JPH0669199B2 - Fax machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a facsimile device that can store received information in a storage device as well as printing it on a recording medium. In particular, the invention relates to a facsimile device that can receive these two types of receiving modes. The present invention relates to a facsimile machine that can be set.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile machines have rapidly become popular mainly for office use. The advantages of these facsimile machines are (1)
It is possible to immediately send letters, charts, and pictures to a remote place, and (2) the reception information is automatically printed on paper and remains as a record even if there is no person at the time of reception. In particular, the advantage of (2) above is that you do not have to interrupt the work you are doing to receive it even when you are busy, like when you are on the phone, you do not miss the necessary information even when you are out, and the printed information is Since it has a list, you do not have to listen to tapes one after another as you would with an answering machine, so it is expected that there will be demand for ordinary households depending on the function and price. Such a facsimile device is not limited to a so-called telephone type facsimile device which is carried out via a telephone line, and a so-called broadcasting type facsimile device which transmits various information by using radio waves can be considered.

In the case of a broadcasting type facsimile machine, the communication direction is one-way, but it is possible to send information from one broadcasting station to a large number of receiving side facsimile machines at the same time. For example, for sending newspapers or advertisements. Thought to be available.

When such a facsimile machine has spread to general households, a conventional facsimile machine that receives and prints anything has the following problems.

(1) It is unreasonable that the recipient of the facsimile must bear the cost of ink and printing paper even for unnecessary information.

(2) In the case of telephone facsimiles, these information are
It is highly likely that it will be sent at midnight because the call charge is cheap and because the broadcasting station is vacant even in the case of broadcasting type facsimiles, if the paper runs out, there will be no people present so it will be replenished. You may not be able to receive the necessary information.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional facsimile apparatus, and to set either the reception mode of the storage reception mode or the print reception mode in the apparatus itself, and to receive the information received from the line. Information that is unnecessary for a person can be printed without being printed on paper,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device capable of receiving and recording information even when the paper runs out when the reception mode is the print reception mode.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an external storage device is organically added to a conventional facsimile machine, and the reception information is printed directly on the paper at the receiving side, and is stored in the external storage device only when the paper runs out, or the paper runs out. It is possible to select in advance whether or not to store the data in the external storage device by setting the reception mode of the facsimile device so that necessary information will not be lost even if the paper runs out.

Specific embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram centering on the receiving section of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, in which 1 is a received signal, 2 is a demodulation circuit,
3 is a switching circuit, 4 is a setting switch, 5 is a switching control circuit,
6 is a CRT display device, 7 is a printing device, 8 is an external storage device,
Reference numeral 9 is a paper out signal, and A, B, C and D are signal terminals of the switching circuit 3, respectively.

The reception signal 1 is a signal that has been phase-modulated and transmitted via a telephone line, or a signal that has been amplitude-modulated or frequency-modulated as broadcast radio waves and has been transmitted. The received signal 1
Are demodulated by the demodulation circuit 2 and input to the A terminal of the switching circuit 3. On the other hand, the setting switch 4 capable of setting the mode in advance comprises a 2-bit mode switch for reception / non-reception and printing / storage and several operation keys, and the state thereof is input to the switching control circuit 5. The changeover control circuit 5 controls the changeover circuit 3 by referring to the state of the setting switch 4 and the state indicating the presence or absence of the paper out signal 9 indicating that the printing device 7 is out of paper.

In the switching circuit 3, terminal a is an input / output terminal connected to the printing device 7, terminal c is an input / output terminal connected to the external storage device 8, and terminal d is an output terminal connected to the CRT display device 6. The signal terminal eye is switched and connected as follows depending on the state of the setting switch 4.

When the setting switch 4 is in the receiving mode and the printing mode, the normal terminal A and the terminal A are automatically connected. Even when the setting switch 4 is in the receiving mode and the storage mode or the printing mode, the terminal A and the terminal C are automatically connected when the paper runs out. To be done. In the non-reception mode and the storage mode, terminals C and D are connected, and information stored in the external storage device 8 is sequentially stored from pages specified by operation keys (not shown) on the separately provided setting switch 4.
It is displayed on the CRT display device 6 for retrieval. Next, when the print mode of the non-reception mode is designated, the terminal C and the terminal B are connected, and the information of the designated page in the external storage device 8 is output to the printing device 7.

The external storage device 8 is a large-capacity read / write device and can delete unnecessary information. Further, unless the information is deleted, new information is recorded while erasing the oldest information as soon as the information is full, so there is little risk of missing received information.

Next, a second specific example according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram thereof, and the components having the same numbers as those in FIG. 1 show the same contents. The newly added components in Fig. 2 are 10 microcomputers,
The switching control circuit 5 and the switching control circuit 3 in FIG. 1 are replaced. The microcomputer 10 first reads the status of the setting switch 4, controls the input / output to / from the printing device 7, the external storage device 8 and the CRT display device 6, and receives from the demodulation circuit 2.
The configuration is simpler than that of the embodiment (Fig. 1) and more efficient. FIG. 3 shows a schematic flow chart of the processing performed by the microcomputer 10.

In FIG. 3, the receiving mode and the printing mode are obtained by reading the state of the setting switch 4. Whether or not the signal is received is determined by the signal from the demodulation circuit 2, and whether or not the signal is output is determined by the state of the operation key in the setting switch 4.

By implementing the present invention, it is not necessary to print out unnecessary information by setting the reception mode, and even when in the print reception mode, there is a person nearby as in the past, and paper is not used. You no longer have to worry about failing to receive the necessary information without paying attention to the break. Thus, the usability of the facsimile apparatus is improved by the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing operation of the microcomputer in FIG. . Explanation of code 1 ... Received signal, 2 ... Demodulation circuit, 3 ... Switching circuit, 4
...... Setting switch, 5 ... Switching control circuit, 6 ... CRT display device, 7 ... Printing device, 8 ... External storage device, 9 ...
Out of paper signal

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Ho Ho Ito 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Home Appliances Research Laboratories (72) Inventor Takuo Koyama 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa (56) Reference JP 49-91713 (JP, A) JP 55-151854 (JP, A) JP 56-48756 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for receiving a facsimile signal supplied from a line, a demodulation means for demodulating the received facsimile signal, a storage means for storing the demodulated signal demodulated by the demodulation means, and the received facsimile signal. Is printed after demodulation, or printing means for printing information based on the demodulation signal stored in the storage means, a first reception mode for supplying the demodulation signal from the demodulation means to the storage means, The mode setting means for setting the second reception mode for supplying the demodulation signal from the demodulation means to the printing means in the device itself, the storage means and the printing means are both the demodulation means on the downstream side of the demodulation means. Switching means that is switchably coupled to the signal and that switches the reception mode by the mode setting of the mode setting means; Recording paper out detection means for detecting the presence / absence of recording paper in the storage means, and the storage means detects the recording paper out even if the mode setting means in the own device sets the second reception mode. When the means detects that there is no recording paper, the demodulation signal from the demodulation means is supplied and stored, and in the non-reception mode different from the first and second reception modes. A facsimile apparatus comprising a print designating unit that causes the printing unit to print the selected information after displaying it for searching stored information in the storage unit.