JPH06276380A - Facsimile equipment and data registration method for facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the confirmation of a state of a facsimile equipment installed at a remote location and the revision of its specification through a line. CONSTITUTION:A program storage section 17 and a user data storage section 18 of a facsimile equipment are backed up by a battery to attain the rewritable state and a communication procedure is added newly, Program data or user data are sent through a line between a remote location and the facsimile equipment. Thus, the state of the facsimile equipment is confirmed and the specification is revised without the need for a service man to visit the remote location.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile device data registration method and a facsimile device in which a control method / contents can be exchanged from a remote place through a line using a normal facsimile communication procedure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional facsimile apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is an image information reading unit for reading an original, which is composed of, for example, a MOS type image sensor, a CCD image sensor, a contact type image sensor and the like. Reference numeral 2 denotes a thermal head, an inkjet head, etc., and an image information printing unit for printing and reproducing image information relating to a transmission document on recording paper.
Compresses and expands the image information input from the image information reading unit 1 at the time of transmission, decompresses the compressed data at the time of reception, and makes the image information printable by the image information printing unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a modulator / demodulator that modulates data to be transmitted and demodulates received data transmitted from a transmission line such as a line, 5 is a line control unit that controls the line, and 6 is an image that stores compressed image information. It is an information storage unit.

Further, 7 is a program storage unit storing programs such as a communication procedure program, a print control program, and a read control program, and 8 is data peculiar to each facsimile, which is a user such as a speed dial or a communication history (journal). A user data storage unit that stores data, a main control unit 9 that controls the entire apparatus by referring to the program / user data stored in the program storage unit 7 and the user data storage unit 8; 10
Is a control panel for transmitting an operator's instruction to the main control unit 9 and for displaying the device status, communication information, operation procedure, etc. to the operator under the control of the main control unit 1.
Reference numeral 1 is a transmission line such as a telephone line for performing transmission between facsimiles or between a center machine and a facsimile machine.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the receiving operation will be described. This is a case where image information is transmitted from another facsimile machine provided via the line. The data received from the transmission line 11 is input to the modulator / demodulator 4 via the line controller 5 and demodulated. Next, the compression / expansion unit 3 performs expansion processing, and the image information printing unit 2 records the result. Further, for example, the received data demodulated for confidential reception or for storing the received data when recording paper is insufficient is stored in the image information storage unit 6, taken out from the image information storage unit 6 according to an operator's instruction, and compressed and expanded. Then, the image information is printed by the image information printing unit 2.

Next, the transmission operation will be described. This is a case where a document is read by this facsimile device and transmitted to another facsimile device via a line. The image information read by the image information reading unit 1 is compressed by the compression / expansion unit 3. Then, the signal is modulated by the modulation / demodulation unit 4 and transmitted to the partner station connected by the line control unit 5 through the transmission line 11. As another transmission mode, the transmission data compressed by the compression / expansion unit 3 is temporarily stored in the image information recording unit 6 and is transmitted to the partner station by the line control unit 5 when an operator's instruction or a predetermined time is reached. The transmission data connected to the call line and extracted from the image information storage unit 6 is modulated by the modulation / demodulation unit 4 and transmitted through the transmission line 11. The main control unit 9 controls the above respective units and the control panel 10.
Is performed by the program stored in the program storage unit 7 and the user data stored in the user data storage unit 8.

[0006]

Since the conventional facsimile apparatus is constructed as described above, the contents of the program storage unit 7 and the user / data storage unit 8 cannot be rewritten from the main control unit 9. Therefore, if there is an error in the program stored in the program storage unit 7, if you want to change the control method, if you want to add a new function, if you want to change the user data, or if you want to check the contents of the user data. For example, a service person needs to go to a remote place to replace or rewrite the program storage unit 7 and the user data storage unit 8, which causes a problem of time and geographical waste.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a program storage section /
Facsimile capable of notifying the state of the apparatus by exchanging a part or all of the program / user data stored in the user data storage unit or transmitting the current program current user data to a remote place through a line An object of the present invention is to obtain a data registration method of a device and a facsimile device.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data registration method for a facsimile apparatus, wherein program information is transmitted from a terminal to a facsimile apparatus, the program information is received by the facsimile apparatus, and the facsimile apparatus is further related. The program information is registered in the program storage unit.

In the data registration method of the facsimile apparatus according to the second invention, the user data information is transmitted from the terminal to the facsimile apparatus, the user data information is received by the facsimile apparatus, and the user data information is further received by the facsimile apparatus. It is registered in the user data storage unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus transmits the program information registered in the program storage unit to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal, and the terminal receives the program information.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus further transmits user data information registered in the user data storage unit to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal, and the terminal receives the user data information. Is.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a facsimile apparatus converts information transmitted from a terminal into an image signal, transmits the image signal to the terminal, and the terminal receives and displays the image signal.

A sixth invention is such that the transmission from the terminal to the facsimile apparatus in the first to sixth inventions is based on a procedure signal.

A facsimile machine according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is a facsimile machine having a program storage section for registering a program and a control section for controlling functions provided in the facsimile machine according to the program stored in the program storage section. The program information transmitted from the external terminal is received and the program information is registered in the program storage unit.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is to transmit the program information registered in the program storage section to the external terminal in response to a request from the external terminal in the seventh aspect.

[0016]

In the data registration method of the facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, the program information is registered in the program storage section of the facsimile apparatus from the terminal. In the data registration method of the facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the user data information is registered in the program storage unit of the facsimile apparatus from the terminal.

In the third invention, the program information registered in the program storage section of the terminal is further confirmed. In the fourth invention, the user data information registered in the user data storage section of the terminal is further confirmed.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the information transmitted to the facsimile apparatus at the terminal is confirmed by the image information.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the procedure signal is transmitted from the terminal to the facsimile apparatus.

In the facsimile machine according to the seventh invention,
The program information transmitted from the external terminal is received, and the program information is registered in the program storage unit. In the facsimile apparatus according to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the program information registered in the program storage unit is further transmitted to the external terminal in response to a request from the external terminal.

[0020]

EXAMPLES Example 1. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1 to 6 and 9 to 11 are the same as in the conventional example, 17 is a program storage unit configured by a RAM, and 27 is electricity supplied to the program storage unit 17 even if the device is not supplied with electricity. It is a battery that does. Further, 18 is a user data storage unit composed of a RAM,
Reference numeral 28 denotes a battery that supplies electricity to the user data storage unit 18, and other than that has the same configuration as the conventional example. Here, since the program storage unit 17 and the user data storage unit 18 are thus backed up by the battery 27 and the battery 28, they are always held in a rewritable state.

Next, the operation will be described. In addition to the operation similar to the conventional operation, new user data is mainly written and confirmed. Particularly in this embodiment, the write transmission of new user data is performed by a procedure signal of 300 bps, and the confirmation transmission of new user data is performed by image information (PIX) of 9600 bps, for example. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of user data rewriting communication. Further, FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the procedure of the user data rewriting communication, and shows, for example, the detailed exchange between the terminal of the partner station of the facsimile machine and the facsimile machine of the own station.

Description will be made with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. First, when the facsimile device of the own station detects an incoming call from the terminal of the other station, it sends out NSF (Non-Standad Facilities non-standard function identification signal) including a declaration of the user data rewriting function (ST1). Next, NSS (Non-Standard
Facilities Set-up Non-standard function setting signal) is received (ST2). At this time, N of the user data rewriting request
If it is SS, the user data rewritable NSF is transmitted (ST3).

Then, the terminal of the partner station receives new user data to be rewritten (ST4). If the user data rewriting request is not NSS, normal FAX communication is performed. Also, this new user data reception (ST4)
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the data is received in the form of being divided according to the scale of the user data. Since the new user data is transmitted by the procedure signal in this way, each device can operate while keeping the transmission rate constant, and the exchange of signals required when switching to high-speed transmission is unnecessary. Play. At this time, if the user data to be rewritten is small, only a single NSS needs to be transmitted without division.

When the reception of the new user data is completed, the main control unit 8 rewrites the contents of the user data storage unit 18 after the data is once stored in the information storage unit 6 and is not processed in the compression / expansion unit 3 ( ST5). Next, it is confirmed whether or not there is a confirmation request from the facsimile machine of the own station to the terminal of the partner station. If there is no confirmation request from the terminal of the partner station, the process ends at this point.

On the other hand, if there is a confirmation request from the terminal of the partner station, the process proceeds to the next stage. Supplementing this situation with FIG. 3, when NSF having a user data transmission function is transmitted, and when NSS of the user data transmission request is received, the contents of the user data storage unit 18 are processed by the compression / expansion unit 3, It is generated as information (ST6), and the user data is sent to the terminal of the partner station in the form of normal FAX communication (ST7).
The terminal of the partner station will print out the new user
You can check the contents of the data. Therefore, the changed content can be easily grasped. After that, the facsimile machine of its own station executes the operation according to the contents of the new user data.

Example 2. In the above embodiment, since the transmission for confirming the user data from the facsimile machine of the own station to the terminal of the partner station is the transmission of the image information of, for example, 9600 bps, the terminal of the partner station concerned has the high-speed image information. It is a facsimile machine that receives and prints. However, the transmission for such confirmation is, for example, 300 bps.
, A protocol analyzer having a communication function capable of supporting a transmission rate of 300 bps unless transmission is performed based on a procedure signal or image information for confirmation,
A center machine or a personal computer may be used as the terminal of the partner station. Further, these protocol analyzers and the like may be connected by branching the transmission line connected to a normal facsimile apparatus. That is, by limiting the transmission between the own station and the partner station to the procedure signal having a relatively low transmission speed, the partner station or the terminal branching the transmission path is not limited to the facsimile machine, but can be a simple device having other configuration. It may be. Therefore, the usage of the invention is increased.

FIG. 4 shows the writing of new user data using the protocol analyzer. It is a block diagram which shows a mode that confirmation is performed. In the figure, 12 is a terminal of a partner station such as a facsimile machine, 13 is a facsimile machine of its own station, and 14 is a protocol analyzer. In the second embodiment, the writing and confirmation of the new user data is performed by the procedure signal of 300 bps. Therefore,
The protocol analyzer makes these operations possible.

In particular, the transmission for confirmation from the own station to the terminal of the partner station may be divided into several procedure signals, that is, NSS, and sent out similarly to the transmission from the terminal of the partner station to the own station.
By doing so, since the new user data is transmitted by the procedure signal as described above, each device can operate while keeping the transmission rate constant, and the signal required when switching to high-speed transmission can be obtained. This has the effect of eliminating the need for interaction. If the user data to be rewritten at this time is small, only a single NSS may be transmitted without division.

Example 3. In the above embodiment, the user
Although the data rewriting communication has been described, it may be program rewriting communication. Since it is possible to rewrite the program from a remote location, it is possible to actively change the operation specifications. However, when the program capacity is extremely large, the redundancy is high in the division transmission using NSS, so the communication procedure as shown in FIG. 5 is performed. This enables high speed transmission. That is, in this embodiment, the terminal of the partner station transmits the data of the program to be rewritten at high speed, so that the hexadecimal data is not converted into an image signal and the data of 9600 is transmitted.
It is compressed to a bps speed and transmitted via a transmission line.
Here, this compression does not require a new program and does not require the provision of a circuit if an image compression method that is usually performed in a facsimile apparatus is used. Then, the facsimile machine of its own station receives this compressed data.

On the other hand, in response to the confirmation request from the terminal of the partner station, the facsimile apparatus of the own station transmits the program once stored in the information storage unit 6. Thereafter, the compression / decompression unit 3 performs decompression processing, the main control unit 9 transfers the program to the program storage unit 17, and the main control unit 9 follows the contents of the program storage unit 17,
Perform an action. In this way, by rewriting the contents of the program of each facsimile device from a remote location, new operation specifications can be realized. This is particularly useful when the standard that defines the operation of each facsimile machine is changed.

Example 4. In the third embodiment, the transmission from the own station in response to the confirmation request is based on the compressed data obtained by compressing the hex data, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the image data may be expanded as in the first embodiment and further compressed. It may be sent over. Since this compression is compression of image data, it can be efficiently compressed by the compression / expansion unit provided in the facsimile apparatus, and the transmission time can be further reduced.

Example 5. Further, transmission of the new program / new user data from the own station to the terminal of the partner station in response to the confirmation request may be omitted, and only the new program / new user data may be sent from the terminal of the partner station. This allows
By rewriting all or part of the contents of the program storage unit and the user data storage unit, new operation specifications can be realized.

Example 6. On the contrary, the transmission of the new program / new user data from the terminal of the partner station may be omitted, and only the new program / new user data from the own station in response to the confirmation request may be sent to the terminal of the partner station. As a result, it is possible to confirm the program currently operating in the facsimile machine of the own station and the stored user data.

[0034]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the program information can be registered in the program storage unit from the terminal, and the operation specification can be positively changed.

Further, according to the second invention, the user data information can be registered in the user data storage unit from the terminal, and the operation specification can be changed.

Further, according to the third invention, the program information registered in the program storage section can be further confirmed at the terminal, whether the program information transmitted from the terminal has been correctly transmitted, and the present device. You can check the status of.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the user data information registered in the user data storage section can be confirmed at the terminal, and whether the user data information transmitted from the terminal has been correctly transmitted or not. You can check the current device status.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the image information can be displayed on the terminal, the program information and the like registered in the program storage unit and the like can be confirmed on the terminal, and the program information transmitted from the terminal can be confirmed. It is possible to easily and quickly confirm whether or not the information has been transmitted correctly and the current state of the device.

Further, according to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the transmission from the terminal to the facsimile apparatus is based on the procedure signal, the facsimile apparatus and the terminal can operate while keeping the transmission rate constant, and high-speed transmission is possible. There is no need for exchanging signals required for switching.

According to the seventh invention, the program information can be registered in the program storage section from the terminal,
It is possible to actively change the operation specifications.

Further, according to the third invention, the program information registered in the program storage section can be further confirmed at the terminal, whether the program information transmitted from the terminal has been correctly transmitted, and the present device. You can check the status of.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flow chart in user data rewriting communication according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a procedure of user data rewriting communication according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a procedure for program rewriting communication according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 image information reading unit 2 image information printing unit 3 compression / expansion unit 4 modulation / demodulation unit 5 line control unit 6 information storage unit 17 program storage unit 18 user data storage unit 9 main control unit 10 control panel

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having a program storage unit for registering a program and a control unit for controlling functions provided in the facsimile apparatus according to the program stored in the program storage unit In a data registration method performed by a terminal that performs data transmission via a transmission line in step 1, a first step of transmitting program information from the terminal to the facsimile device, and a second step of receiving the program information in the facsimile device. And a third step of registering the program information in the program storage unit in the facsimile apparatus, the data registration method of the facsimile apparatus. 2. A facsimile device having a user data storage unit for registering user data and a control unit for controlling a function provided in the facsimile device according to the user data stored in the user data storage unit. In a data registration method performed from a terminal that performs data transmission with a device via a transmission path, a first step of transmitting user data information from the terminal to the facsimile device, and the user data in the facsimile device. A data registration method for a facsimile device, comprising a second step of receiving information and a third step of registering the user data information in the user data storage unit in the facsimile device. 3. A fourth step of transmitting program information registered in the program storage unit to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal in the facsimile apparatus, and program information transmitted from the facsimile apparatus. 5. The method for registering data in a facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fifth step of receiving. 4. The fourth step of transmitting the user data information registered in the user data storage unit to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal in the facsimile apparatus, and the step of transmitting from the facsimile apparatus. 5. The data registration method for a facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a fifth step of receiving user data information. 5. A sixth step of converting the information transmitted from the terminal in the facsimile device into an image signal and transmitting the image signal to the terminal, and a seventh step of receiving and displaying the image signal in the terminal. 5. The data registration method for a facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: 6. The transmission from the terminal to the facsimile device is based on a procedure signal.
5) The data registration method of the facsimile apparatus described in 5. 7. A facsimile machine having a program storage section for registering a program and a control section for controlling functions provided in the facsimile machine according to the program stored in the program storage section, the facsimile machine being provided via a transmission line. A facsimile apparatus, which receives program information transmitted from an external terminal connected to the apparatus and registers the program information in the program storage unit. 8. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the program information registered in the program storage unit is transmitted to the external terminal in response to a request from the external terminal.