JPH03255768A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily find out the start of reception by outputting a signal tone different from a signal tone to be outputted at the time of various operations or ringing a connected telephone set in starting the reception of picture information by a digital signal interface. CONSTITUTION:When a signal from a picture processing system 3 is monitored and a fixed data signal showing the transmission start of the picture information is received, it is discriminated whether a telephone set 2 is turned to an on-hook state or not. When the telephone set 2 is set in the on-hook state, a switching circuit 14c of a network controller 14 is changed over to a contact (b) side and the telephone set 2 is rung for fixed time by a call signal output circuit 14e. In such the case, the telephone set 2 is rung at time intervals different from time intervals when a call is incoming from a telephone line. Afterwards, the switching circuit 14c is returned to a contact (a) side and the operation is returned to the first monitoring. When the telephone set 2 is turned to an off-hook state under speaking or the like, the signal tone is outputted from a loud-speaker 17b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine equipped with a digital signal interface.

[Prior Art] In recent years, facsimile machines equipped with a digital signal interface such as R3-232C and capable of transmitting image information to and from computers and image processing systems have been put into practical use. .

When a normal facsimile machine receives image information from a telephone line, it outputs a ringing sound when an incoming call is received. This allows the operator to know the start of image reception.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] On the other hand, in the case of a facsimile machine equipped with the above-mentioned signal interface, conventionally, when starting to receive image information, a ringing sound is used to notify the start of image reception. I hadn't.

Therefore, the operator does not notice that the facsimile machine has received the image, resulting in a delay in document processing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine which eliminates the above-mentioned problems and allows an operator to easily know when to start receiving images when receiving images using a digital signal interface.

[Means for Solving the Problems] For this purpose, the present invention outputs a signal sound different from the signal sound output during various operations when starting to receive image information using a digital signal interface, and It is characterized by making the telephone ring when the phone is in use.

[Operation] This allows the operator to easily know when the digital signal interface has started receiving image information.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a facsimile machine 1 is connected to a telephone line, a telephone set 2, and an image processing system 3.

The image processing system 3 uses a computer to perform various types of image processing, and transmits images obtained through the processing to the facsimile machine 1 as necessary.

In the facsimile machine 1, a scanner 11 reads a document image and extracts image information, and a plotter 12
is for recording image information on recording paper. The encoding/decoding unit 13 encodes image information to be transmitted and decodes received image information.

The network control device 14 performs predetermined line control when making and receiving calls on the telephone line. The modem 15 transmits various procedure signals and image information during facsimile communication over a telephone line.

R3-232C interface part 16 is R3-232
It receives image information transmitted from the image processing system 3 side through the C interface. The operation display section 17 is used to display the operating status of this device using a lamp or a display, or to notify the operator using a signal sound, and also allows the operator to perform various operations.

The signal tone is output by driving a speaker 17b by a built-in tone output section 17a.

The system control section 18 is composed of a microcomputer system, and controls each section mentioned above to execute predetermined operations of the facsimile machine.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the network control device 14. As shown in FIG. In the figure, an incoming call detection circuit 14a is connected to the telephone line, and a hook state detection circuit 14a is connected to the telephone line.
It is connected to the contact a of the switching circuit 14c via the terminal b.

Further, the telephone line is connected to a modem 15 via a switch circuit 14d.

A calling signal output circuit 14e for causing the telephone 2 to ring is connected to the contact point of the switching circuit 14c.

A common terminal of the switching circuit 14c is connected to the telephone set 2.

The incoming call detection circuit 14a detects an incoming call on the telephone line, and the hook state detection circuit 14b detects the hook state of the telephone set 2. The system control unit 18 detects the detection signals of these circuits, and the switch circuit 14d,
It controls the switching circuit 14c and the calling signal output circuit 14e.

With the above configuration, in the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment, in the standby state, the switch circuit 1/Id of the network control device 14 is open, and the switching circuit 14c is connected to the contact a side.

In this state, the operator can use the telephone 2 for telephone calls as usual. Also, when a call arrives on the telephone line, the telephone 2 rings due to the ringing signal from the first line, while
After a certain period of time, the switch circuit 14d closes and the modem 1
5 starts facsimile communication and receives the transmitted image information.

When receiving a request to send image information from the single image processing system 3, the R3-232C interface section 16 executes a predetermined response procedure and receives the single image information. The image information received through these reception processes is recorded and output by the plotter 12.

On the other hand, when transmitting an image, the operator performs various setting operations such as the destination telephone number and transmission mode by operating keys on the operation display section 17. As a result, as in the case of reception, the switch circuit 14d of the network controller [14] is closed, while the scanner 11 reads the original image and the modem 15 transmits the image information.

By the way, in this embodiment, when receiving image information from the image processing system 3 and when pressing various keys on the operation display section 17, various signal tones are output from the speaker 17b.

FIG. 3 shows this tone output processing. That is, the facsimile machine constantly monitors the key operations on the operation display section 17 (process 101°, process 101 N), and monitors the signal transmitted from the image processing system 3 (process 102, process 102 N). N).

Now, suppose that some key is pressed (process 101
V), the facsimile machine determines whether the operation corresponding to the key operation is possible, that is, whether the key operation is valid (process 103). If the key operation is valid (Y in process 103), the speaker 17b outputs a preset first signal tone for a certain period of time, such as 0.5 seconds (process 104).

For example, if the operation is invalid (N in process 103), such as when the transmission start key is pressed without inputting the destination phone number, a second signal tone is output for a certain period of time (process 105). ).

When the image processing system 3 starts transmitting image information,
Sends a certain data signal to notify the start of transmission. When the facsimile machine 1 receives the data signal (Y in process 102), it outputs a third signal tone for a certain period of time, such as 5 seconds (process 106).

After outputting these signal tones, return to the initial monitoring state (
(Proceed to process 101).

The first to third various signal tones have different frequencies and on/off intermittent times, for example.

As described above, in this embodiment, key operation and R3-2
When the 32C interface unit 16 starts receiving image information, various different signal tones are output. This allows the operator to know whether the key operation is correct or incorrect, and also allows him to easily know when to start receiving image information from the image processing system 3.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, the operator is notified of the start of image information reception by the R3-232C interface section 16 by another method.

FIG. 4 shows this reception start notification process, in which the facsimile machine monitors the signal from the image processing system 3 (N loop of process 201) and sends a certain data signal indicating the start of image information transmission. Upon reception (Y in process 201),
It is determined whether telephone 2 is in an on-hook state (process 202).

Here, if telephone 2 is on-hook (process 20
2 Y), the switching circuit 14c of the network control device 14 is switched to the contact side (process 203), and then the telephone 2 is made to ring for a certain period of time by the ringing signal output circuit 14e (process 2
04). In this case, the telephone 2 is made to ring at a different time interval from when a call is received from the telephone line.

After that, process 2o5 for returning the switching circuit 14c to the contact a side
), the process returns to the first monitoring (proceed to process 201).

Furthermore, when the telephone 2 is off-hook during a call or the like (N in process 202), a signal tone is emitted from the speaker 17b as in the previous embodiment (process 2
06).

As described above, in this embodiment, when the R5-232C interface section 16 receives image information, the telephone 2 is made to ring. Usually, the ringing sound of the telephone 2 is louder than the signal sound of the operation display section 17. This allows the operator to more reliably know that the image has been received.

In each of the above embodiments, a general-purpose interface called R5-232C was used as an interface for receiving image information, but the present invention can be similarly applied to other interfaces such as GP-IB. Needless to say.

Furthermore, although the signal tone is output when the image information reception starts, it is also possible to output the signal tone when the image information reception is completed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when starting to receive image information using a digital signal interface, a signal sound that is different from the signal sound that is output during various operations is output, or a signal sound that is connected I made the phone ring when I was there, so
The operator can easily know when the digital signal interface has started receiving image information.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic block configuration diagram of a network control device,
FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of tone output processing, and FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of reception notification processing in another embodiment. 1...Facsimile machine, 2...Telephone, 3...
Image processing system, 11... Scanner, 12... Plotter, 13... Encoding/decoding unit, 14... Network control device, 14c... Switching circuit, 14d... Switch circuit, 14e. ... Calling signal output circuit, 15... Modem, 16... R5-232C interface section, 17.
- Operation display section, 17b... Speaker, 18... System control section.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a facsimile machine equipped with a means for receiving image information through a digital signal interface and a means for notifying the operating status by a signal sound, when various operations are performed, it is indicated whether the operation is valid or invalid. The apparatus is characterized by comprising an operation response means that outputs a signal sound, and a reception start notification means that outputs a signal sound different from that of the operation response means when the digital signal interface starts receiving image information. facsimile machine. (2) In a facsimile machine equipped with means for receiving image information through a digital signal interface and connected to a telephone, reception start notification means causes the telephone to ring when the reception of image information through the digital signal interface is started. A facsimile machine characterized by: