JPH05167826A - Information saving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preserve all the information before and after maintenance work is performed. CONSTITUTION:Facsimile equipment 110 for saving is connected to facsimile equipment 120 targeted for maintenance via a line. The facsimile equipment 110 for saving is equipped with a confidential reception means 111 which receives confidential transmitted information, a holding means 112 which holds received information, and a polling transmission means 113 which performs the confidential polling transmission of held information. The facsimile equipment 120 is equipped with a control information storage means 121, an image data storage means 122, a confidential transmission means 123 which performs the confidential transmission of control information and image data corresponding to an information saving instruction, a polling reception means 124 which receives information transmitted from the facsimile equipment 110 for saving corresponding to an information restoration instruction, and a separation means 125 which separates the received information into the control information and the image data and sends them out to the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information saving system for saving information stored in a memory of a facsimile machine when performing maintenance work on the facsimile machine.

When a failure occurs in the facsimile machine or when the control program for the facsimile machine is upgraded, a maintenance worker turns off the power of the facsimile machine and destroys the parts and circuit boards. Or the program RO that stores the program
We are doing maintenance work to replace M with a new one.

In recent years, the functions of facsimile machines have become more sophisticated, which complicates the structure and programs of the facsimile machines and increases the frequency of maintenance work as described above.

On the other hand, in the memory provided in the facsimile machine, in addition to the received image data and the image data to be reserved and transmitted, an operation program or communication in which a procedure for selecting various functions of the facsimile machine is registered as a program. Control information such as communication management information for managing the destination of each communication and the communication result is stored. Since such control information is stored in a volatile RAM or the like, it is often erased by turning off the power of the facsimile apparatus or by the initialization processing of the memory accompanying the replacement of the program ROM. ..

Therefore, the contents of the memory of the facsimile apparatus are erased every time maintenance work is performed, and the convenience of the user is significantly impaired. Therefore, a maintenance work system having a high serviceability in consideration of the convenience of the user. Is needed.

[0006]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of storing information that is lost when the power is turned off, for example, there is a method of outputting received image data or communication management record by using a recording unit provided in a facsimile apparatus. ..

Further, in a facsimile apparatus provided with an auxiliary storage device such as a floppy disk device, when a failure occurs, the setting information and image data for reservation transmission as described above are stored in the auxiliary storage device. It is possible.

[0008]

By the way, the method of using the recording unit of the facsimile apparatus is effective when a failure occurs in a portion other than the recording unit of the facsimile apparatus.
However, since the recording unit is composed of various mechanical parts and the frequency of occurrence of failures is relatively high, it is rare that the information in the memory can be saved by outputting using the recording unit. .. Further, with this method, only information originally supposed to be output by the recording unit, such as image data and communication management information, can be stored, and the user of the operation program described above can freely store it. It was not possible to save configurable information.

Further, the auxiliary storage device of the facsimile apparatus is provided for holding a large amount of image data for reserved transmission or the like regardless of the capacity of the area for storing the image data in the memory. Therefore,
The control information other than the image data could not be saved. Since this method requires an auxiliary storage device, it can be applied only to high-priced high-end machines and cannot be applied to low-priced popular machines.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an information saving system that saves information in a memory before and after maintenance work of a facsimile machine and can restore the information after the maintenance work.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The present invention relates to an evacuation facsimile machine 1
In an information evacuation system in which 10 and a facsimile device 120 to be maintained are connected via a line, the evacuation facsimile device 110 receives confidential information from the line in response to a confidential transmission request addressed to itself. Means 1
11, a holding unit 112 that holds the information received by the confidential reception unit 111, and a polling transmission unit 113 that transmits the information held in the holding unit 112 via a line in response to the input of a confidential polling reception request. The facsimile device 120 to be maintained, which has the configuration provided, has a control information storage unit 121 that stores control information, an image data storage unit 122 that stores image data, and information that is input prior to the start of maintenance work. In response to the evacuation instruction,
According to the confidential transmission means 123 for confidentially transmitting the contents of the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122 to the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 as a destination, and the evacuation facsimile apparatus according to the information restoration instruction input after the maintenance work is completed. Sending a confidential polling reception request to 110,
Polling receiving means 124 for receiving information input from the line in response to this request, and polling receiving means 12
4 is divided into control information and image data, and a separating means 125 for sending to the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122, respectively, is provided.

[0012]

According to the present invention, in accordance with the information saving instruction, the confidentiality transmitting means 123 transmits both the control information and the image data to the evacuation facsimile machine 110, and the confidentiality reception means 111 of the evacuation facsimile machine 110. It can be held in the holding means 112 via. Further, in response to the information restoration instruction, the polling reception means 124 and the polling transmission means 113 of the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110.
By the operations of and, the information held in the holding means 112 can be sent back to the facsimile device 120. The information returned in this manner is used for separating means 125.
By separating them and sending them to the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122 respectively, it is possible to restore all the information that the facsimile device 120 had before the maintenance work.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the information saving system of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, the facsimile machine 1 for evacuation is shown.
10 is the main control unit 2 as in the conventional facsimile apparatus.
01, memory 202, reading unit 203, compression / expansion unit 20
4, the line control unit 205, and the recording unit 206 are connected to each other via a bus. The main control unit 201 of the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 controls the modem 207 and the network control unit (NCU) 208 via the above-mentioned units and the line control unit 205, and is connected via the network control unit 208. It is configured to perform a normal communication operation using a line.

In the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110, the main control unit 201, the line control unit 205, and the modem 207.
The network control unit 208 operates as the confidential reception unit 111 when the facsimile machine on the calling side notifies that the transmission is confidential, following the call from the line. In this case, the line control unit 205 notifies the main control unit 201 that the facsimile transmission is a confidential transmission, and accordingly, the main control unit 201 holds the received compressed data as it is in the holding unit 112. Is stored in the memory 202 corresponding to, and the password specified in this compressed data is set.

Further, when the main control unit 201, the line control unit 205, the modem 207, and the network control unit 208 described above request a confidential polling transmission from the calling facsimile machine following a call from the line. Further, this time, it operates as the polling transmission means 113. In this case, the line control unit 205 notifies the main control unit 201 of the password specified by the destination facsimile machine, and the main control unit 201 responds to the transmission operation of the corresponding compressed data by the line control unit 205. Instruct. As a result, the compressed data held in the memory 202 is sent to the line via the line control unit 205, the modem 207, and the network control unit 208.

Here, both the function as the confidential reception means 111 for receiving the confidentially transmitted information and the function as the polling transmission means 113 for transmitting the corresponding information in response to the confidential polling transmission request are low in price. This is a function that is also installed in popular machines. Therefore, if another facsimile machine is installed in the user's office or the like in addition to the facsimile machine to be subjected to the maintenance work, the facsimile machine 1 for evacuation will be installed.
It can be used as 10. Further, a facsimile machine installed in a service center for dispatching maintenance workers may be used as the evacuation facsimile machine 110.

Further, in FIG. 2, the facsimile apparatus 120 to be subjected to maintenance work includes a main control unit 211, a memory 220, a reading unit 213, a compression / expansion unit 214, a line control unit 215, a recording unit 216, and a modem 217. Network controller (N
CU) 218 and an operation panel 219, a conventional facsimile apparatus, a data transfer unit 230, and a separation unit 12
5 is added to the data analysis unit 240. The main control unit 211, the memory 220, the reading unit 213, the compression / expansion unit 214, the line control unit 215, the recording unit 216, the data transfer unit 230, and the data analysis unit 24 described above.
0 is mutually connected via a bus, and the main control unit 211 controls each of these units and controls the modem 216 and the network control unit 218 via the line control unit 215. ..

The memory 220 described above includes a control information storage area 221 corresponding to the control information storage means 121 and an image storage area 2 corresponding to the image data storage means 122.
22 and a buffer area 223.

The control information storage area 221 has a capacity of a predetermined number of bytes, and stores sender print information and communication management information as a series of character codes. Also, various soft switch setting information such as setting information such as the transmission speed and transmission mode of the facsimile device 120 and margin setting information when the recording unit 216 prints, and an operation program corresponding to one-touch keys provided on the operation panel 219. The key operation information registered as is stored.

The image storage area 222 and the buffer area 223 are constructed so that the compression / expansion unit 214 can directly access them. The image storage area 222 stores the received image data, the reservation transmission information and the image data thereof, and the buffer area 223 outputs the communication management information when transmitting the source print information to the image data and transmitting it. At the time of execution, it is used as a work area for handling the character code as pseudo image data.

The data transfer section 230 is connected to the memory 220 via a bus and transfers data from the control information storage area 221 to the buffer area 223 in response to an instruction from the main control section 211. Has become.

The buffer area 223 is used by the compression / expansion unit 21.
Since 4 is a directly accessible area, buffer 2
The control information transferred to 23 can be compressed together with the image data in the image storage area 222 by the compression / expansion unit 214, and is transmitted to the line via the line control unit 215, the modem 217, and the network control unit 218. Can be sent out.

Therefore, in response to the input of the information saving instruction, the main control unit 211 instructs the data transfer unit 230 to perform the transfer operation, and the line control unit 215 performs the confidential transmission with the saving facsimile device 110 as the destination. The main control unit 211, the compression / expansion unit 214, the line control unit 215, the modem 217, the network control unit 218, and the data transfer unit 230 can realize the function of the confidential transmission unit 123.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a data flow between the respective parts of the facsimile apparatus. For example, the maintenance worker may input the above-mentioned information saving instruction by performing a specific operation on the operation panel 219 before turning off the power of the facsimile apparatus. In response to this, the main controller 2
11, the compression / decompression unit 214 first starts the compression operation by designating the start address of the buffer area 223 and the number of bytes (n bytes) indicating the capacity of the control information storage area 221. The compression operation may be started by designating the start address of the image storage area 222.

As described above, since the contents of the control information storage area 221 and the contents of the image storage area 222 are continuously input to the compression section, the information before compression by the compression section is as shown in FIG.
As shown in, the format is such that the contents of the control information storage area 221 and the contents of the image storage area 222 are linked. In FIG. 4, sender print information, communication management information, setting information such as software switches are examples of the contents of the control information storage area 221. Further, as an example of the contents of the image storage area 222, reservation information specifying a destination and time for reservation transmission, and image data and reception data are shown.

In this case, a series of information as shown in FIG. 4 is compressed by the compression unit of the compression / expansion unit 214 in the same manner as normal image data and sent to the line control unit 215.

Next, the main controller 211 controls the line controller 21.
5, the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 is designated as the destination, and the password required for the confidential function is designated to start the transmission operation. In response to this, the compressed data obtained by the above-mentioned compression unit is the line control unit 215 and the modem 21.
7. Evacuation facsimile machine 1 via network control unit 218
10 is stored in the memory 202 of the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 shown in FIG. 2 as normal compressed data, and the password described above is set.

In this way, the facsimile machine 120
After saving all the information in the memory 220 of the facsimile machine 110 to the saving facsimile machine 110, the maintenance worker turns off the power of the facsimile machine 120, and then the circuit board or the program ROM.
Maintenance work such as replacement of machine parts and machine parts may be performed.

After the maintenance work is completed, the maintenance worker turns on the power of the facsimile apparatus 120 and, after performing necessary initialization processing, inputs an information restoration instruction through the operation panel 219. This information recovery instruction may be input by operating the keys on the operation panel 219 in a specific procedure, as in the above-described information saving instruction.

In response to this information restoration instruction, the main control section 21
1 designates the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 as the other party and also designates the password used in the above-mentioned information evacuation process to instruct the line control unit 215 to start the confidential polling reception operation. In response to this, the line control unit 2
15, the confidential polling reception request using the password described above is sent to the line via the modem 217 and the network control unit 218, and normal polling communication is started with the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 described above.

In this case, the polling receiving means 124 is controlled by the main control unit 211, the compression / expansion unit 214, the line control unit 215, the modem 217, and the network control unit 218 described above.
The function of is fulfilled. As a result, the compressed data stored in the memory 202 of the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 is polled and received, and the decompression unit of the compression / decompression unit 214 causes
Before the maintenance work, the memory 220 of the facsimile device 120
All the information stored in the can be expanded as image data.

Here, as shown in FIG. 4, since the information amount of the control information is n bytes, the first n bytes of the image data obtained by decompressing the above-mentioned compressed data by the compression / decompression unit 214. The content of the control information storage area 221 and the content of the image storage area 222 can be separated by extracting the.

For example, as shown in FIG.
1, the comparison circuit 242 and the transfer circuit 243 form a data analysis unit 240, and the counter 241 and the comparison circuit 242 determine whether the number of bytes of the expanded data reaches the information amount (n bytes) of the control information. The transfer circuit 243 may be configured to perform a transfer process by switching the transfer destination of the data from the control information storage area 221 to the image storage area 222 in accordance with the determination result. in this case,
When the decompression unit of the compression / decompression unit 214 starts the data decompression process, the main control unit 211 causes the counter 24 to
It suffices to validate the counting operation of 1 and activate the data analysis unit 240. As a result, the decompressed data is separated into the contents of the control information storage area 221 and the contents of the image storage area 222 in accordance with the format shown in FIG. 4, and can be transferred to the corresponding areas respectively.
25 functions can be realized.

In the case of normal communication, the main controller 21
1 may directly transfer the image data expanded by the compression / expansion unit 214 to the image storage area 222 without activating the data analysis unit 240.

In this way, the communication processing using the confidential communication function and the confidential polling communication function is performed with the evacuation facsimile machine 110, and is stored in the memory 220 of the facsimile machine 120 to be maintained. All of the information can be saved in the memory 202 of the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110, and can be restored after the maintenance work is completed, and all the information can be saved before and after the maintenance work.

As a result, not only the information for reservation transmission and the image data and the received image data,
Control information such as operation programs and settings of various soft switches can also be saved, and the facsimile device 120 can be used with the original settings even after maintenance work. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to re-set various settings each time maintenance work is performed, and information such as transmission reservations is saved, so the user's convenience is reliably protected and maintenance with high serviceability is ensured. Work can be realized.

Here, the facsimile apparatus which outputs the sender print information and the communication management information has a data conversion unit for transferring the character code included in the information to the buffer area 223 as pseudo image data. It is equipped with. Therefore, the data transfer unit 23 described above
The function of 0 can be realized by utilizing the function of this data conversion unit. Further, although FIG. 3 shows an example in which the separating unit 125 is realized by hardware as the data analysis unit 240, the control information and the image data are separated by the software of the main control unit 211, and the control information storage areas are respectively separated. Alternatively, the data may be transferred to the image storage area 221 and the image storage area 222.

In this case, it is not necessary to add hardware, and the above effect can be obtained by merely changing the software of the main controller 211.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, the confidential communication function is used to save control information and image information from the maintenance target facsimile apparatus 120 to the saving facsimile apparatus 110, and the confidential polling communication function is used. Then, the facsimile device 120 sucks up the information saved in the saving facsimile device 110, so that all the information can be restored. As a result, the information can be saved before and after the maintenance work, and the facsimile device 120 can be used with the same settings as before, so that the convenience of the user can be surely protected and the serviceability of the maintenance work can be improved. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an information saving system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a data flow between respective units of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a format of information before compression.

[Explanation of symbols]

 110 Evacuation Facsimile Device 111 Confidential Reception Means 112 Holding Means 113 Polling Transmission Means 120 Facsimile Machine 121 Control Information Storage Means 122 Image Data Storage Means 123 Confidential Transmission Means 124 Polling Reception Means 125 Separation Means 201, 211 Main Control Units 202, 220 Memory 203, 213 reading unit 204, 214 compression / decompression unit 205, 215 line control unit 206, 216 recording unit 207, 217 modem 208, 218 network control unit (NCU) 219 operation panel 221 control information storage area 222 image storage area 223 buffer Area 230 Data transfer unit 240 Data analysis unit 241 Counter 242 Comparison circuit 243 Transfer circuit

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an information evacuation system in which an evacuation facsimile device 110 and a facsimile device 120 to be maintained are connected via a line, the evacuation facsimile device 110 responds to a confidential transmission request addressed to itself. Confidential reception means 111 for receiving information from the line, holding means 112 for holding the information received by the confidential reception means 111, and information held in the holding means 112 in response to the input of a confidential polling reception request. The facsimile apparatus 120 to be maintained has a configuration including polling transmission means 113 for transmitting via a line. The facsimile device 120 to be maintained includes: control information storage means 121 for storing control information and image data storage means 12 for storing image data.
2 and a confidential transmission in which the contents of the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122 are confidentially transmitted to the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 as a destination in response to an information evacuation instruction input prior to the start of maintenance work. Means 12
3 and according to the information recovery instruction input after the maintenance work is completed,
A polling reception unit 124 that sends a confidential polling reception request to the evacuation facsimile apparatus 110 and receives the information input from the line in response to the request, and the information received by the polling reception unit 124 as control information and an image. Separated into data, the control information storage means 121 and the image data storage means 122, respectively.
An information saving system having a configuration including a separating means 125 for sending to and from.