Communication apparatus having an electronic telephone book function

Abstract: A communication apparatus comprises a memory for storing telephone numbers of a plurality of communication destinations together with destination data including character information such as abbreviations; a search unit for searching the destination data stored in the memory; a selection unit for selecting a language; and a set unit for setting an order of search for the destination data by the search unit in accordance with the language selected by the selection unit.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication apparatus having an electronic telephone book function for searching a destination station by destination information such as destination abbreviation. Related Background Art In a prior art communication apparatus having an electronic telephone book function for searching an abbreviation of a destination station, an order of search for the abbreviation search is fixed without regard to the language. Patent applications for such a communication apparatus includes USP 4,908,853 (issued on March 13, 1990) and USP 5,034,976 (issued on July 23, 1991). However, in the prior art apparatus, since the order of search for the abbreviation search is fixed regardless of the language, the abbreviation search may be difficult for some language when a plurality of types of languages are used for the abbreviation search. French Patent Application FR-A-2 494 063 (PERITEL) discloses a dialling apparatus having a retrieval function, but it does not indicate that a search order is changed according to a kind of a language. European Patent Application EP-A-0 310 283 (NORTHERN TELECOM) shows in Figs. 1A and 1B a system having a record 20 or a table 24 having orders for each language. But the record or table is composed of three fields for respective types of orders. Therefore, in this system, a memory having a large capacity is required, and also a process or structure for comparing the record or table with characters is complicated. Patent Abstract of Japan vol. 6, no. 192 (P-145) published on September 30, 1992 and Japanese Patent Application JP-A-57 101 983 (SANYO ELECTRIC) discloses a retrieval device equipped with memories (41 to 44) for storing English, French, German and Spanish words. In this reference, one of a plurality of languages is selected by a selection key, but it is quite silent about the technical concept that a search order of characters is variable according to a kind of language. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve a communication apparatus in the light of the above. It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus having an electronic telephone book function which enables the abbreviation search by a plurality of types of languages and enables the abbreviation searches adapted to the respective languages. The invention provides a communication apparatus comprising : first memory means for storing a plurality of communication destinations consisting of character data ; and search means in the system control unit for searching the plurality of communication destinations in accordance with a predetermined order, characterized in that it further comprises : selection means for selecting one of a plurality of languages, wherein said search means has second memory means for storing a plurality of separate orders of search characters, each separate order corresponding to a different one of the plurality of languages, and searches the plurality of communication destinations stored in said first memory means in accordance with the order of search characters stored in said second memory means regarding the selected one of a plurality of languages. The invention also discloses a method for searching a plurality of registered data consisting of character data, comprising : a searching step for searching the plurality of registered data in accordance with a predetermined order, characterized in that it further comprises : a selecting step for selecting one of a plurality of languages, wherein the plurality of registered data are searched in accordance with one of a plurality of separate orders of search characters regarding the selected one of a plurality of languages, each separate order corresponding to a different one of a plurality of languages. By means of these features, the present invention provides a communication apparatus and method which readily retrieves communication destinations without a complicated search order and regardless of a kind of language. Other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments and the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a configuration of a facsimile apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 show flow charts of control operations of a system control unit of the embodiment, Fig. 4 shows a portion of a search order table used in the embodiment, Fig. 5 illustrates an abbreviation search in the embodiment, and Fig. 6 shows a character priority order for three languages used in the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention is now explained in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, a facsimile apparatus is discussed as an example of the communication apparatus having the electronic telephone book function although the present invention is not limited to the facsimile apparatus but it is applicable to various communication apparatus such as a telephone set. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a configuration of the facsimile apparatus of the embodiment. In Fig. 1, numeral 1 denotes a system control unit which controls elements to be described later. The system control unit 1 comprises a computer and a memory. It also includes a read-only memory (ROM) 1A which contains a control procedure as shown in Fig. 2. Numeral 2 denotes a reader which may comprise a CCD image sensor for reading a transmitting document 11 fed by a document feed roller 9. Numeral 3 denotes a recorder for electrostatistically recording an image in accordance with a received image signal. Numeral 4 denotes a console unit having various keys arranged thereon, and numeral 4A denotes a selection switch for selecting a language for a message. Numeral 5 denotes a display for displaying a status and an alarm. The console unit 4 and the display 5 may be constructed as a single console unit. Numeral 6 denotes a non-volatile RAM for storing communication destination data. The RAM 6 may be a random access memory which is backed up by a battery. Numeral 7 denotes a modem. Numeral 8 denotes a network control unit (NCU) having a capability to send out a selection signal (pulse and tone dialer). It conducts automatic reception operation by detecting a calling signal and line control and also sends out the selection signal to a telephone line 12 under the control of the system control unit 1. An operation of the present embodiment is now explained with reference to a flow chart of Fig. 2. In a step S1, a type of language is selected. In the present embodiment, one of three types A, B and C is selected although the number of types is not limited to three. In the present embodiment, the type A corresponds to English, the type B corresponds to Germany and the type C corresponds to Finnish, although they are not limited to those specific languages. A corresponding one of tables A to C of Fig. 4 to the language selected in the step S1 is set in a search order table (steps S2 ∼ S4). If destination communication data is registered in a step S5, the process proceeds to a step S6, a registered destination abbreviation and existing destination abbreviations are compared, and they are rearranged. The rearrangement is explained with reference to a flow chart of Fig. 3. In a step S6-1, the registered destination abbreviation (data A) is code-converted by using the search order table. The data converted by the search order table is rearranged in the order of search in an ascending order. Namely, when data are compared, one having a smaller code is searched first. In a step S6-2, the previously registered destination abbreviations (data B) are read from the non-volatile RAM 6 and they are code-converted by using the search order table. Then, the character strings of the data A and the data B are compared. A BX which represents a digit of the character string to be compared is initialized (step S6-3), first characters of the data A and the data B are compared (step S6-4), and if the data A is smaller, the comparison is terminated (step S6-8). If the data B is larger, the next one of the previously registered data is read from the non-volatile RAM (step S6-7) and the process moves to the step S6-2. The previously registered data is compared with the registered data in the order of search. If the data A and the data B compared are identical, the content of the BX is incremented (step S6-5), and the next digits are compared. Turning back to the flow chart of Fig. 2, when the comparison is made and the data is rearranged, the process proceeds from the step S7 to a step S8 in which the order is stored in the non-volatile RAM 6. In a step S9, the presence or absence of the registration of the next data is determined, and if there is the registration of the next data, the process proceeds to the step S5, and if there is no registration of the next data, the process is terminated. One example is explained below. Fig. 5 shows orders of search for the types of language (type A: English, type B: Germany, type C: Finnish) for the input destination abbreviation data. When English is selected as the type of language, special characters for the language such as Å, Á, À and Ä are not used in English and they are treated as "others" than alphabet characters. When Germany is selected as the type of language, "Ä" which is treated likely to an alphabet character "A" in Germany is sorted into a column A, and the characters Å, À and Á which are not used in Germany are treated as "others". When Finnish is selected, characters Å and Ä are used but they are treated differently from those in Germany. In Finnish, the character Å or Ä is located after "Z". The characters Á and À which are not used in Finnish are treated as "others" as they are in English. Such a character priority order is shown in Fig. 6. By using the search order table of Fig. 4, the abbreviation search may be conducted in the order determined by the selected language as shown in Fig. 5. The number of selections of the types of language in the step S1 of Fig. 2 is not limited to the one described in the present embodiment. Further, the languages selected by the selection of the type of language are not limited to those described above. The format of the table and the character format shown in Fig. 4 are not limited to those shown in Fig. 4. In the present embodiment, the destination abbreviations are rearranged when the destination communication data is registered, although the destination abbreviations may be rearranged when the abbreviation is searched.

Claims: Communication apparatus comprising : first memory means (6) for storing a plurality of communication destinations consisting of character data ; and search means in the system control unit (1) for searching the plurality of communication destinations in accordance with a predetermined order, characterized in that it further comprises : selection means (4A) for selecting one of a plurality of languages, wherein said search means has second memory means (1A) for storing a plurality of separate orders of search characters, each separate order corresponding to a different one of the plurality of languages, and searches the plurality of communication destinations stored in said first memory means in accordance with the order of search characters stored in said second memory means regarding the selected one of a plurality of languages. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said search means in the system control unit (1) arranges the communication destinations stored in advance and the communication destination newly stored (S5 to S9). An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second memory means (1A) stores the correspondence between each of the plurality of characters and a character code regarding each of the plurality of languages. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second memory means (1A) stores the orders of search characters so that "Ä" is retrieved later than "z" in the English language and it is treated in the same way as "A" in the German language. Method for searching a plurality of registered data consisting of character data, comprising : a searching step for searching the plurality of registered data in accordance with a predetermined order, characterized in that it further comprises : a selecting step (S1) for selecting one of a plurality of languages, wherein the plurality of registered data are searched in accordance with one of a plurality of separate orders of search characters regarding the selected one of a plurality of languages (S5 to S9), each separate order corresponding to a different one of a plurality of languages. A method according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of data registered in advance and newly added data are arranged in said searching step (S5 to S9). A method according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of registered data includes communication destination data. A method according to claim 5, wherein the orders of search characters define a correspondence between each of the plurality of characters and a character code regarding each of the plurality of languages. A method according to claim 5, wherein the orders of search characters define a character code of "A" so that "Ä" is retrieved later than "z" in the English language and it is treated in the same way as "A" in the German language.

Inventors: KONDO MASAYA, KONDO, MASAYA, KONDO, MASAYA, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicants: CANON KK, CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1991
Main classification: H04M1
IPC codes: H04N1, H04M11, H04M1