JPH03276963A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a facsimile equipment easily handled at a receiver side by using at least two communication sections so as to send plural stored documents thereby sending the documents more efficiently to the user. CONSTITUTION:The operation registering a mail post from a key entry section 1 is informed to an MPU 12. The MPU 12 receives a designated time and a destination and stores them tentatively in a RAM 13-2. When the designated time comes, a first document is read from a document table generated in the RAM 13-2. The idle state of a B1 channel of a communication section 8 is checked via a communication control section 10 and when not in use, the document is sent based on the file name and the destination stored in the RAM 13-2. When busy, the idle state of the B2 channel of a communication section 9 is checked and when idle, the document is similarly sent. When the transmission of all documents is finished, the documents stored in an auxiliary storage section 11 are all deleted and the document table in the RAM 13-2 is deleted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile device, and more particularly to a facsimile device having a document storage function and at least two communication sections.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, facsimile machines with an email storage function have
Documents stored in one mailbox are stored as multiple documents depending on their capacity. When transmitting each document, one communication line is used to transmit each document as one document.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional example, all documents stored in the mailbox are transmitted through one communication line.
There is a drawback that it takes time to send a large number of documents.

Furthermore, on the receiving side, when a plurality of documents are successively received, each document is processed as one document, which is difficult for the user to handle.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art,
The purpose is to provide a facsimile machine that can transmit documents more efficiently to users and is easier to handle on the receiving side.

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it is a facsimile device having a document storage function and at least two communication sections, including a storage means for storing documents as a plurality of documents, and a communication section for communicating the documents stored in the storage means using each communication section. and means.

[Operation] In the above configuration, by communicating a plurality of accumulated documents using at least two communication units,
Efficient communication becomes possible.

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

<Description of Configuration (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus in this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a key input section for inputting operations to this device, 2 is a display section that displays various messages such as the status of this device, and 3 is a key that controls the above-mentioned key input section 1 and display section 2, respectively. 4 is a DMA controller (DMAC) that performs DMA transfer of image data and the like. Reference numeral 5 denotes an image information output unit such as a laser beam printer, which forms an image on a recording medium based on image information outputted via an image input/output control unit 7, which will be described later. This is an image information input unit of, for example, an image scanner, which inputs image information of a digital signal read and converted into a digital signal.

Reference numeral 7 denotes an image input/output control section that controls the interface between the image information output section 5 and the image information input section 6 and the system bus 16, and controls the image information output section 5 and the image information input section 6, respectively.

8 and 9 are communication units that communicate via corresponding communication lines, 10 is a communication control unit that controls these two communication units 8 and 9, and 11 is a large size such as a hard disk that stores compressed image information. It is a capacity auxiliary storage unit.

Note that the communication units 8 and 9 in this embodiment correspond to the Bl and B2 channels, which are the information channels of the l5DN, respectively, and the communication control unit 10 controls the D channel, which is the control channel, in accordance with the communication procedure of the l5DN. , a control unit that establishes calls and the like.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an MPU such as a microprocessor, which controls the entire device, and outputs various data signals and control signals according to processing procedures (programs) stored in the ROM 13-1 to control the entire device. 13-1 is MPU12
ROM in which the program of 13-2 is stored, MP
R used by U12 as a work area when executing processing
AM, and various control data are temporarily stored.

14 is an image memory for storing image data, and 15 is a compression/expansion section that compresses the image information input by the image information input section 6 or expands the received compressed image information. And 16 is a system bus.

Next, the storage and transmission processing in the mailbox in this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1, a mailbox is registered. Here, when the operator performs an operation to register a mailbox from the key human power section 1, the panel control section 3 determines this and notifies the MPU 12. In response to this notification, the MPU 12 inputs the specified time and destination and temporarily stores them in the RAM 13-2. Then, the process proceeds to step S2, and it is checked whether the specified time has arrived, and if the specified time has not arrived, the process proceeds to step S3,
Stores documents to be sent. In this process, when a key to instruct the start of document storage is input from the key human power section 1 via the panel control section 3, the image information input section 6 is first instructed to read the document via the image input/output control section 7. , and DMA
This is a process of activating C4 and the compression/expansion unit 15.

Here, the original is read by the image information input section 6,
From the image input/output control 7 to the compression/expansion unit 1 as image data
Sent to 5. The image data compressed by the compression/expansion section 15 is stored in the image memory 14. Further, the document is read and compressed, and when reading of one sentence is completed, that sentence is transferred to the auxiliary storage unit 11 and stored.

When the above-mentioned document storage is completed, in the next step S4, the file name of the stored document is set in the document table defined on the RAM 13-2. When the creation of this table is completed, the process returns to step S2, and it becomes possible to accumulate a plurality of documents until the designated time is reached.

Thereafter, when the designated time has come, the process advances to step S5, where the first document is read from the document table created on the RAM 13-2 and preparations for transmission are made. Then, in step S6, the state of the communication unit 8 (whether or not the Bl channel is vacant) is checked via the communication control unit 10, and if it is not in use, the process advances to step S8.
The document is transmitted based on the file name and destination stored on the RAM 13-2.

This transmission process first instructs the communication control section 10 to start communication, activates the DMAC 4, and transfers the transmission document from the auxiliary storage section 11 to the communication control section 10.

Next, the communication control unit 10 connects the call according to the I5DN communication procedure, and when the call is established, transmits the document to the other party's facsimile machine via the communication unit 8 (B1 channel).

In step S6 described above, if the communication unit 8 is in use, the process advances to step S7, and the status of the communication unit 9 (B2
If the channel is not in use, the document is transmitted in step S9 in the same manner as in step S8 described above. However, step S7
If the result in step SIO is that both communication units 8 and 9 are in use, the process waits for the end of communication from the communication control unit 10 in the next step SIO.

Here, when the transmission is completed, the process advances to step Sll, and it is checked whether or not all documents have been transmitted. If not, the process returns to step S6, and the next document is transmitted. Start. Then, when all documents have been sent, step S
The process advances to step 12, where all the documents stored in the auxiliary storage section 11 are deleted, and the document table in the RAM 13-2 is also deleted, and the process ends.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, by operating two communication units at the same time and transmitting, the transmission time is about half that of the case where only one communication unit is used for transmission, and the user This has the effect of providing more efficient services.

In the embodiment described above, the information channels (Bl,
Although an example has been described in which a document is transmitted using a B2 channel), the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to cases where multiple communications are performed.

Further, in this embodiment, multi-document transmission at the time of mail post transmission has been described as an example, but other services such as timer transmission, confidential multi-document transmission, etc. can also be supported.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, efficient communication is possible by communicating a plurality of stored documents using at least two communication units.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile machine in this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing mailbox storage and transmission processing in this embodiment. In the figure, 1...key manual section, 2...display section, 3...
Panel control unit, 4... DMACl3... Image information output unit, 6... Image information input unit, 7... Image input/output control unit, 8... Communication unit 1.9... Communication unit 2.10...
・Communication control unit, 11 auxiliary storage unit, 12...MPU, 1
3-1...RO1 13-2...RAM. 4... Image memory,... Compression/expansion unit, 6... System bus. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A facsimile device having a document storage function and at least two communication units, comprising: storage means for storing documents as a plurality of documents; and documents stored by the storage means in each communication unit. 1. A facsimile device comprising: a communication means for performing communication.