JPH05227355A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store lots of transmission reception document data without provision of a memory storing data for awaiting transmission and for awaiting printing after reception. CONSTITUTION:A facsimile equipment having a read section, a recording section and a LAN communication section is provided with (a) a means 8 storing tentatively data received by the facsimile equipment tentatively to a file server 11, extracting the data stored at a point of time of print from the file server 11 and printing the data, and (b) a means storing tentatively the transmission data read by the facsimile equipment to the file server 11 tentatively, extracting the data stored from the file server 11 at the point of time of transmission and sending the data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to transmission / reception of data in a facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, a transmission operator can read a document without waiting for the transmission / reception to be completed even when the facsimile apparatus is transmitting / receiving, printing, or waiting for printing. In order to enable the facsimile device to receive the document without waiting for the transmission / reception to be completed even if the facsimile device is printing or waiting to print, or the display device does not unconditionally print the document received by the facsimile device. In order to make it possible to confirm once by means of the above, the facsimile apparatus has a storage unit such as a memory for storing the document data waiting to be transmitted and the document data waiting to be printed after reception.

Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-236761, when a storage section of a target facsimile machine is full, another facsimile machine connected to a LAN is used instead. Proposed. Further, conventionally, there is a method of storing data in a storage exchange device such as a PBX. However, in such a conventional facsimile apparatus, a storage unit such as a memory for storing the document data waiting to be transmitted and the document data waiting to be printed after receiving is required, and the cost is increased. However, the storage capacity of the storage unit such as the memory is naturally limited. Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-236761, the storage capacity is twice as large as the number of facsimile machines, and overhead for searching for a substitute facsimile machine is also required. Furthermore, in the method using the store-and-forward device,
It has a drawback that it can be transmitted only from a special facsimile apparatus having an instruction function for the storage exchange apparatus.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a large amount of transmitted / received document data can be stored without having a storage unit such as a memory for storing the document data waiting to be transmitted and the document data waiting to be printed after reception. The purpose is to It is another object of the present invention to enable transmission from an ordinary facsimile device that does not have a special instruction function.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a facsimile apparatus having a reading section, a recording section and a LAN communication section, wherein (a) the data received by the facsimile apparatus from a telephone line is temporarily Files
The data stored in the file server when it is stored in the server and printed by the facsimile machine
(B) The transmission data read by the facsimile device is temporarily stored in the file server, and the data stored in the file server when the facsimile device transmits the And a means for taking out from a server and transmitting the same, and is a facsimile apparatus for transmitting and receiving data.

[0006]

In the present invention, when the facsimile communication unit receives an incoming call,
When the operation to store without printing at any time is set,
If the printing unit is in operation and cannot print, it is stored in the file server device connected to the LAN. Further, when the transmission document is read, the read document data is temporarily stored in the file server device connected to the LAN.

Therefore, even if the facsimile device does not have a storage unit such as a memory for accumulating the document data waiting to be transmitted and the data waiting to be printed after the reception, even if the facsimile device is transmitting / receiving or waiting to print, the transmission / reception is not performed. To allow a transmission operator to read a document without waiting for completion, and to receive a document without waiting for completion of transmission / reception even if the facsimile apparatus is printing or waiting for printing. The document received by the facsimile device can be confirmed once by the display device without being unconditionally printed.

Since a storage device such as a file server device connected to a large-capacity LAN is used, it becomes possible to store a large amount of documents waiting to be sent and documents waiting to be printed after receiving. Further, the storage device such as the file server device is not a dedicated storage area for storing the document data waiting to be transmitted and the data waiting to be printed after the reception, and can be shared with other purposes, which is extremely efficient.

Further, as in the case of using the storage / exchange apparatus, the document data sent from the normal facsimile apparatus can be stored without the restriction that the sending side facsimile apparatus needs a special instruction function for the storage / exchange apparatus. Is.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the operation display unit 1, the control unit 2 and the LA
N communication unit 3, FAX communication unit 4, encoding / decoding unit 5
A timer unit 6, a scanner unit 7, and a printer unit 8
And a telephone line 9, a LAN cable 10 and a file server 11.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the receiving operation of this embodiment. The reception operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The FAX communication unit 4 receives a call from the telephone line 9.
The FAX communication unit 4 inquires of the control unit 2 whether to print or store the received document. The control unit 2 accumulates a document when the accumulation mode (indicating an operation of storing without printing at any time) is instructed from the operation display unit 1 in advance or the printer unit 8 is printing another document, and other than that. In the case of, print processing is performed.

The document is stored by the FAX communication unit 4 receiving the document data and the LAN communication unit 3 storing the document data in the file server 11. The print process is F
The AX communication unit 4 receives the document data, and the encoding / decoding unit 5 receives the document data.
It is performed by decrypting with and printing with the printer unit 8. FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the printing of the print pending storage document of this embodiment. The printing of the document waiting to be printed will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

The timer unit 6 notifies the LAN communication unit 3 of the timer event. When the LAN communication unit 3 receives the timer event, the LAN communication unit 3 checks whether there is a document waiting to be printed in the file server 11. If the document waiting to be printed exists in the file server 11, the control unit 2 checks whether the printer unit 8 is currently printing another document, and if not, print processing is performed. When the document waiting to be printed does not exist in the file server 11, or when the printer unit 8 is printing another document, the process ends.

In the printing process, the LAN communication unit 3 takes out the document data from the file server 11, and the encoding / decoding unit 5
It is performed by decrypting with and printing with the printer unit 8. When the LAN communication unit 3 finishes passing the end of the document data to the encoding / decoding unit 5, the LAN communication unit 3 notifies the printer unit 8 via the encoding / decoding unit 5 of the end of the document data. Upon completion of printing, the printer unit 8 notifies the LAN communication unit 3 of the completion of printing via the control unit 2. LAN communication unit 3
Receives the completion of printing, and deletes the stored document data for which printing is completed from the file server 11.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the reading of the transmitted document in this embodiment. Reading a transmitted document will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. Upon receiving the reading instruction, the operation display unit 1 notifies the control unit 2 of the start of reading. The control unit 2 assigns a document identification number. The control unit 2 instructs the scanner unit 7 to read the document. The scanner unit 7 reads the document and encodes it with the encoding / decoding unit 5, and then the LAN communication unit 3
Is stored in the file server 11 as a document waiting to be transmitted.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the transmission of the document waiting to be transmitted in this embodiment. Transmission of a document waiting to be transmitted will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5. The timer unit 6 notifies the LAN communication unit 3 of the timer event. When the LAN communication unit 3 receives the timer event, the LAN communication unit 3 checks whether the document waiting to be transmitted exists in the file server 11. If the document waiting to be transmitted exists in the file server 11, the control unit 2 is currently faxed.
It is checked whether the communication unit 4 is in communication, and if not, FAX transmission is performed. The FAX transmission is performed by taking out the document data from the file server 11 by the LAN communication unit 3 and transmitting it by the FAX communication unit 4. If there is no document in communication or waiting for transmission, the process ends.

The FAX communication unit transmits the transmission result to the LAN communication unit 3
To notify the control unit 2 of the end of communication. The LAN communication unit 3 holds the transmission result in the file server 11 and also notifies the control unit 2. The control unit 2 holds the transmission result.
The LAN communication unit 3 checks the transmission result of the document stored in the file server 11, and if the transmission is completed to all the destinations, deletes the transmission waiting document.

[0018]

According to the present invention, a function of storing a document waiting to be transmitted and a document waiting to be printed after reception can be realized at a low cost in a facsimile machine connected to a LAN. When the received document is stored without being printed at any time and the function of outputting only the necessary document after confirmation on the display device is used, a large amount of documents can be stored.

Further, unlike the case of using the storage / exchange apparatus, there is no restriction that the transmission side facsimile apparatus needs a special instruction function for the storage / exchange apparatus, and the document data sent from the ordinary facsimile apparatus can be stored. Therefore, versatility is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining a receiving operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining printing of a document waiting to be printed according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining reading of a transmission document according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining transmission of a document waiting to be transmitted according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Operation Display Section 2 Control Section 3 LAN Communication Section 4 FAX Communication Section 5 Encoding / Decoding Section 6 Timer Section 7 Scanner Section 8 Printer Section 9 Telephone Line 10 LAN Cable 11 Fiber Server

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile device comprising a reading unit, a recording unit and a LAN communication unit, wherein: (a) data received by the facsimile device from a telephone line is temporarily stored in a file server, and the facsimile device prints. At this point, the data stored in the file server is taken out from the file server and printed, and (b) the transmission data read by the fax machine is temporarily stored in the file server and sent by the fax machine. A facsimile machine comprising means for extracting data from the file server and transmitting the data stored in the file server at the point of time of transmitting and receiving the data.