JP2001320512A - Facsimile equipment and program recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify management of management files of transmission waiting jobs and transmission/reception logs in comparison with conventional techniques. SOLUTION: Facsimile equipment has a job and log management function, and a main control part 1 uses a prescribed file system to manage a job management file 8a, which includes data of plural waiting jobs waiting for facsimile transmission, as a single file as shown in Fig. 2 and uses the system file to manage a transmission log management file 8b including transmission log data including results of plural facsimile transmission operations and a reception log management file 8c including reception log data including results of plural facsimile reception operations as single files respectively as shown in Fig. 3 and 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has recorded therein a facsimile apparatus for managing a job management file including a standby job for facsimile transmission and a log management file including a result of facsimile transmission and reception, and a program for managing the management file. The present invention relates to a program recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional facsimile apparatus, management files for transmission standby jobs and transmission / reception logs are respectively stored in specific areas of a storage device in the facsimile apparatus. Here, the transmission waiting job includes a transmission job that is in a waiting state when the facsimile apparatus is currently transmitting and further receives an immediate transmission job, and a transmission job of time-specified transmission in which the operator specifies a transmission time. . The transmission / reception log includes communication history information including a result of facsimile transmission and reception.

[0003]

However, since the management files of the transmission standby job and the transmission / reception log are stored in specific areas of the storage device in the facsimile apparatus, the transmission standby job and the transmission / reception log are respectively managed. Therefore, it is necessary to perform dedicated memory management, and the management is complicated.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a facsimile apparatus and a program recording medium capable of simplifying the management of a management file for a transmission standby job and a transmission / reception log as compared with the prior art. It is in.

[0005]

A facsimile apparatus according to the present invention uses a predetermined file system to store a job management file containing data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission in a single file. It is characterized by having a management means for managing as.

Further, a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention
It is characterized in that management means is provided for managing a log management file including data of each log including at least one result of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception as a single file using a predetermined file system.

Further, the program recording medium according to the present invention uses a predetermined file system to manage a job management file including data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission as a single file. The program is recorded.

Still further, the program recording medium according to the present invention uses a predetermined file system to store a single log management file including data of each log including at least one of the results of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception. A program for managing a file is recorded.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a job and log management function for managing a job management file including a standby job for facsimile transmission and a log management file including a result of facsimile transmission / reception according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus 20 having The facsimile machine 20 of this embodiment is a facsimile machine having a job and log management function, and the main control unit 1 uses a predetermined file system such as MS-DOS (registered trademark) as shown in FIG. As described above, the job management file 8a including the data of a plurality of waiting jobs waiting for each facsimile transmission is managed as a single file, and the file system shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is used. As described above, the transmission log management file 8b including the transmission log data including a plurality of facsimile transmission results and the reception log management file 8c including the reception log data including a plurality of facsimile reception results are respectively managed as a single file. These management files are stored in the compact flash (registered trademark) 8. .

In FIG. 1, a facsimile machine 20 comprises
It has a facsimile communication function such as the conventional G3 system and a job and log management function. The main control unit 1 is specifically composed of a CPU, is connected to the following hardware units via a bus 13, controls them, and executes various software functions to be described later. The image reading unit 2 reads an original with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted to binary black and white. The image recording unit 3 is a printer device of an electrophotographic system or the like, and prints out and records image data received from another facsimile device by facsimile communication as a hard copy. The display unit 4 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and displays an operation state of the facsimile machine 20, and displays image data of a document to be transmitted and received image data. .

The operation unit 5 includes a character key, a dial numeric keypad necessary for operating the facsimile machine 20,
It has speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys, and various function keys. In addition, by making the above-mentioned display unit 4 a touch panel type, this operation unit 5
A part or all of the various keys may be substituted.

The ROM 6 stores in advance various software programs necessary for the operation of the facsimile machine 20 and executed by the main control unit 1. Here, the programs include at least the transmission reservation processing shown in FIG. 6, the reception processing of FIG. 7, and the communication management record report output processing of FIG. Further, these programs are recorded on a recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, MO, DVD-RAM or the like, and are loaded into the RAM 7 via the drive device as needed to execute the programs. You may. RAM7
Is configured as an SRAM and is used as a working area of the main control unit 1 to store temporary data generated when a program is executed. The compact flash 8 has a role of a so-called image memory and a memory as a program recording medium, and includes a job management file 8a, a transmission log management file 8b, and a reception log management file 8c.
A plurality of N image data files 8d-1 to 8d-N in which image data for each transmission job and reception job are stored. The clock circuit 9 measures the current date and time,
The data of the current date and time is output to the main control unit 1 as needed.

The fax modem 10 is connected to a public telephone line L
Is connected to the public telephone network 50 via a public telephone network, and has a function of a normal fax modem for facsimile communication. The modem demodulates data of transmission telephone number information received as an FSK signal and outputs it to the main control unit 1. . An NCU (Network Control Unit) 11 is a hardware circuit that performs closing and opening operations such as a DC loop of an analog public telephone line L and has an automatic dial function. To the public telephone line L. Here, the NCU 11 detects the ID receiving terminal activation signal and the ordinary telephone call signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service and, if necessary, the primary response signal and the second response signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service.
A next response signal can be transmitted. Note that NCU11
May be connected to a baseband transmission type digital line (for example, an ISDN line) via a predetermined terminal adapter and a DSU (Digital Service Unit).

The LAN interface 12 connects the facsimile machine 20 to, for example, Ethernet (registered trademark).
In order to connect to the local area network 30, the interface circuit performs signal and data signal conversion and protocol conversion, and a mail server device 31 and a router device 32 are connected to the LAN 30. Further, the router device 32 is connected to a destination mail server device (not shown) via the Internet 40. When the image data is attached to the mail body from the facsimile device 20 and transmitted by mail, the mail server device 3 is temporarily transmitted from the LAN interface 12 via the LAN 30.
1, the mail server device 31 sends the Internet mail to the destination facsimile device via the LAN 30, the router device 32, the Internet 40, and the destination mail server device (not shown). Send. On the other hand, when receiving an e-mail packet, the e-mail is received through the reverse route. The line connection to the Internet 40 is not limited to a dedicated line or the like, but may be a dial-up connection using the public telephone line L1.

The facsimile apparatus 20 of the present embodiment configured as described above has a job and log management function in addition to a normal facsimile communication function of the G3 system or the like. In the facsimile communication function, dot image data read by the image reading unit 2 is encoded by software according to an encoding system such as MH, MR, MMR or the like defined in the standard of facsimile communication, and then the other party's facsimile apparatus. On the other hand, the encoded data received from the other party's facsimile machine is also decoded into image data by software and output from the image recording unit 3 as a hard copy.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the job management file 8a in the compact flash 8 of FIG. FIG.
As shown in (1), data of a plurality of waiting jobs waiting for each facsimile transmission is stored in the job management file 8a, and the data of the waiting job for each facsimile transmission includes the scheduled transmission start date and time and the transmission destination. A facsimile number, an image file name, and options (for example, option settings such as a resolution at the time of facsimile transmission and an encoding method) are included. Here, the main control unit 1 stores data of a plurality of waiting jobs in the job management file 8a and manages the data as a single file of a predetermined file system. Also, for each transmission, the data of one record for one line (from the head of the line to the next line feed) is stored in association with each other.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the transmission log management file 8b in the compact flash 8 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, transmission log data including transmission results of each facsimile transmission is stored in the transmission log management file 8b, and each transmission log data includes a transmission start date and time, a transmission destination facsimile number, an image file name, Options (for example, option settings such as resolution and encoding method for facsimile transmission), communication time, number of transmissions, and communication result (communication result completed (OK), communication error, busy, etc.)
including. Here, the main control unit 1 stores a plurality of transmission log data in the transmission log management file 8b and manages the transmission log data as a single file of a predetermined file system. Also, for each transmission, the data of one record for one line (from the head of the line to the next line feed) is stored in association with each other.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the reception log management file 8c in the compact flash 8 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, reception log data including reception results of each facsimile reception is stored in the reception log management file 8c. (For example,
It refers to option settings such as resolution and encoding method at the time of facsimile reception. ), The communication time, the number of received data, and the communication result (communication result completion (OK), communication error, etc.). Here, the main control unit 1 stores a plurality of reception log data in the reception log management file 8c and manages the reception log data as a single file of a predetermined file system. Also, 1
One line (from the beginning of the line to the next new line)
Store the data of the record in association with each other.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a transmission reservation process executed by the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG. 5, first, in step S1, a facsimile number of a transmission destination is input using the operation unit 5, and a document is placed on the document table of the image reading unit 2. Next, in step S2, it is determined whether or not the reading key is turned on, and the process of step S2 is repeated until YES is obtained. When YES is obtained, the document image is read using the image reading unit 2 in step S3. The transmission job is accepted by storing the image data in the image memory 8. Then, in step S4, by adding the transmission job to the job management file 8a to update the job management file 8a, the transmission reservation processing ends.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a transmission process executed by the main control unit 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG. 6, first, in step S11, the data of the job management file 8a is read, and in step S12, it is determined whether there is any waiting job to be transmitted based on the data of the current date and time from the clock circuit 9, that is, the transmission is performed. It is determined whether or not there is a waiting job whose start date and time has passed.
On the other hand, if the determination is YES, the facsimile transmission process is executed in step S13. In this facsimile transmission process, a file of the image data of the waiting job to be transmitted is read out from the job management file 8a, facsimile encoded, and transmitted to the other party.

Next, in step S14, it is determined whether or not a communication error has occurred in the facsimile transmission processing or the transmission processing has not been completed and retransmission is necessary because the other party is busy. If the transmission processing is not completed and the answer is YES in step S14, the job management file 8a is updated by changing the transmission scheduled time of the transmission log of the job to the current time + the redial interval in step S15. And step S11
Return to On the other hand, after the transmission processing is completed, N
If the answer is O, the job (for one record) is deleted from the job management file 8a in step S16,
In step S17, by adding the transmission log (for one record) of the job, the transmission log management file 8b is updated, and the process returns to step S11.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a receiving process executed by the main control unit 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG. In FIG. 7, first, it is determined whether or not there is an incoming call in step S21, and the process of step S21 is repeated until the result is YES. When the result is YES, the facsimile reception process is executed in step S22. In the facsimile receiving process, the coded facsimile image data is received from the other party, decoded, converted into bitmap image data, and the image is recorded on a recording paper using the image recording unit 3. Record. Next, in step S23, the reception log (1
After the reception log management file 8c is updated by adding the record (for the record), the process returns to the step S21.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a communication management record report output process executed by the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG. In FIG. 8, first, in step S31, the log management files 8b, 8
It is determined whether the total number of jobs in c is equal to or greater than 25, and if NO, the operation unit 5 in step S32.
It is determined whether or not the output key of the communication management record report is turned on. If NO, the process returns to step S31.
When YES is determined in the step S31 or S32, the data of the transmission log management file 8b and the reception log management file 8c is read in a step S33, and a step S34 is performed.
The communication management record report is edited based on the two management files 8b and 8c read out at step S35, and step S35 is performed.
The communication management record report edited in the above is printed using the image recording unit 3. Further, after deleting the data in the transmission log management file 8b and the reception log management file 8c in step S36, the process returns to step S31.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the main control unit 1 transmits each facsimile transmission using a predetermined file system such as MS-DOS (registered trademark) as shown in FIG. The job management file 8a including the data of a plurality of waiting jobs waiting for the job is managed as a single file. Therefore, all the waiting jobs can be managed by operating only one file.
It can be simplified as compared with the prior art.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a transmission log management file including transmission log data including a plurality of facsimile transmission results using a predetermined file system such as MS-DOS (registered trademark). 8b and a reception log management file 8c including reception log data including a plurality of facsimile reception results as a single file. Therefore, since all communication logs can be managed by operating only one file, the management of communication log management files can be simplified as compared with the related art.

<Modification> In the above embodiment, the example of the facsimile apparatus 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is connected to a public network such as a public telephone network or a public digital network. For example, the present invention can be applied to a communication terminal device including a telephone, a data communication device, and the like.

In the above embodiment, the job management file 8a, the transmission log management file 8b, and the reception log management file 8c are stored in the compact flash 8, but the present invention is not limited to this. MO, DVD-
The information may be stored in another recording medium such as a RAM and managed. Also, these management files 8a, 8b, 8
The file system for managing c is not limited to MS-DOS (registered trademark), and a file management system of another kind of OS (operating system) may be used.
Furthermore, these management files 8a, 8b, 8c are not limited to text data, but may be binary data.

In the above embodiment, the transmission log management file 8b and the reception log management file 8c are managed separately, but they may be managed collectively as a communication log management file. In this case, data for distinguishing between the transmission log and the reception log is inserted into the communication log management file.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, a job management file including data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission is transmitted using a predetermined file system. It has management means for managing as a single file. Therefore, since all the waiting jobs can be managed by operating only one file, the management of the management file of the transmission waiting job can be simplified as compared with the related art.

Further, according to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the log management file including the data of each log including at least one of the results of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception is stored in a single file using a predetermined file system. A management unit for managing the file is provided. Therefore, since all transmission or reception communication logs can be managed by operating only one file, the management of the communication log management file can be simplified as compared with the related art.

Further, according to the program recording medium of the present invention, the job management file containing the data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission is made into a single file using a predetermined file system. Record the programs to be managed. Therefore, since all the waiting jobs can be managed by operating only one file, the management of the management file of the transmission waiting job can be simplified as compared with the related art.

Further, according to the program recording medium of the present invention, using a predetermined file system, a log management file including data of each log including at least one result of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception can be stored. Record the program to be managed as one file.
Therefore, since all transmission or reception communication logs can be managed by operating only one file, the management of the communication log management file can be simplified as compared with the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile apparatus 20 having a job and log management function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a job management file 8a in the compact flash 8 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission log management file 8b in the compact flash 8 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a reception log management file 8c in the compact flash 8 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a transmission reservation process executed by the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a transmission process executed by the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a reception process executed by the main control unit 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a communication management record report output process executed by the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine 20 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main control part, 6 ... ROM, 7 ... RAM, 8 ... Compact flash, 8a ... Job management file, 8b ... Transmission log management file, 8c ... Reception log management file, 8d-1 to 8d-N ... Image data file , 10 fax machine, 11 NCU, 12 LAN interface, 13 bus, 20 facsimile machine, 30 LAN, 31 mail server device, 32 router device, 40 internet, 50 public telephone network, L ... a public telephone line.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A management means for managing a job management file including data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission using a predetermined file system as a single file. Facsimile machine. 2. A management means for managing a log management file including data of each log including at least one result of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception using a predetermined file system as a single file. Facsimile machine characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A program for managing, as a single file, a job management file including data of each waiting job waiting for each facsimile transmission using a predetermined file system. Program recording medium. 4. A program for managing a log management file including log data including at least one result of each facsimile transmission and each facsimile reception using a predetermined file system as a single file. Characteristic program recording medium.