KR100772400B1 - A method for facilitating group dial setting in MFP devices - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device, and provides a peripheral device for an information processing device, and can perform a plurality of functions simultaneously through multitask processing. The MFP device provided as a peripheral device has a plurality of functions including a scanner function for acquiring an image from an original. The present invention provides a facility of nested groups for dialing adjustment in an MFP device, where one or more groups can be displayed using a single nested group name. In addition, it is easy to include one nested group in another nested group number so that two or more groups can be represented by one nested group number, thereby saving time.

Description

A method for facilitating group dial setting in MFP devices}

1 is a flow chart illustrating the nested group dial call of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device of an information processing device including a plurality of functions, such as a scanner function, wherein the multifunction device can perform a plurality of functions simultaneously using multitask processing. The multifunction device can print fax data sent from an external fax machine and print data sent from a computer or similar external device. More specifically, the present invention belongs to a group dial feature that can be applied to digital laser MFPs.

US Pat. No. 5,917,615, entitled "System and Method for Facsimile Load Balancing," describes a method and system for load balancing a facsimile device. Each facsimile device is connected to other facsimile devices via a network. When one facsimile device receives a processing request and the overall load on that facsimile device is greater than the threshold, the facsimile device sends the request to the second facsimile device. The second pack serial device accepts the request if the overall load is less than the threshold and sequentially sends a response to the previous fax device. Each facsimile device may define a group of destination lists and store the destination list in the phone book to facilitate access. These groups can also be nested for additional benefit by distributing a file to multiple destinations.

The U.S. patent does not address the dynamic update of lists / groups and the introduction of hierarchies within nested groups in distributing files.

Other Korean Patent Publication Nos. 2000-073178, 2003-045893, 2004-02145 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 8-336031 are disclosed, but they also do not teach the introduction of hierarchies within nested groups.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for facilitating layering when setting up a group dial call in a unique multifunction peripheral (MFP) device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a nested group dialing device in which one or more groups can be displayed using a single nested group name.

The present invention provides a hierarchical nested group dial calling device, through which a member of one or more groups can be displayed using a single nested group name and a specific hierarchy. For other purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing a user to form nested groups, which may include existing groups.

It is another object of the present invention to perform functions such as facsimile transmission using nested group dial numbers.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing a user to transmit information to one or more nested dial call groups in combination with other users.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method that saves time since two or more groups can be represented by one nested group number by facilitating inclusion of one nested group within another nested group number. It is done.

The above objects of the present invention are achieved by forming one nested group formed by adding groups to one nested group. You can add one group to one nested group and add all the groups that can be added to another group. One group may not have a dial call number as another group number, whereas one nested group may have another nested group number as a dial call number. Here, the group means the name of an existing group formed by the group dial call.

Applicant's invention is presented in light of the above-mentioned field of invention. The present invention relates to a method for providing a group dial call device in a digital laser multifunction peripheral (MFP) device. When attempting to send the same original to multiple destinations, a group of destinations may be created under one or two digit group dial areas. This makes it possible to use one group dial number setting to send the same original to all destinations in the group. The present invention proposes a method of achieving the method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention facilitates facsimile transmission to a plurality of places indicated by group dial setting in a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device provided as a peripheral device for an information processing device, and by multitasking processing. In a method capable of simultaneously performing a plurality of functions,

(a) accessing a phone book of a control panel of the MFP device;

(b) activating a storage function to add a group number indicating where the information is faxed; And

and (c) prompting to enter a group ID to indicate a plurality of destinations, and then faxing the information to the destinations.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings and the claims.

Hereinafter, a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals in order to avoid redundant description. The following description and drawings are not to be regarded as limiting the invention, and numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.

According to the present invention, the MFP may form nested groups, and may use the same for other features as for broadcasting. In carrying out the invention, examples of image processing devices that can be used with multifunction peripherals include, but are not limited to, computers such as personal computers, workstations or other computers. Moreover, a plurality of functions including scanner functions are only possible examples, but include printer functions, personal computer facsimile functions, copy functions, and facsimile functions. Similarly, examples of storage media to which this form of the invention may be applied include ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory. However, these are merely examples and should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the invention.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for facilitating group dial number setting to send the same original to all destinations in a group. According to the method of the present invention, the telephone book of the central panel of the MFP device is first accessed. The method of the present invention further activates the storage function to enable the addition of the group number, indicating the places where the data will be faxed. The method of the present invention provides a step comprising a large number of speed dial numbers. The method of the present invention is further advanced by prompting the user to enter a group ID for facsimile transmissions to many places and also prompting a name for that group. According to a particular aspect of the present invention, the method of the present invention provides an apparatus for storing as many groups as desired. Inclusion of a group within a group is also within the scope of the present invention. The method of the present invention described herein above provides numbers of speed dial calls representing a plurality of destinations. The method of the invention also provides for selective dialing by dynamically selecting nested group dial numbers.

The steps of performing group dial setup and facsimile transmission in accordance with the present invention will be described in detail below. The following detailed descriptions should not be considered as limiting the invention, and it is obvious that modifications are possible by those skilled in the art.

G1 hierarchy Phone number G2 hierarchy Phone number tel 1 One 51197777 tel 11 4 51197277 tel 2 One 51197677 tel 12 3 51197177 tel 3 2 51197577 tel 13 One 51197077 tel 4 2 51197477 tel 14 One 51196977 tel 5 3 51197377 tel 15 One 51196877

Table 1 shows details of a sample list configured in the MFP.

G1 and G2 represent group names, and tel1, tel2, ..., and tel15 are names associated with phone numbers in a row. The hierarchy is also associated with a name.

For example, in Table 1, tel1 is the name given to a telephone number whose hierarchy is set to 1 and which is part of Group 1 (G1).

Example 1: User input Group name  colon Qualifier hierarchy G1 , G2 : = One

Table 2 above shows inputs obtained by functional nested group dialing (NGD) through a standard user interface.

Based on the input, the function NGD will dial the numbers in the list below.

Nested Group List Phone ID hierarchy Phone number tel 25 One 51197377 tel 1 One 51197777 tel 2 One 51197677 tel 13 One 51197077 tel 14 One 51196977 tel 15 One 51196877

Example 2: User input Group name  colon Qualifier hierarchy G1 : One? 3

Table 4 above shows inputs obtained by functional nested group dialing (NGD) through a standard user interface.

Based on the input, the function NGD will dial the numbers in the list below.

Nested Group List Phone ID hierarchy Phone number tel 1 One 51197777 tel 2 One 51197677 tel 5 (1) 3 51197377 Layer 3 can be dynamically changed to one.

Example 1

Fax transmission

Prerequisite: Groups are already set up with a hierarchy. See the example above.

step:

1) Function as part of the invention Nested group dialing (NGD) is required when the user selects an optional nested group dialing call for facsimile dialing through the standard user interface (1, 2) of FIG.

2) Enabled NGDs are prompted for user input via user interface 3 of FIG. 1.

3) The requested user inputs are as follows.

a) Group names / lists in group names are separated by commas (,). For example, it is separated into (g1) (g1, g2).

b) Select the colon (:).

c) Select the displayed qualifier (=,> =, <=, <,>,!, x?).

d) Hierarchy example (1).

Syntax (syntax): <group name (, s): hierarchy>

Syntax is a predefined format for user input.

An example is the case where a dynamic nested group is formed from Group 1 and Group 2, which pull out telephone numbers with the specified hierarchy (g, g2: = 1).

4) Function The NGD acquires and stores user input values in the memory defined by that function.

5) The next function NGD confirms and validates the user input for the predefined syntax 4 of FIG.

6) If the input does not follow the syntax, the function displays a message corresponding to error 5 of FIG.

7) Under any name identified as a nested group name (NGN), the function NGD allows the user to save a condition so that the user can use the NGN to further use the same condition, the same condition being a speed dial and May be associated with other such supports. The NGN is stored in a predefined memory location of the nonvolatile RAM, which permanently stores the user inputs 6 and 7 of FIG. 1 and the NGN.

8) The function analyzes the corresponding group for the above-described layer. If the function finds an analysis result for the hierarchy, it displays a pointer to display until a particular group is analyzed as in reference numeral 8 of FIG. If no group name hierarchy exists, an error message is displayed (9).

9) The NGD then takes that number (telephone number) and performs a facsimile function with that number as shown at 10 in FIG.

10) The facsimile function (associated with the MFP) takes that number as input and starts the call, and also performs the scanning function with the same number.

11) The function waits until the facsimile function returns as shown by reference numeral 1 in FIG.

12) The functional NGD then continues to analyze the group using the pre-stored pointer.

13) The functional NGD then repeats processing steps 8-11 until all the groups specified by the user have been analyzed.

14) The function NGD then exits from the program.

Syntax:

Syntax for Dynamic Hierarchy Change

Qualifiers (=,> =, <=, <,>,!, X?) Represent (equal, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, less than, greater than, and not equal to, then change hierarchy to x) .

For example, (g1: 1 ~ 3) is as follows.

The input takes all phone numbers from group 1, the same layer as 1 and the same layer as 3 dynamically assigns layer 1 to numbers stored as layer 3.

Notably, the syntax specified herein is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for a user to dynamically add or remove a group dial number before a dial call in a nested group dial call. The MFP also allows certain filtered dial calls, in which, according to the present invention, groups within nested groups are given in the same hierarchy.

It will be appreciated and appreciated by those skilled in the art that many different applications of the method described above are possible and that many features that are common to all embodiments can be considered. Various features of the invention may be formed in many different steps for carrying out the invention, and the applicant is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the specific steps already mentioned.

Thus, while certain preferred embodiments and preferred operations of the invention have been described in detail herein, there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed. Alternative embodiments of the invention as well as various modifications of the disclosed embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the detailed description of the invention. It is therefore to be considered that such modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

As described above, the present invention has the effect of providing a method for facilitating layering when establishing a group dial call in a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of providing a nested group dialing device, through which one or more groups can be displayed using a single nested group name.

In addition, the present invention provides a hierarchical nested group dial calling device, through which members of one or more groups can be displayed using a single nested group name and a specific hierarchy. It is effective.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of providing a method for allowing a user to form nested groups, which may include existing groups.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of performing a function such as facsimile transmission using a nested group dial number.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of providing a method for a user to transmit information to one or more nested dial call groups in combination with other users.

In addition, the invention facilitates the inclusion of one nested group within another nested group number, thereby providing a method that saves time since two or more groups can be represented by one nested group number. .

Claims (5)

In a method for facilitating facsimile transmission to a plurality of places indicated by group dial setting in a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device provided as a peripheral device for an information processing device, and performing a plurality of functions simultaneously by multitask processing. , (a) accessing a phone book of a control panel of the MFP device; (b) activating a storage function to add a group number indicating where the information is faxed; And (c) prompting to enter a group ID to indicate a plurality of destinations, and then faxing the information to the destinations. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises assigning a group name to a group of the group dial setting. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of group dial settings is represented by a speed dial number. 4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that two or more groups of said group dial setting comprise one nested group, said nested group being indicated by a corresponding nested group number. How to. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said one nested group comprises another nested group.

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