JPH0897985A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain the facsimile equipment in which urgent image information from among stored image information is recorded and printed out by priority by printing out image information with identification information added thereto by priority in the case of recording and printout. CONSTITUTION: The facsimile equipment is provided with a system control section 1, an image memory 2, an operation display section 3, an image read section 4, an image recording section 5, a network control section 6, a MODEM 7, a coding/decoding section 8, and a communication control section 9. The system control section 1 is made up of a CPU, a ROM and a RAM or the like and the facsimile equipment main body is controlled according to a program in the ROM. Then in the case of reception from a preset destination, prescribed identification information is provided to image information and the resulting information is stored and in the case of print-out, the image information with the identification information added thereto is printed out sequentially. That is, the information stored in the image memory 2 with its priority set is printed out by priority. Thus, urgent image information among the image information sets to be stored is acquired by priority.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus which temporarily stores received image information, reads the image information at a predetermined timing, and records and outputs the image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a so-called memory reception mode, in which received image information is temporarily stored, and this image information is read out at a predetermined timing and recorded and output,
The image information was read, recorded, and output in the order received.
Therefore, once the operator sets the memory reception mode, even the document to be confirmed is received in the memory immediately after the reception. At this time, if another document is received in the memory, the other document is not received. You have to wait for the recording output. Therefore, if the user wants to check the document immediately after receiving it, it is necessary for the operator to cancel the memory reception mode in advance.

As a method of eliminating such a troublesome setting, for example, there is a proposal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-75817. According to this proposal, the recipient of a document that does not require confirmation immediately after reception is stored, the reception from this recipient is received by the memory, and the other is recorded and output immediately after reception. It eliminates the hassle of setting.

However, this proposal cannot be applied to a facsimile apparatus in which received image information must be temporarily stored in a memory in relation to the recording speed. Further, even if the facsimile machine has a sufficiently high recording speed and does not need to go through the memory, if the image information received has to be temporarily stored in the memory due to lack of recording paper or failure of the recording unit. Since the data is recorded and output in the order of reception when the recording is restored, there is a risk that the recording and output will be postponed even if there is a document that should be checked immediately.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and when recording and outputting, a facsimile can be preferentially recorded and output from the image information that is most urgent among the stored image information. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 temporarily stores received image information,
In a facsimile apparatus that reads out and records and outputs this image information at a predetermined timing, a destination storage unit that sets a destination number for preferential recording, an image storage unit that accumulates the received image information, and a communication procedure from the transmitting side via a communication procedure. Determining means for extracting the transmission source information sent out by transmitting the transmission source information, and determining whether or not the destination number that matches the transmission source information is set in the destination storage means, and the destination number that matches the transmission source information by the determination means. And storage control means for adding predetermined identification information to the received image information and storing it in the image storage means when it is determined that is set in the destination storage means,
At the time of recording and outputting, the image information to which the identification information is added is preferentially recorded and output.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 2 receives a received image information in a facsimile apparatus for temporarily accumulating the received image information, reading the image information at a predetermined timing, and recording and outputting it. An image storage means for storing the information, a directory creation means for creating a directory in the image storage means for each reception, transferring and storing the received image information in the directory, and a predetermined directory in the directory selected through the operation unit. Identification information giving means for giving the identification information of No. 2, and when recording and outputting, the image information of the directory to which the identification information is given is preferentially recorded and outputted.

[0008]

According to the invention of claim 1 having the above structure,
When receiving from a preset destination, image information is accumulated by adding predetermined identification information, and at the time of recording and outputting, the image information to which the identification information is added is sequentially recorded and output. It is possible to preferentially obtain image information that requires urgent attention.

Further, in the invention of claim 2 having the above-mentioned structure, predetermined identification information is added to the directory selected by the operator, and at the time of recording and outputting, the image information of the directory to which the identification information is added is sequentially displayed. Since the recording and outputting are performed, the operator can select the image information that is urgently needed from the accumulated image information and can obtain it preferentially.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, specific examples will be described based on examples of the present invention. 1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. The facsimile apparatus includes a system control unit 1, an image memory 2, an operation display unit 3, an image reading unit 4, an image recording unit 5, and a network. The control unit 6, the modem 7, the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the communication control unit 9 are provided.

The system control unit 1 includes a CPU (Central Pro
cessing unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Ran
dom access memory) and controls the main body of the facsimile apparatus according to a program in the ROM. The image memory 2 stores the image information read by the image reading unit 6 or the image information received via the line. The operation display unit 3 is composed of various operation keys such as a start button, a stop button, and a numeric keypad required for operating the facsimile apparatus, and a display device that displays a setting state of various modes and a message for operation guidance.

The image reading section 4 reads the image information of the document at a predetermined resolution, and the image recording section 5 records the image information on a recording sheet at a predetermined resolution. The network control unit 6 detects incoming / closed calls from the line network and executes line control. The modem 7 modulates or demodulates a signal of image information transmitted / received via a line. The encoding / decoding unit 8 encodes and compresses the image information read by the image reading unit 4, and also decodes and expands the image information received via the network control unit 6.

The communication control section 9 executes a predetermined communication procedure with the facsimile machine of the other party via the line. The system control unit 1, the image memory 2, the operation display unit 3, the image reading unit 4, the image recording unit 5, the network control unit 6, the modem 7, the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the communication control unit 9 are connected to the bus line. Data is exchanged via.

Next, the receiving operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Step 1 is a step of judging whether or not there is an incoming call from the circuit network. When the network control unit 6 detects an incoming call from the line network (Yes in step 1)
s), the system control unit 1 detects whether the image recording unit 5 is in a recordable state (step 2). When it is determined in step 2 that the image recording unit 5 is in a recordable state, the communication control unit 9 executes a predetermined communication start procedure, and then the image information sent via the line is displayed. Receive (step 9). Then, the received image information is sequentially transferred to the image recording unit 5 and recorded and output on the recording paper stacked (step 10). When the recording and outputting of all the received image information is completed, the communication control unit 9 executes a predetermined communication ending procedure to open the line.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 2 that the image recording unit 5 is in a state in which recording is not possible due to recording output, no recording paper, recording failure, etc., the process proceeds to step 3 and the communication start procedure is performed. Source information is extracted from the transmitted NSF signal. Step 4 is a step of determining whether or not the extracted transmission source information (telephone number) is a destination for which priority recording is performed. It is assumed that a destination number of a destination for which priority recording is performed is set in advance in the RAM of the system control unit 1 via the operation display unit 3. When it is determined that the destination number that matches the transmission source information extracted from the NSF signal is set in the RAM (Yes in step 4), the priority flag is turned on (step 5). In step 4,
When it is determined that the destination number that matches the transmission source information extracted from the NSF signal is not set in the RAM (No in step 4), the priority flag remains off.

Next, the system control unit 6 creates a new directory in the image memory 2 and stores the reception time, the sender information, and the ON / OFF state of the priority flag in this directory (step 6). Then, the image information sent through the line is received (step 7), the received image information is sequentially transferred to the image memory 2, and stored in the directory created in step 6. When the reception of the image information is completed, the communication control unit 9 executes a predetermined communication end procedure to open the line. In this way, the receiving mode is appropriately switched in the state of the image recording unit to receive the image information.

Next, the recording and outputting operation after receiving the memory of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Step 21 is a step of determining whether or not an instruction to display the storage state of the image memory 2 has been issued via the operation display unit 3. When the operator issues a display instruction via the operation display unit 3 (Yes in step 21), the process proceeds to step 22, and the information regarding the directory accumulated in the image memory 2 is displayed for each directory via the display. Display output.

Step 23 is a step of judging whether or not a desired directory has been selected from the display by the operator via the operation display unit 3. Step 2
If no directory is selected in step 3, the process directly proceeds to step 25. On the other hand, when the desired directory is selected via the operation display unit 3,
The priority flag in the selected directory is set to ON (step 24). Further, the system control unit 1
The stored transmission source information is read and this transmission source information is additionally set in the RAM as a destination for preferential recording.

Step 25 is a step of judging whether or not the image recording section 5 is in a recordable state. here,
When it is determined that the image recording unit 5 is in a recordable state, the process proceeds to step 26 to determine whether or not there is image information to be recorded and output in the image memory 2. On the other hand, the image recording unit 5
When it is determined that the recording is not possible due to the absence of the recording paper, the recording failure, or the like during the recording output, the buzzer (not shown) or the like is sounded to warn the operator and the recording output operation ends. If it is determined in step 26 that there is a directory (image information) to be recorded and output in the image memory 2, the process proceeds to step 27, and then the state of the priority flag in these directories is detected. Then, when a directory in which the priority flag is turned on is detected (Yes in step 27), the process proceeds to step 28, and image information is read from the detected directory. On the other hand, the image memory 2
If the priority flags of all the directories stored in are off (No in step 27), the process proceeds to step 29, the directory with the earliest reception time is extracted, and the image information is read from this extracted directory. .

The image information read in step 28 or step 29 is sequentially transferred to the image recording section 5 and recorded and output on the recording sheets stacked (step 30).
Then, when the recording and outputting of the read image information is completed, the system control unit 1 erases the information related to this directory from the image memory 2 and returns to step 25. In this way, at the time of recording and outputting, in the directories accumulated in the image memory 2, the one with the priority flag turned on is preferentially recorded and output.

In the above-described embodiment, the received image information is immediately transferred to the image recording unit 5 and recorded and output except for the recording failure, but the invention is not limited to this, and the received image information is, for example, received image information. All the information may be temporarily stored in the image memory 2, read out at a predetermined timing, and recorded and output. Further, although it has been described only that the priority flag in the directory is set from off to on, conversely, it is easy to configure so that it can be reset from on to off.

[0022]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, when receiving from a preset destination, predetermined image information is added to accumulate image information, and the image information is recorded and output. Since the print information is sequentially output starting from the image information added with, it is possible to preferentially obtain the urgent image information among the accumulated image information without the operator having to set the reception mode. Operability is improved. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, predetermined identification information is added to the directory selected by the operator, and at the time of recording and outputting, the image information of the directory to which the identification information is added is sequentially recorded and output. The operator can select and preferentially obtain the image information that needs the urgent attention from the accumulated image information, and the operability is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a receiving operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a recording and outputting operation after receiving the memory of the facsimile apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operation display part, 2 ... Image memory, 3 ... Number memory, 4 ... Network control part 5 ... System control part, 6 ... Image reading part, 7 ... Image recording part 8 ... Encoding / decoding part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for temporarily accumulating received image information, reading the image information at a predetermined timing, and recording and outputting the image information, and a destination storage unit for setting a destination number for preferential recording, and the received image information. Image storage means to be stored and transmission source information sent from the transmission side through a communication procedure are extracted, and judgment is made as to whether or not a destination number matching the transmission source information is set in the destination storage means. Means, and when it is determined by the determination means that the destination number that matches the transmission source information is set in the destination storage means,
A storage control unit that adds predetermined identification information to the received image information and stores the image information in the image storage unit, and preferentially records and outputs the image information to which the identification information is added during recording output. And a facsimile machine. 2. A facsimile apparatus for temporarily accumulating received image information, reading the image information at a predetermined timing, and recording and outputting the image information, and an image storage means for accumulating the received image information, and the image storage means for each reception. Create a directory inside,
A directory creating unit that transfers and stores the image information received in the directory and an identification information assigning unit that assigns predetermined identification information to the directory selected through the operation unit are provided. A facsimile apparatus characterized in that image information in a given directory is preferentially recorded and output.