JPH0998271A - Image communication unit and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily confirm a communication state with respect to each of plural destinations by providing a display means displaying information of plural communication destinations on one screen. SOLUTION: Document content icons 22a-22d display contents of image data able to be sent for each group consisting of one or plural pages. The operator designates the group of image data desired to be sent among the document content icons 22a-22d. An icon pointed out by a mouse is moved as it is to a destination of destination information areas 23a-23c and dragged and dropped thereon. Then image data of several pages corresponding to the document content icons are sent to a communication destination indicated in the destination information areas. The communication state is indicated by a communication state indicator 24 and a transmitted image icon 25. The sequence of pages to be sent is made from a final page because the transmitted image icon 25 indicates the final page.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus and method for communicating image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus that communicates image data displays a communication status for one communication partner on one display unit.

[0003]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned display, even if it is desired to perform image data communication with a plurality of destinations in parallel, the display is switched for each communication destination and each communication is performed. There was a problem that the communication status of the other party had to be confirmed. Further, conventionally, there is a problem that the contents of the transmitted image data cannot be displayed in detail.

In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to easily confirm the communication status of each of a plurality of destinations.

Another object is to display the details of the transmitted image data in detail.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, an image communication apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is an image communication apparatus capable of communicating images in parallel to a plurality of communication partners. In a case where an image is communicated in parallel with a display means for displaying information of a plurality of communication partners in one screen, when the images are communicated in parallel with the plurality of communication partners, And a control means for controlling so that the communication status of 1 is displayed on one screen.

The image communication apparatus according to a sixth aspect is an image communication apparatus capable of communicating images in parallel to a plurality of communication partners, and displays information of the plurality of communication partners in one screen. And a control means for controlling so that the reduced size image of the image data transmitted to each of the plurality of communication partners displayed by the display means is allocated and displayed. And having.

The image communication apparatus according to claim 12 is
In an image communication device for transmitting image data to a communication partner, the content of the transmitted image data transmitted to the communication partner is displayed in page units within a predetermined area corresponding to the communication partner. It is characterized by comprising display means for displaying and switching means for switching the content of the transmitted image data displayed on the display means based on a predetermined designation operation.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image communication apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an image communication device,
This is a CPU (central processing unit) 2, a ROM (read only memory) 3, a RAM (read / write memory) 4,
The storage unit 5, the display unit 6, the key input unit 7 typified by a mouse, and the communication unit 8 are included.

Further, these parts are connected via a system bus 9. 10 is another image communication device (hereinafter,
A communication line for communicating with a communication partner), which is connected to the communication unit 8. Also, the interface unit 11
The image data can be exchanged by connecting to an external device such as the scanner 12 or the printer 13.

The CPU 2 controls the entire image communication apparatus 1. The ROM 3 stores control programs and constant data required for the CPU 2 to operate. R
The AM 4 temporarily stores various control variables and transmission / reception data.

The storage unit 5 is for storing the data to be transmitted and received, and for example, a hard disk device or the like is used.

The display unit 6 displays the destination information of the communication partner, the communication status, the transmitted image data and the contents of the transmittable image data, which will be described later. In the present embodiment, a mouse is used as the key input unit 7,
The operator's instruction input is accepted.

The communication section 8 transmits / receives data to / from a communication partner via the communication circuit 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 6 when the image communication apparatus 1 transmits image data to a communication partner. Here, the image data is stored in the storage unit 5.
The data may be stored in the storage device or input from the scanner 12.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 is the entire screen of the display unit 6, and 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d are document content icons for displaying the content of image data that can be transmitted for each group consisting of one or a plurality of pages. The cover page of the first page is mainly displayed here. Also, the second page,
It is also possible to switch to the third page.

Reference numerals 23a, 23b and 23c are destination information areas for displaying information (destination information) of communication destinations, 24 is a communication status indicator attached to each piece of destination information, and 25 is a transmission completion indicator when transmission is completed. Is a transmitted image icon for displaying the content of the image data (a document content icon further reduced).

The relationship between the various parts of the screen shown in FIG. 2 will be described in more detail below.

In FIG. 3, the destination information area 23a is a display area of the destination information, and in this area, the face or name of the person at the other end of the communication, the address, the telephone number, etc., can be confirmed at a glance by the other end of the communication. Is displayed.

The transmitted image icon 25 displays the content of the image data of the page for which transmission has been completed. When the operator selects (clicks with the mouse) this icon, the image data of another transmitted page is displayed. It is possible to switch the display so that the contents are displayed. This will be described later.

Next, the flow of operation when transmitting image data using the screen on the display unit 6 described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S1, the key input unit 7 is operated so as to call a screen for the operator to instruct transmission of image data.
Specify from. Subsequently, in S2, a screen for instructing the transmission as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed.

In S3, the operator uses the key input unit 7 to input the document content icons 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d shown in FIG.
Specify the group of image data you want to send.

In this example, the document content icon 22b is designated by the mouse, and the designated destination is moved to the destination information area 23a and dragged and dropped. By this operation, the image data of several pages corresponding to the document content icon 22b is transmitted to the communication partner displayed in the destination information area 23a.

In S4, the CPU 2 gives an instruction to the communication unit 8 to connect the line with the communication partner instructed by the operator in S3. Upon receiving this instruction, the communication unit 8 connects the line via the communication line 10.

In S5, the CPU 2 detects the number of all pages of the image data corresponding to the document content icon 22b already stored in the storage unit 5 and the data amount of each page, and stores the result in the RAM 4.

In S6, the CPU 2 generates a transmission completion page variable P stored in the RAM 4 and sets it to 0. In S7, 1 is added to the number of pages obtained by adding 1 to the transmission completion page variable, that is, the image data of the first page. The image data read out from the buffer storage unit 5 and read out in S8 is transmitted to the communication partner via the communication unit 8 and the communication line 10.

In S9, the ratio of the transmitted data amount to the data amount of the P page which is being transmitted among the data amount of each page of the image data stored in the RAM 4 in S5 is calculated,
The display control of the communication status indicator 24 is performed so that the ratio is displayed corresponding to the ratio of the length of the colored portion to the length of one round of the communication status indicator 24. As a result, it can be seen in real time that one page of image data is transmitted each time the communication status indicator 24 is colored once.

In S10, the CPU 2 determines whether or not all the image data of the page being transmitted has been transmitted. If the image data remains, the process returns to S7 and the processes of S7 to S10 are performed until the transmission of the image data of the P + 1th page is completed. repeat. or,
When all the image data of the page being transmitted has been transmitted, the process proceeds to S11.

At S11, the transmission completion page variable P stored in the RAM 4 is incremented by 1 and stored again.

Then, in S12, the CPU 2 reduces and displays the content of the image data of the page transmitted in S10 as the transmitted icon 25. This display is overwritten in the same place each time the image data of each page is transmitted.

In S13, the CPU 2 confirms whether or not all the pages stored in S5 have been transmitted (the total number of pages in the image data group designated in S3).
If there are still untransmitted pages, the process returns to S7 and the process is repeated to transmit the image data of all pages to be transmitted. If all the pages have been transmitted, the process proceeds to S14 and the transmission process is completed.

In the flow of processing shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to distinguish the portion of processing A in which processing is performed by the operator's instruction and the portion of processing B in which the image communication apparatus automatically performs processing. Therefore, the operator can newly give a transmission instruction (process A) while the image communication apparatus is executing the process B. Here, the CPU 2 performs a plurality of processes of the process B at the same time (for example, a line is simultaneously connected to a plurality of destinations from a communication line), whereby image communication processing for each communication destination can be performed in parallel, and the above-described communication is performed. It is also possible to display the communication status using the status indicator 24, the transmitted image icon 25, etc. in parallel. By the above processing, the communication operation of a plurality of image data can be efficiently performed. FIG. 6 shows an example of the screen of the display unit 6 when the above processing is performed.

Next, the process of switching the display of the transmitted image icon 25 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in S21, when the operator inputs an instruction from the key input unit 7 by clicking the mouse or the like while the screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display unit 6, the process proceeds to S22. In S22, it is determined whether the selected area clicked with the mouse is the area of the transmitted image icon 25.

Next, if it is within the icon area in S22, S
23, otherwise returns to S21. In S23, the value of the transmission completion page variable P (stored in the RAM 4 in S11 of FIG. 4) of the image data corresponding to the selected transmitted image icon 25 is read from the RAM 4.

Subsequently, in step S24, the CPU 2 determines whether the variable P is larger than 1, that is, the page of the transmitted image data is 1
Determine if it is larger than the page.

If the value of the variable P is 0 or 1, there is no page for switching the image displayed on the icon 25, so the process returns to S21. If the variable P is 1 or more, the process proceeds to S25.

In step S25, the value of P indicating the total number of pages of the above-mentioned image data is substituted into the variable h indicating the currently displayed page stored in the RAM 4. In S26, S2
1 is subtracted from the variable h substituted in 5, and the result is stored in the RAM 4. In S27, the content of the image data of the page indicated by the value of h stored in S26 is retrieved from the storage unit 5 and displayed. That is, the display is switched so as to display the image data of one page before the page displayed in S25.

In S28, the CPU 2 waits for the operator's input from the key input unit 7, and again by the same judgment as in S22, if the selected area is within the area of the transmitted icon 25, the process proceeds to S29. If a region other than is selected, the process proceeds to S31.

In S29, it is determined whether the variable h is 1, and 1
In other cases, the process returns to S26 and page switching is performed again. When the variable h is 1, the variable h is (P + 1)
Is substituted and the process returns to S26.

In S31, the display content of the transmitted image icon 25 is returned to the content of the image data of the page before the series of page switching processing (page when the variable h = P), and the above processing is terminated. .

In the above embodiment, the order of pages to be transmitted is from the first page of the cover, but considering that the transmitted image icon 25 displays the last transmitted page, the pages are transmitted from the last page. Is also good.

Considering that the communication partner needs the image data from the first page of the cover, and vice versa, the communication partner needs the image data from the image data of the last page, and the display 6 is displayed. If you want to display the first page of the cover page in the order of the pages to be displayed, see Figure 7.
As described above, the transmission page order and the page display order on the display unit 6 may be reversed.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the communication status with respect to each of a plurality of destinations can be easily confirmed.

Further, the contents of the transmitted image data can be displayed in detail.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the entire image communication apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a display unit 6.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of destination information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of processing when transmitting image data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of a display switching process in the transmitted image icon 25.

FIG. 6 is a screen diagram of the display unit 6 when communicating with a plurality of communication partners.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relationship between a page order in which image data is transmitted and a page order in which the display unit 6 is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 CPU 3 ROM 4 RAM 5 storage unit 6 display unit 7 key input unit 8 communication unit 9 system bus 10 communication circuit 11 interface unit 12 scanner 13 printer

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An image communication device capable of communicating images in parallel to a plurality of communication partners, a display unit for displaying information of the plurality of communication partners in one screen, and the plurality of communication partners. When communicating images in parallel to
An image communication apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the display unit to display the communication status of each of the plurality of communication partners within one screen. 2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display of the communication status of each of the communication partners by the control unit is performed in real time with respect to the communication to each communication partner. 3. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information of the communication partner displayed by the control means includes a facial photograph of an operator who operates the communication partner. 4. An indicator showing a ratio of a communicated image portion to a whole page of an image to be communicated is used for displaying the communication status of each of the communication partners by the control means. The image communication device according to claim 1. 5. An image communication method capable of parallelly communicating images to a plurality of communication partners, a display step of displaying information of the plurality of communication partners in one screen, and the plurality of communication partners. When communicating images in parallel to
And a control step of performing control so that the communication status of each of the plurality of communication partners is displayed in one screen in the display step. 6. An image communication apparatus capable of transmitting image data to a plurality of communication partners in parallel, a display unit for displaying information of a plurality of communication partners in one screen, and a display unit for displaying the information. And a control means for controlling so as to allocate and display an image of a reduced size of the image data transmitted to each of the plurality of communication partners. apparatus. 7. The image communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the display of the reduced size image controlled by the control means is performed so as to be in contact with each area of the information of the communication partner. 8. The image communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the content of the reduced size image controlled by the control unit is switched during transmission of image data to a communication partner. 9. The image communication device according to claim 6, wherein the content of the reduced-size image controlled by the control unit is switched in response to a change in the page of image data to be transmitted. . 10. An image communication method capable of transmitting image data to a plurality of communication partners in parallel, a display step of displaying information of a plurality of communication partners in one screen, and a display in the display step. And a control step for performing control so that the image of the image data transmitted to each of the plurality of communication destinations is displayed and assigned to each of the information of the plurality of communication destinations. . 11. An image communication apparatus for transmitting image data to a communication partner, wherein the content of the transmitted image data transmitted to the communication partner is stored in a predetermined area corresponding to the communication partner. An image communication apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying the contents in page units; and a switching unit for switching the content of the transmitted image data displayed on the display unit based on a predetermined designation operation. 12. The image communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the content of the image data displayed by the display means is a reduced image of the actual image data to be transmitted. 13. The display by the display means can display each transmitted image data corresponding to a plurality of transmissions simultaneously on one screen.
1. The image communication device according to 1. 14. The image communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the switching of the content of the image data by the switching unit is switched within one group of pages to be communicated. 15. An image communication method for transmitting image data to a communication partner, wherein the content of the transmitted image data transmitted to the communication partner is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the communication partner. An image communication method, comprising: a display step of displaying each page within the page; and a switching step of switching the content of the transmitted image data displayed in the display step based on a predetermined designation operation.