JPH0447759A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the convenience of use by storing a received text to a storage memory and collating or sending the stored received text according to an external request. CONSTITUTION:The facsimile equipment is provided with a storage means 12a storing management information to manage a received text and a text identification code stored in a storage memory 22, transmission telephone number detection means 11,24 detecting a transfer destination telephone number sent from a communication line 26, collation result transmission means 11,24 sending a signal representing the presence of the received text detected by the collation of the content of the storage memory 22 to the communication line 26 and a control means 11. In this case, the control means 11 decides whether or not the received text provided with the text identification code is stored in the storage memory 22 and whether or not the text in the storage memory 22 is to be sent, collated or printed out to control the storage memory 22, the communication control section 24, the recording section 23 and a transmission destination telephone number detection means and collation result transmission means based on the decided result and management information and to revise the management information. Thus, the convenience of use is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a facsimile device having a message storage function and capable of transmitting received messages to other facsimile devices, and particularly to a communication control method thereof.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in a facsimile machine with an accumulator,
Received messages can be temporarily stored in memory. Therefore, for example, if there is no recording paper when a message is received, the received message is temporarily stored in the memory, and once the recording paper is replenished, the previously received messages can be sequentially printed. This type of facsimile device is configured so that the facsimile device that receives the message prints the message.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, with the facsimile device having the above configuration, it is not possible to transmit the received message to another facsimile device. The problem was that it was not possible. Furthermore, since there is no way to confirm whether or not a message has been received from outside the home, users are faced with disadvantages and inconveniences.

The present invention provides a facsimile device that solves the disadvantage of the NM of the prior art, which is that if the recipient of the received message is absent, the received message cannot be processed, which is disadvantageous and inconvenient. .

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a storage memory for storing received messages, and a communication system for transmitting the contents of the storage memory to a notification destination of a destination telephone number via a communication line. a control unit;
a recording unit that prints the contents of the storage memory on recording paper;
This facsimile machine is equipped with the following measures.

That is, the present invention includes a storage means for storing management information for managing received messages and message identification codes to be stored in the storage memory, and detects a destination telephone number from a signal sent from the communication line. destination telephone number detection means;
The present invention is constructed by omitting an inquiry result sending means for sending a signal representing the presence or absence of a received message detected by inquiry of the contents of the storage memory to the communication line, and a control means.

Here, the control means determines whether or not to add the message identification code and receive the received message into the storage memory, and whether or not to transmit/inquiry print the message in the storage memory,
The decision result and the management fi'j information are listed above.
b-Memo 19) It has a function of controlling the FFI communication control section, recording section, destination telephone number detection means, and inquiry result sending means, as well as updating the management information.

(Function) According to the present invention, since the facsimile device is configured as described above, when a signal is manually input via the communication line, the control means adds a message identification code and receives the received message into the storage memory. or whether to send, inquire, or print the message in storage memory. Based on the determination result, the control means, in the case of reception, assigns a message identification code to the received message and stores it in the storage memory, and also adds management information for managing the received message and the message identification code. Store in storage means.

If the determination result is transmission, the control means causes the communication control unit to transmit the message in the storage memory to the notification destination of the destination telephone number detected by the destination telephone number detection means, and when the determination result indicates inquiry. In this case, it is detected whether or not there is a message in the storage memory, and the result of the detection is sent to the communication line by the inquiry result sending means. Further, if the determined result is printing, the message stored in the storage memory is printed on recording paper by the recording section.

As a result, if the recipient of the message is away on a business trip, etc., you can check whether there is a message addressed to you no matter where you are, and if there is a message, you can send it to the specified destination or Polling transmission can be performed. Therefore, the above problem can be solved.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a facsimile machine showing an embodiment of the present invention.

This facsimile machine has a control section 1 that controls the entire machine.
0. The control unit 10 is a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as MlU) having a function as a control means.
11, and a main memory 12 such as a semiconductor memory having a function as a storage means. In the main memory 12,
A program storage area 12a and a management table 12b are provided. The management table 12b includes a post office box management table 12b=1, a message management table 12b-2, a destination information management table 12b-3, and a destination information table 12.
It has b-4. The MPU 11 has a function of performing various controls such as post office box management control by referring to the contents of the management table 12b by executing a program stored in the program storage area 12a in the main memory 1.2.

Control unit]-〇 includes an operation/display unit 20 that performs instruction operations and displays such as printing instructions for messages, and a reading unit 21 consisting of a semiconductor image sensor or the like that retrieves information written on the input manuscript in chronological order. , and a storage memory 22 composed of a semiconductor memory or the like for storing received messages are connected. In the storage memory 22, there is provided a post office box 22a which is an area for storing received messages of a specific recipient.Furthermore, the control unit 10 stores records such as a thermal recording method for printing received messages. The communication control section 25 is connected to a signal control section 24 that detects or generates an MF)--in other words, a push button signal (hereinafter referred to as a PB double signal). The communication control unit 25 is composed of a modem (modulation/demodulation device), a network control circuit, etc., and has a function of performing communication control such as connection control of the communication line 26.

Here, MPtJl,1- and the signal control unit 24,
a sending optical telephone number detection means for detecting a PB double signal sending optical telephone signal sent from the communication line 26; and a post office box 22;
There is also an inquiry result sending means for detecting whether or not a received message is stored in A and sending the detection result to the communication line 26 using a PB double signal.

Figure 2 shows I 7g:t:i 22a, its PO Box 22.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the management table 121) in FIG. 1 that stores management information for managing the telegrams and sending optical telephone numbers in a.

The post office box management table 12b-1 contains the password corresponding to each post office box 22εt, and the password corresponding to the post office box 22a.
The message identification code (for example, message number) within is stored. The message management table 12Ll-2 stores message numbers following the corresponding message number.

The second message number takes an integer value between 1 and
When no message is registered in a, or when there is no continuation message, the message number will be entered as S'T''P.Destination information management table 1.2b-3 shows the destinations in use. The first and last numbers of the information file number are stored.
Furthermore, the address information table 12b4 stores the post office box number and the telephone number of the destination where the transmission request was made.

3(a) and (1) are flowcharts 1- showing the operation of FIG. 1; FIG. 3(a) is a flowchart at the time of receiving, and FIG. It is. Hereinafter, operations (I) and (II) of this embodiment will be explained with reference to this flowchart.

(I> Reception operation (FIG. 3(a)) When the MPU II in the control unit 10 detects reception via the communication control unit 25, it stores it in the program storage area '12a in the main memory 12. The operation to be performed is determined based on the communication procedure or the PB multiplied signal detected by the signal control unit 24 (step 31>).

(I>(1) If it is decided to receive a message, MPU1.1
When it is determined to receive a message, it assigns a message number to the message to be received (step S2). The message number is a different number assigned to each communication, and
It is then used to manage received messages.

After the MPU II is assigned a telegram number, it will be sent to P.O. Box 22a etc. It is determined whether or not the received information is received (step s3).

When receiving the mail to the post office box 22a, check the post office box number and password to prevent unauthorized use (step S4). If the check results match (OK), send the received message along with the mail number. It is stored in the private mail box 22a in the storage memory 22 (step S5).

After the accumulation is completed, the MPU II adds and stores the message number assigned to the received message in the post office box management table 12b-1 and the message management table 1-2b-2 provided in the main memory 12 (step S6). ). Since there is no need to store the received message in the storage memory 22 if the received message is not received in a post office box, the MPU II prints the received message on recording paper using the recording unit 23 (step S7).

(1) (2> If the reception operation is determined to be polling transmission. If the reception operation is determined to be polling transmission (inquiry to each terminal device to prompt data transmission), MPU II will detect unauthorized use. In order to prevent such attacks, check the post office box number and password (step S8).
, If the check results match, the presence or absence of the message in the corresponding PO box 22a is checked by referring to [P.O. Box Management Table]2)]1 (Step S9>. To check the presence or absence of the message, check the P.O. Box Management Table]2) -21) Refer to the starting message number of the corresponding PO box number in -1, and
], it is assumed that there is a message.

If there is a message in the corresponding post office box 22a, the MPU
], 1 controls the communication control unit 25 according to the communication procedure stored in the program storage area 12a to send the post office box 22a.
Send the message within to the communication line 26 (step 510)
. After this transmission is completed, the MPU 1.1 clears the message number in the message management table 12b- and message management table 2b-2 in order to delete unnecessary data, and clears the message number in the message management table 2b-2.
2a, the accumulated received messages are deleted (step 511).

(i>(3) If the reception operation is determined to be verification, the MPU
II, refer to PO Box Management Table 1.2 b-1,
If the message is registered in the corresponding post office box 22a,
The signal control section 24 sends a J)B signal corresponding to "telegram present" to the communication line 26 via the communication control section 25 (step 512).

1) After sending the I3 signal, if there is a transmission request, the M
PU[ performs processing for transmitting the message in the private mail box 22a (step 813).

(I>(4,) When the receiving operation is determined to be sent to a post office box If the other party requests sending to a post office box using a telephone other than a facsimile device, MPU 1.1- sends the message to a post office box 2.
Check whether the message is registered in 2a (Step 5)
14). If the message is registered, MPUll-
From the output of the signal processing unit 24 that detects the PB signal, the telephone number of the destination of the message is detected, the post office box number and the destination telephone number are registered in the destination information table 1.2b-4, and the destination information management table 12b-3 The content of is updated (step 515). Thereafter, the process moves on to the next PO box sending operation.

(n) Transmission operation (Fig. 3 (b)) When there is a request to send to the private M box, the transmission operation (Fig. 3 (1))
It operates according to the flowchart. That is, MPU13
periodically refers to the destination information management table J2 b-3, determines whether the content of the first table number is a hep symbol STP or a table number, and if the table number is registered, sends to a post office box. (Step S]6).

When transmitting a message in the post office box 22a, the MPU 1l selects the destination information table 12 corresponding to the first table number in the destination information management table 1-21)-3 +)-4
Based on the destination phone number, post office box number, and post office box management table 3.2 b-1 and the corresponding message number and message management table 1.21) -2, the message is sent via the communication control unit 25. Sends a message.

Once the transmission power of the message in the corresponding PO Box 22a is confirmed,
In order to control unnecessary data, the accumulated received messages are deleted and the leading table number in the destination information management table 1-21)-3 is updated. At this time, if there are multiple requests to send to PO Boxes at the same time and the final table number has not been reached, 1. In this case, the first table number is referred to and transmission to the post office box is repeated. In this way, the transmission operation is repeated until the transmission to the private mail box of the final table number in the destination information management table 12b-3 is completed (step 517).

After sending to the post office box, clear the destination information management table 1.21)-3 and the destination information table 12ID-4 to delete the data that is no longer needed (step S1-
8>. After that, register the block symbol STP in the start message number and end message number of the corresponding PO box number area in the PO box management table 121]-J, and
There is also a block symbol S' in the corresponding area of 2b-2.
]' J) is registered (step 519).

As shown in ``2'' below, in this embodiment, received messages are sent to P.O. Box 22.
The system is structured so that you can make inquiries about the accumulated messages and send them via polling or to a post office box, so if the recipient of the message is not home, you can make a phone call and receive the message addressed to you no matter where you are. Check whether or not (
Inquiry) is possible.

Furthermore, by polling transmission, the received message can be received on a nearby facsimile device, or by making a telephone call, it can be sent to a designated facsimile device to a post office box, so you can see the received message addressed to you no matter where you are. Therefore, the recipient of the received message in a remote location sees the received message addressed to him/her and immediately processes the received message. This makes it possible to urgently process the received message, further improving the usability of the facsimile machine.

Figure 11. When transmitting an input document, the input document is read by the reading unit 21 as a -dimensional time-series signal. In order not to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted, the read h one-dimensional time series signal is -
The communication control unit 25 performs dimensional or two-dimensional data compression.
The signal is modulated and sent out to the communication line 26. On the other hand, the transmission data from the communication line 26 is demodulated by the communication control section 25.
After that, the image is decompressed by Ml) U ], 3 and sent to the recording section 23, where it is printed as an image on recording paper.

Note that if the communication line 26 is a digital line, there is no need for the communication control unit 25 to modulate and demodulate data. Furthermore, at the time of transmission or reception, instead of directly transmitting or printing the message, it is also possible to accumulate the message in the storage memory 22 and then transmit or print the accumulated message.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible. Examples of such modifications include the following.

(i) In the above embodiment, in order to manage received messages, a post office box 22a is provided in the storage memory 22, and a message number is given to the received messages and the messages are stored in the post office box 22a. However, this post office box 22a may be provided outside the storage memory 22 and may be configured with another memory.

(:i) The management information for managing the post office box 22a and the post office box number is stored in the management table 121), but this management table 121D is placed outside the main memory]-2 and stored in another memory. It may be composed of Also,
This management table 1-2b may be transformed into a format other than that shown in FIG.

(iii) In the above embodiment, the transmitting optical telephone number detecting means and the inquiry result transmitting means are connected to the signal control unit 24 and the MP
configured by U11, and by its signal control unit 24])
The B signal is used to detect the transmission destination of the message and to notify the presence or absence of the received message.

As described above, the use of PB double signals has the advantage that communication can be made from a telephone other than a facsimile, but if the other party is a terminal device such as a facsimile or a computer with communication functions, Alternatively, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which signals used during the communication procedure are used.

(1v) The flowchart in FIG. 3 can be modified to other procedures depending on the modification of the circuit configuration in FIG. 1, etc. For example, in FIG. 3(b), the MPU], ] periodically refers to the destination information management table 12+)-3 and uses the contents of the first table number or the first hep symbol STP.
If there is a request to send to a post office box in step S1.5 of FIG. 3(a),
The request result is stored in a flag (not shown), etc., and M
By PUII detecting the contents of the flag etc.
It is also possible to perform the operation of step 816 in FIG. 3(I).

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, received messages are stored in a storage memory, and the stored received messages can be inquired or transmitted in response to an external request. For example, if the recipient of the message is absent, the user can check (inquire) whether there is a message addressed to him or not from anywhere. Furthermore, since the received message can be received by, for example, a facsimile device at hand, the user can see the received message addressed to him no matter where he is, thereby making it possible to quickly process the received message. Therefore, the usability of the facsimile device is further improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a facsimile machine showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram of the management table in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are This is a flowchart showing the operation, where (a) is a flowchart when receiving data, and (b) is a flowchart when sending data to a post office box. 10: Control unit, 11: MPU ,1
2...Main memory, 12a...Program storage area, 121) Management table, 20...
Operation/display section, 21-...reading section, 22...
... Storage memory, 22a ... P.O. box, 23.
... Recording section, 24 ... Signal control section, 25
...Communication control unit, 26...Communication line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A storage memory that stores received messages, a communication control unit that transmits the contents of the storage memory to a notification destination of a destination telephone number via a communication line, and prints the contents of the storage memory on recording paper. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a storage means for storing management information for managing the received message and message identification code to be stored in the storage memory; and a destination telephone based on the signal sent from the communication line. destination telephone number detection means for detecting a number; inquiry result sending means for sending a signal indicating the presence or absence of a received message detected by inquiry of the contents of the storage memory to the communication line; and adding the message identification code. determining whether or not the received message is to be received in the storage memory, and whether or not the message in the storage memory can be transmitted, inquired, and printed, and based on the determination result and the management information, the storage memory, the communication control unit, A facsimile apparatus comprising: a control means for controlling a recording section, a destination telephone number detection means, and an inquiry result sending means, and for updating the management information.