JPH09181861A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the facsimile equipment in which specific image information is immediately obtained on the occurrence of an emergency event or the like while stopping power supply to devices requiring much power consumption usually so as to save power consumption. SOLUTION: In the case that a priority discrimination separate means 12 collates object information printed out with priority preset and stored in a priority object setting means 11 with received image information and decides priority through coincidence, the resulting information is stored in a priority image storage means 13 as priority image information. Forced print decision drive means 14, 15 decide a state of forced print output based on the storage and provide an output of forced print drive information and an image print control means 16 and a print device 17 receiving th drive information supply power to a prescribed device requiring much power consumption and receives image information from the priority image storage means 13 and makes print out. The forced print discrimination drive means 14, 15 command the power supply stop to the prescribed device based on 'no image storage' in the priority image storage means 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for storing incoming image information and energizing a printing mechanism only under a predetermined condition to print it out. The present invention relates to a facsimile device that can be printed out with priority.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile apparatus that stores incoming image information and prints it out at a desired time, it is necessary to reduce power consumption by a fixing heater or the like in a printing mechanism while waiting for incoming image information. was there.

Conventionally, in this type of facsimile apparatus, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the start time setting means 1 instructs the energizing means 2 to energize the printing mechanism 7 at a preset print start time. The image amount monitoring means 4 detects the image storage amount "none" of the incoming image storage means 3 which has received and stored the image information, and instructs the power failure means 5 to power the printing mechanism 7 by means of a fixing heater or the like. Power consumption is reduced.

When there is no power failure instruction from the power failure means 5 and an energization instruction from the energization means 2, the image print control means 6
When a request is received from the printing mechanism 7, the image information stored in the incoming image storage means 3 is taken out and sent to the printing mechanism 7. When there is no power outage instruction from the power outage means 5 and there is no power outage instruction from the energization means 2, the printing mechanism 7 energizes the fixing heater or the like to notify the image print control means 6 when a sufficient state for print output is reached. It requests image information for printing and prints out the received image information.

On the other hand, another technique for effectively reducing wasteful power consumption in the printing mechanism is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-16.
It is described in Japanese Patent No. 7812. This device solves the above problems by switching between a power saving mode in which received image information is stored in a memory to stop or reduce energization to the printing mechanism and an immediate recording mode in which received image information is recorded as it is. ing. Further, it is described that in this power saving mode, when a certain amount of image information is accumulated in a memory, when a certain time or more elapses, or when a predetermined time is reached, it is switched to the batch recording mode and printed out.

Further, in another Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-260272, when the storage capacity of the memory exceeds a predetermined level or every time a predetermined time elapses, the printing mechanism is activated to read data from the memory. Is read and recorded, and the operation of the printing mechanism is stopped during the other period to shut off the power supply or operate at low temperature.

[0007]

In each of the above-mentioned conventional facsimile machines, the image information once stored is collectively output at the time of printing. In order to reduce the power consumption, the larger the amount of image information to be printed at once, the more effective it is, the longer the time interval for driving the printing mechanism becomes, and the larger the amount of accumulation becomes.

In this configuration, since the normal storage order is the order of arrival, particularly when a large amount of a large amount of image information is output at once, certain important information to be obtained in a timely manner, for example, from an important customer There is a problem that urgent information, etc. cannot be obtained immediately, and at worst, it is necessary to wait until the end.

In order to solve this problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of immediately printing out the received specific image information by driving the printing mechanism when the specific image information is received. Is.

[0010]

A facsimile device according to the present invention stores a received image information, sets a priority printing target in advance in a facsimile device which energizes a printing mechanism and prints out only under a predetermined condition. The image information to be preferentially printed is provided with a unit for immediately energizing the printing mechanism to print out the received image information, and the image information to be set as the preferential printing is printed out in a timely manner.

Further, the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention is
Specifically, when the priority is determined by comparing the priority image setting means that presets and stores the priority printing object with the priority image printing object of this priority object setting means, general incoming image information When the priority image information is stored in the priority image storage unit, the priority determination separation unit that separates and outputs the priority image information, the priority image storage unit that inputs and stores the priority image information from the priority determination separation unit. , A forced print determination drive unit that determines the forced print to output immediately and outputs the forced print drive information, and when the drive information is received at the predetermined time, the general incoming image information is extracted and output, When receiving the forced print drive information from the forced print determination drive unit, the image print control unit that extracts and outputs the preferential image information from the preferential image storage unit and the drive information at the predetermined time. When digits, and upon receiving the forced print driver information from the forced printing judgment drive means, after energizing respectively, and a printing mechanism for printing out by receiving image information from the image printing control unit.

The image print control means receives the forced print drive information from the forced print determination drive means, extracts the priority image information from the priority image storage means and outputs it, and then stores the general incoming image information. In this case, the general incoming image information is continuously extracted and output to the printing mechanism to reduce the number of times the printing mechanism is driven, thereby reducing power consumption due to repeated energization of the printing mechanism.

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the start time setting means 1, the energizing means 2, the incoming image storage means 3, the image amount monitoring means 4, and the power failure means 5 similar to the conventional one shown in FIG. The priority target setting means 11, the priority determination separation means 12, the priority image storage means 13, the forced print determination means 14, the forced print driving means 15, and the image print control means 16 having the functions added to the conventional ones. And a printing mechanism 17 is provided.

The start time setting means 1, the energizing means 2, the incoming image storage means 3, the image amount monitoring means 4, and the power failure means 5 have the same functions as in the prior art, that is, the start time setting means 1
Has a man-machine interface with the operator,
The printing start time is preset by the operator, the printing start time is notified to the energizing unit 2, and the energizing unit 2 drives the image printing control unit 16 and instructs the printing mechanism 17 to energize to consume power. It is assumed that a predetermined mechanism with a large number of components is in a movable state. The incoming image storage means 3 is assumed to be, for example, a semiconductor memory, a hard disk device or the like, which receives a general incoming image from the priority judgment separating means 12 and stores it as digital data. The image amount monitoring unit 4 detects the information storage amount “none” of the incoming image storage unit 3 that has received and stored the image information and notifies the power failure unit 5 of this, and the power failure unit 5 of the printing mechanism 17 is notified by this notification. A power outage shall be instructed to a predetermined power consumption mechanism inside. As a result, in the printing mechanism 17, the power consumption of the fixing heater and the like can be reduced.

The priority target setting means 11 is provided with a man-machine interface with the operator, and by the operator,
As the information for recognizing the priority print target when the image information arrives, the subscriber information of the sender of the image information, such as the telephone number, the identification code, and the name code, which are agreed by the other parties, is registered and set in advance. There is.

When the image information arrives, the priority judgment separating means 12 compares the sender subscriber information of this image information with the setting information of the priority object setting means 11, and when the image information arrives and the priority is judged to coincide, the priority judgment separating means 12 The received image information is sent to the priority image storage means 13 as the priority image information, and if they do not match, it is sent to the incoming image storage means 3 as the general image information.

The priority image storage means 13 is, for example, a semiconductor memory or a hard disk storage device which receives and stores priority image information from the priority determination separation means 12.

When the forced print determination means 14 detects that the priority image information is stored in the priority image storage means 13,
The forced printing drive means 15 is determined to immediately print out.
While the "print output request" is notified to, the "no image storage" is notified when there is no more image storage in the priority image storage unit 13.

When the forced print drive means 15 receives the "print output request" notification, it outputs the forced print drive information to the image print control means 16 and the printing mechanism 17, while the "no image storage" notification is issued. When receiving the instruction, the power failure instruction is output after a predetermined time.

When the image print control means 16 receives the print preparation completion notice of the printing mechanism 17, when the drive information is received from the energizing means 2 at the time set in the start time setting means 1, the incoming image is displayed. The incoming image information stored in the storage unit 3 is taken out and sent to the printing mechanism 17, while the incoming image information stored in the priority image storage unit 13 is received when the forced printing drive information is received from the forced printing drive unit 15. It is assumed that the information is taken out and sent to the printing mechanism 17.

The printing mechanism 17 energizes a power consuming mechanism such as a heat fixing roller having a fixing heater when driven by the energizing means 2 or the forced printing driving means 15, and when print output becomes possible. It is assumed that the image print control means 16 is notified, the image information is received, and the image is printed out. Also,
The printing mechanism 17 receives "no image storage" of the incoming image storage means 3 from the power failure means 5 which has received via the image amount monitoring means 4 by a power failure instruction after a predetermined time, and stops energization of the heat fixing roller and the like. ing. On the other hand, the printing mechanism 17 also stops energization of the heat fixing roller and the like when receiving a power failure instruction from the forced printing driving unit 15.

Next, with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 together, an embodiment of an operation procedure relating to priority printing of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

First, the received image information is received by the priority judgment separating means 12 (step S1), and is compared and collated with the information of the priority print object set in the priority object setting means 11 to judge the priority object. (Procedure S2).

When it is determined in step S2 that "YES" is the priority target, the received image information is stored in the priority image storage means 13 (step S3). Priority image storage means 1
The forced printing determination unit 14 that has detected that the image information is stored in No. 3 determines that the incoming call is an object of forced printing (step S
4) Notify the forced print drive unit 15 of the "print output request". Upon receiving the notification of “print output request”, the compulsory print drive unit 15 outputs the print drive information to the image print control unit 16 and the print mechanism 17. Upon receiving the print drive information, the printing mechanism 17 energizes the heating mechanism such as the heat fixing roller to sufficiently heat the printing mechanism, and completes the printing preparation (step S
5) Notify the image print control means 16 of the print preparation completion.

On the other hand, the image print control means 16 having received the print preparation completion notice confirms that the general image information driven by the other energization means 2 is not being printed out (NO in step S6). Priority image storage means 13 to the printing mechanism 17
The stored image information is taken out and sent out, and the printing mechanism 17 prints out this image information (step S7). If "YES" in the step S6 and the print output is being performed, the following step S7 is performed after the print output of the general image information is completed.

On the other hand, the forced print determination means 14 monitors the image storage amount of the priority image storage means 13, and the image storage amount of the priority image storage means 13 becomes "zero" after the printing output in step S7 is completed. After confirming that, the "no image storage" is notified to the forced print driving means 15, and the forced print driving means 15 issues a power failure instruction to the image print control means 16 and the printing mechanism 1.
7

Further, the image printing control means 16 and the printing mechanism 17 confirm that there is no driving instruction by the time for the general image information from the energizing means 2 (NO in step S8),
The image print control means 16 ends the print control of the print mechanism 17, while the print mechanism 17 stops energizing a predetermined power consumption mechanism (step S9) and ends the procedure.

Next, a printing procedure of general image information will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the procedure S2 is "N".
If no priority determination is made with O ", priority determination separation means 1
2 stores the received image information in the incoming image storage means 3 as general image information (step S10).

On the other hand, irrespective of the storage amount of the incoming image storage means 3, the energizing means 2 is driven when the time set in the start time setting means 1 arrives (YES in step S11). , Image printing control means 16 for general print output
Is driven and the printing mechanism 17 is instructed to be energized (step S12).

At this time, when the image print control means 16 and the printing mechanism 17 are not driven by the forced print drive means 15 (NO in step S13), it is confirmed that there is no power outage instruction from the power outage means 5. (NO in step S14), the print preparation is completed (step S15), and the general image information is printed out (step S16).

On the other hand, the image amount monitoring means 4 monitors the storage amount of the general image information stored in the incoming image storage means 3 and notifies that the storage amount has become "zero" by the print output. The power failure means 5 that has received the instruction proceeds to step S9 of instructing a power failure and stopping energization of a predetermined power consumption mechanism such as the heat fixing roller of the printing mechanism 17 and ends the procedure.

If the step S13 is "YES" and the priority image information is being printed out by being driven by the forced print driving means 15, the procedure goes to the step S7.

If the power failure is instructed in step S14 by "YES", the printing mechanism 17 stops the energization of a predetermined power consuming mechanism which consumes a lot of power regardless of the energizing instruction of the energizing means 2. move on.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 3, compared with FIG. 1, the start time setting means 1 is not provided, the functions of the image amount monitoring means 21 and the image print control means 22 are changed, and the energizing means 2 is used. Is connected to the image amount monitoring means 21. Here, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description of the components will be omitted.

The image amount monitoring means 21 notifies the image print control means 22 of "image stored" indicating that the image information is stored in the incoming image storage means 3, and a predetermined amount or more is stored. Is detected, the energizing means 2 is notified of the “print output request”, and when the storage amount of the image information becomes “zero”, the power failure means 5 is notified of “no image storage”.

Further, when the image print control means 22 receives the notification of the print preparation completion of the printing mechanism 17, a predetermined amount of general image information is stored in the incoming image storage means 3 and the drive information is received from the energizing means 2. If the received image information is stored in the received image storage means 3, the printing mechanism 1
On the other hand, when the forced print driving information is received from the forced print driving unit 15, the incoming image information stored in the priority image storing unit 13 is taken out and sent to the printing mechanism 17, in addition to the above-mentioned function. Furthermore, the priority image storage means 1
When all the priority image information is printed out from the image No. 3, the image amount monitoring means 21 causes the “incoming image storage means 3” to “store image”.
When receiving the general image information, all the general image information is printed out after the priority image information.

Next, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 in combination, a second embodiment of the operation procedure relating to the priority printing of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

Since the process from the reception of the priority print target screen information received in step S1 to the printout of the priority image information in step S7 is the same as in FIG. 2, the description thereof will be omitted.

When the print output is completed in step S7, the image print control means 22 investigates the "image storage is present" information from the image amount monitoring means 21 (step S21), and the image is stored in the incoming image storage means 3. If there is (YES in step S22), the image information of the priority print target is followed by the incoming image storage unit 3
The image information stored in is taken out and sent to the printing mechanism 17 to print out a general image (step S23).

When all the images have been stored due to the print output in step S23, the energizing instruction of the energizing means 2 disappears and the power outage means 5 and the forced print driving means 15 receive the power outage instruction as described above. The printing mechanism 17 stops energization to a predetermined power consumption mechanism such as a heat fixing roller to reduce power consumption, and ends the procedure.

On the other hand, when the step S22 is "NO" and the general image information is not stored, the procedure proceeds to the step S24, and the predetermined power consumption mechanism is turned off to end.

Next, the printout of general image information in the second embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, when the procedure 2 is “NO” and it is not determined to be the priority print target, the priority determination separation unit 12 stores the received image information as general image information in the incoming image storage unit 3 as described above. It is stored (step S10).

On the other hand, the image monitoring means 21 constantly monitors the incoming image storage means 3 and, when the predetermined amount exceeds a predetermined amount (YES in step S31), sends a "print output request" to the energizing means 2. For notification and general print output, the image print control unit 22 is driven and the printing mechanism 17 is instructed to energize the heat fixing roller or the like (step S32).

At this time, the image printing control means 22 and the printing mechanism 17 confirm that there is no power outage instruction from the power outage means 5 when not being driven by the forced printing drive means 15 (NO in step S33). (NO in step S34), the print preparation is completed (step S35), and the process proceeds to step S23, which prints out the general image information.

If the step S33 is "YES" and the priority image information is being printed out by being driven by the forced print driving means 15, the procedure goes to the step S7.

If the power failure is instructed in step S34 with "YES", the printing mechanism 17 stops energization to a predetermined power consuming mechanism which consumes a lot of power, regardless of the energization instruction of the energizing means 2. Proceed to S24.

Although not described above, the image printing control unit gives priority to the forced printing output with respect to the simultaneous driving of the energizing unit and the forced printing driving unit. Further, if the general image information is already being printed at the time of the forced print output request, the image print control unit continuously outputs the image information of the priority print target after all the general information is completed, and immediately It avoids getting the desired priority image information mixed in a lot of information. Therefore, since the image information of the priority printing target appears last, it is possible to easily collect desired information.

Of course, with known techniques, immediate printout can be performed manually by an operator, and when there is a recipient, even if the general image information is being printed out, the printout of the general image information is manually interrupted to receive an incoming call. The image information inside can be printed out.

In the above description, when the image printing control means 16 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment finishes the print output of the image information of the priority printing object, if there is no drive from the energizing means 2, the procedure is as it is. However, if the image quantity monitoring means 21 and the image print control means 22 shown and described in FIG. 3 are provided instead of the image quantity monitoring means 4 and the image print control means 16, the image to be preferentially printed. Even when there is no drive from the energizing means 2 when the information is printed out,
If general image information is stored, it can be output. As a result, it is possible to avoid energization of the predetermined power consumption mechanism only for printout of general image information, which can contribute to reduction of power consumption.

In the above description, there are two embodiments. However, when the print start is at a predetermined time, the image amount of the image storage exceeds the predetermined amount, and when the print output of the priority image information is finished, the process is directly performed. There are respective combinations in the case of ending or in the case of continuously outputting the stored general image information.

In the above description, only the facsimile apparatus has been described as the apparatus capable of printing and outputting the image information, but it is also applicable as the function of the receiving side of the other image communication apparatus.

In the above description, the functional blocks are shown and described, but as long as the above functions are satisfied, the functions can be separated and merged freely, and the operating procedure can be replaced before and after the procedure, parallel operation, etc. The description is not intended to limit the invention.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided means for presetting a priority printing target and immediately energizing the printing mechanism to print out when the image information of the priority printing target arrives. A facsimile machine is obtained. With this configuration, it is possible to immediately obtain specific image information such as an emergency while saving power consumption by stopping energization to the power consumption mechanism that normally consumes much power.

Further, by printing out the image information to be preferentially printed and then continuously printing out the stored general image information, it is possible to further save the power consumption.

When priority image information is received while the general image information is being printed out, the priority image information is printed out by printing out the priority image information at the end of the general image information.
The general image information can be easily taken out without being buried in the printed output.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a main operation procedure relating to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a main operating procedure with respect to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Start Time Setting Means 2 Energizing Means 3 Incoming Image Storage Means 4, 21 Image Amount Monitoring Means 5 Power Failure Means 11 Priority Target Setting Means 12 Priority Determination Separation Means 13 Priority Image Storage Means 14 Forced Print Judging Means 15 Forced Print Driving Means 16, 22 image printing control means 17 printing mechanism

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus which stores received image information, prints by energizing a printing mechanism only under a predetermined condition, sets a priority print target in advance, and receives this priority print target image information. A facsimile apparatus comprising means for immediately energizing the printing mechanism to print out at the time of printing. 2. A priority target setting in which a priority printing target to be preferentially printed and output is preset and stored in a facsimile device that stores received image information and prints by energizing a printing mechanism only under a predetermined condition. Means and the priority print target of the priority target setting means when the image information is received, and when the priority is determined by the matching match, it is separated from general incoming image information and is output as priority image information. Separation means, priority image storage means for inputting and storing priority image information from the priority determination separation means, and determination of forced printing target to be printed out immediately when image information is stored in the priority image storage means And outputs the forced printing drive information and outputs a power failure instruction when the image information is no longer stored, and a general reception when the drive information is received under the predetermined conditions. Image printing control means for extracting and outputting the received image information from the storage means and outputting the priority image information from the priority image storage means when the forced printing drive information is received; When receiving information and when receiving the forced printing drive information,
And a printing mechanism that receives image information from the image printing control means, prints it out after energizing a predetermined power consumption mechanism, and stops energization of the predetermined power consumption mechanism according to the stop instruction. Facsimile machine. 3. The image printing control means and the printing mechanism according to claim 1, receiving the forced printing drive information from the forced printing determination driving means, extracting all the priority image information from the priority image storage means, and printing. After outputting, if the general incoming image information is stored, the general incoming image information is continuously taken out and printed out. 4. The image printing control unit and the printing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein when the general incoming image information is being printed out when the forced printing determination driving unit receives the forced printing driving information, A facsimile machine, characterized in that after the printing of the general incoming image information is completed, the priority image information is continuously taken out from the priority image storing means and is printed out.