PURPOSE: To improve reliability by allowing a control means to execute coding and decoding processing by a coding/decoding means and data communications processing by a communications means in a manner of being mutual independently and in parallel so as to facilitate each processing and to simplify a control program.

CONSTITUTION: A CPU 1 allows data communications processing of the ARQ system of a facsimile control section 5 and processing of picture data of a hard CODEC circuit 10 to be executed in a manner of being mutual independently and in parallel. Moreover, the CPU 1 executes parity check of each frame sequentially and transfers data without any error to a picture memory 4 in the order of reception and reads the data afterward. The circuit 10 decodes continuously the picture data independently and in parallel with the communication processing of the control section 5. When the picture data are sent, the circuit 10 encodes sequentially the picture data obtained through read scanning by a picture read section 8 and transfers and stores the data to the memory 4 and the control section 5 performs transmission processing in parallel with coding. Thus, each processing is facilitated, the control program is simplified and the reliability is improved.