JPH0767125B2 - Fax machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Table of Contents] Outline Industrial field of application Conventional technology Problems to be solved by the invention Means for solving the problems Action Example I. Correspondence between Example and FIG. Relationship II. Configuration of Example III. Operation of Example (i) Receiving Operation (a) Phone (b) Fax Machine (c) Receiving Operation by Facsimile Machine (ii) Sending Operation IV. Implementation Summary of Examples V. Modified Embodiment of the Invention [Outline] Regarding a facsimile apparatus that shares one line with a telephone, a telephone capable of making a call independently for the purpose of facilitating confirmation of the other party, When a line is connected by the call path forming means that connects the line to the telephone in response to an incoming call from the other party and the telephone is off-hook, and the line is connected by the call path forming means, the condition is that the telephone is on-hook. Partner And information output means for outputting the transmission information to an external on-hook state of the phone is configured to comprise a switching control means for switching to the facsimile communication as a condition that a predetermined time has elapsed.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly, to a facsimile machine which shares one line with a telephone.

[Conventional technology]

In a known facsimile device, image information of an original such as characters and photographs can be transmitted to a distant place using a communication line. At present, since image communication can be carried out via a public telephone line, such a facsimile machine is generally widely used in the office automation.

When transmitting a document with the widely used facsimile apparatus, first, the operator on the transmission side operates the telephone to dial the transmission destination. When the transmission switch is pressed after confirming the ringing tone of the transmission destination, the facsimile apparatus starts reading and transmitting the original. The facsimile apparatus on the receiving side outputs the sent document information on a recording sheet. At this time, information such as the number of pages, the telephone number of the sender, and the time is added as image information to the original image information to be transmitted on the transmitting side, and the image information is transmitted.

Facsimile devices that receive and record and output in this manner are widely used today in companies, offices, general households, and the like.

However, in particular, in a small office or a general home, one telephone line is not exclusively used for a facsimile, but is commonly used by an ordinary telephone and a facsimile machine.

In the case of such sharing, it is manually set in advance whether one telephone line is used by a telephone or a facsimile machine. Further, since the facsimile machine usually has an automatic reception function, if this is used, when a call is received from the calling side, the facsimile machine immediately receives the incoming call, as shown in FIG. .
As a result, it is not necessary to manually set the line in the facsimile device one by one.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the facsimile machine having the automatic reception function as described above, when the incoming call is received, the reception is performed by the facsimile machine without confirming whether the other party is the facsimile machine or the telephone. ing.

By the way, the called party may be a telephone. In that case, the caller who is the called party can hear only the noise due to the facsimile control signal from the handset.

Recently, as a solution to such a problem, the fourth
As shown in the figure (b), the facsimile machine is not automatically set as soon as there is an incoming call, but is set to the facsimile machine after a ringing tone (IR) is sounded a predetermined number of times. Therefore, while the ringing tone is sounding, the called recipient has time to judge whether to pick up the handset of the telephone (off-hook). Further, it is possible to arbitrarily set a predetermined number of times of ringing sound until the facsimile apparatus is set.

However, even in the conventional method as described above, in order to confirm the other party, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the handset of the telephone must be lifted (off-hook) to confirm the other party. I won't. If the other party is a telephone, the call can be made as it is (see FIG. 4 (d)). Also, if you go off-hook and the other party is a facsimile machine,
Press the communication button to enter the facsimile communication (see FIG. 4 (e)). In this way, to identify the other party,
It is necessary to temporarily lift the handset of the telephone.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object thereof is to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of easily confirming the other party.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, the telephone 111 can independently make a call.

The call path forming means 113 is used by the telephone 1
A line is connected to 11 so that the telephone 111 can make a call off-hook.

The information output means 115 outputs the transmission information from the other party to the outside on the condition that the telephone 111 is on-hook when the line is connected by the call path forming means 113.

The switching control means 117 switches to facsimile communication on condition that the on-hook state of the telephone 111 has elapsed for a predetermined time.

Therefore, as a whole, the line connection to the telephone 111 is first made for the incoming call from the other party, and if the telephone 111 is on hook,
The transmission information from the other party is output to the outside for a predetermined time, and when the on-hook state elapses a predetermined time, the communication is switched to facsimile communication.

[Work]

For incoming calls from the other party, first connect the line to the telephone 111,
When the telephone 111 goes off-hook, the telephone 111 can independently make a call with the other party.

Further, the call path forming means 113 connects the line to the telephone 111 so that the telephone 111 can be received for a predetermined time in an on-hook state. The information output means 115 outputs the transmission information to the outside. Based on the content of this output, it can be determined whether or not the other party is a telephone or facsimile call.

If the on-hook state of the telephone 111 has passed for a predetermined time,
The switching control means 117 switches to facsimile communication. After that, the facsimile machine becomes a facsimile communication.

In the present invention, the telephone 111
Since the line connection is made and the transmission information from the other party indicates whether the transmission source is a telephone or a facsimile machine, confirmation by a human operation is unnecessary.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

I. Correspondence between Embodiment and FIG. 1 Here, the correspondence between the embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 1 will be described.

The telephone 111 corresponds to the telephone 271.

The communication path forming means 113 is a main control unit of the facsimile device 200.
It corresponds to 210, line control unit 231, and network control unit 233.

The information output means 115 is the main control unit 21 of the facsimile apparatus 200.
It corresponds to 0, the line control unit 231, and the speaker 273.

The switching control means 117 is the main control unit 21 of the facsimile apparatus 200.
0, which corresponds to the line control unit 231.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below on the basis of the above correspondence.

II. Configuration of the Embodiment In FIG. 2, the facsimile apparatus 200 includes a reading unit 211 for reading image information of a transmission original (not shown).
A recording unit 261, which prints image information of a received document, a compression / decompression unit 251, which compresses transmission data and decompresses received data, and an image information storage unit which is a RAM for storing transmission and reception data. 253, a modem 235 that modulates and demodulates data, and a network control unit 233 that controls an external line.
And a network control unit for sending and receiving instruction signals and data.
A line control unit 231 for controlling the 233 and the modem 235, a main control unit 210 for overall control, and an operation panel 221 for inputting an operator's instruction and data are provided.

The main control unit 210, the line control unit 231, the compression / decompression unit 251, and the image information storage unit 253 are connected by a bus.

Instructions and data from the operation panel 221 are input to the main control unit 210. The data read by the reading unit 211 is the compression / decompression unit 2
Entered in 51. The received data from the compression / decompression unit 251 is input to the recording unit 261.

The transmission data is output from the network control unit 233 via the line control unit 231 and the modem 235. The received data is received by the network control unit 233 and input to the line control unit 231 via the modem 235. The line control unit 231 and the network control unit 233 are connected,
Input and output control signals mutually.

Further, a telephone 271 is attached to the outside of the facsimile device 200 in the network control unit 233. This phone 271
When the line connection is established and the call path is formed, the call can be independently made to another telephone, and another facsimile device 290 can be called by DP or PB.

Further, an external speaker 273 is connected to the line controller 231 so that the facsimile device 200 can be connected.
And a signal (a voice signal for a call or a control signal in a facsimile communication procedure) from another terminal (a telephone or a facsimile device) having a call path formed therein can be output to the outside as a voice.

The line control unit 231 has a voice synthesis unit 275 which is composed of one IC.
Are connected, and the voice synthesized by the voice synthesizer 275 provides the synthesized voice to the line controller 231. Here, as the voice, for example, "Yes, this is the computer Fujitsu. Which one is it? ],
It is a voice signal that induces the destination to speak.
This voice signal is placed on the line to which the facsimile device 200 is connected from the line control unit 231 via the network control unit 233.

Facsimile device 200 and facsimile device 290 are connected via an external public telephone line. The configuration of the facsimile device 290 is the same as that of the facsimile device 200, and detailed description of the configuration is omitted.

III. Operation of Embodiment Regarding the facsimile apparatus configured as described above,
The operation will be described below. However, a facsimile machine
Let 200 be the receiving side (R) and the facsimile device 290 be the sending side (S).

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the embodiment.

Hereinafter, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 will be referred to.

(I) Reception Operation First, the reception operation of the facsimile apparatus will be described.
Since there is a case where the receiving side (calling party) is a telephone set and a case where the receiving side is a facsimile machine, the case will be described separately.

(A) In the case of a telephone When a call signal (IR) of 16 Hz is introduced through a line (incoming call), the facsimile machine 200 on the receiving side is connected to the network control unit 2
33, the call signal input to the main control unit 21 via the line control unit 231 is analyzed. In response to this, the line control unit 231
The network control unit 233 is controlled by this to immediately switch the line to the side of the facsimile device 200 and connect the line (see FIG. 3 (a)).

At the same time, the main control unit 210 controls the line control unit 231 and
The voice signal from the voice synthesizer 275 is supplied to the other party via the network controller 233. Therefore, if the other party is a telephone, the caller will be asked, "Yes, this is a computer Fujitsu. Which one is it? The voice is answered. In response to the generated voice, the caller says his / her name (for example, Taro Fujitsu). Alternatively, it may occur immediately as "Moshimoshi" (see Fig. 3 (b)). The voice signal from such a caller (destination) is transmitted through the line to the network control unit 23 of the facsimile apparatus 200.
3, supplied to the speaker 273 via the line control unit 231. Therefore, the name of the caller, "Fujitsutaro", is displayed on the speaker 273.
Is heard as a voice (see FIG. 3B). Therefore, the operator around the facsimile device 200
Since it can be seen that the call currently being made is a telephone call, the operator can pick up the handset of the telephone 271 (off-hook) to make the call.

The above is the operation when there is a call from the telephone.

(B) In the case of a facsimile machine On the other hand, let us consider the case where a call is made from the facsimile machine.

Also in this case, the calling and the connection of the telephone 271 and the speaker 273 according to the calling are the same as those in the above-mentioned "(i-1) telephone".

However, when the call is made from the facsimile device 290, the currently connected speaker 273 does not send back the control signals (NSF, CSI, DIS) in the facsimile communication procedure. Is not sent. Therefore, the speaker when the line is connected
There is no utterance from 273, and control signals (NSF, CSI, DIS) over the time specified by the facsimile device 290 side.
Since there is no return of the sound, a beeping sound will be uttered. In this way, the receiving side can easily recognize that the called party is the facsimile machine, so that it can be left as it is without taking the handset of the speaker 273.

Then, the main controller 210 of the facsimile device 200 on the receiving side
Is the line control unit after a predetermined time (for example, 20 seconds)
The network control unit 233 is controlled to connect to the network so that the network control unit 233 functions as a facsimile device. Then, the control procedure is exchanged with the facsimile apparatus 290 on the transmitting side based on the receiving operation as described later, and the received image data is recorded in the recording unit.
It is printed out by the 261 (see FIG. 3C).

(C) Receiving operation in the facsimile device In the receiving facsimile device 200 that receives the information transmitted from the facsimile device 290, first, the network control unit 233 of the facsimile device 200 sends the image sent from the facsimile device 290. Receives compressed data of information. The compressed data is demodulated by the modem 235 and sent to the line controller 231. The main control unit 210 sends the compressed data to the image information storage unit 2
Store in 53. Then, the main control unit 210 reads the compressed data corresponding to the first page of the document from the image information storage unit 253 and sends it to the compression / decompression unit 251.

The compression / decompression unit 251 decompresses the input compressed data and outputs the decompressed image information to the recording unit 261. The recording unit 261 prints on thermal paper (not shown) based on the input restored data of the first page.

Next, the main control unit 210 causes the image information storage unit 253 to execute the second copy of the document.
The compressed data corresponding to the page is read from the image information storage unit 253 and sent to the compression / decompression unit 251. The compression / decompression unit 251 decompresses the input compressed data and sends it to the recording unit 261, and the recording unit 261 prints the decompressed data of the second page on the thermal paper.
Therefore, the second page is printed after the first page.

(Ii) Transmission Operation In order to transmit image information by the facsimile device as described above, the operator of the facsimile device 290 that is the transmitting side operates the operation panel 221 of the facsimile device 290, and the facsimile device that is the receiving side. Follow the steps given to send the original to 200. At this time, the two originals to be transmitted are set on the original table of the facsimile apparatus 290 (included in the reading unit 211).

The main control unit 210 of the facsimile device 290 has an operation panel 221.
An image information reading instruction is sent to the compression / decompression unit 251 according to the operation from. The compression / decompression unit 251 controls the reading of the document set in the reading unit 211, and the reading unit 211 reads the image information of the document. The image information read by the reading unit 211 in this way is stored in the image information storage unit 253 after being compressed by the compression / decompression unit 251.

Next, the main control unit 210 reads the compressed data of the image information stored in the image information storage unit 253 and sends it to the line control unit 231.
The compressed data is modulated by the modem 235 under the control of the line controller 231 and transmitted to the facsimile device 200.
This transmitted image information (Pix) is a “facsimile message” in the procedure.

IV. Summary of Embodiments In this way, for a certain incoming call, the line connection to the telephone 271 is made to be in the same state as the off-hook state, the voice from the voice synthesis unit 275 is sent to the transmitting side, and , The speaker 273 monitors the received signal from the other party as voice. This voice makes it easy to know whether the other party is a telephone or a facsimile machine. If it is a telephone call, the telephone handset 271 can be used to make a call. If it is a facsimile machine, it will be automatically received after a predetermined time and operate as a facsimile machine.

V. Modified Embodiment of the Invention In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the confirmation of the other party as the transmission source is detected by the sound generated by the speaker 273. Anything that outputs to the outside may be used.

Further, in "I. Correspondence between Embodiment and FIG. 1", the correspondence between FIG. 1 and the embodiment of the present invention has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this, and it will be easily understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a line connection is made to a facsimile device for an incoming call, the transmission information from the other party is output to the outside in the on-hook state, and the facsimile communication is performed when the on-hook state elapses for a predetermined time. By switching, it is possible to easily confirm the other party without human intervention, which is extremely useful in practice.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanation showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 and 4 are explanatory views showing the operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus. In the figure, 111 is a telephone, 113 is a communication path forming unit, 115 is an information output unit, 117 is a switching control unit, 211 is a reading unit, 221 is an operation panel, 231 is a line control unit, 233 is a network control unit, and 235 is A modem, 251 is a compression / decompression unit, 253 is an image information storage unit, 261 is a recording unit, 271 is a telephone, 273 is a speaker, and 275 is a voice synthesis unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A telephone (111) capable of making an independent call, and a line is connected to the telephone (111) in response to an incoming call from the other party so that the telephone can be called off-hook. When a line is connected to the call path forming means (113) by the call path forming means (113),
Information output means (11) for outputting the transmission information from the other party to the outside on condition that the telephone (111) is on-hook.
And a switching control means (117) for switching to facsimile communication on condition that the on-hook state of the telephone (111) has passed for a predetermined time. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information output means (115) is configured so that the transmission information from the other party can be heard by a speaker connected to the outside. .