JPH09200417A - Facsimile modem and computer communication system using same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make document transmission efficiency by making an artificially bidirectional communication by using facsimile. SOLUTION: The facsimile modem which is connected to a computer (PC42) with a data input/output function through a serial interface line 52 consists of a facsimile communication part 11 which actualizes a facsimile communication, a storage part 21 which holds practically sufficient image data of a facsimile document, a communication opposite part decision part 22 which detects a telephone number, etc., of a password communication or G3 or G4 communication as a key word and decides whether an opposite facsimile equipment is a specific opposite party, an answer message management part 23 which calls a specific telephone number and sends a message according to the decision result when the message for the communication party is registered, and a main control part which controls the whole device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile modem which is connected to a computer such as a personal computer via a serial interface and realizes a facsimile function, and a computer communication system using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, personal computers have come to be widely used as communication means as well as simple data processing. That is, if a modem is connected to the personal computer, various data communication can be performed. Further, if a facsimile modem is connected to the personal computer so that facsimile communication can be performed via the facsimile modem, further utilization can be expected. However, with such a facsimile modem, a message can be sent even when the other party is not present, but in order to check whether the facsimile message has reached the other party, it is necessary to contact again using a telephone or the like. was there. Further, there is no means for notifying unspecified persons of information such as business trips. Further, even if the operator is absent for a long period of time, the communication partner does not know the other party's schedule, so the transmitted message may be one-way.

[0003]

As described above,
In the conventional facsimile modem, no one may read the received document when performing facsimile transmission or when the other party facsimile does not have an operator. For this reason, it is necessary for the operator, who sends the facsimile message, to contact the other party. In particular, in the case of a facsimile system using a personal computer, since the sender does not know specific information such as the power off of the personal computer when the operator is absent, it is easy for the original to be sent in one way. there were.

An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile modem capable of sending a response message to a sender so that the sender of the message can grasp the status of the receiver.

A further object of the present invention is to prevent one-sided information notification and reduce wasteful time in business such as miscommunication and contact transmission due to absence.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in a facsimile modem which is connected between a computer and a line and communicates information between the computer and the line by facsimile based on a facsimile communication protocol, A facsimile communication unit that performs facsimile communication based on a facsimile communication protocol between two devices, a response message storage unit that stores a response message in advance corresponding to a predetermined keyword, and a facsimile communication unit that communicates with a partner device during facsimile communication. Means for detecting the keyword sent from the partner device, judging means for judging whether or not the response message corresponding to the keyword detected by the detecting means is stored in the response message storing means, and the judgment result of the judging means Depending on the response message corresponding to the keyword Di, facsimile modem can be obtained and a control means for facsimile communication with the partner device controls to transmit to a predetermined destination by facsimile communication unit after completion.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a computer communication system using a facsimile modem which is connected between a computer and a line and which carries out facsimile communication of information between the computer and the line based on a facsimile communication protocol. To be The computer includes means for generating a keyword, means for generating a response message as pixel image data, and means for sending a response message of the generated keyword and image data to a facsimile modem.

The facsimile modem corresponds to a facsimile communication section for carrying out facsimile communication with a line based on a facsimile communication protocol, a means for receiving a keyword and a response message from a computer, and a keyword received by the receiving means. Response message storage means for storing a response message, a means for detecting a keyword sent from the partner device during facsimile communication between the partner device and the facsimile communication section, and a response corresponding to the keyword detected by the detecting means. The determination means for determining whether or not the message is stored in the response message storage means, and the response message corresponding to the keyword according to the determination result of the determination means are transmitted by the facsimile communication unit after the facsimile communication with the partner device is completed. Send to specified destination And a control means for so that control.

According to the present invention, the calling number of the destination to which the response message is transmitted may be stored in advance in the response message storage means in association with the keyword. The computer sends the calling number to the facsimile modem for storage by the control means.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system using a facsimile modem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The telephone line 51 is an ordinary public line. The scanner 43 has an interface with a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as PC) 42, reads the image data from a document, and notifies the PC 42 of the image data. The printer 44 also has an interface with the PC 42, and the PC 42
Print the image data of the original according to the instructions.

The serial line 52 is a serial cable connecting the facsimile modem 41 and the PC 42. The facsimile modem control program 61 is a PC
42 is an interface program for controlling the facsimile modem 41 via the serial line 52 from the PC.
Run on 42.

Next, the facsimile modem 41 will be described.

The facsimile communication unit 11 realizes facsimile communication via the telephone line 51. The serial interface 12 is connected to the PC 42 and the serial line 52 via
Realizes data transmission / reception and command / response transmission / reception for data transmission / reception. The storage unit 21 is a memory that holds image data of a document that is practically sufficient. The image data includes transmission image data from the serial interface unit 12 and reception image data from the facsimile communication unit 11. The storage is controlled by the main control unit 31.

The communication partner determination unit 22 internally has a keyword for determining a communication partner on a storage table, monitors communication information from the facsimile communication unit 11 and extracts a keyword to determine a communication partner. The response message management unit 23 is sent from the PC 42 and is sent to the main control unit 31.
By referring to the keyword, the destination telephone number, and the response message that are registered in advance under the control of 1., the function of sending a reply (response message) to the image data of the document received by the facsimile communication unit 11 is fulfilled. That is, the response message management unit 23 searches for the associated response message based on the keyword extracted by the communication partner determination unit 22, and if found, sends it to the designated telephone number (destination telephone number). If there is no associated response message, no special processing is performed. The power supply unit 32 drives the facsimile modem 41.
The main control unit 31 controls each unit that constitutes the facsimile modem 41.

Next, the registration of the response message and the transmission of the response message will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the PC 42 at the time of registering a response message, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the facsimile modem 41 at the time of receiving a facsimile.

First, the registration of the response message will be described. There are two methods for creating a response message: a method of reading a handwritten document from the scanner 43 as image data and a method of creating it with an application program on the PC 42. Here, the case of using the scanner 43 will be described.

When the power of each of the facsimile modem 41, the PC 42 and the scanner 43 is turned on, the facsimile modem control program 61 is activated (step A1). Next, create a response message by handwriting on the manuscript,
The document is set on the document table of the scanner 43. PC4
When the scan instruction is given in step 1, the original is read from the scanner 43 under the control of the facsimile modem control program 61 (step A2), and the facsimile modem 41 is instructed to transfer the image data.
After the transfer instruction, the read response message is temporarily stored in the PC 42 under the control of the facsimile modem control program 61 (step A3).
The information registered in the facsimile modem 41 is a keyword, a destination telephone number, and a response message, and is transferred from the PC 42 as follows. First, a keyword is set under the control of the facsimile modem control program 61. This keyword is input from the keyboard of the PC 41. The keyword is output from the PC 42 to the serial interface unit 12 (step A4). The serial interface unit 22 notifies the main control unit 31 of the keyword, and the main control unit 31 notifies the response message management unit 23 of this. Response message management unit 23
Registers the keyword.

Next, a telephone number is input in the PC 42 under the control of the facsimile modem control program 61 (step A5), and a response message of the image data stored in step A3 is output to the serial interface section 12 together with the telephone number (step A).
6). The serial interface unit 12 notifies the main control unit 31 of the telephone number and the response message. Main control unit 3
In No. 1, when the telephone number and the response message are notified, the response message management unit 23 is notified and stored in association with the keyword. As described above, the registration of the telephone number and the response message is completed in association with the keyword. The telephone number is the calling number of the other party who sends the response message by facsimile, and the keyword is notified from the other party who wants to receive the response message.

Next, facsimile reception and transmission of a response message will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, an incoming call is received from the telephone line 51. When the facsimile communication unit 11 detects an incoming call from the partner facsimile machine (step B1), the facsimile communication unit 11
Enters the receiving operation, while the main control section 31 is informed of the arrival of the facsimile. In response to the incoming call, the main control unit 31 controls the storage unit 21 to secure a storage memory for reception (step B2). When the main control unit 31 can secure the storage memory for reception, the fact that the storage unit for reception can be ensured
Notify 1. As a result, the facsimile reception is recognized, and the document reception is started (step B3).

The main control unit 31 notifies the facsimile communication unit 11 that the storage memory has been secured, and at the same time activates the communication partner determination unit 22. Communication partner determination unit 2
When the control unit 2 is activated by the main control unit 31, it monitors the communication protocol of the facsimile communication unit 11. Then, the data corresponding to the keyword is detected from the CSI signal among the procedure signals exchanged by the communication protocol, and it is extracted,
The communication partner determination unit 22 uses the extracted keywords as the main control unit 3
1 is notified (step B4). In this case, the condition is that the transmitting side is a device that can insert a keyword into the CSI signal. The CSI signal can contain data such as keywords, and CCITT. Recommendation T. It is not difficult to send the keyword if the communication protocol is executed by the 30 non-standard functions. The main control unit 31 holds the keyword until the facsimile reception is completed.

The facsimile communication unit 11 transfers the received message to the storage unit 21 under the control of the main control unit 31, and when the facsimile reception is completed, notifies the main control unit 31 of the end of the reception. When the main control unit 31 detects the end of reception, it instructs the facsimile communication unit 11 to disconnect the line (step B
5) Notify the storage unit 21 of the end of reception, and register the received image data in the management table of the storage unit 21.
The received image data is then read by the instruction of the PC 42 and output from the printer 44. Main control unit 31
Notifies the response message management unit 23 of the keyword (those detected in step B4) already received from the facsimile communication unit 11 (step B6). When the response message management unit 23 receives the keyword, the response message management unit 23 searches whether or not the message of the image data responding to the keyword is stored (step B).
7). If the response message is stored as a result of the search, the telephone number as the auxiliary information is notified to the main control unit 31 together with the response message. The main control unit 31 transfers the response message to the storage unit 21, then notifies the facsimile communication unit 11 of the telephone number and requests a call for transmission (step B9). As a result, the calling facsimile machine of the telephone number is called, and the response message of the image data is read from the storage unit 21 and transmitted (step B10).

As described above, the response document is transmitted in response to the document reception.

The operation after step B6 may be performed after the received image data is output to the printer 44 or before it is output.

Further, the keyword may be the telephone number of the sending facsimile. The communication protocol in the facsimile communication unit may be G3 or G4. The line may be an analog line or a digital line, or I
SDN line may be used. In this case, an interface corresponding to each line will be provided.

Further, in FIG. 1, the response message from the PC 42 is stored in the response message management section 23, but it may be stored in the storage section 21.

[0029]

As described above, when the facsimile modem of the present invention is used, when a user wants to notify a partner of special circumstances, a specific communication partner is determined (password communication, etc.), and a document is transmitted. After receiving the image, it is possible to automatically make a transmission and send the reserved original image to the facsimile of the other party. Therefore, the facsimile machine can be used for mutual exchange of messages as if it were an answering machine.

For example, the PC registers such as "When the original of the password A is received, send the response message B to the telephone number xx-xxxxx", and the response message B is "currently absent, transfer destination telephone number xx". If "-xxxx" is stored, it is possible to prevent one-way information notification such as confirmation of the transfer destination by the other party, and reduce wasteful time generated due to misunderstanding or absence.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a response message registration operation in a computer of the computer communication system of FIG.

3 is a flowchart showing a facsimile communication and response message transmitting operation in a facsimile modem of the computer communication system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Facsimile communication unit 12 Serial interface unit 21 Storage unit 22 Communication partner determination unit 23 Response message management unit 31 Main control unit 32 Power supply unit 41 Facsimile modem 42 PC 51 Telephone line 52 Serial line 61 Facsimile modem control program

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A connection between a computer and a line,
In a facsimile modem that performs facsimile communication of information between the computer and the line based on a facsimile communication protocol, a facsimile communication unit that performs facsimile communication with the line based on the facsimile communication protocol, and a predetermined Response message storage means for storing a response message corresponding to a keyword, means for detecting a keyword sent from the partner device during facsimile communication between the partner device and the facsimile communication unit, and a keyword detected by the detection means Determination means for determining whether or not the response message corresponding to is stored in the response message storage means, and the response message corresponding to the keyword according to the determination result of the determination means, with the partner device Facsimile communication Facsimile modem including by the facsimile communication unit after the end and control means for controlling so as to transmit to the predetermined destination. 2. The response message storage means stores, in addition to the response message, a call number of a transmission destination of the response message in association with the keyword, and the control means responds to the determination result of the determination means. Read the calling number and the response message from the response message storage means corresponding to the keyword, and control the facsimile communication unit to transmit the calling number and the response message to the destination of the calling number after the facsimile communication with the partner device is completed. The facsimile modem according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 3. The facsimile modem according to claim 1, wherein the line is a telephone line. 4. The facsimile modem according to claim 1, wherein the line is a digital line. 5. A connection between a computer and a line,
In a computer communication system using a facsimile modem for facsimile communication of information between the computer and the line based on a facsimile communication protocol, the computer generates a keyword and a response message as pixel image data. And a means for sending a response message of the keyword and the image data to the facsimile modem, the facsimile modem performing facsimile communication with the line based on the facsimile communication protocol. Unit, means for receiving the keyword and the response message from the computer, and response message storage means for storing the response message corresponding to the keyword received by the receiving means. Means for detecting a keyword transmitted from the partner device during facsimile communication with the partner device by the facsimile communication section, and the response message corresponding to the keyword detected by the detecting means is stored in the response message storage means. And a response message corresponding to the keyword according to the determination result of the determination unit, and transmits the response message to the predetermined destination by the facsimile communication unit after the facsimile communication with the partner device is completed. A computer communication system comprising: 6. The response message storage means stores, in addition to the response message, a calling number of a transmission destination of the response message in association with the keyword, and the control means responds to the determination result of the determination means. Read the calling number and the response message from the response message storage means corresponding to the keyword, and control the facsimile communication unit to transmit the calling number and the response message to the destination of the calling number after the facsimile communication with the partner device is completed. The computer communication system according to claim 5.