JP2626777B2 - Image communication device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image communication device having a polling transmission function.

[Prior Art] As one of facsimile communication systems, there is a polling system in which a calling side sends a transmission command to a called side and image information is transmitted from the called side to the calling side. In this polling method,
The called party must set a document on the facsimile apparatus or store image information in the memory before receiving the transmission command.

As another method of facsimile communication, there is a relay transmission in which a transmitting station specifies a destination and transmits image information to a relay station, and the relay station transfers the received image information to a specified destination. In this relay transmission, the destination must be determined when the transmitting station transmits to the relay station.

By the way, for example, when the office is out of the office, there is a case where the user wants to receive a manuscript transmitted from various places to the facsimile machine of the office at an outside place.

In this case, in the polling method, the original received by the office facsimile apparatus must be set again in the apparatus or the image information must be stored in the memory, so that it cannot be received on the go. On the other hand, in the relay transmission, it is necessary to previously specify the destination as the destination on the transmitting side, so that when the destination is indefinite, it cannot be performed.

As described above, the conventional facsimile system has a problem that image information once received by one facsimile station cannot be extracted from any other facsimile station.

[Purpose] The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and has as its object to provide an image communication device capable of extracting image information from an arbitrary partner terminal.

[Configuration] For this purpose, the present invention provides a communication mode setting for setting a first communication mode for performing a normal reception operation and a second communication mode for performing a polling transmission operation in an image communication apparatus having a polling transmission function. Means for setting the first communication mode by the communication mode setting means, and recording and outputting the image of the received image information at the time of an incoming call, while setting the second communication mode by the communication mode setting means. If the mode is set, the received image information is stored as polling transmission image information at the time of an incoming call, and when a polling request is made at a subsequent incoming call, the stored polling transmission image information is transmitted to the partner terminal. Communication control means.

Further, the communication control means is provided when the second communication mode is set by the communication mode setting means,
When a polling request is made at the time of an incoming call, if the polling transmission image information is not stored, the other terminal is notified that there is no transmission image information.

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a facsimile apparatus 1 is connected to a public telephone network 2, and facsimile apparatuses 3 and 4 as communication destinations are connected to the public telephone network 2. Facsimile machine 3,4
Is a known facsimile machine conventionally used. Further, the facsimile apparatus 4 has a function of setting an arbitrary ID code and executing polling reception.

In the facsimile apparatus 1, a network control device 101 is connected to a telephone line, and performs a predetermined calling operation and a receiving operation by capturing a line, transmitting / receiving a selection signal, and detecting an incoming call. The modem 102 modulates and demodulates image information and transmits the same, and also transmits various procedure signals in a transmission control procedure.

The buffer memory 103 temporarily stores image information to be transmitted and received. The data compression and reproduction device 104 is for compressing data of image information to be transmitted and reproducing the received image information into original image information data. The line buffer 105 temporarily stores image information. The image memory 106 stores the image information of the transmission original and the received image information.

The data compression and reproduction device 107 compresses image information data when storing the image information in the image memory 106, and reproduces the original image information data when reading it out.

The operation unit 108 performs various predetermined operations on the facsimile machine. The system control unit 109 includes a CPU 109
a, a microcomputer system including a RAM 109b, a ROM 109c, and the like, which controls the above-described units to execute a predetermined operation of the facsimile apparatus. The RAM 109b is a non-volatile memory, and has an ID set arbitrarily in advance.
The code is stored. The ROM 109c stores fixed phrase information, which is image information for recording a specific message.

In addition, the facsimile apparatus 1 is provided with a scanner for reading a document image, a plotter for recording an image, and the like, but they are not shown because they are not related to the operation in the present embodiment.

When using the facsimile apparatus 1 of the present embodiment with the above configuration, first, an ID code is set. The operator inputs an arbitrary number in a predetermined digit as an ID code from the operation unit 108. The input ID code is stored in the RAM 109b.

Further, the facsimile machine 1 has
There are a normal mode in which the received image information is recorded by the plotter, and a transfer mode in which the received image information is temporarily stored in the image memory 106 and, upon receiving a request from another facsimile apparatus, is transferred to the facsimile apparatus.

The operator operates the operation unit 108 to set a desired reception mode. Here, it is assumed that the transfer mode is set.

In this transfer mode, for example, if the facsimile machine 3 calls the facsimile machine 1 for transmitting image information, the network control device 101 detects an incoming call and connects the line. Then, the modem 102 executes a predetermined transmission control procedure with the facsimile machine 3 and receives image information. The received image information is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 103,
The image information is returned to the original pixel-unit image information by the data compression / reproduction device 104 and temporarily stored in the line buffer 105. Further, the image information is data-compressed by the data compression / reproduction device 107 and stored in the image memory 106.

When the reception of the image information ends, the network control device 101 disconnects the line.

Next, an operation of transferring the image information stored in the image memory 106 to another facsimile apparatus, for example, the facsimile apparatus 4, will be described.

In this case, first, the same ID code as the ID code set in the facsimile machine 1 is set in the facsimile machine 4, while the polling reception mode is set, and the facsimile machine 1 is called.

When the facsimile machine 1 receives a call, it connects to the line,
As shown in FIG. 2, a CED signal and a DIS signal are transmitted. Since the facsimile apparatus 4 is set to the polling reception mode, when receiving the DIS signal, the facsimile apparatus 4 sends out NSC, CIG, and DTC signals, respectively, and requests the facsimile apparatus 1 to transmit image information. At this time, the set ID code is transmitted by the CIG signal.

Next, the facsimile machine 1 checks the received ID code
After confirming the coincidence with the ID code set in the RAM 109b, the DCS signal and the modem training signal are transmitted. The facsimile machine 4 executes the modem training,
Sends CFR signal.

When the facsimile apparatus 1 receives the CFR signal, the facsimile apparatus 1 reads out the image information stored in the image memory 106, and restores the original image information by the data compression / reproduction apparatus 107. Further, the image information is data-compressed by the line buffer 105 in an encoding method suitable for the facsimile apparatus 4. Then, the modem 102 sends out the modem retraining signal and the compressed image information PIX. When the transmission of the image information PIX is completed, an EOM signal is transmitted.

When the facsimile machine 4 receives the image information PIX normally, it sends out an MCF signal, and the facsimile machine 1 sends out a DCN signal to open the line. Facsimile machine 4
Receives the DCN signal and releases the line. This allows
In the facsimile machine 4, the image information received by the facsimile machine 1 is recorded.

By the way, in the above-mentioned operation example, when a transmission request by polling is received from the facsimile machine 4, the image memory 10
There is a case where a transmission request is received in a state where the image information is stored in 6 but the image information is not stored.

In this case, the incoming call operation is performed in the same manner as described above, and the fixed phrase information stored in the ROM 109c is read. This fixed phrase information is, for example, image information for recording a message such as “There is no stored image information” in characters, and the read fixed phrase information is stored in the temporary line buffer 105. And then compresses the data in the same manner as normal image information and sends it out as image information PIX. As a result, the facsimile apparatus 4 records the message and determines that there is no image information.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the ID code is set in advance and the facsimile apparatus 1 is set to the transfer mode, the received image information is temporarily stored in the image memory 106, while the other facsimile apparatuses 1 Called from and received,
When the ID code and the transmission request are received, the stored image information is transmitted to the facsimile machine.

As a result, the image information once received by the facsimile machine 1 can be extracted from another facsimile machine at an arbitrary place.

In the above embodiment, when the facsimile apparatus 1 is set to the transfer mode, the received image information is stored in the image information memory and transferred. Confidential reception is known in which the ID code is temporarily stored in an image memory and recorded by inputting an ID code. Therefore, the confidentially transmitted image information may be similarly transferred.

Further, although the ID code is transmitted by the CIG signal, it goes without saying that the ID code can be transmitted by another signal such as an NSC signal.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, in the image communication apparatus having the polling transmission function, the first communication mode for performing the normal reception operation and the second communication mode for performing the polling transmission operation are set. When the first communication mode is set by the communication mode setting means, the image of the received image information is recorded and output at the time of an incoming call, while the communication mode setting means sets When the second communication mode is set, when an incoming call is received,
Store the received image information as polling transmission image information,
When a polling request is made at a subsequent incoming call, the communication control means for transmitting the stored polling transmission image information to the partner terminal is provided, so that the same image information can be taken out from any partner terminal, and the user This has the effect of being convenient when the terminal to be used cannot be fixed.

Further, the communication control means is provided when the second communication mode is set by the communication mode setting means,
If the polling transmission image information is not stored when a polling request is made when an incoming call is received, the other terminal is notified that there is no transmission image information. There is also an effect that the reason why the information cannot be received can be clearly notified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a transmission control procedure when transmitting stored image information to another facsimile apparatus. 1,3,4 ... Facsimile machine, 101 ... Network controller, 102
... Modem, 103 buffer memory, 104, 107 data compression / reproduction device, 105 line buffer, 106 image memory, 108 operating unit, 109 system control unit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A communication mode setting means for setting a first communication mode for performing a normal reception operation and a second communication mode for performing a polling transmission operation in the image communication apparatus having a polling transmission function; When the first communication mode is set by the setting means, an image of the received image information is recorded and output when an incoming call is received, and the second communication mode is set by the communication mode setting means. In such a case, a communication control means is provided for storing received image information as polling transmission image information upon receiving an incoming call, and transmitting the stored polling transmission image information to a partner terminal when a polling request is made upon a subsequent incoming call. An image communication device, characterized in that: 2. The communication control means according to claim 1, wherein said second communication mode is set by said communication mode setting means, and said polling transmission image information is accumulated when a polling request is made upon arrival of an incoming call. 2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there is no transmission image information, the other terminal is notified that there is no transmission image information.