JPH0537761A - Picture communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely send a data to a destination by selecting other receiver sequentially and applying deputy transmission in the order with priority of registration by a registration means when the transmission to a specific receiver is failed on its way. CONSTITUTION:A substitute address is stored in an address register 7 and when an opposite station is disable of communication, plural addresses for deputy transmission are stored for the pages to be sent. In the case of deputy transmission, plural addresses in the address registration 7 are used in a prescribed order, the deputy transmission is controlled from a 1st address to an n-th address. The address is decided by a priority decision circuit 8. Thus, even when a fault takes place in one equipment, the remaining transmission picture is sequentially sent to an equipment with next priority.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication device, and more particularly to an image communication device for transmitting input image data to a receiving device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile machine, when the communication operation for a specific address is interrupted due to an abnormality such as a paper out of the called machine, an image memory overflow, etc., the transmitting machine also shifts to a recovery process. The configuration is such that the line is disconnected and the process ends.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when the device of the specific address cannot be recovered due to continuous failure or the like despite the urgent requirement, the operator is different. There is a drawback that an operation of retransmitting to the address is required and a time loss occurs due to the operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide an image communication apparatus capable of reliably delivering image data to be transmitted to a destination without requiring a troublesome operation.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in an image communication apparatus for transmitting input image data to a receiving apparatus, a specific receiving apparatus is transmitted to the receiving apparatus. A means for registering the address of another receiving device to which a document to be transmitted on behalf of is sent together with a predetermined priority, and if transmission to the specific receiving device fails in the middle, another means is sequentially selected based on the registration priority of the registration means. A configuration is adopted in which control means is provided for selecting a receiving device and transmitting a document to be transmitted on behalf of the user.

[0006]

According to the above construction, even if the transmission to the specific receiving device is interrupted due to a failure on the receiving side or the like, the proxy transmission can be automatically performed in a predetermined priority order.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a facsimile apparatus adopting the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is an image reading device, which is composed of a CCD line, a document conveying system, and the like. The image reading device 1 reads a document image, converts it into binary image data, and inputs it to the encoding circuit 2. The encoding circuit 2 compresses the image data by encoding conversion into MH, MR, MMR code or the like. Reference numeral 3 is an image memory, which stores encoded data.

Reference numeral 4 is a line control circuit for transmitting / receiving data to / from the line side, which is composed of a network control device, a modulation / demodulation device and the like.

Reference numeral 5 is a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus, which comprises a microprocessor and memories such as ROM and RAM.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an operation panel for performing a user interface, which comprises a display, various operation keys and the like. In this embodiment, the operation panel 6 has a registration button 6 for registering a plurality of proxy addresses for a specific address.
have a.

Reference numeral 7 is an address register for storing a substitute address, which substitutes the remaining pages to be transmitted when the partner station cannot communicate (that is, the page is received instead of the original receiving station). ) Store multiple addresses (such as telephone numbers).

When performing proxy transmission, a plurality (n) of addresses in the address register 7 are used based on a predetermined priority order, and the remaining pages are transmitted as shown in FIG. That is, the transmission is controlled so that if the transmission fails at the first address, the proxy transmission is performed to the second address, and if the transmission fails at the second address, the proxy transmission is performed to the third address. The determination of this address is performed by the priority determination circuit 8.

Reference numeral 9 indicates a system bus including an address bus, a data bus, various control lines and the like, and a reference numeral 10 indicates a page management circuit for managing a write address and a read address for the image memory circuit 3 in page units.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. Figure 3
4 and FIG. 4 show a control procedure performed by the control circuit 5, which is stored as a program in the ROM or the like of the control circuit 5.

FIG. 3 shows a plurality of alternate addresses (eg telephone numbers) for a particular address (eg telephone number).
Shows the operation for registering. To register multiple alternate addresses for a particular address, step S
In step 1, the registration button 6a on the operation panel 6 is pressed. The control circuit 5 inputs and stores a specific address subsequently input.

Further, in the loop of steps S2 and S3, a plurality of proxy addresses are input to the address register 7. At this time, input of multiple proxy addresses is
It shall be done from the one with the highest priority.

When a plurality of proxy addresses are input from the operation panel 6, the control circuit 5 stores them in the address register 7 in descending order of priority. In this case, the priority order determination circuit 8 operates so as to address the address corresponding to the priority order. Operation panel 6
Then, when a predetermined ending operation is performed, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S4 to end the registration process. In step S4, a specific address and a plurality of proxy addresses corresponding to the specific address are associated and stored.

FIG. 4 shows the transmission process. When a dial button and an address are input as a transmission operation from the operation panel 6 and a predetermined start operation is performed, for example, the start button is pressed, the control circuit 5 determines that the transmission operation has started, and in step S11, via the system bus 9. Then, the line control circuit 4 is requested to perform a calling process and the address information of the partner station is notified. Upon receiving the request and the notification, the line control circuit 4 performs a calling process with the line side.

Next, when the line connection is established, the line control circuit 4 notifies the control circuit 5 of this, and the control circuit 5 receives this and starts the transmission process in step S12.
Here, after the image reading apparatus 1, the encoding circuit 2, the image memory 3, and the page management circuit 10 are initialized, the operation of reading an original by the image reading apparatus 1 is started.
In the initial setting, the page management circuit 10 notifies the image memory 3 of the write start address and the read start address.

Next, the image reading operation of the original is started from the image reading device 1. The read image is input to the encoding circuit 2 as binary data. The encoding circuit 2 sequentially encodes the binary data, and the encoded data obtained as a result is sequentially stored in the image memory 3.

In parallel with this reading operation, the line control circuit 4 requests the image memory 3 to read the transmission data. The image memory 3 receives the request and the image memory 3
The read operation of the coded data is executed by utilizing the free time of the write operation of the coded data to and from.

The read encoded data is sent to the line control circuit 4. The line control circuit 4 executes a process of transmitting this encoded data to the line side. By repeating the above operation in the same manner, the image of the document is read and transmitted.

Further, the entire address of one page of the document is read out and the final address when the image is stored in the image memory 3 is notified from the image memory 3 to the page management circuit 10, and the page management circuit 10 notifies the final address. The page management circuit 10 manages the storage address of the encoded data in page units, such as knowing the start address of the next page from the address, and the same operation is performed for the following pages. ..

When a failure occurs in the receiving side device during transmission and the transmitting operation is interrupted, the receiving side device receives a request for disconnecting the line, but the line control circuit 4 shifts to the recovery process by this request. Disconnect the line. Furthermore, the control circuit 5
The disconnection notification is sent via the system bus 9.

The control circuit 5 sends this disconnection notification in step S1.
It is detected in step 3, and the process proceeds to step S16. Step S1
At 6, the control circuit 5 searches the address register 7 to see if the address of the communicating station is registered as the specific address. If it is registered, the control circuit 5 causes the priority order determination circuit 8 to do so. On the other hand, it requests the next alternate address with higher priority. Here, in order to facilitate the explanation, the address of the communicating station is the address register 7
However, if there is no registration, the process may be terminated at that point.

The priority determination circuit 8 is the control circuit 5 described above.
In step S16, an address with a higher priority is selected from the proxy addresses stored in the address register 7 in step S16, and the address information is notified to the control circuit 5 in step S17.

Thereafter, the process returns to step S11, and proxy transmission is performed. The control circuit 5 is a priority order determination circuit 8
When the substitute transmission address is notified by the request from the substitute transmission address, the line control circuit 4 is requested to perform a calling process for the substitute address via the system bus 9. The line control circuit 4 performs a calling process for the requested address (step S11).

When the line is set, the line control circuit 4
To that effect, the control circuit 5 is notified via the system bus 9, and the control circuit 5 receives this notification, changes the page of the image page at the time of interruption to the page management circuit 10, and encodes data from the next page. To read. By this instruction, the page management circuit 10 notifies the image memory 3 of the start address of the next page.

Upon receiving this notification, the image memory 3 makes settings for reading from the top address of the next page.
The page management circuit 10 also notifies the control circuit 5 that the start address of the next page has been notified. In response to this notification, the control circuit 5 instructs the line control circuit 4 to start transmission of encoded data.

In response to this instruction, the line control circuit 4 requests the encoded data to be transmitted to the image memory 3, and the image memory 3 receives the request from the page management circuit 10
The encoded data is read from the head address of the next page instructed and sent to the line control circuit 4.

The line control circuit 4 receives the coded data and executes transmission processing on the line side. Regarding the following transmission operation, the above-mentioned read / transmission operation from the image memory 3 is repeated.

In this way, when the transmission is interrupted due to the failure on the receiving side, the priority determining circuit 8 selects the alternate address from the one having the higher priority, and the transmission operation is started from the next page to the address. To do.

All the encoded data stored in the image memory 3 are read out and transmitted to the line side by the line control circuit 4, that is, in the case of normal end of transmission,
In step S15, the line control circuit 4 notifies the control circuit 5 of the end of the transmission process, shifts to the line recovery process, disconnects the line, and ends a series of operations.

According to the above construction, when the transmission is interrupted due to a failure on the receiving side, the alternate addresses are selected in descending order of priority, and the transmission operation is performed from the next page to that address. Therefore, if the receiving side has a plurality of facsimile devices, the address of the main device is used as a specific address, and the addresses of other facsimile devices are registered in the address register 7 for this specific address. Even if a failure occurs in the device, the remaining transmission images can be sequentially transmitted to the device of the next priority without repeating the transmission operation as in the conventional case.

Further, since the transmission is not repeated to the same apparatus, the original image can be made to reach the receiving side as quickly as possible even when there is no prospect of recovery of the failed apparatus. It has an excellent effect.

In the case of performing proxy transmission, in the above embodiment, transmission is not performed for the successful transmission, but transmission is performed from the subsequent page.
In the case of proxy transmission, all pages may be resent.

When performing proxy transmission from the subsequent page, information indicating that this transmission is proxy transmission,
Information such as the number of pages indicating that it is a subsequent page of an image received by another device is transmitted as image data from the transmitting side, and is recorded at a predetermined site such as the top of the page on the receiving side. Good. Further, in that case, in order to indicate which device is the subsequent page of the image received by the device, the proxy transmission address having one higher priority is transmitted from the transmission side as image data, and the reception side transmits the image data. It may be recorded.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above, according to the present invention, in the image communication apparatus for transmitting the input image data to the receiving apparatus, the original to be transmitted to the receiving apparatus is substituted for the specific receiving apparatus. A means for registering the address of another receiving device to be transmitted together with a predetermined priority, and when the transmission to the specific receiving device fails in the middle, another receiving device is sequentially selected based on the registration priority of the registration means. Since a configuration is provided in which the control means for transmitting the original to be transmitted on behalf of is adopted, even if the transmission to the specific receiving device is interrupted due to a failure on the receiving side, etc. It is possible to provide an excellent image communication apparatus capable of performing proxy transmission, requiring no troublesome operation, and capable of reliably reaching the destination of image data to be transmitted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an outline of proxy transmission according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus adopting the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a registration procedure of a proxy transmission address according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a transmission procedure according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 image reading device 2 encoding circuit 3 image memory 4 line control circuit 5 control circuit 6 operation panel 7 address register 8 priority order determination circuit 9 system bus

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In an image communication apparatus for transmitting input image data to a receiving apparatus, for a specific receiving apparatus, an address of another receiving apparatus to which a document to be transmitted to the receiving apparatus should be transmitted on behalf of the receiving apparatus has a predetermined priority. A means for registering together with the ranking, and when the transmission to the specific receiving device fails in the middle,
An image communication apparatus comprising: a control unit that sequentially selects another receiving device based on the registration priority of the registration unit and proxy-transmits a document to be transmitted. 2. When performing the proxy transmission, the transmission of the portion that has already been successfully transmitted to the receiving device having a higher priority than the receiving device is omitted, and the remaining image that has not been transmitted is transmitted. The image communication device according to claim 1.