for performing fax communication, and faxes an image read from a manuscript by the reading device. By a fax transmission job generation means for generating a fax transmission job to be faxed to a device, a character acquisition means for acquiring characters by performing OCR processing on an image read from a document by the reading device, and the character acquisition means. The facsimile apparatus is provided with a priority setting means for setting the priority of the fax transmission job based on the acquired characters, and the fax transmission job generation means sets the execution timing of the fax transmission job to the priority. It is characterized in that it is set according to the priority set by the degree setting means.

With this configuration, the facsimile machine that executes the facsimile program of the present invention performs OCR processing on the image read from the original by the reading device for the fax transmission job, and the priority of the fax transmission job is based on the acquired characters. Is set, and the fax transmission job is executed at the timing according to the set priority, so that the fax transmission can be executed at the timing according to the content of the manuscript.

The facsimile machine and the facsimile program of the present invention can execute fax transmission at a timing according to the contents of the manuscript.

It is a block diagram of the MFP which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the keyword list for high priority determination shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the deadline keyword list shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the deadline priority standard shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the keyword list for low priority determination shown in FIG. It is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when updating the keyword list for high priority determination. It is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when an image is read from a document by a scanner for a fax transmission job. It is a flowchart of the priority setting process shown in FIG. (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission job of priority "high" and does not include the fax transmission job of priority "medium" and "low". .. (B) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue in the state which the fax transmission job of priority "high" is added to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 9A. (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission jobs of priority "high", "medium" and "low". (B) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue in the state which the fax transmission job of priority "high" is added to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 10 (a). (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission job of priority "high" and "low", and does not include the fax transmission job of priority "medium". .. (B) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue in the state which added the fax transmission job of priority "high" to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 11A. (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission job of priority "high" and "medium", and does not include the fax transmission job of priority "low". .. (B) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue in the state which the fax transmission job of priority "medium" is added to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 12A. (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission jobs of priority "high", "medium" and "low". FIG. 13B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue in a state where a fax transmission job having a priority of “medium” is added to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 13 (a). It is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when there is a fax transmission job reserved to be added to the fax queue. (A) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in the state which includes the fax transmission jobs of priority "high", "medium" and "low". (B) It is a figure which shows an example of the fax queue in the state which the fax transmission job of priority "low" is added to the fax queue in the state shown in FIG. 15A.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, a configuration of an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) as a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the MFP 10 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the MFP 10 is an operation unit 11 which is an input device such as a button into which various operations are input, and a display device such as an LCD (Fixed Crystal Display) which displays various information. Communication between a unit 12, a printer 13 which is a printing device for printing an image on a recording medium such as paper, a scanner 14 which is a scanning device for reading an image from a document, and an external facsimile machine (not shown) and a public telephone line. A fax communication unit 15, which is a fax device that performs fax communication via a line, communicates with an external device directly via a network such as LAN (Local Area Information) or the Internet, or by wire or wirelessly without a network. A communication unit 16 which is a communication device for performing the above, a storage unit 17 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) for storing various information, and a control unit 18 for controlling the entire MFP 10. Is equipped with.

The storage unit 17 stores the facsimile program 17a. The facsimile program 17a may be installed on the MFP 10 at the manufacturing stage of the MFP 10, or may be additionally installed on the MFP 10 from an external storage medium such as a USB (Universal Social Bus) memory, or may be additionally installed on the MFP 10 from the network. It may be additionally installed in MFP10.

The storage unit 17 lists a list of keywords for being determined as a priority "high" as a priority higher than the priority "medium" as a normal priority (hereinafter referred to as "keyword for determining high priority"). The keyword list 17b for high priority determination is stored.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a keyword list 17b for determining high priority.

In the keyword list 17b for high priority determination shown in FIG. 2, for example, keywords such as “urgent” and “urgent” indicating that there is a high need to urgently send a fax, “invoice”, “quote”, etc. , Keywords that are considered to have high business priority are included as keywords for determining high priority.

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 17 stores a deadline keyword list 17c showing a list of keywords indicating deadlines (hereinafter referred to as “deadline keywords”).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the deadline keyword list 17c.

The deadline keyword list 17c shown in FIG. 3 includes deadline keywords such as “response deadline” and “expiration date”.

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 17 stores a deadline date specifying standard 17d indicating a standard for specifying a date indicating a deadline indicated by a deadline keyword. The deadline date identification standard 17d is a standard indicating the range of positions with respect to the deadline keyword in the image read from the manuscript by the scanner 14.

The storage unit 17 stores a date indicating the deadline and a deadline priority standard 17e indicating a priority standard according to the time relationship with today.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the deadline priority standard 17e.

The deadline priority criterion 17e shown in FIG. 4 includes, for example, a criterion that the date indicating the deadline indicates a date three days after today or earlier as a criterion for determining the priority “high”. Further, the deadline priority criterion 17e shown in FIG. 4 includes, for example, a criterion that the date indicating the deadline indicates a day after one week after today as a criterion for determining the priority "low".

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 17 is a list of keywords for being determined as a priority "low" as a priority lower than the priority "medium" (hereinafter referred to as "keyword for determining low priority"). The keyword list 17f for low priority determination indicating the above is stored.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a keyword list 17f for determining low priority.

In the keyword list 17f for low priority determination shown in FIG. 5, for example, "guidance", "guidance letter", "notification", "notice", "confidential", etc. are considered to have low business priority. The keyword to be used is included as a low priority judgment keyword.

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 17 stores the low-priority job execution time 17g, which indicates the execution time of the low-priority fax transmission job.

The control unit 18 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs and various data, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is used as a work area of the CPU. There is. The CPU executes a program stored in the storage unit 17 or the ROM.

The control unit 18 executes the facsimile program 17a to generate a fax transmission job that causes the fax communication unit 15 to fax the image read from the manuscript by the scanner 14, and the fax transmission job generation means 18a and the manuscript by the scanner 14. Character acquisition means 18b that acquires characters by performing OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing on the image read from, and priority that sets the priority of the fax transmission job based on the characters acquired by the character acquisition means 18b. The degree setting means 18c is realized.

Next, the operation of the MFP 10 will be described.

First, the operation of the MFP 10 when updating the keyword list 17b for high priority determination will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when updating the high priority determination keyword list 17b.

The priority setting means 18c starts the operation shown in FIG. 6 when the start of the operation of updating the keyword list 17b for determining the high priority is instructed via the operation unit 11.

As shown in FIG. 6, the priority setting means 18c displays the high priority determination keyword list 17b on the display unit 12 (S101).

Next, the priority setting means 18c determines whether or not a change to the high priority determination keyword list displayed on the display unit 12 is instructed via the operation unit 11 (S102).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S102 that a change to the high priority determination keyword list displayed on the display unit 12 has been instructed via the operation unit 11, the content of the instructed change is transmitted to the display unit 12. It is reflected in the displayed keyword list for high priority determination (S103).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S102 that the change to the high priority determination keyword list displayed on the display unit 12 has not been instructed via the operation unit 11, or when the process of S103 is completed, the priority is set. It is determined whether or not the end of the update operation of the high determination keyword list 17b is instructed via the operation unit 11 (S104).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S104 that the end of the update operation of the high priority determination keyword list 17b has not been instructed via the operation unit 11, the process of S102 is executed.

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S104 that the end of the update operation of the priority high determination keyword list 17b is instructed via the operation unit 11, the priority high determination keyword list displayed on the display unit 12 is displayed. Updates the high priority determination keyword list 17b on the storage unit 17 (S105), and ends the operation shown in FIG.

In the above, the operation of the MFP 10 when updating the high priority determination keyword list 17b has been described. However, the deadline keyword list 17c, the deadline date identification criterion 17d, the deadline priority criterion 17e, and the low priority determination keyword list 17f The same applies to the operation of the MFP 10 when updating each of the low priority job execution time 17g.

Next, the operation of the MFP 10 when an image is read from the original by the scanner 14 for the fax transmission job will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when an image is read from a document by the scanner 14 for a fax transmission job.

The control unit 18 executes the operation shown in FIG. 7 when an instruction to read an image from the document by the scanner 14 is input via the operation unit 11 for a fax transmission job.

As shown in FIG. 7, the fax transmission job generation means 18a reads an image from the manuscript by the scanner 14 (S121), and executes a fax transmission job for causing the fax communication unit 15 to fax the image read in S121. Is generated in an undecided state (S122).

Next, the character acquisition means 18b performs OCR processing on the image read in S121 to acquire characters (S123).

Next, the priority setting means 18c executes a priority setting process for setting the priority of the fax transmission job generated in S122 (S124).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the priority setting process shown in FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 8, the priority setting means 18c determines whether or not the high priority determination keyword included in the high priority determination keyword list 17b is included in the characters acquired in S123 (S141). ..

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S141 that the high priority determination keyword included in the high priority determination keyword list 17b is not included in the characters acquired in S123, the deadline keyword included in the deadline keyword list 17c Is included in the characters acquired in S123 (S142).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S142 that the deadline keyword included in the deadline keyword list 17c is included in the characters acquired in S123, a flag for determining the priority as "low" (hereinafter, "low priority determination"). Defeat the "flag" (S143).

Next, the priority setting means 18c targets only one deadline keyword that has not yet been targeted among the deadline keywords included in the characters acquired in S123 (S144).

Next, the priority setting means 18c sets the date indicating the deadline indicated by the current target expiration keyword, that is, the range indicated by the expiration date specifying criterion 17d with respect to the current target expiration keyword in the image read in S121. It is determined whether or not the date indicated by the character arranged at the position inside is included in the character acquired in S123 (S145).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S145 that the date indicating the deadline indicated by the current target deadline keyword is included in the characters acquired in S123, the priority setting means 18c sets the date indicating the deadline indicated by the current target deadline keyword. , It is determined whether or not the temporal relationship with today satisfies the determination criterion of priority "high" shown in the deadline priority criterion 17e (S146).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S146 that the criterion of priority "high" is not satisfied, the time relationship between the date indicating the deadline indicated by the current target deadline keyword and today is the deadline priority. It is determined whether or not the criterion of priority "low" shown in the criterion 17e is satisfied (S147).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S147 that it satisfies the determination criterion of the priority "low", it sets a low priority determination flag (S148).

The priority setting means 18c determines in S145 that the date indicating the deadline indicated by the current target deadline keyword is not included in the characters acquired in S123, or does not satisfy the criterion of priority "low". When the determination is made in S147 or the processing of S148 is completed, it is determined whether or not there is a deadline keyword that has not yet been targeted among the deadline keywords included in the characters acquired in S123 (S149).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S149 that there is a deadline keyword that has not yet been targeted, the priority setting means 18c executes the process of S144.

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S149 that there is no deadline keyword that has not yet been targeted, it determines whether or not the low priority determination flag is set (S150).

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S142 that the expiration keyword included in the expiration keyword list 17c is not included in the characters acquired in S123, or determines in S150 that the low priority determination flag is not set. , It is determined whether or not the low priority determination keyword included in the low priority determination keyword list 17f is included in the characters acquired in S123 (S151).

The priority setting means 18c determines in S141 that the high priority determination keyword included in the high priority determination keyword list 17b is included in the characters acquired in S123, or determines that the priority is "high". When it is determined in S146 that the situation is satisfied, the priority of the fax transmission job generated in S122 is set as the priority "high" (S152), and the priority setting process shown in FIG. 8 is terminated.

When the priority setting means 18c determines in S151 that the low priority determination keyword included in the low priority determination keyword list 17f is not included in the characters acquired in S123, the fax transmission job generated in S122 The priority is set as the priority "medium" (S153), and the priority setting process shown in FIG. 8 ends.

The priority setting means 18c determines in S150 that the low priority determination flag is set, or includes the low priority determination keyword included in the low priority determination keyword list 17f in the characters acquired in S123. If it is determined in S151, the priority of the fax transmission job generated in S122 is set as the priority "low" (S154), and the priority setting process shown in FIG. 8 ends.

As shown in FIG. 7, the fax transmission job generating means 18a determines the priority set by the priority setting process of S124 when the priority setting process of S124 is completed (S125).

When the fax transmission job generating means 18a determines in S125 that the priority set by the priority setting process of S124 is the priority "high", the fax transmission job of either "medium" or "low" has a priority. Is included in the execution queue of the fax transmission job (hereinafter referred to as "fax queue") (S126).

When the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S126 that neither of the "medium" and "low" priority fax transmission jobs is included in the fax queue, the fax transmission job generated in S122 (hereinafter referred to as "target job"). ) Adds the target job to the fax queue (S127) so that it is executed at the end of all fax transmission jobs included in the fax queue, and ends the operation shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9A is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which a fax transmission job having a priority of “high” is included and a fax transmission job having a priority of “medium” and “low” is not included. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which a fax transmission job having a high priority is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 9A.

If there is no fax transmission job being executed, the control unit 18 starts executing the fax transmission job existing at the left end in the figure in the fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 9, and the fax transmission job that has started execution is started from the fax queue 20. delete. Although the fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 9 has been described, the same applies to the fax queue 20 shown in FIGS. 10 and later.

The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 9A does not include any of the "medium" and "low" priority fax transmission jobs, but includes one or more "high" priority fax transmission jobs 21a. It has been. The fax transmission job generating means 18a processes S127 when the target job is a high priority fax transmission job and the fax queue 20 immediately before the process of S127 is as shown in FIG. 9A. Adds the target job 21b to the fax queue 20 so that the target job 21b is executed at the end of all the fax transmission jobs included in the fax queue 20 as shown in FIG. 9B. .. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 9A may not include any fax transmission job 21a having a high priority.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the fax transmission job generating means 18a determines in S126 that any of the fax transmission jobs having the priority "medium" or "low" is included in the fax queue, the fax having the priority "medium" It is determined whether or not the transmission job is included in the fax queue (S128).

When the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S128 that a fax transmission job having a priority of "medium" is included in the fax queue, the fax transmission job having a priority of "medium" included in the fax queue is executed first. The target job is added to the fax queue (S129) so that the target job is executed immediately before the object, and the operation shown in FIG. 7 ends.

FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state including fax transmission jobs of priority “high”, “medium” and “low”. FIG. 10B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which a fax transmission job having a high priority is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 10A.

In the fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 10A, one or more priority “high” fax transmission jobs 21a, one or more priority “medium” fax transmission jobs 22a, and one or more priority fax transmission jobs 22a. A "low" fax transmission job 23a is included. The fax transmission job generation means 18a processes S129 when the target job is a high priority fax transmission job and the fax queue 20 immediately before the process of S129 is as shown in FIG. 10 (a). By executing the above, as shown in FIG. 10B, the target job 21b is executed immediately before the fax transmission job 22a having the priority "medium" included in the fax queue 20 and is executed first. As described above, the target job 21b is added to the fax queue 20. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 10A does not have to include at least one of a fax transmission job 21a having a high priority and a fax transmission job 23a having a low priority. ..

As shown in FIG. 7, when the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S128 that the fax transmission job having a "medium" priority is not included in the fax queue, the fax transmission having a priority "low" included in the fax queue is transmitted. The target job is added to the fax queue (S130) so that the target job is executed immediately before the job to be executed first, and the operation shown in FIG. 7 is terminated.

FIG. 11A is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which fax transmission jobs having a priority of “high” and “low” are included and fax transmission jobs having a priority of “medium” are not included. FIG. 11B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state where a fax transmission job having a high priority is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 11A.

The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 11A does not include a fax transmission job having a priority of "medium", but has one or more "high" priority fax transmission jobs 21a and one or more priorities. A "low" fax transmission job 23a is included. The fax transmission job generation means 18a processes S130 when the target job is a high priority fax transmission job and the fax queue 20 immediately before the process of S130 is as shown in FIG. 11A. By executing the above, as shown in FIG. 11B, the target job 21b is executed immediately before the fax transmission job 23a having the priority "low" included in the fax queue 20 and is executed first. As described above, the target job 21b is added to the fax queue 20. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 11A may not include any fax transmission job 21a having a high priority.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the fax transmission job generating means 18a determines in S125 that the priority set by the priority setting process of S124 is the priority "medium", the fax transmission job of the priority "low" Is included in the fax queue (S131).

When the fax transmission job generating means 18a determines in S131 that the fax transmission job having a priority of "low" is not included in the fax queue, the fax transmission job generation means 18a executes the process of S127.

FIG. 12A is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 including fax transmission jobs having high priority and medium priority and not including fax transmission jobs having low priority. FIG. 12B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which a fax transmission job having a priority of “medium” is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 12 (a).

The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 12A does not include a fax transmission job having a priority of "low", but has one or more "high" priority fax transmission jobs 21a and one or more priorities. A "medium" fax transmission job 22a is included. The fax transmission job generation means 18a processes S127 when the target job is a fax transmission job having a priority of “medium” and the fax queue 20 immediately before the process of S127 is as shown in FIG. 12 (a). By executing the above, the target job 22b is added to the fax queue 20 so that the target job 22b is executed at the end of all the fax transmission jobs included in the fax queue 20 as shown in FIG. 12 (b). .. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 12A does not have to include at least one of a fax transmission job 21a having a high priority and a fax transmission job 22a having a medium priority. ..

As shown in FIG. 7, when the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S131 that a fax transmission job having a "low" priority is included in the fax queue, the process of S130 is executed.

FIG. 13 (a) is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state including fax transmission jobs of priority “high”, “medium” and “low”. FIG. 13B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state where a fax transmission job having a priority of “medium” is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 13 (a).

In the fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 13A, one or more priority “high” fax transmission jobs 21a, one or more priority “medium” fax transmission jobs 22a, and one or more priority fax transmission jobs 22a. A "low" fax transmission job 23a is included. The fax transmission job generation means 18a processes S130 when the target job is a fax transmission job having a priority of "medium" and the fax queue 20 immediately before the process of S130 is as shown in FIG. 13A. By executing the above, as shown in FIG. 13B, the target job 22b is executed immediately before the fax transmission job 23a having the priority "low" included in the fax queue 20 and is executed first. As described above, the target job 22b is added to the fax queue 20. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 13A does not have to include at least one of a fax transmission job 21a having a high priority and a fax transmission job 22a having a medium priority. ..

As shown in FIG. 7, when the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S125 that the priority set by the priority setting process in S124 is the priority "low", the target job is set to the low priority job execution time. The operation shown in FIG. 7 is terminated by reserving the addition to the fax queue at the time shown in 17g (S132).

Next, the operation of the MFP 10 when there is a fax transmission job reserved to be added to the fax queue will be described.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when there is a fax transmission job reserved to be added to the fax queue.

When there is a fax transmission job (hereinafter referred to as “target reservation job”) reserved to be added to the fax queue, the control unit 18 executes the operation shown in FIG. 14 for each target reservation job.

As shown in FIG. 14, the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines whether or not it is time to add the target reservation job to the fax queue until it is determined that it is time to add the target reservation job to the fax queue. (S161).

When the fax transmission job generation means 18a determines in S161 that it is time to add the target reservation job to the fax queue, the target reservation job is executed so that the target reservation job is executed at the end of all the fax transmission jobs included in the fax queue. The reserved job is added to the fax queue (S162), and the operation shown in FIG. 14 ends.

FIG. 15 (a) is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state including fax transmission jobs of priority “high”, “medium” and “low”. FIG. 15B is a diagram showing an example of a fax queue 20 in a state in which a fax transmission job having a priority of “low” is added to the fax queue 20 in the state shown in FIG. 15 (a).

In the fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 15A, one or more priority “high” fax transmission jobs 21a, one or more priority “medium” fax transmission jobs 22a, and one or more priority fax transmission jobs 22a. A "low" fax transmission job 23a is included. When the fax queue 20 immediately before the processing of S162 is as shown in FIG. 15A, the fax transmission job generating means 18a executes the processing of S162 to fax as shown in FIG. 15B. The target reservation job 23b is added to the fax queue 20 so that the target reservation job 23b is executed at the end of all the fax transmission jobs included in the queue 20. The fax queue 20 shown in FIG. 15A includes a fax transmission job 21a having a high priority, a fax transmission job 22a having a medium priority, and a fax transmission job 23a having a low priority. At least one of the above may not be included at all.

As described above, the MFP 10 sets the priority of the fax transmission job based on the characters obtained by performing the OCR processing in S123 on the image read in S121 from the manuscript by the scanner 14 for the fax transmission job. Then (S124), the fax transmission job is executed at the timing according to the set priority (S127, S129, S130 and S132), so that the fax transmission can be executed at the timing according to the content of the manuscript.

The MFP10 generates a fax transmission job having a priority "high" when a fax transmission job having a priority lower than the priority "high" is included in the fax queue (YES in S126) (in S125, the priority is "high"). ”), The high priority fax transmission job is executed before the lower priority fax transmission job contained in the fax queue (S129 or S130), so that the priority is“ high ”. Fax transmission job can be executed early.

The MFP10 generates a fax transmission job having a priority "medium" when a fax transmission job having a priority lower than the priority "medium" is included in the fax queue (YES in S131) (in S125, the priority is "medium". ”), The fax transmission job with a priority of“ medium ”is executed before the fax transmission job with a priority lower than the priority“ medium ”included in the fax queue (S130). The send job can be executed early.

Since the MFP 10 executes the fax transmission job having a priority of "low" at a specific time (S132), the priority "" is set by setting a time that is less burdensome even if the fax transmission job is executed as a specific time. The burden of executing a "low" fax transmission job can be reduced. For example, if a specific time to execute a low-priority fax transmission job is set to a time zone when communication charges are low, such as midnight, the MFP 10 executes a low-priority fax transmission job. Communication charges for this can be reduced.

Since the MFP10 executes the fax transmission job with the priority (S142 to S150, S152 and S154) according to the time relationship between the deadline date included in the manuscript and today, the deadline date included in the manuscript is set. The fax transmission job can be executed at the timing according to the urgency based on the urgency.

Although the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is configured by the MFP in the present embodiment, it may be configured by an electronic device other than the MFP, such as a dedicated fax machine.

10 MFP (facsimile device)
14 Scanner (reading device)
15 Fax communication department (fax device)
17a Facsimile program 18a Fax transmission job generation means 18b Character acquisition means 18c Priority setting means 20 Fax queue (queue for executing fax transmission job)
21a Fax transmission job 21b Target job (fax transmission job)
22a Fax transmission job 22b Target job (fax transmission job)
23a Fax transmission job 23b Target reservation job (fax transmission job)

Claims (4)

A scanning device that reads images from the original,
Fax devices that perform fax communication and
A fax transmission job generating means for generating a fax transmission job for causing the fax device to fax an image read from a document by the scanning device.
A character acquisition means for acquiring characters by performing OCR processing on an image read from a document by the scanning device.
It is provided with a priority setting means for setting the priority of the fax transmission job based on the characters acquired by the character acquisition means.
The fax transmission job generation means sets the execution timing of the fax transmission job according to the priority set by the priority setting means .
The priority setting means includes a keyword indicating a deadline and a character indicating a date arranged at a position within a specific range with respect to the keyword indicating the deadline in an image read from a document by the reading device. If so, the facsimile machine is characterized in that the priority is set according to the time relationship between the date and today . The fax transmission job generating means is used when a low priority job as the fax transmission job whose priority set by the priority setting means is lower than a specific priority is included in the execution queue of the fax transmission job. , When the fax transmission job whose priority is set by the priority setting means is the specific priority, the execution timing of the fax transmission job is set to a timing before the low priority job. The facsimile machine according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile machine is used. When the fax transmission job generating means generates the fax transmission job whose priority set by the priority setting means is a specific priority, the fax transmission job generation means sets the execution timing of the fax transmission job to a specific time. The facsimile machine according to claim 1. A scanning device that reads images from the original,
With a fax device that performs fax communication
A facsimile program executed by a facsimile machine equipped with
A fax transmission job generating means for generating a fax transmission job for causing the fax device to fax an image read from a document by the scanning device.
A character acquisition means for acquiring characters by performing OCR processing on an image read from a document by the scanning device.
A priority setting means for setting the priority of the fax transmission job based on the characters acquired by the character acquisition means.
Was realized in the facsimile machine,
The fax transmission job generation means sets the execution timing of the fax transmission job according to the priority set by the priority setting means.
The priority setting means includes a keyword indicating a deadline and a character indicating a date arranged at a position within a specific range with respect to the keyword indicating the deadline in the image read from the document by the reading device. A facsimile program characterized by setting a priority according to the temporal relationship between the date and today.

Images