JPH03108953A - Picture information communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily discriminate which original relates to transmission result information by utilizing picture information of the original stored in picture information storage means. CONSTITUTION:A picture information read means 3 reads picture information of an original, a picture information storage means 34 stores part of the read picture information and picture information transmission means 31, 32 send the read picture information to the reception destination. Thus, the stored picture information is utilized in various modes. For example, the transmission result information including the picture information stored in the picture information storage means 34 is informed to the operator or the like. Thus, when the operator of the sender side acquires the transmission result information, to which picture information the information belongs is easily discriminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a communication device, and particularly to an image information communication device capable of transmitting image information of a document to a recipient.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

As an example of a conventional communication device, there is already a known facsimile machine that can register multiple facsimile machines connected to multiple telephone lines in association with their telephone numbers when the destination party owns the facsimile machines. There is. In this type of facsimile, if the first facsimile of the destination party cannot receive the message due to being busy or the like, the facsimile is automatically sent to another registered facsimile.

This reduces the frequency of failures in transmission to the destination, and reduces the effort required for the operator to make a call again.

As described above, in the case of a destination that has a plurality of facsimile machines, these facsimile machines are often placed relatively far apart. In extreme cases, the facsimiles may be located on different floors or in different buildings.

However, in the conventional configuration, if the recipient's facsimile is unable to send due to some reason such as being in use, and the image is sent to another registered facsimile, the image information will arrive at the recipient's other facsimile. It is difficult to know whether there are any.

So, after sending to another facsimile,
It is conceivable to adopt a configuration in which the first facsimile that attempts to send is notified that it has sent to another facsimile. However, with that configuration, it is difficult to determine what kind of content was sent to another fax machine in the first place.
For this reason, even if the operator of the first facsimile goes to retrieve the necessary image information from the second facsimile, the operator of the second facsimile cannot know the information.
If the number of received images is large on the first facsimile side, it is difficult for the operator on the first facsimile side to find the necessary image information.

On the other hand, on the sending side, if the number of transmissions is large, which image information is sent to the second facsimile instead of the first?
It is difficult to determine whether the fax was sent to another fax machine. For this reason, for example, when an inquiry is received from the receiving side, an operator on the transmitting side cannot respond accurately.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily recognize which image information has been sent when a facsimile is sent to a different facsimile instead of the first facsimile to which it was sent. The object of the present invention is to provide a possible image information communication device.

[Means to solve the problem]

The image information communication device according to the present invention includes an image information reading means for reading image information of a document, an image information storage means for storing a part of the read image information, and a receiver for transmitting the read image information. and image information transmitting means for transmitting the image information.

More specifically, this communication device further includes notification means for notifying the operator of transmission result information. The communication result information includes image information stored in the image information storage means.

The previous image information communication means includes a first transmission means for transmitting the image information to the first communication destination, and a first transmission means for transmitting the image information to the second communication destination when transmission to the first communication destination is impossible. a second transmitting means for transmitting information; and a second transmitting means for transmitting the information transmitted from the first communication destination to the second communication destination when the second transmission means transmits, and for transmitting the image information stored in the image information storage means. The third transmitting means may also be provided.

[Effect]

In the communication device according to the present invention, the image information reading means reads the image information of the document. Next, the image information storage means
Stores part of the read image information. Further, the image information transmitting means transmits the read image information to a receiving destination.

In this case, part of the image information of the document is stored in the image information storage means. Therefore, this stored image information can be used in various ways. For example, if the communication device includes notification means, it is possible to notify the operator of transmission result information including image information stored in the image information storage means. Thereby, when an operator on the transmitting side obtains transmission result information, it is possible to easily determine which image information the information corresponds to.

Furthermore, when the image information communication means includes a first transmission means, a second transmission means, and a third transmission means, the operator on the receiving side can utilize the stored image information.

That is, when transmitting by the second transmitting means, the first
In addition to the image information sent to the second communication destination, the stored image information is also sent to the communication destination, so the operator of the first communication destination can check the image information sent to the second communication destination. You can easily find out what it was like.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of a facsimile machine as an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the facsimile 1 mainly has a recording section 2.
and a reading section 3 disposed above it.

The recording unit 2 is provided with a thermal head 6 for printing received information on thermal paper 5. A printing roller 7 is arranged below the thermal head 6, and a cutter (not shown) is used to insert and cut the tip of the thermal paper 5 wound in a roll between the thermal head 6 and the printing roller 7. ) and a conveyance path 8 are provided in this order. On the downstream side of the conveyance path 8, a pair of upper and lower discharge rollers 9 and a cutter (not shown) are arranged. Furthermore, on the downstream side of the ejection roller 9, there is an ejection area where recording paper and original documents are ejected!・Rae 4 has been taken.

The reading unit 3 includes a light source 11 for reading image information on the document. Mirrors 12 a to 12 c and a CCD unit 13 are provided. Upstream side of reading section 3 (
A paper feeder 15 is disposed on the right side of FIG. 1, and a document conveyance path 14 is provided between the two. It should be noted that a power supply unit 16 is disposed adjacent to the thermal paper 5 at the end of the facsimile 1 on the transmission side.

An operation panel 20 is arranged on the upper surface of the facsimile main body 1 above the reading section 3 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 2o includes a start key 21 for commanding the start of transmission, a numeric keypad 22 for dialing, a registration key 23 for registering a telephone number for auto-dial, and a key for calling a registered telephone number. It has various keys such as a one-touch key 24 for automatically starting dialing.

Further, the operation panel 20 is provided with a display section 25 composed of an LCD or the like.

Furthermore, this facsimile has a control section 30 as shown in FIG. The control unit 3o includes a microcomputer including a CPU.

The control section 30 is connected to the thermal head 6 of the recording section 2, the CCD unit 13 of the reading section 3, and the operation panel 20 shown in FIG. Furthermore, the control unit 30 includes a modem 31 that modulates the transmitted signal and demodulates the received signal;
A network control unit (NCU) 32 that controls line connection with an external line, a mechanism section 33 that includes various rollers that transport the thermal paper 5 and the original, and an area that stores part of the image information of the original. A memory 34 having an area for storing information such as fixed phrases is connected.

The facsimile machine according to the above-mentioned embodiment has a control unit 3 in FIG.
0 operates as follows. In addition, Figures 4A to 4
Figure C is a control flowchart.

When a main switch (not shown) of the facsimile is turned on, initial settings such as running a check program for various sensors (not shown) are performed in step Sl in FIG. 4A.

Next, in step S2, it is determined whether or not there is a facsimile reception from outside. If there is no reception, step S3
The bee goes to. In step S3, it is determined whether or not a manual transmission command has been issued by pressing the numeric keypad 22 corresponding to the telephone number.0If there is no manual transmission command, the process moves to step s4. In step S4, it is determined whether an automatic transmission command has been issued by pressing the one-touch key 24. If there is no automatic transmission command, step S
Move to 5. In step s5, it is determined whether a registration operation has been performed by pressing the registration key 23. If a registration operation instruction has not been issued, the process moves to step S6. In step S6, it is determined whether there are commands from keys or commands from sensors corresponding to other various functions. If there is no such instruction, the process returns to step S2 again. That is, the program performs step S
The input of the command is waited for by repeating the judgment from Step 2 to Step S6. Here, if the judgment in Step s6 is Yes, the process moves to Step s7.

In step S7, various processes are performed according to the command, and then the process returns to the main routine again.

When receiving a transmission from the outside, the determination in step S2 is Yes and the process moves to step s8.
8, the received code is turned on and off of the thermal head 6.
Convert to FF operation. Further, by rotating the print roller 7 and the discharge roller 9, the thermal paper 5 is conveyed to the discharge tray 4 side. This allows the received image information to be transferred to the thermal paper 5.
, and the recorded thermal paper 5 is discharged onto the discharge tray 4.

When the receiving operation is completed, the process returns to the main routine again.

On the other hand, if the operator presses the registration key 23 to instruct autodial registration, the process moves from step S5 to step S9. In step S9, by operating the numeric keypad 22, one-touch keys 24, etc., the telephone number corresponding to each one-touch key 24 is stored in the memory 34. Further, among the registered telephone numbers, telephone numbers corresponding to different facsimiles of the same destination are associated with each other, and their priorities are determined. In this embodiment, telephone numbers can be associated with three facsimile machines. When the registration operation in step S9 is completed, the process returns to the main routine.

If the operator presses the numeric keypad 22 while waiting by repeating the determination in the main routine, it is determined that this is input of a telephone number by manual transmission. As a result, the determination in step S3 becomes Yes, and the process moves to step s10. In step SIO, the manual transmission subroutine of FIG. 4B is executed.

In step Sll of FIG. 4B, a telephone number input operation is performed using the numeric keypad 22. The entered telephone number is stored in memory 34. This telephone number input operation is performed in step S12 by pressing the start key 21.
This process continues until the decision in ``Yes'' is made. Step S1
In step 2, it is determined whether or not the start key 21 is operated to end the input of the telephone number and to start communication. If the determination is Yes, the process moves to step 313. In step S13, the number of auto-redials (for example, three times) is substituted for the number of times N. In step S14, the telephone number input in step 311 is dialed. In step 515, it is determined whether the destination is in a state where it can receive data. If reception is not possible due to a situation such as the destination facsimile being in use, the process moves to step S16 and the number of times N is decremented. In step S17, it is determined whether or not the number of times N has become 0. If the number of 0 times N is not 0, the process moves to step 31B and enters a standby state for a predetermined period (for example, 5 minutes). Once the waiting period has elapsed, the process from step S14 onward is performed again.

If the determination in step S17 is Yes, the process moves to step S19. In step 319, transmission to the destination was attempted three times but could not be sent, so it is determined that transmission is impossible, and the first page of the document is passed through the reading unit 3, and a predetermined length (for example, 10c+s) is stored in the memory 34. Note that if there are multiple originals, the second and subsequent originals are ejected to the ejection tray 4 without image information being read.
20, the phone number of the recipient to whom the message could not be sent, and
A text indicating that the transmission could not be made and the image information of the document stored in the memory 34 are printed on the thermal paper 5 by the recording section 2. The printed thermal paper 5 is discharged onto the discharge tray 4.

When the process at step 320 is completed, the process returns to the main routine of FIG. 4A.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 315 that reception is possible, the process moves to step 321. Step S
At 21, the originals placed on the paper feeder 15 are fed one by one to the reading section 3.

In the reading section 3, the image information of the original is transferred to the COD unit 1.
3, and the image information is transmitted from the NCU 32 to the destination facsimile.

When all original documents have been transmitted, the process returns to the main routine shown in FIG. 4A.

If the operator wishes to transmit the image information of the document by automatic transmission, the one-touch key 24 corresponding to the destination is pressed. As a result, the program moves from step S4 to step S22. In step S2, an automatic transmission subroutine shown in FIG. 4C is executed.

In FIG. 4C, in step S23, the number of times is N.

The number of auto-redials (for example, 3 times) is assigned to M. In step 324, the first telephone number (the telephone number corresponding to the first facsimile) registered in advance in step S9 (FIG. 4A) is dialed. Then, in step S25, it is determined whether the first facsimile can be received. If reception is not possible, the process moves to step S26. In step S26, if there is a telephone number of the second facsimile associated with the first facsimile, that telephone number is dialed. Then, in step S27, it is determined whether the second facsimile can be received. If the second facsimile cannot be received, the process moves to step 32B. Note that it is associated with the first facsimile. If the second facsimile telephone number is not registered, the process in step S26 is invalid;
The determination at step 327 is NO. Step S28
Then, dial the telephone number of the third facsimile associated with the first facsimile and the second facsimile.

Then, in step S29, it is determined whether the third facsimile can be received. If the third facsimile cannot be received, the process moves to step S30. In this case as well, as in steps 326 and S27, if the third facsimile does not exist and the corresponding telephone number is not registered, the process in step 328 is invalid.
The determination at step 32B is No.

In step S30, the number of times N is decremented. In step 331, it is determined whether the number of times N has become O. If the number of times N is not O, the process moves to step S32, waits for a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes), and then returns to step S2.
Return to step 4 and perform the subsequent processing.

If the determination in step S31 is Yes, step S
Move to 33. In step 333, the reader 3 reads the first page at a predetermined distance (for example, 10
cm) is read and stored in the memory 34.

In step S34, the recording unit 2 prints the telephone number of the destination corresponding to the first facsimile, a text stating that the transmission was not possible, and the image information of the document stored in the memory 34 on the thermal paper 5. Ru. The printed thermal paper 5 is discharged onto the discharge tray 4. When the process at step 334 is completed, the process returns to the main routine of FIG. 4A.

If reception is possible in step 325 of FIG. 4C,
The process moves to step S35. In the step S35, the originals set in the paper feeder 15 are read one by one by the reading section 3.
The image information of the document is read by the CCD unit 13. The read image information is transmitted to the first facsimile on the sending side. When the transmission of all pages of the original is completed, the process returns to the main routine shown in FIG. 4A.

If the determination is Yes in step S27 of FIG. 4C, the process moves to step 336. In Sten, PuS36,
It is stored in the memory 34 that the facsimile that has become receivable is the second facsimile, and the process moves to step S31. On the other hand, if the determination in step S29 is Yes, the process moves to step 536a. Step 5
At step 36a, the fact that the third facsimile can now be received is stored in the memory 34, and the process moves to step 337. In step S37, the first page of the original set in the paper feeder 15 is supplied to the reading section 3. In the reading section 3, the CCD unit 13 reads the image information of the first page and transmits it to the destination.

At the same time, among the image information of the first page of the document read, image information of a portion at a predetermined distance (for example, 10 cm) from the leading edge of the document is stored in the memory 34.

Next, in step 33B, transmission processing for the second page and subsequent pages of the original is performed. Once the image information of all documents has been transmitted, the process moves to step S39.

In step S39, the first facsimile is automatically dialed again. In step S40, it is determined whether the first facsimile can be received. If reception is not possible, the process moves to step 341 and the number of times M is decremented. In step S42, it is determined whether the number of times M has reached O.

If it is not 0, the process moves to step S43 and waits for a predetermined period (for example, 5 minutes). When the waiting period ends, the process returns to the slot S39 and the subsequent processing is repeated.

If it is determined in step S40 that reception is possible, the process moves to step 344.

In step S44, a message is sent to the first facsimile indicating that the image information has been sent to another related facsimile. In this message, image information of the document stored in the memory 34 is transmitted along with a text indicating whether the other facsimile is the second facsimile or the third facsimile. In addition, along with this information,
Information on the transmission start time or transmission end time is also transmitted.

As a result, the operator in charge of operating the first facsimile is notified of which facsimile the image information was sent to and what kind of image information was sent. When the process at step 344 is completed, the process returns to the main routine of FIG. 4A.

On the other hand, it was not possible to send to the first facsimile, so in step S
If the determination in step S42 is Yes, step S4
Move to 5. In step S45, the recording unit 2 is used to store in the memory 34 a text stating that the message could not be sent to the first facsimile, and information as to whether the message was sent to the second or third facsimile. The image information of the original document is printed on thermal paper 5, and the paper is ejected onto ejection tray 4. This informs the operator of the sending facsimile that the message could not be sent and needs to contact the operator in charge of operating the first facsimile, and which related facsimile the message was sent to. It is possible to easily obtain information about the information and the contents of the manuscript to be processed. Step 3
When the processing at 45 is completed, the process returns to the main routine shown in FIG. 4A.

Note that the facsimile machine on the receiving side that has received the information such as the message in step S44 performs step S8 in FIG. 4A.
By performing the processing corresponding to step S44, the information processed in step S44 is printed on the thermal paper 5. However, thermal paper 5
Alternatively, the information may be temporarily stored in the memory 34 of the receiving facsimile machine and displayed on the display unit 25 as necessary.

In the embodiment described above, the number of auto-redials is N.

Although M is set to a constant value, it may also be possible to set a desired number of times from the operation panel.
The amount of image information of the original to be stored is not limited to the 10 cm long part from the leading edge of the first page of the original, and may include less image information or all of the first page of the original. It is also possible to store image information of .

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the image information communication device according to the present invention, each time the image information of the document stored in the image information storage means is used, for example, on the sending side, it is possible to easily identify which document is related to the transmission result information. Be able to make decisions. On the receiving side, for example, when image information is sent to a second communication destination when transmission to the first communication destination is impossible, the first communication destination sends the image information to the second communication destination. It becomes possible to easily determine what kind of image information was received.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional partial view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of its operation panel, FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of its control section, and FIGS. 4Δ, 4B, and 4C. is its control flowchart. 2... Recording unit, 3... Reading unit, 20... Operation panel, 30... Control unit, 32... NCU, 34...
··memory.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Image information reading means for reading the image information of the original, image information storage means for storing part of the read image information, and image information transmission for sending the read image information to the receiving destination. An image information communication device comprising means and. (2) The communication result information includes image information stored in the image information storage means, further comprising a notification means for notifying an operator of transmission result information, wherein the communication result information includes image information stored in the image information storage means. Image information communication device. (3) The image information communication means includes a first transmission means for transmitting the image information to a first communication destination, and a second communication destination when transmission to the first communication destination is impossible. a second transmitting means for transmitting the image information; and a second transmitting means for transmitting the image information, the information that when the second transmitting means transmits the image information, the information is transmitted from the first communication destination to the second communication destination and that the image information is stored in the image information storage means. The image information communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a third transmitting means for transmitting the image information.