JPH04292063A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent occurrrence of such a state that the transmission of picture information from at least a transmission station for all output devices of the parentage facsimile system goes disable when the transmission of the picture information cannot be performed to a slave unit because of the trouble, etc., of the prescribed slave unit requiring transmission in the parent-child facsimile system. CONSTITUTION:A slave unit specific means 56 of a master unit 1 detects the slave unit designated by a transmission station on a line, and a parentage transmission/reception control means 52 orginates a call to the slave unit. A slave unit abnormality detection means 81 detects the abnormality of the slave unit, and when the communication with the slave unit is judgged as disable, other slave unit information other than the slave unit is read out from a slave unit priority storage means 82, and the information is outputted to a parentage transmission/reception control means 52. Thus, the picture information on the transmission station is tranmitted or transferred to the other slave unit.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile device, and more particularly to a facsimile device applied to a facsimile system comprising a facsimile device connected to a line and a terminal facsimile device connected to the facsimile device. It is.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a parent-child facsimile system has been proposed in which a terminal facsimile device (hereinafter referred to as a child device) is connected to a facsimile device (hereinafter referred to as a parent device) connected to a line. Such a parent-child facsimile system is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 79671/1983.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a parent-child facsimile system. In the figure, a plurality of slave units 2-1 to 2-N are connected to a base unit 1 connected to a line. In such a system, the base machine is similar to a regular facsimile machine, with a scanner and printer, and an encoder/
It is equipped with a decoding device, a communication control device, etc., and is configured to independently communicate image information.

[0004] On the other hand, the child device does not necessarily have to have the same configuration as the parent device, but only needs to be equipped with at least one of a scanner and a printer. Further, if the encoding/decoding of image information is executed by the function of the base unit, there is no need to provide an encoding/decoding device. Therefore, the configuration can be simpler than that of the parent device.

[0005] In such a system, when attempting to transmit image information to a specific handset, the transmitting station first dials the phone number of the base and then connects the line with the base. After connection, data for identifying the handset (ID, telephone number, etc. of the handset, hereinafter referred to as handset specification data) is transmitted to the base. After the base unit closes the line with the transmitting station, the base unit temporarily stores the image information transmitted from the transmitting station in the image memory, and after the storage is completed, the base unit transmits the slave unit specified by the slave unit specification data. Make a call and send image information to the handset.

In addition, instead of transmitting the handset designation data from the transmitting station in this way, a table showing the correspondence between the transmitting station and the handsets is stored in advance in the storage device of the base unit. When a call is made from a transmitting station, the phone number, ID, etc. of the transmitting station is detected, and the handset is identified from the table according to the detection result, and the additional functions of handset specification data can be added. It is possible to communicate with slave units even if the transmitting station does not have one.

By the way, instead of configuring the base unit as such a processing device, it is also possible to configure it so that it functions as a relay station between the transmitting station and the slave unit. In this case, the base unit makes a call to the handset after the handset has been designated by the transmitting station, and when the handset accepts the incoming call, connects the line between the transmitting station and the handset directly, and calls the handset. and a transmitting station to directly communicate image information.

[0008]

That is, even if a handset can be identified using the method described above, if a failure occurs in the handset, the transmitting station will not be able to transmit image information. The present invention has been made in order to solve each of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to enable the transmitting station to output all the information of the parent/child facsimile system when the image information of the transmitting station cannot be output to a predetermined slave device. An object of the present invention is to provide a master facsimile system capable of preventing a situation in which image information cannot be transmitted to an output device.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for transmitting image information of a transmitting station when the transmitting station cannot communicate with a predetermined handset to which the transmitting station desires to transmit image information. ,
The feature is that the information is transmitted or transferred to a handset other than the handset (hereinafter referred to as "another handset").

0010

[Operation] For example, if data for identifying the handset to which the image information is sent (such as the name of the handset, destination, etc.) is added to the image information sent from the transmitting station, other handsets can The operator can, for example, pass the hard-copied image information to the operator of the slave unit that the transmitting station desires to transmit.

[0011] When the image information of the transmitting station is stored in the other handset, the image information can be hard-copied as needed, and after that, if the transmitting station wishes to transmit, If the other handset is repaired, image information can be sent to the other handset.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of a master device and a slave device. In the same figure, a master device 1 includes a scanner 11, a printer 12,
It includes a modem 14, an NCU 15, an image memory 16, and a communication control section 13 that controls them. Communication control unit 13
is equipped with a microcomputer and performs processing as described below.

When transmitting image information from base unit 1 to a partner station (not shown) connected to the line, scanner 1
The image information read in 1 is stored in image memory 1 as necessary.
6, and then sent out to the line via the modem 14 and NCU 15. Conversely, when image information is transmitted from a partner station (not shown) to the base unit via a line, the image information on the line is received via the NCU 15 and modem 14, and stored in the image memory as necessary. 16 and then output (hard copy) from the printer 12.

[0014] The slave device 2-1 has almost the same configuration as the base device 1 in this example. That is, the scanner 21
, printer 22, communication control unit 23, modem 24, NCU
25 and image memory 26 each have substantially the same configuration as that of base unit 1. The NCU 25 of the slave device 2-1 is connected to the NCU 15 of the base device 1. Note that although not shown in the figure, slave units other than the slave unit indicated by reference numeral 2-1 are also connected to the base unit 1.

When transmitting image information from a transmitting station (hereinafter simply referred to as transmitting station) on the line to a handset (for example, handset 2-1), the transmitting station sends the phone number of base unit 1. Dial and call base unit 1. After that, the transmitting station transmits the handset designation data (i.e., handset's telephone number,
D, etc.).

The base unit 1 stores the slave unit designation data transmitted from the transmitting station, and temporarily stores the image information transmitted from the transmitting station in the image memory 16. Then, when all image information has been received from the transmitting station, the line with the transmitting station is disconnected. Thereafter, based on the handset designation data, the transmitting station calls the handset desired to transmit, and transmits the image information stored in the image memory 16 to the handset.

Transmission of image information from the base unit 1 to the slave unit is performed by the same process as when the base unit 1 communicates with a transmitting station. That is, the image information stored in the image memory 16 is transferred to the NCU 25 of the slave unit via the modem 14 and NCU 15, and the slave unit transfers the image information received via the NCU 25 and modem 24 as necessary. After temporarily storing the image in the image memory 26, the image is outputted from the printer 22.

If image information is transmitted from the transmitting station with a recording linear density and/or size that exceeds the reception capability of the slave unit, the parent unit The device 1 converts the received image information according to the reception capability of the slave device, and transmits the image information to the slave device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of the specific configuration of the parent device and the slave device. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 represent the same or equivalent parts. In FIG. 3, handsets 2-1 and 2-2 are comprised only of printers 22 and 32, respectively.

When the transmitting station transmits image information to the slave units 2-1, 2-2, . . . , the transmitting station first transmits the image information to the base unit 1. After the base device 1 receives all the image information into the image memory 16, it ends communication with the transmitting station. After that, the base unit 1 decodes the image information stored in the image memory 16, and converts the image information to a recording linear density and size according to the receiving capacity (output capacity) of the slave unit as necessary. After that, the image information is transmitted to the handset specified by the transmitting station. This transmission is performed directly from the communication control unit 13.

[0021] The connection between the master unit and the slave unit may be either wired or wireless. Further, the system shown in FIG. 3 may include a slave device constituted by a scanner. Furthermore, slave devices such as those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be included in the same system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the base unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart is
Executed when a call is received from the transmitting station. In the same figure, first, in step S1, slave device designation data added to the NSS signal or TSI signal of the protocol sent from the transmitting station is detected, and the data is temporarily stored in the base device.

In step S2, the image information transmitted from the transmitting station is received, and the image information is stored in the image memory 16 (FIG. 2 or 3).
Accumulate in. If the end of reception of the image information is detected in step S3, the line with the transmitting station is disconnected, and then the process moves to step S4. In step S4, a call is made to the handset corresponding to the stored handset designation data.

[0024] In step S5, it is determined whether or not an abnormality (failure, power outage, paper out, etc.) has occurred in the slave unit that made the call. If there is an abnormality in the slave device, the process moves to step S9. In step S9, the telephone number of a handset other than the designated handset is read out, and a call is made to the handset. If it is determined in step S10 that an abnormality has occurred in the other handset that made the call, the process returns to step S9. Then, a call is made to another handset.

The calls to other handsets in step S9 are made in the order of priority. This priority is determined in advance for each child device that the transmitting station desires to transmit, and is registered in the storage device of the parent device.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing an example of a table showing such priorities. In the same figure, for example, the slave unit is
, B, C..., for handset A, the first priority handset is B, the second priority handset is C, the third priority handset is D...,
Regarding handset B, the priority is set for each handset, such as C for the first priority handset, D for the second priority handset, E for the third priority handset, etc. .

Returning to FIG. 4, if it is determined in step S10 that there is no abnormality in the other handset, the received image information is transmitted to the other handset in step S11. . After the end of image information transmission is confirmed in step S12, the image information stored in the image memory 16 is erased, and the process ends.

If it is not determined in step S5 that there is an abnormality in the handset that the transmitting station desires to transmit, then in step S6, the transmitting station transmits the image information received from the transmitting station. Send to the slave device. In step S7, it is determined whether the communication is being performed normally, that is, whether a communication error has occurred due to an abnormality on the handset side, a faulty line, or the like. If no error has occurred, the end of image information transmission is confirmed in step S8, and then the image information stored in the image memory 16 is erased, and the process ends.

When a communication error is detected in step S7, the process moves to steps S9 and subsequent steps, and all of the image information received from the transmitting station or the image information after the error has occurred in the image information is The information is transmitted to other slave devices using the method described above.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 or 3 represent the same or equivalent parts. In FIG. 1, when a call is made to base unit 1 from a transmitting station, handset specification data included in the protocol of the transmitting station is detected by handset specifying means 56 and temporarily stored in said means 56. The image information received via the NCU 15 and modem 14 is stored in the image memory 16. Then, when all the image information has been stored, base unit 1 disconnects the line with the transmitting station.

The handset specifying means 56 identifies the handset to which the transmitting station desires to transmit image information based on the detected handset specification data, and outputs the information to the parent-child transmission/reception control means 52 via the OR gate 83. do. The parent-child transmission/reception control means 52
calls the specified child device, and then the image data sending means 51 transmits the image information stored in the image memory 16 to the child device via the parent-child transmission/reception control means 52.

[0032] Note that if the slave unit is configured only as a printer as shown in FIG. 3, the image information is decoded and sent to the slave unit. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, when the configuration is similar to that of the base device (that is, when the base device is equipped with a decoding means), the image information is transmitted in an encoded state.

When the handset abnormality detection means 81 detects an abnormality in the handset or a communication failure state due to line failure, etc. during protocol preprocessing with the handset or during image information communication with the handset, Then, the handset priority storage means 82 in which the table shown in FIG. 5 is stored is activated. This results in
Other handsets corresponding to the handset to which the transmitting station wishes to transmit image information are selected in order of priority, and the information is transmitted to the OR gate 8.
3 to the parent-child transmission/reception control means 52, and then a call is made to the child device. If there is no abnormality in the called handset, the image information in the image memory 16 is transmitted to the called handset.

The data in the handset priority storage means 82 can be input, registered, and modified through the priority input means 84. In addition, when transmitting image information from a slave unit to a partner station (not shown) on the line, the image information read by the slave unit is temporarily stored in the image memory 16 of the base unit 1. but,
In this case, the image data receiving means 57 receives the image information transmitted from the slave device and transfers it to the image memory 16.
It will be held in

Now, in the above embodiment, the transmitting station adds handset designation data to the protocol signal sent to the base unit, and the base unit detects this handset designation data to identify the handset. However, by adopting, for example, a method as described below, it is possible to specify a handset without the transmitting station adding handset designation data to its protocol signal.

That is, for example, if a certain transmitting station always transmits image information to a certain slave unit,
In the storage device of the parent device (management memory 54 in FIG. 7, which will be described later),
As shown in FIG. 6, the destination telephone number, which is the telephone number of the transmitting station, and the telephone number of the handset corresponding to the data are stored in advance in correspondence. When the base unit receives a call from the transmitting station, the base unit detects the telephone number of the transmitting station, searches the table for the destination telephone number that is the same as the telephone number, and
By selecting the telephone number of the handset corresponding to the destination telephone number, the handset is identified and a call is made. With this configuration, it becomes possible for the transmitting station to designate a handset without adding handset designation data to its protocol signal.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 represent the same or equivalent parts. In FIG. 7, the management memory 54 stores a plurality of sets of destination phone numbers and handset phone numbers as shown in FIG. These data can be input, registered, and modified by the operator of the base unit 1 using the management data input means 55.

When there is a call from a transmitting station, the telephone number of the transmitting station included in the protocol of the transmitting station is detected by the transmitting station telephone number detecting means 53 and temporarily stored in the means 53. The handset specifying means 56A uses the telephone number of the transmitting station stored in the transmitting station telephone number detecting means 53 to search for the destination telephone number stored in the management memory 54. If there is a telephone number of the other party that is the same as the telephone number of the transmitting station, the telephone number of the handset corresponding to the telephone number of the other party is read out, and the data is sent to the parent-child transmission/reception control means 52 via the OR gate 83. By being output, the slave device is dialed.

The management memory 54 has been described assuming that the telephone number of the other party and the telephone number of the handset are stored in correspondence with each other as shown in FIG. Instead, information specific to the transmitting station (destination)
ID, etc., and/or handset ID, which is information unique to the handset
etc. may be stored. That is, the management memory 54 only needs to store destination-specific data and handset-specific data specific to the transmitting station and handset. Of course, in this case, the transmitting station telephone number detecting means 53 is a transmitting station specific data detecting means for detecting destination specific data. In addition, when storing handset-specific data, if necessary,
The handset phone number required to make a call to the handset is stored in advance in the base phone.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This third embodiment is an example in which a base unit functions as a relay station for slave units. First, the general operation when the base unit functions as a relay station for the slave units will be explained using FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a time chart showing an example of a protocol exchanged between a transmitting station, a base unit, and a slave unit when the base unit functions as a relay station for the slave unit.

In the figure, when the transmitting station calls the base unit and the line is connected, the base unit transmits CED and NSF to the transmitting station. The transmitting station sends NSS and TCF to the base unit.
When the base unit transmits the CFR, the base unit transmits the CFR to the transmitting station. Data for placing the transmitting station in a communication hold state is added to this CFR command, and upon reception of the command, the transmitting station enters a communication hold state without disconnecting the line. The parent device then calls the child device. Note that data for placing the communication on hold and data for restarting communication, which will be described later, do not need to be included.

[0042] The base unit receives CED and N transmitted from the slave unit.
When an SF is received, the contents of the NSF are stored. After this, the base unit transmits NSS. This NSS command has data added to the effect that the base unit functions as a relay station, in other words, to cause direct transmission and reception of protocol and image information between the slave unit and the transmitting station. The slave unit is N
After receiving the SS, transmit the CFR.

[0043] After this, the base unit transmits the NS transmitted from the slave unit.
NSF with the same content as F is transmitted to the transmitting station. This NSF has data added to the effect of canceling the communication hold and restarting the communication. After this, the base unit connects the external line (
(transmitting station) and the line of the handset directly.

[0044] The transmitting station transmits the NS according to the contents of the NSF.
S is sent to the handset, and then TCF is sent. The slave unit is
If the training with TCF is successful, the transmitting station receives CF
R and becomes ready for reception.

After receiving the CFR, the transmitting station transmits image information. After this, EOP, MCF and D are exchanged between the transmitting station and the handset.
After the CN is transmitted and received, the transmitting station disconnects the line, and communication between the transmitting station and the handset ends. Thereafter, the slave unit transmits a communication termination command to the base unit indicating that the communication with the transmitting station has been terminated. As a result, the base unit releases the line between the external line and the slave unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the master unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart is
Executed when a call is received from the transmitting station. In the figure, first in step S41, handset designation data added to the NSS signal or TSI signal of the protocol sent from the transmitting station is detected, and the data is temporarily stored.

In step S42, the CFR command causes the other party's device (transmitting station) to wait (put communication on hold).
data is added and sent to the transmitting station. Step S
In step S43, a call is made to the handset corresponding to the handset designation data stored in step S41.

[0048] In step S44, it is determined by a predetermined method whether or not there is an abnormality in the slave unit that made the call. If there is no abnormality, in step S45, data indicating that the protocol and image information are to be directly transmitted and received between the slave device and the transmitting station is added to the NSS command, and the data is sent to the slave device.

After the base unit exchanges a predetermined protocol with the slave unit, in step S46, the base unit connects the external line and the line between the slave unit within the base unit. Thereby, the transmitting station and the handset are directly connected. If it is determined in step S47 that a communication termination command has been output from the slave device, the line between the external line and the slave device is opened within the base device in step S48.

If it is determined in step S44 that there is an abnormality in the slave unit, the connection with the slave unit is released and the process moves to step S49. In step S49, similar to step S9 in FIG. 4, the telephone numbers of handsets other than the handset specified by the transmitting station are read out in a predetermined priority order, and a call is made to the handset. be done.

[0051] In step S50, similarly to step S10 in FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not there is an abnormality in the other handset to which the call was made. If an abnormality has occurred, the process returns to step S49, and if there is no abnormality, step S45 is performed.
to move to.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 and 7 represent the same or equivalent parts. As is clear from the comparison with FIG. 1, this embodiment has the configuration of FIG.
This includes switching means 61 and 62 and switching control means 63.

After the parent-child transmission/reception control means 52 makes a call to the handset to which the transmitting station desires to transmit, if the handset abnormality detection means 81 does not detect any abnormality in the handset, the switching control means Reference numeral 63 energizes the switching means 61 and 62 to connect the external line (indicated simply as "line" in FIG. 13) and the line with the slave device. Thereby, the transmitting station and the handset are directly connected.

When the handset abnormality detection means 81 detects an abnormality in the handset, a call is made to another handset based on the output of the handset priority storage means 82. If it is confirmed that no abnormality has occurred in the other handset, the switching control means 63 connects the other handset to the external line. When the external line and the handset are connected, this switching control means 63 performs processing for detecting a communication end signal output from the handset, and when this communication end signal is sent from the handset. , energizes the switching means 61 and 62 and releases the connection.

[0055] Now, when outputting the image information of a transmitting station to a slave unit other than the slave unit to which the transmitting station wishes to transmit, it is necessary to Display a message on the other handset or include it in the image information (for example, in a header, footer, or separately). ) may be included as a page.

Furthermore, although the image information of the transmitting station is assumed to be output (hard copy) from the other handset, the image information is stored in the image memory of the other handset and can be used as needed. Of course, the image information may be made into a soft copy and/or a hard copy.

Furthermore, in each of the embodiments described above, the selection of other slave units is performed in the order of predetermined priority.
Of course, the selection may be made randomly.

[0058]

Effects of the Invention As mentioned above, when the transmitting station is unable to transmit or transfer image information to the desired handset, such as when an abnormality occurs in the handset that the transmitting station desires to transmit, the image information is transmitted to the handset. ,
Since the image information is transmitted or transferred to other handsets than the handset, it is possible to prevent the transmitting station from being unable to send image information to all output devices of the parent-child facsimile system.

For example, if data for specifying the slave unit to which the image information is sent is added to the image information transmitted from the transmitting station, the operator of the other slave unit can:
The image information hard-copied by the other slave device can be passed to the operator of the predetermined slave device.

[0060] When the image information of the transmitting station is stored in the storage device of the other handset, the image information can be hard-copied as needed, and after that, the transmitting station can transmit the image information. When a malfunction or the like of a desired slave device is repaired, image information can be transmitted to the desired slave device from the other slave device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of a master device and a slave device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of a specific configuration of a parent device and a child device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the master device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing an example of a table showing priorities.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing contents registered in the management memory.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a time chart showing an example of a protocol exchanged between a transmitting station, a base unit, and a slave unit when the base unit functions as a relay station for the slave unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of a master device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a parent-child facsimile system.

[Explanation of symbols]

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A plurality of handsets are connected to a line and connected by wire or wirelessly, and a predetermined handset is selected in response to an incoming call from another facsimile device connected to the line, and the facsimile machine is sent to the handset. In a facsimile device that performs either transmission or transfer of output image information of the other facsimile device, when the image information of the transmitting station cannot be transmitted to a predetermined handset, another handset other than the said handset is selected. A facsimile apparatus characterized in that the facsimile apparatus further comprises means for transmitting or transferring output image information of the other facsimile apparatus to the other slave apparatus.