JPH0468963A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To announce the end of transmission in voice information by referencing a reference list based on a transmission device number at the end of facsimile transmission so as to extract a telephone number of the facsimile transmission destination, sending it automatically, generating voice information notifying the end of transmission and sending it to a communication line. CONSTITUTION:A main control section 8 references a reference list stored in advance based on an entered facsimile destination number at the end of facsimile transmission by a transmission means 3 to extract a telephone number of the facsimile transmission destination and makes dialing the number automatically via a communication line. Then a voice information generating means 5 generates voice information announcing the end of facsimile transmission by the transmission means 3 and sends the information to the communication line via a voice information transmission means 6. Thus, at the end of facsimile transmission, the end of facsimile transmission is informed in voice information from the sender side to the receiver side automatically.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a facsimile device that transmits or receives document information or the like using a communication line.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in this type of facsimile machine, the technology that uses voice is usually used when the facsimile machine is set up with an automatic reception function, which automatically sends a message to the caller. It used a fixed voice message to notify the sender (originator) that it was in reception mode.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, with conventional facsimile machines, even if a document is sent, the recipient on the receiving side does not know that the document has been received. Documents were often left unattended in the received document stack.

Also, if you know in advance that it will be sent,
There was a problem in that the user had to repeatedly check to see if the manuscript had been received in the received manuscript stack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device that can automatically notify the receiving side via voice information that the facsimile transmission has ended, from the sending side to the receiving side over the telephone.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A facsimile device of the present invention includes an input means for inputting at least a facsimile destination number, and a document information etc. based on the facsimile destination number inputted by the input means. A transmitting means for transmitting a facsimile to a facsimile destination via a communication line, and when the facsimile transmission by this transmitting means is completed,
telephone number extraction means for extracting a telephone number of a facsimile destination by referring to a correspondence table stored in advance based on the input facsimile destination number; automatic calling means that automatically sends a call via a communication line; voice information generating means that generates voice information notifying that the facsimile transmission by the transmitting means has been completed; and audio information sending means for sending out to a communication line.

(Operation) When the facsimile transmission is completed, the facsimile device of the present invention extracts the telephone number of the facsimile destination (receiver) by referring to a pre-stored correspondence table based on the input facsimile destination number. The system automatically makes a call to the extracted telephone number, generates audio information to notify that the facsimile transmission has been completed, and sends the generated audio information to the communication line.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. That is, 1 is a keyboard for inputting facsimile destination numbers and the like. A scanner section 2 optically scans an input document (document information) set on a document table (not shown) to convert it into an electrical signal and encode it. 3 is a transmission control unit that transmits encoded information obtained from the scanner unit 2 to the receiving side via a communication line. 4 is a correspondence table storage unit, for example, as shown in FIG.
A correspondence table of destination facsimile destination numbers, destination telephone numbers, and destination names is stored.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a voice rule synthesis unit which converts an input message (to be described in detail later) into voice information. A telephone 6 makes a call to the input destination telephone number via a communication line. 7
uses a printer to print out received information, facsimile transmission list, etc. 8 is a main control section which performs overall control and also generates a message to be described later.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, a document to be sent is placed on the document table of the scanner section 2, and the facsimile destination number of the destination is entered from the keyboard 1, as well as a name indicating to whom the document is addressed. For example, facsimile destination number r03-1
Enter 23-4567J and the name "Utsunomiya". After the input from the keyboard 1 is completed, the main control unit 8 drives the scanner unit 2 to scan the input document,
Furthermore, the transmission control unit 3 is driven to transmit the encoded document information obtained from the scanner unit 2 to the destination based on the input facsimile transmission number via the communication line. This transmission operation continues until scanning of the original set on the original table is completed.

Now, when the scanning of the document set on the document table is completed and the facsimile transmission is completed, the main control section 8 searches the correspondence table stored in the correspondence table storage section 4 to determine the input facsimile destination. Extract the corresponding destination phone number and destination name from the number. In the example of the correspondence table shown in FIG. 2, the facsimile destination number r03-123-45
The destination phone number corresponding to 67J is r03-234-56
78J, and the destination name is ``rooo Jimusho.''
Each of these is extracted. Next, the main control unit 8 drives the telephone 6 to retrieve the extracted destination telephone number r03-.
Call 234-5678J. That is, a call is automatically made to the extracted destination telephone number.

Here, if the receiver on the destination side (receiving side) is not picked up within a predetermined time (for example, within 30 seconds after the automatic call is made), that is, if the call is not received, the main control unit 8
Automatically calls the same phone number again after a certain period of time (for example, 15 minutes).

On the other hand, if the receiver is picked up within a predetermined time, that is, if a call is received, the main control unit 8 generates a character string for a message to be sent to the destination. In this example, the destination name is roo
Since the address is ``Utsu no Miya,'' for example, a character string such as ``This is Rororo. I sent a favor to Utsu no Miya from OQO Jimusho.'' is generated. In this message,
The "oOO Jimusho" and "Utsunomiya" parts change depending on the destination.

After generating the message in this way, the main control section 8 sends the character string of the generated message to the voice rule synthesis section 5. The speech rule synthesis unit 5 converts an input character string into speech according to rules.

Details of this conversion method are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 61-2481 entitled "Speech Synthesis Method," so please refer to that. The speech generated in this way has intonation and accent added, so it is close to natural speech and has the advantage of being easy to hear.

Now, the voice information that is the output of the voice rule synthesis section 5 is sent to the communication line via the telephone 6. As a result, the message, that is, the message to which the recipient has sent the document by facsimile, is voiced from the receiver on the destination side.

Note that the message is not fixed, and any message such as the transmission end time can be added.

As described above, when facsimile transmission is completed, it is possible to automatically notify the destination side of the completion of facsimile transmission by a voice message over the telephone. In particular, when a large number of people share the destination facsimile machine, it is possible to notify who has completed the facsimile transmission, and the voice message is a highly natural synthesized voice that is easy to hear. It can be given by

This prevents the recipient from noticing that a facsimile has been received and leaving it in the received document stack. There is no need to repeatedly go to the received document stack to check whether a fax has actually been received, and you only need to go to pick it up after receiving a message that the fax has been sent. It can be significantly improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, there is provided a facsimile device that is capable of automatically notifying the receiving side via voice information from the sending side that the facsimile transmission has ended when the facsimile transmission has ended. can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Figure 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration, Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the contents of the correspondence table storage section, and Figure 3 is an illustration of the operation. It is a flowchart explaining. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Keyboard, 2...Scanner section, 3...Transmission control section, 4...Correspondence table storage section, 5...Speech rule synthesis section, 6...Telephone, 7...Printer Part 8...
Main control section. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An input means for inputting at least a facsimile destination number; and a transmission means for transmitting document information etc. to the facsimile destination via a communication line based on the facsimile destination number input by the input means. , a telephone number extracting means for extracting the telephone number of the facsimile destination by referring to a pre-stored correspondence table based on the input facsimile destination number when the facsimile transmission by the transmitting means is completed; automatic dialing means for automatically dialing a telephone number extracted by the number extracting means via a communication line; voice information generating means for generating voice information notifying that the facsimile transmission by the transmitting means has been completed; and this voice information. A facsimile apparatus comprising: voice information transmitting means for transmitting the voice information generated by the generating means to the communication line.