JP3325654B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus for preventing leakage of transmission contents to a third party.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus having a memory has been known.
Various functions can be realized. For example, there is a facsimile apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-255152. This facsimile apparatus reduces image information once stored in a memory, displays it on a liquid crystal display, and displays the image information stored in the memory. Information can be easily confirmed. Specifically, when the image information is stored in the memory, the system control unit forms a file number for image information management and displays the file number on the liquid crystal display, and an operator who confirms the file number later confirms the file number. Is input, the image information in the memory can be arbitrarily accessed. In this facsimile apparatus, the contents of the image information cannot be confirmed unless the file number is input. In this sense, the contents of the image information can not only be easily confirmed but also have the meaning of confidentiality to a third party.

In the facsimile apparatus, the operator needs to store the file number formed by the system control unit. However, this number is not always a convenient number for the operator, that is, a number that is easy to store. In some cases, the stored number may be forgotten. In such a case, there remains a problem that it is no longer possible to confirm the contents of the image information. Therefore, in a conventional facsimile machine, a file number list is printed out from a plotter in order to confirm the file number, and the operator identifies his / her own file by referring to the list, and checks the contents of the image information. File operations such as printout and deletion of image information that is no longer required for transmission were performed.

[0004]

However, by printing out the list of file numbers, a third party can easily access all the files. There has been a problem that image information in the memory is erased by mistake due to an incorrect number input or the like.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems of the prior art, and protects image information stored in a memory from a third party by a simple operation, and prevents leakage of image information to a third party. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus that prevents loss of image information due to erroneous operation by a third party.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to have a memory for storing image information obtained by reading an original, temporarily storing the image information in a memory, managing the image information as a file, and specifying a designated file. In a facsimile apparatus to be transmitted to a destination, an input means for an operator to input an arbitrary identification number when reading the original, and management information relating to the image information is stored for each file in association with the input identification number. Management information storage means; reading means for reading the management information from the management information storage means based on the identification number; output means for visually outputting the management information read from the reading means; In order to check the management information, the user inputs an identification number from the input means, and stores only the management information of the file having the identification number corresponding to the input identification number in the management information. Reading from the storage means, is achieved by a facsimile apparatus, characterized in that the visual output at said output means.

[0007]

In the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, management information relating to image information is stored for each file in association with an identification number input at the time of reading a document, and when confirming the contents of the management information, the identification number is re-entered. Then, only the management information of the file having the identification number matching the input identification number is read out and visually output. Therefore, by simply performing a simple operation when reading a document, it is possible to prevent loss of image information due to leakage of confidentiality or erroneous operation as in the related art.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a scanner for reading an original at a predetermined linear density. Reference numeral 11 denotes a plotter for recording and outputting received image information on a paper surface in an electrophotographic system, a thermal recording system, an ink transfer system, or the like. is there. An operation display unit 12 includes various operation keys and a display. The operation display unit 12 allows the operator to input various information and instructions, and displays various kinds of guidance information to the operator. Reference numeral 13 denotes an image storage unit that stores image information, 14 denotes an encoding / decoding unit that compresses and encodes image information by a known encoding method, and that reproduces and decodes compressed and encoded image information; Reference numeral 15 denotes a network control unit having an automatic call origination / departure function and a connection I / F function for connection to a public telephone network, such as detection of a call signal and connection of a line, and 16 a low-speed modem function for exchanging transmission procedure signals. And a built-in modem having a high-speed modem function for mainly exchanging image information. A communication control unit that executes a predetermined transmission procedure such as 30.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a control unit for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus, 18 denotes a ROM for storing a control program necessary for the control unit 17 to execute control processing, and 19 denotes a work area of the control unit 17. A RAM for storing various parameters required for controlling the facsimile machine. Although not particularly shown, the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has a clock unit for measuring time.

Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4
5 is a flowchart showing the transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and all the determinations and operation instructions in FIG. First, wait for a document to be set on the scanner 10 (step S
11) When a document is set and the document presence sensor provided in the scanner 10 detects the document (step S11).
YES), guidance for prompting the input of the telephone number of the destination is displayed on the display of the operation display unit 12 (step S1).
2). When the destination is input (step S13: YE
S), the input destination telephone number is stored in the transmission management table of the RAM 19 described later (step S14), and the ID
The display prompts the user to press a start key to input a number and start reading a document (step S15), and starts a timer (step S16).

[0012] In response to the guidance display, the operator
It is determined whether a number has been entered (step S17), and the ID
If the number is entered (step S17: YE
S), enter the entered ID number into the RA in the same manner as the destination telephone number.
It is stored in the transmission management table of M19 (step S1).
8) Wait for the start key to be pressed (step S19).
On the other hand, if the ID number has not been input (step S17 NO), the process skips the ID number storage step of step S18 and proceeds to step S19.

The start key is not pressed (step S
19 NO) If the timer started earlier in step S16 has timed out (step S20)
YES), the destination telephone number and the ID number stored in the transmission management table in steps S14 and S18 are deleted (step S21), the original set on the scanner 10 is discharged (step S22), and the transmission operation ends. . On the other hand, if the start key is pressed without time-out (step S19: YES), the reading of the document is started, and the read image information is compression-encoded by the encoding / decoding unit 14, and then the image storage unit 13 (Step S2)
3) A file number is assigned to the document, and the file number is stored in the transmission management table (step S24). The file numbers are sequentially assigned sequentially, and the image information in the image storage unit 13 is managed based on the file numbers.

When the original is read and ready for transmission,
The network control unit 15 calls the destination telephone number stored in step S14 (step S25). When the line is connected, the communication control unit 16 executes a predetermined transmission procedure to determine a transmission mode, Transmission of image information is started (step S2)
6). Then, it is determined whether or not the transmission of the image information has been completed normally (step S27).
NO), it is determined whether or not the calling has been attempted a predetermined number of times (step S28). If the number of calls is less than the predetermined value (NO in step S28), the recall counter set in the RAM 19 is incremented by one (step S29), and after waiting for a predetermined interval (step S30), the process returns to step S25 again to retry. Attempt the call. This re-call operation is continued until the number of calls reaches a predetermined value, and the re-call counter is reset when the transmission is normally completed.

On the other hand, if the number of calls reaches the predetermined value (YES in step S28), the recall counter is reset (step S31), and it is determined that the transmission has not been reached in the transmission management table of the RAM 19. The transmission result NG is stored (step S33), and the transmission operation is terminated. Thereafter, this file is treated as an unreached file. If the transmission of the image information has been completed normally (step S27, Y
ES), the corresponding image information is deleted from the image storage unit 13 (step S32), the transmission result OK indicating that the transmission has been normally completed is stored in the transmission management table of the RAM 19 (step S33), and the transmission operation is performed. finish.

At the time of image information transmission, the time information obtained from the timekeeping unit is stored as the transmission date and time in the transmission management table of the RAM 19, the number of transmissions is counted, and the transmission number is stored in the transmission management table of the RAM 19. . Although not shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, when performing time-specified transmission, the operator inputs a desired date and time of transmission from the operation display unit 12 after the destination telephone number. The control unit 17
This information is stored in the transmission management table of the RAM 19,
Waiting for the transmission time to arrive with the image information stored in the image storage unit 13, the operation after step S25 is started when the transmission time is reached.

Next, the transmission management table in the RAM 19 shown in FIG. 5 will be described. The transmission management table is provided in a predetermined area of the RAM 19, and the control unit 17 executes control of the facsimile machine with reference to this table, and stores various management information in this table, as described later. Then, the management information is read out as necessary and displayed on the operation display unit 12.
Hereinafter, the transmission management table will be described for each item.

First, the file number field is an area for storing the file number given in step S24 of FIG. 3, and is used for file operations such as printing out, erasing, and retransmitting the image information stored in the image storage unit 13. Needs this file number. The classification field is an area for storing classification information indicating whether the original belongs to transmission or reception. The control unit 17 identifies the operation state of the facsimile apparatus, that is, transmission or reception, and identifies the original. Store the division in the area. The status column is an area for storing information indicating what state the image information stored in the image storage unit 13 is currently in. Here, the operation completion means that a series of transmission operations has already been completed. The time-specified standby is the above-described time-specified transmission, and the waiting for the arrival of the specified time is indicated, and the retransmission waiting is indicated for waiting for a re-call.

Further, an area for storing the destination telephone number input in step S13 of FIG.
Column D is an area for storing the ID number input in step S17 in FIG. 3. If no ID number is input in step S17, the ID column is blank. The date and time column is an area for storing the date and time when the operation is completed when the status is operation completion, and the date and time when transmission or recall is to be performed when waiting for time designation or recalling, and after the time for designation or waiting for recalling. When the transmission is completed and the operation is completed,
Corrected to the date and time when the operation was completed. The number of copies field is an area for storing the number of transmitted documents when the status is operation completion, and the number of documents stored in the image storage unit 13 when waiting for time designation or recall, respectively. Similarly to the above, when the operation is completed, the content of the number of sheets column is corrected from the number of stored originals to the number of transmitted originals. The result column is an area for storing the final transmission result. In the case of the time designation standby or the recall standby, the final column is blank because the final result has not been determined yet. Although six files are shown as an example in FIG. 5 for convenience of explanation, the number of files in the transmission management table is not limited to this, and can be set as needed.

Next, a file search operation of the facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied is shown in a flowchart of FIG. All the determinations and operation instructions in FIG. 3 are also executed under the control of the control unit 17.

First, it is determined whether or not the file search mode has been set (step T11). If the search mode has been set (step T11: YES), guidance for prompting the user to input a search type is displayed on the display (step T11). T12) In cases other than the search mode (step T11)
NO), the mode shifts to the other set mode. still,
A key for setting a search mode and inputting a search type is provided on the operation display unit 12. By operating the key, an operator can shift to the search mode and select a search type.

In the present invention, ID is used as a file search type.
Since there are an ID search mode for searching by specifying a number and a normal search mode for searching without specifying an ID number, it is determined which search type is selected (step T1).
3) If the mode is the normal mode, the transmission management table of FIG. 5 is searched to extract only the files in which the ID numbers are not stored (step T14), and various types of these files stored in the transmission management table are extracted. The management information is displayed on the display (step T15). For example, in the case of FIG. 5, when the normal search mode is selected, file numbers “0002” and “000” in which ID numbers are not stored are stored.
The files “4” and “0006” become display target files, and management information corresponding to each file is read from the transmission management table and displayed on the display.

On the other hand, when the ID search mode is selected as the search type, a message prompting the input of an ID number is displayed on the display (step T16), and when the operator inputs the ID number (step T17), the input is made. It is checked whether or not the entered ID number exists in the transmission management table (step T18). If it does not exist (step T18 NO), an error is displayed on the display indicating that the input ID number does not exist (step T19). Then, the search operation ends.

If the input ID numbers are present (YES in step T18), only files having ID numbers that match the input ID numbers are extracted (step T20), and transmission management is performed for these files. The management information stored in the application table is displayed on the display (step T21). For example, in the case of FIG. 5, if the ID number input in step T17 is “113”, the file number “0001” is the file to be displayed, and if the ID number is “789”, the file number “0003” is the display target file. The management information is read from the transmission management table and displayed on the display. Therefore, if the operator uses the same ID number every time transmission is performed, the management information can be displayed only for his own transmission, and the confirmation of the transmission result can be performed very easily. Step T in FIG.
The display of the management information in step 15 and step T21 is not limited to the display on the display, but may be printed out from the plotter 11.

Further, although not shown in FIG. 6, the operator checks the transmission result by viewing the displayed management information, and ends with an unsent file or a transmission result NG waiting for time-specified transmission or waiting for re-calling. It is possible to perform file operations such as printout, deletion, and retransmission instruction of the file which has not been reached.
For example, in the case of printing out or erasing an untransmitted file or a file that has not been reached, the operator operates the operation display unit 12 to input a corresponding file number, and instructs printing out or erasing. Control unit 17 receiving this instruction
In the case of a print output instruction, the image information corresponding to the input file number is read from the image storage unit 13, reproduced and decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 14, printed out by the plotter 11, and erased. In this case, the image information corresponding to the input file number is deleted from the image storage unit 13, and the management information corresponding to the image information is deleted from the transmission management table.

In the case of an instruction to retransmit a file that has not been reached, the operator checks the transmission result NG by looking at the management information, operates the operation display unit 12 to input the corresponding file number, and retransmits the file. Instruct. Since the image information of the unreached file is retained in the image storage unit 13 without being deleted, the control unit 17 that has received the retransmission instruction starts the retransmission again from the calling operation in step S25 in FIG. If the transmission ends normally due to retransmission, the contents of the transmission management table are modified. In order to prevent undelivered files from staying in the image storage unit 13 for a long time,
By referring to the status column, result column, and date / time column of the transmission management table, if the operation is completed and the transmission result is NG, and the control unit 17 automatically deletes a file for which a predetermined period has elapsed since the completion of the operation, good.

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, only the management information of the file having the matching identification number is read out and visually output, so that the image information is leaked to a third party or the image information is incorrectly operated by the third party. Loss can be prevented. Moreover, since the identification number is arbitrarily set by the operator, it is possible to freely set a number that is convenient for the operator himself, that is, a number that is easy to remember. For example, if the operator always sets the same identification number, It is also possible to extract and display only the management information relating to the image information transmitted by. Also, knowledge
It is possible to read out only the management information for which another number has not been entered.
It has a mode of visual output, so it is not very sensitive
For manuscripts, the management information
You can check the contents of the image information.
In the case of the above, the mode can be used properly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a mode is provided in which only management information for which an identification number has not been input is read out and visually output. Therefore, for a document which is not highly confidential, the identification number is not required and the management information is not required. Can be confirmed, and the mode can be properly used in the case of highly confidential image information and the case of normal image information. Also, at least
Also operates transmission management information including the transmission destination and transmission result.
Data can be confirmed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the operator can confirm the transmission management information including at least the transmission destination and the transmission result. Also, the files required for file operations
The operator can confirm the file number.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the operator can confirm the file number required for the file operation. Also, if the transmission has not been completed, a special
You can resend the specified file.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the identification numbers match.
Read only the management information of the file to be read and output it visually
Because of leakage of image information to a third party or erroneous operation of the third party
Loss of image information can be prevented. Moreover, the identification number is
Data can be set arbitrarily.
Set a good number, that is, a number that is easy to remember.
For example, the operator always has the same identification number.
Number, you can manage the information
Only the information can be extracted and displayed. Also,
Operator confirms the file number required for file operation
be able to. Furthermore, if the transmission has not been reached, the file specified based on the file number can be retransmitted.

[0032]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a transmission operation of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a transmission management table of the facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a file search operation of the facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 scanner 11 plotter 12 operation display unit 13 image storage unit 14 encoding / decoding unit 15 network control unit 16 communication control unit 17 control unit 18 ROM 19 RAM

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-48852 (JP, A) JP-A-6-30231 (JP, A) JP-A-6-291913 (JP, A) JP-A-5-37695 (JP, A) JP-A-4-79543 (JP, A) JP-A-4-3578 (JP, A) JP-A-4-156772 (JP, A) JP-A-3-262378 (JP, A) 2-143673 (JP, A) JP-A 4-85874 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 H04N 1/32-1 / 36 101

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus having a memory for storing image information obtained by reading a document, temporarily storing the image information in a memory, managing the file as a file, and transmitting the file to a designated destination. Input means for an operator to input an arbitrary identification number at the time of reading, management information storage means for storing management information relating to the image information for each file in association with the input identification number, based on the identification number Reading means for reading the management information from the management information storage means, outputting means for visually outputting the management information read from the reading means, and a third means for inputting an identification number when confirming the content of the management information.
Either 1 mode or 2nd mode that does not require identification number input
Output mode selection means for selecting one of them, and when the first mode is selected, an identification number is input from the input means, and a file having an identification number corresponding to the input identification number is selected. Only the management information is read out from the management information storage means, output by the output means, and when the second mode is selected, the identification number is inputted.
Only the management information that has not been saved from the management information storage means
A facsimile apparatus for reading out and visually outputting the output means . 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the management information is transmission management information including at least a transmission destination and a transmission result.
The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 . Wherein the management information, according to claim 1, which is a file number for specifying the file
A facsimile machine as described . 4. A transmission result determining means for determining whether or not the transmission has been normally completed, an image information erasing means for erasing the image information stored in the memory only when the transmission has been normally completed, Retransmission instructing means for instructing retransmission,
The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein when the transmission has not been reached, the file specified based on the file number is retransmitted. 5. A facsimile apparatus having a memory for storing image information obtained by reading a document, temporarily storing the image information in a memory, managing the file as a file, and transmitting the file to a designated destination. Input means for an operator to input an arbitrary identification number at the time of reading, management information storage means for storing management information relating to the image information for each file in association with the input identification number, based on the identification number Reading means for reading management information from the management information storage means, output means for visually outputting the management information read from the reading means, and transmission result determining means for determining whether or not the transmission has been completed normally. when the image information erasing means for erasing the image information stored in the memory only when the transmission is successful, if the transmission unreached, based on the file number Identified
Retransmission instructing means for instructing retransmission of the file, and when confirming the content of the management information, inputting an identification number from the input means, and inputting an identification number matching the input identification number. Only the management information of the file is read out from the management information storage means and is visually output by the output means, and the management information is a file for specifying the file.
A facsimile machine characterized by a facsimile number .