JPH04360463A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To guarantee nonvolatile performance of a reception picture by informing the state of a storage medium. CONSTITUTION:When a main control section 1 receives picture information of confidential reception via a communication control section 4, the picture information is stored in a 1st storage section 7 and the control section 1 discriminates whether or not a 2nd storage section 8 is in write enable state. When the write is disable, a prescribed message is displayed on a display section 6 depending on the cause to discrimination to inform the operator of that the 2nd storage section 8 is brought into the write enable state.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a facsimile machine that stores image information in a non-volatile storage medium.

0002

[Prior Art] A semiconductor memory such as a DRAM is installed as an image memory, and there is a so-called "proxy reception function" that stores received data in the image memory when there is no recording paper. A facsimile machine is known that has a so-called "confidential reception" function that stores information, verifies a predetermined password that has been input, and then prints it out on recording paper. However, when this DRAM is used as an image memory, since the memory is non-volatile, there is a problem in that the received images are lost in the event of a power outage, which may cause some anxiety to the user. As a method to eliminate such concerns, it is possible to configure the image memory with SRAM and back it up with a battery, but this method is not put into practical use because it is expensive.

[0003] Therefore, a facsimile machine has been proposed in which a floppy disk, which is a relatively inexpensive non-volatile memory, is installed as an image memory. The floppy disk is generally widely used as an external storage device for personal computers, word processors, and the like.

[0004] Personal computers and word processors basically operate on semiconductor memory, so they are constructed so that during normal operation, it does not matter if the floppy disk is not installed or write-protected. In other words, the floppy disk is used for backing up semiconductor memory, and writes to it at the will of the operator.

[0005] Therefore, the operator is fully aware of what information he or she has written on the floppy disk, and a warning that writing is not possible due to the disk not being installed or write-protection settings is issued only when the operator executes a write operation. It is done.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in the operation peculiar to a facsimile machine that performs automatic reception when the operator is not present, even if an attempt is made to perform a writing operation after automatic reception, the floppy disk is not inserted. If the floppy disk is not installed or is being written to even if it is installed, the received image data cannot be transferred to the floppy disk, so even though it is equipped with nonvolatile memory, it is guaranteed to be nonvolatile as a facsimile machine. The drawback was that it became impossible to do so.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that can guarantee the non-volatility of a received image by notifying the status of a storage medium.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a first storage means for storing received image information, a second storage means for storing image information transferred from the first storage means, and depending on the state of the second storage means, and notification means for notifying to that effect.

[0009] Also preferably, the second storage means:
The storage medium is a non-volatile storage medium, and the notification means is characterized in that it notifies the storage medium of a state in which storage is disabled.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus in this embodiment. In the figure, numeral 1 denotes a main control unit that controls the entire device, and is composed of a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and system data, and a RAM that is used as a workpiece. Reference numeral 2 denotes a reading section, which includes, for example, a CCD image sensor, a document conveyance mechanism, and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a recording section, which is constituted by, for example, a thermal printer or a laser printer. Reference numeral 4 denotes a communication control unit to which a communication line such as a telephone line and a telephone set are connected, and is constituted by a modem, an NCU (network control unit), and the like. Reference numeral 5 denotes an input operation section, which is composed of a keyboard or the like for inputting instructions to the apparatus. Reference numeral 6 denotes a display section, which is composed of an LCD, an LED, and the like. 7 is a first storage unit, which is a volatile memory such as DRAM. 8 is a second storage unit, which is a nonvolatile memory such as a floppy disk.

10 to 12 are interface signals between the second storage section 8 and the main control section 1, 10 is a command signal from the main control section 1 to the second storage section 8, and 11 is a command signal from the second storage section 8.
A response signal 12 is sent from the second storage section 8 to the main control section 1, and a status signal 12 is sent from the second storage section 8 to the main control section 1. Incidentally, the mounting state of the disk is notified by this status signal 12. Further, the write-protection setting state of the disk is notified by a response signal 11 in response to the command signal 10.

[0013] Next, the operation of the above-described configuration when, for example, the first storage section 7 is a DRAM and the second storage section 8 is a floppy disk (hereinafter referred to as FD) will be described.

[0014] Regarding the detection and display of the write-inability of the FD in the standby state, a predetermined message is displayed on the display unit 6 based on the information detected by the interface signals 10 to 12 between the FD 8 and the main control unit 1. This is a simple process of simply displaying in the format, and detailed explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart showing "confidential reception" by automatic reception of the facsimile machine in this embodiment. CCITT Recommendation T. It almost complies with the recommended flowchart of No. 30, and steps S1 to S6
Until now, Recommendation T. This is exactly the same as No. 30, and no particular explanation will be given. In addition, node names (R) (A) (C) (
D)(F)(III) is based on Recommendation T. This is exactly the same as the node name in the No. 30 recommendation flowchart.

Now, the received response signal is (NSS/TS
I) If it is a DCS, the process advances to step S7, and the contents of the NSS are analyzed to determine whether confidential reception has been instructed. As a result, if it is not confidential reception, recommendation T.
Step S1 as in the case of the 30 recommended flowcharts.
0 and receive the training TCF. However, if confidential reception has been instructed, the process advances to step S8, where the command signal 10 is issued, the response signal 11 is obtained, and the state of the status signal 12 is read to determine whether the FD 8 is writable. Determine whether or not.

Here, if the FD 8 is writable, the process proceeds to step S10 described above, but if it is not writable, the process proceeds to step S9, and depending on the determination factor in step S8, the ``FD is loaded'' is selected. Messages such as "Please remove write protection on the FD" are displayed on the display unit 6, and a warning sound is emitted from a speaker (not shown) to request the operator to make the FD 8 ready for writing. do.

After receiving the training TCF in step S10, the process advances to step S11 to determine whether the training result is good or bad. As a result, if the condition is not good, the process proceeds to step S15, sends out an FTT requesting retraining, and then returns to node F. On the other hand, if the condition is good, the process advances to step S12, and it is determined whether or not it is a confidential reception. If it is not a confidential reception, the process advances to step S16, and a CFR indicating that message transmission may be started is sent. Then, it returns to node F and receives the image signal.

On the other hand, if it is a confidential reception, the process advances to step S13, and it is determined whether or not the FD 8 is writable, as in step S8. Here, if the FD 8 is writable, the process directly advances to step S14, and after stopping the warning sound and erasing the warning message, the process advances to step S16 described above. However, if the FD8 is not writable, the process returns to step S1 again and the process of sending out the NSF, CSI, and DIS is repeated. Thereafter, if writing becomes possible before the timeout of T1 (approximately 5 seconds), processing proceeds to node C and communication ends.

As explained above, according to this embodiment,
A removable and write-protected floppy disk is used as a non-volatile storage medium, and is used for "proxy reception" or "
By displaying whether a floppy disk is not installed or a write-protected state is displayed during "confidential reception", it is possible to guarantee the non-volatility of the received image.

[0021]

[Other Embodiments] In the above-mentioned embodiments, only "floppy disk not installed" and "write-protection setting" were mentioned as the unrecordable state of the second storage unit, but for example, if the format of the installed floppy disk is Even in different cases,
Needless to say, this is treated in the same way as a record-disabled state.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, a floppy disk was used as an example of a nonvolatile storage medium, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to use, for example, an optical disk.

The present invention may be applied to a system made up of a plurality of devices, or to an apparatus made up of one device. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to cases where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or device.

[0024]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
By notifying the state of the storage medium, it is possible to guarantee the nonvolatility of the received image.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus in this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation at the time of reception in this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Main control section 2 Reading section 3 Recording Department 4 Communication control section 5 Input operation section 6 Display section 7 First storage section 8 Second storage section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means for storing received image information, a second storage means for storing image information transferred from the first storage means, and a state of the second storage means. 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a notification means for notifying the user of the notification according to the request. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second storage means is a non-volatile storage medium, and the notification means reports a state in which data cannot be stored on the storage medium. .