Patent ID: 7616350

Claim:
A multiple-line facsimile apparatus which accommodates a plurality of communication lines including one or a plurality of telephone lines and local area network lines, said multiple-line facsimile apparatus comprising: an image reader configured to read a document image; an image data storage configured to store image data of the document image read by the image reader; an input unit configured to input a plurality of transmitting destinations; an inexpensive transmitting destination searching unit configured to search for an arbitrary transmitting destination requiring an arbitrary low communication charge per unit time from amongst the plurality of transmitting destinations input from the input unit; a communication control unit configured to transmit image data only to the arbitrary transmitting destination via a single communication line used by the arbitrary transmitting destination in response to a transmission start instruction, as pages of the document image are successively read by the image reader, in parallel with reading of the document image by the image reader and storing of the image data of the read document image to the image data storage, even if a plurality of communication lines are vacant, wherein the communication control unit transmits image data amounting to all pages of the document image stored in the image data storage, by a broadcast transmission to remaining transmitting destinations other than said arbitrary transmitting destination via remaining vacant communication lines other than the single communication line when the reading of the image data amounting to all pages of the document image is completed by the image reader, and if the image data transmission is not made with respect to all remaining transmitting destinations by the broadcast transmission, transmits the image data amounting to all pages of the document and stored in the image data storage to a remaining transmitting destination to which the image data transmission has not been made, when one of the plurality of communication lines, including the single communication line, becomes vacant.