JP3262223B2 - Facsimile apparatus and automatic recall control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an advanced facsimile communication system, and more particularly, to an automatic recall control method and apparatus for improving the efficiency of FAX communication delivery processing by increasing the processing capacity of a FAX server. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In facsimile communication, information on documents and images can be easily transmitted and received, and broadcast communication for providing information to a plurality of destinations at the same time, and word processing documents and program files can also be communicated. Further, an information guide service for providing general users with advertisement information, article sales information, sightseeing guide information, event information, and the like using facsimile communication is also realized.

Recently, the transmission and reception of documents and images is not limited to the end of a facsimile, but also between mail terminals such as personal computers and F / F.
There may be a case between an AX terminal and a mail terminal. For this reason, a communication system that integrates not only a public network but also the Internet network has been constructed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a facsimile communication system.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the Internet network 618, the relay network 606, the public network 611, the router 605,
607, 608, 617 and firewall 618
, A plurality of servers for performing function distribution processing with a plurality of terminals are arranged.

[0006] Specifically, the terminal and the server are a mail terminal 619, a facsimile terminal 612 to 615, a facsimile server (FSV) 609 and 610, and a mail server (MLS).
603, service control server (SVC) 602, subscriber management server (SBMS) 601, conversion server (TSV)
604 and the like.

The main functions of each server are as follows.

[0008] FAX servers (FSV) 609 and 61
0: Acceptance of calls from FAX terminals 612 to 615, and call delivery processing to FAX terminals 612 to 615.

[0009] Mail server (MLS) 603: accepts calls from mail terminal 619, and processes call delivery to mail terminal 619.

[0010] Service control server (SVC) 602:
A server that supervises and manages all call processing. It handles call processing of various services, grasps the regulation status, and collects communication record information.

[0011] Subscriber management server (SBMS) 601
Maintaining and managing service order information and service custom information.

Conversion server (TSV) 604: Converts image information according to the output terminal and creates a notice.

As a process for realizing facsimile communication in the system of FIG. 4, there are mainly three types of communication between FAX terminals, communication between mail terminals, and communication between FAX terminals and mail terminals. Hereinafter, an example of transmission from the mail terminal 619 to the FAX terminal 612 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

The mail terminal 619 designates a destination address and transmits document information and image information to the mail server 603 as an attached file. The information on the destination terminal in the mail terminal 619 uses the field of the host name in the “To: field column” in the mail header as the destination information. For example, in the telephone number designation method, the “To: field column”
The service information (here, tentatively, # 26
3), and designates the telephone number of the destination FAX terminal 612.

"Example = # 263 * (Destination FAX terminal telephone number) @ fax-net. or. jp "mail server 60
In step 3, the image information is temporarily stored, and a transmission request is transmitted to the service control server 602 in the SMTP format. The service control server 602 that has received the call request,
The destination information in the “To: field column” from the mail terminal 619 is analyzed, and a calling collation request is sent to the subscriber management server 601.

In the subscriber management server 601 which has received the request for collation, the user ID, mail address, password,
The service option information is searched for whether or not the user is a subscriber, and the service control server determines that the user is a subscriber, and returns a response to the service control server 602.

After that, the service control server 602 sends an outgoing response for extracting the image information from the mail terminal 619 to the mail server 603, and in response to this, the mail server 603 sends a response indicating that the preparation is completed together with the image information. Is sent. The service control server 602 sends the image information to the conversion server 604 together with the image file conversion request for preparing the image information storage format, and the conversion server 604 converts and stores the image information accordingly.

The service control server 602 retrieves a list of files stored in the conversion server 604,
The mail server 603 takes out the converted image file temporarily stored in the conversion server 604. At this time, the conversion server 604 sends a retrieval response indicating that the file has been retrieved to the service control server 602. The mail server 603 that has extracted the converted image file transmits an image file extraction request to the FAX server 609 that performs delivery processing via the router 605, the relay network 606, and the router 607. FAX server 609 is conversion server 60
4 and transmits an image signal to the designated fax terminal 612 via the public network 611. In this way, the FAX terminal 612 uses the mail terminal 6
The document and the image from 19 are received.

When the above series of processing is completed, a processing result indicating that the terminal delivery has been completed is transmitted from the FAX server 609 to the service control server 602, and the service control server 602 terminates the transmission to the mail server 603. Request delivery of notification text. In response to this, the mail server 603 delivers the notification to the mail terminal 619.

As can be seen from the above communication processing,
FAX servers 609 and 610 are server machines accommodating a plurality of public line networks, and include a plurality of FAX terminals 612 to 612.
15 is a device for performing a facsimile transmission / reception process.

The hardware configuration of the FAX servers 609 and 610, as shown in FIG.
It comprises FAX boards 106 to 108 and ISDN boards 109 provided for lines 10 and 20 to 40.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of a FAX server using a general-purpose personal computer. The configuration and operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, the facsimile server
A general-purpose personal computer basic program group 801 and a delivery request receiving unit 80 for realizing a function as a FAX server
2, a delivery management unit 803, a FAX transmission processing unit 804, an image processing unit 805, a line control unit 806, a recall waiting queue storage unit 807, and a FAX reception processing unit 808.

Among the above-described units, the units other than the general-purpose personal computer basic program group 801 are constructed on a memory (RAM) constituting the personal computer by a program for determining the operation of the general-purpose personal computer. The input means, the FAX boards 106 to 108 and the ISDN board 1 shown in FIG.
The operation is performed together with an input / output port, an image scanner, and a printer (both not shown) corresponding to 09.

The image processing unit 805 sends image data captured by an image scanner or the like to the delivery request receiving unit 802. The delivery request receiving unit 802 receives a facsimile such as a destination input by the input unit, a broadcast transmission destination, and image quality.
The transmission management unit 8 associates the transmission request with the image data sent from the image processing unit 805 and transmits the data as FAX transmission information.
03. The delivery management unit 803 outputs the FAX transmission information to the FAX transmission processing unit 804 as a transmission waiting queue in the order in which the FAX transmission information has been sent.
The line control unit 806 is activated with the contents indicated in the FAX transmission request of the FAX transmission information of the received queue, and the transmission is performed. At this time, if the other party is communicating, the queue is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit 807, and the delivery management unit 803 waits for the queue stored in the queue storage unit 807 to transmit at predetermined time intervals. Insert into queue. When the FAX reception processing unit 808 receives the reception from the outside, the FAX reception processing unit 808 activates the printer and outputs the received data content.

In the above-described transmission processing by the FAX server, the following two characteristic function processings are performed.

The first is a "buffering" function.
This function is for the same destination (that is, the same telephone number) for a plurality of FAX transmission requests input to the FAX server.
If there is a transmission request to the FAX terminal, it is obvious that either one of the communications will not be completed, so that "queue control" is performed so that delivery to the same destination does not occur at the same time, and delivery to the FAX terminal is performed sequentially. And avoids inefficient processing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the operation of the above-mentioned "queue control", and shows the state of control of the transmission queue performed by the FAX transmission processing unit 804. The FAX transmission processing unit 804 reads out the transmission destination that is currently performing transmission processing,
When there is the same destination in the transmission queue queue, the queue is taken out. In the example shown in FIG.
Since “111-1111” is being transmitted and also exists in the transmission queue, the extraction of the “11-1111-1111” queue is skipped. Removal of the skipped queue is performed in the next process.

The second is an "automatic recall" function. In the FAX transmission process from the FAX server to a certain destination, when the partner terminal cannot perform FAX transmission from the FAX server due to communication with another terminal, out of paper, failure, or the like (hereinafter referred to as “failure”). ). Currently,
In the case of such failure, a predetermined number of times is set, and retry processing is performed at fixed time intervals (hereinafter, referred to as “retry processing”).
This is called "automatic recall." ) If the destination FAX terminal recovers to the receivable state during the automatic recall processing a plurality of times, the delivery is performed, so that the delivery rate is improved. This automatic recall is performed, for example, five times at two-minute intervals. If the transmission to the FAX terminal is not completed normally even after the specified number of automatic recalls, the result is notified to the caller and the FAX transmission is terminated.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing in detail the automatic recall processing performed as described above at the time of transmission by the FAX server shown in FIG. Note that this conventional example is configured using a general-purpose personal computer, and each unit shown in FIG. 7 is specifically constructed by a program stored in a storage device attached to the general-purpose personal computer. You. The control operation shown in FIG. 9 is performed by a main control device (CPU) provided in a general-purpose personal computer, but in the following description, each part shown in FIG. 7 performs it in order to clarify the meaning of each part shown in FIG. Description

When a transmission request is made, the image processing unit 805
Sends the image data captured by the image scanner to the delivery request receiving unit 802. A delivery request receiving unit 802 associates a fax transmission request, such as a destination, a broadcast destination, and image quality, input by the input unit with image data sent from the image processing unit 805 and associates the delivery data with the delivery management unit as fax transmission information. 803. Delivery management unit 8
In step 03, the FAX transmission information is output to the FAX transmission processing unit 804 as a transmission waiting queue in the order in which it was transmitted (step S901).

The facsimile transmission processing unit 804 activates the line control unit 806 with the contents indicated in the facsimile transmission request of the received facsimile transmission information in the queue and performs transmission (step S902). The FAX transmission processing unit 804 records the result of the transmission (step S903). At this time, it is confirmed whether or not the transmission has been successful (step S904). If the transmission has been successful, the operation for the transmission process is terminated.

If it is determined in step S 904 that the transmission has not been successful, the facsimile transmission processing unit 804
Counts up the recall count value and confirms whether a predetermined number of times has been reached (retry out) (step S905). If retry-out has not been performed, the queue in which transmission has failed is moved to the recall waiting queue storage unit 207 (step S906), and thereafter, the process returns to step S901 after a predetermined time has elapsed.

If it is confirmed in step S905 that retry-out has been performed, the facsimile transmission processing unit 804 notifies the sender of the result and terminates the process.

[0035]

The facsimile server is constructed as described above. However, when a plurality of callers request transmission to the same destination at the same time, a caller other than the caller in communication state Is "unreachable" because communication is temporarily disabled during transmission of the destination FAX terminal.
Further, due to the automatic recall, subsequent transmission requests to the same destination continue at predetermined time intervals (often set to be extremely short as in the above example) regardless of the state of the destination FAX terminal. Failed to send fax
Is likely to be For this reason, the time during which resources such as the transmission channel in the FAX server are reserved becomes longer,
There is a problem of inefficiency.

If the fax cannot be transmitted to an arbitrary destination regardless of the execution of the automatic recall processing in a situation where communication is impossible for a long time due to a failure of the destination FAX terminal or the like, the transmission result is determined. Has a problem that the notification of the result is delayed to all the callers after the automatic recall processing is completed.

FIG. 10 specifically shows the delay until the transmission result is determined due to the non-delivery.
The time required for the server to determine the result of transmission to a FAX terminal is shown.

FIG. 10 (a) shows an example of a fixed time when transmission requests for six calls are simultaneously made to the FAX terminal. As the operating conditions of the FAX server, the time required for checking the telephone number being processed in the transmission processing unit (buffering) is 30 seconds, and the automatic recall interval is 2 minutes. The number of automatic recalls is set to five. Thus, if there are requests to send six calls to the same destination at the same time, it takes 12 minutes 30 seconds to 15:00 seconds until the transmission result is determined.

For reference, when the number of simultaneous transmission requests is one call, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), it depends only on the automatic recall condition such as the number of recalls and the recall interval. The transmission result will be determined in seconds. That is, the number of simultaneous transmission requests is almost proportional to the delay time, and it is desired to improve the processing capability in the FAX server.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology, and can efficiently operate a facsimile apparatus and improve the processing capacity for delivery to a facsimile terminal. It is an object of the present invention to realize an automatic recall control method and apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0041]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention refers to a recall waiting queue storage unit when a facsimile transmission result to a specific terminal encounters non-delivery.
The transmission result is treated the same for transmission requests to the same destination registered in the subsequent waiting queue, that is, processed as non-delivery, the communication result is recorded, and at the same time the transmission waiting queue counts up the number of recalls. The management unit is newly installed in the facsimile machine.

The facsimile apparatus according to the present invention comprises a recall waiting queue storage unit for storing a failed facsimile transmission queue, and the queue stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit is updated every predetermined time. When the retry transmission processing is performed more than a predetermined number of times, the facsimile transmission processing for the queue is terminated, and in the facsimile apparatus that notifies the apparatus user of the termination, if the predetermined facsimile transmission fails. ,
Of the queues stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit,
For a queue to the same destination as the failed facsimile transmission, there is a transmission queue management unit that counts up the number of retry transmission processes.

The automatic recall control method according to the present invention comprises a recall waiting queue storage unit for storing a failed facsimile transmission queue, wherein a predetermined queue is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit. Automatic recall performed by the facsimile apparatus which performs the retry transmission processing every time elapses, terminates the facsimile transmission processing for the queue when the number of retry transmission processings exceeds a predetermined number, and notifies the apparatus user of the termination. A control method, wherein, when facsimile transmission fails, a first step of checking whether the number of retries of the facsimile transmission processing has exceeded a predetermined number; and a number of retries of the facsimile transmission processing in the first step. Is performed when it is confirmed that the number does not exceed the predetermined number, and the facsimile transmission processing queue is queued for the recall waiting. The second step of moving to the storage unit and the first step is performed when it is confirmed that the number of retries of the facsimile transmission process exceeds a predetermined number, or after the second step. A third step of checking whether a queue for the same destination as the facsimile transmission process is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit, and a queue for the same destination as the facsimile transmission process in the third step. Is performed when it is confirmed that the queue is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit. For the queue to the same destination as the facsimile transmission process, the number of retries is counted up, and the first step is performed. And returning to a fourth step.

In the present invention configured as described above, when facsimile transmission fails, the number of retries for the recall waiting queue of the same destination is also counted up, and the recall waiting queue is terminated. The number of transmission requests to the same destination by the recall waiting queue is reduced.

[0045]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the FAX server according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a transmission queue management unit 209 is provided in the conventional example shown in FIG. Other general-purpose personal computer basic programs 2
01, delivery request receiving unit 202, delivery management unit 203, FA
X transmission processing unit 204, image processing unit 205, line control unit 2
06, the recall waiting queue storage unit 207 and the FAX reception processing unit 208 are configured and operated according to the basic program group 801 for general-purpose personal computers, the delivery request reception unit 802 shown in FIG.
Delivery management unit 803, FAX transmission processing unit 804, image processing unit 805, line control unit 806, recall waiting queue storage unit 8
07 and the FAX reception processing unit 808, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a transmission queue management unit 209 is newly installed in the FAX server. The transmission queue management unit 209 manages the destination of the queue stored in the recall queue storage unit. In the transmission control operation according to the present embodiment, the result of FAX transmission to a specific terminal has not been met. In this case, the transmission queue management unit 209
For the transmission request to the same destination registered as a subsequent recall waiting queue, the communication result is treated the same, that is, it is processed as non-delivery, the communication result is recorded, and the number of recalls is simultaneously determined. It counts up.

For a request (retry out) for which the recall count has reached the specified number of times after the recording is completed, even if the request has been registered in the recall waiting queue, the transmission process is terminated and the transmission result is transmitted to the FAX terminal. Notice. Requests to the same destination that have not reached the specified number of times are temporarily stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit, and the request is again sent to the transmission waiting queue after a specified time has elapsed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing in detail the automatic recall processing performed as described above at the time of transmission in this embodiment. In this embodiment, a general-purpose personal computer is used similarly to the conventional example shown in FIG. 7, and each unit shown in FIG. 1 is specifically attached to a general-purpose personal computer. It is constructed by a program stored in a storage device. The control operation shown in FIG. 2 is performed by a main control device (CPU) provided in a general-purpose personal computer, but in the following description, each part shown in FIG. 1 performs it in order to clarify the meaning of each part shown in FIG. Description

When a transmission request is made, the image processing unit 205
Sends image data captured by an image scanner or the like to the delivery request receiving unit 202. The delivery request receiving unit 202 associates a fax transmission request, such as a destination, a broadcast transmission destination, and image quality, input by the input unit with image data sent from the image processing unit 205, and associates the fax data with fax image transmission information as fax management information. Send to 203. Delivery management unit 2
In step 03, the FAX transmission information is output to the FAX transmission processing unit 204 as a transmission waiting queue in the order in which it was transmitted (step S401).

The facsimile transmission processing unit 204 activates the line control unit 206 with the contents indicated in the facsimile transmission request of the received facsimile transmission information in the queue and performs transmission (step S402). The facsimile transmission processing unit 204 records the result of the transmission (step S403). At this time, it is confirmed whether or not the transmission has been successful (step S404). If the transmission has been successful, the operation of the transmission process is terminated.

If it is confirmed in step S404 that the transmission has not been successful, the facsimile transmission processing unit 204
Counts up the recall count value and confirms whether a predetermined number of times has been reached (retry out) (step S405). If the retry-out has not been performed, the queue in which the transmission was unsuccessful is moved to the recall waiting queue storage unit 207 (step S406), and the fact is notified to the transmission waiting queue management unit 209. Thereafter, the process returns to step S401 after a predetermined time has elapsed.

Also, if it is confirmed in step S405 that retry-out has been performed, the FAX transmission processing unit 204 notifies the transmission wait queue management unit 209 of that fact. Upon receiving these notifications, the queue management unit 209 checks whether there is any queue in the recall waiting queue storage unit 207 for the same destination as the queue whose transmission failed.
(Step S407) If not, the process ends. If it is confirmed in step S407 that there is a queue for the same destination as the queue for which transmission failed in the recall waiting queue storage unit 207, transmission also failed for the same destination. The facsimile transmission processing unit 204 performs the same treatment as the queue, that is, a notification that the transmission result to be processed as non-delivery is recorded and the number of recalls is counted up.
The FAX transmission processing unit 204 records the transmission result according to the contents of the notification (step S408), and then returns to step S405.

As a result, the result of transmission to the same destination is subjected to the same processing for both the queue for which transmission has been unsuccessfully completed and the queue stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit 207. .

FIG. 3 shows the time required to determine the transmission result when the number of recalls is controlled according to the present embodiment. As a setting condition similar to FIG. 10, a simultaneous transmission request to the same destination is set. 6 calls, time required for non-delivery detection is 3
It shows the fixed time when 0 seconds, the number of automatic recalls is set to 5 and the maximum call interval is set to 2 minutes.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, a transmission queue management unit is set up, and if a fax transmission result to a particular terminal is not delivered, the transmission queue management unit is referred to and a subsequent queue is transmitted. Regarding the registered transmission request to the same destination, the communication result is treated the same, that is, by processing it as non-delivery, regardless of the number of simultaneous transmission requests.
The confirmation time could be shortened.

In the above description, the facsimile server has been described as an embodiment. However, the automatic recall control method according to the present invention is not limited to the facsimile server, but may be any facsimile apparatus for performing a recall. It is effective regardless of the form of the device.

[0058]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

Even if the destination facsimile machine is temporarily in a state of communication failure such as busy or running out of paper, avoid inefficient holding of resources such as a transmission line in the facsimile machine and transfer to another destination. There is an effect that it can be effectively assigned to the transmission processing of the data.

Further, regardless of whether the facsimile apparatus performs the automatic recall process, even if the facsimile apparatus cannot communicate for a long time, the transmission result is transmitted to all the callers in a minimum required time. There is an effect that can be notified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a FAX server according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing in detail an automatic recall process performed at the time of transmission in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time required for determining a transmission result when the number of recalls control is performed according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a facsimile communication system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission operation from a mail terminal to a FAX terminal.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a FAX server.

FIG. 7: FAX using a general-purpose personal computer
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a specific configuration of a server.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation by queue control.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing in detail an automatic recall process performed at the time of transmission in the conventional example shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a time required to determine a transmission result when the number of recalls control according to the conventional example shown in FIG. 7 is performed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 201 Basic program group for general-purpose personal computers 202 Delivery request receiving unit 203 Delivery management unit 204 FAX transmission processing unit 205 Image processing unit 206 Line control unit 207 Recall queue storage unit 208 FAX reception processing unit 209 Transmission queue management unit S401 to S408 Steps

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recall waiting queue storage unit for storing a failed facsimile transmission queue, wherein a retry transmission process is performed on a queue stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit every predetermined time. When the retry transmission processing exceeds a predetermined number of times, the facsimile transmission processing for the queue is terminated, and the facsimile apparatus for notifying the user of the facsimile transmission terminates the facsimile transmission. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a transmission queue management unit that counts up the number of retry transmission processes for a queue to the same destination as the failed facsimile transmission among queues stored in a storage unit. 2. A recall waiting queue storage unit for storing a failed facsimile transmission queue, wherein a retry transmission process is performed for a queue stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit every predetermined time. If the number of the retry transmission processing exceeds a predetermined number, the facsimile transmission processing for the queue is terminated, and the facsimile apparatus notifies the user of the facsimile transmission processing. If the number of retries in the facsimile transmission process exceeds a predetermined number, the first
Is performed when it is confirmed in the first step that the number of retries of the facsimile transmission process does not exceed a predetermined number, and the queue of the facsimile transmission process is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit. A second step of moving, and if it is confirmed in the first step that the number of retries of the facsimile transmission processing exceeds a predetermined number, or if the facsimile transmission processing is performed after the second step, A third step of checking whether a queue for the same destination as that of the transmission process is stored in the recall waiting queue storage unit; and in the third step, the queue for the same destination as the facsimile transmission process is stored in the queue. This is performed when it is confirmed that the data is stored in the call waiting queue storage unit, and is transmitted to the same destination as the facsimile transmission processing. Automatic re-call control method characterized by for-menu and a fourth step of returning to the first step in which counts up the retry count.