JPH08251342A - Facsimile equipment with lan connection function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain the facsimile equipment with LAN connection function provided with a LAN connection function, integrating transmission reception data through a public line and making the function efficient. CONSTITUTION: The facsimile equipment 10 is configured such that transmission reception if data with a peripheral device of a personal computer 20 or the like is attained through a LAN interface 3 in addition to facsimile communication via a public line interface 2. Then functions of an image reader 5 of the facsimile equipment 10, a memory storing tentatively image data and a magnetic disk 7 storing image data or the like are utilized by a command of the peripheral equipment. The facsimile equipment is utilized as function sections for the peripheral equipment such as an image scanner, a printer, a data storage device, converter to image data, and automatic facsimile data transmitter- receiver.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine having a LAN connection function, for example, a facsimile machine having a LAN connection function and an image data storage function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional facsimile machine (FAX machine)
Generally has a function of transmitting and receiving image data via paper as a basic function. Further, in addition to the above basic functions, there is one having a copy function as an additional function.
In the operation procedure of these functions, the image data is transmitted by writing an image to be transmitted on paper, setting it in the facsimile device, and transmitting it to the destination facsimile device. Also, the received image data is recorded on paper and output. In addition, send / receive data is temporarily saved to speed up send / receive operations.
Some are designed to be more efficient. All of these have the basic function of sending and receiving image data based on paper,
The received image data is printed on paper to check the received content.

Listed below are prior art similar to the present invention in the technical field. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-268450 discloses a LAN interface in a facsimile machine and an LA
It has a file server connected to the N line, and the image storage function is made efficient by this file server. Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-227355, a facsimile device has a scanner device, a printer device, and the like, and even if the facsimile device is transmitting or receiving or waiting for printing, a document is received without waiting for completion of transmission and reception. Etc. are possible. Further, since the data transmission / reception unit and the data storage unit are independent, the connection relationship with printing or the like can be made flexible.

[0004]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional facsimile machine is basically based on the transmission and reception of image data based on paper as described above,
It has the following drawbacks. That is, the utilization range of image data is narrow. Data that does not need to be saved is printed, and paper is wasted. Further, the usage of the print function unit and the read function unit provided in the facsimile apparatus is low.

Further, in the examples of the publications listed above, the data storage sections are provided independently, and the areas where the additive effects of the respective functional sections occur do not come out. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to generate new combined convenience with peripheral devices connected via a LAN line.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine with a LAN connection function, which has a LAN connection function, aggregates transmission / reception data on a public line, and enables the efficiency of the function.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, a facsimile apparatus with a LAN connection function of the present invention is
A scanner means for reading an image written on a predetermined sheet as image data, a data storage means for storing the image data on a magnetic disk, a printing means for printing the image data, and a LAN line connected to transmit and receive the image data. And a LAN interface means.

Further, the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus has control means for controlling the operation of each means, and image data can be transmitted / received by an instruction from a peripheral device connected to the facsimile apparatus via a LAN line. Good to do. Furthermore, it is preferable to have public line interface means connected to the public line so that image data can be transmitted / received to / from an external device via the public line by an instruction from a peripheral device.

[0009]

Therefore, according to the facsimile apparatus with the LAN connection function of the present invention, the image written on the predetermined paper is read as image data, the image data is stored in the magnetic disk, the image data is printed, and the LAN data is printed.
It is provided with LAN interface means connected to a line and transmitting / receiving image data. Therefore, it is possible to send and receive image data to and from the peripheral device connected to the LAN line.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A LAN according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
An embodiment of a facsimile machine with a connection function will be described in detail. 1 to 6, the LAN (local ar
eanetwork) An embodiment of a facsimile machine with connection function is shown.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile machine with a LAN connection function of the present invention.
The facsimile apparatus 10 of this embodiment comprises a facsimile control unit 1, a public line interface 2, a LAN interface 3, a printing device 4, an image reading device 5, a memory 6, a magnetic disk device 7, and an operation unit 8.

The facsimile control section 1 is a control section for controlling the operation of the entire facsimile apparatus. The public line interface 2 is an interface unit for transmitting and receiving data via the public line. It is also effective that the public line interface 2 has functions such as modem communication in addition to FAX transmission / reception. The LAN interface 3 is a personal computer (hereinafter also referred to as a personal computer) 20.
It is a data transmission / reception unit with. The printing device 4 is a device for printing the data handled by the facsimile device 10 on a recording sheet. The image reading device 5 is a functional unit that reads image data recorded on a sheet and uses it as an electric signal. The memory 6 is a temporary storage unit for transmission / reception data. The magnetic disk device 7 is a device for storing the read image data. The operation unit 8 is an operation unit for an operator to operate the facsimile device 10.

In the facsimile apparatus having the above-mentioned functional units, the image data received from the public line interface 2 is stored in the temporary memory 6.
The stored image data is sent to the other party F by the operation unit 8.
Depending on the setting for each AX number, whether the facsimile control unit 1 prints by the printing device 4 or stores it in the magnetic disk 7 is sorted. At this time, the data stored on the magnetic disk 7 is stored with a file name at the time of reception in a directory created for each destination FAX number and for each date.

The data stored in the magnetic disk 7 is transferred to the personal computer 20 via the LAN interface 3 in response to a transfer instruction from the personal computer 20 to the facsimile device 10. If you want to directly fax the document data created by the personal computer 20, send a fax from the personal computer 20 to the fax machine 10
The image data is temporarily stored in the memory 6 via the interface 3, converted into image data, and transmitted to the destination via the public line interface 2.

When the facsimile device 10 is desired to be used as a printing device, the facsimile data is temporarily taken into the memory 6 by the printing instruction from the personal computer 20 as in the case of transmitting the document data, and the facsimile controller 1 receives the image data. Is printed after conversion to.

When the user wants to take in the image data to the personal computer 20, after selecting the reading of the image data by the operation unit 8, the image is read by the image reader 5. The read image data is stored in the magnetic disk device 7 via the memory 6. The stored image data can be loaded into the personal computer 20 according to an instruction from the personal computer 20 as in the case of loading the received data.

2 to 5 are flowcharts showing the operation of the facsimile apparatus 10 of this embodiment by function.
The contents of the functions of the facsimile device 10 will be described below with reference to these drawings.

In the facsimile transmission of the function 1 shown in FIG. 2, the destination FAX number to be transmitted is input from the personal computer 20 (S11), and a transmission instruction is issued to the facsimile apparatus 10 (S12). Facsimile device 10 that received a transmission instruction
Captures the document data from the personal computer 20 into its own memory 6. Since the received document data is not image data, the facsimile controller 1 converts it into image data (S13). The converted data is transmitted from the personal computer 20 to the recipient of the FAX number instructed (S14).

In the facsimile reception of the function 2 shown in FIG. 3, after receiving the data (S21), the FAX number of the transmission side is identified from the received data (S22), and the FAX number is preset. Save as FA
Whether or not it is the X number is identified (S23). By this identification,
When the data storage instruction of the received data is set, the destination F is sent to the magnetic disk device 7 in the facsimile device 10.
It is stored in the directory for each AX number and for each date with the file name of the reception time (S24).

If the data storage instruction for the received data is not set, the data is automatically printed (S25) and then temporarily stored in the printed directory in the facsimile apparatus 10 (S26). The data stored in the printed directory is sequentially deleted from the storage data set in the operation unit 8 in advance (S27).

To take out the stored data of the function 3 shown in FIG. 4, the received data is confirmed from the screen of the personal computer 20, the data to be taken out is selected (S31), and the data transfer instruction is output to the facsimile machine 10 (S32). ). The facsimile machine 10 which has received this data transfer instruction transfers the selected data to the personal computer 20 (S33), and then transfers the selected data to the magnetic disk device 7 in the facsimile machine 10 to the personal computer 20.
A message indicating whether or not the stored data in the storage device can be deleted is transmitted (S34). The stored data after the data deletion is selected and transferred is deleted from the magnetic disk device 7 in the facsimile device 10 (S36). If the data deletion is not selected, the data is saved as it is (S37).

To read the image of the function 4 shown in FIG. 5, after the image reading is selected by the operation unit 8 (S41), the sheet on which the image to be read is written is set in the facsimile apparatus 10 and the image data is read. It is read (S42). The read image data is stored in the magnetic disk device 7 in the facsimile device 10 (S43). In response to the data transfer instruction from the personal computer 20 (S44), the facsimile device 10 transfers the data to the personal computer 20 (S45), and sends a message indicating whether the transferred data can be deleted (S46). When the data deletion is selected by the personal computer 20, the data is deleted from the magnetic disk device 7 in the facsimile device 10 (S48). If the deletion of data is not selected, the data is saved as it is (S49).

The signature of the function 5 shown in FIG.
A print instruction from the personal computer 20 for a document created with 0 (S
51), the facsimile apparatus 10 temporarily takes in the data from the personal computer 20 into the memory 6 (S52), and the facsimile control unit 1 converts it into image data (S5).
3) Printing is performed by the printing device 4 (S54).

As described above, since the facsimile apparatus with the LAN connection function of this embodiment has the LAN connection function and the magnetic disk device, the following effects can be obtained.

1. It is possible to print only the necessary data without printing all the received data, eliminating paper waste. 2. Since the received data is stored as image data, secondary processing can be performed. 3. The facsimile device 10 can be used by various hardware and software, and the utility value of the facsimile device 10 can be increased. 4. By connecting one or more facsimile machines to a plurality of personal computers, the facsimile machines can be used organically.

Although the above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the magnetic disk of the embodiment may be an optical disk.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the facsimile apparatus with a LAN connection function of the present invention has a scanner means for reading image data of an image, a magnetic disk storage means for storing the image data on a magnetic disk, and an image. It is provided with a printing unit for printing data and a LAN interface unit connected to a LAN line for transmitting and receiving image data. It is possible to send and receive image data to and from peripheral devices using this LAN interface means. Therefore, it becomes possible to more effectively use each function of this facsimile apparatus by an instruction from the facsimile apparatus main body and peripheral devices. With this effective utilization, it can be used as a functional unit of peripheral devices such as an image scanner, a printing device, a data storage device, an image data conversion device, and an automatic facsimile data transmission / reception device. Further, when there are a plurality of types or a plurality of peripheral devices, the above-mentioned functions can be combined and utilized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus with a LAN connection function of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the function of the facsimile device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the function of the facsimile device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a function of the facsimile device shown in FIG.

5 is a flow chart for explaining the function of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the function of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile control unit 2 Public line interface 3 LAN interface 4 Printing device 5 Image reading device 6 Memory 7 Magnetic disk device 8 Operation unit 10 Facsimile device 20 Personal computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A scanner unit for reading an image written on a predetermined sheet as image data, a data storage unit for storing the image data on a magnetic disk, a printing unit for printing the image data, and a LAN line connected to the unit. And a LAN interface means for transmitting / receiving the image data. 2. The facsimile device further has a control means for controlling the operation of each of the means, and the image data is transmitted and received according to an instruction from a peripheral device connected to the facsimile device via the LAN line. The facsimile apparatus with a LAN connection function according to claim 1, wherein 3. The facsimile device further comprises public line interface means connected to a public line,
The facsimile apparatus with a LAN connection function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image data can be transmitted and received through an external device and the public line according to an instruction from the peripheral device.