The invention relates to a dial method and a communication apparatus which uses the method and, more particularly to a dial method of communicating with a called station by transmitting predetermined dialing information to a line and a communication apparatus which uses the method.
Hitherto, there is a known communication apparatus, such as a telephone set, for conversation with a called station or a facsimile apparatus for transmitting/receiving image information by storing in a memory the telephone numbers of desired called stations and by making a call to a station by using the telephone number stored in the memory by operating a key of a specified abbreviated dialing or the operation of a one-touch-dialing key.
The communication apparatus of the aforesaid type usually performs dialing operation when a ten-key thereof is operated to input the telephone number of a called station. The communication apparatus has a function for abbreviating the operation for making a call to a station with which communication is frequently made. For example, the telephone number is registered to a one-touch-dialing key and a desired key is depressed at the time of making a call. As a result, calling a party is made by using the telephone number which corresponds to the depressed key. Furthermore, specific telephone numbers are registered in the memory in such a manner that the telephone numbers correspond to specific abbreviated numbers, for example, 00 to 99. When making a call, the desired abbreviated number is inputted by depressing the keys to make a call by using the telephone number which corresponds to the depressed abbreviated number.
In order to use the one-touch-dialing keys which have been registered, a sticker or the like, on which the names or abbreviations of the parties to be called are written, is applied to a position adjacent to (on the side or below) the one-touch dialing keys corresponding to the registered telephone numbers. As a result, a user is able to quickly recognize the called party key assignment.
However, the above-mentioned conventional approach encounters a necessity of having an operation board that has a large area to register a large number of one-touch-dialing keys because the number of telephone numbers can be registered is the same as the number of the one-touch-dialing keys. This leads to an apparatus which must have a large size and the overall cost cannot be reduced. If many one-touch-dialing keys are equipped, a user sometimes takes a long time to determine the key corresponding to the called station.
If abbreviated dialing is used, a list showing the relationship between the registered called parties and the telephone numbers must be previously stored in order to recognize the correspondence between the abbreviated numbers and the telephone numbers of the called parties. Therefore, the actual operation management is complicated because the list must be placed at an appropriate position adjacent to the apparatus and updating of the telephone number requires a new list to be made. As described above, visually searching the list is only a convenient way capable of searching abbreviated dial data for the conventional approach of employing an abbreviated dialing. Therefore, the conventional approach encounters a problem in that the registered abbreviated number cannot be used sufficiently except for the case where abbreviated dial is stored in the apparatus.
In an apparatus operation environment such as in an office, a communication terminal equipment such as a facsimile apparatus is usually shared by a multiplicity of persons. In the aforesaid operation environment, the apparatus usually has a sufficiently large number of programmable function keys and the one-touch-dialing keys are not available.