JPH04150459A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To register characters on a form without encoding the characters by properly using the form depending upon the content to be registered. CONSTITUTION:When an operator request a registration form by operating an operation key 9, an MPU 5 recognizes the kind of the requested registration form. When the requested form is a mark sheet form, the mark sheet form of a prescribed format is outputted from a printer 8 after printing. The operator marks the form by selectively printing out squares on the mark sheet form with a pencil. When the requested form is an OCR form, a prescribed OCR form is outputted from the printer 8 after printing. When the OCR form on which registered contents are described with characters is set on a scanner 7 and the operation key 9 is operated, the OCR form is read by means of the scanner 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine that allows selective registration for selectively activating functions and registration of a sender's name.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional general facsimile machines were configured so that the above-mentioned selective registration and registration of sender's name, etc., were performed by operating operation keys. Facsimile machines have also been developed that can be used for registration.

That is, the mark sheet paper has a plurality of squares printed on which marks should be written, and the operator should register the marks by selectively filling in the squares with a writing instrument, that is, by writing the marks. Display the contents and input this mark sheet paper into the facsimile machine. on the other hand,
The facsimile machine reads the mark written on the mark sheet paper, recognizes the item to be registered from the position of the mark, and registers it.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned facsimile machines that can register using mark sheet paper, when the content to be registered is expressed in characters, such as the sender's name, these characters are converted into codes. This has the problem that it is not only time consuming but also prone to errors.

Further, in this case, there is a problem that registration is not possible unless the code table is at hand.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that can easily register any registration contents.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a mark sheet recognition system that recognizes the content to be registered by reading the marks when a mark sheet type form indicating the content to be registered by selectively filling in marks is input. means, character recognition means for recognizing the contents to be registered by reading the characters when a character-readable paper indicating the contents to be registered by handwritten characters is input; and the mark sheet recognition means and the character recognition means The facsimile apparatus is characterized in that it includes a registration means for registering recognized contents.

According to the present invention, if the content to be registered does not require expression in characters, such as alternative activation of the functions of a facsimile machine, it is registered using a mark sheet, and the sender's name is registered. By using different forms of paper depending on the content to be registered, for example, if the content requires character expression, character-readable paper is used for registration, it is possible to register on paper without encoding characters. It becomes possible.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a facsimile machine that is an embodiment of the present invention.

Network control circuit (Network Control l1)
(hereinafter abbreviated as NCU) 1 outputs a signal to the telephone line 3 to call the other party's telephone based on the calling number given by the telephone 2, and also outputs a signal output from the modem 4 to the telephone line 3, This is a circuit that transmits signals sent via line 3 to telephone 2 or modem 4.

modem
) 4 is a circuit that modulates and demodulates signals.

Central processing unit
5 (hereinafter abbreviated as MPU) is a circuit for controlling the operation of the entire facsimile machine.

The input/output control circuit 6 processes the content read by the scanner 7 in response to input using the operation keys 9, or
This is a circuit for outputting, through the printer 8, the contents according to the input by the printer 8.

The scanner 7 is a device that optically reads the contents of an input document, and the printer 8 is a device that prints out the contents sent through the input/output control circuit 6.

Read Only Memory
10 (hereinafter abbreviated as ROM) is a memory that stores programs to be executed by the MPU 5, and is a random read/write memory (Random Acee).
ssMemory (hereinafter abbreviated as RAM) 11 is a memory for storing content read by the scanner 7, content input through the telephone line 3, and the like.

The battery 12 is a power source for backing up R and AMll.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the registration operation of the facsimile machine.

Next, the basic operation of transmitting and receiving image data by the facsimile device will be explained.

When the operator inputs a reading command to the input/output control circuit 6 using the operation key 9, the input/output control circuit 6 gives a reading start command to the scanner 7, and the scanner 7 reads the information printed on the input paper. Read the contents.

The read content, that is, the image data is
is stored in

Separately, when the operator inputs the telephone number of the other party into the NCUI using the telephone 2, the NCUI calls the telephone of the other party through the telephone line 3. When communication with the other party becomes possible, the image data stored in the RAM 11 is read out, converted into a signal suitable for transmission by the modem 4, sent to the telephone line 3 via the NCUI, and transmitted to the other party. It is sent to the destination facsimile machine.

On the other hand, when the other party's telephone calls the telephone 2 through the telephone line 3 and NCU1, a response signal is output from the telephone 2, thereby enabling communication with the other party. Next, the image data from the other party inputted to the NCUI from the telephone line 3 is demodulated by the modem 4, and then
The image is sent to the printer 8 via the input/output control circuit 6, and the image is printed out from the printer 8.

Next, the registration operation in the facsimile machine will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Following the start of step n1, when the operator operates the operation key 9 in step n2 to request a registration form, M
The PU5 confirms the type of registration paper requested in step n3.

If the requested registration paper is a mark sheet paper, a mark sheet paper in a predetermined format is printed out from the printer 8 in the next step n4.

This mark sheet paper has explanatory texts for each registered content, as well as squares in which marks should be written in association with these explanatory texts. Furthermore, the contents that can be registered using this mark sheet paper are limited to those that can be registered selectively, such as a user switch that selectively activates the functions of a facsimile machine.

The operator writes marks by selectively filling in the squares on the mark sheet paper with a writing instrument. In this case, since the mark sheet paper is generally thermal paper, a black ballpoint pen, for example, is more suitable than a pencil as a writing instrument for writing the marks.

When the mark sheet paper with marks written on it is set in the scanner 7 and the operation key 9 is operated, the mark sheet paper is read by the scanner 7 in step n5.

In step n6, the MPU 5 takes in the data read by the scanner 7 through the input/output control circuit 6, recognizes the selected registered content, encodes the recognized result, and stores it in the RAM II.

RAMII is backed up by battery 12, so
Its stored contents are retained even if the facsimile machine is turned off.

Further, after the recognition by the MPU 5, the recognition result is automatically printed out from the printer 8 in step n7.

The operator checks the printed recognition result, and if there is an error in the recognition result, writes a mark at the erroneous location and sets it on the scanner 7 again to read it.

In step n8, when there is a re-input to the scanner 7, the MPU 5 recognizes the mark read by the scanner 7 in step n, and then returns to step n4 and sends the correction mark sheet paper for only the marked items to the printer 8. Print out from.

The operator similarly writes marks on this correction mark sheet paper and causes the scanner 7 to read them. Thereafter, the same process is repeated through steps n5 to n7 until there are no errors.

If there is no error in the printed recognition result, no further registration operation is performed and the registration process ends at step nlO.

On the other hand, in step n3, the requested registration form is subjected to OCR (0ptical character recognition).
If it is confirmed that the paper is the OCR paper, an OCR paper in a predetermined format is printed out from the printer 8 in the next step n11.

This OCR paper has squares printed on it for writing registered contents in characters such as letters and numbers. Note that the content that can be registered with this OCR form is limited to content expressed in letters and numbers, such as the sender's name.

Following the printing of the OCR paper, the printer 8 prints out a standard pattern of characters to be written on the OCR paper in the next step n12, that is, a list of character patterns that can be recognized by the facsimile machine.

The operator places the OCR paper on top of the character pattern list and writes the registration contents in the form of characters by tracing the pattern with, for example, a black ballpoint pen.

In this case, since the characters are written using the character pattern as a model, the recognition rate by the facsimile machine is much higher than that of characters written freehand.

When the OCR paper on which registered contents are written in the form of characters is set on the scanner 7 and the operation key 9 is operated, the OCR paper is read by the scanner 7 in step n13.

In step n14, the MPU 5 takes in the data read by the scanner 7 through the input/output control circuit 6, recognizes the registered content expressed in characters, encodes the recognized result, and stores it in the RAM 11.

Further, after the recognition by the MPL 15, the recognition result is automatically printed out from the printer 8 in step n15.

The operator checks the printed recognition result, and if there is an error in the recognition result, writes a mark at the erroneous location and sets it on the scanner 7 again to read it.

In step n16, when there is a re-input to the scanner 7, the MPU 5 inputs the mark read by the scanner 7 in step n17.
After that, the process returns to step nll and an OCR sheet for correction of only the marked items is printed out from the printer 8.

The operator similarly writes the registered contents in the form of characters on this OCR paper for correction, and causes the scanner 7 to read it. Thereafter, the same process is repeated through steps n13 to n15 until there are no errors.

If there is no error in the printed recognition result, no further registration operation is performed and the registration process ends at step nlO.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, when a mark sheet type form indicating the contents to be registered by selectively writing marks is input, the contents to be registered can be determined by reading the marks. Since it has both a means for recognizing the content and a means for recognizing the content to be registered by reading the characters when a character-readable form indicating the content to be registered by handwritten characters is input, it is possible to register the content by reading the characters. If the content does not require expression in characters, such as selective activation of the functions of a facsimile machine, it is registered using mark sheet paper, and if the content requires expression in characters, such as the sender's name, it is registered. By using different types of paper depending on the content to be registered, such as using character-readable paper for registration, registration can be easily performed using paper without having to encode characters.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 to 1 showing a registration operation in the facsimile machine. 1...NCU, 2...Telephone, 4...Modem, 5...
・・MPU, 6・・Input/output control circuit, 7・・Scanner, 8・Printer, 9・・Operation key, 10・・RO
M, 11...RAM, 12...Battery agent Patent attorney Keiichi Nishikyo

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A mark sheet recognition means that recognizes the content to be registered by reading the mark when a mark sheet type form indicating the content to be registered by selectively filling in marks is input; When a character-readable form indicating contents to be registered by characters is input, a character recognition means recognizes the contents to be registered by reading the characters, and registers the contents recognized by the mark sheet recognition means and the character recognition means. A facsimile device comprising: registration means for registering.