Facsimile machine

Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C358S440000, C358S468000, C379S100010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06359697

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile machine having a function of receiving image data in response to a request-to-send, specifically to a facsimile machine which transmits/receives image data by using a telephone line whose call fee is low and which has a plurality of telephone lines for transmitting/receiving data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional facsimile machine transmits/receives image data through one telephone line. Such a facsimile machine often shares one telephone line with a telephone set, and as a prior art technology for such a machine, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 63-87068 (1988) discloses a control method of recognizing information of a calling end and switching one telephone line to the facsimile machine or to the telephone set.
According to the prior art technology, when a call signal enters the facsimile machine shown in
FIG. 16
via a telephone line
101
from the calling end, a call signal detecting circuit
119
detects it and outputs a call receiving signal indicative of that to a CPU
127
. Receiving this call receiving signal, the CPU
127
changes over a movable contact
111
a
of a switch
111
to a terminal
111
b
to which a voice information sending circuit
121
and a response signal detecting circuit
123
are connected, and then inquires through the voice information sending circuit
121
with which of a telephone set
103
and a facsimile machine
105
the calling end desires to communicate. Then, in response to the voice information, a voice response or a transmission signal of a facsimile machine is returned from the calling end, so that the CPU
127
discriminates it and connects the line
101
to the telephone set
103
or to the facsimile machine
105
.
Thus, by inquiring of the calling end about the desired communication counterpart and then connecting a communication device such as a telephone set and a facsimile machine to the telephone line, desired one of the plurality of communication devices sharing one telephone line can be reliably connected to the line.
A facsimile machine which has a plurality of telephone line terminals and changes over telephone lines to be used in accordance with the rate of use of each telephone line is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 5-219275 (1993).
FIG. 17
shows this prior art facsimile machine. This prior art facsimile machine reads an original document to be transmitted by reading means
131
and outputs a received original document by output means
132
. When a call is made from the outside, first line communication control means
135
, second line communication control means
136
or third line communication control means
137
, which are currently idle, receives the call. Line selecting means
134
decides the number of telephone lines to be used based on the number of original documents to be received, the rate of use of the telephone lines and storage means
133
, and so on, and gives an instruction of receiving the call to the first line communication control means
135
, the second line communication control means
136
or the third line communication control means
137
. Then, the line communication control means which has received the instruction receives the call.
Such a prior art facsimile machine is capable of improving the rate of use of a facsimile line, reducing a stand-by time for receiving data and decreasing the probability of call loss from the outside, by storing a plurality of lines in one facsimile machine and deciding a telephone line for receiving a call based on the rate of use of the storage means
133
, the number of original documents to be received and the state of each telephone line. However, the prior art facsimile machine changes over the receiving line depending on the use frequency of the telephone line as described above, and furthermore, it requires the operator to change over the state of connection manually when transmitting/receiving image data by changing over from one telephone line to the other.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 1-191552 (1989) discloses another prior art facsimile machine. This prior art facsimile machine has a plurality of transmitting/receiving telephone lines. In the facsimile machine shown in
FIG. 18
, discriminating means
151
discriminates whether there is a line error after a line connection or not, i.e., whether a communication with the counterpart has failed or not, and gives a result thereof to telephone number changing means
162
. When it is determined that the communication with the counterpart has failed due to the line error, the telephone number changing means
162
gives another telephone number specifying the same counterpart with the previous one to an auto-dialing function
154
. After a predetermined period of time, re-dialing control means
152
activates the auto-dialing function
154
to which the other telephone number has been given so as to perform a re-dialing operation. When the communication with the counterpart fails due to a line error again, another telephone number specifying the same counterpart with the previous one is given to the auto-dialing function
154
to activate and make it perform another re-dialing operation after a predetermined period of time. Thereby, the probability to communicate with the counterpart right away can be increased.
However, because the prior art facsimile machine shown in
FIG. 18
re-dials by using another telephone line after the elapse of the predetermined period of time since when the line error after the line connection has occurred, it takes a predetermined period of time until the re-dialing operation is performed by using another telephone line, and the receiving end might receive data transmitted from another facsimile machine during the predetermined period of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine which is capable of automatically utilizing a telephone line whose call fee is low and of suppressing a total communication cost, by recognizing a telephone line used by a calling end from a telephone number registered by the calling end and by comparing the call fee of this telephone line with that of telephone lines available for the receiver.
It is another object of the invention to provide a facsimile machine in which a time until re-dialing is shortened to increase the probability of connection between the calling end and the receiving end by changing over a telephone line currently selected by line selecting means to another telephone line and by immediately making another call when the receiver is busy.
In order to achieve one of the above-mentioned objects, in a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a facsimile machine having a function of receiving image data in response to a request-to-send, comprising:
a plurality of line connecting means (
22
a,
22
b
), each of which has a telephone line (LA, LB) for transmitting/receiving data;
calling number recognition means (
4
a
) for recognizing a calling number of a calling end;
registering means (
4
a
) for registering the telephone number recognized by the calling number recognition means (
4
a
);
sending means (
4
a
) for sending the telephone number registered by the registering means by using the second telephone line (LB) among the plurality of telephone lines (LA, LB); and
request-to-send control means (
4
a
) for ending a pre-communication process of the first telephone line (LA) to disconnect the first telephone line (LA) at the point of time when a pre-process of the second telephone line (LB) is completed by the sending means (
4
a
) and making a request-to-send through the second telephone line (LB).
According to the first aspect of the invention, the facsimile machine can make a request to send image data by using the other telephone line (LB) on the way of the communication operation so as to receive the image data, so that it can receive the image data through a line whose call fee is low

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