JPH11331456A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile equipment capable of browsing a received FAX document on a PC and continuing reception even in the case that a sufficient vacancy is not present in a storage capacity. SOLUTION: A FAX document is stored in the magnetic disk of a removable disk unit 2 through a modem 1 and the contents of the magnetic disk are referred to on the PC. Received FAX images can be printed from an image printing part 4, however, the received FAX images are basically stored in the magnetic disk and not printed to the sheet of paper. But, in the image printing part 4, since printing output to the sheet of the paper can be selected, in the case of wanting to confirm received contents immediately after the reception, they are outputted to the sheet of the paper. In the case of judging that the residual capacity of a residual capacity output part 3 is less than a prescribed amount at the time, it is regarded that a data amount is full and they are surely outputted to the sheet of the paper regardless of the selection of printing or not printing them. Thus, even when the sufficient vacancy is not present in the magnetic disk, FAX reception is continued.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus capable of browsing a received document on a PC and continuously receiving a fax even when there is not enough free space on a removable disk. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In many facsimile machines, when a received facsimile document cannot be output on paper due to lack of paper.
Instead, it has a function of storing it in an internal memory and outputting it to a sheet after refilling the sheet. This is called memory interception, and is used in many facsimile machines. However, (a) when the internal memory becomes full, it is no longer possible to store any more data, so that facsimile cannot be received. (B) Even though the document is digitized on the memory, it is output on paper. (C) The contents stored in the memory cannot be used in another system.

[0003] Therefore, a FAX called PC-FAX
Connect the modem and the computer (PC) with a serial cable to send the document data on the PC by fax or fax
, The document data is transferred to a PC, and stored in an internal disk. As a result, the content of the received document can be confirmed by displaying it on the display of the PC, but in this case, the power of the PC must be always turned on while waiting for fax reception, which is inefficient. .

Therefore, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-164766, received data is stored on a floppy disk so that the data can be accessed by a PC. The data recorded on the floppy disk can be read by the PC, the contents of the received document can be confirmed on the display of the PC, and the PC does not need to be started up while waiting for FAX reception. However, according to the present invention, if the data recorded on the floppy disk is left as it is, there will be a problem that the data eventually becomes full and cannot be recorded.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to digitize a document received by facsimile so that data can be confirmed on a PC, and to continue receiving even if a storage device for that purpose becomes full. It is to be able to do it. An object of the invention of claim 2 is that the invention of claim 1
X is to improve the rate at which the received documents can be digitized. A third object of the present invention is to improve the utilization efficiency of a disk auxiliary memory for storing a received fax document in the second invention.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a removable disk for storing a received FAX document, a remaining capacity output unit for obtaining the remaining capacity of the removable disk, and performing or performing printing. An image printing unit for printing the received fax document having a function of selecting whether or not the remaining capacity of the removable disk is not sufficient based on the value output from the remaining capacity output unit. In this case, printing is performed irrespective of the setting selected by the image printing unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, there is provided an auxiliary memory for storing the received fax document.
Therefore, when it is determined from the output from the remaining capacity output unit that the remaining capacity of the removable disk is not sufficient, the received FAX document is stored in the auxiliary memory, and after the replacement of the removable disk, the received FAX document is stored in the auxiliary memory. Content
It is characterized by moving to the exchanged removable disk.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the auxiliary memory is a shared memory of a memory for storing a FAX document to be transmitted and a memory for storing a received FAX document. Shared memory is reception FA
In the case where the document is occupied by an X document, the removable disk is replaced, and the contents of the shared memory are moved to the removable disk.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows the present invention (the invention of claim 1).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a facsimile apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a built-in modem, which is connected to a telephone line and modulates a signal from the line. Reference numeral 2 denotes a removable disk unit into which a removable disk (not shown) is inserted. A typical example of the removable disk is a floppy disk, but also includes a removable medium that can be accessed from a PC, such as a large-capacity magnetic disk. A remaining capacity output unit 3 outputs the remaining capacity of the removable disk inserted into the removable disk unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes an image printing unit, which can print the received FAX image on paper. It can either print the received image directly or print the image stored on a removable disk. In addition, a function is provided which allows the user to externally designate whether or not to perform output on paper. Reference numeral 5 denotes an image reading unit, which is used when performing facsimile transmission, and reads and digitizes a document. Reference numeral 6 denotes a controller, which controls the entire device.

The received fax image is first transferred to the removable disk unit 2 and recorded on the inserted removable disk. The file system of the removable disk should be the same as that of the computer used. In this case, the received FAX image may be directly recorded on a disk, or may be in another image format. This removable disk can be referred to on a computer (not shown). Image display software on the computer performs format conversion so that the format of the image stored on the disk can be displayed on a display. Files can be deleted like other ordinary disks. On the other hand, it is possible to print the received FAX image stored from the image printing unit 4 provided in the facsimile machine. Basically, the received image is stored on a removable disk inserted in the removable disk unit 2,
No output to paper. However, in the image printing unit 4,
Since it is possible to select whether or not to output on paper, it is possible to output on paper when it is desired to confirm the received content immediately after facsimile reception. However, if it is determined that the remaining capacity held by the remaining capacity output unit 3 is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the data amount is determined to be full, and the data is always output on paper regardless of the selection of printing / not printing. To do it. In this way, FAX reception can be continued even when there is not enough free space on the removable disk.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of a facsimile apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention (the second aspect of the invention). In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes an auxiliary memory for storing a received FAX image. be able to. According to the invention of claim 2, when the capacity of the removable disk becomes full, the newly received document is temporarily stored in the auxiliary memory, and after replacing the removable disk, the document data stored in the auxiliary memory is transferred to the new removable disk. Store and erase the contents of the auxiliary memory. In many recent facsimile devices, a flash memory, which is more expensive than a DRAM, is used to store received data so that data is stored even when the power of the device is off or during a power failure. On the other hand, in the present invention, since the received data is stored on the magnetic disk, an inexpensive DRAM that cannot hold data when the power is off but can be used for the memory for reception can be used. When both the removable disk and the auxiliary memory are full, the received document is output on paper.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a facsimile apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention (the third aspect of the present invention). In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes an auxiliary memory shared with a transmission memory. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the auxiliary memory is shared with the transmission memory.

In general, many facsimile machines have a function of so-called memory transmission, in which when a facsimile transmission is not possible due to a line being used by a partner station, the transmission document is temporarily stored in an internal memory and transmitted when communication is possible. is there. A DRAM is used as a memory for this purpose. Also, as mentioned above, many recent facsimile machines
Since a flash memory is used for storing received data, a memory for reception and a memory for transmission are separately prepared. On the other hand, in the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 2, the memory can be effectively used by sharing the internal memory for transmission and the memory for reception.

When a facsimile user wants to perform memory transmission at the time of facsimile transmission, if the shared memory 8 is occupied by a received document, the user replaces the removable disk and moves the contents of the shared memory 8 to the disk. ,
It is sufficient to increase the free space of the shared memory 8.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a facsimile apparatus for storing a received image on a removable disk, if the remaining capacity of the removable disk is full, the facsimile reception is continued by forcibly outputting to a sheet. You can do it.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, when the removable disk is full, the received document is stored in an auxiliary memory for that purpose, so that the received document is digitized. Can be continued without interruption.

According to the invention of claim 3, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 2, by sharing the auxiliary memory with the FAX transmission memory, the memory can be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a facsimile machine for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a main part of a facsimile machine for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a facsimile machine for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Modem, 2 ... Removable disk unit, 3 ... Remaining capacity output unit, 4 ... Image printing unit, 5 ... Image reading unit, 6
... Controller, 7 ... Auxiliary memory, 8 ... Shared memory.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A removable disk for storing a received FAX document, a remaining capacity output unit for obtaining a remaining capacity of the removable disk, and a function of selecting whether to perform printing or not. An image printing unit for printing a FAX document, wherein when the value output from the remaining capacity output unit determines that the remaining capacity of the removable disk is not sufficient, the setting selected by the image printing unit. A facsimile machine that performs printing regardless of the type of printing. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary memory for storing the received FAX document, wherein when it is determined from the output from the remaining capacity output section that the remaining capacity of the removable disk is not sufficient, the received FAX document is stored in the memory. Stored in the auxiliary memory,
2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after replacing the removable disk, the contents of the auxiliary memory are moved to the replaced removable disk. 3. The auxiliary memory is a shared memory of a memory for storing a FAX document to be transmitted and a memory for storing a received FAX document.
3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the AX document is occupied by the AX document, the removable disk is replaced, and the contents of the shared memory are moved to the removable disk.