JPH08172439A - Facsimile equipment coping with lan - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a facsimile equipment coping with a LAN capable of coping with the fluctuation of the receivability of an equipment on the LAN. CONSTITUTION: When a reception side facsimile equipment 101 receives a facsimile document, the reception side facsimile equipment is provided with a function for making inquiries relating to the receivability to the respective equipments 1051-1072 connected on the LAN and the function for dynamically updating a receivability table provided inside its own facsimile equipment 101. Also, the respective equipments connected to the LAN are provided with the function for asynchronously declaring the receivability of the present equipment on the LAN in real time for the inquiries of the receivability. Thus, the receivability of the reception side facsimile equipment is declared to a transmission side facsimile equipment as the receivability on the LAN in real time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in one-to-one communication between facsimile machines, the documents that can be transmitted have been limited by the receiving capability of the receiving facsimile machine on the receiving side. Also,
When the receiving device resources on the LAN dynamically change even if the receiving capability of the device on the LAN to which the receiving facsimile device is connected is registered in the static receiving capability table of the receiving facsimile device. However, since the receiving capability corresponding to the receiving capability of the entire LAN could not be returned to the transmitting side facsimile apparatus, the documents that can be transmitted were limited.

Further, in a conventional LAN-compatible facsimile machine which makes a call using electronic mail, when a report output request command is sent via the LAN in order to output communication reports, this report is sent. The report was output from the output device of the facsimile machine that was requested to output.

Further, in the conventional calling operation by remote control of a facsimile device connected to a LAN, a facsimile calling operation can be performed remotely by issuing a command instructing the calling operation via the LAN. In Although,
It was not possible to remotely instruct calling operation or communication interruption.

[0005]

As described above, according to the conventional technique, since the documents that can be transmitted are limited by the receiving capability of the receiving side facsimile device, the transmitting side facsimile device receives the receiving side facsimile device. It is very inconvenient because it becomes necessary to select a method such as transmitting a document according to the capability or searching for a facsimile machine having a receiving capability corresponding to the document to be transmitted and connecting.

Further, even when the receiving side facsimile apparatus is connected to the LAN and the list regarding the receiving ability of the equipment on the LAN is managed in the static receiving ability table, the additional connection of the equipment connected to the LAN is made. And release the connection,
Alternatively, if the reception capability management table is not updated in response to a change in reception capability due to a malfunction of a device on the LAN,
This is very inconvenient because the transmission of documents that accurately correspond to the LAN status is restricted.

Further, when the facsimile machine connected to the LAN is requested to output various reports,
In the conventional method, a report output request can be issued remotely, but when this report is output from an output device of a remote facsimile machine connected to the LAN, it is bothersome to go to the place where this facsimile machine is installed. It was inconvenient that I had to carry and get the output report document.

Further, when a calling operation is performed remotely to a facsimile machine connected to a LAN, in order to interrupt a call or communication, the user must go to the place where the calling facsimile machine is located. It was very inconvenient because the facsimile call had to be interrupted by pressing the stop key to interrupt the call operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus capable of coping with fluctuations in the receiving capability of devices on a LAN and capable of issuing a report request by e-mail and an instruction to suspend transmission.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when a receiving side facsimile device receives a facsimile document, the receiving side facsimile device inquires of each device connected to a LAN about the receiving capability. A means for dynamically updating the reception capability table held inside the facsimile is provided, and each device connected to the LAN is asynchronous with the reception capability of its own device in response to the inquiry about the reception capability. By providing means for declaring in real time, the receiving capability of the receiving side facsimile device can be declared to the transmitting side facsimile device as the receiving capability on the LAN in real time.

Further, when a facsimile machine connected to the LAN is requested to output various reports, a means for sending the report to the device which issued the report request on the LAN in the form of electronic mail is provided, and the remote control is performed remotely. This is designed so that a report output result can be obtained without going to the place where the facsimile machine that wants to obtain a certain report output is installed.

Further, when a calling operation is performed remotely to a facsimile machine connected to the LAN, the calling facsimile machine or the communicating facsimile machine is interrupted via the LAN in order to interrupt the calling or communication. A means for sending a command for instructing a communication interruption operation is provided, and a facsimile device in communication is provided with means for receiving a communication interruption command sent on the LAN during communication, so that the communication is performed via the LAN. This enables remote communication interruption.

[0013]

1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, the own FAX 101 is a LAN
Is a receiving side facsimile machine connected to. The receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 has a LAN receiving capability management table 102 inside.

The partner FAX 103 is a facsimile machine on the transmitting side. The cable 104 is a LAN laying cable connected in a bus type, but it may be a ring type or a star type.

FAXs 1051 and 1052 are other facsimile machines on the receiving side, which are connected to the LAN, and are WS1.
061, PC1062 is a workstation (WS) on the receiving side or a personal computer (PC) connected to the LAN.

LPRs 1071 and 1072 are printer output devices connected to the LAN and are connected to the network 108.
Is a communication network for communication between facsimile machines.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 of this embodiment.

The CPU 400 controls the entire apparatus, and the ROM 401 stores processing programs for the CPU 400. Also, the RAM 402
Is for obtaining the work area of the program.

Scanner Printer Interface 403
Is a connection unit of the scanner 404 and the printer 405.
The image memory 406 stores received images and the like, and the CODEC unit 407 performs encoding / decoding.

The code memory 408 is a memory that stores code data, and the CCU 409 is a communication control unit that controls the interface with the line. Further, the bus 411 is a main bus, and the bus 412 is an image bus dedicated to images.

In FIG. 4, the difference from the ordinary facsimile apparatus is that the LAN is installed via the LAN laying cable 104.
The point is that a LAN interface 410 is added to enable communication with the above device. The LAN interface 410 has a physical configuration of 10
AUI connector or 10BA to connect to BASE5
BCN connectors for SE2 and RJ-45 modular connectors for 10BASE_T are widely used. Also, as LAN protocols, TCP / IP, Net
Ware and Apple Talk are widely used.

Next, in the above-mentioned configuration, the operation when the receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 connected to the LAN receives a document from the transmitting side facsimile apparatus 103 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the sending facsimile machine 103 sends and calls a document through the communication network 108 (S301).
At the same time that the facsimile machine on the receiving side receives the call (S302), it issues a reception capability inquiry request as a network broadcast on the LAN in real time (S303).
Wait for a response to the inquiry about the reception capability from the device on the AN
304).

The receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 is a LAN
The receiving capability inquiry response from the device is received and analyzed, and the receiving capability management table 102 inside the own device is dynamically updated (S305).

FIG. 2 shows the facsimile apparatus 10 on the receiving side.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reception capability management table 102 inside 1 of FIG.

In this reception capability management table 102, L
A list of IDs of devices connected to the AN and reception capabilities of the LAN-connected devices is stored as a table. The receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 determines the ID of the device on the LAN from the analysis result of the reception capability inquiry response.
And the receiving ability are read, and the contents of the receiving ability management table 102 are dynamically added, updated, deleted, and changed.

The receiving side facsimile apparatus 101
Calculates the logical sum of the contents of the reception capacity management table 102 (S306), and sets the facsimile reception capacity obtained from this logical sum as the current reception capacity of the entire LAN. Then, it negotiates with the transmitting side facsimile apparatus 103 (S307), and if receivable, the facsimile document is received.

The receiving side facsimile apparatus 101 is
The received facsimile document is stored in the image memory 406 or is directly transferred to a device having a corresponding receiving capability on the LAN (S308).

Next, as a second embodiment of the present invention, further, in the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus having the configuration of FIG. 1, reports are provided by electronic mail, and a report is requested by electronic mail, and the report is sent. The operation of the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus that receives the electronic mail will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, a workstation (WS) 1061 connected to a LAN and a personal computer (P)
C) From 1062, the command for requesting report output is LA
It is issued to the LAN-compatible facsimile machine which wants to obtain the report output connected to N (S501).

On the other hand, the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus is L
Receive the report output request command packet from the AN (S502), analyze the code in the packet,
Create the corresponding report document in text format and RAM
It stores in 402 (S503). Then, the output device of the report output request is determined (S504), and if the output from the output device of the LAN compatible facsimile device is requested, the output is performed from the paper of the output device (S505). If the output device of the report output request determines that the report is to be sent by e-mail, the address in the command packet is referenced (S506), and the RAM 402 is used.
The text-formatted report document stored in (1) is sent to the corresponding address as an electronic mail (S507).

Next, as a third embodiment of the present invention, further, in the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to instruct the suspension of transmission by electronic mail.
The operation of the AN compatible facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, a workstation (WS) 1061 connected to the LAN and a personal computer (P)
C) 1062 to the LAN compatible facsimile apparatus 101
In response, a facsimile document is called from a remote location on the LAN (S601).

On the other hand, the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus 101
Enters the state of facsimile communication (S602). In the case of requesting the interruption of communication, conventionally, the communication interruption operation is executed by pressing a stop key of a LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus. However, in the third embodiment, a communication interruption command is issued to the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus 101 during communication on the LAN to interrupt the facsimile communication (S603).

Here, the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus 10
If 1 is not in communication, the communication interruption command is ignored (S605). If the LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus 101 is in communication, the facsimile apparatus 101 executes a communication interruption sequence to cope with remote communication interruption.

[0037]

As described above, according to the first invention of the present application, in the LAN compatible facsimile machine connected to the LAN, the receiving side facsimile machine is capable of receiving each device connected to the LAN. And a means for storing the logical sum of the receiving ability of each device in the receiving ability management table, and returning all the receiving ability of the equipment on the LAN to the transmitting side facsimile device. There is an effect that it is possible to receive a transmitted document having a reception capability exceeding that of the facsimile device itself.

According to the second invention of the present application, LA
For a LAN compatible facsimile machine configured to remotely request a report from a facsimile machine connected to N, conventionally provided is a means for receiving reports output from a remote facsimile machine by e-mail via a LAN. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the time and labor required to go to a remote installation location of the facsimile device and to eliminate the waste of the facsimile paper used for outputting the reports.

Further, according to the third invention of the present application, the conventional facsimile machine connected to the LAN can be remotely called to the LAN-compatible facsimile machine which is remotely connected to the LAN. By providing a means to instruct the device to make a call operation or to interrupt the communication, it is possible to eliminate the time and trouble of going to a remote place where the facsimile device is installed and pressing the stop key to interrupt the communication. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reception capability management table in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation in the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 1051, 1052 ... Receiving side facsimile machine, 102 ... LAN receiving capability management table, 103 ... Sending side facsimile machine, 104 ... LAN laying cable, 108 ... Communication network, 1061 ... Workstation, 1062 ... Personal computer, 1071, 1072 ... printer output device, 400 ... CPU, 401 ... ROM, 402 ... RAM, 403 ... scanner printer interface, 404 ... scanner, 405 ... printer, 406 ... image memory, 407 ... CODEC section, 408 ... code memory, 409 ... CCU , 411 ... Main bus, 412 ... Image bus.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 1/00 C 107 Z 1/32 D

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An LA capable of making a call operation via a LAN.
In the N compatible facsimile machine, inquire the receiving ability of each device connected to the LAN,
It has a detecting means for detecting the receiving ability on the LAN and a registering means for registering the logical sum of the receiving ability of each detected device as the receiving ability of the whole LAN in the receiving ability table, and at the time of communication negotiation, the facsimile on the transmitting side. L that returns the reception capability of the entire LAN to the device
AN compatible facsimile machine. 2. The LAN-compatible facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein various reports are provided by electronic mail, a report is requested by electronic mail, and the report is received by electronic mail. 3. The L according to claim 1, wherein the suspension of transmission is instructed by electronic mail.
AN compatible facsimile machine.