JP2012100131A - Transmitter, transmission controller, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transmitter and the like capable of reducing a communication cost accompanied by data transmission without deterioration in data quality.SOLUTION: Based on charge table information for three communication bands and untransmitted amount information, it is determined whether or not an untransmitted data amount D is smaller than a data amount Vof a communication band b transmitted per 30 seconds (at a step S201). When the untransmitted data amount D is smaller, it is presumed that a value of C/Vis 1, and that a value of ris 1 (at a step S202). Otherwise no presumption is executed. Thereafter, the minimum value of values obtained by multiplying a data amount that can be transmitted in multiples of 30 seconds by a charge per unit data amount, is calculated by a formula (at a step S203). A communication band b, which is the communication band b calculated by the formula, and a data amount Din that case are stored (at a step S204), and it is determined whether or not the ris 0 (at a step S205). In the case that the ris 0, a process is terminated to decide a communication band change rule. On the other hand, in the case that the ris not 0, the value of ris substituted by D (at a step S206). The control flow returns to the step S201.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmission device, a transmission control device, and a program.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a data transmission device that transmits multimedia data via a network that allows bandwidth reservation and has different network usage charges according to the priority of the reserved bandwidth session. Designate n session transmitters that establish n different sessions (n is an integer of 2 or more), an encoder that encodes multimedia data to be transmitted and generates encoded data, and a network usage fee Network usage charge designation unit, and transmission data of one or more sessions selected from n sessions of encoded data generated by the encoder according to the network usage fee designated by the network usage charge designation unit A data transmission device including a transmission data distribution unit that distributes the data as described above is disclosed.

JP 2009-206944 A

  Here, in the case of a usage fee system that does not change for a certain period of time according to the communication band to be used and a higher fee is charged when transmitting in a larger communication band, the sender does not degrade the data quality received on the receiving side You may want to lower your communication costs.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a transmission device and the like that can reduce communication costs associated with data transmission without degrading data quality.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided storage means for storing information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands, and information on a fee that is charged as the unit time elapses, and transmission contents And a plurality of communication bands as a transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content in which the information to be specified is received by the reception unit based on the information stored in the storage unit. A transmission unit including a plurality of communication bands to be used and a trigger for changing the communication band, and a transmission unit that performs transmission according to the transmission condition determined by the determination unit .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, when a change occurs in the transmission content after the transmission condition is determined, the determination unit determines from the currently used communication band based on the information stored in the storage unit. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a transmission condition having another communication band to be changed and an opportunity to change to the other communication band is determined.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the transmission device according to the first aspect, the information specifying the transmission content received by the receiving unit is information on the number of sheets.
The invention according to claim 4 further includes input means for inputting a user's instruction as to whether or not to reduce the transmission cost charged with transmission by the transmission means, and the transmission means includes the input The transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein transmission is performed according to a transmission condition by the determination unit when a user instruction input to the unit reduces transmission cost. is there.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided storage means for storing information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands, and information on a fee that is charged as the unit time elapses, and transmission contents And a plurality of communication bands as a transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content in which the information to be specified is received by the reception unit based on the information stored in the storage unit. A transmission control unit including a plurality of communication bands to be used and a trigger for changing the communication band, and a transmission control unit that controls transmission according to the transmission condition determined by the determination unit Device.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, when a change occurs in the transmission content after the transmission condition is determined, the determination unit determines from the currently used communication band based on the information stored in the storage unit. 6. The transmission control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a transmission condition having another communication band to be changed and an opportunity to change to the other communication band is determined.
The invention according to claim 7 is the transmission control device according to claim 5, wherein the information specifying the transmission content received by the receiving means is information on the number of sheets.
The invention according to claim 8 further includes input means for inputting a user instruction as to whether or not to reduce transmission cost charged with transmission by the transmission control means, wherein the transmission control means includes: 8. The transmission according to claim 5, wherein transmission is controlled according to a transmission condition by the determination unit when a user instruction input to the input unit is to reduce transmission cost. It is a transmission control device.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer including a storage unit that stores information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands and information on a fee that is charged as the unit time elapses. Based on the information stored in the storage unit, the acquisition function for acquiring the information for specifying the transmission content, and the transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content from which the information to be specified is acquired by the acquisition function, A determination function for determining a plurality of communication bands to be used and a trigger for changing the communication band among a plurality of communication bands; a transmission control function for controlling transmission according to the transmission condition determined by the determination function; It is a program that realizes.

According to the first aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with data transmission without degrading the data quality.
According to the second aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with data transmission without degrading the data quality even if the transmission content is changed after the transmission condition is determined. .
According to the third aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with the data transmission without degrading the data quality even when the transmission content is specified by the number of sheets.
According to the fourth aspect, it is possible to perform transmission in a form in line with the intention of the sender as compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted.
According to the fifth aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with the data transmission without degrading the data quality.
According to the sixth aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with the data transmission without degrading the data quality even if the transmission content is changed after the transmission condition is determined. .
According to the seventh aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with the data transmission without degrading the data quality even when the transmission content is specified by the number of sheets.
According to the eighth aspect, it is possible to perform transmission in a form in line with the intention of the sender as compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted.
According to the ninth aspect, compared with the case where the present invention is not adopted, it is possible to reduce the communication cost associated with the data transmission without degrading the data quality.

It is the figure which showed the structural example of the communication system with which this Embodiment is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of a 1st communication apparatus. It is a figure which shows a charge table example. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the data amount transmitted for every some communication band, and the time which transmission requires when the transmission control by 1st Embodiment is applied. It is a graph explaining the comparative example in case the transmission control by 1st Embodiment is not applied. It is a flowchart explaining the determination process of a communication band change rule. It is a flowchart explaining a calculation process. It is a figure which shows the example of a communication sequence in case a 1st communication apparatus transmits data with respect to a 2nd communication apparatus. It is a flowchart explaining the arithmetic processing in 2nd Embodiment. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of data transmitted for each of a plurality of communication bands and the time required for transmission by applying transmission control according to the third embodiment when the amount of transmitted data decreases after the start of data transmission. . 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of data transmitted for each of a plurality of communication bands and the time required for transmission by applying transmission control according to the third embodiment when the amount of transmission data increases after the start of data transmission. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system to which the present exemplary embodiment is applied.
As shown in the figure, this communication system is configured by connecting a first communication device 10 and a second communication device 20 to each other via a network 80.
In the present embodiment, an image forming apparatus having an IP-FAX function corresponding to a session initiation protocol (SIP) is used as the first communication apparatus 10. The second communication apparatus 20 may be an image forming apparatus or a simple facsimile apparatus. In the present embodiment, the communication apparatus having the IP-FAX function is the same as the first communication apparatus 10. Is used.
As the network 80, an NGN (Next Generation Network) network is used. By using the NGN network as the network 80, it becomes possible to define and guarantee communication quality levels such as voice quality of voice communication and video quality of video communication. This NGN network is an IP (Internet Protocol) network having a usage fee system in which a fee corresponding to the usage bandwidth of a session is charged at regular intervals.

First, the hardware configuration of the first communication device 10 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, the first communication device 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that executes arithmetic processing, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 that is used as a working memory of the CPU 11. Yes. Further, the first communication device 10 is a non-volatile storage that stores a ROM (Read Only Memory) 13 that stores various programs executed by the CPU 11 and various setting information necessary for the operation of the first communication device 10. And a memory 14.
The CPU 11 implements various functions by loading various programs and data stored in the ROM 13 and the nonvolatile memory 14 into the RAM 12 and executing them.

The first communication device 10 includes an input interface 15, an image reading unit 16, an image forming unit 17, and a network interface 18.
The input interface 15 displays information notified to the user on an operation panel (not shown) or the like, and accepts the user's input operation via the operation panel or the like.

The image reading unit 16 reads an image recorded on a recording medium such as paper. Here, the image reading unit 16 is, for example, a scanner, and a CCD method in which reflected light with respect to light irradiated from a light source to a document is reduced by a lens and received by a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices), or an LED light source is sequentially irradiated onto a document. It is preferable to use a CIS system in which reflected light with respect to the received light is received by a CIS (Contact Image Sensor).
The image forming unit 17 forms an image on a recording medium such as paper. Here, the image forming unit 17 is, for example, a printer, and forms an image by transferring the toner attached to the photosensitive member to a recording medium to form an image, or ejecting ink onto the recording medium. An ink jet type may be used.
The network interface 18 transmits information stored in the nonvolatile memory 14 and data of an image read by the image reading unit 16 to the second communication device 20 via the network 80, or from the second communication device 20. Receive image data. Here, the network interface 18 is realized by, for example, a network interface card (NIC). In the present embodiment, a network interface 18 is provided as an example of a communication unit included in the communication control device and a communication unit included in the communication device.

By the way, in the conventional IP-FAX communication via the NGN network, the document data is transmitted in the communication band determined at the start of communication connection or before the start of communication connection, and the transmission is completed. This NGN network has a communication fee table that is set for the same amount for a certain time (for example, 30 seconds) for each communication band to be used. Such a communication charge table of the NGN network is set to have a high communication charge in a large communication band and set to be low in a small communication band. Therefore, when document data with a small amount of data is transmitted by IP-FAX, the cost of communication may be lower when using a small communication band, although it takes some time rather than negotiating with a large communication band. is there. However, in view of a communication fee table in which the communication fee does not change for a certain period of time, the communication cost is not necessarily reduced by using a large communication band instead of a small communication band when the amount of data is large. When a FAX broadcast transmission is performed in which a sender transmits the same document data to a plurality of destinations all at once, there is a demand for the sender to further reduce communication costs.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is possible to further reduce the cost of communication without degrading the quality when passing through a network of a usage fee system that does not change for a certain period of time (for example, 30 seconds) according to the use band of the session. In order to normalize, the first communication device 10 is provided with a communication control device 50 that controls data transmission.

Hereinafter, functional configurations of the first communication device 10 and the communication control device 50 in the present embodiment will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the first communication device 10. In the communication control device 50, the CPU 11 (see FIG. 1) reads the program stored in the ROM 13 (see FIG. 1) or the like into the RAM 12 (see FIG. 1) and executes it. To be realized. In FIG. 2, the communication control device 50 is built in the first communication device 10, but the communication control device 50 may be a device independent of the first communication device 10.

First, the functional configuration of the first communication device 10 will be described. As illustrated, the first communication device 10 includes a communication control device 50 and a communication unit 60.
The communication control device 50 controls communication with the second communication device 20. More specifically, the communication control apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment sets a communication band change rule (communication band change rule) that defines the timing for changing the communication band used for communication with the second communication apparatus 20. The communication is controlled according to the determined communication band change rule. More specifically, the communication control device 50 controls the timing for transmitting RE-INVITE to the second communication device 20. Note that it is conceivable that the communication band change rule is determined by the communication control device 50 before the start of communication or at the time of SIP negotiation.
The communication unit 60 communicates with the second communication device 20 (see FIG. 1) via the network interface 18 (see FIG. 1).
Hereinafter, the communication band change rule may be referred to as a transmission condition.

Next, the functional configuration of the communication control device 50 will be described.
As illustrated, the communication control apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment includes a transmission instruction receiving unit 51 as an example of a receiving unit that receives a transmission instruction from a user, and a determining unit 52 as an example of a determining unit that determines a transmission condition. And a storage unit 53 as an example of a storage unit or an example of a storage unit that stores data used when the determination unit 52 determines transmission conditions. In addition, the communication control device 50 is an example of a mode selection input unit 54 as an example of an input unit that receives a mode selection from a user, and an example of a transmission control unit that controls communication according to the transmission condition determined by the determination unit 52. Communication control unit 55.
The functions of the transmission instruction reception unit 51, the determination unit 52, the mode selection input unit 54, and the communication control unit 55 are realized by the CPU 11 reading a program stored in the ROM 13 or the like into the RAM 12 and executing it. The storage unit 53 is realized by the nonvolatile memory 14 such as an EEPROM (electrically rewritable read-only memory). In other words, the transmission instruction receiving unit 51 and the mode selection input unit 54 are also realized by the input interface 15.

When receiving a transmission instruction from the user, the transmission instruction receiving unit 51 outputs the content to the determination unit 52. The transmission instruction received by the transmission instruction reception unit 51 includes information on the amount of data to be transmitted (for example, 4 Mbytes) or information on the number of sheets (for example, six A4 sheets) in addition to the data to be actually transmitted. The data to be actually transmitted is an example of transmission contents, and the information on the amount of data to be transmitted or the information on the number of sheets is an example of information for specifying the transmission contents.
Further, the transmission instruction received by the transmission instruction receiving unit 51 includes transmission destination information. In the present embodiment, the transmission destination is the second communication device 20.

The storage unit 53 outputs the stored data to the determination unit 52 in response to a request from the determination unit 52. The data stored in the storage unit 53 includes a charge table indicating charges charged by communication. The charge table here is an example of information on a plurality of communication bands. An example of this fee table will be described later.
The storage unit 53 stores a program that is read and executed by the determination unit 52, the communication control unit 55, and the like.

When mode selection (state selection) is input, the mode selection input unit 54 outputs the content to the communication control unit 55. As the mode selection here, for example, it is conceivable that the user selects a mode emphasizing communication cost and a mode emphasizing communication time. In other words, the user can select a mode for completing communication at a lower cost in consideration of communication cost than communication time and a mode for completing communication in a shorter time in consideration of communication time than communication cost. To do. The mode selection is an example of a user instruction regarding a transmission cost charged for transmission.
In the communication control device 50 according to the present embodiment, the output destination of the mode selection input unit 54 is the communication control unit 55. However, a modification in which the determination unit 52 is used as the output destination instead of the communication control unit 55 is also considered. It is done. In the case of such a modification, the determination of the transmission condition by the determination unit 52 is performed based on the mode selection. As an example, when there are a communication cost-oriented mode and a communication time-oriented mode as modes that can be selected by the user, if the former is selected, the communication cost is reduced by changing the communication band. A transmission condition is determined, and when the latter is selected, a transmission condition for performing data transmission using the fastest communication band is determined.

The determination unit 52 acquires the transmission instruction received by the transmission instruction reception unit 51 and the data stored by the storage unit 53, determines transmission conditions based on these transmission instructions and data, and communicates the determined transmission conditions. Output to the controller 55.
Note that the determination unit 52 may determine transmission conditions based on information acquired from the communication control unit 55 in addition to the transmission instruction and data. Examples of information acquired from the communication control unit 55 in this case include various types of information acquired after communication with the second communication device 20 is started. More specifically, in the image resolution (for example, 600 dpi), the image file format (for example, jpeg format) or the image color (for example, color image) that the first communication apparatus 10 is attempting to transmit, This is information that the communication device 20 cannot cope.
The transmission condition determination process by the determination unit 52 will be described later.

The communication control unit 55 acquires the transmission condition information output from the determination unit 52 and controls data transmission according to the transmission condition. The communication control unit 55 acquires the mode selection information output from the mode selection input unit 54 and controls data transmission according to the mode selection. For example, when there are two modes that can be selected by the user, the communication cost-oriented mode and the communication time-oriented mode, if the former is selected, data transmission is controlled according to the transmission conditions, and the latter is selected. Then, data transmission is controlled using the fastest communication band without using transmission conditions.
In addition, when the communication control unit 55 acquires information indicating that transmission cannot be performed under the transmission condition determined by the determination unit 52 before the start of communication after communication with the second communication device 20 is started, the communication control unit 55 determines the information. To 52.

Here, an example of a charge table stored in the storage unit 53 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a charge table. As shown in the figure, the fee table is composed of time, fee and communication band. More specifically, the example of the charge table shown in FIG. 4 includes a plurality of communication bands and a charge per 30 seconds for each communication band.
That is, as shown in FIG. 3, there are 1 Mbps (bit per second), 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps as communication bands. The charge per 30 seconds is 2 yen for 1 Mbps, 1.5 yen for 512 kbps, and 1 yen for 64 Kbps. In other words, a charge per 30 seconds from the start of communication is charged, and a charge per 30 seconds is charged when 30 seconds have elapsed from the start of communication.
In this way, a fee system is used in which fees are added at regular intervals in a certain communication band, and the fee per 30 seconds is higher as the communication band is larger. In such a situation, when arbitrary data is transmitted, for example, if the data amount is relatively large, the data is transmitted in a larger communication band for a certain period of time, and the remaining data amount is transmitted in a smaller communication band. As a result, the communication cost may be reduced. This will be specifically described below.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a transmission control example of the first communication device 10 to the communication control device 50 according to the first embodiment for reducing the communication cost when transmitting an arbitrary amount of data will be described in detail. The first embodiment is a case where the amount of data to be transmitted is determined before the transmission is started, and the transmission condition is determined by the determination unit 52 before the transmission is started.
FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of data transmitted for each of a plurality of communication bands and the time required for transmission when transmission control according to the first embodiment is applied, and FIG. It is a graph explaining the comparative example when not applying the transmission control by embodiment. In FIG. 5, (a) is when the communication band is only 1 Mbps, (b) is when only the communication band is 512 Kbps, and (c) is when only the communication band is 64 Kbps. 4 and 5, the vertical axis represents the communication band (bps), and the horizontal axis represents the communication time (seconds). A rectangular area indicated by hatching in each drawing corresponds to the transmission data amount.
In both cases of FIGS. 4 and 5, 4 Mbytes of data is transmitted.

In the graph shown in FIG. 4, after using the communication band of 1 Mbps for 30 seconds from the start of communication, the data transmission is continued after changing from the communication band of 1 Mbps to the communication band of 512 Kbps. In other words, out of the 4 Mbytes of data to be transmitted, 3.66 Mbytes are first transmitted using a communication band of 1 Mbps, and then the remaining 0.34 Mbytes are transmitted using a communication band of 512 Kbps.
In other words, based on the transmission conditions determined before the start of communication, the data amount 4 Mbytes to be transmitted is divided in advance into 3.66 Mbytes and 0.34 Mbytes, and a header is added to each. This header is data including information such as addresses of a transmission source and a transmission destination, for example, and can include information specifying a communication band to be used. Although the amount of transmission data is increased by the amount of header by dividing 4 Mbytes of data into two, there is substantially no influence.
In the case of FIG. 4, the communication time is 35.41 seconds, and the communication cost is 3.5 yen. Explaining the breakdown of the communication cost, the charge for 3.66 Mbytes transmitted for 30 seconds in the communication band of 1 Mbps is 2 yen. The charge for 0.34 Mbytes transmitted for 5.41 seconds in the 512 Kbps communication band is 1.5 yen. Note that the usage time of the communication band of 512 Kbps is within 30 seconds, but as described above, it is a flat rate charge until 30 seconds elapse, so even if transmission is only 5.41 seconds, 1.5 Yen charge. However, as will be described later, when the transmission control according to the first embodiment is applied, the communication cost is lower than in the case where the transmission control is not applied.
In the case of FIG. 4, an example in which the communication cost is divided into two is shown. However, depending on the time, the communication band, and the charge, for example, the communication cost may be the lowest by dividing the number into three.

In the graphs of the comparative examples shown in each of FIGS. 5A to 5C, the case where 4 Mbps data is transmitted without changing the communication band at the start of communication is shown. As shown in FIG. 5A, when only the communication band of 1 Mbps is used, the communication time is 32.77 seconds, which is 2.64 seconds shorter than the case of FIG. However, the communication cost in the case of FIG. 5A is 4 yen, which is 0.5 yen higher than in the case of FIG.
Similarly, in the case of FIG. 5B, the communication time is 64 seconds and the communication cost is 4.5 yen, which is 1 yen higher than the case of FIG. In the case of FIG. 5C, the communication time is 512 seconds and the communication cost is 18 yen, which is 14.5 yen higher than the case of FIG.
The high cost in the case of (a) to (c) in FIG. 5 is of great concern to the user when performing FAX broadcast transmission, for example. More specifically, depending on the contents of the charge table and the amount of transmission data, it is possible to reduce the communication cost by changing the communication band in the middle. Actually, as shown in FIG. 4, when transmitting 4 Mbps data under the above-described fee table, the transmission control according to the first embodiment is applied, thereby reducing the communication cost compared to the non-application time. It can be kept cheap.

Next, a process for determining a communication band change rule used for transmission control according to the first embodiment will be described in detail. This determination process is performed by the determination unit 52 of the communication control device 50.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining a communication band change rule.
In the flowchart shown in the figure, when the determination unit 52 acquires information that the transmission instruction reception unit 51 has received a transmission instruction, the determination unit 52 acquires fee table information from the storage unit 53 (step 101). The charge table information in this case is the charge table example shown in FIG.
Then, the determination unit 52 acquires information (untransmitted amount information) for specifying the transmission amount or the untransmitted amount for which a transmission instruction has been issued from the transmission instruction accepting unit 51 (step 102). Based on the transmission amount information, a predetermined calculation process is performed (step 103), and a communication band change rule is determined (step 104). When the determination unit 52 determines the communication band change rule, the determination unit 52 outputs the communication band change rule to the communication control unit 55.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the arithmetic processing (see step 103 in FIG. 6). In FIG. 7, the charge per T second is C _b (yen), the data amount of the communication band b (bps) transmitted per T second is V _b (bit), and the amount of untransmitted data is D ( bit). V _b is a value obtained by multiplying T (seconds) by b (bps) (V _b = T × b). An example of a value substituted for D is 32 × 10 ⁶ (= 4 Mbytes). An example of a value substituted for T is 30 (seconds).
In the flowchart shown in the figure, the amount D of unsent data is data amount to be transmitted, performs less determined whether or not than the data amount V _b of the communication bandwidth b to be transmitted per T seconds (Step 201 ). That is, the determination is performed for each of the communication bandwidths of 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps in the charge table information acquired by the determination unit 52 (see step 101 in FIG. 6). More specifically, the determination unit 52 determines whether or not the amount D of untransmitted data is smaller than the data amount V _1M when the amount D of untransmitted data is 1 Mbps (D <V _1M ), and the amount D of untransmitted data is 512 Kbps. small determining whether or not than the data amount _{V 512K} in the case of _{(D <V 512K),} the amount D of the unsent data is determined whether or not smaller than the data amount _{V 64K} in the case of 64 Kbps _{(D <V 64K} )I do.

These three of each of the determination of the communication band, in the case of a positive even one (Yes in step 201), 1 and assuming the value of r _b while assuming a value of 1 C b _/ V _b (Step 202), the process proceeds to step 203.
If all the determinations of the three communication bands are negative (No in step 201), the process proceeds to step 203. Therefore, in the case of No in step _201, the value and the value of _{r b} of C b / _{V b} will be obtained by calculation.

And the determination part 52 finds the communication band applicable to a calculation formula in three communication bands. As a calculation formula here, the smallest one of the values obtained by multiplying the amount of data that can be transmitted in multiples of T by the charge per unit data amount is obtained. More specifically, a first calculation formula of min ((D−r _b ) × C _b / V _b , b = b ₁ , b ₂ ,... B _n ) and a second formula r _b = DmodV _b Use the calculation formula.
Here, “b ₁ , b ₂ ,... B _n ” in the first calculation formula is 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps. Also, “min” in the first calculation formula is a formula comparison function, and is used to determine which is the smallest value in the case of 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, or 64 Kbps. Therefore, in the first calculation formula, min ((D−r _1M ) × C _1M / V _1M ), min ((D−r _512K ) × C _512K / V _512K ) and min ((D−r _64K ) × C _64K / V _64K ) is calculated, and the smallest value is calculated.
Further, to obtain "mod" in the second equation is one of the operators for performing the calculation of the remainder, in this case, the value of the remainder obtained by dividing the D with V _b is as r _b It is done. Therefore, in the second calculation formula, calculation is performed for r _1M = DmodV _1M , r _512K = DmodV _512K , and r _64K = DmodV _64K .

The determination unit 52 temporarily stores the communication band b _n (bps) that is the communication band b obtained by the calculation formula among the three communication bands and the data amount D _n (bit) in that case (step 204). ). The data amount _{D n} referred to herein is a value obtained by subtracting _{r b} from the amount D of the unsent data _{(D n = D-r b} ).

Then, determination unit 52 determines whether _{r b} is 0 _(r b = 0) was carried out (step 205), if it is determined that _{r b} is 0 (Yes in step 205), sequence of operations End the process. Further, determining unit 52 determines that _{r b} is not 0 (No in step 205), assigns the value of _{r b} to the amount D of the unsent data (step 206), returns to step 201.

By performing such arithmetic processing, a communication band to be used among the three communication bands and a data amount to be transmitted using the communication band are obtained, and the contents thereof become a communication band change rule. In other words, the communication band change rule is composed of a combination of contents for dividing the amount of data to be transmitted and communication bands used for each of the divided contents.
Although the description overlaps, a specific example is shown again. When the charge table information acquired by the determination unit 52 is the example of the charge table shown in FIG. 3 and the information on the amount of data to be transmitted acquired by the determination unit 52 is 4 Mbytes, as shown in FIG. After transmitting 3.66 Mbytes using the communication band of 1 Mbps for 30 seconds, the communication band is changed to 512 Kbps and the remaining 0.34 Mbyte is transmitted. As a result, although the communication time is 35.41 seconds, the communication cost is 3.5 yen, which is inexpensive.

Hereinafter, an application example of transmission control according to the first embodiment will be described in detail.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication sequence when the first communication device 10 transmits data to the second communication device 20.
First, the first communication device 10 transmits an INVITE message to the second communication device 20 (P01). This INVITE message includes “SDP (Session Description Protocol)” indicating multimedia session control and “b = CT: 1000” indicating that the communication band is 1 Mbps.
Then, the second communication device 20 returns a “100 Trying” processing response to the first communication device 10 (P02), and returns a “200 OK” response message (P03). Thereby, IP-FAX communication is started between the first communication device 10 and the second communication device 20. That is, when receiving a response message, the first communication device 10 transmits data for 3.66 Mbytes using a communication band of 1 Mbps (P04).

When the first communication apparatus 10 finishes data transmission for 3.66 Mbytes using the communication band of 1 Mbps, the first communication apparatus 10 changes the communication band to 512 Kbps for transmitting the remaining 0.34 Mbytes. Specifically, the first communication device 10 transmits an RE-INVITE message to the second communication device 20 (P05). This RE-INVITE message includes “b = CT: 512” indicating that the communication band is 512 kbps.
The second communication device 20 returns a response during processing (P06), and returns a response message (P07).
Thereafter, the first communication device 10 performs data transmission for 0.34 Mbytes using the 512 Kbps communication band (P08).
Then, the first communication device 10 notifies the BYE message (P09), and when the second communication device 20 returns a response message of “200 OK” (P10), the communication between the two communication devices is performed. Thus, the IP-FAX communication ends.
In the application example shown in FIG. 8, the RE-INVITE message is transmitted once. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a communication band change rule that reduces the communication cost depending on time, communication band, and fee. The RE-INVITE message is transmitted (control of the session) along the line.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment for reducing the communication cost when transmitting a document will be described in detail. That is, in the second embodiment, communication control is performed using the concept of the number of documents.
Since the second embodiment has the same configuration and function as the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the common configuration, and the description and illustration of the common configuration and function are used. May be omitted.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the arithmetic processing in the second embodiment. This figure corresponds to FIG. 7 in the first embodiment, and more specifically, details of the arithmetic processing in step 103 of FIG. 6 in the first embodiment will be described.
First, the untransmitted data amount D (bit) in the arithmetic processing example shown in FIG. 9 will be described. In the case of transmitting data of m documents, if the data amount of the m-th sheet is D _m (bit), the untransmitted data amount D is the sum of the respective data amounts from the first sheet to the m-th sheet. (D = D ₁ + D ₂ +... + D _m ).

Each of steps 301 to 306 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 corresponds to steps 201 to 206 in FIG. 7, and description of common contents may be omitted. The processing procedure shown in FIG. 9 is performed by the determination unit 52 (see FIG. 2).
In the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, in step 301, the magnitude relationship between the amount of untransmitted data D (bit) and the amount of data V _b (bit) of the communication band b transmitted per T seconds is determined. When the amount D of untransmitted data is small (Yes in step 301), the process proceeds to step 302 and step 303. Otherwise (No in step 301), the process proceeds to step 303.

In step 303, the minimum value obtained by multiplying the amount of data that can be transmitted in multiples of T by the charge per unit data amount is obtained, and in step 304, within the communication bands of 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps. The communication band b _n (bps), which is the communication band b obtained by calculation, is temporarily stored. Further, when the data amount D _n (bit) in the communication band b obtained by calculation is the P-th data amount, the data amount Dp up to the P−1-th data is also temporarily stored. To explain in more detail, the P-1 sheet instead of the P sheet is, for example, a process of changing the communication band by stopping data transmission while one document is being transmitted. It is because it cannot be done. Incidentally, P referred herein is a value following values of m as described above, also, the amount of data D _n referred herein is a value obtained by subtracting r _b from the amount D of the unsent data (D _n = _D-r b).
In step 305, it is determined whether or not _rb is 0. If so (Yes in step 305), the series of processing ends, otherwise (No in step 305), the process proceeds to step 306. .

[Third Embodiment]
Next, when the FAX protocol communication is started after the SIP negotiation is performed as in IP-FAX, the amount of data to be transmitted may be determined for the first time after the FAX protocol communication is started. For example, the first communication device 10 on the transmitter side is trying to transmit at 600 dpi (super high image quality), but the second communication device 20 on the receiver side only supports up to 400 dpi ( Image resolution). In addition, the first communication device 10 is trying to transmit in the jpeg format, but the second communication device 20 only supports MR and MH (image file format). In addition, although the first communication device 10 is trying to transmit a color document, the second communication device 20 is only compatible with black and white (image color).
When a situation occurs in which the amount of data grasped after the start of communication is different from the amount of data grasped before the start of communication (an example in which the transmission content changes after the determination of the transmission condition), the first on the transmission side Since the second communication device 20 on the receiving side cannot respond even if the communication device 10 transmits as it is, the transmitting side transmits with contents that the receiving side can handle. For this reason, there may be fluctuations in the amount of data. In other words, the amount of data is not fixed before transmission starts. The amount of data is determined at the time of data transmission shown as P4 in FIG.
When the amount of data is determined after the transmission starts due to such a situation, the first communication device 10 has already received the response message “200 OK” shown as P3 in FIG. Billing has begun. In addition, in the case of the image resolution and the image color, the data amount is smaller than the original, and in the case of the image file format, the data amount is larger than the original.
In the third embodiment, communication control capable of reducing the communication cost even when such a situation occurs will be described in detail. That is, in the third embodiment, it may be possible to reduce the communication cost by applying the communication band change rule that is recalculated in the data transmission after the communication in the communication band b for T seconds. The communication control is performed paying attention to the above.
Since the third embodiment has the same configuration and function as the first and second embodiments, the same reference numerals are used for the common configurations, and the common configurations are used.・ Description and illustration of functions may be omitted.

FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the amount of data transmitted for each of a plurality of communication bands and the time required for transmission by applying the transmission control according to the third embodiment when the amount of transmitted data decreases after the start of data transmission. It is a graph to show. The vertical axis represents the communication band (bps), and the horizontal axis represents the communication time (seconds). A rectangular area indicated by hatching corresponds to the amount of transmission data.
In the graph shown in FIG. 10, before starting data communication, it is determined that data transmission is performed in a communication band of 1 Mbps based on information that the data transmission amount is 8 Mbytes, and data transmission is actually performed using the communication band of 1 Mbps. (See FIG. 10A).
Thereafter, when the data transmission amount is fixed at 4 Mbytes, when transmitting 4 Mbytes of data in the 1 Mbps communication band without changing the communication band, as shown in FIG. The communication time is 77 seconds, and the communication cost is 4 yen.
However, when the communication band change rule recalculated after the start of communication is applied, 3.66 Mbytes are transmitted using the communication band of 1 Mbps as shown in (c) of the figure, and the remaining 0.34 Mbytes are transmitted. By using a communication band of 512 Kbps, the communication time is 35.41 seconds and the communication cost is 3.5 yen.

FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the amount of data transmitted for each of a plurality of communication bands and the time required for transmission by applying transmission control according to the third embodiment when the amount of transmission data increases after the start of data transmission. It is a graph to show. The vertical axis represents the communication band (bps), and the horizontal axis represents the communication time (seconds). A rectangular area indicated by hatching corresponds to the amount of transmission data.
In the graph shown in FIG. 11, before starting data communication, it is determined that data transmission is performed in a communication band of 512 Kbps based on information that the data transmission amount is 1 Mbyte, and data transmission is actually performed using a communication band of 512 Kbps. (See FIG. 11A).
Thereafter, when the data transmission amount is fixed at 4 Mbytes, when transmitting 4 Mbytes of data in the 512 Kbps communication band without changing the communication band, as shown in FIG. The communication time is seconds, and the communication cost is 4.5 yen.
However, when the communication band change rule recalculated after the start of communication is applied, as shown in (c) of the figure, 0.34 Mbytes are transmitted using the 512 Kbps communication band, and the remaining 3.66 Mbytes are transmitted. By using a communication band of 1 Mbps, the communication time is 35.41 seconds and the communication cost is 3.5 yen.

The arithmetic processing in the third embodiment is basically the contents of FIG. 7 in the first embodiment. However, as described above, in the third embodiment, since the calculation process is performed when data transmission has already started, it is actually used for data transmission without performing the process for each of the three communication bands. Processing may be performed with the communication band fixed.
In the third embodiment, for convenience of explanation, steps 201 to 205 immediately after “START” in FIG. 7 (meaning excluding the case of returning to step 201 through step 206) are referred to as a first process. In addition, steps 201 to 205 when returning to step 201 through step 206 after the first processing are referred to as second processing.
It is assumed that the transmission data amount is 4 Mbytes, and that the communication band change rule to be recalculated can be determined by performing the first process and the second process.

In the third embodiment, in such a case, the “first calculation” and the “second calculation” are performed for the arithmetic processing of FIG. It is determined whether it is cheap and a communication band change rule is determined.
Here, the “first calculation” refers to the communication band currently used for data transmission (the communication band of 1 Mbps in the example of FIG. 10; the communication band of 512 kbps in the example of FIG. 11). The second processing is a calculation method performed for each communication band of 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps. The “second calculation” here means that the first processing is performed for each communication band of 1 Mbps, 512 Kbps, and 64 Kbps. In the second processing, the communication band that is currently used for data transmission is used. (The communication band of 1 Mbps in the example of FIG. 10. The communication band of 512 Kbps in the example of FIG. 11) means an arithmetic method that is fixed.
More specifically, in the example of FIG. 10, the calculation result by the “first calculation” is cheaper than the calculation result by the “second calculation”. In this case, the amount of data (fractional fraction) that can be transmitted in less than 30 seconds uses another communication band (512 Kbps communication band) different from the communication band currently used for data transmission (1 Mbps communication band). Then sent.
In the example of FIG. 11, the calculation result by the “second calculation” is cheaper than the calculation result by the “first calculation”. In this case, the amount of data (fractional fraction) that can be transmitted in less than 30 seconds is transmitted using the communication band (512 Kbps communication band) that is currently used for data transmission.

  The program for realizing the first to third embodiments described above may be provided not only by communication means but also by storing it in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... 1st communication apparatus, 20 ... 2nd communication apparatus, 50 ... Communication control apparatus, 51 ... Transmission instruction reception part, 52 ... Determination part, 53 ... Memory | storage part, 54 ... Mode selection input part, 55 ... Communication control Part, 60 ... communication part, 80 ... network

Claims (9)

Storage means for storing information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands and information on a fee charged according to the passage of unit time;
Accepting means for accepting information for specifying transmission contents;
Based on the information stored in the storage means, a plurality of communication bands to be used and communication among the plurality of communication bands are used as a transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content in which the information to be specified is received by the receiving means. A determination means for determining an opportunity to change the bandwidth;
Transmitting means for performing transmission according to the transmission condition determined by the determining means;
A transmission device including:   When the transmission content is changed after the determination of the transmission condition, the determining unit determines whether to change another communication band to be changed from the currently used communication band based on the information stored in the storage unit. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a transmission condition having an opportunity to change to the communication band is determined.   The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information specifying the transmission content received by the reception unit is information on the number of sheets. And further includes an input means for inputting a user instruction as to whether or not to reduce a transmission cost charged with transmission by the transmission means,
4. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit performs transmission according to a transmission condition by the determination unit when a user instruction input to the input unit reduces transmission cost. 5. The transmitter according to the item. Storage means for storing information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands and information on a fee charged according to the passage of unit time;
Accepting means for accepting information for specifying transmission contents;
Based on the information stored in the storage means, a plurality of communication bands to be used and communication among the plurality of communication bands are used as a transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content in which the information to be specified is received by the receiving means. A determination means for determining an opportunity to change the bandwidth;
Transmission control means for controlling transmission according to the transmission conditions determined by the determination means;
Including a transmission control device.   When the transmission content is changed after the determination of the transmission condition, the determining unit determines whether to change another communication band to be changed from the currently used communication band based on the information stored in the storage unit. The transmission control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a transmission condition having an opportunity to change to the communication band is determined.   6. The transmission control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information specifying the transmission content received by the receiving unit is information on the number of sheets. And further includes an input means for inputting a user instruction as to whether or not to reduce the transmission cost charged with transmission by the transmission control means,
8. The transmission control unit according to claim 5, wherein the transmission control unit controls transmission according to a transmission condition by the determination unit when a user instruction input to the input unit reduces transmission cost. The transmission control apparatus according to claim 1. A computer including a storage unit that stores information on a transmission amount that can be transmitted per unit time for each of a plurality of communication bands and information on a charge that is charged as the unit time elapses.
An acquisition function to acquire information identifying the content of transmission;
Based on the information stored in the storage unit, as a transmission condition for transmitting the transmission content in which the information to be specified is acquired by the acquisition function, a plurality of communication bands to be used and communication among the plurality of communication bands A decision function that decides when to change the bandwidth,
A transmission control function for controlling transmission according to the transmission condition determined by the determination function;
A program that realizes

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