JPH0738701A - Information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To construct the flexible system which can continuously store documents without generating the overflow of incoming document, efficiently transfer them to a computer unit and preserve them even when the capacity of a storage device is comparatively small. CONSTITUTION:A computer unit 4 decides whether the document is incoming to a storage device 2 at every set time interval, or not and when a facsimile equipment 1 transfers the incoming document stored in the storage device 2 to the computer unit 4 based on the decided result, the computer unit 4 preserves the transferred incoming document in an external storage device and erases the document stored in the storage device 2 to be the source of the incoming document.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system in which a facsimile machine and a computer are communicably connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of system, if a document received by a facsimile device is set to be stored in a storage device, the document stored in the recording device is not erased until it is output on paper. , Still stored in the storage device.

Further, when it is desired to store an incoming document in a computer, it is necessary to once output it on paper and load it into the computer using an image reading device.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional information processing system, the documents stored in the storage device of the facsimile device remain stored until they are output on paper. Therefore, depending on the capacity of the storage device, There is a limit to the amount of documents that can be stored.

For this reason, when the amount of incoming documents reaches the limit of the capacity of the storage device, it becomes impossible to receive any more, and at the time of fax transmission, the transmission original is temporarily stored in the storage device such as memory transmission or timer transmission. There was a problem that the function that was said to be sent later would not be available.

Further, it is difficult to equip a facsimile device with a large-capacity storage device because of its structure, and it is difficult to easily add a storage device even if the storage capacity is insufficient, and the system is expanded. There was a problem of poor sex.

Further, the content of the received document cannot be confirmed unless it is output on a sheet, and it is sufficient if the received information can be displayed once on the display means or the like, and the information is not stored on the sheet. In that case, there are many problems such as waste of the paper if the data is output on the paper instead.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a document received in a storage device connected to a facsimile device is transferred to an external storage device of a computer device at an appropriate timing and saved. By doing so, it is possible to construct a flexible system in which even a relatively low-capacity storage device can continuously store documents without overflowing incoming documents, and efficiently transfer and store the documents in a computer device. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0009]

An information processing system according to the present invention comprises a setting means for setting a time interval for checking the presence / absence of a document stored in a storage means, and the above-mentioned setting for each time interval set by the setting means. Determination means for determining whether or not a document has arrived in the storage means, transfer means for transferring the received document stored in the storage means to the computer device based on the determination result of the determination means, and transfer by the transfer means The received incoming document is stored in the external storage device, and the incoming document transfer control means for erasing the document stored in the storage means which is the source of the incoming document is provided.

Further, the setting means calculates the average incoming call interval by referring to the communication history information and the current time information of the facsimile device, and the calculated average incoming call interval is the time for confirming the presence / absence of a document stored in the storage means. It is configured to be set as an interval.

Further, the incoming document transfer control means analyzes the communication partner information in the incoming document transferred by the transfer means, and identifies and stores the incoming transfer document in the external storage device for each communication partner. It is composed.

[0012]

In the present invention, the determining means determines whether or not a document has arrived in the storage means at each time interval set by the setting means, and the transfer means is stored in the storage means based on the result of the determination. When the received incoming document is transferred to the computer device, the incoming document transfer control means saves the transferred incoming document in the external storage device, and
Since the document stored in the storage means which is the source of the received document is erased, the received document received by the facsimile device and stored can be automatically transferred and stored in the storage device of the computer device.

Further, the setting means calculates the average incoming call interval by referring to the communication history information of the facsimile apparatus and the current time information, and the calculated average incoming call interval is the time for confirming the presence / absence of a document stored in the storage means. Since it is set as the interval, it becomes possible to automatically transfer and save the incoming document to the storage device of the computer device before the incoming document received by the facsimile device and accumulated is overflowed.

Further, since the incoming document transfer control means analyzes the communication destination information in the incoming document transferred by the transfer means, and identifies and stores the incoming transfer document in the external storage device for each communication destination, It is possible to easily retrieve the incoming document stored in the external storage device.

[0015]

1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an information processing system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a facsimile machine, which is connected to a public line or a network not shown so as to communicate with various facsimile machines. Two
Is a storage device that stores the image information received by the facsimile device 1. A computer device (hereinafter, simply referred to as a computer) 4 is configured to be communicable with the facsimile device 1 via a predetermined interface 3. In addition,
The computer 4 stores a protocol for executing communication processing in a ROM of a control unit (not shown) and performs various data processing based on an application program input to the computer 4.

In the information processing system configured as described above, the determination means is the storage means (the storage device 2) at each time interval set by the setting means (the central processing unit 5 of the computer device 4 (see FIG. 2)). ), The transfer means (facsimile device 1) transfers the received document stored in the storage means to the computer device 4 based on the result of the determination, and the incoming document transfer control means (computer The central processing unit 5) of the device 4 saves the transferred incoming document in the external storage device 6 described later, and deletes the document stored in the storage device 2 which is the source of the incoming document. It is possible to automatically transfer an incoming document received by the device 1 and accumulate it to the external storage device 6 of the computer device 4 and save it.

The setting means calculates the average incoming call interval by referring to the communication history information of the facsimile apparatus 1 and the current time information, and confirms whether the calculated average incoming call interval is stored in the storage means. Since it is set as a time interval,
Before the incoming document received by the facsimile apparatus 1 and accumulated therein overflows, it can be automatically transferred to and stored in the storage device of the computer apparatus 4.

Further, the incoming document transfer control means analyzes the communication destination information in the incoming document transferred by the transfer means, and identifies and stores the incoming transfer document in the external storage device for each communication destination. It is possible to easily retrieve the incoming document stored in the external storage device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the system configuration of the computer 4 shown in FIG.

In the figure, 5 is a CPU, ROM, RAM
A central processing unit 6 including an etc. is an external storage device for writing / reading data to / from a storage medium such as a hard disk (HD) or a magneto-optical disk. Reference numeral 7 denotes an interface with an external device, for example, SCSI, RS232C
Etc. A display device 8 displays input data, processed data, and the like. A keyboard 9 is used to input character data, control commands, and the like. A pointing device 10 indicates a position or an icon displayed on the screen.

The incoming document processing operation in the image processing system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of an incoming document processing procedure in the image processing system according to the present invention. Note that (301) to (310) indicate each step.

First, the central processing unit 5 of the computer 4
, The time interval to check if there is an incoming document (below,
(Called polling interval) is set (301), and then a timer provided in the central processing unit 5 is started (3).
02).

Subsequently, it is judged whether the elapsed time since the timer started is longer than the polling interval set in step (301) (303). If the judgment is NO, nothing is done and the judgment is made. If YES, it is determined whether or not there is an incoming document in the facsimile device 1 (304), and N
If it is O, the process returns to step (302) to wait for the arrival of the document, and if YES, the information of the received document is acquired (3
05). Then, based on the acquired information, a buffer area is secured in the external storage device 6 of the computer 4 as an area sufficient to store the received document (306).

Subsequently, a document transfer preparation request is output to the facsimile apparatus 1 (307), and the document is transferred to the area secured in step (306) (308). Then, the transferred document is stored in the external storage device 6 of the computer 4 (309), and after the storage is completed, the incoming document stored in the storage device 2 of the facsimile device 1 corresponding to the stored document is erased (310). , Secure the incoming document storage area.

The polling interval setting processing operation shown in FIG. 3 will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the polling interval setting processing procedure shown in FIG. In addition,
Steps (401) to (404) are shown.

First, the past incoming call history information is acquired (40
1), the current time is acquired from the clock circuit (402).
Then, the central processing unit 5 of the computer 4 obtains the average incoming call interval at the current time (403), sets the polling interval to the obtained average incoming call time at the current time (404), and returns the process.

As a result, the storage time of each document in the storage device 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1 is optimized, and the incoming document is transferred to the computer 4 at an appropriate interval so that a document exceeding the capacity of the storage device 2 does not arrive. It is possible to timely secure a storage area that is effective for incoming documents.

The operation of identifying and registering the incoming call transfer document in the information processing system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of the identification registration processing procedure of the first call transfer document in the information processing system according to the present invention. Note that (501) to (50
4) shows each step.

First, communication partner information is extracted from the incoming document information acquired in step (306) shown in FIG. 3 (501). Then, based on the extracted communication partner information, it is determined whether or not a directory for storing the document of the communication partner exists in the external storage device 6 of the computer 4 (50
2) If YES, the incoming call transfer document is saved in the already created predetermined saving directory (504), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if the determination in step (502) is NO, a new directory for storing the transferred document is created in the external storage device 6 (503), and the process proceeds to step (504). The file is saved in the newly created predetermined save directory, and the process ends.

In the above embodiment, the case of storing the document in a predetermined directory in the process of classifying and storing the received document has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the document is additionally stored in a predetermined file. The registration of the call transfer document may be controlled as described above.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the identification registration processing procedure of the second call transfer document in the information processing system according to the present invention. Note that (601) to (60
4) shows each step.

First, communication partner information is extracted from the incoming document information acquired in step (306) shown in FIG. 3 (601). Then, based on the extracted communication partner information, it is determined whether or not a file for storing the document of the communication partner exists in the external storage device 6 of the computer 4 (60
2) If the answer is YES, the incoming call transfer document is additionally saved in a predetermined save file that has already been created (604), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if the determination in step (602) is NO, a new file for saving the transferred document is created in the external storage device 6 (603), and the process proceeds to step (604). The file is saved in the newly created predetermined save file and the process ends.

As a result, the document information received by the facsimile device 1 is directly transmitted to the external storage device 6 of the computer 4.
Since it can be transferred to and stored in the storage device 2, the document received in the storage device 2 is output as a sheet of paper and the computer 4 does not need to input the image to the computer 4 again.
It becomes possible to process with.

In the above embodiment, the data processing is not applied to the document to be transferred, but if the document received in the fine mode is thinned out and transferred to the computer 4 in the normal mode, the transfer time is further increased. In addition to shortening, it is possible to reduce pressure on the storage capacity of the external storage device 6 of the computer 4.

Further, with respect to the document stored in the external storage device 6, some kind of polling is performed to prompt the display device 8 for the storage history or the incoming document transfer state, and the contents are confirmed, and the user is confirmed. Alternatively, the incoming document stored in the external storage device 6 may be controlled to be erased by a deletion command from the.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the polling interval is set from the computer 4 side has been described, but the notification interval for notifying the computer 4 from the facsimile device 1 by interrupt communication may be set. .

When the storage device 2 of the facsimile device 1 is about to overflow before the set time and the facsimile device 1 makes a reception request, the document may be received from the facsimile device 1. . The control in this case may be controlled to proceed to step (304) when it is identified that there is a request from the facsimile apparatus 1 in step (320) shown in FIG.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The determination means determines whether or not a document has arrived in the storage means at each time interval set by the setting means, and based on the result of the determination, the transfer means transfers the received document stored in the storage means to the computer device. When transferred, the incoming document transfer control means saves the transferred incoming document in the external storage device and deletes the document stored in the storage means which is the source of the incoming document, so that the incoming call is received by the facsimile device. Incoming documents that have been accumulated can be automatically transferred to and stored in the storage device of the computer.

Further, the setting means calculates the average incoming call interval by referring to the communication history information and the current time information of the facsimile device, and the calculated average incoming call interval is the time for confirming the presence or absence of the document stored in the storage means. Since the interval is set, it is possible to automatically transfer and store the incoming document to the storage device of the computer device before the incoming document received by the facsimile device and accumulated is overflowed.

Further, since the incoming document transfer control means analyzes the communication destination information in the incoming document transferred by the transfer means, and identifies and stores the incoming transfer document in the external storage device for each communication destination, The incoming document stored in the external storage device can be easily searched.

Therefore, it is possible to construct a flexible system in which the incoming document can be continuously stored and the computer can process the incoming document paperlessly without expanding the storage capacity of the storage device on the side of the facsimile device. Produce an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of the computer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a first incoming document processing procedure in the image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a polling interval setting processing procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for identifying and registering a first incoming call transfer document in the information processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for identifying and registering a second incoming call transfer document in the information processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a second incoming document processing procedure in the image processing system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile device 2 Storage device 3 Interface 4 Computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information processing system in which an interface between a facsimile device having storage means for storing incoming document information, an interface with an external device, and a computer device having an external storage device are communicatively connected to each other. Setting means for setting a time interval for checking the presence / absence of documents to be stored, judgment means for judging whether or not a document has arrived in the storage means at each time interval set by the setting means, and judgment by this judgment means Transfer means for transferring the incoming document stored in the storage means to the computer device based on the result, and storing the incoming document transferred by the transferring means in the external storage device and serving as a source of the incoming document. An information processing system, comprising: an incoming document transfer control means for erasing a document stored in the storage means. . 2. The time for which the setting means calculates the average incoming call interval by referring to the communication history information of the facsimile apparatus and the current time information, and confirms the presence or absence of a document stored in the storage means. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing system is set as an interval. 3. The incoming document transfer control means analyzes the communication partner information in the incoming document transferred by the transfer means,
2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the call transfer document is identified and stored in an external storage device for each communication destination.