JPH11146059A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent in advance mis-dialing based on mistake of a telephone number and troublesome dialing that are apt to happen. SOLUTION: The communication equipment is provided with a dial inhibit number memory, to which a telephone number to inhibit dialing of the telephone number of this set being a telephone number assigned to the communication equipment main body is registered. When a telephone number of a caller side is entered from an operation section (step S1). The entered dial number is compared with a dial inhibit number in the dial inhibit number memory (step S2), and when they are coincident, dialing is stopped (step S3) and a warning denoting it is conducted (step S4). When the dial number is dissident with the dial inhibit number in the step S2, dialing is started (step S5) and the transmission processing is conducted (step S6).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device having a mechanism for preventing erroneous calls.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, data communication using data devices such as telephones, facsimile machines, computers, etc., is not limited to analog public switched telephone networks, but also ISDN, mobile phones and PHs.
Various line networks such as a wireless communication network such as S are used, but prevention of erroneous calls is still a major issue regardless of the line network.

For example, an automatic transmission function which automatically dials the telephone number of the called station input by the user of the facsimile apparatus, performs facsimile communication with the facsimile apparatus of the called station, and completes transmission of the image information of the original. There is a known one.

In a facsimile apparatus, when facsimile communication with a called station is not completed normally, the called station is automatically dialed again and transmission of original image information is attempted again. Is generally provided.

[0005]

However, in the facsimile apparatus having the retransmission function as described above, the automatic calling and retransmission function works even if the user inputs a wrong telephone number of the called station. For example, if a facsimile is not connected to the partner station, the facsimile communication fails every time even if a re-call is made, but even in such a case, the specified number of calls are made. It is conceivable to stop the call by recognizing the presence or absence of a procedure signal from the other party, the response voice, and the like. In this case, however, there is a problem in that the first call and connection are performed, and billing occurs. .

Conversely, from the user's point of view of the communication device, erroneous calls are merely a waste of time, irrespective of whether or not such an annoying call actually occurs. It is needless to say that it is desirable to avoid as much as possible.

[0007] By the way, telephone number errors can be considered not only in the case of a facsimile apparatus but also in various forms. Conventionally, a technique that takes into account the form of error of a user's telephone number in order to prevent erroneous calls is considered. Is not well known.

[0008] One possible form of error is to input the telephone number of the main unit as the telephone number of the called station (the partner station). For example, if a businessman calls his / her company on a business trip or customer, who is the usual caller, the phone number of such called station may be
Inputting the phone number of this machine may cause a mistake. In this case, the call connection may not actually occur. However, depending on the number assignment mode, such as when a representative number is used or when the ISDN global incoming call is used, an erroneous call or a re-call may occur. Unwanted calls such as repetition may occur.

[0009] Further, as a common error form of a telephone number, a number in which a part of the number is replaced by two digits is used. Some use numbers.

Conventionally, it is known that abbreviated number registration and one-touch dial registration can effectively prevent erroneous operations during manual dialing.
It is conceivable that manual operation is performed without knowing that abbreviated number registration or one-touch dial registration exists. Furthermore, there is a case where the registration of the abbreviated number or the registration of the one-touch dialing itself is wrong, and as a form of the mistake, for example, it is sufficiently possible to register the above-mentioned telephone number of the main unit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to prevent erroneous calls and nuisance calls based on common telephone number errors.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided, in accordance with the present invention, a telephone number input means for inputting a telephone number of a called station to be called and a telephone number error which can be predicted in advance. A call prohibition number registration means for registering a call prohibition number matching the form; and a call prohibition number stored by the call prohibition number registration means and a call number input from the telephone number input means before calling. Determining means for comparing the numbers with each other to determine whether or not they match each other; and calling control means for prohibiting the calling when the determining means determines that the calling number and the calling prohibition number match. The configuration was adopted.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, a facsimile apparatus will be described as an example.

The facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has, as main control circuits, an MPU (microprocessing unit) 1 for controlling the entire apparatus, a ROM 2 for storing a control program, and a plurality of flag areas required for control. Further, it has a RAM 3 for temporarily storing a boot loader and the like, a calling number memory 4 for storing a telephone number for storing a telephone number of a called station, and a calling prohibiting number memory 5 for storing a call prohibiting number.

The call prohibition number memory 5 registers in advance a call prohibition number that matches a predictable form of telephone number error, but in the following, the call prohibition number memory 5 will be described in order to simplify the description. In this example, the telephone number of the machine, which is the telephone number assigned to the facsimile apparatus in FIG. 1, is registered.

The telephone number of the apparatus is registered by the user or service person using the keyboard of the operation unit 7 described below at the time of installation or relocation of the apparatus. In the facsimile communication, the telephone number of the machine is used as, for example, header information added to the top of one page of image data. The call prohibition number memory 5 and the telephone number memory of the apparatus may be shared, but if both are separate, the telephone number memory of the apparatus (not shown) is used when registering the telephone number of the apparatus.
Is automatically copied to the call prohibition number memory 5 for convenience.

Further, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is used for image communication.
Like a known facsimile, it has the following configuration. That is, an image memory unit 6 for storing image information of a document,
An operation unit 7 composed of a numeric keypad, one-touch key, and a display for controlling a communication operation by an operator performing various key inputs, a CCD sensor and a document transport system for reading a document and converting it into an electric signal , A printer 9 including a recording mechanism such as an electrophotographic system for outputting an image on recording paper, and a modem unit 10 for modulating and demodulating a signal transmitted through a telephone line.

The operation unit 7 has a warning means for giving a warning to the user at the time of call prohibition control described later.
A light emitting device such as an ED, a buzzer, and the like are provided. The display LCD of the operation unit or the like can also be used as this warning means. Needless to say, the modem unit 10 is externally or internally provided with a line interface unit that matches the communication network such as an analog line or ISDN to be actually connected as necessary.

Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus of FIG. 1 will be described.

First, a call prohibition number is input to the call prohibition number memory 5 at the time of installation or relocation of the apparatus. If the call prohibition number memory 5 and the telephone number memory of this machine are also used, the telephone number of this machine is simultaneously registered as a call prohibition number by registering the telephone number of this machine.

The control based on the call prohibition number registered in the call prohibition number memory 5 is performed as shown in FIG. FIG.
Are stored in the ROM 2 as a control program of the MPU 1.

In step S1 of FIG. 2, when the original is to be facsimile-transmitted to the called station, the operator must use the ten-key operation, one-touch key, or abbreviated dial operation on the operation unit 7 to make a call. Enter the telephone number of the station (called station). The telephone number input here is stored in the calling number memory 4 as a calling number.

Here, it is assumed that the original is transmitted, but the original to be transmitted is read by the scanner 8 at an appropriate timing before the call operation or after the end of the call operation. The document read by the scanner 8 is stored in the image memory 6. However, the method is not limited to the method in which the data is not stored in the memory, and the image may be read after the call connection.

In step S2, the call number stored in the call number memory 4 is compared with the call prohibition number stored in the call prohibition number memory 5, and if they match, the process proceeds to step S3. If they do not match, the process moves to step S5. This comparison may be performed while the calling number remains in the telephone number input buffer, and the calling number may be stored in the calling number memory 4 only when step S2 is denied. In this case, the calling number memory 4 functions as a (checked) calling number memory that may be used for calling.

In step S3, since the user has dialed (inputted) the call prohibition number, the call is stopped, the fact is displayed on the display unit of the operation unit 7, and a warning sound such as a buzzer is sounded. , Etc., is performed.

If the call number stored in the call number memory 4 does not match the call prohibition number stored in the call prohibition number memory 5, the call stored in the call number memory 4 in step S5. The calling process is started by the modem unit 10 using the number, and facsimile transmission is started in step S6 after the call connection.

As described above, the call prohibition number is registered in the call prohibition number memory 5 in advance, and is input (stored in the call number memory 4) before the actual call processing is started. The calling number is compared with the calling prohibition number stored in the calling prohibition number memory 5, and if they match, the calling is prohibited, so that an erroneous call can be made without making useless calling. This can be prevented beforehand, and there is no danger of causing annoying calls or repeating calls as in the past.

Further, since the actually used calling number is checked by comparing it with the calling prohibition number, an erroneous call is made even if any means such as a numeric keypad, speed dial, or one-touch key is used. Can be prevented, and if registration information such as a speed dial or a one-touch key is erroneous, this can be warned by a warning display or the like.

Further, in the above embodiment, the telephone number of the apparatus is used as the call prohibition number, so that even if the user inputs the telephone number of the apparatus as the telephone number of the called station, In this way, it is possible to reliably prevent erroneous calls and to prevent inconvenience when a business person calls a company at a business trip destination or a customer who is a usual calling partner. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, the use of the telephone number of the apparatus is considered as the call prohibition number. It may be registered in the number memory 5. In this case, an appropriate registration menu or the like is prepared so that the user can register an arbitrary call prohibition number in the call prohibition number memory 5.

For example, as described in the conventional example, a number in which a part of the number is replaced by two digits is used, or when the same number continues for about two digits, the number of the next digit is used as the continuous number. Since such mistakes tend to occur, it is conceivable to store such a number in the call prohibition number memory 5. For example, a part of the telephone number of this machine may be generated by the mistake as described above. The converted number is stored in the call prohibition number memory 5.

The numbers that can occur due to such mistakes are:
Instead of making the user think, the device may automatically generate it. For example, when the telephone number memory of this unit is present separately from the call prohibition number memory 5, the MPU 1 performs a predetermined number conversion process such as exchanging digits or exchanging continuous digits for the number of the telephone number memory of this unit. To automatically generate the call prohibition number stored in the call prohibition number memory 5. Such automatic generation of the call prohibition number is performed not only in advance and stored in the call prohibition number memory 5 but also in the case where it can be executed at a sufficiently high speed by the processing capability of the MPU 1 in step S2 in FIG. It may be executed at the timing.

The automatic generation of the call prohibition number is performed not only based on the number in the telephone number memory of the apparatus, but also by using the number stored in the abbreviated number memory or the one-touch key registration number memory. The call prohibition number may be generated by performing a number conversion process, such as exchanging digits or exchanging continuous digits. In this case, the abbreviated call can be prevented by utilizing the abbreviated number memory or the registered number memory of the one-touch key for more than the original purpose.

Also, the call prohibition number may be stored in the call prohibition number memory 5 instead of singularly. In this case, the determination in step S2 of FIG. 2 is performed for all of the plurality of call prohibition numbers stored in the call prohibition number memory 5, and if at least one of them matches, the call is prohibited. To

Further, depending on the nature of the document to be transmitted, some users may have a communication partner who must never make a false call, but the call prohibition number memory of the present invention registers such a communication partner. It is also useful if you do. For example, it is convenient when a plurality of facsimile machines are prepared for each communication partner and each device is used so as not to be able to call other than a specific partner.

It should be noted that even if the call is stopped in step S3 of FIG. 2, the call may be forcibly executed by a predetermined operation of the operation unit 7 (the process proceeds to step S5).

The embodiments described above relate to outgoing calls, so that the present invention is not limited to the facsimile apparatus described above, but can be applied to any communication apparatus that performs communication using a calling number. Not even.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a call prohibition number matching a predictable telephone number error pattern is registered in advance, and the input call number and call origination number are registered. If they match with the barred number,
Since calling is prohibited, there is an excellent effect that erroneous calls and annoying calls based on common telephone number errors can be reliably prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus employing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a facsimile apparatus employing the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 MPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 4 Calling number memory 5 Calling prohibition number memory 6 Image memory 7 Operation unit 8 Scanner 9 Printer 10 Modem unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A telephone number input means for inputting a telephone number of a called station to be called, and a call prohibition number registration means for registering a call prohibition number matching a predictable telephone number error form. Before calling, determining means for comparing the calling number input from the telephone number input means with the calling prohibited number stored by the calling prohibited number registering means to determine whether they match, A communication device, comprising: a call control unit that prohibits a call when the judgment unit judges that the call number and the call prohibition number match. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the call prohibition number registered in the call prohibition number registration unit is registered with a telephone number of the main unit, which is a telephone number assigned to the communication device main body. . 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a warning unit that warns the user when the determination unit determines that the calling number matches the calling prohibition number.