JPH05130351A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time required for transmission by transmitting delimitation data between pages, stored in an image data storage means, to a facsimile signal transmitting means and then reading out and storing a next page. CONSTITUTION:A document presence/absence detecting means 13 detects whether a document is present or not. When the document is present, a control means 8 records the page delimitation data stored in a delimitation data storage means 14 in an image data storage means 5. The page delimitation data recorded in the means 5 are transmitted by a facsimile transmitting means 6 as well as other image data. The page delimitation data stored in the means 14 are short data, so the data can be sent in a short time as compared with the time required for signal transmission. Further, the data are image data and sent right after the document is sent, so a reception side judges that one document is continuously transmitted and can receive the document continuously and immediately without sending an MCF signal back.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine for transmitting and receiving images and documents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Facsimile apparatuses for transmitting and receiving images and documents via telephone lines have been widely used. Hereinafter, a conventional facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a conventional facsimile apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing its operation. In FIG. 3, 1 is a telephone line, 2 is an interface circuit with the telephone line 1, 3 is dial means for sending a dial signal to the telephone line 1, 4 is storage means for storing a telephone number, and 5 is an image signal. Image data storage means, 6 is a facsimile signal transmission means for transmitting a facsimile signal to the telephone line 1, 7 is a facsimile signal reception means for receiving a facsimile signal input from the telephone line 1, and 8 is a control means for controlling the apparatus. And incorporates the timer 9 and the counter 10. Reference numeral 11 is a telephone number input means, 12 is an image reading means, and 13 is a document presence / absence detection means for detecting the presence / absence of a document.

With respect to the facsimile apparatus including the above components, the relation and operation of the components will be described below.

First, when a destination telephone number is input from the telephone number input means 11, the control means 8 detects it and stores the telephone number in the storage means 4 in the order of input. Next, if you send an original from the operating section (not shown),
The control means 8 controls the interface circuit 2 to close the telephone line 1 (step 1). Next, the dial means 3 and the storage means 4 are controlled so that the dial signal of the telephone number stored in the storage means 4 is generated by the dial means 3 and transmitted to the telephone line 1 through the interface circuit 2 (step 2). ). When the transmission of the dial signal is completed, the control means 8 controls the timer 9 (here, 35 seconds).
(Step 3) to start the facsimile signal receiving means 7
Thus, the state of waiting for the reception of the DIS signal (digital identification signal) according to the CCITT recommendation from the receiving side is set (step 4).

If the timer 9 expires before the DIS signal is received in step 4 (step 5), it is considered that transmission is impossible due to a bad line condition, failure of the receiving side, wrong telephone number, etc. The means 8 transmits the DCN signal (line disconnection command signal) according to the CCITT recommendation from the facsimile signal transmitting means 6 (step 23), and causes the interface circuit 2 to open the telephone line 1 (step 24).

Next, when the DIS signal from the receiving side is received in step 4, the control means 8 prepares for transmission by adjusting the communication mode and the setting of the communication speed with the receiving side in accordance with the CCITT recommendation (step 6). When the preparation is completed, one set original is read by the image reading means 12, the data is accumulated in the image data accumulating means 5, and the facsimile signal transmitting means 6 transmits it (step 7). When the transmission of one document is completed, the document presence / absence detection unit 13 detects whether there is a document not yet transmitted (step 8).

If a document is present here, the control means 8
Sets 0 to the counter 10 (step 9), and the MP according to CCITT recommendation from the facsimile signal transmitting means 6
S signal (multi-page signal) is transmitted (step 1)
0). After that, the timer 9 (here, 3 seconds) is started (step 11), and the facsimile signal receiving means 7 waits for the reception of the MCF signal (message confirmation signal) according to the CCITT recommendation from the receiving side ( Step 12).

If the timer 9 expires before receiving the MCF signal in step 12 (step 13), the control means 8 adds 1 to the counter value of the counter 10 (step 14), and returns to step 10 to return the MPS signal again. Send. When the counter value of the counter 10 reaches 3 in step 15, it is judged that the receiving side could not receive, and in step 23 the DCN signal is transmitted and the telephone line 1 is opened. When the MCF signal is received in step 12, since it can be confirmed that the receiving side has finished receiving one sheet, the process returns to step 7 and the next page is transmitted.

Next, when there is no document in step 8, that is, when the transmission of the final document is completed, the control means 8 sets the counter 10 to 0 (step 16), and the facsimile signal transmission means 6 makes a CCITT recommendation. Transmits the following EOP signal (procedure end signal) (step 1)
7). After that, the timer 9 (here, 3 seconds) is started (step 18), and the facsimile signal receiving means 7 waits for the reception of the MCF signal (message confirmation signal) according to the CCITT recommendation from the receiving side (step 18). Step 19).

When the timer 9 expires before receiving the MCF signal in step 19 (step 20), the control means 8 adds 1 to the counter value of the counter 10 (step 21) and returns to step 17 to return to the EOP signal. To send. In step 22, the counter value of the counter 10 is 3
If so, the receiving side judges that it could not receive, and proceeds to step 23 to transmit the DCN signal to open the telephone line 1.

When the MCF signal is received in step 19,
You can confirm that the receiving side has finished receiving the last page,
Since the transmission of all the originals has been completed, the control means 8 transmits the DCN signal from the facsimile signal transmission means 6 (step 23), opens the telephone line 1 in the interface circuit 2 (step 24), and terminates the communication.

Although it is possible that the transmission mode is changed during transmission of a plurality of sheets, the transmission is limited to the same mode here.

[0014]

However, in the above-mentioned configuration, since the signal is exchanged with the receiving side every time one original is transmitted, the total time required for exchanging the signal is increased when the number of transmitted sheets is large. However, if the line condition is good and communication is not hindered, the exchange of the signal will always succeed, resulting in a considerable waste of time.

Particularly in the case of long-distance communication, there is a problem in that the charge for communication is also wasted and the user is wasted.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. When the same transmission mode is used for exchanging signals with the receiving side every time one original is transmitted, the transmission of the final original is completed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus that can reduce the time required for transmission by the user and reduce unnecessary load by reducing the number of times to one.

[0017]

In order to achieve this object, a facsimile apparatus of the present invention comprises an image reading means for reading an image, an original presence detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an original, and a page break data. Delimiter data accumulating means for accumulating, image data accumulating means for accumulating the signal read by the image reading means and the data accumulated in the delimiter data accumulating means as image data, and accumulated in the image data accumulating means. Facsimile signal transmitting means for transmitting image data to the telephone line as a facsimile signal, and one original for transmitting the image data stored in the image data storage means by the facsimile signal transmitting means to the telephone line as a facsimile signal. When the image has been sent, If it is determined that there is an original document that has not been transmitted, the page break data stored in the image data storage means is transmitted to the facsimile signal transmission means, and then the original document of the next page is read by the image reading means. The control means stores the image data in the image data storage means and controls the facsimile signal transmission means to transmit the image data.

[0018]

With this structure, when the document presence / absence detection unit determines that there is a document that has not been transmitted yet after transmitting one document, the delimiter data between the short pages stored in the delimiter data storage unit is stored. It is transmitted and the page break is shown to the receiving side, and control is performed so as to start the transmission of the next page without any signal exchange.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing its operation.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 is a delimiter data storage means, which in this embodiment is composed of a memory of several bytes. The same functions as those of the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

With respect to the facsimile apparatus having the above-described components, the mutual relation and operation of the components will be described below.

First, steps 1 to 7 of FIG. 2 are the same as the operation of FIG. 4 of the conventional example, and in step 8, the document presence / absence detecting means 13 detects whether there is a document that has not been transmitted yet.

If a document is present here, the control means 8
Stores the page break data (here, it is assumed that it is composed of several blank lines and one dotted line) stored in the break data storage means 14 in the image data storage means 5. The page break data recorded in the image data storage means 5 is transmitted by the facsimile transmission means 6 like other image data (step 9). Then, the control means 8 returns to step 7 and transmits the next page.

Next, when there is no document in step 8, that is, when the transmission of the final document is completed, the EOP signal is transmitted and the MCF signal is received and transmitted in the same manner as in steps 16 to 24 of the conventional example. After confirming the result, the DCN signal is transmitted, the telephone line 1 is opened, and the communication is terminated (step 10 to step 18).

Since the page break data stored in the break data storage means 14 is short data, it can be transmitted in a very short time as compared with the time required for exchanging signals. Since the image data is sent immediately after the original is sent, the receiving side determines that one original is still being sent, and the original can be immediately received without returning the MCF signal. The receiving facsimile does not have to be a special device. Therefore, the transmission time can be shortened as the number of transmitted originals increases, without depending on the facsimile machine on the receiving side.

In this embodiment, since the transmission originals are transmitted while being read one by one, the division data is stored in the image data storage means when transmitting the page division data. However, the capacity of the image data storage means is large. If the number is large enough to store a plurality of sheets at one time, delimiter data may be added and stored when reading the document.

[0027]

As described above, the facsimile apparatus of the present invention has an image reading means for reading an image, a document presence detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a document, and a delimiter data accumulating means for accumulating page delimiter data. An image data storage unit for storing the signal read by the image reading unit and the data stored in the delimiter data storage unit as image data; and the image data stored in the image data storage unit as a facsimile signal. When the facsimile signal transmitting means for sending out to the telephone line and the original presence detection means determine that there is still an original which has not been transmitted when the transmission of the image for one original is completed, it is accumulated in the image data accumulating means. Send the page break data to the facsimile signal transmission means, and then When a plurality of pages are transmitted in the same transmission mode, the user transmits the page original by the image reading means, accumulates it in the image data accumulating means, and controls it so that it is transmitted by the facsimile signal transmitting means. The time required for the process can be shortened, and its practical effect is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the same operation.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional facsimile device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the same operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone Line 2 Interface Circuit 3 Dialing Means 4 Storage Means 5 Image Data Accumulating Means 6 Facsimile Signal Sending Means 7 Facsimile Signal Receiving Means 8 Control Means 9 Timers 10 Counters 11 Telephone Number Input Means 12 Image Reading Means 13 Original Presence / Absence Detecting Means 14 Separation Data storage means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading an image, an original presence detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an original, a delimiter data accumulating means for accumulating delimiter data between pages, a signal read by the image reading means, and Image data storage means for storing the data stored in the delimiter data storage means as image data; facsimile signal transmission means for transmitting the image data stored in the image data storage means to a telephone line as a facsimile signal; When the image data accumulated in the image data accumulating means by the signal transmitting means is transmitted to the telephone line as a facsimile signal, the originals not transmitted by the original presence detecting means when the transmission of one image of the original is finished. If it is determined that it still exists, the image data storage The page break data stored in the means is transmitted to the facsimile signal transmitting means, and then the original of the next page is read by the image reading means, accumulated in the image data accumulating means, and transmitted by the facsimile signal transmitting means. Facsimile apparatus having control means for controlling the above.