JPH05207204A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain paperless communication processing and to send a document directly through a LAN by ensuring the immediacy of delivery of an arrived document and the confidentiality of the arrived document. CONSTITUTION:When a facsimile equipment 1 connected between an ISDN and a LAN detects the arrival of a document, the facsimile equipment 1 discriminates a model and obtains a user code from facsimile data based on the result of model discrimination. The user being an object of delivery is specified based on the user code and the incoming notice is given to computer terminals 3-5 whose user codes are registered through a bus 2 of the LAN and distributes the arrived document to them.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a facsimile machine,
In particular, it relates to a facsimile device for connecting a local area network, so-called LAN, to a public network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, facsimile machines have been widely used. Further, a facsimile machine having a confidentiality function is being used in order to enhance confidentiality.

[0003]

However, in the conventional facsimile apparatus, even if a document is printed out as soon as it arrives, the delivery of the received document is not always immediate. Therefore, the confidentiality of the received document is not guaranteed. Also, there was a problem in terms of immediacy with respect to delivery of the incoming document. For example,
Regarding the above-mentioned confidentiality, there is a risk that a document addressed to an individual may be seen by others or taken away.

In a fax machine having a confidential function,
Confidentiality has been improved. That is, in a facsimile device having a confidential function, when a confidential document arrives, "Confidential" is displayed, and the confidential document is printed out only when a predetermined password is entered. ing. However, even with a facsimile device having such a confidentiality function, the delivery of the incoming document is not always immediate, so that there is a problem in terms of immediacy with respect to the delivery of the incoming document.

As described above, both the normal facsimile device and the facsimile device having a confidential function have a problem in the confidentiality of the incoming document and / or the immediacy of delivery of the incoming document.

[0006] In either the normal facsimile device or the facsimile device having a confidential function, the contents of the received document are not known until it is printed out. There was a problem that it was wasted out and wasted paper.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned conventional facsimile machine,
Whether it's a fax machine with a confidential function,
When transmitting a document, there is a problem that the document cannot be transmitted until it is output on paper. For this reason, for example, even a document created by a word processor cannot be transmitted until it is printed on paper once, which is a troublesome task.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus which can secure the immediacy of delivery of an incoming document and the confidentiality of the incoming document, can be made paperless, and can directly transmit the document via LAN. To provide.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a facsimile device for connecting a network to which a plurality of terminal devices are connected to a public network, based on facsimile data transmitted from the public network. The user code registered in the terminal device is compared with the user code included in the received facsimile data, and when they match, the terminal in which the user code is registered The facsimile data is distributed to the device.

[0010]

In the facsimile device connecting the public line network and the network, the user on the receiving side is discriminated based on the facsimile data transmitted from the public line network.

The user code registered in the terminal device on the network side is compared with the user code included in the received facsimile data. When the user codes match, the facsimile data is distributed to the terminal device in which the user code is registered.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a facsimile device 1 connected to an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) as a public line network, and a local area network, a so-called LAN, connected to the ISDN via the facsimile device 1. There is. still,
The fax machine 1 includes a scanner 8 and a printer 9.
Etc. are connected.

This LAN system is mainly composed of a bus 2 connected to the facsimile device 1 and computer terminals 3, 4, 5 and the like connected to the bus 2. A user ID number [hereinafter referred to as a user code] is registered in each of the computer terminals 3, 4, and 5. Output means such as a display and a printer are connected to the computer terminals 3 to 5 (not shown).

The structure of the facsimile machine 1 is shown in FIG. The facsimile device 1 has a function of connecting an ISDN and a LAN. In the configuration of FIG. 2, the facsimile device 1 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12,
RAM 13, hard disk device 14, system bus 1
5, a public line network interface 16, a LAN interface 17, a printer interface 18, a scanner interface 19 and the like.

The CPU 11 has all the interfaces,
That is, the control of the public network interface 16, the LAN interface 17, the printer interface 18, the scanner interface 19, etc., and the distribution firmware of the facsimile firmware and the incoming document are executed.

The ROM 12 is an operating system of the facsimile device 1 and facsimile firmware,
It stores control software for the printer 9 and the scanner 8 and distribution software for incoming documents.

The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and the above-mentioned interfaces and a temporary storage area for incoming documents. The hard disk device 14 is used for storing incoming documents.

The public line network interface 16 is an interface block with an external public line network, for example, ISDN. LAN interface 17 is LA
It is an interface block with N bus 2.

The printer interface 18 is an interface block with the printer 9, and the scanner interface 19 is an interface block with the scanner 8. The printer 9 and the scanner 8 are
It may be built in the facsimile device 1.

The circuit blocks shown in FIG. 2 are connected by a system bus 15.

Next, the operation will be described. The facsimile device 1 has a function of connecting the ISDN and the LAN. The facsimile device 1 delivers the incoming document transmitted through the ISDN to the computer terminals 3 to 5 connected to the LAN bus 2.

When the incoming document is delivered, the user code attached to the incoming document is compared with the user code registered in the computer terminals 3-5. If there is a matching user code, the incoming call is notified to the computer terminals 3 to 5 in which the user code is registered and the incoming document is delivered. The delivered document can be output to a display or printer connected to the computer terminal.

The destination discrimination of the incoming document will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. The destination determination shown in the following flow chart is performed based on the determination of the models of the transmitting side and the receiving side.

In step 101 in FIG. 3, the presence or absence of an incoming document is detected. If it is detected that there is an incoming document, the process proceeds to step 102.

At step 102, the model of the sender is discriminated. That is, in this step 102, the partner model is determined to be the same model, G4 type, or any other model. If the partner's model is the same model, the process proceeds to step 103, and if it is the G4 type, step 1
04, otherwise to step 106.

At step 103, it is judged by the same model procedure whether or not the user on the receiving side is designated. If the user has been designated, the procedure proceeds to step 108 shown in FIG. 4, and if the user on the other side has not been designated, the procedure proceeds to step 112 shown in FIG.

In step 104, it is judged whether or not the sub-address specified in the G4 format is designated. If the sub address is designated, the process proceeds to step 105, and if the sub address is not designated, the process proceeds to step 112 shown in FIG.

In step 105, the user on the receiving side is specified from the correspondence table of the sub-address and the user. After this, the process proceeds to step 108 shown in FIG.

In step 106, it is judged whether or not the user at the receiving side is designated by the dial-in service number or the designated top sheet. If the user has been designated, the process proceeds to step 107. If the user has not been designated, the process proceeds to step 112 shown in FIG.

In step 107, the user is identified by the dial-in service number, or the OCR / O
The user is specified by the MR process. That is, when the dial-in service is used, the user is identified based on the number assigned to each user.
In addition, the OCR / MC incorporated in the facsimile machine 1
When R is used, the user is specified based on the contents written on the top sheet. After this,
Go to step 108 shown in.

In step 108, the specified user is notified of the arrival of the document. As the method of notifying the incoming call, there are a method of using the mail system operating on the LAN system and a method of moving the client process on the computer terminals 3 to 5 side so that the facsimile device 1 notifies the client process of the incoming call. .. In one embodiment, either can be used. Then, the process proceeds to step 109.

At step 109, a decision is made as to automatic distribution or manual distribution. In the case of automatic distribution, proceed to step 110, and in the case of manual distribution, step 11
Go to 1.

At step 110, automatic distribution processing is performed. In this automatic distribution, a document is transferred to any of the computer terminals 3 to 5 designated in advance by each user at the same time as the incoming notification. After this, the document is displayed on the display, or the document is printed out on the printer. This ends the flow.

At step 111, a manual distribution process is performed. In this manual distribution, the user notified of the incoming call specifies the transfer destination of the document. The document is stored in the facsimile device 1 until instructed by the user. Then, the document which is not received within a certain time is transferred to the administrator of the facsimile device 1 or output from the printer. This ends the flow.

After step 112, the rules for handling an incoming document for which the user is not specified are shown. When such a document in which the user is not specified is received, if the document is defined to be stored as a rule of the LAN system, it is stored in the hard disk device 14 inside the facsimile device 1. If the LAN system is set to print, the printer 9 prints it out. This ends the flow.

When the document needs to be circulated, the user who receives it sends a circulation notice to the person who circulates, and prompts the user to confirm the circulation document. It can be considered that the document has been circulated when the notification that the circulation document has been confirmed is returned.

In this embodiment, the processing of an incoming document is mainly described, but in the case of transmission, the created document is added with the user code of the other user, so that the computer terminals 3 to 5 are connected. From the facsimile device 1, the document can be sent to the desired other party user through the ISDN.

In this embodiment, in the facsimile device 1 for connecting the ISDN and the LAN, when the incoming of a document is detected, the model of the facsimile device on both the transmitting side and the receiving side is discriminated. Based on the result, data [user code] for identifying the user to be distributed from the facsimile data is obtained. Then, the user to be distributed is specified based on the user code. After that, the incoming call is notified to the computer terminals 3 to 5 in which the required user code is registered and the incoming document is delivered through the bus 2 of the LAN. The delivered document is displayed on the screen by a display or printed out by a printer as needed.

Therefore, since the received document is immediately notified to the user and distributed, the immediacy in the distribution of the received document is not impaired.

Further, since only the designated user can display the delivered document on the screen of the display or print it out by the printer, the confidentiality of the incoming document can be secured.

Further, in the case of a document which does not need to be printed out, it is sufficient to confirm it on the display, which can contribute to making paperless.

Further, the document created by the word processor can be directly transmitted through the LAN. In addition, each user can use the facsimile machine 1 as if he / she owns his / her own facsimile machine 1.

[0043]

According to the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, an incoming document is immediately notified to the user and distributed, so that the immediacy in the distribution of the incoming document is not impaired.

Also, since only the designated user can display the delivered document on the screen of the display or print it out by the printer, there is an effect that the confidentiality of the incoming document can be secured.

Further, in the case of a document which does not need to be printed out, since it is sufficient to confirm it on the display, there is an effect that it can contribute to paperless.

Further, there is an effect that the document created by the word processor can be directly transmitted through the LAN. Further, there is an effect that each user can use the facsimile machine as if he / she owns his / her own facsimile machine.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a LAN system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a facsimile machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of determining the destination of an incoming document.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of determining the destination of an incoming document.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of determining the destination of an incoming document.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fax machine 2 Bus 3, 4, 5 Computer terminal 6 Display 7, 9 Printer 8 Scanner 11 CPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a facsimile device connecting a network to which a plurality of terminal devices are connected to a public line network, a user on the receiving side is identified based on facsimile data transmitted from the public line network. The user code registered to the terminal device and the user code included in the received facsimile data are compared, and when they match, to the terminal device registered with the user code, A facsimile device, wherein the facsimile data is distributed.