JPH01170260A - Control system for facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly use the abbreviation transmission mode by interrupting the succeeding transmission processing when a pause key is operated, inhibiting the operation of the operating means other than the pause key and restarting the transmission processing when the pause key is operated again. CONSTITUTION:When the operator sets a transmission original, interrupts the transmission operation and depresses a pause key, a message during pause is displayed on a display device and the reading of a scanner 10 is stopped and the transmission operation of an operation display section 12 is inhibited, then the other operator cannot apply other transmission operation. Then, the fact of transmission originals to different destinations set by the separate operators sent to one destination only is prevented and the picture information is sent properly.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field] The present invention relates to a control method for a facsimile machine.

[Prior art] Generally, when transmitting an image using a facsimile machine, the operator sets the original to be sent in the machine, sets various information such as the destination etc. required for transmission, completes the settings, and turns on the start key. do.

As a result, transmission control processing by the facsimile device is started, and at the message transmission stage, the set transmission document is read and transmitted to the destination. When the transmission is completed and all the transmitted originals are ejected, the operator collects the transmitted originals.

The series of operations ends.

In this way, the operator's operation and the operation of the facsimile machine are performed sequentially, which has conventionally caused the disadvantage that the operator's intervention time in the facsimile machine is relatively long.

Therefore, in order to eliminate this inconvenience, the present applicant has developed a facsimile machine equipped with a shortened transmission mode that can shorten the operator's intervention time by performing the operator's operation and the facsimile machine's reading of the transmission document in parallel. (Refer to Tokuken Sho 61-137335).

However, with such conventional devices, if an operator who has read a transmitted document in this shortened transmission mode returns to his or her seat to check the destination and does not complete the transmission operation, other operators may When another transmission original is read, a destination is input, and a transmission start is commanded, the transmission image accumulated by the previous operator is also transmitted to the destination specified by the subsequent operator, which is an inconvenience.

[Objective] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a control method for a facsimile machine that can appropriately use the shortened transmission mode.

[Configuration] The present invention includes a pause key that interrupts a transmission operation, and when this Bose key is operated, subsequent transmission processing is interrupted and operation means other than the pause key are prohibited, and when the pause key is operated again. The sending process will be restarted.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a document conveyance system of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a document placed on a document table 1 is conveyed by conveyance rollers 2 and 3, and is illuminated by a light source 5 on a contact glass 4, and the reflected light from the image surface is reflected by tIt6. An image is formed on a line image sensor 8 by a lens 7 . Further, a document sensor 9 for detecting a yX document is arranged on the document table l.

FIG. 2 illustrates the control system of this device.

In the figure, a scanner 1O is used to read original images at a predetermined resolution, a plotter 11 is used to record and output copy images and received images at a predetermined resolution, and an operation display section 12 is used to read the original image at a predetermined resolution. It consists of a display that displays various types of information such as various operation keys necessary to operate the device and guidance messages to guide the operator's operation procedures.One image memory 13 is used to store images. It is something.

The encoding/decoding units 14 and 15 encode and compress the image signal and decode the encoded image information into the original signals, and the system control unit 16 controls the entire facsimile machine. The communication control unit 17 is for executing a predetermined transmission control procedure when transmitting data with a partner device, and the modem 18 exchanges digital data using an analog transmission path such as a telephone line. The network controller 19 has an automatic call/receive function and is also used to connect this facsimile machine to an analog transmission line.

Further, a detection signal from the document sensor 9 is applied to the system control section 16.

These scanner 10, plotter 11, operation display section 12, image memo January 3. Encoding/decoding section 14゜15
, system control unit 16. Necessary data is exchanged between the communication control unit 17 and the system bus 20.

It should be noted that each element of this facsimile machine has a similar configuration to that of a conventional device, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows a part of the operation panel of the operation display section 12. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, a start key 12a is used to instruct the facsimile machine to start a transmission operation, etc., and is a numeric keypad! 2b is for inputting numerical data such as a telephone number, the Bose key 12c is for temporarily stopping the transmission operation, etc., and the display 12d is for inputting character strings and figures such as guidance messages. This is a display device with a large degree of display freedom.

Now, when sending image information using this facsimile device,
The system control unit 16 executes the processes shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C to realize a shortened transmission mode in which the operator's transmission (J operation and document reading are performed in parallel).

That is, the system control unit 16 monitors when the document sensor 9 is turned on when a document is set on the scanner 10 (No loop of judgment 101), and when the document sensor 9 is turned on when the operator sets a document to be transmitted. , this judgment 100
If the result is YES, the scanner IO starts the original reading operation (process 102), the read image signal is encoded and compressed by the encoder/decoder 14 (103), and the image information is sent to the image memo. 3 (processing 104)
.

Further, the system control unit 16 determines that the result of 1 judgment 101 is YE.
In the case of S, the operator is asked to input the necessary information when transmitting image information, such as the destination's phone number information, etc. while displaying an appropriate guidance message, and when all necessary information is input. Displays a guidance message asking you to turn on the start key.

The system control unit 16 executes processes 102 to 104 to determine whether the image memory 13 is full (the result of judgment 105 is YES).
, to finish reading all documents (result of judgment 106 is YES), press start key 12a from operation display section 12.
The process is repeatedly executed until either the pause key 12c is turned on (the result of judgment 107 is YES) or the pause key 12c is turned on (the result of judgment 108 is YES).

In this repeated process, judgment 105 or judgment 10
When the result of step 6 becomes l/ES, the system control unit 16 stops the reading operation of the scanner lO (process 109).
Either the operator's transmission operation is completed and the start key 12a is turned on (the result of judgment 110 is YES), or
Monitor and judge when the Bose key is turned on 12c 111
), if the result of the determination 110 is YES, a predetermined transmission procedure is started (process 112). Also, the result of judgment 107 is Y.
When it becomes ES, the reading operation of the scanner 10 is stopped at that point (process 113), and the process moves to process 112 to start the transmission procedure.

As a result, the system control unit 16 transfers the destination telephone number input by the operator to the network control device 19 to make a call to the destination, and also causes the 1 communication control unit 17 to start a predetermined transmission control procedure at the time of transmission. command to do so.

Then, at the message transmission stage, it is first determined whether the image information stored in the image memory 13 and the encoding mode of the destination are the same (determination 114).

When the result of judgment 114 is NO, image memory 1
The image information stored in 3 is read out and decoded into the original image signal by the encoding/decoding unit 14 (processing 115), and the image signal is encoded using the encoding method set at that time with the destination. Encoding and compression processing 1 by the encoding/decoding unit 15
16), and transfers it to the modem 18 via the communication control unit 17 (process 117). Processes 115 to 117 are repeatedly executed until the image information stored in the image memory 13 is finished (determination 118). No loop).

Further, when the result of the judgment 114 is NO, the image information stored in the image memo January 3 is sequentially read out and transferred to the modem 18 via the communication control unit 17. Process 119)
, is repeatedly executed until the image information stored in the image memo January 3 is completed (No loop of judgment 120).

In this way, when the transmission of the image information stored in the image memory 13 is completed, it is checked whether the document sensor 9 is on at that time (judgment 121).
When the result is YES, there is a document to be sent that has not been transmitted yet, so the reading operation of the scanner 10 is restarted (process 122), the document is encoded by the encoding/decoding section 15 (process 123), and the document is sent to the modem 18. Transfer (processing 124). The processes 122 to 124 are executed until the reading of all original documents is completed (No loop of judgment 125), and this process is ended.

Furthermore, if the result of the determination 121 is No, this process is immediately terminated because the transmission of all transmission originals has already been completed.

Note that among the image information stored in the image memory 13, that which has been transmitted to the destination is erased.

In this way, in the shortened transmission mode, when the operator places the original to be transmitted on the scanner IO, reading of the original to be transmitted starts and the operator can perform the transmission operation. Since these operations are performed in parallel, the operator's intervention time is extremely short.

In addition, if the number of transmission originals set is very large and not all are stored in the image memory 13, the stored portion is read out from the image memory 13 and transmitted, so the time required for that portion is This is shorter than when transmitting while reading the original.

Overall, operator intervention time is reduced.

Meanwhile, the operator interrupts the transmission operation and presses the pause key 12.
When c is turned on and the result of 1 judgment 108 or 111 becomes YES, the system control unit 16 stops the reading operation of the scanner 10 at that point and displays a message on the 1 display 12d, for example, “Pausing. Processing to display messages during pause such as "Cannot send at this time." 1
27) The scanner 10 is set to an image reading prohibited state, the operation input on the operation display unit 12 is prohibited, and the internal state is set to a transmission interrupted state (process 128).

Then, this state is maintained for a certain period of time, or
Wait until the pause key 12c is turned on again (Judgment 12)
9,130 No loops).

Here, the operator turns on the pause key 12c again in order to continue the transmission operation, and the result of judgment 130 is YES.
When this happens, image reading is restarted (process 131), and the process moves to process 102 to execute subsequent processes.

Further, if the operator leaves the state as it is and the result of judgment 129 becomes YES after a certain period of time has elapsed, the read image obtained by reading the transmitted document at that time is stored in the image memory 13.
A process 132) to delete the transmitted image at that time and an error report indicating that the transmission operation has been stopped is recorded and outputted from the plotter 11 (133), and the process shifts to a standby state.

Therefore, if the operator interrupts the sending operation and turns on the pause key 12c after setting the original to be sent,
During the pause, a message is displayed on the display 12d, the reading operation of the scanner 10 is stopped, and the operation display section 1
Since the second transmission operation is prohibited, other operators cannot perform other transmission operations.

Therefore, originals set by different operators to be sent to different destinations are prevented from being sent to one of the destinations, thereby making it possible to appropriately send image information.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the original image is transmitted is explained, but the same process can also be executed when forming a copy of the original image, and even in that case, the operator's intervention time is reduced. can be shortened.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the reading of the image is interrupted immediately at the end of the operator's operation, but the reading may be interrupted when the page being read at that time is finished.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the encoding/decoding section is
However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where one encoding/decoding section is provided.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, a pause key for interrupting a transmission operation is provided, and when this pause key is operated, subsequent transmission processing is interrupted and operation of operating means other than the pause key is prohibited. Since the transmission process is restarted when the pause key is operated again, the shortened transmission mode can be used appropriately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a document transport system of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a control system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation panel of an operation display section. FIGS. 4(a) to 4(c) are flowcharts showing an example of processing executed by the system control unit at the time of transmission. 9... Original sensor, 10... Scanner, 12...
Operation display unit, 12c...Pause key, 12d...Display device, 13...Image memory, 14.15...Encoding/decoding unit, 16...System control unit. Figure 1 Figure 4 (a) Figure 4 (c)

Claims (1)

[Claims] When a transmission original is set, it starts reading the original image, stores the read image information in the image storage means, and transmits the image information stored in the image storage means to the specified destination when the transmission operation is completed. A control method for a facsimile machine equipped with a shortened transmission mode includes a pause key that interrupts a transmission operation, and when this pause key is operated, the subsequent transmission processing is interrupted, and operation of any operating means other than the pause key is prohibited, and the operation is restarted. A control method for a facsimile machine characterized by restarting transmission processing when a pause key is operated.