JPH04120875A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To economically operate facsimile communication by automatically selecting the communication network of a lower line use tariff when selecting a subscriber telephone network or a facsimile communication network. CONSTITUTION:When communication is enabled even by the facsimile communication network, according to original size information to be obtained when encoding picture information 1a binarized by a read control part 1 by an encoding/decoding part 2, predictive communication time is calculated from an encoded information amount (bit) of an original and predictive communication speed (bps). According to the predictive communication time, the line use tariff per unit time in the subscriber telephone network and the facsimile communication network by areas is collated by using a charging data table 6 so as to select the communication network of the lower line use tariff. Thus, economics can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile device, and particularly to a facsimile device connected to a subscriber telephone network and a facsimile communication network.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional facsimile machines, when selecting a communication network, the user uses his or her own experience and intuition to determine which rotation will result in lower line usage charges based on information such as the shape of the document, the amount of information, and the area of the communication partner. I went there based on whether it was cheap or not.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The drawback of the above-mentioned conventional facsimile devices is that one selected communication network may have higher line usage charges than the other communication network due to ambiguous judgment criteria that rely on the operator's experience and intuition. was there.

[Means to solve the problem]

The facsimile device of the present invention includes means for reading from a document and outputting binary image information, means for compressing the band of the image information by encoding and storing it, and calculating the amount of data of the stored image information. It has means for outputting, means for storing billing information of a plurality of line networks for each communication partner, and means for selecting the line network based on the amount of data to be transmitted and the billing information and making a call.

〔Example] Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

The image information 1a binarized by the reading control section 1 is compressed by the encoding/decoding section 2 using an encoding method suitable for transmission, and then stored in the encoded information storage section 3 for - hours.

At the same time, the code/decoder 2 encodes the encoded code data ffi.
2 Calculate a and output it.

The communication network selection control unit 4 uses the code data amount 2a, the communication partner area 4.1), and the communication time to calculate the line usage fee using the billing data table 6 shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), and selects the communication network. In the communication procedure control unit 5, which outputs the information 4a to be selected,
Facsimile communication is carried out using the communication network selected by the information 4a (the code accumulated at the time + V# information 21).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 for explaining the operation of this embodiment, and shows the document size obtained when the image information 1a binarized by the reading control unit is encoded by the code/decoding unit 2. Based on the information, it is first determined whether communication via the facsimile communication network is possible. If communication is not possible using the facsimile communication network due to size limitations, the subscriber telephone network is selected. If communication is possible through a facsimile communication network, the predicted communication time is calculated from the encoded information amount (bit) of the document and the predicted communication speed (bps). Using the estimated communication time and using the charge data table shown in FIG. 3, a communication network with a low line usage charge is selected by comparing the line usage charges per unit time in subscriber telephone networks and facsimile communication networks according to the area type.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention has the advantage that when selecting a subscriber telephone network or a facsimile communication network, it automatically selects a communication network with low line usage charges, thereby enabling economical facsimile communication operation. be.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a process diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of this embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of this embodiment.
The figure shows the billing data table of this embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Reading control unit, 2...Coding decoding unit, 3...Encoded information storage unit, 4.Communication network selection control unit, 5.Communication procedure control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] means for outputting image information read from a manuscript and converted into binary; means for compressing the band of the image information by encoding and storing it; means for calculating and outputting the amount of data of the stored image information; and a communication partner. 1. A facsimile apparatus comprising: means for storing billing information for a plurality of line networks for each line; and means for selecting and calling the line network based on the amount of data to be transmitted and the billing information.