JPS6291062A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a fault of daytime talking due to mis-operation and automatic reception at night by using a photosensor to detect the light intensity outdoor or in the vicinity of the equipment and switching the automatic reception and manual reception automatically. CONSTITUTION:A control section 3 controls the operation of the entire equipment in response to a program described in a memory section 1, a facsimile mechanism section 5 has a picture read section and a picture recording section, and an NCU (network controller) 6 applies operations such as connection exchange and loop holding of a telephone line 8 between a telephone set and a facsimile mechanism section 5 depending on the automatic reception mode and the manual reception mode. When the output of the photosensor 7 detecting the location of the equipment or the outdoor light intensity is less than the reference photodetecting quantity L, the control section 3 brings the mode of the facsimile mechanism section 5 into the automatic reception mode detecting a call signal and applying reception procedure automatically. Further, when the output of the photosensor 7 exceeds the quantity L, the mode is brought into the manual reception mode via a telephone set.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a communication device, and more specifically, a communication device connected to a telephone line together with a telephone, and a manual communication mode for performing reception procedures via the telephone and detecting a ringing signal. The present invention relates to a communication device that performs communication using a predetermined method in an automatic reception mode that automatically performs reception procedures.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a telephone is connected to a telephone line together with a telephone, and a predetermined method of communication is carried out using a manual communication mode in which reception procedures are performed via the telephone, and an automatic reception mode in which a call signal is detected and reception procedures are automatically performed. A facsimile machine is well known as a communication device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] This type of device is usually configured to use a switch to switch between manual reception and automatic reception, but in either mode, the user has a dedicated line for the facsimile machine. If not, problems will arise if appropriate switching is not performed.

If you plan to use one telephone line for both calls and communication with the facsimile machine, you can set it to automatic reception so that the facsimile machine will automatically start up even if the call is made from a regular telephone. and cannot make a call. Therefore, it is common to set it to manual reception and operate the communication device to use it when necessary.

Additionally, if you set automatic reception, you can receive facsimile messages even when there is no operator present, such as at night. Therefore, such users switch between manual reception during the day and automatic reception at night, but if they fail to switch between morning and evening, they will be unable to make calls during the day or automatic reception of facsimiles at night.

The above problem is not limited to facsimile machines; manual communication mode, in which the facsimile machine is connected to a telephone line together with a telephone and performs reception procedures via the telephone, and automatic reception mode, in which it detects a ringing signal and automatically performs reception procedures. This is common to communication terminal devices such as word processors and computers that perform communication using a predetermined method.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a manual communication mode that is connected to a telephone line together with a telephone, performs reception procedures via the telephone, and detects a calling signal. In a communication device that performs communication using a predetermined method in an automatic reception mode that automatically performs reception procedures, a means for detecting the intensity of external light is provided, and the two reception modes described above are switched according to the intensity of light near the device or outdoors. The configuration was adopted.

[Operation] An optical sensor indicated by reference numeral 7 in FIG. 1 detects the light intensity near the device or outdoors, and the control section 3 controls the facsimile mechanism section 5 that switches between automatic and manual reception according to the detected intensity.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a facsimile machine as an example of a communication device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a memory section, which is composed of ROM and RAM elements as is well known.
It is used to store programs, which will be described later, or image data.

The control section 3 controls the operation of the entire apparatus according to the program stored in the memory section 1, and is composed of a microcomputer chip or the like. The operation section 2 is composed of a numeric keypad and various changeover switches, and is used to manually control transmission and reception operations and to set various parameters for automatic mode.

The apparatus also includes an image reading section and an image recording section, and is capable of transmitting read image data and recording received image data using known procedures. This image reading, recording, and data transmission/reception are performed by a facsimile mechanism section 5 shown as one block. The facsimile mechanism section 5 has the above-mentioned automatic reception mode and manual reception mode, which can be switched under control from the operation section 2 or according to a procedure described later.

A telephone port between a telephone (not shown) and the facsimile mechanism section 5! Operations such as iI8 connection exchange and loop maintenance are N.
This is performed by the CU (network control unit) 6. The NCU 6 has the function of detecting a call signal on the telephone line,
Detection of the calling signal is notified to the control unit 3 via the signal line a.

Further, an optical sensor 7 such as CdS or SPD is connected to the facsimile mechanism section 5. The optical sensor 7 is provided outside the device in the housing of the device or as a separate structure.
It is designed to detect the location where the device is installed or the light intensity outdoors.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained in detail.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a program of the control section 3 of FIG. 1.

In step S2 of FIG. 2, the control unit 3 determines the amount of light received by the optical sensor 7, which is a reference value for switching between automatic reception and manual reception. This amount of received light may be input and set using a variable resistor or the like in accordance with the installation location of the device, or may be input manually from the operation unit 2.

In step S4, the output of the optical sensor 7 is checked, and it is determined whether this value is less than or equal to the amount of light received. If this step is affirmative, the mode of the facsimile mechanism section 5 is set to automatic reception mode in step S5.

Further, in step S6, the output of the optical sensor 7 is checked, and it is determined whether this value exceeds the above-mentioned amount of received light.

If this step is affirmative, the mode of the facsimile mechanism section 5 is set to manual reception mode in step S7.

In step S8, the state of the signal line a of the NCU 6 is checked to determine whether a calling signal is appearing on the telephone line 8. If the call signal has not been received, the process returns to step S4; if the call signal has been received, it is determined in step S9 whether the mode of the facsimile mechanism section 5 is automatic reception.

If the mode is not the automatic reception mode in step S9, the process returns to step S4, but if it is the automatic reception mode, the process moves to step SIO, and a reception operation is performed in the same manner as in the known procedure.

According to the above configuration, automatic reception and manual reception can be automatically switched and used by adjusting the light reception amount set in step S2 to the indoor brightness at the start of work or the outdoor brightness. Therefore, there is no possibility of being unable to make a call during the day or failing to receive automatic reception at night due to a mistake in operating a changeover switch, unlike in the conventional case.

In the embodiments described above, the reception mode is switched depending on the installation location of the device or the brightness outside, but an embodiment as shown in FIG. 3 is also conceivable.

FIG. 3 shows a currently common configuration for a facsimile machine, which has a clock section 4 instead of the optical sensor 7. The clock section 4 is used for automatic transmission of specified times or automatic time recording. Reuse what is used for control.

In this embodiment, automatic and manual reception modes are switched by setting a predetermined time via the operation unit 2.

As for the control procedure, step S2 in FIG. 2 is a step for inputting the set start time and end time for automatic reception (or manual reception), and the time measured by the clock section 4 is checked in Stella 7'/S4 and step S6, and Is it the switching time between manual and automatic?

The software may be configured to determine whether it is the time to switch from automatic to manual.

According to the configuration described above, since the device can be set to automatic (or manual) reception mode only during a desired time period, there is no possibility of a communication failure due to an operational error.

Although the above description has been made using a facsimile machine as an example, it goes without saying that the present invention can be practiced with other devices that perform communication operations.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a manual communication mode in which a telephone is connected to a telephone line and performs reception procedures via the telephone, and a manual communication mode in which a call signal is detected and reception procedures are automatically performed. In a communication device that performs communication using a predetermined method using an automatic reception mode, a configuration is adopted in which a means for detecting the intensity of external light is provided and the two reception modes described above are switched according to the intensity of light near the device or outdoors. This provides an excellent communication device that can automatically switch between automatic and manual reception modes without any troublesome switching operations, and can efficiently share a single telephone line with a telephone without causing communication failure. can do.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile machine as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the control section of FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a block diagram showing a modification. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Memory part 2... Operation part 3... Control part 4... Clock part 5... Facsimile mechanism part 6... NCU 7... Optical sensor 8...
・Telephone line) - one line

Claims (1)

[Claims] A communication device that is connected to a telephone line together with a telephone and performs communication using a predetermined method using a manual communication mode in which reception procedures are performed via the telephone and an automatic reception mode in which reception procedures are automatically performed by detecting a call signal. A communication device, characterized in that it is provided with means for detecting intensity, and switches between the two reception modes according to the intensity of light near the device or outdoors.