JPH05327984A - Facsimile store and forward switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit the picture data without eliminating them and to store them in a storage means A again by storing received picture data in the means A, storing the picture data in the storage means B when the storage area of the means A is not available, transmitting them to an address and successively transmitting the stored picture data, of the means A. CONSTITUTION:The picture data received by a reception means 107 are stored in the first storage means 105 by a storage control means 104 and are stored in the second storage means 106 when the storage area of the means 105 is filled and is not available. At this time, the means 104 calls a facsimile device which occupies a post-office box in a successive transmission processing means 102 from a transmission means 108 and transmits the picture data stored at the means 106 from the means 108 when a response is present. Following the transmission, the means 104 successively transmits the picture data stored at the means 105 similarly. Thus, the picture data can be transmitted without being eliminated by an overflow, the free area is generated in the means 105 and the picture data can be stored again.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile storage / exchange apparatus having a so-called post office box communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile storage / exchange apparatus having a PO Box communication function has been known. With this function, a storage area called a post office box is provided in the image data storage section of the facsimile storage / exchange device, and this storage area is assigned to a predetermined facsimile device so that image data from any facsimile device can be stored. .. The image data accumulated in the post office box can be read out only by the facsimile device to which the image data belongs.

Such a facsimile storage / exchange apparatus is operated on the assumption that the capacity of the post office box is appropriately set and the facsimile apparatus to which the post office belongs is voluntarily read. However, in consideration of the fact that voluntary reading cannot always be performed properly, a maintenance command is prepared for forcibly reading from the post office box and transmitting it to the facsimile device pertaining to the attribution. However, this maintenance command is input by the operator, and if the operator does not notice, a state in which image data cannot be stored in the post office box appears and an overflow occurs.

[0004]

Therefore, when it appears that the image data cannot be stored in the post office box, the image data for reception may be transferred to the other party who owns the post office box. The storage exchange apparatus has a problem that it cannot take appropriate measures because it has no means for transmitting the image data for reception to the other party in real time.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional facsimile storage / exchange apparatus, and its purpose is to receive an image when a state where image data cannot be stored appears in a post office box. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile storage / exchange device capable of accurately transmitting image data including a data in a PO Box to a corresponding partner terminal.

[0006]

Therefore, in the present invention, the first and second storage means for storing image data and the image data in the normal state are stored in the first storage means, while the first storage means stores the image data. When the first storage means is filled with the image data that cannot be stored, the image data to be received is stored in the second
In the case of storing the storage management means for storing in the storage means and the image data for reception in the second storage means, the image data related to the storage is transmitted to the corresponding partner terminal while the first The facsimile storing and exchanging apparatus is configured by including the continuous transmission processing unit that continuously transmits the image data destined for the partner terminal stored in the storage unit in the above communication.

[0007]

According to the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, when the image data is filled in the first storage means such that the image data cannot be stored, the second image data to be received is received.
Since the image data is stored in the storage means, the image data will not be lost due to overflow. In addition, the image data in the first storage means is continuously sent after the image data for the above reception, and the image data in the normal state can be stored in the first storage means again.

[0008]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Line 1
The receiving means 107 is connected to 09, and the transmitting means 108 is connected to the line 110. The receiving means 107 and the transmitting means 108 are connected to the central control unit 100. The receiving means 107 receives the image data from the terminal and sends it to the central control unit 100. The transmission means 108 includes the central control unit 10.
The image data given from 0 is transmitted to the partner terminal.

The central control unit 100 includes transmission / reception management means 10
1, a continuous transmission processing means 102, a communication speed control means 103 are provided, and a timer 111 is connected. Transmission and reception management means
101 is a timer 1 for performing processing according to the service type of image data transmitted by facsimile.
The operation of setting 11 and assigning a communication number, and the operation of controlling the transmission of image data associated with the corresponding communication number by the time-up of the timer 111 are performed. Transmission / reception management means 10
Basically, 1 receives the image data from the receiving means 107, attaches a communication number and sends it to the storage managing means 104, and when necessary, instructs the storage managing means 104 the communication number to read the image data. Then, the data is sent to the sending means 108 so as to be sent to the destination specified by the instruction.

A first storage means 105 and a second storage means 106 are connected to the storage management means 104, and the storage management means 104 normally stores image data in the first storage means 105. The second storage means 106 is used as a buffer when image data cannot be stored in the first storage means 105. Here, for simplification, it is assumed that only the post office box for a predetermined facsimile is set in the first storage unit 105.

Here, when the image data is transmitted from the above-mentioned predetermined facsimile apparatus and the storage management means 104 is storing the image data in the first storage means 105, the data is stored in the first storage means 105. When there is no more area to be stored in, the second storage means 106 is stored, the storage management means 104 notifies, and the continuous transfer processing means 102 is activated. The continuous transmission processing means 102 makes a second call from the storage management means 104 when the transmission means 108 makes a call to the facsimile device occupying the post office box and receives a response.
The image data stored in the storage unit 106 is transferred, and the image data is transmitted from the transmission unit 108. Prior to this transmission, the transmission speed is determined in the facsimile transmission procedure. At this time, in the transmission procedure, the communication speed control means 103 previously sets the reception means 10
7 obtains the communication speed with the facsimile machine of the other party who has obtained the image data, and matches the communication speed with the communication speed required for transmission (at least the second storage means by separating both speeds). To prevent line disconnection due to overflow of 106 or lack of transmitted image data,
Set the communication speed. ). In this way, the receiving means 1
The image data received from the 07 side is transmitted to the other party in real time.

Following the real-time transmission using the above-mentioned second storage means 106, the continuous transmission processing means 102
Requests the storage management means 104 to read out the image data stored in the first storage means 105, and the storage management means 104 responds to this request to read out and transfer the image data. The continuous transmission processing unit 102 transmits the image data transferred here in the same communication as the real-time communication, and empties the image data in the PO box. Thus, the PO Box returns to the state where it can store the image data again.

In practice, the above-mentioned facsimile store-and-exchange device is
It is configured as a system as shown in FIG. The communication control unit 12 of the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus 1 is connected to the line network 2 by a plurality of lines. (Facsimile) terminals 31 to 3n are connected to the line network 2. In addition to the communication control unit 12, the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 1 includes a CPU 11,
A magnetic disk device 13 is provided and implements each unit shown in FIG. For example, the magnetic disk device 13 is provided with a post office box (first storage means) 41 and a buffer (second storage means) 42 belonging to the terminal 31, as shown in FIG. The image data sent from 3n is configured to be stored.

In the above facsimile storage / exchange device, the CP
U11 is provided with the programs of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in the main memory, and performs the registration process in the PO Box and the forced output process when the storage in the PO box is impossible.

For example, if there is an incoming call from any of the terminals 32 to 3n and the type of service provided via the communication control unit 12 is to request storage in the post office box 41,
The CPU 11 accepts the registration (301) and performs initial setting for registration in the post office box 41 (302). The document number is equal to the communication number and is given for each communication. The number of pages received is the number of pages of the original document being received, and the number of original pages is the final number of pages.

Next, the number of received pages is incremented by "1" (303), and the reception of the image data of the page is started (3).
04). The CPU 11 detects whether the PO Box 41 has a capacity to store image data (305). If there is a capacity (for example, if there is an empty area in the post office box 41 as shown in FIG. 7), the image data is registered in the post office box 41 (30
6) It is detected whether the next page is received (311). Then, if there is the next page, the process returns to step 303 to continue the processing. When the next page is exhausted, the number of received pages is set to the number of original pages (312) and the reception is completed. FIG. 6 shows a state of the image data accumulated in the post office box 41 in this way.

On the other hand, the CPU 11 detects whether the post office box 41 has a capacity for accumulating image data (305), and when it detects that there is not enough capacity, proceeds to start forced output (311). Specifically, the program of the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 is activated. In parallel with this processing, it is detected whether there is an empty area in the buffer 42 (3
08), if there is a free area, the image data of the i-th page is accumulated in the buffer 42 (309), and the process proceeds to step 311 to continue the processing. Such a state of the post office box and the buffer is shown in FIG. If there is no free area, the incoming call is rejected in the transmission procedure (310) and the communication ends.

In the forced output process in step 311, the communication control unit 12 makes a call connection to the partner terminal associated with the PO box 42 to establish a call connection (401). Next, in the transmission control procedure, the communication speed is matched with the communication speed of the communication in the reception (402). That is, as described above, the transmission rates are basically matched. Furthermore, initial settings are made, the number of transmitted sheets is reset to "0" (403), and then the number of transmitted sheets is incremented by "1" (40).
4). The CPU 11 uses the number j of the document having the document number “k”.
It is detected whether the page is in the post office box (405). At this time, since there is no space in the post office box 41 at the beginning and it is accumulated in the buffer 42, the process branches to “NO” and is read from the buffer 42 (407). The read data is transmitted to the partner terminal via the communication control unit 12 (408), and the image data of the j-th page is deleted (40).
9). Next, the relationship between the number of transmitted pages j and the number of original pages P (k) is detected (410). If the number of transmitted pages j is smaller than the number of original pages P (k), the process returns to step 404 to continue the operation. In this process, when the transmission of the data in the buffer 42 is completed (that is, the transmission in real time), the process proceeds from step 405 to step 406, and the image data in the post office box 41 is read. That is, the data in the post office box 41 is transmitted, and the data can be stored in the post office box 41 again. Following step 406, the processing of step 408 and thereafter is continued. Further, when the number of original pages P (k) becomes equal to or less than the number of transmitted sheets j, the original number k is decremented by "1" (4
11) Until the document number k becomes "0" and there are no more documents to be transmitted (412), steps 403 to 412
The operation of continues.

As described above, even when the post office box is filled with image data and cannot be stored, the image data related to the current reception and the data related to the storage are transmitted to the terminal which owns the post office box without being lost. Is done.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the image data is filled in the first storage means such that it cannot be stored, the image data for reception is stored in the second storage means, so that the image data does not disappear due to overflow, and the image data from the post office box is not lost. It is convenient because there is no need to worry about it on the terminal side when taking it out. In addition, since the image data in the first storage means is continuously sent to the above-mentioned image data for reception and transmitted to the terminal, the first storage means has a vacancy, and the first image data in the normal state is generated.
Can be stored again in the storage means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system using a facsimile storage / exchange apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of a post office box and a buffer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state of a post office box and a buffer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state of a post office box and a buffer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Facsimile storage / exchange device 2 Line network 11 CPU 12 Communication control device 13 Magnetic disk device 31-3n
Terminal 100 Central control unit 101 Transmission / reception management means 102 Continuous transmission processing means 103 Communication speed control means 104 Storage management means 105 First storage means 106 Second storage means 107 Reception means 108 Transmission means 109, 11
0 line

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. First and second storage means for storing image data, and normally, while storing the image data in the first storage means, the first storage means stores no image data. When it is filled as much as possible, a storage management unit that stores image data for reception in the second storage unit, and, if the image data for reception is stored in the second storage unit, relates to the storage. The image data is transmitted to the corresponding partner terminal, and the image data stored in the first storage unit and addressed to the partner terminal is continuously transmitted in the above communication. Facsimile store and exchange device. 2. When storing the image data for reception in the second storage means, the continuous transmission processing means transmits the image data for reception to the partner terminal in real time. 1. The facsimile storage and exchange device according to 1. 3. The continuous transmission processing means is provided with a communication speed control means for synchronizing the reception speed and the transmission speed of the image data when transmitting the image data for reception to the partner terminal in real time. 3. The facsimile storage and exchange apparatus according to claim 2, which is characterized in that.