JPH0823435A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain communication with facsimile equipment set in the automatic reception mode. CONSTITUTION:When a call comes to a facsimile equipment set in the automatic reception mode, the equipment replies the incoming call automatically and when an opposite equipment is not a facsimile equipment and a line 2 is open by the opposite equipment, a timer with a prescribed set time is started. When another incoming all arrives during the operation of the timer, a ringer 31 of a built-in telephone set 22 is driven to make dialing, and hook-off of the built-in telephone set 22 is detected with respect to the dialing and set to the talking mode. As a result, the equipment to which the facsimile automatic reception mode is set is communicated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine capable of carrying out facsimile communication and talking.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of facsimile machine,
When the handler is away, the device is set to the facsimile automatic reception mode, and when the handler is at home, the device is set to the telephone mode. When an incoming call arrives at the device for which the facsimile automatic reception mode is set, the device automatically responds to the incoming call and receives the facsimile information transmitted from the partner device and records it on the recording paper.

Further, when an incoming call arrives at the device for which the telephone mode is set, the device detects this and sounds a ringing tone. Then, when the handler off-hooks and responds to this, a call is made. At this time, if the partner device is a facsimile device, facsimile communication is performed with the partner device by a predetermined operation of the operator.

[0004]

By the way, in such a facsimile apparatus, the settings of the automatic facsimile reception mode and the telephone mode are set manually by the operator, but the operator forgets the settings. If this happens, the following problems will occur. That is, when a call is made from the partner telephone to a facsimile machine that is in the facsimile automatic reception mode because of forgetting the setting, the facsimile signal is always heard from the facsimile machine, and therefore the call is made even though the operator is at home. There was a problem that was impossible.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to communicate with a facsimile machine in which the automatic reception mode is set.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an automatic reception mode in which facsimile information is automatically received in response to an incoming call coming to a line, and an incoming call coming to a line. In a facsimile machine having a telephone mode in which a call is made when a call is detected and a call operation is made based on the detection of a response operation to the call, a first timer for measuring a fixed time and an automatic response to an incoming call while the automatic reception mode is set. After the first at a predetermined timing
The timer activating means for activating the timer and the control means for changing to the telephone mode when an incoming call arrives while the first timer is operating. Also, a first timer that measures a certain time, a timer starting means that starts the first timer at a predetermined timing after an automatic response to an incoming call while the automatic reception mode is set, and an incoming call while the first timer is operating. When it arrives, it is provided with means for answering an incoming call and calling for a predetermined time, and control means for shifting to facsimile communication when a response operation is not detected for the call for the predetermined time.

Further, the timer starting means sets the first timer at a predetermined timing when a facsimile signal is not detected from the line.
The timer of is started. The timer starting means starts the first timer after opening the line. Further, when an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, a second timer for monitoring the incoming call for a fixed time or a counter for counting the ringing of the incoming call for a fixed number of times is provided. Further, a means is provided for shifting to facsimile communication when a response operation is not detected within a fixed time after shifting to the telephone mode.

[0008]

The first timer is started at a predetermined timing after an automatic response to an incoming call for which the automatic reception mode is set, and when an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, the mode is switched to the telephone mode. As a result, it is possible to talk with the facsimile machine for which the automatic reception mode is set. When an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, the incoming call is answered and a call is made for a predetermined time. When no response operation is detected for the call for the predetermined time, the facsimile communication is started. As a result, it is possible to surely connect to an outgoing call for the purpose of facsimile communication.

Further, when no facsimile signal is detected from the line, the first timer is started at a predetermined timing. As a result, it is possible to quickly detect whether the partner device is a facsimile device and activate the first timer. Also, the first timer is started after the line is released. As a result, the first timer can be started at an accurate timing. When an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, the incoming call is made while monitoring the incoming call for a certain period of time, and the response operation to this call is detected. As a result, the incoming call response can be reliably detected. Further, if no response operation is detected within a certain time after shifting to the telephone mode, the mode shifts to facsimile communication. As a result, it is possible to properly connect an outgoing call that is not intended for a call.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a CPU for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus, and 2 is a line such as a telephone line. Here, the CPU 1 has a DP dial generating circuit 3 for transmitting a DP dial signal to the line 2, a modem 4 for transmitting facsimile information, a voice message circuit 5 for transmitting a voice message to the line 2, and an incoming call coming to the line 2 is detected. An incoming call detection circuit 6, a ringer generation circuit 7 for outputting a ringing tone to an internal telephone, which will be described later, and a hook switch 8 for detecting a hook state of the internal telephone are connected.

Further, the CPU 1 includes an image sensor 9 for reading image information from a document, a thermal head 10 for recording facsimile image information on a recording sheet (not shown), a dial key 11, a communication key 12, a memory 13, and a clock circuit 1.
6 and relays 18 to 20 are connected. Also,
Reference numeral 22 denotes the above-mentioned built-in telephone, and the built-in telephone 22 includes the relay 30, the ringer 31, the communication circuit 32, and the handset 3
It consists of three. Here, the relay 30 is also controlled by the CPU 1.

By the way, this apparatus can be set to either a telephone mode or an automatic facsimile reception mode. Here, in the telephone mode, the state of the contacts of each relay is as shown in FIG. When an incoming call arrives on the line 2 in such a telephone mode, the incoming call is detected by the incoming call detection circuit 6 via the contact b of the relay 18 and recognized by the CPU 1. The incoming call reaches the ringer 31 via the contact b of the relay 19, the contact a of the relay 20, and the contact b of the relay 30 in the built-in telephone 22, and the ringer 31 rings.

When the hook switch 8 is turned on by picking up the handset 33 to respond to such an incoming call, the CPU 1 recognizes that the hook is off-hook, drives the relay 30 to switch to the contact a, and closes the loop of the line 2. At the same time, the line 2 and the call circuit 32 are connected. As a result, a call is made with the partner device. In this case, the other device is a facsimile device, and when the communication key 12 is operated to perform facsimile communication, the CPU 1 causes each relay 30 to switch to the contact b side and the relay 19 to the contact a side. To drive. As a result, the CPU 1 receives the facsimile information from the partner facsimile machine via the modem 4, and drives the thermal head 10 to record the received facsimile information on the recording paper.

When the facsimile automatic reception mode is set in this apparatus, the CPU 1 operates as follows. That is, when an incoming call arrives on the line 2, the CPU 1 recognizes the incoming call via the incoming call detection circuit 6 as described above. In this case, the CPU 1 drives the relay 19 to switch to the contact b side to close the loop of the line 2 and automatically respond to the incoming call. Then, the facsimile information from the partner facsimile machine via the line 2 is transferred to the modem 4
It is received via and recorded on recording paper.

In the apparatus in which the facsimile automatic reception mode is set as described above, when an incoming call arrives, it immediately responds to the incoming call. Then, a facsimile signal indicating that the device itself is a facsimile device is transmitted from the modem 4 to the partner device, and then the facsimile device is ready for reception. For this reason, even if the partner device makes a call to the device for the purpose of making a call, only the facsimile signal is heard on the partner device side, and there is a problem in that the partner device cannot communicate with the device. Therefore, this apparatus is configured so that a telephone call can be made even when the automatic facsimile reception mode is set.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU 1. The main operation of the present invention will be described based on this flowchart. First, in step ST1 of FIG. 2A, idle processing is executed. When an incoming call arrives on the line 2 and is detected through the incoming call detection circuit 6 during execution of such idle processing, step ST2 The determination of “with incoming call detection” is “Y”. In this case, it is determined whether or not the automatic reception mode (facsimile automatic reception mode) is set in the apparatus by detecting a predetermined bit of the memory 13 in step ST3, and if this is "Y", a timer described later is set. Whether or not it has started is determined in step ST4.

In this case, since the timer has not started yet, the process proceeds to step ST6 and the relay 1 shown in FIG.
After performing the line loop closing process for driving 9 to switch the contact to the side a, the modem 4 is controlled to send the facsimile signal to the partner device. Here, when the line loop is closed, the CPU 1 sets a timer different from the above-mentioned timer, for example, 45 seconds, and determines whether or not a facsimile signal such as a CNG signal from the partner device can be received during this time. When the signal is received and the determination of "the other device is a facsimile" in step ST7 is "Y", the process proceeds to step ST8 and the facsimile reception process is executed.

Further, in the present apparatus, when the above-mentioned 45-second timer times out, the loop of the line 2 itself is released,
Before that, the line release by the partner device is detected and step S
If the result is "Y" at T9, the relay 19 is controlled to switch the contact to the b side to open the line 2, and at the same time, the timer for a predetermined time is started using the clock circuit 16 at step ST10. Let This started timer is decremented at regular time intervals in step ST12 of FIG. 2 (b). In this way, when the timer starts and is operating,
When an incoming call arrives at this apparatus again, "Y" of "incoming call detected" in step ST2 of Fig. 2 (a), "Y" of "automatic reception mode" of step ST3, and "timer start?" Of step ST4. Since "Y" and "timer timeout" in step ST5 are "N", the process proceeds to step ST11 to execute a telephone / facsimile switching process described later.

When an incoming call arrives, step ST
Similarly, in the case of "N" of "automatic reception mode" of 3 (that is, in the case of telephone mode), telephone / facsimile switching processing is executed in step ST11. In this telephone / facsimile switching process, as will be described later, the loop of the line 2 is closed and a ringing tone is generated from the ringer generating circuit 7 to ring the ringer 31 of the built-in telephone 22.
When the off-hook is detected, the call circuit 32 and the line 2
And are connected to each other, and control is performed so that the built-in telephone 22 and the partner device can communicate with each other.

As described above, even when the automatic reception mode is set in the device, it becomes possible to shift the device to a call. Further, when an incoming call arrives at this device after the timer expires in step ST10,
Since the determination in step ST5 is "Y", the above-described facsimile automatic reception process is performed. Although this timer is started after detecting the line open of the partner device, it may be started at the time when the judgment of "the partner device is a facsimile" in step ST7 is "N".

Next, the above-mentioned telephone / facsimile switching process will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this telephone / facsimile switching process, the CPU 1 first controls the relay 19 in step ST21 to close the line to switch its contact to the side a. Then, in step ST22, the call timer is started. Next, in step ST23, the relay 20 is controlled to switch its contact to the b side to connect to the output side of the ringer generation circuit 7, and the ringing operation for ringing the ringer generation circuit 7 is executed. As a result, the ringing tone from the ringer generation circuit 7 is transmitted to the relays 20 and 3.
It reaches the ringer 31 via each contact of 0, and the built-in telephone 22
The call bell rings at.

During such ringing of the ringing bell, in steps ST24 and ST25, "time-out of ringing timer" and "off-hook" are judged respectively, and if both are "N", ringing is done in step ST26. After the timer is decremented, the process returns to step ST23 and the ringing of the calling bell is continued. If off-hook is detected during this period and the result is “Y” in step ST25, the contact of the relay 19 is the contact b, the contact of the relay 20 is the contact a, and the relay 30.
In step ST27, a call process for connecting the line 2 and the call circuit 32 of the built-in telephone set 22 is performed by switching the contact of the contact to the contact a. In this way, it is possible to talk with the partner device even when the automatic facsimile reception mode is set in the device.

During this time, the response to the incoming call cannot be detected and the call timer times out, and the step ST24
If the result of the determination is "Y", the relay 19 is controlled to switch its contact to the contact a side, and a facsimile automatic start for outputting a facsimile signal from the modem 4 to the line 2 side is executed in step ST28. After that, in step ST29, for example, a facsimile timer for 45 seconds is started and a facsimile signal returned from the partner device in response to the above-mentioned facsimile signal is detected.
When the determination of "the other device is a facsimile" of 30 is "Y", a facsimile reception process is executed in step ST31.

If a facsimile signal is not detected from the partner device and the determination in step ST30 is "N", the "time-out of the facsimile timer" and "off-hook of the built-in telephone 22" are respectively performed in steps ST32 and ST33. Make a decision. If all of them are "N", the facsimile timer is decremented in step ST34 and the process returns to step ST30. Further, during this time, the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 is detected and the step S
When the result is "Y" in T33, the above-mentioned call processing is executed in step ST27.

Further, during this time, when the facsimile signal is not detected from the partner device and the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 is not detected and the facsimile timer times out and the determination in step ST32 becomes "Y", the CPU 1 proceeds to step ST35. The relay 20 is controlled to switch its contact to the contact a side, and the processing for stopping the ringing of the ringing bell is executed. In addition, the relay 19 is controlled so that its contact is set to the contact b.
Step ST for post-processing such as line release processing for switching to the side
Run at 36 and end.

Next, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the second embodiment corresponding to the operation of the first embodiment of FIG.
Here, the same parts as those in the operation of FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. That is, when an incoming call arrives on the line 2, step ST2
The determination of “with incoming call detection” is “Y”. If the automatic reception mode is set in the device, the start of the timer is determined in step ST4. In this case, however, the timer has not yet started, so the process moves to step ST6 to perform the line loop closing process, and The modem 4 sends a facsimile signal to the partner device. If a facsimile signal is received from the partner device and the determination in step ST7 is "Y", the facsimile reception process is executed in step ST8.

When the line release by the partner device is detected and the result is "Y" in step ST9, the line release process is executed and a timer for a predetermined time is started in step ST10. When an incoming call arrives at this device again while the timer is operating, the determinations at steps ST2 and ST3 are both "Y", and the "timer start" at step ST4 is "Y" and the "timer at step ST5". The determination of "time over" is "N", and thus the process proceeds to step ST41.

In the process of step ST41, unlike the above-mentioned "telephone / facsimile switching process", the incoming call is not answered immediately, but an incoming call timer of, for example, 30 seconds is used to monitor the continuation of the incoming call for a long time. The start or the incoming call counter for detecting that the number of ringing of incoming calls via the incoming call detection circuit 6 continues for 10 times is set. During this period, the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 is monitored.

In this case, the incoming signal coming to the line 2 is directly transmitted to the ringer 31 of the built-in telephone 22 through the contacts of each relay, and the ringer 31 is driven by this incoming signal to ring the incoming call. . Here, the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 is detected by the CPU 1 via the hook switch 8 before the time-out of the incoming call timer or the count of the incoming call counter of 10 times is detected, and step S
When the determination in T42 is "Y", the CPU 1 controls the relay 30 in the built-in telephone 22, switches the contact to the contact a side, and executes the call processing for connecting the line 2 and the call circuit 32 in step ST43. As a result, the line is closed and a call can be made with the partner device.

Further, during this time, the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 cannot be detected, the time-out of the incoming call timer or the incoming call counter counts 10 times, and step ST44
If the determination is "Y", the facsimile automatic reception process is executed in each step after step ST6. In this way, when it is detected that the partner device is not the facsimile device during the automatic facsimile reception process by automatically responding to the incoming call, the timer is started, and when the incoming call arrives again during the operation of this timer, The incoming call timer or the incoming call counter monitors the incoming call state for a long time, and when the off-hook of the built-in telephone 22 is detected during this period, the call process is started. As a result, even if the automatic reception mode of the facsimile is set in the device, it is possible to surely make the call.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the automatic reception mode in which the facsimile information is automatically received in response to the incoming call coming into the line and the incoming call coming into the line is detected and the call is made. In addition, in a device having a telephone mode that shifts to a call based on the detection of a response operation to this call, a first timer is started at a predetermined timing after an automatic response to an incoming call while the automatic reception mode is set,
When an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, the mode is switched to the telephone mode, so that it is possible to talk with the facsimile apparatus in which the automatic reception mode is set. Also, when an incoming call arrives while the first timer is operating, the incoming call is answered and a call is made for a predetermined time. If no response operation is detected for the call for the predetermined time, the facsimile communication is started. Therefore, it is possible to surely connect to the outgoing call for the purpose of facsimile communication.

Further, since the first timer is started at a predetermined timing when a facsimile signal is not detected from the line, it is promptly detected whether the partner device is a facsimile device and the first timer is started. it can. Also,
Since the first timer is activated after the line is released, the first timer can be activated at an appropriate timing. Further, when an incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer, the incoming call is monitored while monitoring the incoming call for a certain period of time, and the response operation to the call is detected to be detected, so that the incoming call response can be reliably detected. Further, after the transfer to the telephone mode, if the response operation is not detected within a certain time, the communication is switched to the facsimile communication, so that the outgoing call which is not the purpose of the communication can be properly connected.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the apparatus in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a telephone / facsimile switching processing operation in the embodiment apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 2 ... Line, 4 ... Modem, 6 ... Incoming call detection circuit, 7 ... Ringer generation circuit, 8 ... Hook switch, 13 ...
Memory, 16 ... Clock circuit, 18-20, 30 ... Relay,
22 ... Built-in telephone, 31 ... Ringer, 32 ... Call circuit.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An automatic reception mode for automatically receiving facsimile information by automatically responding to an incoming call coming to a line, and making a call when an incoming call coming to the line is detected and detecting a response operation to the call. In a facsimile apparatus having a telephone mode for transitioning to a call, a first timer that measures a fixed time and a timer start that activates the first timer at a predetermined timing after an automatic response to an incoming call in the automatic reception mode setting A facsimile apparatus comprising: means and a control means for shifting to the telephone mode when an incoming call arrives while the first timer is operating. 2. An automatic reception mode for automatically responding to an incoming call coming to a line to receive facsimile information, and making a call when an incoming call coming to the line is detected and detecting a response operation to the call. In a facsimile apparatus having a telephone mode for transitioning to a call, a first timer that measures a fixed time and a timer start that activates the first timer at a predetermined timing after an automatic response to an incoming call in the automatic reception mode setting Means and means for answering the incoming call when the incoming call arrives during the operation of the first timer and calling for a predetermined time, and shifting to facsimile communication when no response operation is detected for the call for the predetermined time. And a control unit for controlling the facsimile apparatus. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the timer starting means starts the first timer at a predetermined timing when a facsimile signal is not detected from the line. Facsimile machine. 4. Claim 1 or claim 2 or claim 3.
The facsimile apparatus described in Claim 1, wherein the timer starting means starts the first timer after opening the line. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second timer that monitors an incoming call for a certain period of time when an incoming call arrives while the first timer is operating, or a counter that counts an incoming call ringing a certain number of times. A facsimile device characterized by the above. 6. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for shifting to facsimile communication when a response operation is not detected within a fixed time after shifting to the telephone mode.