Transmission informing system in facsimile apparatus

A transmission informing system in a facsimile apparatus for automatically notifying via a recorded voice message through a separate telephone that a facsimile transmitting operation has been performed through another telephone after the instant facsimile transmission so that a manual confirmation communication operation after the transmission by the person in charge of the transmission is obviated, thus reducing the work required for effecting a facsimile transmission.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a transmission informing system which is 
capable of automatically notifying the receiving party of a transmission, 
in accordance with voice information optionally inputted in advance, after 
the transmitting operation by a facsimile apparatus. 
Generally, if the transmission operation property is improved to allow the 
high-speed electrical transmission to be performed in the conventional 
facsimile apparatus, it is necessary for the transmitting person to call 
the other party so as to confirm whether or not the transmission image 
information has been correctly outputted into the other receiving machine 
and human participation is necessary for the confirming operation. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for 
notifying that the transmission has been automatically performed through 
the telephone of the other party after a facsimile transmission. 
For the solution of the conventional problems, the transmission informing 
system in the facsimile apparatus in accordance with the present invention 
comprises a voice input apparatus (a) for inputting the voice information 
from outside, a voice analysis code apparatus (b) for analyzing and coding 
the inputted voice, a voice data storing apparatus (c) for storing the 
coded voice data, a voice composition output apparatus (d) for composing 
voice messages in accordance with the stored voice data to output them, an 
automatic dial apparatus (e) for automatically connecting the circuit with 
the called station of the number in accordance with the dial number 
optionally settable, characterized in that the circuit is connected with a 
predetermined second called station (telephone for conversation) by the 
automatic dial apparatus (e) after the completion of the image data 
transmission by the circuit connection with the first called station (the 
facsimile apparatus on the side of the receiver) through the facsimile 
apparatus (f), the voice message are transmitted to the second called 
station by the voice composition information inputted in advance by the 
voice input apparatus (a). 
The transmission informing system in the facsimile apparatus of the present 
invention of such construction as described hereinabove is capable of 
notifying the other party, in accordance with the voice information 
inputted optionally in advance, that the telephone on the desk of the 
person in charge on the side of the reception has been automatically 
called after the facsimile transmission to make the facsimile transmission 
so as to remove the role by the person in charge on the side of the 
transmission for the confirmation operator. 
It is to be noted that in one embodiment of the present invention, the 
voice input apparatus a and the voice analysis coding apparatus (b) are 
omitted. This system is capable of notifying the other party, by voice, 
that the telephone on the desk of the person in charge on the side of the 
reception has been automatically called after the facsimile transmission 
to make the facsimile transmission so as to remove the role by the person 
in charge on the side of the transmission for the confirmation operator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Before the description of the present invention proceeds, it is to be noted 
that like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the 
accompanying drawings. 
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 2, a block diagram 
showing the system construction in the embodiment of the present 
invention. This apparatus is composed of a facsimile apparatus 1, an 
automatic dial unit 2 and a voice producer 3, including a transmission 
filter 6, a net control unit (NCU) 7, and a telephone on the side of the 
transmission to be connected with the facsimile apparatus 1 and so on. The 
facsimile apparatus 4 on the side of the reception which is the first 
called station and the telephones 5 ... 5 for conversation of the 
receiving party which is the second called station are connected as 
described later through the exchange unit 9 on the side of the 
transmission and the exchange unit 10 on the side of the reception. 
The facsimile apparatus 1 which is known is composed of a system control 
circuit 11 for controlling the whole system, an image reading apparatus 
12, a data storing apparatus 13 for storing the reading data, a coding 
circuit 14 for coding the stored contents, a modem 15 for modulating the 
coded data during the transmission and demodulating during the reception, 
a decoding circuit 16 for decoding the data coded by the apparatus on the 
side of the other party during the reception, an image recording apparatus 
17 for recording the reception data, and so on. 
The automatic dial unit 2 is provided with a dial number storing apparatus 
21 with a plurality of second called-station telephone numbers being 
accommodated in advance, a dial number buffer 22 for temporarily storing 
the number information through the selection of the desired number by the 
transmitting person from among a plurality of telephone numbers stored, 
and an automatic dial apparatus 23 for transmitting the dial signals 
through the net control apparatus 7 in accordance with the 
telephone-number information to be fed from the dial-number buffer 22 by 
the instructions from the above-described system control circuit 11 to 
connect the circuit with the corresponding telephone 5. 
Also, the voice producing unit 3 is provided with a microphone 31 for 
inputting voice message, a voice analysis coding apparatus 32 for 
digitally converting the voice analog signal inputted from the microphone 
31 for inputting the voice message and performing a sampling operation for 
abstracting the voice parameters to do a linear estimate coding operation, 
a voice data storing apparatus 33 for storing the coded code, a voice 
composition outputting apparatus 34 for composing the storing contents to 
make them vocal, and a voice control circuit 35 for controlling each of 
these apparatuses. 
The operation of the embodiment will now be described. 
FIGS. 3A and 3B comprise a pair of flow-charts showing the operation 
procedure of the system by the system control circuit 11. 
The sender selects, first, the telephone numbers of the persons in charge 
to be notified of the facsimile transmission-destination from among the 
second called-station telephone numbers stored in the dial-number storing 
apparatus 21, and sets them. Then, the telephone number of the other 
facsimile apparatus 4, the first called station which should transmit the 
image data is inputted by the telephone 8 on the side of the transmitter. 
The inputted telephone-number information is fed to the exchange machine 9 
on the side of the transmission through the net control apparatus 7 to 
open the circuit with the exchange machine 10 on the side of the 
transmission so that the facsimile apparatus 1 is connected with the 
facsimile apparatus 4 on the side of the reception. At this time, the 
facsimile apparatus 4 on the side of the reception transmits, for example, 
tone signals of 2100 Hz back to the facsimile apparatus 1 on the side of 
the transmission to notify that the called station is the facsimile 
terminal. When the transmitting person gives the transmission order 
through the reception of the tone signal, the image data is accumulated in 
the data storing apparatus 13 after the image reading of the manuscript by 
the image reading apparatus 12, the photoelectric conversion, the binary 
conversion and so on. It is fed into modem 15 after data compression by 
the coding circuit 14, and is coupled into the circuit through the 
transmission filter 6 and the net control apparatus 7. 
The facsimile apparatus 4 on the side of the reception sequentially records 
the image data the signals as it is received by the decoding circuit and 
the image record apparatus. 
After such image data transmission as described hereinabove is finished, 
namely, the reading of the manuscript is completed the facsimile apparatus 
1 on the side of the transmission transmits the DCN or disconnect signals 
to notify a facsimile apparatus 4 on the reception side of the facsimile 
transmission completion to close the facsimile circuit. After the DCN 
signal has been transmitted, the second called station telephone-number 
information initially stored in the dial number buffer 22 is fed into the 
automatic dial apparatus 23 to transmit the dial number in accordance with 
the information through the net controlling circuit 7 so as to open the 
circuit with the corresponding telephone 5 by each of the exchange 
machines 9, 10. After the polarity inversion detection (confirmation of 
the other-party response) of the circuit, the voice data previously stored 
through the microphone 31 in the voice data storing apparatus 33 are fed 
under the control of the voice control circuit 35. Voice messages of, for 
example, "This is ABC company. We have just sent a facsimile transmission, 
will you please confirm it?"; "This is Mr. Smith. We have sent you a 
facsimile transmission, will you please go and retrieve it at once?" or 
the like transmitted to the circuit through the transmission filter 6, the 
net control apparatus 7 to output them to the second called station 
telephone 5. And when the output of the message is completed, the second 
calling circuit is cut off to complete the transmitting operation. 
As described in the above embodiment, the message transmission system in 
the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is capable of 
automatically notifying a receiving party after a facsimile transmission 
that a transmitting operation has been performed by means of a message 
which can be optionally inputted in advance through a telephone machine 
thus removing the confirming operation after the transmission by the 
person in charge of the transmission, so that the manual participation in 
the facsimile transmission may be reduced more. 
Also, as the modified embodiment of the present invention, the microphone 
31 and the voice composition output apparatus 34 may be omitted in, for 
example, the block diagram of FIG. 2. The circuit with the corresponding 
telephone 5 is opened by each of the exchange machines 9, 10. After the 
polarity inversion detection (confirmation of the other-party response) of 
the circuit, to voice data to stored previously in the voice data storing 
apparatus 33 are fed under the control of the voice circuit 35. The voice 
messages of, for example, "This is ABC company. As we have just performed 
a facsimile transmission, will you please confirm it?" or the like are 
transmitted to the circuit through the transmission filter 6, the net 
control apparatus 7 to output them to the second called station telephone 
5. And when the output of the message is completed, the second calling 
circuit is cut off to complete the transmitting operation. 
It is to be noted that the voice producer 3 may be composed of a tape 
recorder and so on. 
As is clear from the foregoing description, according to the arrangement of 
the present invention, the present invention may notify that a facsimile 
transmitting operation has been automatically performed through the 
telephone for conversation of the transmitting party after the facsimile 
transmission so that the confirmation communicating operation after the 
transmission by the person is not required, thus further reducing the 
manual participation in the facsimile transmission. 
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example 
with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted here that 
various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the 
art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart 
from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being 
included therein.