Data communicating apparatus having user notification capability and method

• US 5,717,744 A
• Filed: 03/14/1995
• Issued: 02/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Takehiro, Okabe, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F.
• Application Number:
  US08/404,282
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 379/100, 379/93, 379/96-98, 379/142, 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 358/400, 358/434-436, 358/442, 358/468, 358/440
• US Class Current: 379/100.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32117 in a separate transmission or protocol signal prior to or subsequent to the image data transmission, e.g. in digital identification signal [DIS], in non standard setup [NSS] or in non standard field [NSF] for mode signalling H04N1/333
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3261 of multimedia information, e.g. a sound signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

A data communicating apparatus such as a facsimile is constructed by a receiver to receive data from a transmission side, a notifying unit to notify by a voice a fact that the data is being received by the receiver, and an identifying unit to identify a name of the transmission side. The notifying unit notifies the identified name of the transmission side and a fact that the data is being received by the receiver and/or a receiving method by a voice so as to distinguish the direct reception for outputting the received image data while receiving and the memory reception for storing the received image data into a memory.

Claims

1. A data communication apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving image data from a transmitter side;

notifying means for notifying, via a voice message, of a fact that the image data is to be received by said receiving means; and

control means for controlling said receiving means such that the image data is received after said notifying means provides notification of said fact.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said notifying means notifies, via the voice message, of data representing the transmitter side which data is sent from the transmitter side.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising registering means for registering data representing the predetermined transmitter side, and

wherein said notifying means notifies of said fact in a case where said receiving means receives the image data from the transmitter side registered in said registering means.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising selecting means for selecting a time that said notifying means initiates the notification.

5. A data communication apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving image data from a transmitter side;

discriminating means for discriminating the number of pages of the image data received by said receiving means; and

notifying means for notifying, via a voice message, of a fact that the image data was received by said receiving means and of the number of pages discriminated by said discriminating means.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said notifying means further notifies, via the voice message, of data representing the transmitter side which data is sent from the transmitter side.

7. An apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising memory means for storing the image data received by said receiving means, and

wherein said notifying means notifies of a fact that the image data received by said receiving means has been stored in said memory means.

8. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said notifying means notifies of a fact that an error has occurred.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said notifying means notifies of contents of the generated error.

10. A data communication apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving image data from a transmitter side;

notifying means for notifying, via a voice message, of reception of the image data by said receiving means; and

selecting means for selecting a time that said notifying means initiates the notification,

wherein said notifying means initiates the notification at the time selected by said selecting means.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said selecting means selects the time as designated by a user of said apparatus.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said selecting means selects the time such that said notifying means initiates the notification before said receiving means terminates the reception of the image data.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said selecting means selects the time such that said notifying means initiates the notification after said receiving means terminated the reception of the image data.

14. A data communication apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving image data from a transmitter side;

notifying means for notifying, via a voice message, reception of the image data by said receiving means;

setting means for setting a predetermined period; and

control means for controlling whether or not said notifying means performs the notification for the predetermined period set by said setting means.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the predetermined period set by said setting means is a period for which a predetermined mode is being selected.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said setting means sets a start time and an end time of the period for which said notifying means does not perform the notification.

17. A data communication apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving image data from a transmitter side;

discriminating means for discriminating a kind of the image data received by said receiving means;

notifying means for notifying, via a voice message, of reception of the image data by said receiving means; and

control means for controlling the notification by said notifying means, in accordance with the kind of the image data discriminated by said discriminating means.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said control means controls said notifying means such that said notifying means does not perform the notification in a case where said discriminating means discriminates that the image data received by said receiving means was able to be made visible by inputting of a predetermined password.

19. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said notifying means further notifies of information representing the transmitter side.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said control means controls said notifying means such that said notifying means does not perform the notification of the information representing the transmitter side, in a case where said discriminating means discriminates that the image data received by said receiving means was able to be made visible by inputting of a predetermined password.

21. A storage medium containing computer readable program comprising code which upon execution will cause performance of:

a receiving step of receiving image data from a transmitter side;

a notifying step of notifying, via a voice message, of a fact that the image data is to be received in said receiving step; and

a control step of controlling said receiving step such that the image data is received after said fact is notified in said notifying step.

22. A storage medium containing computer readable program comprising code which upon execution will cause performance of:

a receiving step of receiving image data from a transmitter side;

a discriminating step of discriminating the number of pages of the image data received in said receiving step; and

a notifying step of notifying, via a voice message, of a fact that the image data was received in said receiving step and of the number of pages discriminated in said discriminating step.

23. A storage medium containing computer readable program comprising code which upon execution will cause performance of:

a receiving step of receiving image data from a transmitter side;

a notifying step of notifying, via a voice message, of reception of the image data in said receiving step; and

a selecting step of selecting a time that the notification in said notifying step initiates,

wherein said notifying step initiates the notification at the time selected in said selecting step.

24. A storage medium containing computer readable program comprising code which upon execution will cause performance of:

a receiving step of receiving image data from a transmitter side;

a notifying step of notifying, via a voice message, of reception of the image data in said receiving step;

a setting step of setting a predetermined period; and

a control step of controlling whether or not said notifying step performs the notification for the predetermined period set in said setting step.

25. A storage medium containing computer readable program comprising code which upon execution will cause performance of:

a receiving step of receiving image data from a transmitter side;

a discriminating step of discriminating a kind of the image data received in said receiving step;

a notifying step of notifying, via a voice message, of reception of the image data in said receiving step; and

a control step of controlling the notification in said notifying step, in accordance with the kind of the image data discriminated in said discriminating step.

26. A data communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving circuit which interfaces with a telephone network to receive image data and procedure signals;

a memory circuit to store the image data received from said receiving circuit;

a voice generation circuit;

a speaker circuit connected to said voice generation circuit; and

a control unit connected to said receiving circuit, memory circuit and voice generation circuit,

where said control unit receives procedure signals from said receiving circuit and controls said voice generation circuit so that said voice generation circuit generates a voice message output to said speaker circuit before the image data is received.

27. A data communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving circuit which interfaces with a telephone network to receive image data;

a memory circuit to store the image data received from said receiving circuit;

a voice generation circuit;

a speaker circuit connected to said voice generation circuit; and

a control unit connected to said receiving circuit, memory circuit and voice generation circuit,

where said control unit counts an number of pages of image data received from said receiving circuit, and controls said voice generation circuit so that said voice generation circuit generates a voice message output to said speaker circuit including the number of pages of image data received.

28. A data communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving circuit which interfaces with a telephone network to receive image data and signals;

a memory circuit to store the image data received from said receiving circuit;

a voice generation circuit;

a speaker circuit connected to said voice generation circuit;

a control unit connected to said receiving circuit, memory circuit and voice generation circuit; and

a voice output selection circuit connected to said control unit, which selects a mode based on the presence or absence of signals received from said receiving circuit,

where said control unit controls said voice generation circuit so that said voice generation circuit generates a voice message output to said speaker circuit in accordance with the mode selected by said voice output selection circuit.

29. A data communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving circuit which interfaces with a telephone network to receive image data and signals;

a memory circuit to store the image data received from said receiving circuit;

a voice generation circuit;

a speaker circuit connected to said voice generation circuit;

a control unit connected to said receiving circuit, memory circuit and voice generation circuit; and

an operation unit connected to said control unit, having a plurality of input designators which can be actuated by an operator,

where said control unit receives input designations from said operation unit corresponding to a predetermined time period and controls said voice generation circuit so that said voice generation circuit generates or does not generate a voice message output to said speaker circuit for the predetermined time period based on signals received from said receiving circuit.

30. A data communication apparatus comprising:

a receiving circuit which interfaces with a telephone network to receive image data and signals;

a memory circuit to store the image data received from said receiving circuit;

a voice generation circuit;

a speaker circuit connected to said voice generation circuit; and

a control unit connected to said receiving circuit, memory circuit and voice generation circuit,

where said control unit discriminates signals received from said receiving circuit, determines a kind of the image data, and controls said voice generation circuit so that said voice generation circuit generates a voice message output to said speaker circuit in accordance with the kind of image data determined.