JPH05145719A - Image communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the control of the contents confirmation and the stored images in an image communication equipment such as a facsimile equipment by inhibiting the output of the received images as the hard copies for confirmation of the contents of these images and at the same time adding easily the file information at the time of transfer. CONSTITUTION:The image data are transferred by the receivers and the transmitters and via a communication channel L. Then the received and transmitted data are stored in an external storage 5 respectively. A file information preparing part 6 automatically adds file information to the received and transmitted data and stores them in the storage 5. A file information retrieving part 9 retrieves the image information (data) containing the added file information based on the key item designated by an operating part 11 and then shows retrieved information at a display part 12. Meanwhile the image information is outputted by a recording device 7 as the hard copies.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus, and more particularly to an image communication apparatus capable of image communication without annoying an operator and outputting a transmission slip or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image communication device such as a facsimile device, in order to improve efficiency in image transmission, keyword information is transmitted as a header during image transmission (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-95660) or received data. Is automatically sorted according to the telephone number of the facsimile of the other party and stored (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-76461), or a transmission vote is automatically created and sent simultaneously with the transmission data (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-76146).
4-80157), and further, the change of the image information for each page is added to each page, and the image is retransmitted (JP-A-1-144854).

[0003]

However, in a device with a large output (hard copy) cost such as a color image communication device, it is costly to output a color image for confirmation of the contents of a received image / stored image. However, this is not preferable. In addition, it is troublesome for an operator to add information later when the stored image is converted into a file.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is not to output the received image as a hard copy for confirming the contents of the received image and the like, but also to easily add file information at the time of transmission / reception, to confirm the contents and manage the stored image. It is to provide an image communication device that facilitates.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving device for receiving the first image information through the communication line, and another recording device for receiving the second image information through the communication line. And a storage device for storing the first image information received by the receiving device and the second image information transmitted by the transmitting device, the received first image information, and the transmitting device. A file information adding device for automatically adding file information and communication management information to each of the second image information, and first and second file information adding devices based on the file information added by the file information adding device. File information retrieval device for retrieving second image information, display device for displaying the first and second image information and file information, and first and second image information Constructed by a recording apparatus for printing and recorded.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the file information is automatically classified based on the designated key item and stored in the storage device. According to the third aspect of the invention, the transmission form is automatically created based on the file information. According to the invention of claim 4,
The management report is automatically generated based on the file information.

[0007]

In the image communication apparatus according to the first aspect, both the received first image information and the transmitted second image information are
The file information adding device adds the file information and stores it in the storage device. The file information retrieval device retrieves the first and second image information received and transmitted based on the file information, and displays the first and second image information on the display device.
Display file information. The recording device records and prints the first and second image information. In the image communication device according to the second aspect, the file information is automatically classified based on the designated key item and stored in the storage device. In the image communication device according to the third aspect, the transmission vote is automatically created based on the file information. In the image communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the management report is automatically created based on the file information.

[0008]

Embodiments of the image communication apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. A color facsimile apparatus will be described as an example of the image communication apparatus. FIG. 1 shows a system block diagram of a color facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied. As shown in Figure 1,
The system configuration of the color facsimile device CF is ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Communication Network) which is a "communication line".
A line L, an ISDN interface 1 that is an interface with the ISDN line L, a reading unit 2 that reads an image from a document, an image memory 3 that stores the image data read by the reading unit 2, and the image memory 3 A coding unit 4 for coding the image data stored in the storage unit, an external storage device 5 which is a "storage device" for storing a compressed image signal such as the coded data, and the like when storing in the coding unit 4. A file information creating unit 6 which is a "file information adding device" for adding file information to the recording medium, a recording unit 7 which is a "recording device" for printing and recording an uncompressed image signal, and a compression unit stored in the external storage device 5. A decoding unit 8 that decodes an image signal, a file information search unit 9 that is a “file information search device” that searches file information, and a control unit 1 that controls the entire system.
0, an operation unit 11 for inputting various operations such as key items,
The display unit 12 is a "display device" for displaying an uncompressed image signal, file information, a transmission slip, a management report, and the like.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described. At the time of transmission, first, the image of a document (not shown) is read by the reading unit 2 and stored in the image memory 3. When this accumulation is completed, the encoding unit 4 is activated to start encoding. The encoded image data is sent to the ISDN interface 1, is sent from there to the ISDN line L, and is also sent to the external storage device 5 ("second image information"). At the time of storage in the external storage device 5, the file information creation unit 6 stores file information such as “transmission date / time, sender / destination telephone number, image data storage address, etc.” in a state of being added to the transmission information. An example of this file information is shown in FIG. The image information received via the ISDN line L at the time of reception is ISDN.
It is directly sent to the external storage device 5 via the interface 1 and is stored therein (“first image information”). When the received image information is stored in the external storage device 5, the file information is added to the received image information by the file information creation unit 6 as in the case of the transmission.

In response to an instruction from the printing operation unit 11, the file information search unit 9 searches the external storage device 5 for the first and second image information, respectively. The searched first and second image information is decoded by the decoding unit 8 and then the image memory 3
Accumulated in. When all the image information (data) is decoded, the recording unit 7 is activated, and the corresponding image information is printed / output.

When storing image data in the external storage device 5
When the image data is stored in the external storage device 5 when the key item in the file information is designated, the image data is stored in the external storage device 5 according to the content of the key item. That is, if nothing is specified, each file is stored as it is, as shown in FIG. 3, but if the key item is specified as the telephone number of the destination, the telephone number of the destination is displayed as shown in FIG. It is classified and stored for each. Creation of transmission vote / communication management report The transmission vote / communication management report is created using the above-mentioned file information, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, the file information is automatically added to the image information when transmitting and receiving the image information, so that the contents of the image information can be confirmed and the stored image can be easily managed. It is also possible to create a transmission vote / management report using the file information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of file information added in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a storage status of file information when a key item is not designated in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a storage status of file information when a key item (for example, a telephone number of a partner) is designated in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a transmission slip created based on file information in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a communication management report created based on file information in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ISDN interface 2 reading unit 3 image memory 4 encoding unit 5 external storage device (storage device) 6 file information creation unit (file information addition device) 7 recording unit (recording device) 8 decoding unit 9 file information search unit (file search) Device) 10 Control unit of entire system 11 Operation unit 12 Display unit (display device) L ISDN line

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A receiving device for receiving first image information via a communication line, a transmitting device for transmitting second image information to another recording device via the communication line, and receiving by the receiving device. A storage device for storing the received first image information and the second image information transmitted by the transmitting device, and file information and a file information for each of the received first image information and the transmitted second image information. File information adding device for automatically adding communication management information, and file information searching device for searching first and second image information to which the file information is added based on the file information added by the file information adding device A display device for displaying the first and second image information and file information, and a recording device for printing and recording the first and second image information. An image communication device characterized by the above. 2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the file information is automatically classified based on a designated key item and stored in the storage device. 3. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a transmission slip is automatically created based on the file information. 4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a management report is automatically created based on the file information.