JP2003125142A - Communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication terminal such as a facsimile machine capable of displaying the number of communication jobs when communication jobs stored in a transmission reservation table are stagnant. SOLUTION: The image read section 2 of a facsimile machine 20 reads an image of an original to be sent, converts the image into image data, an image memory 8 stores the data, the facsimile machine stores the information of a communication job to be sent from now together with a destination telephone number and transmission time information or the like to a transmission reservation table 7a in a RAM 7, reads the stored corresponding image data according to the transmission reservation table 7a and transmits the data to the destination via a public telephone line L when a designated transmission time comes. A main control section 1 displays the number of stagnant communication jobs stored in the transmission reservation table 7a on a display section 4 as shown in Figure 2 (b) (step S24 in Figure 5).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device equipped with display means for displaying predetermined data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, an original image to be transmitted is read by an image reading unit, converted into image data and stored in an image memory, and is transmitted together with the other party's telephone number and transmission time information. After storing the information of communication jobs to be stored in the transmission reservation table, when the designated transmission time comes, according to the transmission reservation table,
The stored corresponding image data is read and transmitted to the other party via a communication line such as a public telephone line.

[0003]

However, in the conventional facsimile apparatus, when communication jobs for memory transmission stored in the transmission reservation table are stagnant, it is not possible to newly instruct transmission and how long to wait. There was a problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device capable of displaying the number of communication jobs when the communication jobs stored in the transmission reservation table are accumulated. Especially.

[0005]

A communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises a first storage means for storing a transmission reservation table containing information on a communication job that is currently staying, and a second storage means for storing image data to be transmitted. In the communication terminal device, the transmitting means for transmitting the stored image data to the destination via the communication line in accordance with the transmission reservation table, and the display means for displaying predetermined information. It is characterized by further comprising control means for controlling the display means to display the number of staying communication jobs during communication of the terminal device.

Further, the communication terminal device is provided with a plurality of communication lines connected to the transmitting means, and the control means displays the value obtained by dividing the number of communication jobs in the hold by the number of communication lines. It is characterized in that it is controlled so as to be displayed on the means.

Further, in the communication terminal device, the display section for displaying the number of staying communication jobs on the display means is shared with the display section for reading resolution or reading density.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the facsimile apparatus 20 of FIG. 1, the original image to be transmitted is read by the image reading unit 2, converted into image data and stored in the image memory 8, and the telephone number and transmission time information of the other party are stored. After storing the information of the communication job to be transmitted in the transmission reservation table 7a in the RAM 7, when the designated transmission time comes, the corresponding image data stored is read out according to the transmission reservation table 7a and the public telephone is called. It is transmitted to the other party via the line L. In the present embodiment, in particular, the main control unit 1 is stored in the transmission reservation table 7a during communication of the facsimile device 20 (including during transmission or reception), as shown in FIG. It is characterized in that the number of communication jobs that are staying is controlled to be displayed on the display unit 4 (step S24 in FIG. 5). Here, the staying communication job refers to a communication job that is registered in the transmission reservation table 7a but has not been transmitted yet.

If the facsimile machine 20 is provided with a plurality of public telephone lines L (Y in step S22)
ES), the main control unit 1 is characterized by controlling the display unit 4 to display a value obtained by dividing the number of staying communication jobs by the number of public telephone lines L (step S23). Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the display section for displaying the number of staying communication jobs on the display unit 4 is shared with the display section for reading resolution and reading density.

In FIG. 1, the facsimile device 20 is
In addition to having a facsimile communication function such as the conventional G3 system, the V. A hardware CODEC circuit 9 having a communication capability of 34 modes and V.34 of ITU-T recommendation. It is provided with a CODEC program 6a in the ROM 6 having a communication capability of 17 modes or less. The main control unit 1 is specifically configured by a CPU, is connected to the following hardware units via a bus 13 and controls them, and also executes various software functions described later. The image reading unit 2 reads a document with a scanner using a CCD or the like and outputs dot image data converted into monochrome binary. The image recording unit 3 is a printer device such as an electrophotographic system, and prints out and records the image data received by facsimile communication from another facsimile device as a hard copy. The display unit 4 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and displays the operating state of the facsimile device 20 and displays image data of a document to be transmitted and received image data. .

The operation unit 5 includes character keys necessary for operating the facsimile device 20, a numeric keypad for dialing,
It has speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys, and various function keys. By using the touch panel system for the display unit 4 described above, the operation unit 5
You may comprise so that some or all of the various keys of may be substituted.

The ROM 6 stores in advance programs for various software required for the operation of the facsimile machine 20 and executed by the main control section 1, where the programs are V.s. 17 modes,
V. 32, V.I. 27 ter, V.I. It includes a CODEC program 6a which has a communication capability based on 26 bis or the like, and which encodes and decodes image data, and includes the communication job registration process of FIG. 3 and the facsimile transmission process of FIGS. 4 and 5. The RAM 7 is composed of an SRAM, a flash memory, or the like, is used as a working area of the main control unit 1, and stores temporary data generated when the program is executed. A transmission reservation table 7a is stored in the RAM 7, and the transmission reservation table 7a indicates a transmission time (including immediate) and a destination telephone for each transmission communication job for facsimile transmission such as immediate transmission or time designation transmission. It includes data such as a number and an address in the image memory 8 of image data to be transmitted. When a flash memory is used as the RAM 7, the content of the data is not lost even when the power is cut off due to a power failure, movement of the device, or the like. The image memory 8 is composed of a DRAM or the like, and stores image data to be transmitted or received image data. The RAM 7 and the image memory 8 may be hard disk memories.

The fax modem 10 is a public telephone line L.
Is a modem that has the function of a fax modem for normal facsimile communication. An NCU (Network Control Unit) 11 is a hardware circuit that performs an operation of closing and opening a DC loop of an analog public telephone line L and has an automatic dialing function, and if necessary, the fax modem 10 To the public telephone line L. Here, the NCU 11 detects an ID receiving terminal activation signal and a normal telephone ringing signal in the originating telephone number notification service, and transmits a primary response signal and a secondary response signal in the originating telephone number notification service as necessary. can do. The NCU 11 may be connected to a digital line (for example, ISDN line) of a baseband transmission system via a predetermined terminal adapter and a DSU (subscriber line terminating device: Digital Service Unit).

The facsimile apparatus 20 of the present embodiment configured as described above has the above-mentioned CODEC circuit 9 and COD in addition to the normal facsimile communication function such as the G3 system.
It has an EC program 6a. In the facsimile communication function, the dot image data read by the image reading unit 2 is stored in the ROM 6 according to the encoding system such as MH, MR, MMR defined by the facsimile communication standard.
After being encoded by the CODEC program 6a in the CODEC circuit 9 or transmitted by the CODEC circuit 9 to the facsimile machine of the other party, the encoded data received from the facsimile machine of the other party is the CODEC program 6 in the ROM6.
a or the CODEC circuit 9 decodes the image data and outputs it as a hard copy from the image recording unit 3. The image memory 8 stores image data as needed, and conversely outputs the stored image data as needed.

FIG. 2A shows the facsimile machine 20 of FIG.
6 is a front view showing a display on a display unit 4 before pressing a start key in a facsimile transmission process of FIG. 2 and a part of an operation unit 5 provided around a lower portion of the display unit 4. FIG. Before pressing the start key, as shown in FIG.
"Please press the start key" on the upper left of the display 4.
Is displayed, and in the next lower line (second line), the current date and time and the remaining memory amount are displayed. Also, in the next lower line (third line), the size of the transmitted document, the content of the read resolution (normal, fine, and fine fine), the content of the read density (normal, dark, light) Is displayed. Further, in the next lower row (fourth row), the lower operation keys 5a and 5b are provided.
The item names “resolution” and “density” corresponding to are displayed. That is, the two operation keys 5a and 5b are provided around the outside on the lower right side of the display unit 4, and each operation key 5
Reference characters a and 5b serve as operation keys for items displayed at the position of the corresponding display unit 4 immediately above them. As shown in FIG. 2A, before pressing the start key, the two operation keys 5a and 5b are a resolution key and a density key, respectively.

FIG. 2B is a facsimile device 20 shown in FIG.
4 during dialing in the facsimile transmission process of
3 is a front view showing the display in FIG. 2 and a part of the operation unit 5 provided around the lower portion of the display unit 4. During dialing, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the telephone number of the other party being dialed is displayed on the upper left part of the display unit 4, and the current line is displayed in the next lower line (second line). The date and time and the remaining memory are displayed. Further, in the next lower line (third line), the size of the transmitted original document and the number of communication jobs that are currently retained are displayed. That is, instead of the reading resolution and the reading density, the number of communication jobs that are staying is displayed, and the display unit 4
The display column for the number of communication jobs that are staying in 1 is shared with the display columns for reading resolution and reading density. In this case, since the item name is not displayed in the column directly above the operation keys 5a and 5b, the operation keys 5a and 5b are invalid keys that do not perform processing even if they are operated.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a communication job registration process executed by the main controller 1 of FIG.

In FIG. 3, first, in step S1, the original is set on the image reading section 2, and in step S2, the destination is input using the operation section 5. Next, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the start key is turned on. If NO, the process returns to step S2, while if YES, the process advances to step S4. Next, in step S4, the document is read by the image reading unit 2 to be converted into image data and stored in the image memory 8. In step S5, the communication job is added to the transmission reservation table 7a, and the communication job registration process ends. To do.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the facsimile transmission process executed by the main controller 1 of FIG.

In step S11 of FIG. 4, first, it is determined whether or not to make a call by determining whether the communication job in the transmission reservation table 7a has the designated transmission time, and if YES, After dialing and calling the other party in step S12, a facsimile image data transmitting process is executed using a known facsimile communication procedure in step S13. Then, step S
In FIG. 14, as shown in FIG. 2B, the telephone number of the other party is displayed on the display unit 4, dialing is displayed on the display unit 4 in step S15, and the document size is displayed on the display unit 4 in step S16. And then step S2 in FIG.
Go to 1.

In step S21 of FIG. 5, the number of staying communication jobs stored in the transmission reservation table 7a is counted, and in step S22, it is determined whether or not the own machine can communicate with a plurality of communication lines. If YES, the process proceeds to step S23, while if NO, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S23, the number of staying communication jobs is divided by the number of communication lines, the value of the division result is displayed on the display unit 4 as the number of remaining jobs, and the process proceeds to step S25. Note that FIG.
In the figure, the number of public telephone lines L is only one, but a plurality of public telephone lines L may be provided. In this case, the fax modems 10 and NCUs 11 corresponding to the number are provided. On the other hand, in step S24, the number of staying communication jobs is displayed on the display unit 4 as the number of remaining jobs, and the process proceeds to step S25.

In step S25, it is determined whether the resolution key 5a or the density key 5b has been pressed, and YES.
If NO, the process proceeds to step S26, while if NO, the process proceeds to step S28. After the resolution and density are displayed on the display unit 4 for 5 seconds instead of the number of remaining jobs in step S26, the display of the number of remaining jobs is returned to the display of the resolution and density or the error display in step S27, and the process proceeds to step S30. . On the other hand, in step S28, it is determined whether or not an error such as a paper jam or a cover open has occurred. If YES, the error is displayed on the display unit 4 instead of the number of remaining jobs in step S29, and then step S28. If NO, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S30, it is determined whether or not the facsimile image data transmission process is completed. If NO, the process returns to step S21, and if YES, the step S30.
The line is opened at 31 and the facsimile transmission process is completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the main controller 1 stores the data stored in the transmission reservation table 7a during the communication of the facsimile device 20 as shown in FIG. 2B. The number of communication jobs in progress is controlled to be displayed on the display unit 4 (step S24 in FIG. 5). Therefore, since the number of communication jobs that are staying in the facsimile device 20 can be grasped, it is possible to know how long to wait and the operability for the user can be improved.

When the facsimile device 20 is provided with a plurality of public telephone lines L (Y in step S22)
ES), the main control unit 1 controls the display unit 4 to display a value obtained by dividing the number of communication jobs in the hold by the number of public telephone lines L (step S23). Therefore, when simultaneous transmission can be performed on a plurality of communication lines, the number of communication jobs can be displayed in actuality, and it is possible to more accurately know how long to wait and to improve user operability.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the display column for the number of staying communication jobs on the display unit 4 is also used as the display column for the reading resolution and the reading density. Therefore,
The display unit 4 does not need to have a large display area, and the operation display panel of the device can be downsized.

<Modification> In the above embodiments, an example of the facsimile device 20 is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the facsimile device 20 is connected to a public network such as a public telephone network or a public digital line network. For example, it can be applied to a communication terminal device including a telephone, a data communication device, and the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the display column for the number of communication jobs in the accumulated state on the display unit 4 is shared with the display columns for the reading resolution and the reading density as shown in FIG. Is not limited to this, and may be shared with at least one display column of reading resolution and reading density.

In the above-described embodiment, the number of communication jobs that are staying is displayed on the display unit 4. When the number does not include the broadcast transmission, this number does not include the transmission reservation table 7a.
When the broadcast transmission is included, it is preferable to display the sum of the number of destinations of each communication job as the number of communication jobs.

In the above-described embodiment, the number of communication jobs that are staying is displayed on the display unit 4, and this number is defined as the number of communication jobs that have not yet been transmitted, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, this number may be displayed including the number of communication jobs currently in communication.

In the above embodiment, the display unit 4 displays the number of staying communication jobs. In addition to this, the approximate waiting time (total communication time of jobs to be communicated) is displayed as an image. It may be calculated based on the data size of the image data stored in the memory 8 and the maximum communication speed of the fax modem 10 and displayed on the display unit 4.

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the communication terminal device of the present invention, the first storage means for storing the transmission reservation table containing the information of the communication job in the stay and the image data to be transmitted are stored. A communication terminal device comprising a second storage means for storing, a transmitting means for transmitting the stored image data to a destination via a communication line according to the transmission reservation table, and a display means for displaying predetermined information. In the above, there is provided control means for controlling the display means to display the number of staying communication jobs during communication of the communication terminal device. Therefore, it is possible to know the number of communication jobs that are staying in the communication terminal device, and it is possible to know how long to wait and to improve the operability for the user.

In the communication terminal device, a plurality of communication lines connected to the transmission means are provided, and the control means displays the value obtained by dividing the number of communication jobs in the retention by the number of communication lines. Control to display on the means.
Therefore, when simultaneous transmission can be performed on a plurality of communication lines, the number of communication jobs can be displayed in actuality, and it is possible to more accurately know how long to wait and to improve user operability.

Further, in the communication terminal device, the display column of the number of the communication jobs in the accumulation in the display means is also used as the display column of the reading resolution or the reading density. Therefore, the display means does not need to have a large display area, and the operation display panel of the device can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A shows a display on a display unit 4 before pressing a start key in a facsimile transmission process of the facsimile apparatus 20 of FIG. 1 and a part of an operation unit 5 provided around a lower portion of the display unit 4. It is a front view, (b) is FIG.
In the facsimile transmission processing of the facsimile device 20 of the above, the display on the display unit 4 during dialing, and the display unit 4
It is a front view which shows a part of operation part 5 provided in the lower part periphery of.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a communication job registration process executed by the main control unit 1 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first part of a facsimile transmission process executed by the main control unit 1 of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a second part of a facsimile transmission process executed by the main control unit 1 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Main control unit, 2 ... Image reading unit, 3 ... Image recording section, 4 ... Display, 5 ... operation part, 6 ... ROM, 6a ... CODEC program, 7 ... RAM, 7a ... Transmission reservation table, 8 ... Image memory, 9 ... CODEC circuit, 10 ... fax modem, 11 ... NCU, 13 ... bus, 20 ... Facsimile device, L: Public telephone line.

Continued front page    F term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA30 AB23 AB38 AB42                       AB46 AC05 AE15 AF00 BA00                 5K036 AA15 DD05 DD48 JJ01 JJ12                 5K101 KK01 KK17 NN01 NN14 NN17                       RR12

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first storage unit for storing a transmission reservation table containing information on communication jobs that are staying, a second storage unit for storing image data to be transmitted, and the stored image data as described above. In a communication terminal device comprising a transmitting means for transmitting to a destination via a communication line according to a transmission reservation table and a display means for displaying predetermined information, the communication job of the staying communication job during communication of the communication terminal device is A communication terminal device comprising control means for controlling the number to be displayed on the display means. 2. A plurality of communication lines connected to the transmission means are provided, and the control means displays a value obtained by dividing the number of communication jobs in the retention by the number of communication lines on the display means. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, which is controlled. 3. The display column for displaying the number of communication jobs in the accumulated state on the display means is also used as a display column for reading resolution or reading density.
The communication terminal device described.