JPH01152867A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize the effect of interruption of transmission of sent information by providing an output destination change means interrupting data transmission to a relevant device when an output destination change request from a data reception device is received during data output and calling automatically other facsimile equipment designated in advance and outputting the remaining data. CONSTITUTION:In case of change of data transmission destination, a control circuit 1 applies dialing to an object change destination stored in a telephone number storage section at first to start data transmission. When the data reception by an abbreviated dial is designated, a telephone number storage section 21 calls an object opposite destination facsimile equipment to send the data and data destination is in the state of transmission load on its way due to recording paper near end, the other facsimile telephone number corresponding thereto specified by the abbreviation dial in the telephone number storage section 21 is retrieved to start an automatic dialer (ACU) 24 to call the retrieved opposite party and the succeeding data is given to the facsimile equipment being the retrieved object.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a facsimile machine that can reliably output to a device near the facsimile machine even when the remaining amount of recording paper is low.

[Prior Art] In conventional facsimile machines, when the recording roll paper runs out or approaches its end, the following countermeasures are taken.

■Equipped with a means to detect only the presence or absence of recording paper; if there is recording paper, data is received and printed on the recording paper; if the recording paper runs out, further reception is stopped;
How to open the line.

In this case, the transmitting side sends a predetermined procedure signal after image signal transmission is completed in order to transmit the next data, but the receiving device returns a response signal and the receiving device does not receive the image signal. I was aware of the interruption.

■When the recording paper approaches the end, the specified amount of recording paper remaining (
For example, if the remaining amount of recording paper is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount at the break of one page during data reception, the next page is received. .

That is, the receiver can correctly receive page by page.

On the other hand, if the remaining amount of recording paper is less than a predetermined amount at the end of one page, the transmitting device is informed that the reception is interrupted, and the next page is not received.

■When the recording paper approaches the end, the specified amount of recording paper remaining (
For example, it is equipped with a means for detecting 50 cm) and an auxiliary memory for recording a predetermined amount of image information, and if the remaining amount of recording paper is at least a predetermined amount at the break of one page while data is being received, the next page is not received. If the remaining amount of recording paper is less than the predetermined amount at the end of one page, the received data from the next page onwards is stored in the auxiliary memory sequentially, and reception continues until the storage area of the auxiliary memory runs out, and the received information is A method to display that information is stored in auxiliary memory.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional example, when performing facsimile communication, the recording paper in the facsimile receiving device runs out, or the received information is sequentially written to the auxiliary memory, and Reception had to be interrupted when there was no more space available for new storage.

In this case, on the transmitting device side, the original documents that have not yet been transmitted remain on the document table or in the transmitting memory.

In such a state, there is a low probability that the operator of the transmitting device immediately attempts to transmit the remaining original to the same recipient and the recording paper is set on the receiving device. For this reason, the operator on the transmitting device side calls the operator on the receiving party's side, requests him to set the recording paper, and retransmits the untransmitted manuscript.

For this reason, there was a major drawback in that it was extremely time consuming.

Also, if the transmitting device is a device equipped with memory,
Unsent information that has not yet been transmitted is stored in the memory, and the transmitting device can automatically make a call at predetermined time intervals to attempt to transmit information that has not yet been transmitted.

However, the receiving device has a drawback that there is a high probability that the recording paper is not set, and a large number of unnecessary calls are made.

Another disadvantage is that if untransmitted information is stored in memory for a long time, the memory cannot be used effectively.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, and as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present embodiment has the following configuration.

That is, there is a detecting means for detecting that the receiving device becomes unable to receive any more data during data reception, and when the detecting means detects that the receiving device becomes unable to receive data, it sends an output to the data transmitting device. a change output means for outputting a change request; and upon receiving an output destination change request from a data receiving device during data output, interrupting data transmission to the device;
and output destination changing means for automatically calling another pre-designated facsimile machine and outputting the remaining data.

[Operation] With the above configuration, even if data reception becomes impossible during data reception, communication can be reliably made by automatically calling another device, for example, another device near the receiving facsimile device, and transmitting information Accordingly, it is possible to provide a facsimile device that can minimize the effects of interruptions in transmission.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, and in the figure, 1 controls the entire apparatus according to the program shown in FIG. 2, which will be described later, and is stored in the ROM 2. 2 is a read-only memory (ROM) that stores various parameters in addition to the above-mentioned programs, and 3 is a random access memory (RAM) that temporarily stores processing data.
), 4 are connected to a public line network 50 via a line (telephone line) 31, and are used to perform data communication with other facsimile machines connected to this public line network 50, such as counterpart apparatuses 60 and 70. network control unit (NCU), 5 is NCU4
This is a telephone set connected to the If the mode signal 48 from the control circuit 1 is "0", the NCU 4 connects the line 31 to the station 5, and if it is "1", the NCU 4 connects it to the facsimile machine side, that is, the communication line 32 side to the hybrid circuit. This mode signal 48 is normally "0" and connects the line 31 to the S side.

6 is a hybrid circuit that separates the transmitting system signal and the receiving system signal in the signal connection between the facsimile machine side and the NCUJ side, and 7 is the signal from the V21 modulator 8, which will be described later, and the V2 circuit.
an adding circuit 8 that adds the signal from the 7/V29 modulator 12 and outputs the result to the hybrid circuit 6 as a transmission system signal;
is a V21 modulator that modulates the procedure signal 36 from the control circuit 1 based on the well-known CCITT recommendation V21. 1
0 is a reader that sequentially scans and reads the set transmission document line by line in the main scanning direction, converts it into a well-known binary signal of "white" and "black", and outputs it as a read signal 33. , an image sensor such as a charge-coupled device (COD), and an optical system. The configuration of this reader 10 is well known, so a description thereof will be omitted. 11 is an encoding circuit that encodes the transmission system signal 33, which is a binary signal from the adder circuit 13, into, for example, an MH (Modified Huffman) code or a MR (Modified Read) code; 12 is a V27/V2 code;
9 modulator and the well-known CCITT Recommendation V27ter.
(differential phase modulation) or CCITT
This is a modulator that performs modulation based on Recommendation v29 (orthogonal modulation). The modulated signal output 35 of the V27/V29 modulator is input to the above-mentioned adder circuit 7.

13 is an addition circuit that adds the binary signals from the message A sending circuit 19, the message B sending circuit 20, and the reader 10 and outputs the result as a transmission system signal 33; 15 is a known CCI
This is a V21 demodulator that demodulates the received signal sent from the hybrid circuit 6 based on TT Recommendation V21.
A demodulation procedure signal 38 from the demodulator 15 is sent to the control circuit 1, and the control circuit 1 executes reception control using a transmission control procedure according to the known demodulation procedure signal 38. Further, 16 is a V27/V29 demodulator that performs demodulation processing of the received signal sent from the hybrid circuit 6 in accordance with the well-known CCf TT recommendation V27ter (differential phase modulation) or based on CCITT recommendation v29 (quadrature modulation). It is. 17 is V
This is a demodulation circuit that performs a known decoding process, such as MH (modified Huffman) decoding or MR (modified read) decoding, on the demodulated signal 39 from the V.27/V29 demodulator 16. is sent to printer 18. The printer No. 18 is a known printer that prints out the composite data 40 line by line in the main scanning direction. A roll of recording paper is set in the printer 18, and a black band indicating the near end is written on the back side of the roll of recording paper over a predetermined distance from the end of the recording paper (printing). have been).

In this embodiment, the near end mark length is 50 cm. The printer 18 is equipped with a near-end mark detection section 18a that detects this near-end mark, and when the near-end mark detection section 18a does not detect the black band that is the near-end mark, it outputs a detection signal 4.
1 is set as "O", and "1" is output when it is detected.

19, when the control circuit 1 receives the recording paper near-end from the data transmission destination device 60, it transmits the remaining information to the data transmission destination device 60 as data similar to the read information from data 10. is a message A sending circuit for outputting information to the adder circuit 13 to the effect that "the message is to be output to another (another) facsimile machine installed nearby." Similarly, when the original facsimile device changes the transmission destination to another device at the recording paper near end, 20 tells the new facsimile device, ``The information to be sent is the continuation of the facsimile device number (the facsimile telephone number before the change). This is a message B sending circuit for outputting information to the adding circuit 13 that "is the same".

Reference numeral 21 denotes a telephone number storage unit that associates and stores a necessary number of facsimile machine telephone numbers for one update destination in this embodiment. A call process is performed to the target update party stored in the telephone number storage section, and data transmission is started. That is, for example, a plurality of telephone numbers of facsimile machines specified by one speed dial are stored, and when data transmission by speed dial is specified,
A call is made to the destination facsimile device from the telephone number storage section 21, and data is transmitted. If this data transmission destination is at the near-end of the recording paper, etc., and there is a transmission load on the way, another corresponding facsimile telephone number specified by speed dialing etc. in the telephone number storage unit 21 is searched and automatically dialed. The device (ACU) 24 is activated to make a call to the searched destination device, and subsequent data can be sent to the search destination facsimile device.

The searched facsimile device is one that is installed near the device that originally sent the data and is registered in advance.

22 is an operation section consisting of a numeric keypad, alphabet keys, one-touch keys, a start key, etc.;
4 is an ACtl that sends a telephone number signal corresponding to the telephone number output from the control circuit 1 to the public line network 50 via the NCU 4.

The control of this embodiment having the above configuration will be explained below.

Note that when transmitting data in normal conditions, a transmission original is read by the reader 10, encoded by the encoding circuit 11 via the addition circuit 13, modulated by the V27/V29 modulator 12, and then encoded by the V21 modulator 18. The addition circuit 7 performs addition processing together with the procedural modulation signal 37, and the hybrid circuit 6 and NCU 4
This is done by transmitting the information to the other party's device 60 or 70 via the .

Since these processes are well known, detailed explanation will be omitted.

In addition, data received from the partner device 60 during normal operation is sent to the NCU.
4, hybrid circuit 6, V 27/V 2
The signal is demodulated by a demodulator 16, decoded by a decoding circuit 17, and printed out by a printer 18. The procedure signal is then demodulated by the V21 demodulator 15 and sent to the control circuit 1.

Since these reception processes are also well known, detailed explanation will be omitted.

The details of the processing after near-end mark detection by the near-end mark detection unit 18a of the printer 18, which is the characteristic configuration and operation unique to this embodiment, will be explained below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2. .

When the device is powered on, the process advances to step S42, where the CM
Turn off the L signal and connect the line to the telephone 5 side,
In the following step S44, it is monitored whether a call request is made manually by inputting a one-touch dial or abbreviated dial of the operation unit 22, and if there is no call request, other steps such as called processing are performed in step S46. Execute the process.

If there is a request to make a call, from step S44 to step 5
Proceed to step 48, search the telephone number storage unit 21 to find the telephone number of the destination facsimile machine for which the call request was made, and select N.
Instructs CU4 to form a DC loop on the line and connects ACU2.
The telephone number obtained in step 4 is output, converted into a corresponding telephone number signal, and sent to the line to call a desired destination device, for example, the destination device 6°. Then, in step S49, a called signal is sent to the other party's device 60 by the action of the switching equipment of the line network (not shown), the other party's device responds, and the NCU 4 monitors whether or not a communication path is formed. When a response is detected, the process proceeds to step S50, where the CML signal 48 is turned on, and the subsequent step S52 executes pre-procedure processing. Specifically, in addition to connecting the line 31 to the hybrid circuit 6 side by setting the mode signal 48 to 1'', processing such as detection of various device states is performed.

Next, in step S54, the transmitted document is read into the connected partner device (60), for example, from the reader 10, and the adding circuit 1
V27/V29
The signal is modulated by the modulator 12, added together with the procedural modulation signal 37 from the V21 modulator 18 by the adder circuit 7, and image transmission processing is performed to transmit it to the partner device 60 via the hybrid circuit 6 and NCU 4. Then, in step S56, it is checked whether there is a next page of the document to be sent, that is, whether there is a document to be sent following the reader 1o. If there is no next page of the document to be sent, the process proceeds to step 358, and the line 31 is restored. Then, post-processing such as connecting the line 31 and the telephone 5 is executed. Then, the process returns to step S42.

If there is still data to be transmitted in step S56, the process advances to step S60, and it is checked whether linear end information has been transmitted from the partner device 60.

The receiving device side executes a receiving process for the image signal sent from the transmitting device. In this case, the procedure signal is demodulated by the V21 demodulator 15 and sent to the control circuit 1, and the data signal is demodulated by the V2F/V29 demodulator 16 and then decoded by the decoding circuit 1F. Main scanning direction 1 from printer 18
Printed out line by line. This is to check whether or not the near-end detection section 18a has detected the near-end before receiving data for the next page, and if it has detected the near-end, to notify the transmitting device of the near-end of the recording paper.

Therefore, if the transmitting device does not receive the near-end detection signal from the receiving device, this indicates that it is possible to output the next page to the receiving device. Therefore, in this case, the process returns from step S60 to step 554, and the reader 1
Scans the next page of the original from 0 and sends the read data.

On the other hand, when the receiving device detects the near-end of the recording paper, it is no longer possible to send data to the other party's device, so the process proceeds to step S61, where the message A sending circuit 19 is activated and the above-mentioned predetermined message is sent to the connected party. In step S62, step S5 is sent to the device 60.
Post-processing similar to step 8 is executed to restore the communication line with the partner device 60.

Then, in step S64, the CML signal is turned off again to prepare for making a call, connect the line to the ACU 24 side, and connect another device registered in the telephone number storage section 21 together with the facsimile device that has been transmitting until now, e.g. Partner device 7
Check and read out the phone number of 0. This partner device 70 is located near the partner device 60, and step 366
Then, the telephone number of this new partner device 70 is output to the ACU 24, converted into a corresponding telephone number signal, and output to the line 31. Then, in step S67'', a communication path is formed with the slave device 70 and waits for the partner device 70 to respond. When the partner device 70 responds, the process advances to step 568, where the CML signal is turned on and the line is transferred to the hybrid circuit 6 side. Then, in step 368, a pre-procedure process similar to step S52 is executed, and in the subsequent step S71, the message B sending circuit 20 is activated to send the above-mentioned predetermined message to the connection partner device 70, and in the subsequent step S72, necessary When all the image transmission processes are completed, the process advances from step S72 to step 374, where post-processing similar to step 358 is executed and the communication line with the other party device F0 is restored.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, even if the recording paper on the receiving device side runs out during facsimile communication, the remaining transmission information on the transmitting device side is installed near the receiving device (
It can be automatically forwarded to other facsimile machines (in the same company, etc.).

This eliminates the need for troublesome operations such as the operator on the transmitting device side making telephone contact with the operator on the receiving device side.

In particular, if the facsimile device on the sending side is equipped with an auxiliary memory and the original to be sent is temporarily stored in this auxiliary memory before calling and transmitting, the re-calling process is performed on the same receiving device. Even if an attempt is made to transmit the remaining transmission data, there is little possibility of individual connection, and if there is no operator available, such as late at night, it is impossible to transmit even if the call is set up again. Even in such a case, according to this embodiment, desired transmission data can be reliably transmitted.

[Second Embodiment] The above explanation explains how, when the amount of recording paper becomes less than a predetermined amount during data communication, the communication path with the receiving device is opened and other facsimile devices near the receiving device are automatically connected. Although an example has been described in which a call is made and communication is performed with this new facsimile device, the present invention is not limited to this.

That is, if the receiving device is equipped with the above-mentioned auxiliary memory, the data from the transmitting device is stored on the recording paper and in the auxiliary memory.

Therefore, in such a case, even if the remaining amount of recording paper falls below a predetermined amount, reception does not immediately become impossible; instead, it is sufficient to temporarily store it in the auxiliary memory and take it out later. Therefore, if a device equipped with this auxiliary memory is a receiving device, it will not immediately output the near end of the chart paper even if the remaining amount of chart paper becomes less than a predetermined amount. Control should be performed so that the near end of the recording paper is output for the first time.

By controlling in this way, even in a facsimile machine equipped with an auxiliary memory, data can be efficiently transferred to another machine only when it becomes truly impossible to receive the received data.

[Third Embodiment] In the above explanation, when a paper near-end is detected, a notification to that effect is sent to the sending device, and when the sending device receives this, it sends a message to the telephone of another facsimile device that has been stored in association with it in advance. An example of searching for a number and automatically calling the searched device was performed.

However, instead of this, the sending device does not record the phone number of this transfer destination device, and when the receiving device becomes unable to receive data to itself, it changes the output (transfer). ) The telephone number of the facsimile machine to be used is registered, and when the receiving device becomes unable to receive data, the telephone number of the facsimile machine as an alternative to hold is output to the receiving device along with the recording paper near-end signal. Good too. The transmitting device controls the receiving device to send the remaining data to the facsimile machine having the specified telephone number.

By doing this, recording paper will run out during data transmission with any facsimile device, and even if transmission is not possible, it can be sent to the most suitable device instead. Alternative transmission can be performed to the other party, and the receiving device can also select the most suitable device depending on the transmission time.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the above description, the message A sending circuit 19 sends data to the destination device 60, saying, "The remaining information is output to another (another) facsimile machine installed nearby." It was configured to send message information to the effect.

However, the present invention is not limited to this, and if the sending device knows the telephone number of the facsimile device that should send the message in place of the receiving device, it can change the outgoing message to the above message and Information is (03-12
3-1111) or (03-123-1112) as message information □.

By doing this, even if the receiving device runs out of recording paper and cannot transmit, the device to which the alternative transmission was made can be reliably recognized.

[Fifth Embodiment] In the above description, the message information is sent from the message A sending circuit 19 to the data sending destination device 60 as image information.

However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the message information described above is converted into image information by the receiving device and sent to the printer.
8, the sending side device does not perform the process of step S61, and in the post-processing of step S62, sets and sends a command to instruct this message sending, and when the receiving side device receives this command, the above-mentioned process is performed. The configuration may also be configured to output a message.

In the case of the fourth embodiment described above, by sending this command together with the telephone number of the facsimile device to be forwarded, the receiving device side can receive the message described in the fourth embodiment that includes this telephone number. All you have to do is output .

As a result, transmission time can be shortened, and at the same time, problems such as difficulty in reading output information due to transmission errors can be prevented.

[Sixth Example] In the above explanation, the phone number stored in the phone number storage unit 21 is
An example has been described in which the telephone number of the facsimile machine corresponding to the telephone number specified by inputted one-touch dialing or speed dialing is registered in association with the telephone number.

However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured such that the telephone number of a nearby facsimile machine can be registered in association with input of a telephone number using the telephone number input key of the operation section 22. In this case, it is desirable to have a configuration that allows specification at the same time as inputting a telephone number.

By doing this, even when updating with any facsimile device, there will be no possibility that the recording paper will run out during the update process and that transmission will not be possible.

``Seventh Embodiment'' In the above description, the case where the receiving device becomes unable to receive data during transmission and the transfer is made to an alternative device has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the call processing If the device is busy at the beginning of the process, the device may be controlled to be transferred to another device.

By controlling in this way, data can be sent to the other party not only when the recording paper runs out, but also even when the other party is communicating with another device. Data can be sent without any operation.

[Eighth Embodiment] In the above embodiments, the explanation was made as if there was only one alternative facsimile machine, but there is no limit to the number of alternative facsimile machines, and the alternative facsimile machines are prioritized. According to this priority order, control may be performed such that transmission is performed sequentially from a device with a higher priority order to a device with a lower priority order.

This allows data transmission to be performed more reliably.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, data to be transmitted can be reliably transmitted to the other party without complicated operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control flowchart of the embodiment. In the figure, 1...control circuit, 2...ROM, 3...-RA
M. 4... NCU, 5... Telephone, 6... Hybrid circuit, 7.13... Adder circuit, 8... V21 modulator, 10-... Reader, 11... Encoding circuit, 12・
...V27/v29 modulator, 15...V21 demodulator,
16...V27/V29 demodulator, 17...decoding circuit, 18...printer, 18a...near end mark detection unit, 19.20...message sending circuit, 21
...Telephone number storage section, 22...Operation section,
60.70...This is the other party's device.

Claims (8)

[Claims] (1) A detection means for detecting that the receiving device becomes unable to receive any more data while receiving data, and when the detection means detects that the receiving device becomes unable to receive data, the data is output to the data transmitting device. A change output means outputs a change request, and when an output destination change request is received from a data receiving device during data output, data transmission to the device is interrupted, and another facsimile device specified in advance is automatically called. A facsimile device comprising output destination changing means for outputting remaining data. (2) The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means disables reception if it detects that the remaining amount of recording paper in the receiving device becomes less than a predetermined amount during data reception. . (3) If the detection means detects that the remaining amount of recording paper in the receiving device becomes less than a predetermined amount while receiving data, and the storage capacity of the storage means for storing received information becomes less than a predetermined amount, reception becomes impossible. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile apparatus is in a state. (4) When the output destination changing means outputs the interrupted data from another device, it also transmits data indicating that the transmitted data is the output destination changed data. The facsimile device according to any one of items 1 to 3. (5) Claims characterized in that when the output destination changing means outputs the interrupted data from another device, it transmits data indicating that the transmitted data is to be transferred to the other device to the interrupting device. The facsimile device according to any one of items 1 to 4. (6) The output destination changing means stores the telephone number of another facsimile device in association with the telephone number of the transmitting device, and searches this stored information to identify the facsimile device to which the transfer is to be made. The facsimile device according to any one of items 1 to 5. (7) Any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the telephone number of the facsimile device to which the output destination changing means transfers data can be specified and input using a telephone number input key provided on the device. The facsimile machine described in . (8) The output destination changing means specifies the facsimile device to which the transfer is to be made according to the telephone number of the other facsimile device sent from the receiving device. facsimile machine.