JPH117416A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the operation labor of message sender/receiver sides and to surely communicate a message by transferring a message that is stored in response to a request from a receiving terminal of a sending destination to a receiving terminal of the sending destination. SOLUTION: Plural terminals 20 are connected to a host computer 10. The terminals 20 and the computer 10 are connectable with a LAN (wide area network) and a public telephone circuit. The system memory temporarily preserves input-output data which are produced at the time of executing a program that is concerned in system control and various application programs. Among them, data inputted from the terminals 20 and display data for one screen which are shown on the terminals 20 are included. When a message sender instructs the transfer of a message, a message is stored in an accumulating table in the computer 10 and after that, the message is transferred to the terminal when there is an information input from an access terminal 20 that is used by a message receiver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a communication system for exchanging messages between terminals via a host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a normal communication system, electronic mail is used as a communication means between individuals. The electronic mail stores the mail created by the sender in a mailbox for the receiver prepared in the host computer, and the mail is transferred to the receiver terminal at the request of the receiver.

[0003] In such a communication method, when the recipient takes in the mail (download) to the terminal, whether the recipient actually reads the mail just by taking in the terminal,
There is a problem that the sender does not know.

[0004] When both the sender and the receiver are accessing the host computer from the terminal, the message sent from the sender's terminal is immediately transferred to the receiver's terminal (direct transfer). The following communication means have also been proposed.

[0005]

However, conventionally,
In this type of communication system, it is an essential condition that the message recipient accesses the host computer. If not, the communication mode is switched to e-mail by manual instruction and the recipient's e-mail is sent. You must resend the message to the box. For this reason, the operation of transmitting the message on the message sender side has been complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication system capable of reducing the operation labor of a message sender / receiver and transmitting a message to a receiver without fail.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a message is transmitted between a plurality of terminals connected to a host computer from a transmitting terminal to a receiving terminal via the host computer. In the communication system, the host computer stores the message, a determination unit that determines whether a receiving terminal to which the message is transmitted can receive the message, and a determination unit that determines When a positive determination is obtained as a result, a message to be transmitted is transferred to the storage unit, and when a negative determination is obtained, the communication unit does not transfer the message to the storage unit. A message stored in the storage unit is transferred to the destination receiving terminal by the communication unit in response to a request from the destination receiving terminal. It is characterized in.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the communication system according to the first aspect, a transmission user ID indicating a transmission source and a reception user ID indicating a transmission destination are associated with the message, and If the sending user ID of the message matches the receiving user ID, it is regarded that the user having the receiving user ID has given an instruction to reject the message, and thereafter, the message addressed to the receiving user ID is received. The rejection is determined.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the communication system according to the first aspect, when the determination unit makes a negative determination, the communication unit transfers the message of rejection of the incoming call to the transmitting terminal. Features.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the communication system according to the third aspect, a transmission user ID indicating a transmission source and a reception user ID indicating a transmission destination are associated with the message, and If the sending user ID of the message matches the receiving user ID, it is regarded that the user having the receiving user ID has given an instruction to reject the message, and thereafter, the message addressed to the receiving user ID is received. And the communication means determines the transmitting user and the receiving user ID.
Is transferred to the transmitting terminal as the incoming call rejection message.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the communication system according to the first aspect, the communication means transfers a message in the storage means to the receiving terminal when information is input from the receiving terminal. Features.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of a communication system to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a plurality of terminals 20 are connected to a host computer 10. LAN (wide area network) between terminal and host computer
And a public telephone line.

Although an existing general-purpose computer can be used as the host computer 10, its internal configuration is shown in FIG.
This will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The CPU 11 executes system control based on a system program stored in the system memory 12, and also executes a hard disk storage device (HDD).
D) Execute various application programs stored in 14. The program for message communication according to the present invention is also stored in the HDD 14 and executed by the CPU 11. The system memory 12 temporarily stores programs related to the above-described system control and input / output data generated when executing various application programs. These include data input from the terminal 20 and display data for one screen displayed on the terminal 20.

The HDD 14 stores data used by applications in addition to the application programs. Examples of the data relating to the message include a conventionally known management table such as a table describing a user ID to which access is permitted, a communication address of a terminal currently being accessed, and a user ID, and a message according to the present invention. An accumulation table (hereinafter, simply referred to as an accumulation table) 15 is provided on the HDD 14. The storage table 15 is provided for each user ID for which access is permitted. The communication interface 13 communicates with a plurality of terminals. In the present embodiment, the configuration of the message communication program and the storage table 15 is different from the conventional one.

Since the conventional system can be used for the system configuration of the terminal 20, a brief description will be given with reference to FIG. 3, the terminal 20 has a CPU 21, a system memory 22, a display 23, a keyboard 24, and a communication interface 25. In accordance with the system program stored in the system memory 22, the CPU 21 controls the system, for example, displays one screen of information transmitted from the host computer 10 on the display 23, and transmits commands and messages input from the keyboard 24 to the host. A process for transferring the data to the computer 10 is executed.

The system memory 22 is a ROM and a RAM
, And temporarily stores input / output data in addition to storing and storing the system program. The display 23 displays information (including a message) sent from the host computer 10 and information input from the keyboard 24. The keyboard 24 is used to input information. For a message, a message body, a message transmission command, a command to fetch a message from the accumulation table 15 on the host computer 10, a command to instruct the host computer 10 to reject mail reception mode, Enter the release command. The communication interface 25 performs information transfer with the host computer 10.

In such a system configuration, in the present embodiment, when the message sender instructs the message transfer, the message is stored in the storage table 15 in the host computer and then used by the message receiver. It is characterized in that the message is transferred to the access terminal 20 when the information is input from the terminal.

The configuration of the storage table 15 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, the accumulation table 1
5 is prepared for each user ID. The accumulation table 15 has a table 101 having a plurality of addresses, a write pointer 104, and a call pointer 105.
In the table 101, one set of message-related data is accumulated and stored in correspondence with each address. The message-related data includes the user ID of the message sender (transmission user ID), the message transmission time, and the message.

The write pointer 104 is stored in the table 101
Is an area for storing the value of the address 102 previously written. It is updated each time a message is written to the table 101. Note that the write pointer 104 is of a cyclic type, and when the next write is performed when the write pointer 104 is at the last address, the pointer value is updated to the first address.

The call pointer 105 is stored in the table 101
Is an area for storing the value of the address 103 that was read last time. The value indicated by the call pointer 105 is also set in a cyclic manner. Note that the address position indicated by the write pointer 104 precedes the address position indicated by the call pointer 105 so that an unread message among the messages stored in the table 101 is not erased by overwriting. When the address position indicated by 104 comes to a position that catches up with the call address position, message accumulation is prohibited. The call rejection flag 106 is set to ON when the user instructs to reject a message.

In the present embodiment, when the transmitting user transmits a message in which the receiving user ID is designated as his / her own user ID, the incoming call rejection message is stored in the incoming call rejection message storage column 107 in the own storage table 15. In this case, the incoming call rejection flag 106 is set to ON.

Hereinafter, the message transfer process will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 are actually executed by the CPU of the host computer 10.
11 executable program languages, HDD1
4 and stored in a recording medium such as the system memory 1.
2 and read and executed by the CPU 11. When the terminal 20 accesses the host computer 10, the user inputs a user ID from the keyboard 24 and checks the user ID on the host computer 10 side. Shall be. Therefore, the host computer 10 can grasp the user ID and the terminal address of the user who is currently accessing.

The message transfer operation executed in the above system configuration will be described.

(A) Release of Rejection of Call When host computer 10 receives an instruction to transmit a message from any terminal 20, first, it confirms whether it is a release or rejection of message rejection.

When the user permits the reception of a message addressed to himself / herself, the user designates a cancellation command instead of his / her user ID and message text as a reception user ID from the keyboard 24 of his / her terminal 20 and sends the message to the host computer. Then, in step S110, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 recognizes it as an instruction to cancel incoming call rejection, sets (clears) the incoming call rejection flag 106 to OFF, and if a message is recorded in the incoming call rejection message storage column 107, The contents described are deleted (step S115).

(B) Call Rejection Instruction When rejecting a message addressed to the user, the user inputs his / her user ID and message from the keyboard 24 as a receiving user ID, and transmits the same to the host computer 10. The CPU 11 of the host computer 10 receiving this information inputs the transmission user ID and the reception user I
It is determined whether or not D matches, and based on this match, it is recognized that the user has given an instruction to reject the call (step S1).
20). Next, the incoming call rejection flag 106 is set to ON, and the received message is stored in the incoming call rejection message storage column 107 (see FIG. 4) (steps S120 → S12 in FIG. 6).
5).

(C) Confirmation of Rejection of Reception of Transmission Destination In order to transmit a message, the user first inputs a command for instructing transmission of a message from the keyboard 24 of the transmission terminal 20, a reception user ID of the transmission destination, and a message. It is transmitted to the host computer 10.

The CPU 11 of the host computer 10 receiving this information checks whether or not the incoming call rejection flag associated with the receiving user ID is set to ON. If the incoming call rejection flag is on, the host computer 10 does not store the message and
The incoming call rejection message in the incoming call rejection message storage field 107 associated with D is returned to the transmission source terminal 20 (step S130 → S135).

If the incoming rejection flag is off, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 refers to the table 101 of the storage table 15 associated with the receiving user ID. If the table 101 is full, a message to that effect is returned to the transmitting terminal 20, and the message is not stored (step S140 → S145).

(D) Message transmission If the rejection flag is off and there is room in the table 101, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 determines that the message of the receiving user can be received, and sets the write pointer 104 to a new one. The address is updated to the write address, and the received message is written in the area indicated by the write pointer 104 in the table 101 together with the transmission user ID and the transmission time (steps S150 → S16).
0).

(E) Reception of Message The CPU 11 of the host computer 10 accepts a transmission message according to the processing procedure of FIG. 6 and, in addition, receives the terminal (reception terminal) 20 of the receiver, that is, the user ID same as the receiver ID. If there is an accessing terminal 20, the message stored in the storage table 101 is transferred to the receiving terminal 20 according to the processing procedure of FIG.

The CPU 11 of the host computer 10 checks the presence or absence of information input from the receiving terminal 20. If there is no information input (no determination in step S210), the CPU 11 performs other information processing and performs other information processing. Wait for information input.

The user normally performs another information processing operation (for example, transmission / reception of e-mail, writing / reading of bulletin board, downloading of database, etc.) regardless of the presence / absence of a message. 20) The host computer is accessed and information is input through the keyboard 24.

When the information is input from the receiving terminal 20, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 first executes the original processing requested by the information input from the receiving terminal 20 (step S220). Next, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 checks whether or not there is a last-read message in the table 101 corresponding to the user ID accessed from the receiving terminal 20. If there is no last-read message, the receiving process ends (step S230). If there is a message to be read, the CPU 11 of the host computer 10 updates the call pointer 105, reads the message and the sender ID from the read address indicated by the call pointer 105, and transmits the read message to the receiving terminal 20. (Steps S240 to S
260).

Thus, the CPU 21 of the receiving terminal 20 displays the received message on the display 23 together with the sender ID as shown in FIG. At this time. In order to notify the operator that the message has been received, the character color is designated such that the color of the message display portion is different from the colors of other characters.

As described above, when the information is input from the receiving terminal, the message is sent from the host computer 10 to the receiving terminal 20, so that the operator who is inputting the information at the receiving terminal 20 is surely notified of the arrival of the message. be able to.

Therefore, when a message is transmitted from the transmitting terminal 20 to the host computer 10, the receiving terminal 2
0 does not access the host computer 10, the message is stored in table 1 of the storage table 15.
01 when the receiving terminal 20 accesses the host computer 10 thereafter.
Is read by the request of.

The following embodiment can be implemented in addition to the present embodiment.

1) In order to notify the arrival of a message, besides using a different display color, a method of generating a warning sound or performing blinking display can be adopted.

2) In the present embodiment, the length of the message body is limited to one line, and displayed at the top of the display screen as shown in FIG. However, when it is desired to directly transfer a one-page message, the host computer 10 first sends a message to the terminal 20 to send a message, and receives a display enable instruction from the terminal 20 to send the message to the host computer 10. May be transmitted to the terminal 20.

[0042]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the message transmitted from the transmitting terminal is stored in the storage means of the host computer when the receiving terminal is ready to receive a call, and then the message is transmitted by the receiving terminal. Read. If the receiving terminal is unable to receive calls, the message will not be forwarded. By automatically performing the process related to the determination of the rejection of the incoming call, the operation of the transmitting user is reduced, and the message is reliably transmitted to the recipient user.

According to the second and fourth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to instruct the receiving terminal to reject an incoming message from another transmitting terminal by sending an incoming reject message to itself. For this reason, the user does not need a special operation related to call rejection. In addition, since the status of the transmission destination can be known from the incoming call rejection message, subsequent measures can be easily taken.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect of the present invention, when an incoming call cannot be made, an incoming call rejection message indicating that fact is sent to the transmitting terminal. Can be confirmed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the message is transferred to the receiving terminal when information is input from the receiving terminal, so that the message can be reliably transmitted to the operator of the receiving terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a host computer 10.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a terminal 20.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an accumulation table 15;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display position of a message.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the host computer 10;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing contents of a host computer 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Host computer 11, 21 CPU 12, 22 System memory 13, 25 Communication interface 14 HDD 15 Storage table 20 Terminal 23 Display 24 Keyboard

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A communication system for transferring a message between a plurality of terminals connected to a host computer from a transmitting terminal to a receiving terminal via the host computer, the host computer comprising: storage means for storing the message; Determining means for determining whether or not the receiving terminal of the destination of the message can receive the message; and if a positive determination is obtained as a result of the determination by the determining means, the message to be transmitted is stored in the storage means. A communication unit that does not transfer the message to the storage unit when a negative determination is obtained, and transmits the message stored in the storage unit in response to a request from the receiving terminal of the transmission destination. A communication system, wherein the communication means transfers the data to a destination receiving terminal. 2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a transmission user ID indicating a transmission source and a reception user ID indicating a transmission destination are associated with the message,
When the sending user ID and the receiving user ID of the message match, the determining unit considers that the user having the receiving user ID has given an instruction to reject the incoming of the message, and thereafter, the message addressed to the receiving user ID A communication system for determining whether to reject a call. 3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein, if the determination unit makes a negative determination, a message for rejecting an incoming call is transferred to the transmission terminal by the communication unit. . 4. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein a transmission user I indicating a transmission source for the message is transmitted.
D and the receiving user ID indicating the transmission destination are associated with each other, and when the transmitting user ID and the receiving user ID of the message match, the receiving user ID is determined.
D, it is considered that there is an instruction to reject the message arrival from the user having D. Thereafter, the message addressed to the receiving user ID is judged whether or not there is an incoming call, and the communication means determines that the transmitting user and the receiving user ID match. A communication system that transfers the received message to the transmission terminal as the call rejection message. 5. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein said communication means transfers a message in said storage means to said receiving terminal when information is input from said receiving terminal. .