JPS62289046A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain quick corresponding without requiring any manual operation at power interruption by adopting the constitution that a telephone number of a request party is stored in a nonvolatile RAM, the telephone number is used and a retransmission request is sent immediately and automatically. CONSTITUTION:In a facsimile equipment provided with an IC memory section 30 storing a relay multiple address file and a nonvolatile RAM 18 storing a management table of the memory section 30, the management table is provided with a column storing a telephone number of a relay multiple address request station, the content of the management table is checked at power interruption and if a relay multile address file not sent yet exists, a text to request the retransmission of the file is sent to the request station. Thus, the power failure is coped with more quickly and surely than the manual intervention and the reliability of the relay multiple address is improved and the load of the user is relieved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] 3. Detailed Description of the Invention [Summary] In a facsimile machine equipped with an IC memory and having a relay broadcasting function, after receiving a relay request from a requesting station, broadcasting is performed to all partner stations. If the power is turned off for some reason and the contents of the memory storing the image data are erased before the process is completed, a notification will be sent back to the requesting station indicating that the power has been turned off and the files have been erased. do.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a relay broadcast function, and particularly to a facsimile apparatus using an IC memory for storing image data.

[Conventional technology]

With the spread of facsimile in recent years, the need for relay broadcasting functions has also increased. When performing relay broadcasting, a memory is required to store image data, and floppy disks, hard disks, IC memories, etc. can be considered as memory means, but floppy disks, hard disks, etc. have large drive devices, and facsimile machines Due to the increase in overall size, there has recently been an increasing need to use IC memory, which requires a smaller mounting area.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, IC memory has the disadvantage that if the power is cut off for some reason such as a power outage, the stored contents will be erased.

The facsimile machine is equipped with a memory for broadcast files, etc., which contains information such as the number of files (transmitted messages) it currently has, whether it is a file that has been requested to be relayed, and which file is currently being transmitted. It is common practice to write the minimum necessary information into the memory. With this function, if there is a power outage, the memory will be read out when the power is restored, and the contents of the memory will be printed out on the facsimile paper, indicating that there was a power outage. You can know such things as However, only the person at the location where the facsimile machine is installed knows that the power has been cut off, and the requesting office that requested the facsimile machine to relay and broadcast is not aware of the intentions. That's about it. Of course, this is inconvenient.

The present invention aims to improve this point and, if the /P4 of an unsent file is lost due to a power cut, the requesting station is notified and prompted to resend it.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an IC memory unit (
30) and a non-volatile RAM (18) for storing a management table in the memory section, the management table is provided with a column fd) for storing the telephone number of the requesting station for relay broadcasting, and The present invention is characterized in that means is provided for checking the contents of the management table at any time of interruption, and if there is an untransmitted relay broadcast file, sending a message requesting retransmission of the file to the requesting station.

[Effect]

If an IC memory is used to store the broadcast file, it is possible to make the facsimile machine smaller and cheaper, but the broadcast file will be lost if the power is cut off. Therefore, in order to restart relay broadcasting, it is necessary to request the requester to resend the file, but if the requester's phone number is stored in non-volatile RAM, a resend request can be immediately and automatically sent using the phone number. This makes it possible to respond quickly and without the need for manpower.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied, in which 10 is an operation panel section, 12 is an original reading section, 14 is a section for recording received image data on paper, 16 is a main control section, and 18 is a file management section. Nonvolatile RAM that stores tables, etc.
20 is a line control unit, 22 is a modem, and 24 is a line control unit (NCU). 28 again
2 is a compression unit for both data, and 26 is a decompression unit for compressed image data. 30 is an IC memory unit (not battery supported, therefore volatile RAM) that stores compressed image data;
Conventional devices use floppy disks, etc.

The original to be sent is read by the reading section 12, the read image data is compressed by the compression section 28, and then sent to the line control section 20 and the modem 2.
2. It is sent to the line via the NCU 24 and received by the destination facsimile machine. The received data is received through the reverse route, that is, the route of the line, NCU 24, modem 22, and line control unit 20. If the data has been compressed, it is restored by the decompressing unit 26 and given to the recording unit 14, and the received data is recorded on paper. Let it be recorded.

The above is a normal facsimile operation, but when relay broadcasting is performed, the operation is as follows. That is, the facsimile device that is the source of the relay broadcast request sends image data along with control information indicating the broadcast destination etc. to the requested facsimile device via the line.
The requested facsimile has a line, NCU 24, and modem 2.
2. The data is temporarily stored in the IC memo 9 section 30 via the line control section 20, main control section 16, and compression section 28. The facsimile device that is the source of the relay broadcast request is not limited to one, but there may be many, and since the facsimile device itself may also broadcast, there may be multiple transmission data (files), but all of these files are transferred to the IC. The IC memo 9 part 30 is stored in the memo 9 part 30.
A summary of the contents (management table) is stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the main control section 16, and FIG. 2 shows the contents of the nonvolatile RAM 18. Column a is file number, 01.02,03.・・・
Column that does not indicate ..., column b is a column that indicates the file type and is 0.
1 indicates broadcast, 81 indicates relay broadcast, etc. C is the status column of the file, where FO indicates normal completion, 01 indicates scheduled to be sent (not yet sent), etc. a%cfflfl has a memory capacity of 1 byte and is 01.81.・・・・・・represents 2 hexadecimal digits, and in BCDC, it is oooooooi
.

10000001,... Even in conventional facsimile machines, the non-volatile RAM of the main control section 16 is a
-c column, so if the power is cut off, the corresponding RAM1
8, you can see how far the transmission has been completed and which files have not yet been transmitted. However, there is no information such as the source of the broadcast relay request (detailed data is on the memo IJ30 side)
, it was not possible to notify the broadcast relay requester of the power outage.

Therefore, in the present invention, a column d is provided in the non-volatile RAM 18 as shown in FIG. 2, and the telephone number of the broadcast relay requester is written in this column d. It is. In this way, if the power is cut off, the data (files, etc.) in the IC memo 9 section 30 will be erased, but the contents of the non-volatile RAM 18 will remain, and this contents will be read out and the file transmission will end at some point. It is possible to know which files have been transmitted and which files have not been sent, and to inform the relay broadcast request source of relay broadcast files that have not been transmitted.

The main control unit 16 creates a notification indicating that a file has been deleted due to a power outage based on the management table of the nonvolatile RAM 18, and in this example, the notification is file No. 2.

3. Outputs on paper the fact that it has been erased. Since the relay broadcast file is included in the deleted file in parentheses, I created a message indicating that the file was deleted due to a power outage and that I would like to resend the same file and send it to the relay broadcast. In the request source example, the request is sent to 03-123-4567. FIG. 3 shows this processing flow.

A power outage may occur during file transmission, so some of the broadcast destinations may have already received the file, but the rest may have not yet received the file.
It is possible that it will become. Information such as to which of the plurality of broadcast destinations the transmission has been completed is stored in the IC memory s30, and therefore disappears when the power is turned off, so that the broadcast is restarted from the beginning to all the broadcast destinations. Of course, such information is non-volatile.
If it is stored in AM18, it is only necessary to transmit it to the remaining broadcast destinations when restarting the broadcast. However, increasing the capacity of the nonvolatile RAM leads to an increase in power consumption, and there are problems such as an increase in capacity variation.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention,
A file deletion notification due to a power outage is sent to the relay requester immediately after power is restored, making it possible to respond to a power outage more quickly and reliably than through manual intervention, improving the reliability of relay broadcasting, and reducing the burden on users. Benefits such as:

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an overview of a facsimile machine to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the non-volatile RAM, and Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing the procedure for notifying a relay requesting station of a power outage. be. In FIG. 1, 30 is an IC memory section, and 18 is a nonvolatile RAM.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An IC memory section (30) that stores a relay broadcast file and a nonvolatile RAM that stores a management table for the memory section.
In a facsimile machine equipped with (18), the management table is provided with a column (d) for storing the telephone number of the station requesting the relay broadcast, and the contents of the management table are checked when the power is turned off to check whether the transmission has not been sent. 1. A facsimile device comprising means for transmitting a telegram requesting retransmission of the file to a requesting station if there is a relay broadcast file.