JPH11261751A - Facsimile communication system and facsimile communication method applied to the system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the facsimile communication system whose channel number is optionally adjusted and capable realizing a large scale system. SOLUTION: In the facsimile communication system where plural computers 1-n each having a FAX terminal are interconnected in a network, the computer 1 is provided with a computer information storage section 16 that stores computer information denoting FAX terminals of the computers 1-n, a FAX board/ channel management information storage section 17 that stores FAX terminal information denoting the operating states of the FAX terminals, and a control software 13 that controls decision of the FAX terminal for FAX transmission in response to a FAX transmission request by retrieving the computer information and the FAX terminal information based on the FAX transmission request from the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile communication system configured by connecting a computer having a facsimile terminal to a network, a facsimile communication method applied to the facsimile communication system, and a recording medium storing a program for the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, computer network technology has been remarkably developed, and the number of opportunities for handling digitized documents has been increasing in companies. Accompanying this, recently, fax mail and fax OCR (Optical Character Read)
er), it is possible to send and receive faxes by operating software that uses the fax function on a computer.

Conventionally, a FAX board 300 is mounted on a computer 100 as shown in FIG.
The X board 300 is connected to the public network 400, and the FAX board 30 is
By controlling 0, fax transmission / reception with another FAX 500 connected to the public network 400 has been performed.

In this case, since the number of FAX boards 300 that can be mounted on the computer 100 depends on the number of expansion slots provided in the computer 100, the number of fax terminals that can be secured by one computer 100 That is, the number of channels that can be transmitted and received simultaneously is limited. Moreover, since the number of expansion slots is about four in the conventional computer 100, it is actually difficult to construct a large-scale system having many fax terminals.

[0005]

As described above, in a conventional fax communication system using a computer, the number of fax terminals (the number of channels) that can be secured is determined by the number of FAX boards that can be mounted on the computer, that is, the expansion slot of the computer. There is a problem that it is difficult to construct a large-scale system because it is determined by the number.

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem. The present invention provides a fax communication system capable of arbitrarily adjusting the number of channels while using the same computer as that of the related art, and capable of constructing a large-scale system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fax communication method applied to a computer and a recording medium on which a program for the method is recorded.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a fax communication system in which a plurality of computers having a fax terminal are connected to a network, and one of the plurality of computers is connected to a plurality of computers. A computer information storage unit that stores computer information indicating a fax terminal that each has; a fax terminal information storage unit that stores fax terminal information indicating a use state of the fax terminal; and a fax transmission request from a user. A facsimile terminal control means for performing control to determine a facsimile terminal for facsimile transmission in response to a facsimile transmission request by searching for computer information and facsimile terminal information.

In this case, in any one of the plurality of computers, the computer information manages which computer in the system the facsimile terminal is provided in, and furthermore, the facsimile terminal of each facsimile terminal by the facsimile terminal information. Since the use state of the fax terminal is managed, the computer can centrally manage information on all the fax terminals in the system, and can comprehensively control fax communication in the system.

Therefore, even if a conventional computer having a limited number of fax terminals is used, simply connecting another computer to a computer for controlling the system in a large scale makes it easy to increase the number of fax terminals. It is possible to construct a simple system.

In the present invention, any one of the plurality of computers further includes transmission request information storage means for storing transmission request information based on a fax transmission request from a user, and the fax terminal control means It is desirable to determine a fax terminal by searching for computer information and the fax terminal information based on the transmission request information stored in the transmission request management information storage means.

The fax terminal information stored in the fax terminal information storage means includes connection form information indicating whether the fax terminal is connected to an extension or an outside line, and a transmission request from the user is included in the transmission request. It is desirable to include information for specifying the connection mode of the fax terminal to be transmitted by fax.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile communication system in which a plurality of computers each having a facsimile terminal are connected to a network, wherein any one of the plurality of computers is connected to a plurality of computers. A computer information storage unit that stores computer information indicating a fax terminal that each has; a fax terminal information storage unit that stores fax terminal information indicating a use state of the fax terminal; and a fax transmission request from a user. By searching for computer information and fax terminal information, a fax terminal control means for controlling to determine a fax terminal for fax transmission according to the fax transmission request, and the fax terminal controlled by the fax terminal control means to control the fax terminal Fax that performs fax communication via And a communication means, the other computers of the plurality of computers, characterized in that a fax communication means for performing facsimile communication via the facsimile terminal is controlled by the facsimile terminal controller.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a fax communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the fax communication system. As shown in FIG. 1, the fax communication system includes computers 1 to n connected by a LAN 30.
The FAX board 10 is mounted in an expansion slot of the public network 40 and a public network 40 such as a telephone line is connected through the FAX board 10.
It is connected to the.

Here, the computer 1 performs fax communication in this system, specifically, each of the computers 1 to n.
The fax communication via the FAX board 10 is generally controlled. That is, the control software A of the computer 1 includes all the computers 1 to n including itself.
And the other control software B of the computers 2 to n operates under the control of the control software A. That is, the computer 1 operates as a manager that manages fax communication, and the other computers 2 to n operate as agents.

More specifically, the control software A of the computer 1 manages a document transmission request, a received document, and the status of the computers 2 to n, and is a facsimile application software which requires a facsimile transmission / reception function such as facsimile mail or fax OCR described later. And interface with it. On the other hand, the control software B of the computers 2 to n transmits a document under the control of the control software A,
And notification of the reception of the original.

Note that fax application software such as fax mail and fax OCR does not necessarily need to be operated by this system, that is, the computers 1 to n, but may be operated by another computer connected to the LAN 30. . Also in this case, such processing with another computer is collectively performed by the control software A of the computer 1.

Next, a specific configuration example of the fax communication system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a computer 1 as a manager and a computer 2 as one of agents in detail.

In this case, the computer 1 includes a FAX board 10, a driver 11, and FAX communication control software 1.
2, control software 13, operation management tool 14, FA
X application software 15, computer information storage unit 1
6, a FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17, a transmission request management information storage unit 18, a reception document storage disk 19, and a transmission document storage disk 20.

On the other hand, the computer 2 is a facsimile board 1
0, driver 11, fax communication control software 21,
Computer information storage unit 22 and control software 2
3. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the computers 3 to n (not shown) have the same configuration as the computer 2.

First, each section of the computer 1, which is a manager, will be described. The FAX board 10 is provided with an ISA (Industry Standard Ar) provided in the computer 1.
chitecture) bus slot and PCI (Peripheral Compo)
nent Interconnect) An expansion board that is installed in a bus slot or the like. In this case, a single FAX board having a simultaneous control function for a plurality of lines is used.
Thus, for example, channels of four lines according to the G3 standard or two lines according to the G4 standard are secured. Usually, a plurality of FAX boards 10 are mounted on the computer 1, but the number depends on the number of expansion slots of the computer 1. In FIG. 1, the same FAX board 10 is also mounted on the computer 2.

The driver 11 is driver software for controlling the FAX board 3,
The one corresponding to the type of 0 is incorporated. The same driver 11 is incorporated in the computer 2 in FIG.

The facsimile communication control software 12 is software for executing transmission / reception of originals between the computer 1 and another facsimile 50 connected to the public network 40, and operates based on instructions from the control software 13. I do.

The control software 13 manages fax transmission and reception in this system in a comprehensive manner,
This is software for providing an interface necessary for the X application software 15 and must be incorporated in the computer 1 as a manager. Conversely, a computer in which control software 13 is incorporated in the system functions as a manager, and the other computers operate as agents.

However, the control software 13 manages data in the computer information storage unit 16, the FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17, and the transmission request management information storage unit 18 described below, and performs fax communication based on the data. Is controlling.

The operation management tool 14 is a tool for performing operations and displaying when the system is actually operated. The FAX application software 15 is software for providing various functions including a fax transmission / reception function. Here, as the representative FAX application software 15, a FAX server, a FAX mail, or the like can be considered. In the figure, the facsimile application software 1
5 operates, but may operate on another computer connected to the LAN 30.

The computer information storage section 16 is for storing information relating to facsimile communication (hereinafter, computer information 1) among information of all the computers 1 to n constituting the system. The computer information 1 is created at the time of installation of each computer 1 as described later, and the subsequent data update is performed by the operation management tool 14.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the computer information 1. In this case, the computer information 1 includes computer 1 information regarding the computer 1 (manager) and computer 2 information to computer n information regarding the other computers 2 to n (agents).

The computer 1 information includes a computer name of the computer 1 (for example, a computer number),
Disks that are locally and shared in the system (for example, the received original storage disk 19 and the transmitted original storage disk 2)
0) directory information, board information (for example, board numbers) on all FAX boards 10 mounted on the computer 1, and channel information (for example, channel numbers) of the FAX boards 10 are set.

The computer 2 information to the computer n information include the computer names (for example, computer numbers) of the computers 2 to n and the computers 2 to n.
The board information (for example, board number) and the channel information (for example, channel number) of the FAX board attached to the FAX board 10 are set, and correspond to the computer 1 information obtained by removing only the directory information.

Here, the computer information 1 mainly consists of static information which does not depend on the operating states of the computers 1 to n and the operating states of the respective FAX boards 10, such as board numbers in the board information and channel numbers in the channel information. Is information that does not depend on the use state of the FAX board 10, and has different characteristics from FAX board / channel management information described later.

Returning to FIG. 1, the FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17 stores all FAXs in the system.
This is for storing information about the board 10 (hereinafter, FAX board / channel management information). As will be described later, the FAX board / channel management information is information created by the control software 13 based on the computer information 1 when the system is put into an operation state.

The FAX board / channel management information is used to manage actual fax communication by each FAX board 10, and is dynamic information that changes according to the use state of the FAX board 10.

FAX board / channel information is set as a collection of information (hereinafter, channel attributes) for each channel in the system. Each channel attribute includes a channel connection standard (G3 standard or G4 standard), a channel use category (outgoing call only, incoming call only or outgoing / incoming call), channel connection form (external line only or internal line only), channel use It is set according to the state (transmitting, receiving, or empty). For example, a channel connection mode refers to an FAX that is connected to a fax transmission destination by an extension in an environment in which an extension number is set, such as a corporate network.
This is a setting to determine whether to use only a fax or an externally connected fax.

The transmission request management information storage section 18 is for storing information (hereinafter, transmission request management information) for managing a document transmission request from the FAX application software 15. When there is a transmission request from the FAX application software 15, transmission request management information corresponding to the request content is written by the control software 13, and the control software 1
Reference numeral 3 refers to the transmission request management information and the FAX board / channel management information in the FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17 when necessary, and selects a channel to be used for document transmission.

The received original storage disk 19 is a disk for storing all the originals received in this system. That is, starting with the original received by the facsimile communication control software 12 in the manager's computer 1,
Documents received by the AX communication control software 21 are all stored in the received document storage disk 19. For this reason, the user receives the original on any of the computers 1 to
It is possible to obtain all originals received by the system simply by accessing the received original storage disk 19 without being conscious of whether or not it is n. The received document storage disk 19 is set to be sharable by the computers 2 to n so that the documents can be transmitted by the computers 2 to n. The directory is defined as the computer information 1 when the system is installed, as described above.

The transmission original storage disk 20 is a disk for storing all the originals transmitted from the system, and stores a transmission original image created when the original is transmitted by the control software 13. In FIG. 1, the transmission original storage disk 20 is installed in the computer 1, but it may actually be located anywhere inside or outside the system as long as the disk can be shared by the computers 1 to n constituting the system. . That is, as well as being installed in the computer 1 as shown in the figure, it is also possible to install them in the computers 2 to n and further in other computers connected by the LAN 30.

Next, each unit of the computer 2 operating as an agent will be described. The facsimile communication control software 21 is software for the computer 2 to execute document transmission / document reception with another facsimile 50 connected to the public network 40, and operates based on an instruction of the control software 13 of the computer 1. I do. Normally,
The same software as the FAX communication control software 12 of the computer 1 is used.

The computer information storage section 22 is for storing information relating to facsimile communication (hereinafter, computer information 2) among the information of the computer 2.
The computer information 2 corresponds to a part of the computer information 1 stored in the computer information storage unit 16, and specifically includes management computer information on the computer 1 and local information on itself as shown in FIG. The computer name of the computer 1 is set as the management computer information, and the local directory information of only the computer 2 is set as the local information.

The control software 23 is a computer
Is software that causes the computer 1 to operate as an agent of the computer 1, and operates in combination with the control software 13 in the computer 1. Specifically, the control software 23 performs an initialization process when the system is started and a termination process when the system is stopped while communicating with the control software 13 of the computer 1 via the LAN 30.

Incidentally, this fax communication system needs to have an inter-process communication function and a directory management function described below. That is, the inter-process communication function is necessary for performing communication between the processes constituting the system. For this purpose, for example, computer information 1 and 2 are used based on the socket function in Windows NT of Microsoft Corporation, and the communication partner is used. This is realized by preparing a function that can communicate by specifying the computer name and the partner process identification name.

The directory management function has a system composed of a plurality of computers 1 to n.
Is required for comprehensively managing the computers 2 to n. In this regard, a function may be provided that uses the directory information included in the computer information 1 and 2 to return the directory information required for each process in response to the request. Returns a directory path local to the computer or a shared directory path.

Next, the process for installing such a fax communication system will be described separately for the case of the computer 1 as the manager and the case of the computer m (m = 2 to n) as the agent.

FIG. 5 shows a computer 1 as a manager.
9 is a flowchart showing a process for installing a program. In this case, first, the user inputs necessary information at the time of installation, such as FAX board / channel management information regarding the computer 1 and an installation destination drive name (step S1).

Here, the installation destination drive name defines on which drive of the computer 1 various software components are to be installed. In the following, installation is executed according to the set contents.

Next, the computer name, board information and channel information of the computer 1 information in the computer information 1 are set based on the user's data input and the like, and the set contents are stored in the computer information storage unit 16 (step S2). ).

Subsequently, directory information in the computer 1 information is set (step S3), and the process ends. In this case, directory information is created from the drive name set in step S1, and the computer 2
A share setting is made for a directory that needs to be shared with n, and a share name is set accordingly.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process for installing a computer m (m = 2 to n) as an agent. In this case, first, the user inputs necessary information at the time of installation (step S).
1). However, as described with reference to FIG.
It is necessary to provide information such as the computer name of the computer 1 serving as a manager in addition to information such as X board / channel management information and an installation destination drive name.

Next, management computer information of the computer information m is set based on the information (step S12), and further, local information is set (step S13).

Further, the local information set in step S13 is transferred from the computer m to the computer 1 via the LAN 30 (step S14), and based on the local information, the computer 1 outputs the corresponding computer m information in the computer information 1. The setting is performed (step S15), and the process ends.

Next, the process for starting up the system installed in this way, that is, the process for bringing the system into an operating state will be described separately for the case of the computer 1 and the computer m.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing when starting up the computer 1. When the computer 1 is started by the user, first, the control software 1
3 sets the operating environment of the FAX communication control software 12 based on the computer 1 information relating to itself among the computer information 1 stored in the computer storage unit 16 (step S21).

More specifically, the control software 13 sets a channel attribute corresponding to the FAX board 10 in the computer 1, and furthermore, a directory of the received original storage disk 19 and the transmitted original storage disk 20 (when the disk is in the computer 1). Set the path etc.

Next, the control software 13 executes step S
The FAX communication control software 12 is started in accordance with the operating environment set in Step 21 (Step S22), and the system enters a state of waiting for the start completion notification (Step S23).

In response, when the FAX communication control software 12 is completely started, the computer 1 is activated. Accordingly, the following process is a process for bringing the other computers 2 to n into an operating state.

When the control software 13 receives the start completion notification from the facsimile communication control software 12, it outputs a start command to the control software 23 of the other computers 2 to n (step S24).

When the control software 13 receives a start response from the control software 23 of the computers 2 to n which has sent the start command (Yes in step S25),
As will be described later, the computer enters a waiting state for a startup completion notification to be sent continuously from the FAX communication control software 21 of the computers 2 to n (step S26). Here, if a start response is not returned from the control software of the computers 2 to n that sent the start command, an appropriate interval time is provided and the start command is sent again.

The control software 13 is the FAX communication control software 2 of the computers 2 to n that sent the start command.
1 receives the start completion notification from the computer 2
To n are in the operating state, and similarly, when all the startup completion notifications from the other computers 2 to n are received (No in step S27), the computers 1 to n
Are completed, and the process is terminated.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process when starting up the computer m. This process is performed by the computer m that has received the start command from the control software 13 of the computer 1 in step S24 in FIG.

That is, when the control software 23 of the computer m is started in response to a start command from the control software 13 of the computer 1, the computer m first accesses the computer 1 and, based on the computer m information relating to itself, among the computer information 1. Then, the operation environment of the FAX communication control software 21 is set (step S31).

More specifically, the control software 23 creates information such as a channel attribute for the FAX board 10 in the same computer m and a directory path for storing the original received by the FAX board 10. Then, the control software 23 executes the FAX communication control software 21 based on the operation environment created in step S31.
Is started (step S32).

Thereafter, the fax communication control software 21
Upon completion of the activation, the computer m becomes an operating state as an agent of the FAX communication system, and the FAX communication control software 21 outputs a start completion notification to the control software 13 of the computer 1. As a result, the control software 13 of the computer 1 recognizes that the computer m has been activated.

Next, transmission / reception control in this fax communication system will be described focusing on channel control. However, at the time of reception, data is only automatically received by the channel on which the data is called, and there is no need to perform channel control in consideration of the system configuration. On the other hand, for transmission, it is necessary to perform control that grasps all channels in the system. Accordingly, channel control when a transmission request is generated and when transmission and reception are completed will be described in order below.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a channel control process when a transmission request occurs. in this case,
FAX application software 15 or LA in computer 1
When a transmission request is issued from another computer or the like connected to N30, the control software 13 searches the computer information 1 in the computer information storage unit 1 and the FAX board / channel management information in the FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17. The FA with the larger board number attached to the computers 1 to n with the larger computer number
The X board 10 is searched for a channel having a large channel number, whose transmission request attribute matches the channel attribute and which is in an idle state (step S41).

If there is a channel that satisfies such a condition (Yes in step S42), the control software 13 accesses the FAX board / channel management information storage unit 17 and sets the use state of the channel to “transmitting”. (Step S43).

Further, the control software 13 accesses the computer information storage section 16 and, when the channel is that of the FAX board 10 of the computer 1,
The transmission is instructed to the corresponding FAX communication control software 12, and if it is for the FAX board 10 of the computers 2 to n, the corresponding FAX communication control software 2
1 is instructed to transmit the original (step S44).

If no channel satisfies the condition of step S41 (No in step S42),
Since it is considered that all channels that can be used for outgoing / incoming calls, i.e., channels that can be transmitted are in use (transmitting or receiving), the channel attribute is used. The process is repeated from the beginning after waiting for the transmission / reception completion notification shown (step S45).

Here, the processing in step S41 is as follows.
This corresponds to the process called high-channel calling in general fax communication, which is equivalent to assigning numbers to all channels in the system in order and giving priority to the higher-numbered channels for fax transmission. I do. On the other hand, performing fax reception preferentially from the channel with the smaller number is called low-channel incoming call.By combining high-channel incoming call and low-channel incoming call in one system, collision of incoming and outgoing calls is reduced. Is known to be.

In order to apply this low-channel incoming call to the present system, a fax
When setting the board / channel management information, among the FAX boards 10 with the smaller board numbers attached to the computers 1 to n with the smaller computer numbers, the channel with the smaller channel number may be set only for the incoming call. In this way, the present system realizes a low-channel incoming call / high-channel outgoing call, so that collisions between incoming and outgoing calls can be reduced and the channel can be used efficiently.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing channel control when a transmission / reception completion notification is received. this is,
This processing is performed when transmission / reception of any channel is completed.

That is, the facsimile communication control software 12 of the computer 1 and the facsimile
When the communication software 21 completes transmission / reception on any of the channels of the FAX board 100 controlled by the communication software 21, the communication software 21 sends a transmission / reception completion notification to that effect to the control software 13 of the computer 1.

In response, the control software 13
When the AX board / channel management information storage unit 17 and the transmission request management information unit 18 are accessed, and the channel attribute of the channel corresponding to the transmission / reception completion notification matches the attribute of the document waiting to be transmitted (Yes in step S51) Then, the use state of the channel attribute is set to transmission (step S52), and the fax transmission control software 12 or 21 corresponding to the channel is instructed to transmit the original (step S44).

If there is no transmission waiting document that matches the channel attribute of the channel for which the transmission / reception completion notification has been made, the process is repeated from the beginning after waiting for the transmission / reception completion notification of another channel (step S54). .

As described above, in the fax communication system according to the present embodiment, the control software 1 for comprehensively managing the fax communication of the entire system in the computer 1.
3 is installed, and under the control of the control software 13, the FAX communication control software 12, 21 for actually executing the fax communication is operated in each of the computers 1 to n. To n can function as one fax control device. At this time, since the user only needs to operate the computer 1 alone without being conscious of which computer 1 to n the channel belongs to, the same as in the case of using the computer alone as in the conventional case, Fax communication can be performed.

The number of fax terminals (number of channels) that can be secured for each of the computers 1 to n depends on the number of FAX boards 10 that can be mounted on each of the computers 1 to n as in the related art. Since the number of fax terminals can be arbitrarily adjusted according to the number of computers 1 to n connected to the network, a scalable system can be constructed according to the user's request.

Further, the computer 1 not only stores the computer information 1 which is information on all the computers 1 to n for performing the fax communication, but also performs the facsimile communication with the other computers 2 to n. Information about the computer 1 and itself is stored as computer information 2 to n, and further, directory management for each of the computers 1 to n, and inter-process communication between the computers 1 to n are performed, so that the fax transmission / reception itself is performed. Can be performed individually by each of the computers 1 to n, so that the processing can be performed without much awareness of each component compared with a case where a system is constructed by only one computer.

Further, since the computers 2 to n mainly perform only the actual fax transmission / reception processing under the control of the control software 13 of the computer 1, an inexpensive computer having a relatively small scale can be used.
Therefore, it is possible to reduce the total cost for the number of processing lines as compared with a case where a large-scale system is constructed by one computer.

In addition, even if a failure occurs in any one of the computers 2 to n, the fax communication from the computer 2 to n cannot be performed, and the other computers 2 to n constituting the system continue to operate. It is possible to operate in an efficient manner. Conversely, since it is easy to recover from the failure and re-install the computers 2 to n into the system, the system as a whole does not have to lower the fault tolerance due to the failure of the computer.

[0078]

As described above, according to the present invention, in any one of the plurality of computers, the computer information is used to manage which computer in the system the fax terminal is provided with, and Since the usage status of the fax terminals of each fax terminal is managed by the fax terminal information, the information on all the fax terminals in the system is centrally managed by the computer, and the fax communication in the system is comprehensively controlled. be able to.

Therefore, even if a conventional computer having a limited number of fax terminals is used, simply connecting another computer to a network for controlling the system as a whole can easily provide a large-scale fax terminal having a large number of fax terminals. It is possible to construct a simple system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fax communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing a specific configuration of the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view showing an example of computer information 1 in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing an example of computer information 2 in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing at the time of installation in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing at the time of installation in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing at the time of activation in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of startup in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing when a transmission request is generated in the fax communication system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating processing at the time of transmission / reception completion notification in the fax communication system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining fax communication using a conventional computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... FAX board 11 ... Driver 12 ... FAX communication control software 13 ... Control software 14 ... Operation management tool 15 ... FAX application software 16 ... Computer information storage part 17 ... FAX board / channel management information storage part 18 ... Transmission request management information storage Unit 19: Receiving original storage disk 20: Transmission original storing disk 21: FAX communication control software 22: Computer information storage unit 23: Control software 30: LAN 40: Public network 50: FAX

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A fax communication system in which a plurality of computers each having a fax terminal are connected to a network, wherein any one of the plurality of computers includes a fax terminal included in each of the plurality of computers. Computer information storage means for storing the indicated computer information; facsimile terminal information storage means for storing facsimile terminal information indicating the use state of the facsimile terminal; and A facsimile communication system comprising: a facsimile terminal control unit that performs control to determine a facsimile terminal for facsimile transmission according to the facsimile transmission request by searching for facsimile terminal information. 2. A fax communication system in which a plurality of computers each having a fax terminal are connected to a network, wherein any one of the plurality of computers includes a fax terminal included in each of the plurality of computers. Computer information storage means for storing the indicated computer information; facsimile terminal information storage means for storing facsimile terminal information indicating the use state of the facsimile terminal; and Fax terminal control means for performing control to determine a fax terminal for fax transmission in accordance with the fax transmission request by retrieving fax terminal information, and via the fax terminal controlled by the fax terminal control means Fax for fax communication A fax communication unit that controls the fax terminal control unit and performs fax communication via the fax terminal. Communications system. 3. One of the plurality of computers further comprises transmission request information storage means for storing transmission request information based on a fax transmission request from a user, wherein the fax terminal control means 3. The fax machine according to claim 1, wherein a fax terminal is determined by searching the computer information and the fax terminal information based on the transmission request information stored in the transmission request management information storage unit. Communications system. 4. The fax terminal information stored in the fax terminal information storage means includes connection form information indicating whether the fax terminal is connected to an extension or an outside line. The fax communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmission request includes information designating a connection mode of a fax terminal to which a fax is to be transmitted. 5. A fax communication system having a plurality of fax terminals, wherein each of the plurality of fax terminals includes fax terminal information including connection form information indicating whether the fax terminal is an extension connection or an outside line connection. Fax terminal information storage means for storing, and a fax transmission corresponding to the fax transmission request by retrieving the fax terminal information based on a fax transmission request including information specifying at least a connection mode of the fax terminal from a user And a facsimile terminal control means for performing control for determining a facsimile terminal for the facsimile. 6. A fax communication method for a fax communication system in which a plurality of computers each having a fax terminal are connected to a network, wherein: in any one of the plurality of computers, each of the plurality of computers is Storing the computer information indicating the facsimile terminal having the facsimile terminal, storing the facsimile terminal information indicating the use state of the facsimile terminal, and retrieving the computer information and the facsimile terminal information based on a fax transmission request from a user. A facsimile communication method for determining a facsimile terminal for facsimile transmission according to the facsimile transmission request. 7. A recording medium storing a program for performing a fax communication in a fax communication system in which a plurality of computers each having a fax terminal are connected to a network, the computer being one of the plurality of computers. In the above, storing computer information indicating a fax terminal possessed by each of the plurality of computers, storing fax terminal information indicating a use state of the fax terminal, based on a fax transmission request from a user, the computer A computer-readable recording medium that records a program for operating the fax communication system so as to determine a fax terminal for fax transmission according to the fax transmission request by searching for information and the fax terminal information.