Patent ID: 6335803
Filing Date: 2002-01-01
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A facsimile communication apparatus connected to a plurality of Recommendation T.30 standard G3 facsimile machines, each of the facsimile machines being connected to a telephone network and modulating pixel information and control information to produce analog signals, said facsimile communication apparatus comprising:facsimile procedure controller connected to said plurality of facsimile machines, which executes transmission control procedure according to said Recommendation T.30 for receiving the control information and the pixel information from and transmitting the control information and the pixel information to the facsimile machines according to a predetermined procedure; first information converter for converting the control information and the pixel information transmitted from the facsimile machines into a control packet signal and a pixel packet signal of predetermined formats; data transmitter/receiver for transmitting and receiving the control packet signal and the pixel packet signal produced by the first information converter via a data communication network; second information converter for converting the control packet signal and the pixel packet signal received by the data transmitter/receiver into control information and pixel information which is to be provided to the facsimile procedure controller; means for receiving image data from a transmission side facsimile machine via said data communication network; a memory, to temporarily store the image data; means for transmitting the image data to a receiving side facsimile machine; means for calling the receiving side facsimile machine when the facsimile communication apparatus receives a request for connection to the receiving side facsimile machine from the data communication network; means for receiving the image data from the transmission side facsimile machine via the data communication network and for temporarily storing the received image data in the memory; means for starting transmission of the image data to the receiving side facsimile machine in response to reception of a data-receiving control signal representing the acceptability of image data from the receiving side facsimile machine, provided that a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the memory at the time of receipt of the data-receiving control signal; and waiting controller for transmitting a prescribed wait control signal to the receiving side facsimile machine in order to have the receiving side facsimile machine stand by if the predetermined amount of image data has not been stored in the memory at the time of receipt of the receiving control signal representing the acceptability of the image data from the receiving side facsimile machine.