JPS63278458A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inform a reception state to an operator appropriately and to reduce load on the operator, by providing an informing destination storage means in which a destination telephone number to inform the reception state is stored, and a voice synthesis means to output the reception state in a voice message. CONSTITUTION:In a RAM3, plural voice messages to inform the reception state and informing destination telephone numbers to inform the voice messages are stored. Also, those voice messages and informing destination telephone numbers are inputted by the operator by using an operation display part 7. A voice synthesis device 6 is a device to generate the voice message to inform the reception state, and the operation display part 7 consists of a various kinds of keys and a display unit required for the operation of a facsimile equipment. And after a receiving operation being completed, the voice message corresponding to the reception state at that time is formed by the voice synthesis means for the operator in the neighborhood of the telephone of the destination telephone number, and is informed to a destination side, In such a way, it is possible to inform the reception state to the operator appropriately.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] 〔Technical field〕 The present invention relates to a facsimile device.

[Prior art]

Generally, in business establishments where facsimile machines are used, the installation location of the facsimile machine and the location where the operator is working are often far apart.

Further, since facsimile machines are usually equipped with an automatic call making/receiving function, the operator needs to check from time to time whether or not there are received documents accumulated in the facsimile machine.

For this reason, in the past, if an operator or the like was too busy to check the reception status of a facsimile machine for a long time, a large amount of received documents would remain accumulated in the receiving paper tray, making it difficult for the received documents to reach their destinations. This caused the inconvenience of not having one.

Additionally, if the facsimile machine is out of recording paper (receiving paper) or jammed, it will remain in that state until the operator checks the status of the facsimile machine, and the facsimile machine will perform appropriate reception operations. There was also the inconvenience of not being able to do so.

〔the purpose〕

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine that can appropriately notify an operator of its reception status.

〔composition〕

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention is provided with a notification destination storage means that stores the destination telephone number to notify the reception status, and a voice synthesis means for outputting the reception status as a voice message. A voice message corresponding to the reception status at that time is formed by a voice synthesis means to an operator in the vicinity of the telephone number specified, and the voice message is sent to the destination.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a CPU (central processing unit) l is used to execute various operations of this facsimile machine, and its control program is stored in a ROM (read-only memory) 2. A work area is formed in RAM (Random Access Memory) 3. Further, the RAM 3 stores a plurality of voice messages for notifying the reception status and a plurality of notification destination telephone numbers for notifying the voice messages. Note that these voice messages and notification destination telephone numbers are input by the operator through the operation display section 7, which will be described later.

The scanner 4 is for reading the image of the transmitted document at a predetermined resolution, and the plotter 5 is for recording and outputting the image of the received document at a predetermined resolution.

The voice synthesizer 6 is for generating a voice message to notify the reception status, and the operation display section 7 is for
It consists of various operation keys and displays necessary to operate this facsimile machine.

The encoding and decoding unit 8 is for encoding and compressing image information in order to shorten the transmission time of image information.

The network control device 9 is for connecting this facsimile device to a telephone line, which is a transmission line, and has an automatic call making/receiving function.

The modem IO performs modulation and demodulation processing for transmitting and receiving digital data via a telephone line.

Furthermore, these CPUI, ROM 2 , RAM 3 , scanner 4 , plotter 5 , speech synthesis device 6 , operation display section 7 , encoding and decoding section 8 , network control device 9 , and modem 10 are connected via a path line 11 . They exchange data with each other.

With the above configuration, this facsimile machine is installed at a location away from the operator. For example, a facsimile machine is installed in a room adjacent to a room where an operator or the like is always present.

The operator pre-enters the telephone number of the room in which he or she is in two telephone numbers: the main telephone number NTI, which corresponds to the most frequently used telephone, and the next telephone number NT2, which corresponds to the next most frequently used telephone. is input from the operation display section 7 and registered in the RAM 3.

For example, if the operator is notified of various events (hereinafter referred to as reception status) such as running out of recording paper, jamming of recording paper, and reception paper being left unattended, the operator will receive a response message when each event occurs. , are input in advance from the operation display section 7 and registered in the RAM 3.

For example, for each of recording paper out, recording paper jam, and reception paper being left unattended, "There is no recording paper left", "There is no recording paper left", "There is a jam in the recording paper", and ,
Register the message ``Jushinshiwotorinikitekudasai (please come pick up the receipt)''.

The registration of the main telephone number NTI, next telephone number NT2, and voice message can be performed by interactively operating the operation display section 7 in a predetermined registration mode.

When this facsimile device receives a call from another facsimile device, image information is transmitted, and the receiving operation is completed, the CPU 1 executes the processes shown in FIG. 2(a) to (L,). , notifies the operator of the reception status at that time.

First, when the receiving operation is finished and the line is released (process 10
1) The number of received sheets Rx for storing the accumulated number of recorded and outputted received sheets in the received sheet tray is updated with the number of received sheets in the current reception operation (process 102).

It is checked whether the number of received sheets Rx at that time is equal to or greater than a predetermined number n (determination 103), and the result of determination 103 is YES.
If S, the message "Please come and pick up the received paper" is set as the voice message Msg to respond to (processing 104).

If the result of decision 103 is No, check whether the recording paper is jammed in block 5 (decision 10).
5). If the result of the judgment 105 is YES, a message "A jam has occurred in the recording paper" is set as the voice message Msg (process 106).

If the result of judgment 105 is No, check whether or not the plotter 5 is out of recording paper (judgment 1).
07). If the result of determination 107 is YES, a message "There is no recording paper" is set as the voice message Msg (process 108).

In this way, when a message corresponding to each reception state is set in voice message Msg, the number of redials dc is initially set to 0, and the notification destination phone number Num is
First, process 109 to set the main telephone number NTI.
), with timer Tm started (processing 11O)
, calls the telephone number of the notification destination number Num (processing 111
).

Here, it is monitored whether or not the destination is connected before the timer Tm reaches a predetermined time of 1'c (judgments 112 and 113).

If the result of judgment 113 is No, the line is temporarily released (process 114), and it is checked whether the number of redials dc is equal to a predetermined number d (judgment 115).

If the result of judgment 115 is NO, increment the number of redials dc (process 11G), wait for a predetermined call interval time Ti (process 117, judgment 118), and return to process 110 to call the same destination again. call

If the result of the decision 115 is YES, it is checked whether the notification destination telephone number Nua+ is equal to the next telephone number NT2 (judgment 119).

If the result of judgment 119 is No, the next telephone number NT2 is set as the notification destination telephone number Num (process 120), and the number of redials dc is initialized to 0 (
Step 121), and return to step 110.

If the result of determination 119 is YES, there is no operator at either of the two notification destinations, so this process ends at that point.

If the result of judgment 112 is YES, there is an operator at one of the notification destinations, so the repeat count rc is initialized to 0 (process 122), and after waiting for a predetermined time T- (process 123, judgment 124), the message set in the voice message Msg is transferred to the voice synthesizer 6, and a voice signal is sent as a response to the destination.

Then, process 1 to increment the repeat count rc.
25), until the number of repeats rc reaches the predetermined value r (
(NO loop of judgment 127), the steps from process 123 are repeatedly executed.

If the result of the judgment 127 is YES, the line is opened (process 128), the number of received sheets Rx is cleared to 0, and this process ends (process 129).

Further, if the result of determination 107 is No, this process is immediately ended.

In this way, when the number of received sheets reaches a predetermined value, or when the recording paper runs out or a recording paper jam occurs, the corresponding voice message is sent to the phone that can be connected to one of the two preset notification destinations. Since a voice response is provided to the facsimile machine, the operator does not have to constantly monitor the reception status of the facsimile machine, and therefore the burden on the operator can be reduced.

Note that, if a private branch exchange device is used, an extension telephone can be used as the telephone for the notification destination.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, if the operator removes the received paper from the receiving paper tray midway through, the number of received papers actually stored in the receiving paper tray of the plotter 5 cannot be detected. If a sensor is attached to detect that received papers are accumulated in the received paper tray, it is possible to accurately know the number of received papers accumulated in the received paper tray.

In the embodiment described above, three events are set as reception status: each time the number of received sheets reaches a predetermined value, the occurrence of recording paper out, and the occurrence of a recording paper jam. Events can also be similarly set as reception states.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the operator stores the reception status setting and the corresponding voice message in the RAM from the operation display unit.
It can also be stored in OM.

In addition, in the above embodiment, two phone numbers are set as notification destinations, but the number of settings may be three or more, or one.
You can also make it .

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the notification destination storage means that stores the destination telephone number to which the reception status is to be notified and the voice synthesis means for outputting the reception status as a voice message are provided, and after the reception operation is completed, A voice message corresponding to the reception status at that time is formed by the voice synthesis means and is sent to the operator near the telephone of the destination telephone number, so that the reception status can be appropriately notified to the operator. This has the advantage of reducing the burden on

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2+a) to tc) are flowcharts showing an example of processing at the time of receiving status notification. 1...CPU (central processing unit), 2...ROM
(read-only memory), 3...RAM (random access memory), 6...speech synthesizer, 7
...Figure 1 Figure 2 (a) Figure 2 (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A facsimile machine equipped with an automatic call making/receiving function is equipped with a notification destination storage means that stores the destination telephone number to notify the reception status, and a voice synthesis means for outputting the reception status as a voice message, and the facsimile machine is equipped with A facsimile apparatus, characterized in that the voice synthesis means notifies the destination of the destination telephone number of a voice message corresponding to the reception state at the facsimile machine.