JPH0646165A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a facsimile transmission immidiately when a speech is enabled by storing the telephone number of a receiving station when it is inputted, continuously transmitting a calling signal until the speech with the receiving station is enabled. CONSTITUTION:When a continuous calling key 32 is pressed, an MPU 42 waits the input of the telephone number of the receiving station, and stores the inputted telephone number in an RAM 28. Then, the MPU 42 transmits the calling signal to the receiving station of the telephone number through a telephone exchange 18 to a communication line 20. When the speech of the receiving station is judged, the MPU 42 temporarily interrupts the line 20 through the telephone exchange 18, and quickly connects the line 20 again through the telephone exchange 18. Then, the MPU 42 reads the telephone number of the receiving station being the content of the RAM 28, and transmits the calling signal through the telephone exchange 18 to the line 20. The MPU 42 repeats this operation until the speech between the receiving station and its own station is validated, and operates the facsimile transmission when the speech enable state is judged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, when transmitting to a receiving station, the telephone number of the receiving station is input from an input means, and when the telephone is connected to the receiving station and a call is possible, a transmitting operation is performed. . When the receiving station is in a call and is in a call disabled state, the telephone number of the receiving station is input again from the input means after an appropriate time, and after waiting for a call enabled state, transmission is performed.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus has the following problems. The operator on the transmitting station side cannot know at all whether the receiving station is busy. Therefore, it is necessary for the operator on the transmitting station side to input the telephone number of the receiving station and check whether or not the call is ready, in time. When the communication state of the receiving station is long, the number of operations performed by the operator on the transmitting station side increases, and the task becomes troublesome. Moreover, the timing at which the transmitting station re-enters the telephone number is left to the discretion of the operator, so if the timing does not match, the receiving station will start a call with another station and will have to wait again. There is also a problem that the reception station may not be delayed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus which can immediately perform facsimile transmission when a receiving station is ready for a call.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has the following configuration, namely, input means for inputting a telephone number of a receiving station, and the receiving station input from the input means. Storage means for storing the telephone number of, and line control means for connecting / disconnecting with the communication line,
When the telephone number of the receiving station is input from the input means, the telephone number is stored in the storage means, and a call signal is transmitted to the receiving station via the line control means. Disconnects the communication line through the line control means, immediately connects the communication line through the line control means, transmits the calling signal to the receiving station, and when the communication with the receiving station becomes possible, image information is displayed. And a control means for transmitting.

[0005]

[Operation] The operation will be described. When the telephone number of the receiving station is input from the input means, the control means stores the telephone number in the storage means and transmits a call signal to the receiving station via the line control means. Disconnects the communication line via the line control means, immediately connects the communication line via the line control means, continuously transmits the call signal to the receiving station, and can talk to the receiving station. Since the image information is transmitted when the state becomes the state, the facsimile transmission becomes possible immediately when the receiving station becomes the state in which the call can be made.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 1 (block diagram) and FIG. 2 (outside view). Reference numeral 10 denotes an optical unit, which is read by an optical mechanism including a lens and a CCD containing a document (not shown) to be transmitted or copied, and outputs data indicating the position of a pixel on the document. Reference numeral 12 denotes a thermal head, which displays and outputs image information or the like received via the communication line 20 or read via the optical unit 10 on a thermal paper, which is an example of recording paper, in a combination of pixels. In addition to the thermal head 12, the output means may be a method of displaying on plain paper by a laser or the like. A speaker 14 notifies the operator of the end of transmission / reception and the occurrence of an abnormal situation as an alarm at the time of error. Reference numeral 16 is a modem, which is connected to the communication line 20 via the telephone exchange device 18. Modem 1
6 is a digital signal from the facsimile machine converted into an analog signal and transmitted to the communication line 20;
The analog signal received via the is converted into a digital signal and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus. The telephone exchange device 18 connects the communication line 20 and the modem 16 as an example of a line control means, and connects / disconnects the modem 16 and the communication line 20. The telephone exchange device 18 includes a hook switch 24 for detecting hook-on / hook-off of the telephone handset 22.
Is connected and the state of the telephone can be determined. Further, the telephone exchange device 18 functions as a general telephone, such as ringing a linger (not shown) when a call signal to its own station arrives via the communication line 20 and a call from the other station.

Reference numeral 26 is a keyboard which is an example of an input means, and an operator can input the telephone number of the receiving station to the telephone exchange device 18 by using the ten-key pad 30. In addition, by pressing the continuous call key 32 of the keyboard 26,
It is possible to specify a function of continuously transmitting a calling signal to the receiving station many times when the receiving station is in a call and transmitting image information by facsimile when the receiving station is in a callable state. In addition, the keyboard 26 is provided with various keys for inputting various function instructions to the facsimile apparatus. Reference numeral 28 denotes a RAM which is an example of storage means, and stores the telephone number of the receiving station input by the operator from the keyboard 26. . In addition, the memory area of the RAM 28 temporarily stores image information received via the communication line 20, input data, various information processed in the facsimile apparatus, and the like. As the storage means, in addition to allocating the memory area of the RAM 28, an external memory such as a disk or a memory (IC) card may be used. 34 is a ROM, which is the operating system of the facsimile machine,
Various application programs, various predetermined control data, and the like are stored.

Reference numeral 36 denotes an actuator, which is a motor for driving a mechanism for conveying a document for reading and scanning the document of the optical unit 10 at the time of transmission or copying, and a thermal paper for the thermal head 12 at the time of reception or copying. Is a motor for driving a mechanism for displaying and outputting the sheet, a motor for driving a mechanism for cutting the displayed and output thermal paper in page units, and the like. These actuators are driven via a driver circuit (not shown). The amount of rotation of the motor can be detected by counting the number of pulses or measuring the amount of pulses via an encoder. Reference numeral 38 denotes various sensors, which are provided with various sensors that detect, for example, a paper break of the thermal paper at the time of reception, transmission, and detection of a document at the time of copying and completion of reading of the document by the optical unit 10. 40
Is a display, which is composed of, for example, an LCD, displays the telephone number of the receiving station input from the ten-key pad 30, the data input to the facsimile device via the keyboard 26, and the information and data to be notified to the operator. Output characters. 42 is a microprocessor (MPU) which is a control means, and when the telephone number of the receiving station is input from the ten-key pad 30 while the continuous call key 32 of the keyboard 26 is pressed, the telephone number is stored in the RAM.
28, the call signal is transmitted to the receiving station through the telephone exchange device 18, and if the receiving station is busy, the communication line 20 is disconnected through the telephone exchange device 18, and the telephone exchange device 18 is immediately connected. The communication line 20 is reconnected via the communication line to continuously transmit the call signal to the receiving station many times, and the image information is immediately transmitted by facsimile when the communication with the receiving station becomes possible. When the continuous calling key 32 is not pressed, the MPU 42 controls the facsimile machine as a normal facsimile machine. In addition to the function as a control unit, the MPU 42 also conveys a thermal paper to the thermal head 12 and a motor that drives a mechanism for conveying an original for scanning the original by the optical unit 10, and conveys the thermal paper for output. By measuring the amount of rotation of the motor that drives the mechanism, the facsimile system is controlled according to the operating system, the application program, and the operator's instructions stored in the ROM 34, such as the detection of the feed amount of the document or the thermal paper.

Next, the operation will be described with further reference to FIG. When the continuous call key 32 is pressed, R
A predetermined program is read from the OM 34 (step 100), and the MPU 42 waits for the input of the telephone number of the receiving station (step 102). When the MPU 42 determines that the telephone number has been input from the ten-key pad 30, it clears the RAM 28 (step 104) and stores the input telephone number in the RAM 28 (step 106). Then, the call signal addressed to the receiving station of the telephone number is transmitted to the communication line 20 through the telephone exchange device 18 (step 108).
After calling the receiving station, the MPU 42 determines whether the receiving station is in a call (step 110). Whether or not a call is in progress can be determined by whether or not a busy tone is received. If it is determined in step 110 that the receiving station is not in a call and is ready to talk to itself, the MPU4
2 performs facsimile transmission (step 112). During the facsimile transmission, it is determined at predetermined timings whether or not the facsimile transmission is completed through the sensor 38 (step 114), and when it is determined that the transmission is completed, the facsimile device is stopped (step 116) and one sequence of transmission is performed. finish. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 110 that the receiving station is busy, the MPU 42 determines that the telephone exchange device 1
The communication line 20 is once disconnected through the communication line 8 (step 118), and the communication line 2 is immediately transmitted through the telephone exchange device 18.
0 is connected again (step 120). And R
The telephone number of the receiving station, which is the content of AM28, is read again, and a call signal addressed to the receiving station of the telephone number is transmitted to the communication line 20 via the telephone exchange 18 (step 1).
08), and again it is confirmed whether or not the receiving station is in a call (step 110). The MPU 42 repeats this operation until the receiving station becomes able to talk with the receiving station, and when it is judged that the receiving station is ready for communication, the MPU 42 performs facsimile transmission (step 112). After that, one sequence of work is performed in the procedure of steps 114 and 116. Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. .

[0010]

When the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention is used, the control means stores the telephone number of the receiving station in the storage means when the telephone number of the receiving station is inputted from the input means, and the receiving station is operated through the line control means. If the receiving station is busy, the communication line is disconnected through the line control means, and the communication line is immediately connected through the line control means to the receiving station. Is transmitted many times in succession, and image information is transmitted when a call can be made with the receiving station, so that facsimile transmission can be performed immediately when the receiving station becomes a callable state. As a result, there is a remarkable effect that image information can be transmitted to the receiving station as quickly and surely as possible without bothering the operator.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 18 telephone exchange device 20 communication line 26 keyboard 28 RAM 42 MPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting a telephone number of a receiving station, a storage unit for storing the telephone number of the receiving station input from the input unit, and a connection / disconnection with a communication line. And a line control means for storing the telephone number of the receiving station from the input means, storing the telephone number in the storage means, and transmitting a call signal to the receiving station via the line control means, When the receiving station is in a call, the communication line is disconnected through the line control means, the communication line is immediately connected through the line control means, the call signal is transmitted to the receiving station, and the call is communicated with the receiving station. A facsimile apparatus, comprising: a control means for transmitting image information when a ready state is reached.