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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a facsimile machine which stores a
plurality of destination information, such as facsimile telephone numbers,
which are often used, and, in particular, to a facsimile machine which
transmits source information indicating the identity of transmission
source and also destination information to which data is to be
transmitted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A facsimile machine capable of transmitting the source information
identifying the source of transmission of data prior to the transmission
of documentary data is well known in the art as disclosed in the U.S. Pat.
No. 4,419,697 issued to Wada on Dec. 6, 1983 and assigned to the assignee
of this application, which is hereby incorporated by reference. In
addition a facsimile machine capable of storing a plurality of facsimile
telephone numbers is also known. In this case, a plurality of facsimile
telephone numbers to be stored are normally selected depending on the
frequency of use. In such a facsimile machine, provision is normally made
of a plurality of one-touch selection keys one of which is selectively
depressed to select one of the stored facsimile telephone numbers, thereby
leaving the burden of dialing or pushing buttons for the entire facsimile
telephone number of a destination station to which a facsimile data is to
be transmitted.
However, when transmitting one or more of original documents, the operator
normally prepares a transmission cover sheet and writes down or types the
name, address and facsimile telephone number of the destination station to
which the image data of the original documents is to be transmitted. The
usage of such an extra cover sheet is disadvantageous because it requires
an additional transmission time which thus increases cost of transmission.
Moreover, if the transmission is interrupted for some reason in the middle
of transmission of a plurality of document sheets following the cover
sheet, the operator must prepare another cover sheet to transmit the
remaining document sheets because there might be another transmission from
a different source station.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a facsimile
machine capable of storing a plurality of destination information,
including a facsimile telephone number. When transmitting an original
document, not only source information but also destination information are
transmitted in advance to a destination station. Thus, in the preferred
embodiment, both of the source and destination information are printed at
the beginning of each page at the destination station. Since both of the
source and destination information are printed at each page, there is no
need for the operator to use a transmission cover sheet, thereby greatly
facilitating the transmission operation of a facsimile machine.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to obviate the
disadvantages of the prior art as described above and to provide an
improved facsimile machine capable of transmitting not only source
(transmitter) information but also destination (or receiver) information.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved facsimile
machine capable of storing a plurality of destination information
including facsimile telephone numbers and character data, such as name
and/or address.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved
facsimile machine having a significantly increased convenience in
transmission operation.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved
facsimile machine capable of minimizing the transmission time and thus the
telephone charges.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will
become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention
when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of a facsimile
machine constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the detailed structure of a part of the
structure shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an illustration showing one example of a management table defined
in the EEPROM 74 shown in FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is an illustration showing an example of a sheet of recording paper
on which a received facsimile image is recorded by the present facsimile
machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown in block form a facsimile machine
constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As
shown, the present facsimile machine includes a net control unit 1, a
MODEM 2, a data compression and decompression unit 3, a buffer 4, a
reading unit 5, an image output unit 6, a system controller 7, a character
generator 8, a telephone number and individual character information
memory 9, and a key input unit 10. It is to be noted that the main feature
of the present facsimile machine resides in the additional provision of
the character generator 8 and the telephone number and individual
character information memory 9.
In the structure shown in FIG. 1, the net control unit 1 controls a
connection to a transmission line, typically public telephone line. The
MODEM 2 modulates facsimile data to be transmitted according to the
characteristics of the transmission line and also demodulates the received
facsimile data. The data compression and decompression unit 3 encodes
facsimile data, for example, by the MH or MR method to have it compressed
before transmission and decodes the received facsimile data after
demodulation by the MODEM 2 to thereby recover the original facsimile
image data. The buffer 4 is typically comprised of a semiconductor memory
and it serves to temporarily store facsimile image data. The reading unit
5 is typically comprised of an image sensor, such as a CCD line sensor,
which includes a plurality of photo-electric elements arranged in the form
of a single array, which defines the so-called main scanning direction. An
original document to be transmitted is optically read by the reading unit
5 in the form of raster scanning, and thus there is produced a relative
motion between the reading unit 5 and the original document in the
so-called auxiliary scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning
direction. The reading unit 5 optically reads the original document to
convert a visual original image into an electrical image signal which is
temporarily stored in the buffer 4.
The image output unit 6 typically includes a recording device, such as a
thermal printer or a laser printer, which produces a hard copy of the
received image data stored in the buffer 4. The system controller 7 is
typically comprised of a microcomputer for controlling the overall
operation of the present facsimile machine. The character generator 8 is
provided between the buffer 4 and the system controller 7 and it carries
out conversion between a code of a character and image data of the
corresponding character. In the preferred embodiment, when the telephone
number and individual character information of one of destinations stored
in the telephone number and individual character information memory 9 has
been selected by the operator, the individual character information of the
selected destination, which is typically a series of character codes, is
supplied to the character generator 8 under the control of the system
controller 7, so that the character generator 8 supplies the character
pattern data corresponding to the selected individual character
information to the buffer 4 as facsimile image data.
The telephone number and individual character information memory 9 stores a
plurality of destination information, each including a facsimile telephone
number and individual character data indicating the I.D. of the
destination, such as the name and address. Each of these plurality of
destination information may be selected by depressing a corresponding one
of a plurality of one-touch keys or by dialing a corresponding one of
abbreviated code numbers which have been previously determined and stored.
The key input unit 10 includes a plurality of numeric keys, typically
including "0" through "9" numeric keys and other symbolic keys, which may
correspond to those keys typically used in push telephones and it may also
include additional keys, such as one-touch keys, if desired. By pushing
the keys provided in the key input unit 10 selectively, the destination
information to which data is to be transmitted is selected.
FIG. 2 shows a part of the facsimile machine of FIG. 1 in detail in the
case when the system controller 7 shown in FIG. 1 is constructed by using
a microcomputer. It is to be noted that identical numerals indicate
identical elements between FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown, the structure shown in
FIG. 2 includes a central processing unit 71 or CPU for short, a read only
memory 72 or ROM for short, a random access memory 73 or RAM for short,
and an electrically eraseable programmable read only memory 74 or EEPROM
for short, all of which are operatively connected to the key input unit
10, to the character generator 8 and also to the other elements through a
system bus 75. It is to be noted that the EEPROM 74 may be replaced by a
RAM with a battery backup. The CPU 71 is in charge of the overall control
of the present facsimile machine. The ROM 72 stores a system program and
the RAM is a work memory for storing various data under the control of the
CPU 71. The EEPROM 74 is a memory which corresponds to the telephone
number and individual character information memory 9 shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a management table of the telephone
number and individual character information memory 9 defined in the EEPROM
74. That is, in the management table shown in FIG. 3, one address includes
30 bytes which are divided into three areas: a 1st area comprised of the
first byte, a second area comprised of the 2nd through 9th bytes and a
third area comprised of the 10th through 29th bytes. In this example, a
management table comprised of 30 bytes for one destination, which is
selected by the depression of a corresponding one-touch key or of a
corresponding abbreviated code number, is prepared.
The 1st byte of this management table is an area for indicating whether the
table is valid or not. In the first byte, a number registration bit
b.sub.0 indicates the presence or absence of a registered number in this
table and a character registration bit b.sub.1 indicates the presence or
absence of a registered character. If bit b.sub.0 is "0", then it
indicates the fact that this table does not have a registered number, so
that the contents of bit b.sub.1 are neglected even if bit b.sub.1 is "1".
The 2nd through 9th bytes define the area for storing a facsimile
telephone number of a desired destination station, and, in the illustrated
embodiment, a facsimile telephone number up to 16 digits may be stored in
the form of BCD code. In addition, the 10th through 29th bytes define the
area for storing character information, such as name and address,
indicating the identity of the corresponding destination station, and the
character information up to 20 characters in the case of the eight unit
codes of the Japanese Industrial Standards can be stored.
An address is assigned to each of such management tables. For example, the
management table of destination information for destination No. 1 is
stored in addresses starting from address F000H over addresses of 29 bytes
worth, and the management table of destination information for destination
No. 2 is stored in addresses starting from address F01EH (i.e., F000H+30D)
over addresses of 29 bytes worth, et seq. It is to be noted that "H"
indicates the hexadecimal representation and "D" indicates the decimal
representation.
In operation, a plurality of destination information, each including a
facsimile telephone number and a name (and address, if desired), is
previously stored in the telephone number and individual character
information memory 9 in the form of the management table described above.
Such a plurality of destination information is selected to be information
of those destination stations to which facsimile data is often transmitted
compared with the other destination stations. In storing or registering
the destination information of those often used destination stations, the
operator inputs the telephone number and character information, such as a
name of the destination station, by using the input keys provided in the
key input unit 10.
When it is desired to transmit an original document to a particular
destination station, the corresponding one of a plurality of one-touch
keys provided in the key input unit 10 is depressed selectively, or the
corresponding one of a plurality of abbreviated code numbers is input by
the numeric keys of the key input unit 10. For example, when one of the
one-touch keys is depressed, the corresponding telephone number is read
out of the corresponding management table of FIG. 3 and places a call to
the destination station via a transmission line, such as public telephone
line. At the same time, the corresponding character information is read
out of the management table in the memory 9 and transferred to the
character generator 8. Thus, the character information is converted into
facsimile image information by the character generator 8 and the thus
converted facsimile image information is supplied to the buffer 4 for
temporary storage therein. In the buffer 4, the facsimile image
information converted from the character information is added to top of
each page of facsimile image information supplied from the reading unit 5,
together with the source information indicating the identity of the
present facsimile machine serving as a transmitter.
The thus combined facsimile image information, i.e., one page of
documentary facsimile image information and the added source and
destination information, is then subjected to compression by encoding at
the data compression and decompression unit 3, modulated at the MODEM 2
and then transmitted to the destination station via the net control unit
1. At the destination station, which serves as a receiver and has the same
structure as described with respect to and shown in FIGS. 1 through 3,
there is obtained a facsimile image recorded on a recording sheet as
illustrated in FIG. 4. As illustrated in FIG. 4, each page of hard copies
obtained by the present facsimile machine includes source information
"FROM: ABC CO." indicated at top left, destination information "TO: XYZ
CO." indicated at top right, and documentary image information therebelow.
It is to be noted that the example of FIG. 4 contains only the names of
the source and destination stations; however, each of the source and
destination information may contain any additional data, such as telephone
number and address. It should also be noted that, in accordance with the
present invention, each page of hard copies for recording received
facsimile data has not only source station information, but also
destination station information at the top, preferably in the top marginal
area of each page, so that there is no need to use a transmission cover
sheet unless required for some other reasons, e.g., for transmission of
additional comments.
While the above provides a full and complete disclosure of the preferred
embodiments of the present invention, various modifications, alternate
constructions and equivalents may be employed without departing from the
true spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the above description
and illustration should not be construed as limiting the scope of the
invention, which is defined by the appended claims.
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