JPH03268561A - Facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expand the using range of a PO box and an information box by allowing the output means of a center side facsimile equipment to read out additional information and a box number corresponding to the information from a storage means and outputting the read contents when an output request is generated from the operation part of a terminal side FAX to the center side facsimile equipment. CONSTITUTION:An operator specifies the polling reception of a mail box management table from an operation part 26 to a control part 21 based upon the dialing information of the center equipment 1 and an option command. After once storing these information in a prescribed area of a memory 23, the control part 21 calls the center equipment 1 through a communication control part 22. At the time of executing protocol communication after connecting a line, the transmission of the mail box management table is requested by the option command. Thereby, a control part 11 in the center equipment 1 reads out the main box management table from a memory 14 and transmits the read table to a terminal equipment 3 through a communication control part 12. The control part 21 in the terminal equipment 3 sends the mail box management table received through the communication control part 22 to a recording part 25 to output the table.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a facsimile communication system having a post office box or information box function.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when using, for example, a post office box function of a facsimile machine, the side that inputs the original into the corresponding post office box and the side that takes out the original from the post office box have to decide in advance which original will be input into which post office box. I had to make an arrangement.

By the way, as a way to know the usage status of P.O. Boxes,
When a document is input to a facsimile machine having a post office box, a management table indicating which post office box the document was input to is outputted from the facsimile machine. However, although it is possible to identify the post office box where the original document is entered from such a conventional management table, it is not possible to know the contents of the input document, and the facsimile machine from which this management table can be retrieved cannot be used at the center where the post office box is located. It was only the station. For this reason, a user who is not a party to the terminal side could not know which post office box the manuscript was inputted into unless he or she called the center side and asked for the contents of the management table.

Therefore, only the user who made the above arrangement could know what manuscript was in which post office box, and the number of users who could retrieve the manuscript entered in the post office box was limited. The retrieval function was not used.

Further, the above-mentioned situation also occurs when a document is input into the information box and taken out. Here, unlike a post office box, an information box can input the manuscripts of multiple communications and can be used by multiple people, but it is still possible for the parties involved to decide in advance which manuscript has been input into which information box. General users cannot know which manuscript is in which information box for the same reason as the post office box, and cannot function as a bulletin board. could not.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, when using a post office box or an information box in a conventional facsimile machine, the parties involved must decide in advance which box to input which manuscript. Because it is not possible to do so, the number of users is limited.
There is an inconvenience that the function of individually retrieving information from the post office box or information box is difficult to use, and the range of use of the post office box or information box is narrowed.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, so that a large number of people can easily know what kind of manuscript is contained in any post office box or information box, and the scope of use of said post office box or information box can be controlled. The purpose is to provide a facsimile communication system that can be expanded.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a facsimile machine that performs mailbox communication between a center-side facsimile device having a mailbox and a plurality of terminal-side facsimile devices connected to the facsimile device via a line. In a communication system, additional information indicating the contents of the document sent when receiving a document addressed to the mailbox from a facsimile device on the terminal side is configured to correspond to the box number of the mailbox into which the document is input. and a storage means for storing the additional information and the box number corresponding to the additional information and the box number from the storage means when a transmission request for the additional information and the box number is received after the line is connected by a call from the facsimile device on the terminal side. The facsimile machine at the center side is equipped with a transmitting means for reading out the number and transmitting it to the facsimile machine at the terminal side, and when transmitting a document to the mailbox of the facsimile machine at the center side, the content of the document is transmitted to the mailbox of the facsimile machine at the center side. The facsimile device on the terminal side is equipped with an additional information transmitting means for transmitting additional information indicated.

In addition to the above configuration, the storage means of the facsimile machine on the center side stores additional information indicating the contents of the original document that is input from the own operation unit when the original document read by the own original reading unit is input into the mailbox. is stored in correspondence with the box number of the mailbox into which the original is input.

Furthermore, in addition to the above configuration, the facsimile device on the center side is configured to include output means for reading and outputting additional information and the corresponding box number from the storage means when an output request is received from the own operation unit. .

(Function) In the facsimile communication system of the present invention, the storage means of the facsimile device on the center side stores additional information indicating the contents of the document sent when receiving the document addressed to the mailbox from the facsimile device on the terminal side. is stored in correspondence with the box number of the mailbox into which the original is input. When the transmission means receives a request for transmission of the additional information and box number after the line is connected by a call from the facsimile device on the terminal side, the transmission means reads out the additional information and the corresponding box number from the storage means. The information is sent to the facsimile machine on the terminal side. Further, when the additional information transmitting means of the facsimile machine on the terminal side transmits the manuscript to the mailbox of the facsimile machine on the center side, it also transmits additional information indicating the contents of the manuscript.

In addition to the above-mentioned action, the storage means of the facsimile machine on the center side stores additional information indicating the contents of the document that is input from the own operation section when the document read by the own document reading section is input into the mailbox. is stored in correspondence with the box number of the mailbox into which the original is input.

Furthermore, in addition to the above operations, the output means of the facsimile machine on the center side reads additional information and the corresponding box number from the storage means and outputs it when the facsimile machine on the center side receives an output request from its own operation section. do.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile communication system of the present invention. 2.3.4 is a facsimile machine (hereinafter referred to as a terminal machine) that is a terminal of the center machine 1;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed example of the center machine shown in FIG. 1. 11 is a control unit that controls transmission and reception and various information settings, etc.; 12 is a communication control unit that controls transmission and reception of image data, etc.; 13 is a mailbox (here, a post office box is assumed); and 14 is a mailbox management in which additional information is written. a memory for storing tables; 15 a reading unit for reading the original;
16 is a recording section that outputs image data or various management data, and 17 is an operation section that inputs dial information and various setting information.

Here, the control section 11 and the memory 14 have storage means as the control section 1
1 and the communication control section 12 constitute a transmitting means, and the control section 11 and the recording section 16 constitute an output means.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed example of the terminal machine shown in FIG. 1. 21 is a control unit that controls transmission and reception and controls various information settings, etc.; 22 is a communication control unit that controls transmission and reception of image data, etc.; 23 is a telephone number of the other party, a box number;
A memory temporarily stores additional information, etc.; 24 is a reading section for reading the original; 25 is a recording section for outputting image data or various management data; and 26 is an operation section for inputting dial information and various setting information.

Here, the control section 21, communication control section 22, and memory 23 constitute additional information transmission means.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. For example, the case where a document is sent from the terminal machine 2 to the mailbox 13 of the center machine 1 will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, an operator on the terminal side sets a document on the reading section 24 of the terminal 2, and then performs a mailbox transmission setting operation to set the mailbox number of the document to be inputted from the operation section 26. As a result, the control section 2
1, in step 401, mailbox setting transmission information input from the operation unit 26 is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 23, and then in step 402, additional information (information indicating the contents of the input document, etc.) is input. If there is no input, the process advances to step 404; if there is an input, the process advances to step 403.

Here, if the operator wants to input additional information, he inputs the additional information from the operation section 26. The control section 21 temporarily stores the additional information input from the operation section 26 in step 403 in a predetermined area of the memory 23, and then stores the additional information inputted from the operation section 26 in step 404.
Proceed to. Next, in step 404, the dial information inputted from the operation section 26 is given to the communication control section 22, and the center machine 1
When the line is connected, a predetermined protocol communication is performed. At this time, it is determined in step 405 whether or not additional information exists, and if there is no additional information, the process proceeds to step 407. If there is, the additional information is read from the memory 23 in step 406, and after transmitting it as an option command. , proceed to step 407.

In step 407, the original set in the reading unit 24 is read and transmitted to the center machine 1 via the communication control unit 22. When the transmission of the original is completed, a predetermined protocol communication is performed and then the line is disconnected. The process ends.

On the other hand, the center device 1 performs a receiving operation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 in response to the above-described transmission from the terminal device 2. That is, after receiving a call signal in step 501 and closing the line by the communication control unit 12, when performing predetermined protocol communication with the terminal device 2, in step 502 an option from the terminal device 2 is selected. It is determined whether or not additional information is input by the command. If there is no additional information, the process advances to step 504; if there is, the process advances to step 503. In step 503, the additional information transmitted from the terminal device 2 is written via the control unit 11 into the area corresponding to the corresponding box number of the management table in the memory 14. The control unit 11 also writes the box number of the mailbox sent from the terminal machine 2, the telephone number of the terminal machine 2, etc. in this management table as shown in FIG. Thereafter, in step 504, the control unit 11 stores the original sent from the terminal device 2 in the mailbox 13 of the designated box number, and terminates the process when the line is disconnected.

Next, the operation of the operator of the terminal machine 3 to take out the mailbox management table from the center machine 1 will be explained. First, the operator specifies polling reception of the mailbox management table to the control unit 21 using the dial information of the center machine 1 and an option command from the operation unit 26. The control unit 21 once stores this information in a predetermined area of the memory 23 and then calls the center machine 1 via the communication control unit 22. As a result, when performing protocol communication after the line is connected, the option command is used to request transmission of the mailbox management table. As a result, the control section 11 of the center machine 1 reads out a mailbox management table as shown in FIG. 6 from the memory 14 and transmits it to the terminal machine 3 via the communication control section 12. The control unit 21 of the terminal device 3 sends the mailbox management table received via the communication control unit 22 to the recording unit 25 for output. As a result, the operator on the terminal machine 3 side can obtain a management table as shown in Figure 6, and by looking at this mailbox management table, can determine what kind of document has been input into which mailbox. You can know.

When the operator of the terminal machine 3 looks at the mailbox management table and learns the box number containing the desired document, he uses the operation unit 26 to designate the box number and contents to be polled and received, and then calls the center machine 1 over the phone. Enter the number and connect the line to the center machine 1. Thereby, the center machine 1 reads out the document contained in the designated box number of the mailbox 13 and transmits it to the terminal machine 3 according to the normal polling reception procedure. As a result, terminal machine 3
A desired document is output from the recording section 25 of the 9. Also, if you want to retrieve the mailbox management table in the memory 14 shown in FIG. . Thereby, the control section 11 reads out the mailbox management table from the memory 14 and outputs it from the recording section 16. Seeing this, the operator issues a box number and an instruction to take out the document from the operation section 17, and the control section 11 reads out the document in the corresponding box number of the mailbox 13 and outputs it to the recording section 16.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to input the contents of the manuscript input into the mailbox (here, a post office box is assumed) 13 of the center machine 1 as additional information, and also input the box number and the mailbox into this box. The mailbox management table, which lists the contents of the manuscripts stored in the mailbox, can be retrieved from any terminal machine 2.3.4, so anyone can know which manuscripts are in which mailbox. , the range of people who can use the mailbox 13 can be expanded. Similarly, even if the target for inputting manuscripts is an information box, the range of people who can use it can be expanded for the same reason as above, and the electronic bulletin board function of the information box can be fully utilized. I can do it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the facsimile communication system of the present invention, a large number of people can easily know what kind of manuscript is contained in which post office box or information box, and the scope of use of the post office box or information box can be easily determined. can be expanded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile communication system of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed example of the center machine shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed example of the center machine shown in FIG. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the mailbox transmission operation of the terminal machine shown in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed example of the terminal machine shown in Figure 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the receiving operation, and is a diagram showing an example of a mailbox management table created in the memory shown in FIG. 2. 1...Center machine 2.3.4...Terminal machine 1
1.21...Control unit 12.22...Communication control unit 1
3...Mailbox 14.23...Memory 15
．． 24...Reading section 16.25...Recording section 17.
26...Operation unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a facsimile communication system that performs mailbox communication between a center-side facsimile machine having a mailbox and a plurality of terminal-side facsimile machines connected to this facsimile machine via a line, the facsimile machine on the terminal side a storage means for storing additional information indicating the contents of the document sent when receiving the document addressed to the mailbox from the device in correspondence with a box number of the mailbox into which the document is input; and the terminal; After the line is connected by a call from the facsimile machine on the terminal side, when a request to send the additional information and the box number is received, the additional information and the corresponding box number are read out from the storage means and sent to the facsimile machine on the terminal side. additional information for transmitting additional information indicating the content of the document when the document is sent to the mailbox of the center-side facsimile device; A facsimile communication system characterized in that a facsimile device on the terminal side is equipped with a transmitting means. (2) The storage means of the facsimile machine on the center side stores additional information indicating the contents of the document input from the own operation section when inputting the document read by the own document reading section into the mailbox. 2. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein the information is stored in correspondence with the box number of the mailbox into which the original is input. (3) The facsimile machine on the center side is equipped with an output means for reading and outputting the additional information and the corresponding box number from the storage means when an output request is received from the facsimile machine's own operation unit. The facsimile communication system described in 1) or (2).