JPH06105030A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide facsimile equipment capable of responding to the re-sending request of an image file accumulated in image memory with a simple operation. CONSTITUTION:A main control part 1 reads out the image file selected by an instruction from a control panel 4 in an original file displayed on an LCD 6 from the image memory 12, and transmits it via a line control part 2. After transmission is completed, the main control part 1 judges whether or not automatic file erasure is set on the file in advance, and erases a transmitted file from the image memory 12 when it is set, and holds the file in the image memory 12 when no automatic file erasure is set. After that, since it is not required to perform the re-reading of the original even when the re-sending request of the file is issued, it is possible to respond only by a file transmission operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a memory transmission function for storing image information in an image memory as an image file and selectively reading out a desired file from the stored image files and transmitting it. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement of an image file management control method for holding or deleting a certain image file in the image memory in response to the memory transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In today's facsimile machines, image information obtained by reading and scanning a transmission original is temporarily stored in an image memory as an image file, and then the desired image file is selected from the image files. There is known one having a so-called memory transmission function for selecting and transmitting.

In a conventional general facsimile apparatus having the memory transmission function, when an image file is transmitted to an image memory and then the image file is transmitted, the transmission is normally completed. Then, the file was configured to be automatically deleted from the image memory.

In this conventional facsimile apparatus, since the image file is not left in the image memory after the image file has been normally transmitted, the image file having the same content is continuously sent to different parties. If you want to send it by scanning, scan the document again and scan,
It was necessary to perform an operation of loading the image information into the image memory as an image file.

According to this operation method, when a plurality of destinations are used, a considerable amount of work is required.
When sending the same manuscript to multiple parties,
Normally, it will be processed by multi-transmission. However, even in this multi-transmission, the operating condition is the same in that the transmitted file is erased from the image memory after the transmission is completed.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned multi-transmission, there is no problem if all the transmission partners are accurately known at the time of inputting the document as an image file into the image memory.
If you notice that a part of the destination is missed after sending and try to send the same image file to the other party who missed it, the image file has already been deleted from the image memory, so the image file will be restarted from the beginning. It has been necessary to input and retransmit, and in the end, the full utilization of the multi-transmission function cannot be realized.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional facsimile apparatus capable of memory transmission, the image file is automatically erased when the memory transmission of the image file is normally completed. Because of the configuration, when a request for resending an image file is made, the image file must be input through the scanning of reading the original document each time, and there is a problem that a complicated transmission operation is forced. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a facsimile apparatus in which it is not necessary to read an image file each time a request for resending a document file is made and the resend / transmission operation is simplified. To do.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a memory transmission in which image information is stored in an image memory as an image file, and a selected image file in the stored image files is read from the image memory and transmitted. In a facsimile device having a function, prior to a memory transmission, a file automatic deletion setting means for setting whether or not to automatically delete the image file related to the transmission after the transmission is completed, and the image for which the transmission is completed after the memory transmission is completed. It is characterized by comprising a file erasing / holding control means for controlling whether the file is erased from the image memory or retained as it is according to a setting condition by the file automatic erasure setting means.

[0010]

In the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, at the time of transmitting a certain image file, a function of setting whether or not the image file to be transmitted is automatically erased is added at the request of the operator. Only when instructed, after successfully sending the image file,
The transmitted image file is deleted from the image memory.

According to this structure, unless an operator instructs the automatic file deletion, the image file is left as it is in the image memory even if the image file is normally transmitted. Therefore, even if there is a request to retransmit the image file after that, it can be retransmitted by simply performing a normal file transmission operation.
Again, the complicated operation for loading the image file into the image memory is unnecessary.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, this facsimile apparatus includes a main control unit 1, a line control unit 2, an operation panel control unit 3, an operation panel 4, an LCD control unit 5, an LCD (liquid crystal display) 6, a scanner control unit 7, a scanner. 8, printer control unit 9, printer 10, work memory 11, image memory 12, memory file management unit 13,
The file information list generation unit 14 and the calendar circuit 15 are provided.

This facsimile apparatus corresponds to a memory transmission function of storing image information as a file in an image memory and selecting and transmitting a desired one from the files. The operation is as follows. First, in this facsimile machine,
Image information obtained by reading and scanning a document by the scanner 8 is transferred to the image memory 1 via the memory file management unit 13.
Accumulated in 2. At that time, the memory file management unit 13 sorts out the destination, the input date and time, the transmission date and time and the transmission result when the memory transmission is completed with respect to the image information to be accumulated as file information, and the image memory of the image information is stored. The storage in 12 is managed. The various file information such as the transmission date and time and the transmission result described above is generated by the file information list generation unit 14 in accordance with the document reading scan or the transmission operation, and is delivered to the memory file management unit 13.

The one or more image information files thus accumulated in the image memory 12 are read from the image memory 12 in accordance with a predetermined operation on the operation panel 4, and L
By displaying it on the CD 6, the registration status can be known.

When the operator performs a transmission operation for a file on the operation panel 4 after checking the registration status, the corresponding file is read from the image memory 12 and the line control is performed. It is possible to transmit from the section 2 to the designated destination through the line.

At the time of this memory transmission, in a normal facsimile apparatus such as a conventional apparatus, the file is automatically erased from the image memory 12 when the transmission of the file is normally completed. The apparatus is configured such that the operator can sequentially set each mode of whether or not to automatically delete the file after the transmission, by an instruction from the operation panel 4.

Focusing on this automatic file deletion mode setting, an example of the transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, in the standby state of the facsimile apparatus, the main control unit 1 monitors whether or not a transmission operation is performed on the operation panel 4 (S200). Here, when it is determined that the transmission operation is performed (YES in S200), the main control unit 1 then monitors whether or not there is an operation for instructing the automatic deletion of the file (S201). Here, if there is an automatic file deletion operation (S201YE
S), and set a flag that means to execute the automatic file deletion (S202). This flag is set when there is no automatic file deletion operation (S201N
O) is not done.

Next, the main controller 1 determines whether or not the original is transmitted based on the setting status of the original on the scanner 8 and the operating status of the operation panel 4 (S203). If it is determined that the original has been transmitted (YES in S203), the original is scanned for reading (S204), and the image information obtained by this scanning is stored as a file in the image memory 12 (S205).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the document is not transmitted (NO in S203), the file designated by the above-described transmission operation exists in the image memory 12 in order to transmit the file already accumulated from the image memory 12. It is determined whether or not (S206), and if it exists, the designated file is selected from the image memory 12 and preparation for transmission is prepared (S207).

Next, the dialing to the destination designated by the above transmission operation is started (S208), and after the line connection,
From the image memory 12, the file accumulated by the reading scan in S204 or the file selected from the ones already accumulated in S207 is read and transmitted to the other party through the line control unit 2. When this transmission ends normally (S209), the main control unit 1 then checks whether or not the file automatic deletion flag is set (S210), and if the automatic deletion flag is set (S210 YES). Deletes the file whose transmission is completed in S209 from the image memory 12.

On the other hand, when the automatic deletion flag is not set (NO in S210), the file which has been transmitted this time is kept in the image memory 12 as it is. At that time, the file information list generation unit 14 generates new file information to which the transmission destination information is added for the file that has been transmitted this time in the file list, and delivers this to the memory file management unit 13.

As can be seen from the above description of the operation, in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the transmission file is held in the image memory 12 forever, unless the operator instructs the automatic file deletion. Therefore, even if the file is requested to be retransmitted, the file can be retransmitted only by selecting the file and performing a transmission start operation. Can be eliminated.

For example, in the conventional apparatus, when performing multi-transmission, when the user notices that a part of the destination is missing after the transmission and tries to send the same image file to the other party who has left, the image file is re-created from the beginning. Although it was necessary to input and resend, in the present invention, since the image file that has already been transmitted is still left at this time, it is only necessary to perform the transmission operation that specifies the destination for this image file. Can handle the above transmission. Here, considering the characteristic of the present invention that the transmission file remains even after the transmission ends unless the file is erased, in the above-described multi-transmission, when the same image file as another is tried to be transmitted to the other party, As described above, it is not necessary to wait until the end of multi-transmission, and even during multi-transmission, it is possible to activate the above-mentioned transmission operation to the other party, further improving the multi-transmission function. Can be expected. Similarly, according to the present invention, not only in the case of multi-transmission but also in normal transmission, the same image file can be newly transmitted to a different partner after the start of transmission.

In the above embodiment, an example of giving an automatic erasing instruction for the file to be transmitted after the transmission operation is performed (see FIG. 2) has been described. It goes without saying that various timings are conceivable, for example, such as before the transmission operation. Further, in the above-described embodiment, regarding the file erasing / holding processing corresponding to the transmission operation in the image memory, only the image information obtained by the reading original scanning is taken into consideration, but the target of this kind of processing is Of course, the image information received from the other party can be considered. By the way, according to the facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied, various methods as described below can be considered as an operation method for selecting a desired file when transmitting a file, depending on the structures of the display unit and the operation unit.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the operation panel 4 and L
In the case of a normal configuration in which the CD 6 and the CD 6 are arranged independently of each other, which file is to be sent is determined by observing the memory file displayed on the LCD 6 as shown in FIG. The file can be selected by inputting from the operation panel 4.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4, a transparent touch panel is arranged on a large LCD as an operation unit and a display unit.
The CD / touch panel 61 is adopted, and in the case of this example, the file can be selected by touching the display area of the desired file on the LCD from the transparent touch panel.

As another example, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a large-sized LCD 62 which can be used not only for displaying a file but also for displaying a cursor as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the cursor up / down keys on the operation panel 4 are used. By operating the cursor on the large LCD 62, the file displayed in the area corresponding to the stop position of the cursor can be selected.

[0029]

As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, when the image file stored in the image memory is transmitted, if the automatic deletion of the file is set in advance, the transmission of the file is completed. Since the file is automatically deleted from the image memory, unless the file automatic deletion setting is made,
Even when the transmission of a certain file is completed, the file can be left in the image memory as it is, and even if the file is requested to be retransmitted after that, it can be dealt with by the normal file transmission operation only This has an excellent advantage that efficient device operation can be realized without the trouble of reading an original every time the request is received.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a display unit for explaining a file selection operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a display unit and an operation unit for explaining a file selection operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the display unit and the operation unit for explaining the file selection operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 main control unit 2 line control unit 3 operation panel control unit 4 operation panel 5 LCD control unit 6 LCD (liquid crystal display) 7 scanner control unit 8 scanner 9 printer control unit 10 printer 11 work memory 12 image memory 13 memory file management unit 14 File information list generation unit 15 Calendar circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having a memory transmission function of storing image information as an image file in an image memory, and reading out and transmitting a selected image file in the stored image files from the image memory. Prior to transmission, a file automatic deletion setting means for setting whether or not to automatically delete the image file related to the transmission after the transmission is completed, and after completion of the memory transmission, the image file after the transmission is deleted from the image memory. A facsimile apparatus, comprising: a file erasing / holding control means for controlling whether to hold the file as it is according to a setting condition by the file automatic erasing setting means. 2. A communication management including at least each item of a serial number capable of identifying each of the image files stored in the image memory, the number of pages of the image file, input date and time, destination terminal information after transmission to the memory, and transmission result. A communication management information generation unit that generates information, a file management unit that manages each image file in the image memory in association with the communication management information, and a list of image files stored in the image memory. A display unit for displaying the image file in association with the communication management information; and an operation unit for instructing the selection of the image file to be transmitted from the list of the image files displayed on the display unit. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 3. The operation means and the display means generate a selection instruction input of an image file corresponding to the touched portion by touching a desired portion in the image file list displayed on the liquid crystal display through a transparent touch panel. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the facsimile apparatus is configured by a touch panel type display operation means.