JPH09214625A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain efficient transmission by selecting transmission of character data or image data depending on the capability of plural destinations. SOLUTION: When a communication start instruction is made by a key board of a personal computer, multiple address transmission processing is started by a CPU of the personal computer. When the connection to an opposite facsimile equipment is finished, a communication protocol is executed and transmission parameters such as a transmission speed, resolution, width of paper, a coding system, and possibility of transmission reception of character data are set in this communication procedure (S5). The setting is informed from the facsimile equipment to the personal computer, and the data going to be sent are converted in matching with the capability of the opposite party and the converted data are sent according to the setting. Whether or not the opposite party has the capability of receiving character data especially, that is, has a BFT capability is discriminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device for transmitting input character data or image data converted from the character data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a facsimile apparatus, read image data read by a reading apparatus is compressed by an MH, MR method or the like and transmitted to a facsimile apparatus of a partner,
The transmitted compressed data is decoded and recorded on the receiving side. Recently, it is possible to connect a personal computer (PC) to such a facsimile machine, but even in such a machine, the character code data created by the PC is once converted into image data by the PC and the conversion is performed. The formed image data is transmitted to the facsimile machine of the other party via the facsimile machine connected to the PC.

[0003]

Further, recently, a transmission format has been established in which not only image data but also character data can be transmitted using a general public line, and the receiving side receives the character data. With the ability to do so, it is not necessary to convert character data into image data and send it.

However, generally used facsimile apparatuses have various capabilities, and in the case where the data input on the transmitting side to such a facsimile apparatus is sequentially or simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of destinations, it has been described above. The character data input in this way is once converted into image data, and the converted image data is sent to the facsimile machine of the other party, and processing according to the ability of the other party cannot be performed, improving the transmission speed. There was a problem that the transmission efficiency was poor, such as being unable to do so.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. According to the capability of the other party, the inputted character data is converted into image data as it is or image data is transmitted for broadcast transmission. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication device capable of efficiently transmitting to a plurality of destinations.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, whether to transmit the character data or the image data input by the input means according to the capabilities of a plurality of opponents. Is selected by the selection means, and the character data or the image data converted by the conversion means is transmitted to the plurality of destinations by the broadcast transmission control means in accordance with the selection.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2,
Whether or not the other party has the ability to receive the character data is confirmed by the confirmation means, and if the other party has the ability to receive the character data, the character data is preferentially transmitted.

Further, in the invention described in claim 3,
The character data input by the input means is stored in the storage means, and when the other party does not have the ability to receive the character data, the character data stored in the storage means is converted into image data by the conversion means. Convert and send.

Further, in the present invention as set forth in claim 4, the broadcast transmission control means controls the character data or the image data to be sequentially transmitted to a plurality of destinations. The image data converted by the conversion means is stored in the storage means when it does not have the ability to receive character data, and the character data or the image data stored in the storage means is selected and transmitted in the subsequent transmission. To do.

Further, in the present invention according to claim 5, the character data and the image data are stored in the storage means, and the characters are respectively stored in the storage means according to the capabilities of a plurality of opponents. The data and the image data are selected and transmitted by the broadcast transmitting means.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, 2 is a facsimile machine, and 4 is a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as personal computer). The facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4 are connected via an interface box 6, and exchange data held by each device to store, edit, correct, etc. data of one device, and function of one device of the other device. It constitutes a data processing system that can be used by the device. Interface with facsimile machine 2
The box 6 is connected by a dedicated cable 7, and the interface box 6 and the personal computer 4 are connected by a modem cable 8. The interface box 6 is provided with a plurality of resistors and the like, and plays a role of converting the start-stop synchronization signal into voltage in order to interface with the RS232C which is a standard interface for serial data transmission between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4. have.

The dedicated cable 7 and the modem cable 8 are respectively the RTS control signal line, the CTS control signal line,
It has two data lines and a ground line,
They are connected to each other via the interface box 6. The dedicated cable 7 also has a line for detecting connection / disconnection of the cable between the facsimile device 2 and the interface box 6.

The RTS control signal line is in a state (RTS ENABLE) or a state (RTS DISABLE) in which the facsimile device 2 permits the transmission of personal computer data (abbreviated as PC data) from the personal computer 4. Is a line for a control signal representing Whether the control signal is alternatively set to the H (High) state or the L (Low) state in the facsimile apparatus 2 and whether the facsimile apparatus 2 is in the state permitting the data transmission in the personal computer 4 based on the control signal Whether or not it is detected.

Similarly, the CTS control signal line is a control signal indicating whether the personal computer 4 is in a state (CTS ENABLE) or a state (CTS DISABLE) in which transmission of facsimile data from the facsimile apparatus 2 is permitted. In the facsimile apparatus 2, it is detected whether or not the personal computer 4 is in a state in which the data transmission is permitted, based on the state of the control signal.

One of the two data lines is a line for transmitting facsimile data from the facsimile device 2 to the personal computer 4, and the other is a line for transmitting PC data from the personal computer 4 to the facsimile device 2. These facsimile data and PC data are character data and encoded image data, and control data (hereinafter, referred to as control data for controlling transmission and reception of encoded image data).
Command).

These control signal lines and data lines are unidirectional lines.

The facsimile data transmitted between the facsimile apparatus 2 and another facsimile apparatus also includes character data and encoded image data, and control data (commands) for transmitting and receiving the encoded image. Including.

On the side of the main body 10 of the facsimile machine,
The handset 11 is attached. The handset 11 is placed on a hook (not shown) provided on the main body 10 when not talking, and is picked up from the hook when talking. The former is called the on-hook state and the latter is called the off-hook state. Body 10
An operation panel 12 is provided in the front part of the upper surface of the and the recording paper holder 19 is provided in the rear part.

Next, image data or character data is transmitted and received between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4 or with another facsimile device (hereinafter referred to as a partner device) 114 shown in FIG. The setting of the data transmission parameter and the processing of the received data and the like will be described.

When facsimile data is transmitted and received between the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114,
Transmission parameters such as transmission speed, resolution, paper width, encoding method, and whether character data can be sent and received are set. Each of these transmission parameters has a plurality of levels, as will be described later, and the facsimile data is transmitted at the highest level common to the facsimile apparatus 2 and the partner apparatus 114. The same applies to the transmission and reception of data between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4.

In the present embodiment, the transmission parameter level of the personal computer 4 is lower than that of the facsimile device 2,
When the facsimile device 2 transmits data to the partner device 114, or when the facsimile device 2 causes the personal computer 4 to receive the facsimile data transmitted from the partner device 114, the level of the personal computer 4 is set to the level of the facsimile device 2. Transmission parameters are determined based on the level.

First, the resolution will be described. However,
For simplification of description, the pixel size in the scanning direction is the same in all of the facsimile device 2, the partner device 114, and the personal computer 4, and only in the sub-scanning direction, as described above, 0.07 mm, 0.13 mm. , 0.26 mm 3
One of the stages will correspond to super fine, fine, and standard resolutions, respectively.

When facsimile data is transmitted and received between the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114 regardless of the personal computer 4, the resolution of the facsimile device 2 is superfine as described above, and therefore, the partner device. 1
If the highest resolution of 14 is also superfine, the resolution is determined to be superfine, and if the highest resolution of the partner device 114 is fine, the resolution is determined to be fine.

The resolution of the personal computer 4 is the display 1 described later.
This is the resolution when an image is displayed on 16. If this display 116 is {200dpi (dots / inch) x 400
If it is composed of liquid crystal having a size of dpi}, this size corresponds to the size of one pixel in the resolution of super fine of the facsimile apparatus 2. But,
This does not mean that the resolution of the personal computer 4 is immediately determined to be super fine. PC 4
The resolution of is generally fine. In the personal computer 4, the transmitted image data is made to correspond to the liquid crystal of the display device 116 by executing a predetermined program, and the program included in the personal computer 4 creates image data with a fine or standard resolution, This is what is displayed on the display unit 116.

The facsimile apparatus 2 of this embodiment has the highest resolution of super fine as described above, but since the maximum resolution of most of the personal computers 4 is fine as described above, the facsimile apparatus 2 and the personal computer 4 are In between, the resolution is generally finely determined.

Therefore, when the facsimile device 2 sends the image data sent from the personal computer 4 to the partner device 114, the resolution is determined to be fine even if the partner device 114 has a super fine resolution. In this case, the highest resolution of the facsimile apparatus 2 is fine, and the resolution is determined based on that.

In this way, when the resolution is determined between the two facsimile devices, in order to guarantee the reproducibility of the original image, the minimum reading unit of the image reading device 42 and the recording device 29.
It may be necessary to process the image data according to the difference in the size of the dot formation points and the difference in the maximum resolution. Further, the image data may be required to be processed between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4 due to the difference in the maximum resolution.

First, the case where the facsimile apparatus 2 receives the image data sent from the personal computer 4 and records the image data by the recording device 29 will be described.

In this case, the resolution is determined to be fine, and the facsimile device 2 receives the image data created in fine. When printing, each dot data is increased to two dot data in the scanning line direction, and one line data is increased to two line data in the sub scanning line direction.

Next, the facsimile device 2 is replaced by the partner device 11
The case of receiving the image data sent from No. 4 and sending the image data to the personal computer 4 will be described.

When the resolution between the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114 is set to super fine, the facsimile device 2 extracts line data in the sub-scanning line direction every other line and sends it to the personal computer 4. It When the resolution is set to fine with the partner device 114, data processing is unnecessary.

When the image data read by the image reading device 42 of the facsimile apparatus 2 is sent to the personal computer 4, the resolution is set to fine, so that the image data processing is unnecessary.

Even when the partner device 114 or the personal computer 4 has only standard resolution,
The image data is processed.

For example, the facsimile device 2 is the partner device 1
If the resolution of the image data received from 14 is superfine and the maximum resolution of the personal computer 4 is standard, 1 line of data is extracted from 4 lines of data in the sub-scanning line direction and sent from the partner device 114. If the resolution of the image data is fine, the data of one line is extracted from the data of two lines and sent to the personal computer 4.

In addition, from the personal computer 4 to the facsimile device 2
When the image data of the fine resolution sent to the other device 114 is sent to the partner device 114 having the highest standard resolution, the data of one line is extracted from the data of two lines.

The paper width will be described.

The maximum paper width in the facsimile device 2 is the maximum document width that can be read by the image reading device 42, and also the maximum recording paper width that can be recorded by the recording device 29. In this embodiment, it is B4 size. is there. In addition, the maximum paper width for the personal computer 4 including the scroll is displayed on the display unit 1.
16 is the maximum image width that can be displayed, here A4
Is the size.

The paper width between the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114 and between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4 is such that the paper width of the image data to be sent is smaller than the maximum paper width on the receiving side. The paper width of the transmitted image data is determined, and if it is larger than the maximum paper width on the receiving side, the maximum paper width is determined.

Therefore, the sheet width determined between the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114 and the facsimile device 2
When the paper width determined between the computer 4 and the personal computer 4 is different, or when the paper width of the document 90 read by the image reading device 42 and the paper width determined between the personal computer 4 are different, Image data processing is required.

For example, when the image data received by the facsimile apparatus 2 is for B4 size and it is necessary to reduce the image data to A4 size image data,
Four pieces are extracted from the five dot data in the width direction (scanning direction) of the B4 size image data, and four line data are extracted from the five line data in the length direction (sub-scanning direction).

In the present embodiment, the processing of the image data required due to the difference in the paper width and the difference in the resolution is collectively performed. The dot data extraction rate in the scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is determined based on the data reduction rate due to the difference in paper width and the data extraction rate due to the difference in resolution.

In the present embodiment, the paper width is different (smaller) from the paper width of the image data to be sent only when the paper width of the image data to be sent is larger than the maximum paper width on the receiving side. Therefore, data increase processing for image enlargement is not performed. Regarding the resolution, although the dot data may be increased in the recording device 29 of the facsimile device 2,
Since the resolution is determined to be the lower one of the highest resolutions of the transmitting side and the receiving side during data transmission, it is not necessary to increase the dot data for data transmission.

The encoding method will be described.

In the facsimile data transmission, digital data encoding methods include MMR (Modified MR) method and MR (Modified READ (Relative Element Address D).
esignate)) method and MH (Modified Huffman) method
There are several types, the MMR method is the most advanced coding method with the smallest number of data, and the MR method is the next most advanced coding method.

The coding method is also determined to be the highest coding method among the coding methods common to the transmitting side and the receiving side. When the facsimile device 2 sends the image data received from the partner device 114 to the personal computer 4, or
When the image data received from the device is transmitted to the partner device 114, if both devices have the same encoding system, it is not necessary to convert the encoding system, and the personal computer 4 directly transmits the encoded data via the facsimile device 2. Send out. However, when the two encoding systems are different, the personal computer 4 converts the encoding system according to the encoding system of the other party and then transmits the data via the facsimile apparatus 2.

Transmission / reception of character data will be described.

In transmitting facsimile data, in order to transmit character data, a BFT (Binary File Tr
ansfer) method, and ITU Recommendation T. It is adopted in 30. According to this method, the BFT is set on both the transmitting side and the receiving side.
If the system is supported, the character data can be transmitted and received without being converted into image data. Therefore, the character data created by the personal computer 4 can be directly transmitted to the partner device 114 via the facsimile device 2, and the transmission speed is generally improved as compared with the case of transmitting the image data. However, the partner device 114
Is not capable of supporting the BFT system, the character data created by the personal computer 4 is once expanded into image data by the personal computer 4, and then encoded and transmitted according to the encoding system of the partner device 114 via the facsimile device 2. To do.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 40 provided in the lower part of the facsimile device 2 is a C device as a processing device.
PU200, RAM202 and ROM2 as storage devices
04, EEPROM 206, input / output port (hereinafter referred to as I /
Called O port. ) 210 and bus 211,
The transmission / reception control circuit 212 and the modem 214 are provided. Further, the CPU 200 includes a DMAC 208, a parallel / serial conversion circuit 240 described later, and the like.

The DMAC 208 is connected to the RAM 202 and I / O.
The control is performed such that data transfer with the port 210 is performed without passing through the CPU 200. DMAC208
Issues a transfer request signal to the CPU 200 via the 47th terminal, and a transfer permission signal for permitting the transfer is D
When issued to MAC 208, RAM 202, EEPR
From OM 206 to I / O port 210, or I / O
Direct transfer of data from O port 210 to RAM 202
(Direct Memory Access) is instructed.

Further, the I / O port 210 has a recording paper sensor 20, a toner remaining amount detecting device 80, and a document table sensor 9.
8, the document sensor 99, the operation panel 12 and the like are connected, and the personal computer 4 is connected to the network control unit (hereinafter, NC) via the interface box 6.
External lines 224 are connected to each other via 222. The NCU 222 includes the handset 1
1, an external answering machine 190, and a speaker 226 are connected. The I / O port 210 also has a binarization circuit 22.
8, the recording device 29, etc. are connected, and the drive circuit 2
A document feeding device 96, a ringing tone generating device 232, and a built-in answering machine recording device 192 are connected via 30, 231 and 233.

The binarization circuit 228 is a circuit for converting the read image data read by the image reading device 42 into binarized data. That is, it is determined whether or not the analog output voltage value supplied from the CCD is larger than the threshold value data (converted from a digital value to an analog signal in the binarization circuit 228) supplied from the EEPROM 206. Binarized data is created by setting 0 (white) to 0 and black (1) when it is small. Further, when the halftone is selected by operating the resolution key on the operation panel 12, it is converted into binary data based on the dither matrix.

In the image reading device 42, there is unevenness in the illuminance of the light source with respect to the original (for example, the central part of the original is bright and the peripheral part is dark). Therefore, the output voltage value of the CCD may not correspond exactly to the shading of each pixel on the document. In order to deal with this inconvenience, in the facsimile device 2, the threshold value is determined in accordance with the illuminance unevenness and the like, and is stored in the EEPROM 206 as a table.

EEPROM 206 of this threshold data
The supply from the I / O port 210 to the I / O port 210 is controlled by the DMAC 208.

In the facsimile device 2, the image reading device 42 reads an image of one line of the document in about 2.5 ms. In addition, one line of A4 size original is 1728
It is composed of individual pixels. Therefore, the time required to read eight pixels is about 10 μs {(time required to read one line is 2.5 ms) ÷ (the number of pixels in the width direction of A4 172)
8 ÷ 8)}. Therefore, the threshold value data is supplied to the binarization circuit 228 every 10 μs.

The parallel / serial conversion circuit 240 serially converts the image data when transmitting the image data from the facsimile apparatus 2 to the personal computer 4, and vice versa.
This is a circuit for parallel-converting the encoded image data sent from the personal computer 4 to the facsimile device 2.

In this embodiment, in order to convert 8-bit parallel data into serial data, a clock is supplied to the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240 for about 1 ms. Since the transmission speed between the facsimile device 2 and the personal computer 4 is 9600 bps (bits / second), it takes about 1 ms to convert 8-bit data to serial data.
This is because (1 ÷ 9600 × 8).

This clock is the clock of the CPU 200 described above.
It is supplied via the 7th clock input / output terminal.

Since the 47th clock input / output terminal is also used to supply the transfer request signal from the DMAC 208 to the CPU 200 as described above, it is shared by both the DMAC 208 and the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240. It will be. Switching between the DMAC 208 and the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240 is performed by a multiplexer, but the clock input / output terminal of No. 47 is at least 1 ms by the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240 as described above.
It is impossible to perform these switching operations by the multiplexer in a cycle shorter than 1 ms, because it is occupied during this period. On the other hand, I / O port 210 has 1
Threshold data must be supplied every 0 μs. Therefore, it is impossible to perform the reading by the image reading device 42 and the sending of the sending image data in parallel.

On the other hand, the DMAC 208 also transfers the binarized image data from the I / O port 210 to the RAM 202.
This command is executed by I / O port 2
It is designed to be emitted when image data of 8 bits is supplied to 10 predetermined gate arrays.

Further, the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240
The supply of the clock to the CPU 200 is started by the clock start command of the CPU 200 and ended by the end command. Therefore, the CPU 200 can execute other programs while the clock is being supplied to the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240.

Therefore, in the control device 40, in parallel with the supply of the clock to the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240, the encoding of the image data based on the program described later stored in the memory of the ROM 204 is performed. ing.

Further, the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240
As shown in FIG. 2, the data reception interrupt prohibition flag 2
43, data transmission prohibition interrupt flag 244, P / S reception data buffer 246, P / S transmission data buffer 248
Is provided. The image data and command data transmitted from the personal computer 4 input from the gate array of the I / O port 210 are stored in the P / S reception data buffer 246 after being parallel-converted by the parallel / serial conversion circuit 240. To be done. Further, the image data and command data stored in the P / S transmission data buffer 248 are serial-converted, and then the I / O port 21
It is transmitted to the personal computer 4 from the determined port of 0.

When the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114 are connected to each other via the external line 224, the transmission / reception control circuit 212 exchanges both the facsimile number and the resolution related information such as resolution with the partner device 114. Is a circuit that performs.

Further, the modem 214 modulates a digital signal into an analog signal and transmits it to the external line 2 via the NCU 222.
24 to the NCU2 from the external line 224.
The analog signal input via 22 is demodulated into a digital signal. Therefore, the modulation / demodulation mechanism 234
And a voice reproduction mechanism 236 for reproducing the transmitted voice analog data into voice. These modulation / demodulation mechanism 234, audio reproduction mechanism 236, NCU 222
The handset 11 and the like constitute a telephone.

The modem 214 is further provided with a modem transmission data buffer 238, a modem reception data buffer 239, a data reception interruption prohibition flag 241, which is used when transmitting facsimile data with the partner device 114 as described later. A data transmission interrupt prohibition flag 242 is provided. The NCU 222 automatically receives a call from the external line 224 when receiving data, and automatically calls the other party when sending data. Digital data representing the destination number is supplied from the CPU 200 to the NCU 222 through the I / O port 210.

The ringing tone generator 232 operates as the partner device 114.
When a call signal is sent from a telephone or telephone, the control device 4
The ringing tone is generated by the voltage supplied through the drive circuit 231 based on the command from 0. The drive circuit 231 supplies or stops supply of voltage in response to the calling signal.

As shown in FIG. 3, the RAM 202 has a PC side reception data buffer 250, a PC side transmission data buffer 252, and a FAX side reception data buffer 25.
4, FAX side transmission data buffer 256, read image data buffer 258, recording temporary buffer 260, recording buffer 262, PC transmission parameter buffer 263, own facsimile number buffer 264, dial buffer 2
66, 1-page data buffer 277, decoding buffer 270, encoding buffer 271, image data reception transmission parameter buffer 290, PC data transmission flag 2
68, DLE flag 272, cancel flag 274,
Print flag 276, PC / TEL flag 278, reception preparation completion flag 280, FAX incoming flag 282, paper output flag 284, proxy flag 286, PC transmission flag 288, paper output mode historical line reception flag 292, PC
ONLY mode historical line reception flag 294, PC priority mode historical line reception flag 296, time-up flag 29
8, flag A, flag B, flag C, flag D, flag E, 0 fill data counter 340, 0 data counter 342, line counter 344, image data bit number counter 346, error line counter 348 and the like are provided.

The PC data received by the facsimile device 2 from the personal computer 4 and transmitted to the partner device 114 is stored in the FAX side transmission data buffer 256, and the facsimile data received by the facsimile device 2 from the partner device 114 is stored in the FAX side reception data buffer. It is stored in 254. Further, the facsimile data transmitted by the facsimile apparatus 2 to the personal computer 4 is stored in the PC side transmission data buffer 252, and the PC data and commands received by the facsimile apparatus 2 from the personal computer 4 and recorded are stored in the PC side reception data buffer 250. It

The RAM 202 is provided with a shared buffer shared by the buffers 250 to 266, 270, 271, 277.

Further, the ROM 204 stores various programs such as a coded image processing program and a decoded image processing program.

On the other hand, the personal computer 4, as shown in FIG.
A keyboard 300, a display 116, a mouse 304 connected near the keyboard 300, and a control device 306 are provided. The control device 306 is a CPU 30 as a processing device.
7, a RAM 308 as a storage device, a ROM 309, and a bus 310 connecting them, and an I / O port 3
11, a keyboard 300, a display 116, and a mouse 304
Etc. are connected.

One of the plurality of functions displayed on the display unit 116 is selected by operating the mouse 304.

When the personal computer 4 is connected to the facsimile apparatus 2, the display 116 displays at least the functions of transmission, reception, recording, reading, and telephone. Therefore, by moving the mouse 304 on the operation plate, the cursor on the display device 116 is moved to a portion on the display device 116 where the function intended by the user is displayed, and the mouse 304 is provided at that position. If one button is pressed, the function is selected, and if the other button is pressed, the selection is canceled. When one of the buttons is pressed again with the function selected, the execution is started.

When the transmission function is selected, the PC data is sent from the personal computer 4 to the facsimile device 2 and the partner device 114.

If the receiving function is selected, the partner device 114
The facsimile data transmitted from the facsimile machine 2 to the facsimile machine 2 is prepared for reception. A program for receiving the facsimile data is started, which causes the output mode in the facsimile device 2 to be PC.O.
By setting the NLY mode or the PC priority mode, the facsimile data transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 2 can be received.

When the reading function is selected, the image data read by the image reading device 42 of the facsimile device 2 is sent to the personal computer 4.

When the recording function is selected, PC data is transmitted from the personal computer 4 to the facsimile device 2 and recorded by the recording device 29.

If the telephone function is selected, the personal computer 4 designates the other party of the facsimile device 2, and the telephone of the facsimile device 2 makes a call.

In the RAM 308, as shown in FIG.
C data buffer 320, transmission count buffer 322, transmission partner buffer 324, coded image data buffer 32
6, a facsimile data buffer 328 and the like are provided. Further, the ROM 309 is provided with a memory for storing a PC data transmission instruction program and a memory for storing a PC data transmission program.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

First, data such as a desired document is created using the keyboard 300 of the personal computer 4, and the created data is stored in the PC data buffer 320 of the RAM 308 of the personal computer 4. At this time, PC data buffer 3
As the data stored in 20, the data created by the personal computer 4 is stored as the character data. After that, in the case of performing the sequential broadcast transmission in which the data is sequentially transmitted to a plurality of destinations, the telephone numbers corresponding to the plurality of destinations to be transmitted are sequentially input from the keyboard of the personal computer 4, and the input telephone numbers are input. Is stored in the transmission destination buffer 324 of the RAM 308.

For this input, it suffices to switch the display of the display unit 116 of the personal computer 4 to the telephone number input screen and successively input the telephone numbers corresponding to a plurality of destinations on the input screen. If a telephone directory in which a telephone number and a destination name are stored in association with each other is stored in the RAM 308, the telephone number can be automatically called and called only by sequentially inputting the destination name. May be.

After that, when a communication start instruction is issued from the keyboard 300 of the personal computer 4, the CPU 30 of the personal computer 4
7, the broadcast transmission process is started, and "N = 1" is set as an initial value in the transmission count buffer 322 of the RAM 308 (step 1, hereinafter referred to as S1). This N indicates the number of the other party to be transmitted from the plurality of recipients to be broadcast.

Next, based on the telephone number stored in the transmission destination buffer 324 of the personal computer 4 in order to call the Nth destination, the telephone which the personal computer 4 is about to call to the facsimile device 2 from now on. A command including the number is transmitted, and the facsimile device 114 of the other party is called from the facsimile device 2 (S3). When the connection with the partner facsimile machine 114 is completed, a communication protocol procedure is executed, and in this communication procedure, transmission parameters such as transmission speed, resolution, paper width, encoding method, and whether character data can be transmitted and received are set. (S5).
This setting is notified from the facsimile device 2 to the personal computer 4, and according to this setting, the data to be transmitted is converted according to the capability of the other party and transmitted. In particular, here, it is determined whether or not the facsimile device 114 of the other party can receive the character data, that is, whether or not the facsimile device 114 has the ability of BFT (S7).

If the facsimile machine 114 of the other party has the BFT capability (YES in S7), the character code data created by the personal computer 4 and stored in the PC data buffer 320 is not directly converted. , To the other facsimile machine 114 via the facsimile machine 2 (S9). After that, it is determined whether or not all the data has been transmitted to the N-th destination (S1
1) When all the data is transmitted (YE in S11)
S) Then, it is determined whether or not the transmission has been performed to all the destinations to be transmitted (S13), and when the transmission has been performed to all the destinations (YES in S13), this process ends. In addition, when there is still a partner to send (N in S13
O), the process returns to the process of S1 and the above-mentioned process is executed again.

Furthermore, when the facsimile apparatus 114 of the other party does not have the BFT capability in S7 (N in S7).
O), the first BF in the sequence of sending to multiple destinations
It is determined whether or not the opponent does not have the ability of T (S15), and if the opponent does not have the ability of the first BFT (YES in S15), the character created by the personal computer 4 The code data is converted into image data (S17). The converted image data is stored in the RAM 30.
No. 8 coded image data buffer 326 is stored with being compressed by the MMR method in order to increase the storage efficiency (S1).
9).

Thereafter, the image data stored in the encoded image data buffer 326 of the RAM 308 is transmitted to the facsimile machine 114 of the other party via the facsimile machine 2 (S21). At this time, the other facsimile machine 1
Since the capacity of 14 is confirmed in S5, if the facsimile machine 114 of the other party does not have the compression capacity of the MMR system, the image data is converted into the MR or MH system according to the compression capacity of the other party. The transmission is done. Here, R
In order to increase the storage efficiency of the AM 308, the data was compressed and stored by the MMR system with the highest compression efficiency. However, since the capability of the compression system of the other party has been confirmed in S5, the compression system is compressed and stored according to the capability. You may. In this case, RAM3
Although it is not necessary to convert the compression method of the image data stored in the encoded image data buffer 326 of 08 to transmit,
When the other party has only the MH system, when the other party has the compression capability of the MMR system when transmitting to another party later, the MH is converted to the MMR system. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the more the destinations are, the more efficient the compression and storage is performed by the MMR method.

If the destination is not the first one that does not have the BFT capability during the transmission to a plurality of destinations in sequence (NO in S15), the character data is already stored in the encoded image data buffer 326 of the RAM 308. Since the image data converted from is present, the image data is transmitted according to the compression method of the other party (S23). Further, as described above, it is determined whether or not the transmission of the image data is completed (S11), and the above-described operation is repeated based on the determination.

In this way, transmission is sequentially performed to a plurality of destinations, and if the destination facsimile device 114 has the BFT capability, a character code is used. If the destination facsimile device does not have the BFT capability, image data corresponding to the capability is used. Therefore, it is possible to perform the transmission in the most efficient manner according to the capability of the facsimile apparatus 114 of the other party.

In this embodiment, the storage of the character data input by the personal computer 4, the conversion of the character data into the image data, the storage of the converted image data, etc. are all performed by the personal computer 4. The above operation may be entirely performed by the facsimile apparatus 2, or a part of the operation may be performed by the facsimile apparatus 2.

Further, not only the personal computer 4 but also any other device such as a word processor that handles character data may be connected to the facsimile device 2.

Furthermore, without connecting the personal computer 4 or the like,
The above processing may be performed by the facsimile device 2 alone. In this case, the facsimile device 2 may be provided with a floppy disk drive so that character code data created by another personal computer 4 or the like can be input from the floppy disk.

The character data is not limited to those input from the outside, but the image data read by the image reading device 42 is temporarily converted into image data by using an OCR (optical character recognition device) provided in the facsimile device 2. It is also possible to convert the character data into character data, and select the image data that has been read or the converted character data according to the capabilities of a plurality of destinations and transmit the selected character data when performing broadcast transmission.

In any case, when the above processing is performed by the facsimile apparatus 2 alone, the input character data and the converted image data are stored in the FAX side transmission data buffer 256 of the RAM 202, and the stored data is stored. May be selected and transmitted according to the capability of the facsimile apparatus 114 of the other party.

The capability of the facsimile machine 114 of the other party can be confirmed by performing communication once. Therefore, at this time, the capability of the other party, for example, whether or not it corresponds to BFT, is associated with the telephone number of the other party. It is also possible to omit the confirmation of the capability in the communication procedure in the subsequent communication and to perform the transmission based on the stored capability information. By doing so, the time required for the communication procedure can be shortened, and at the same time, the facsimile apparatus 1 having the BFT capability is first among the plurality of destinations to be transmitted.
The character data is sequentially transmitted to the facsimile device 14, and then the facsimile device 114 having no BFT capability is transmitted.
The image data may be transmitted to the.

Further, in this embodiment, the sequential broadcast transmission in which the stored data is sequentially transmitted to the plurality of destinations has been described, but the present invention is also applicable to the simultaneous broadcast transmission to the plurality of destinations simultaneously. Can be applied. In this case, the character data and the image data are stored in advance, the capabilities of the other party are simultaneously confirmed by using a plurality of lines connected to the facsimile apparatus 2, and the character data or the image data are respectively sent according to the capabilities. Just send it. At this time, when the number of destinations to be transmitted is larger than the number of lines connected to the facsimile apparatus 2, the facsimile having the BFT capability is first used based on the previously stored capability information of the destination. Device 1
The facsimile apparatus 11 which transmits the character data to 14 at a time and then does not have the BFT capability.
The image data may be simultaneously transmitted to all four.

Although not specifically exemplified, the present invention can be carried out in various modified and improved modes based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0099]

In the facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, whether the character data or the image data is transmitted is selected according to the capabilities of a plurality of destinations. Accordingly, it has an effect that it can be efficiently transmitted.

Further, in the second invention, when the other party has the ability to receive the character data, the character data is preferentially transmitted, so that the character data can be transmitted quickly and the character data can be transmitted on the receiving side. It has the effect that it can be easily edited.

Further, in the third invention, when the character data input by the input means is stored and the opponent does not have the ability to receive the character data,
Since the character data is converted into image data and transmitted, it is only necessary to secure the capacity for storing the character data in the storage means for the time being, and the storage efficiency of the storage means can be improved.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, the character data or the image data is controlled to be sequentially transmitted to a plurality of destinations, and when the destination does not have the ability to receive the character data, the conversion means is used. The converted image data is stored in the storage means, and the character data or the image data stored in the storage means is selected and transmitted in the subsequent transmission. Therefore, the character data is converted into the image data every transmission. No need to
This has the effect of reducing the time required for transmission.

In the fifth invention, the character data and the image data are stored in the storage means, and the character data and the image data respectively stored in the storage means are stored in accordance with the capabilities of a plurality of opponents. Is selected and transmitted, there is an effect that it can be transmitted efficiently according to the capabilities of a plurality of other parties.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a facsimile apparatus, a personal computer connected to the facsimile apparatus, and an interface box for connecting them, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device of the facsimile device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing the structure of a RAM of the control device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device of the personal computer.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a RAM of the personal computer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a broadcast transmission process.

[Explanation of Codes] 2 Facsimile device 4 Personal computer 40 Control device 114 Other facsimile device (counterpart device) 200 CPU 306 Control device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting character data, and a conversion unit for converting the character data input by the input unit into image data, and the character data or the converted image data is transmitted. In the communication device, the broadcast transmission control means for transmitting the character data or the image data to a plurality of destinations, and whether the character data or the image data is transmitted according to the capabilities of the destinations. A communication device, comprising: a selection unit that selects the. 2. The selecting means has a confirming means for confirming whether or not the opponent has the ability to receive the character data, and when the opponent has the ability to receive the character data, the character data is selected. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device preferentially transmits. 3. A storage unit for storing the character data input by the input unit, wherein the character data stored in the storage unit is converted into the conversion unit when the other party has no ability to receive the character data. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device converts the image data into image data and transmits the image data. 4. The broadcast transmission control means controls to sequentially transmit the character data or the image data to a plurality of destinations, and the destination does not have the ability to receive the character data. 4. The image data converted by the conversion means is stored in the storage means, and the character data or the image data stored in the storage means is selected and transmitted in the subsequent transmission. Communication device. 5. Storage means for storing character data and image data, and character data and image data respectively stored in said storage means are selected and transmitted according to the capabilities of a plurality of opponents. A communication apparatus comprising: a broadcast transmitting unit.