JPH1065865A - Equipment with facsimile function and facsimile reception system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the equipment with facsimile function and facsimile reception system in which data received by a backup equipment are sent to the equipment with highest priority after the recovery of a reception disable state when the equipment is in the tentative reception disabled state 10 the case that a plurality of the equipments with the facsimile function are connected to one line. SOLUTION: When the equipment A is in a tentative reception disabled state and its recovery is expected, the equipment A informs it to the equipment B via an inter-equipment interface that the equipment A is in the tentative reception disabled state. The equipment B receiving the notice receives the data in response to a request from the line. When the reception output is enabled, the equipment A informs it to the equipment B via the inter-equipment interface that the equipment A is in the usual operation enable state. The equipment B receiving the notice sends the received data to the equipment A via the inter-equipment interface. Then the equipment A receiving the data provides an output of the received data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an OA device having a facsimile transmission / reception function and a facsimile reception system using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, office automation equipment having a facsimile function, such as digital copying machines and personal computers, have been widely used in offices. These devices are connected by a single public line, and are arranged so that data can be directly transmitted and received to and from the outside.

[0003]

However, when performing a process such as upgrading the version of each OA device connected to a plurality of OA devices and setting internal settings, the operator has to work for each device. . Further, in such an environment, when one device to be received cannot receive data due to a memory full condition, a failure, or the like, it is preferable that another device can smoothly perform proxy reception. Furthermore, it is problematic in terms of cost that all devices are provided with a printer for outputting received data.

Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide an OA having a plurality of facsimile functions on one line (public line).
An object of the present invention is to provide a device with a facsimile function that can share system information between devices when the devices are connected. The second object of the present invention is to
A device with a facsimile function capable of shortening the processing time until a reception response by giving advance notification when a reception failure state occurs when a plurality of OA devices having a facsimile function are connected to the book line It is to provide. A third object of the present invention is to provide a system in which, when a plurality of OA devices having a facsimile function are connected to one line, the cause of the reception failure state of the device having the highest priority is a temporary reception failure state. The present invention provides a device with a facsimile function and a facsimile receiving system that can receive and output data without a sense of incongruity to an operator by sending data received by a backup device after recovery of an unreceivable state to a device having the highest priority.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a device having a facsimile function capable of continuously connecting a plurality of devices to a public line is connected to another device. The first object of the present invention is to provide a transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving data between devices via an interface, and a status detection unit for detecting the status of another connected device via the transmission / reception unit. To achieve. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the facsimile function-equipped device according to the first aspect, if any of the connected facsimile function-equipped devices becomes unable to receive data, the situation detecting means detects that fact and sets in advance. The second object is achieved by performing reception by the device having the highest priority at that time in accordance with the priority of the given device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the facsimile function-equipped device according to the second aspect, it is detected that any one of the facsimile function-equipped devices connected to the status detecting means cannot perform reception. According to the priority of the set device, when receiving by the device with the highest priority at that time, when the device with facsimile function becomes receivable, by transferring data via the transmitting and receiving means, Achieve the third objective.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a facsimile receiving system in which a plurality of facsimile-equipped devices are connected to a public line, data is transmitted and received between the respective facsimile-equipped devices via the connected interface. Transmission / reception means for performing communication, and status detection means for detecting the status of another connected facsimile function-equipped device via the transmission / reception means, and any one of the connected facsimile function-equipped devices cannot receive. If the situation detection means detects that the device has the facsimile function, the reception is performed by the facsimile function device having the highest priority at that time, and the device with the facsimile function can receive. When the data is transferred through the transmitting / receiving means, To achieve.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
A plurality of devices A, B, and C having a facsimile function are connected to a public line. These devices are connected via an inter-device interface. Normally, reception and output are performed by the device A having the highest priority according to the priority set by the operator (here, the order of A, B, and C is higher). At this time, from the public line inside the device A, the device B,
The bus connected to C is disconnected.

[0009] Next, when the device A is temporarily incapable of receiving data such as a memory full condition and is expected to be recovered, the device A informs the device B that the device B is temporarily incapable of receiving data via the inter-device interface. Notice. Device B that received this
Performs data reception in response to a request from a line. Then, the device A notifies the device B via the inter-device interface that the normal operation is enabled when the device becomes ready to receive and output. The device B receiving this transmits the received data to the device A via the inter-device interface. Then, the device A that has received the data outputs the received data. If device B is also unable to receive,
The device C performs reception according to the priority order.

If it is determined that the reception failure state of the apparatus A is not temporary (for example, a failure requiring the intervention of an operator), the apparatus A notifies the apparatus B of the reception failure, and the apparatus B In response to a request from the line, data is received, and in the case of a device having an output mechanism in device B, output of received data is performed. To show that you are). Here, when the device B is a device having no output mechanism such as a personal computer, the data reception information or the reception data is displayed on the display unit. Then, the output of the reception data of the device B is performed via the interface between the devices after the recovery of the device A.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a device with a facsimile function has an interface between the devices, when performing processing such as version upgrade and internal setting, the operator can use one machine. By setting, processing can be performed on all other connected devices. Therefore, the system information can be shared between the respective devices having the facsimile function. According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a failure occurs in one device such as a failure or a memory full condition, data can always be received in another device according to the priority of the device with facsimile. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when data is received by another device, data can be transferred to the device that should originally receive the data. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when data is received by another device, data can be transferred to a device in the system that should receive the data. Therefore, since only one device having an output mechanism is required in the system, the system can be constructed at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration in which three devices with a facsimile function according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected and arranged.

[Explanation of symbols]

Device A Device with facsimile function (highest priority) Device B Device with facsimile function Device C Device with facsimile function

Claims (4)

[Claims] An apparatus with a facsimile function capable of continuously connecting a plurality of apparatuses to a public line, wherein data is transmitted and received between the apparatuses via an interface connected to another apparatus. A facsimile function-equipped device comprising: a transmission / reception means for performing the following; and a status detection means for detecting the status of another connected device via the transmission / reception means. 2. If any of the connected facsimile-equipped devices becomes incapable of receiving, the situation detecting means detects that fact, and follows the preset priority of the device. 2. A device with a facsimile function according to claim 1, wherein reception is performed by a high-priced device. 3. An apparatus having the facsimile function, to which the status detecting means is connected, detects that reception is no longer possible, and according to a preset priority of the apparatus, the apparatus having the highest priority at that time. 3. A device with a facsimile function according to claim 2, wherein, when the device with the facsimile function is able to receive the data, the data is transferred via the transmission / reception means. 4. A facsimile receiving system in which a plurality of facsimile function-equipped devices are connected to a public line, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting and receiving data between the respective facsimile function-equipped devices via a connected interface. Status detecting means for detecting the status of another connected facsimile function-equipped device via the transmission / reception means, wherein the status detecting means detects that any of the connected facsimile function-equipped devices has become unreceivable. In the case of detecting with the facsimile function-equipped device, the reception is performed by the facsimile function-equipped device having the highest priority at that time, and when the facsimile function-equipped device becomes receivable, the transmission / reception means Facsimile receiving system for transferring data via