JPH0918570A - Facsimile equipment and telephone set, and their originating method and telephone number recognizing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the operability of the telephone sets which originates by recognizing a telephone number by storing plural telephone numbers of high possibility as telephone numbers of origination destinations and referring to them as origination destination candidates at the time recognition. CONSTITUTION: A RAM 30 is equipped with a storage area 30d for a dial bank. When a FAX communication ends without any error, the opposite party telephone number of this communication is written as a telephone number for FAX in the storage area 30d for the dial bank and registered in the dial bank. For character recognition automatic origination, if a telephone number recognized by a read part 14 is present as a telephone number registered in the dial bank memory 30d, the telephone number is dialed. Then the telephone number as a recognition result is outputted by referring to telephone origination destination candidates, so the reliability is high. When the reliability of the telephone number as the recognition result is high, a recognizing process can be simplified, so that the operation is simplified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to telephone technology. The present invention can be applied to a telephone (facsimile device) having a facsimile function. The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, a telephone, a telephone calling method, and a telephone number recognition method of the telephone.

[0002] Specifically, a recognition technology such as character recognition or voice recognition is used to specify a destination of a call or FAX.

[0003]

[Prior art]

Designation of a telephone number is indispensable for making a call from a telephone, and this is generally performed by a dial operation. An auxiliary function for simplifying the dial operation has been conventionally known. As auxiliary functions to assist this, speed dial, one-touch dial, dial bank, handwritten phone number recognition from tablet, phone number recognition by destination phone number written in sent document,
Voice number recognition and the like are well known.

The present application relates to such a telephone (including a facsimile device and a personal digital assistant).

Incidentally, a speed dial, a one-touch dial,
Regarding the technology of storing a telephone number such as a dial bank, JP-A-3-3052 (H01M11 / 00), JP-A-1-260963
Publication (H01M1 / 274), JP-A-2-202154 (H01M1 / 274),
JP-A-3-52380 (H01N1 / 32), JP-A-4-70258
(H01N1 / 32), JP-A-4-321350 (H01M1 / 27), JP-A-2-
67855 (H01M1 / 274), JP-A-3-268549 (H01M1 /
274), Japanese Patent Application No. 6-30316 (dial bank), etc., and various modifications have already been proposed.

Further, the telephone number recognition based on the telephone number of the other party written in the transmitted manuscript is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-115456 (H0
1N1 / 00), JP-A-2-121469 (H01N1 / 32), JP-A-5167
No. 750 (H01N1 / 32) and the like.

There is a case in which a telephone number that recognizes a telephone number and makes a call erroneously recognizes this telephone number. For this reason, in such a telephone, the result of character recognition is temporarily displayed on the display unit, and the call is transmitted after the operator's confirmation operation (pressing the call button) (see the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5- 167750).

Alternatively, the result of voice recognition is compared with the dial input, and if they match, the call is transmitted (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-121469 mentioned above). Alternatively, the result of character recognition is compared with another input result (one-touch dial), and if they match, a call is made (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-115456).

Therefore, in the transmission by recognition, if the confirmation operation is simplified, erroneous transmission due to erroneous recognition occurs. Also,
If you try to prevent the wrong call, the operation becomes troublesome.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the operability of a telephone that recognizes a telephone number and makes a call. A first object of the present invention is to substantially improve the recognition rate of telephone numbers.

That is, an object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy rate of the recognized destination telephone number. Also, the second
It is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone having a simplified confirmation process for preventing erroneous recognition and making a call to the wrong destination.

[0013]

The number of call destinations such as a facsimile machine is limited to several tens in normal use. The telephone number written in the manuscript is likely to be the telephone number among them.

The present application is an application focusing on this point, and in this way, a plurality of telephone numbers (referred to as telephone transmission destination candidates) of a plurality of destinations that are highly likely to be stored are stored as the telephone numbers of the predecessor transmission destination. ing. Then, the present application outputs the telephone number which is the recognition result with reference to this telephone call destination candidate.

Further, referring to this telephone call destination candidate,
Determine the reliability of the phone number as a result of character recognition. And
When the reliability is high, the confirmation process is simplified. Further, the setting of the call destination candidate is performed by diverting other functions. In addition, the setting of the call destination candidate is automatically performed.

[0016]

In the present invention, since the telephone number which is the recognition result is output with reference to the telephone call destination candidate, the reliability is high.
According to the present invention, the confirmation process is simplified when the reliability of the phone number as the recognition result is high. Therefore, even if the confirmation process is simplified, the risk of erroneous call is extremely small.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a FAX document G in which a destination telephone number “5799” is written in a predetermined area L. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a set state of the original.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram of the facsimile machine. 10 is a central processing unit (CP
U). Reference numeral 12 is an operation unit. The operation unit 12 includes a dial key 12a used for inputting a facsimile number or a telephone number in the manual dial mode. It also has a start key 12b used to start facsimile transmission in manual or automatic dial mode. Further, it is provided with a reset key 12c.

In the manual dial mode, the dial keys 12
This is a manual mode in which dialing is performed according to the number entered using a. In automatic dial mode, the number written on the original is read and the read data corresponds to the number recognized by character recognition. It is a mode to make a dial call. This character recognition will be described later. 1
Reference numeral 4 is a document reading unit.

The reading unit 14 includes a detection sensor 14a, a scanning unit 14b, and a paper feed driver unit 14c. The scanning unit 14b reads the image information of the document G, converts the read image information into a monochrome binary digital image signal, and outputs it to the CPU 10. The CPU 10 stores the image signal as image data in the image memory 26.

Reference numeral 16 is a display section. The display unit 16 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD). Reference numeral 18 is a printing unit. The printing unit 18 prints out the received image data. Reference numeral 20 is a tone signal generator. 22 is a modem.

Reference numeral 24 is a network control unit (NCU). N
An attached telephone 32 (handset) is connected to the CU 24. The NCU 24 detects on-hook and off-hook of the handset 32. Tone signal generation circuit 2
0 sends (transmits) a tone signal for transmission to the telephone line via the NCU 24.

The incoming call detection circuit 34 issues an incoming call from the other party and outputs it to the CPU 10.

Reference numeral 26 is an image memory.

28 is a read only memory (ROM)
It is. The ROM 28 stores various control programs such as a facsimile transmission / reception program, character segmentation, and character recognition. 30 is a random access memory (RAM). The RAM 30 is capable of writing and reading data and the like required by the CPU 10 for arithmetic processing. Further, the RAM 30 includes a destination telephone number storage area 30a and a one-touch dial storage area 30 for transmission.
b, a speed dial storage area 30c, and a dial bank storage area 30d.

Reference numeral 36 is a clock circuit section.

First, the outline of processing will be briefly described. CPU
In the automatic dial mode 10, as shown in FIG. 1, the reading unit 14 reads a predetermined area L having a preset length from the beginning of the document G and determines whether or not any image data exists therein. If it exists, the surrounding area is cut out.

Then, the CPU 10 further divides the cut-out image data into a plurality of image data. If the image data is a character string, it is cut out character by character. Then, the cut-out character data is normalized, and the normalized character data is stored in the ROM 28 in advance.
Recognize by comparing with the character (here numerical) pattern stored in.

The CPU 10 converts the recognized character data into R
The number data is stored in the destination number storage area 30a of the AM 30, and the number data is displayed on the screen by controlling the display unit 16.

In the present embodiment, it is possible to correct the character-recognized number. The CPU 10 has a display unit 16
Dial number 12a with the number displayed on the screen.
The number data stored in the destination number storage area 30a is rewritten to a desired telephone number based on the operation input such as.

Then, the CPU 10 causes the start key 12
Based on the operation of b, the number data is read from the destination number storage area 30a and output to the tone signal generation circuit 20, and this tone is output to the telephone line through the NCU 24. And when the connection with the other party is made,
A line connection is established with the facsimile machine on the other side via the modem 22.

Then, the CPU 10 encodes the read image data and outputs it to the modem 22.

Next, before describing the characteristic operation of the present application, the operation of registering in the table (dial bank) will be described. This will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, registration is done at the end of the call. First, was the call from here in step S1? It is determined whether or not there is a call from here, and the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, it is determined from the history information whether this communication is FAX communication. If it is FAX communication, the process proceeds to step S3. Then, if this FAX communication has been completed without any error, in step S4, the destination telephone number at the time of the call relating to this call is set for FAX,
Write to the storage area 30d for the dial bank. That is, it is registered in the dial bank.

In step S2, if this communication is not FAX communication according to the history information, the process proceeds to step S5. If the call duration is one minute or more, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the other party's telephone number at the time of making a call relating to this call is registered in the dial bank memory as a call.

An example of telephone numbers registered in this dial bank is shown in FIG. In this dial bank, the call destinations are displayed in order of call frequency so that the destination can be selected. If the transmission mode in this case is FAX,
If you know it, display the fax only phone number 1
Display in order on 6. In addition, when displaying this,
As shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-233869 (H04N1 / 32), the other party's ID fetched from the other party's FAX may be displayed during communication.

Next, the features of the present application will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flow chart at the time of character recognition of the telephone with the facsimile function. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the character recognition and transmission operation when normal handwritten characters are written on a predetermined area of the document sheet G.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the character recognition and transmission operation when a handwritten character of a bad brush is written on a predetermined area of the manuscript paper. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the character recognition and transmission operation when print characters are printed on a predetermined area of the original paper. The operation in the case of FIG. 7 will be described.

First, in S11 of FIG. 6, each character is cut out. That is, it becomes like FIG. 7b. Then, S12 of FIG.
Character recognition of each character is performed with. Output the score. That is,
Output as shown in FIG. 7c. Here, for the sake of simplification of explanation, each character candidate is limited to the second candidate.

In S13 of FIG. 6, if even one score of the first candidate is 60 points or less, the process proceeds to S14. in this case,
As shown in FIG. 7c, since the score is 60 points or more, the process proceeds to S15.
In S15, the reliability is calculated. Here, the point obtained by subtracting the score of the second candidate from the score of the first candidate is obtained.

If there is at least one score of 60 or less in this reliability score, the process proceeds to S16. In S16, character string candidates obtained by character recognition (here, 5199, 5799, and 6199).
And 6799) exist as only one telephone number registered in the dial bank memory? or not? Is determined. Then, if it exists, this character string candidate is set as the first candidate in S17. Then, in S14, the character string of the first candidate is displayed. In this embodiment, the character string candidate is the first candidate in S17, but the score (output priority) of the matched character string may be increased by a predetermined point.

If the result of S16 is NO, the process proceeds to S14. Then, the character with a high score is displayed. In the case of FIG. 7, 5799 exists in the dial bank of FIG.
Since 99, 6199, and 6799 do not exist, 5799 is displayed as shown in FIG. 7e. If there is a correction input in S18, the telephone number is changed.

If there is a reset key input in S19, this automatic transmission of character recognition is canceled and the manual mode is entered. S20
If there is a start key input, the call will be made using the telephone number at this time. Next, the operation of recognizing and transmitting characters in FIG. 8 will be described. First, in S11 of FIG. 6, the telephone number is divided into character units.

That is, the result is as shown in FIG. 8b. Then, in S12 of FIG. 6, character recognition of each character is performed. Output the score. That is, the output is as shown in FIG. 8c. If there is any score of 60 points or less in S13 of FIG. 6, the process proceeds to S14. here,
Since there are less than 60 points, the process proceeds to S14.

In S14, the recognition character is displayed in reverse for characters with less than 60 points. Also, the unrecognized characters are
"?" Is displayed. That is, it is displayed as shown in FIG. 8d.
Then, the correct telephone number is corrected by the correction in S18. If there is a reset key input in S19, the automatic transmission of character recognition is canceled and the manual mode is entered.

If there is a start key input in S20, the telephone number for which the character is recognized is used to make a call. It should be noted that even if the start key is input, the calling operation is not performed while "?" Is displayed. In this example, character recognition by guessing was not performed. However, the present application
May go. That is, as can be seen from FIG. 8C, the telephone number candidates in this case are 571? 579? 591
? 599? It is. In this, comparing with the telephone number already registered in the dial bank of FIG. 5, the dial bank of 5799 is 579? It turns out that it is similar. Therefore, this 5799 may be displayed as the first-ranked telephone number candidate.

Next, the operation of recognizing and transmitting characters in FIG. 9 will be described. First, in S11 of FIG. 6, the telephone number is divided into character units. That is, as shown in FIG. 9b. Then, in S12 of FIG. 6, character recognition of each character is performed. Output the score. That is, the output is as shown in FIG. 9c.

If there is any score less than 60 points in S13 of FIG. 6, the process proceeds to S14. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9c, since all the points are 60 points or more, the process proceeds to S15. In S15, the reliability is calculated. The score of the second candidate is subtracted from the score of the first candidate. If all the scores in FIG. 9d are 60 points or more, the process proceeds to S23.

The telephone number recognized in S23 is displayed. Then, in S24, does this telephone number exist as the telephone number registered in the dial bank memory? or not? Is determined. If it exists, the process proceeds to S22, and the call is made using this telephone number. If it does not exist, if there is a start key input in S26, the call is made with the telephone number for which the character is recognized.

If there is a reset key input in S25,
After shifting to S14, the telephone number can be corrected in S18.
Although the telephone call destination candidates used in S16 and S24 are obtained from the dial bank in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the telephone number registered for speed dial or the telephone number registered for one-touch dial may be used. Alternatively, instead of being diverted, it may be dedicated.

By utilizing the dial bank, the accuracy of character recognition can be improved without significantly increasing the design scale (circuit scale and software scale). Further, in this embodiment, the simplification of the call confirmation and the improvement of the character recognition accuracy, which are the operations of S24 and S16, are simultaneously performed, but the present application is not limited to this.

Further, in this embodiment, the transmission confirmation is simplified in S24, resulting in a completely automatic transmission. However, the present application is not limited to this. In other words, even if the start key is not operated, if it is a facsimile machine that automatically makes a call after a predetermined time for confirmation has passed since the telephone number of the recognition result was displayed, this predetermined number can be set by simplifying the call confirmation. You may change the time.

Alternatively, if the facsimile apparatus has a plurality of confirmation key operations, the number of key operations may be reduced by simplification. Further, if the facsimile apparatus has a display or voice guidance function for giving advice on confirmation of the destination, this guidance may be simplified. Further, in the present embodiment, the telephone with a facsimile function (facsimile device) has been described.
As shown in FIG. 10, a small-sized computer-equipped telephone (portable information terminal) capable of handwriting input may be used.

Although offline character recognition is performed in the first embodiment, online character recognition may be performed in consideration of stroke order and the like with a mobile terminal as shown in FIG. Further, as the character recognition method, character recognition using a neural network may be used. Further, in the present embodiment, the destination telephone number is recognized by character recognition, but naturally, the destination telephone number may be recognized by voice recognition.

[0055]

According to the present invention, the accuracy of the recognized telephone number can be improved. According to the present invention,
If it is estimated that the character recognition result is correct, the operation of confirming the calling telephone number is simplified, and thus the operation is simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a manuscript sheet in which a telephone number of a destination is written.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a document set state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the telephone according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a dial bank.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... CPU (character recognition means, recognition section, transmission processing switching section), 12b ... Start key, 12c ... Reset key, 20 ... Tone signal generation section (transmission section), 30 ... RAM (storage means).

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Horii 2-5-5 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Shoji Takeda 2-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Junji Tanaka 3-201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. A method of recognizing a destination telephone number by a recognizing unit (10) and making a call by a transmitting unit (20) based on the recognition result, wherein a candidate for the telephone number of the recognition result is A method for recognizing a telephone number in which, when a plurality of telephone number candidates exist, the output priority of the telephone number candidate that matches the telephone number of the storage means (30) storing the telephone destination candidate is increased. 2. A method for recognizing a telephone number of a destination by a recognizing unit (10) and making a call by a transmitting unit (20) based on the recognition result, wherein a part of the telephone number of the recognition result is provided. Is unknown and the telephone number other than this part is similar to the telephone number of the storage means (30) storing the call destination candidates, this storage means (3
The telephone number recognition method in which the telephone number similar to 0) is used as the telephone number of the recognition result. 3. The telephone number recognition method according to claim 1, wherein the recognition of the destination telephone number by the recognition unit (10) is character recognition. 4. The telephone number recognition method according to claim 1, wherein the recognition of the destination telephone number by the recognition unit is voice recognition. 5. The telephone number recognition method according to claim 1, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is telephone number information registered as one-touch dial. 6. The telephone number recognition method according to claim 1, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is telephone number information registered as a speed dial. 7. The telephone call destination candidate is information on a telephone number that has been called up to now.
~ The telephone number recognition method according to any one of 4 to 4. 8. The telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number for which communication has been completed without any error or a telephone number for which a call has been made for a predetermined time or more.
Phone number recognition method described in any of. 9. A calling method of a telephone set, wherein a destination telephone number is recognized by a recognition unit (10), and after confirmation processing of the recognition result, a calling unit (20) makes a call based on the recognition result. A calling method, characterized in that, when the resulting telephone number matches the telephone number of the storage means (30) storing the telephone call destination candidates, the confirmation processing is changed. 10. The confirmation process according to claim 9, wherein when the phone number of the recognition result matches the phone number of the storage means (30) storing the call destination candidates, the confirmation process is simplified. How to make a call. 11. The simplification means shortening a time for accepting an operation of a reset key.
The calling method described in 0. 12. The calling method according to claim 10, wherein the simplification does not require a confirmation operation. 13. The recognition unit (10) for the destination telephone number.
The transmission method according to claim 9, wherein the recognition is a character recognition. 14. The calling method according to claim 9, wherein the recognition by the recognition unit of the callee telephone number is voice recognition. 15. The calling method according to claim 9, wherein the call destination candidate is telephone number information registered as one-touch dial. 16. The transmission method according to claim 9, wherein the telephone transmission destination candidate is telephone number information registered as a speed dial. 17. The calling method according to claim 9, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is telephone number information that has been called so far. 18. The telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number for which communication has been completed without any error up to now, or a telephone number for which a call has been made for a predetermined time or more.
14. The calling method according to any one of 14. 19. A storage unit (30) for storing a call destination candidate in a telephone set in which a call destination telephone number is recognized by a recognition unit (10) and a call is made by a transmission unit (20) based on the recognition result. A telephone comprising: a recognition correction unit (10) for increasing an output priority of a recognition result that matches the call destination candidate. 20. A storage means for storing a telephone call destination candidate in a telephone set in which a call destination telephone number is recognized by a recognizing unit (10) and, after confirmation processing, a call is made by a transmitting unit (20) based on the recognition result. (30), and a calling process switching unit (10) for switching the confirmation process when the telephone call destination candidate of the storage means (30) and the call destination telephone number of the recognition result match. Characteristic telephone. 21. The telephone set according to claim 19, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is telephone number information registered as a one-touch dial. 22. The telephone set according to claim 19, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number registered as a speed dial. 23. The telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number that has made a call up to now.
Or the telephone set according to item 20. 24. The transmission processing switching unit (10),
24. The telephone according to claim 20, wherein the confirmation display time is shortened when the telephone call destination candidate and the call destination telephone number of the recognition result match. 25. The transmission processing switching unit (10) comprises:
The telephone according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein when the telephone call destination candidate and the call destination telephone number of the recognition result match, the call processing is performed without waiting for the confirmation operation input. 26. A telephone destination candidate is stored in a facsimile machine in which a destination telephone number written on a manuscript is recognized by a character recognition unit (10) and a transmission unit (20) makes a transmission based on the recognition result. When the destination telephone number is confirmed by the storage unit (30) and the telephone destination candidate of the storage unit (30), the transmission unit (2)
0) Call confirmation process switching unit (1)
0) and a facsimile machine. 27. A telephone destination candidate is stored in a facsimile device in which a destination telephone number written in a manuscript is character-recognized by a recognition unit (10) and a transmission unit (20) makes a transmission based on the recognition result. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a storage unit (30); and a recognition correction unit (10) that raises the output priority of a recognition result that matches the call destination candidate. 28. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number registered as a one-touch dial. 29. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number registered as a speed dial. 30. The telephone call destination candidate is a telephone number that has made a call up to now.
Alternatively, the facsimile machine according to Item 27. 31. The telephone call destination candidate has been an FA so far.
28. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the facsimile is a telephone number that has transmitted X and ended communication without error. 32. The transmission processing switching unit (10),
27. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the confirmation display time is switched to a shorter time when the telephone call destination candidate matches the call destination telephone number of the recognition result. 33. The transmission processing switching unit (10),
27. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 26, wherein when the call destination candidate matches the call destination telephone number of the recognition result, the call processing is performed without waiting for a confirmation operation input.