JP2804798B2 - Image communication device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication device, and more particularly to an image communication device having an image communication function and a voice message recording / playback function.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a communication device in which an answering machine function is integrated with a facsimile device is known. In this type of apparatus, the facsimile communication function and the answering machine function often operate independently. For example, depending on whether the device is set to an answering machine mode by a switch operation or the like or a facsimile mode, only one of the functions is activated to perform a predetermined communication.

Alternatively, a method of automatically switching the above two functions has been proposed. For example, there is a method in which when an incoming call is received, a response is made with a corresponding message by voice recorded in advance, a signal received from a partner station is detected during that time, and when a facsimile calling signal or the like is detected, a transition is made to facsimile communication.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-described conventional system, once either the answering machine mode or the facsimile mode is selected, the selected function operates independently thereafter. In order to verbally explain the image transmitted to the other party, the partner station may make a call again and record a voice message, or make a direct call after waiting for the operator of the above device to return home. There are many problems, such as the need for work, the need for multiple line connections, the increase in communication costs, and the difficulty in associating such information with the receiving side of voice messages and images.

 An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, in an image communication device having an image communication function and a voice message recording / playback function, an image receiving device, a voice message recording device, Means for detecting a predetermined image communication procedure signal transmitted from the other station; and making the voice message recording means record a voice message from the other station at the time of an incoming call; Control means for executing image reception by the image communication means when the image communication means is detected, and when the image reception is performed following the recording of the voice message, the recorded voice message is associated with the received image data. A memory for storing identification information for storing the identification information of the memory; Based on the input information, and employs a configuration having a reproducing means for reproducing the recorded voice message by the voice message recording means corresponding to the input identification information.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, when the image communication procedure signal is detected during the recording of the voice message of the partner station, it is possible to shift to the image reception, and the image reception and the voice related thereto can be performed by one line connection. Can record messages.
Further, at the time of an incoming call, when image data is received following recording of a voice message, identification information for associating the recorded voice message with the received image data is generated and stored in a memory, The identification information of the memory can be output visually. Then, the corresponding recorded voice message can be reproduced based on the input of the identification information by the operator.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a facsimile apparatus with an answering machine function employing the present invention. 1 in FIG.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a recording / reproducing unit using a magnetic tape or a semiconductor memory as a recording medium, and reference numeral 4 denotes a facsimile communication unit including a known image input / output unit, image memory, encoding / decoding unit, and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a known communication unit including a modem, a network control device, an automatic call receiving circuit, an automatic calling device, and the like, which performs connection processing between the device and the line N. The above components are controlled by the control unit 2 including a microprocessor and the like. The control program of the control unit 2 is ROM2a
Is stored in

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the main part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in detail.
In FIG. 2, the line N is transmitted through a line controller (not shown).
1 shows the configuration of a line n connected to a recording / reproducing mechanism and an image communication mechanism.

As shown, the line n connected to the line N is a modem 2
6. Connected to analog switches 23 and 25. Here, the modem 26 is used for modulating and demodulating image data and procedure signals during image communication, and in particular, image data received at the time of image reception is sequentially stored in an image memory 27 including a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, and the like. It can be stored.

Each of the analog switches 23 and 25 is configured by using a switching element such as a transistor, and independently controls a line n and a voice IC 22 for outputting a response message at the time of an incoming call or a recording / reproducing unit 24 for recording a voice signal on the line n. This is for connecting to the line n. In this case, the recording / playback unit 24 also includes a playback system, and is composed of, for example, a microcassette tape recorder.

Each of the above components is a CPU consisting of a microprocessor, etc.
(Control unit 2 in FIG. 1) 21 is controlled. The control program for the CPU 21 is stored in the ROM 2a.

Next, the incoming call control in the above configuration is shown in FIG. The procedure in FIG. 3 is executed by the CPU 21 in FIG. 2, and the control program is stored in the ROM 2a.

In step S1 of FIG. 1, the CPU 21 closes the analog switch 23 and causes the voice IC 22 to transmit a response message by voice recorded in advance. Then, step
At S2, record the message sent from the partner station.
At this time, the analog switch 23 is opened, 25 is closed, and the recording / playback unit 24 is connected to the line n, and the voice message transmitted from the partner station is recorded. After activating the recording / playback unit 24 in step S2, monitoring processing in steps S3 and S4 is performed. That is, first, in step S3, disconnection of the line is detected by a known technique such as detection of inversion of the line polarity. When the line is disconnected, the operation of the recording / playback unit 24 is terminated in step S6, and the operation returns to the initial state. In step S4, it is determined whether or not a facsimile signal (for example, a facsimile calling signal) of the partner station has been detected. If no facsimile signal is received, the process returns to step S3 to continue the recording process.

If a facsimile signal is received in step S4, it is determined that the partner station has shifted from voice communication to facsimile communication, and the recording process of the recording / playback unit 24 is terminated in step S5,
In step S7, the analog switch 25 is opened and image reception is started using the modem 26. The received image data is sequentially stored in the image memory 27. The stored image data is recorded and output after disconnecting the line according to a known technique, or is sequentially recorded and output during communication.

According to the above configuration, the partner station first verbally explains the contents of the image data to be transmitted, switches to facsimile communication by a manual procedure, and performs image transmission. Message transmission and image transmission. Therefore, there is no need to perform a troublesome communication operation a plurality of times, the communication cost can be further reduced, and accurate communication can be performed using both voice and image. Further, the above configuration can be implemented simply and inexpensively by using the same hardware as a conventional facsimile apparatus having an answering machine function.

Although only the basic processing has been described above, the following modifications are possible. First, it is preferable that the processing mode shown in FIG. 3 can be selected together with a normal facsimile mode or an answering machine mode by a switch operation or the like. Thereby, it is possible to cope with a user who wants to perform only facsimile reception or recording of a business message.

If the partner station has both recorded the message and transmitted the image, the recorded message is stored in the recording / playback unit 24 and the received image data is stored in the image memory 27. In consideration of the above processing, it is conceivable to associate these voice messages and image data with identification information such as an appropriate serial number.

This identification information may be stored in the memory in the form of a table or the like, and may be recorded and output using the image recording unit in a list form or the like as necessary. In such a case, if information such as the communication date and time, the number of pages received, the telephone number of the partner station, and the abbreviation are recorded and output together with the identification information, as in the recording and output of a communication management report performed by a known facsimile machine, It becomes very easy to associate a voice message with image data.

In such a configuration, when reproducing a voice message recorded in the recording / reproducing unit 24, it is preferable to configure the apparatus so that the corresponding voice message can be reproduced based on the input of the identification information. Such a configuration can be realized by using a technique of controlling the start of a recording area in a known recording / reproducing apparatus.

Although an example of image reception has been described above, control to shift to polling transmission when a facsimile signal of a partner station is detected during message recording may be considered. In this case, after the shift to the facsimile communication, the polling communication is performed by switching the transmission / reception direction by exchanging the signal of the predetermined procedure in the same manner as the known procedure.

Further, the above configuration is applicable not only to the facsimile procedure but also to a communication apparatus using various image communication procedures.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, in an image communication apparatus having an image communication function and a voice message recording / playback function, a voice message from a partner station is recorded by a voice message recording means at the time of an incoming call. When a predetermined image communication procedure signal from the partner station is detected during the recording period, image reception is performed by the image communication means.
Image reception and related voice message recording can be performed by one line connection, thereby reducing communication costs and simplifying the communication operation of the partner station.

Further, when the image is received following the recording of the voice message, identification information for associating the recorded voice message with the received image data is stored in a memory, and the identification information of the memory is visible. And the voice message recorded by the voice message recording means corresponding to the input identification information is reproduced based on the input of the identification information. By seeing the identification information, it is possible to easily recognize which voice message related to which received image data is recorded, and to selectively reproduce the corresponding recorded voice message by inputting the identification information. And the excellent effect that the operability of the device can be improved can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus employing the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the apparatus of FIG. 1 in more detail, and FIG. 3 is an incoming call in the apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure. 1 Recording / playback unit 2 Control unit 3 Communication unit 4 Facsimile communication unit 21 CPU 22 Voice IC 23 Analog switch 24 Recording / playback unit 25 Analog Switch, 26 Modem 27 Image memory

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image communication apparatus having an image communication function and a voice message recording / playback function, comprising: an image receiving means; a voice message recording means; and a means for detecting a predetermined image communication procedure signal transmitted from a partner station. Control means for recording a voice message from a partner station by the voice message recording means at the time of an incoming call, and executing image reception by the image communication means when the image communication procedure signal is detected by the detection means during the recording period; When the image is received following the recording of the voice message, a memory for storing identification information for associating the recorded voice message with the received image data; and Means for visually outputting, based on the input of the identification information, the sound corresponding to the input identification information An image communication apparatus comprising: a reproducing unit that reproduces a voice message recorded by a message recording unit.