JPS61177066A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inform the contents of a fault immediately to a maintenance company at the generation of the fault by providing a facsimile equipment with a discrimination signal generating means for generating a prescribed opposite party discrimination signal when a fault is detected by a fault detecting means, and at the generation of the fault, transmitting fault information to the prescribed opposite party through a communication circuit. CONSTITUTION:Protocol is formed between the facsimile equipment 11 and a terminating facsimile equipment. After the completion of the protocol, an original to be transmitted is scanned and a picture signal is transmitted. If a fault is generated in the facsimile equipment, the fault is detected by the fault detecting part 12. When the fault is detected, a relay 16 is turned to the terminal 2 side and a prescribed dial tone is generated from a dial tone generating part 13. The dial information of the prescribed dial tone is set to the telephone number of a maintenance company. The dial tone is outputted to a telephone line (d) through an OR circuit 14 and a relay 16 and a transmission line to the telephone of the maintenance company is established. Then, a voice answer part 15 generates a synthesized voice signal indicating the contents of the fault and outputs the signal to the telephone line (d).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine that transmits and receives characters, charts, etc. via a communication line.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Facsimile machines are maintained in such a way that when some kind of failure occurs, the user of the facsimile machine calls a maintenance company, and a serviceman from the maintenance company then goes to the user's location to repair the facsimile machine. Because of this type of maintenance, even if a failure occurs, the maintenance company is slow to learn of the nature of the problem, which results in a delay in repairs, which is inconvenient for the user and leaves the facsimile machine unusable for a long period of time. For maintenance companies, there was a problem in that the response to failures was delayed, leading to a decline in service.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile device that can immediately notify a maintenance company of the details of a failure when it occurs.

[Summary of the invention]

To achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention includes means for detecting the occurrence of a failure, means for generating information indicating the details of the failure, and means for generating a predetermined destination identification signal in the event of a failure. , the details of the failure are transmitted to this predetermined destination via the communication line of the device.

[Embodiments of the invention]

A facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. The facsimile control unit 11 controls transmission and reception of this facsimile machine. The failure detection unit 12 detects whether or not a failure has occurred in the facsimile control unit 11, and also detects what kind of failure the failure is. The detection signal from the failure detection section 12 is output to the dial tone generation section 13. The voice response unit 15 generates a synthesized voice signal indicating the details of the failure from the failure detection unit 12. This synthesized voice signal is output to the facsimile control section 11. The relay 16 switches between a transmission/reception signal from the facsimile control unit 11 and a dial tone signal, and transmits the signal to the telephone line d. A logical OR signal from the OR circuit 14 of the dial tone signal from the telephone 17 and the dial tone signal from the dial tone generator 13 is output to the relay 16 .

Next, the operation will be explained. First, a transmission document is set in the facsimile machine, and the telephone number of the called facsimile machine is dialed using the telephone set 17. Then, a dial tone is generated from the telephone set 17. At this time, the relay 16 is controlled so that the terminal C and the terminal 2 are connected. Therefore, the dial tone from the telephone 17 is transmitted through the OR circuit 14 and the relay 16.
is output to telephone line d via , and a transmission path is established with the called facsimile machine. Next, when the communication key is pressed, the relay 16 is switched to the terminal 1 side. A protocol is then carried out between this facsimile machine and the called facsimile machine. When the protocol is completed, the original to be transmitted is scanned and an image signal is transmitted.

When a failure occurs in this facsimile machine, the failure detection unit 1
2, a failure is detected. When a fault is detected, relay 1
6 is switched to the terminal 2 side, and the dial tone generator 13 generates a predetermined dial tone. The dial information for the predetermined dial tone is the telephone number of the maintenance company. This dial tone is output to telephone line d via OR circuit 14 and relay 16, and a transmission path is established with the telephone of the maintenance company. Next, the voice response unit 15 generates a synthesized voice signal indicating the details of the failure, and outputs it to the telephone line d.

In this way, according to this embodiment, when a failure occurs in the facsimile machine, the occurrence of the failure and the details of the failure can be immediately notified to the maintenance company, and the maintenance company can quickly take measures such as dispatching a service person. It can be done. Of course, if a failure occurs in the transmission function of the facsimile machine, image transmission will not be possible, so it is desirable to use it in combination with a notification means using synthetic voice.

Furthermore, although the facsimile device in the above embodiment uses a telephone line, it goes without saying that it may also use a dedicated line.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a failure occurs, the content of the failure can be immediately notified to the maintenance company.

Therefore, the maintenance company can take prompt measures depending on the nature of the problem.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Facsimile control unit, 12... Fault detection unit, 13... Dial tone generation unit, 14... OR circuit, 15... Voice response unit, 16... Relay, 17...
...Telephone.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a facsimile machine that transmits and receives characters, diagrams, etc. via a communication line, a fault detection means for detecting a fault, a fault information generation means for generating fault information indicating the details of the fault detected by the fault detection means, and the above-mentioned and identification signal generating means for generating a predetermined destination identification signal when a failure is detected by the failure detection means, and transmitting the failure information to the predetermined destination through the communication line in the event of a failure. A facsimile machine with special features.