Data communication apparatus permitting confidential communication

• US 5,258,998 A
• Filed: 05/10/1991
• Issued: 11/02/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1985
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Koide, Yumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HSU, ALPUS
• Application Number:
  US07/701,335
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: 358/75, 358/141, 358/142, 358/335, 358/343, 358/349, 358/400, 358/401, 358/402, 358/403, 358/434, 358/435, 358/436, 358/438, 358/440, 358/442, 358/443, 358/462, 358/467 , 358/468, 358/470, 358/433, 358/453, 380/3-5, 380/10, 380/18, 380/20, 380/37, 380/42, 380/23, 380/24, 380/25, 340/825.34, 360/19.1, 379/95, 379/100, 325/2, 355/201, 283/902
• US Class Current: 375/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4413 involving the use of passwords, ID codes or the like, e.g. PIN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/444 to a particular document or image or part thereof

Abstract

A data communication apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, in which the data of a page is transmitted in plural blocks, and the sending unit designates the blocks to be released as output. In this manner particular data can be sent to a particular receiving unit as secret information.

Claims

1. A data transmitting apparatus comprising:

data transmission means for dividing at least one page of data into blocks in accordance with the kinds of data and transmitting the blocks of data to a receiving apparatus; and

means for generating and setting a confidential code in one or more of the blocks of data,

wherein each block of data includes identification data indicating its kind and wherein said generating and setting means set the confidential code for inhibiting reproduction, at the receiving apparatus, of the one or more blocks of data having the confidential code such that, in response to a request for reproduction, only blocks of data having no such confidential code are reproduced at the receiving apparatus, and blocks of data having the confidential code are reproduced only in response to a further code corresponding to the confidential code.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said data transmission means divides at least one page of data comprising character code data and image data into respective blocks.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the blocks is provided with an identification code indicating whether the block consists of character code data or of image data.

4. A data receiving apparatus comprising:

data receiving means for receiving at least one page of data transmitted in divided blocks blocks, one or more of the blocks of data having a confidential code added thereto;

means for communicating to a user, in response to a request, the data received by said data receiving means; and

inhibiting means for testing each of the blocks of data to determine whether or not the confidential code has been added to each block, respectively, and for inhibiting said means for communicating to a user, in the absence of a further code corresponding to the confidential code, the data in any of the blocks to which the confidential code has been added,

wherein the communicating to the user of data received by said data receiving means is performed in response to the request only for blocks of the data to which the confidential code has not been added and the communicating to the user of the received data is thus partially inhibited by said inhibiting means.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising means for inputting an instruction for performing communication to the user of each block of the data inhibited by said inhibiting means and means for enabling said communication means to communicate to the user each block of data inhibited by said inhibiting means in response to the instruction.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each block of the data to which the confidential code has been added is communicated to the user upon input of the instruction corresponding to the confidential code by said instruction input means.

7. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said communication means displays the received data.

8. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said communication means records the received data.

9. A data communication system comprising:

a data transmitter apparatus comprising;

data transmission means for dividing at least one page of data into blocks in accordance with the kinds of data and transmitting the blocks of data to a data receiver apparatus; and

means for adding a confidential code into one or more of the blocks of data; and

said data receiver apparatus comprising;

data receiving means for receiving said blocks of data transmitted by said data transmission means;

means for communicating to the user, in response to a request, the data received by said data receiving means; and

inhibiting means for testing the received blocks of data, to determine whether or not the confidential code is added to each of the received blocks of data, respectively, and inhibiting said communicating means from communicating to the user, in the absence of a further code corresponding to the confidential code, the data in any of the blocks to which the confidential code is added,

wherein each block of data includes identification data indicating its kind, and said communication means communicates to the user the blocks of data in accordance with the identification data,

wherein the communicating to the user of the data received by said data receiving means is performed in response to the request only for blocks of data to which the confidential code has not been added and the communicating to the user of the received data thus is partially inhibited by said inhibiting means.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the data is divided into one or more blocks consisting of character code data and one or more blocks consisting of image data.

11. A system according to claim 9, wherein each of the blocks is provided with an identification code indicating whether the block consists of character code data or of image data.

12. A system according to claim 9, wherein said communication means displays the received data.

13. A system according to claim 9, wherein said communication means records the received data.

14. A system according to claim 9, wherein said data receiver apparatus further comprises means for inputting an instruction for performing communication to the user of each block of the data inhibited by said inhibiting means and means for enabling said communication means to communicate to the user each block of the data inhibited by said inhibiting means in response to the instruction.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein each block of the data to which the confidential code has been added is rendered visible upon input of the instruction corresponding to the confidential code by said instruction input means.