JPH11225242A - Facsimile equipment network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the facsimile equipment network system that properly copes with production of an error, where a database is revised even from the outside of a group. SOLUTION: Upon receipt of a form including a group ID from an optional facsimile equipment, an imbedded code analysis section 18 analyzes the group ID. When the group ID is matched with a group number to which its own equipment belongs, a form analysis section 20 analyzes the modified information of a database described in the form. A control section 14 modifies information stored in the database 22, based on the modified information of the database. In this case, even when the facsimile equipment sending the form is at the outside of a group, job processing described in the form is executed, since the form itself includes the group ID when the group ID is matched with its own group number.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a facsimile machine network system in which a plurality of facsimile machines are grouped and used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique in which a plurality of facsimile apparatuses are grouped and used. For example,
JP-A-3-236650 discloses an OMR (Optical).
A technique has been disclosed in which a database of telephone numbers held by a plurality of facsimile apparatuses connected to a line is changed by relay transfer of a Mark Reader) sheet and the contents thereof are made equivalent.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the relay transfer of the OMR sheet containing the change data of the above-mentioned conventional example. In FIG. 5, for example, when the telephone number of the facsimile machine FAX10 is changed, the OMR sheet 10 for correcting the telephone number is changed.
Is relayed from the facsimile machine FAX10 to the other facsimile machines FAX20, FAX30 and FAX40. In this case, the facsimile apparatus to which the OMR sheet 10 has been transferred confirms the telephone number of the transfer source, that is, the telephone number of the facsimile apparatus FAX 10, and confirms whether or not the facsimile apparatus is transmitted from a facsimile apparatus in the same group. That is, each facsimile machine stores all the telephone numbers of the other facsimile machines belonging to its own group. Based on this telephone number, it is determined whether or not the transfer is from a facsimile apparatus in the same group.

If it is confirmed that the telephone number of the transfer source belongs to a facsimile machine in the group to which the transferer belongs, the contents of the transferred OMR paper 10 are analyzed,
Make certain changes to your phone number database. After that, the next facsimile machine in the group is further OM
The R sheet 10 is transferred, and the same operation is repeated thereafter. By such an operation, the database of telephone numbers of all the facsimile apparatuses in the group is equalized.

[0005]

However, in the above conventional technique, as described above, the received OMR paper 1
Whether or not the service request 0 is from a facsimile machine in its own group is confirmed by the telephone number of the originating facsimile machine. For this reason,
The service content that can be accepted may differ depending on whether the facsimile machine that has made the service request belongs to the group. For example, when the OMR sheet 10 for making any change to the database of each facsimile machine is transmitted to any of the facsimile machines in the group, if the source is a facsimile machine in the group, the change is executed, and The processing may not be performed unless it is from the facsimile machine in the inside. For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to modify a database of a facsimile machine in a group from outside.

[0006] Whether or not there is an error on the OMR sheet is analyzed by a facsimile machine which first receives the OMR sheet 10. In this case, if an error is found, the transfer is not performed to the facsimile machine of the next rank or higher, and the database is not changed. Therefore, the contents of the databases of the facsimile machines in the group do not become uneven. However, there is no error on the OMR paper 10, and an error specific to the received facsimile machine, for example, an error caused by insufficient capacity of the database of the facsimile machine is also conceivable. In this case, the facsimile apparatus that first receives the OMR sheet 10 and analyzes its contents does not cause an error, and changes the database according to the contents of the OMR sheet 10. However, when the OMR paper 10 is transferred to the facsimile machine of the next or later order, if an error such as insufficient capacity of the database occurs, the database is not changed in the next or subsequent order. For this reason, there is a problem that the uniformity of the database held by each facsimile machine in the group may be lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile machine network system capable of changing a database from outside a group and appropriately coping with occurrence of an error. Become.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a facsimile machine network system capable of equivalently changing a database of all grouped facsimile machines. A form including database change information and group identification information, identification information analysis means for analyzing the group identification information, and when the group identification information analyzed by the identification information analysis means belongs to the group to which the user belongs,
Changing means for changing the contents of the database based on the change information described in the form.

According to the above configuration, the received change information is
Whether or not it belongs to the group to which it belongs is identified by the group identification information described in the form,
If a predetermined form is used, it is possible to change the database of the facsimile machines in the group from a facsimile machine outside the group.

In the facsimile machine network system, if an error occurs when the form is sent and the contents of the database are changed, the error information is returned to the facsimile machine to which the form was sent. .

According to the above configuration, when an error occurs, the error information is returned to the facsimile machine to which the form has been sent, so that the user who instructed to change the database can be reliably notified of the occurrence of the error.

Further, in the facsimile machine network system, a form having the same content as the form received from its own output means is output together with the return of the error information.

According to the above configuration, the facsimile machine in which the error has occurred outputs a form having the same content as the form received by the facsimile machine. Therefore, after the error is resolved, the database change process can be immediately restarted. It becomes possible.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of the configuration of a facsimile machine network system according to the present invention. The facsimile machine FAX1 is a facsimile machine having a broadcast function. When an external facsimile machine sends a form describing the contents of the database change to this facsimile machine FAX1, the facsimile machine FA
From X1, the facsimile machine F forming the group
This form is broadcast to AX2, FAX3 and FAX4. In the case of the present embodiment, the facsimile machines FAX2, F
Each of the AX3 and the FAX4 has a function of interpreting a transmitted form and a database storing predetermined data.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a form used in the present embodiment. The form includes an embedded code area 11 composed of an embedded code for embedding information by a combination of a slash and a backslash, and a change information area 1.
3 is included. The embedded code area 11 can use an embedded code such as a barcode in addition to the glyph. The embedded code area 11 includes a group ID (GROUP_ID) indicating a group number, and a form ID (FORM) indicating an application for interpreting a form.
_ID), form name (FO) indicating the name of the form
RM_NAME) is described. The group ID included in the embedded code area 11 corresponds to the group identification information according to the present invention. Although the group ID may be displayed by directly displaying the group number on the form, it is preferable to use an embedded code such as the above-described glyph or barcode from the viewpoint of security.

The change information area 13 describes change information used to change the contents of the database. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the facsimile name (F
A fax name (AX name) and a facsimile number (FAX number) are described, and the form is used to change the telephone number of the described facsimile apparatus FAX1 as described.

The form shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the database of each facsimile machine by broadcasting from the facsimile machines FAX1 to FAX2, FAX3 and FAX4. The telephone number of FAX 1 can be changed to the number described in the form. The transmission of the form is not limited to the broadcast, and the form can be sequentially transmitted.

The above form has a group ID indicating a group number in itself. Therefore, when this form is transmitted from a facsimile apparatus outside the group to a facsimile apparatus FAX1 within the group, first, F
The database of AX1 is changed, and then the form is broadcast or transferred from the facsimile machine FAX1 to another facsimile machine. As a result, the databases of other facsimile machines are also changed, and all the databases in the group can be changed equivalently. That is,
The database in the group can be changed from outside the facsimile machine network system.

FIG. 3 shows an external facsimile machine FAX
Facsimile machine FAX1, which receives a form from 0,
And a block diagram of the configuration of facsimile machines FAX2, FAX3 and FAX4 for receiving a form from facsimile machine FAX1. In FIG. 3, the receiving unit 12 receives the form transmitted from the facsimile machine FAX0. The form received by the receiving unit 12 is stored in the form storage unit 16 via the control unit 14. The form storage unit 16 stores a form as an image.

In accordance with an instruction from the control unit 14, the embedded code analysis unit 18 cuts out the embedded code area 11 from the form stored in the form storage unit 16, and analyzes the group ID described therein. Thereby, it can be confirmed whether or not the transmitted form is a form of the group to which the user belongs. In this case, the embedded code analyzer 18 functions as the identification information analyzer according to the present invention. Further, the embedded code analysis unit 18 also identifies the application described in the form by using the form ID included in the embedded code area 11. Further, the form analysis unit 20 extracts the form stored in the form storage unit 16 according to an instruction from the control unit 14 and interprets the form based on the type of application analyzed by the embedded code analysis unit 18. This determines what processing is to be performed based on the sent form.

As described above, when the contents of the application based on the sent form are determined, the control unit 14
Execute a predetermined job. When the form shown in FIG. 2 is sent, the control unit 14
In that the telephone number of the facsimile machine FAX1 is rewritten. In this case, the control unit 14
Functions as a changing unit according to the present invention.

The printer 24 can output predetermined information. For example, if the sent fax is a normal fax document that does not include the embedded code area 11, the printer 2
4 is immediately output as a received document.

The control unit 14 creates an error report when the transmitted form does not have a group ID indicating its own group or when some other problem occurs. This error report is returned to the facsimile machine that sent the form via the transmission unit 26. In this case, the received form and other necessary information can be output from the printer 24.

FIG. 4 shows a flow of the operation of the facsimile apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, a form as shown in FIG. 2 is broadcast from another facsimile machine (S1), and the receiving unit 12 receives the form (S2). This form is stored in the form storage unit 16 as image data.

Next, in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 14, the embedded code analysis unit 18 cuts out the embedded code area 11 from the form stored in the form storage unit 16, and analyzes the contents described in the embedded code (S3). ).

Here, if the embedded code area 11 does not exist in the image data stored in the form storage unit 16, it is determined that the image data is not a form (S4). In this case, the sent image data is treated as a normal fax document, and output from the printer 24 as a received document (S5). On the other hand, if it is determined in S4 that the form is the form, that is, if the embedded code area 11 exists, it is determined whether or not the group ID described in the embedded code area 11 matches its own group number. (S6). Here, the embedded code area 1
If the group ID described in No. 1 does not match the own group number, the control unit 14 creates an error report to that effect and sends it to the facsimile machine that is the source of the form via the transmission unit 26. It is returned (S7).

In S6, if the group ID included in the embedded code area 11 matches the group number of the user, the embedded code analysis unit 18 further executes the form ID (FO) described in the embedded code area 11.
RM_ID) is analyzed to identify the application to be executed. Next, the change information described in the form is analyzed by the form analysis unit 20, and the form is interpreted. In the case of the form shown in FIG. 2, it is interpreted as a job for changing the telephone number of the facsimile machine FAX1. Based on this interpretation, the control unit 14 changes the telephone number of the facsimile machine FAX1 stored in the database 22 based on the change information described in the form (S8).

Next, based on the analysis results of the embedded code analysis section 18 and the form analysis section 20, the control section 14 makes a mistake in the description of the form, for example, a character string irrelevant to the telephone number, or the facsimile apparatus itself. It is determined whether there is a failure, for example, a shortage of database capacity (S
9). Thus, it is determined whether the analysis of the form and the job processing based on the form have been successful.

In S 9, when it is determined that the analysis of the form and the job processing based on the form have been successful, the control unit 14 creates a report indicating normal termination, and transmits the form via the transmission unit 26. The data is transmitted to the original facsimile machine FAX0 (S10).

If it is determined in S9 that an error has occurred, an image of the received form is output from the printer 24 as a received document (S1).
1). At the same time, the control unit 14 creates an error report describing the contents of the error, and returns the error report to the facsimile machine FAX0 that is the source of the form via the transmission unit 26 (S12).

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the form itself including the database change information contains the group ID which is the group identification information,
The facsimile apparatus that has received the form can identify whether or not the form belongs to its own group based on the group ID of the form. As a result, even from a facsimile apparatus outside the group, the group ID of the group
Is used, it is possible to change the database of the facsimile machines in the group.

If any error occurs in any of the facsimile machines in the group, the error information is returned to the facsimile machine which transmitted the form, so that the data of the data is not stored in the database of the facsimile machines in the group. It can be informed that uniformity has occurred. Also, since the facsimile machine in which the error has occurred outputs a form having the same content as the received form, job processing using the form can be promptly resumed after the error is resolved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a configuration of a facsimile machine network system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a form used in the facsimile machine network system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a configuration of the facsimile machine used in the facsimile machine network system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement which performs the job of the received form.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of changing a telephone number database in a conventional grouped facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 OMR paper, 11 embedded code area, 12 receiving section, 13 change information area, 14 control section, 16 form storage section, 18 embedded code analyzing section, 20 form analyzing section, 22 database, 24 printer, 26
Transmission section.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takayuki Koyama 3-2-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Inside Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Koji Hashimoto Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 3-2-1 Sakado KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Kojima 3-2-1 Sakado Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile machine network system capable of equivalently changing a database of all grouped facsimile machines, wherein the form is sent via a network and includes change information of the database and group identification information; Identification information analysis means for analyzing identification information; and if the group identification information analyzed by the identification information analysis means belongs to a group to which the user belongs, contents of a database based on the change information described in the form A facsimile apparatus network system comprising: 2. In the facsimile machine network system according to claim 1, when an error occurs when the form is sent and the contents of the database are changed, the error information is returned to the facsimile machine that sent the form. And a facsimile machine network system. 3. The facsimile machine network system according to claim 2, wherein the form having the same content as the form received from its own output means is output together with the return of the error information.