JPS6281141A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the reliability of information transmission by transmitting information to a standby destination communication terminal device when the information is not sent to a communication terminal device. CONSTITUTION:A system control section 1 is equipped with a telephone book table TTN storing a destination telephone number corresponding to an abbrevia tion dial key and a standby destination table TRC storing a telephone number of standby destination set to the destination. Then other communication terminal device is designated as a standby destination communication terminal device to one communication terminal device being the same destination equipped with plural communication terminal devices and when the information is not sent to the communication terminal device, the information is sent to the stand by destination communication terminal device. Thus, the communication system sending the information surely to the destination is obtained.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field] The present invention relates to a communication system.

[Prior Art] Generally, a communication terminal device such as a facsimile machine has a function of re-calling a destination up to a predetermined number of times in order to reliably transmit information to a specified destination.

In addition, in order to reduce transmission costs as much as possible, some devices are equipped with a time-specific transmission function that allows information to be transmitted late at night when line costs are lower.

Furthermore, there is a storage function that stores multiple pieces of information, a relay function that transmits the same information to multiple destinations, and a confidential transmission function that stores received information and does not output the received information unless a predetermined encryption code is entered. Products equipped with various effective functions such as the following are in practical use. ′ By the way, if you are trying to transmit information to a certain destination and the destination's communication terminal device is in a state where it cannot receive data due to a malfunction, etc., even if the transmitting communication terminal device is equipped with a re-calling function, No information is transmitted to.

For this reason, there has conventionally been a problem in that necessary information is not transmitted to the destination when materials etc. to be used for the next day's meeting etc. are transmitted in advance at night or when an emergency is required.

[Objective] The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication method that can reliably transmit information to a destination.

[Configuration] In order to achieve this object, the present invention specifies another communication terminal device as a backup destination communication terminal device for one communication terminal device having the same destination and having a plurality of communication terminal devices. When the information cannot be transmitted to the communication terminal device, the information is transmitted to the backup destination communication terminal device.

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

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. This facsimile device is equipped with an image information storage function, a speed dial function, an automatic transmission/reception function, and the like.

In the figure, a system control section 1 controls the entire facsimile machine and is composed of a microcomputer system.

The operation display section 2 forms a man-machine interface between the system control section 1 and the operator, and includes a numeric keypad for inputting numerical information, a speed dial key (or one-touch dial key) for inputting destinations with a few key operations, A start key for starting a transmission operation, reading of image information, etc., a stop key for interrupting the operation of the device, and an accumulation mode for specifying accumulation of one-image information.

An operation input section consisting of mode keys, etc. for setting various modes such as a preliminary destination setting mode or transmission mode for setting a preliminary destination for a destination, and various indicators for displaying the operating status and status of the device. and a display section consisting of a guidance display etc. that displays message information so that the operator's operations are performed according to predetermined procedures. Various information input from the operation input section is transferred to the system control section 1. Data to be displayed on the display section is transferred from the system control section 1.

The original reading unit 3 reads the image recorded in the transmitted image and generates a corresponding image signal.

The output image signal is applied to the system control section 1.
The image recording unit 4 records and outputs the received image as a hard copy, and the recorded data is transferred from the system control unit 1 to the 0 image memory 5 when the 1 image storage mode is set. It is used to store transmitted images and received images in the case of confidential reception, and consists of a large-capacity memory device and its peripheral devices.

The communication control unit 6 includes a transmission control unit that executes a predetermined facsimile transmission control procedure, an encoding/decoding unit that encodes and decodes one-stroke information, and an analog transmission line network (for example, a public telephone network). It consists of a modulation/demodulation section that modulates data to transmit digital transmission data, and transmission data and transmission mode settings are transferred from the system control section 1.

The received signal is applied from the network controller 7.

The network control device 7 is for connecting this facsimile device to an analog line network, and has an automatic call/receive function.

Now, the system control unit 1 uses a telephone directory table TTN that stores telephone numbers of destinations corresponding to speed dial keys.
(see Figure 2) and a backup destination table TRC (third page) that stores the phone numbers of backup destinations set as destinations.
(see figure).

The telephone directory table TTN includes speed dial data STN,
The telephone number corresponding to this speed dial data STN is stored as the destination telephone number data FTN, and the location where the backup destination set for that destination is stored in the backup destination table TRC corresponds to the backup destination number RN. It consists of preliminary destination data RC. Further, the backup destination table TRC consists of a backup destination number RN and a backup destination telephone number TN that indicates the telephone number of the backup destination.

Note that the backup destination data RC of a destination for which a backup destination is not set includes information for identifying it (for example, a numerical value larger than the backup destination number RN in the backup destination table TRC, or hexadecimal FF, etc.) Remember.

With the above configuration, when the preliminary destination setting mode is set from the operation display section 2, the system control section 1 displays procedure information for setting a preliminary destination on the operation display section 2.

First, a free area is searched for in the spare destination table TRC, and the spare destination number RN of the free area is stored in the spare destination number RC of the destination for which the spare destination is to be set at that time. Next, the telephone number input at that time is stored in the preliminary destination telephone number data TN of the preliminary destination number RN that has been searched for in the preliminary destination table TRC.

In this way, backup destinations for the destination are established and stored.

Next, the process executed by the system control section 1 when transmitting image information by this facsimile device will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

When sending, the operator places the original to be sent in the original reading section 3, sets the storage mode, sets the sending mode on the operation display section 2, enters the destination using the speed dial keys, and presses the start key. The data is input to and held in the system control unit 1, and is also input to the document reading unit 3.
operates to read the image of the transmission document set at that time, and the image information is temporarily stored in the image memory 5 by the system control section 1.

Next, the system control unit 1 clears the call power counter CNCL to O for managing the number of calls (100).
, reads the telephone number corresponding to the held speed dial data from the telephone directory table TTN, and transfers the telephone number to the communication control unit 6 as destination information. As a result, the telephone number is transferred from the communication control section 6 to the network control bag W7, and the network control device 7 calls the destination (process 101).

Then, the system control unit 1 increments the call counter CNCL (process 102), and performs the well-known transmission process 10.
Move to 3.

When this transmission process 103 is finished, if the transmission of the image information has been completed normally (the result of judgment 104 is YES).
), immediately ends the sending operation.

When the image information transmission does not end normally 1. For example, when the recipient wants to respond, or a piece of paper occurs during the transmission, and the recipient forcibly interrupts the transmission, etc.
The result of judgment 104 is No, and the call counter CNCL
The loop of decision 105 is executed until the value of exceeds 3, and the call is made again to the same destination.

If the transmission of the image information to the destination is not completed normally in this loop of judgment 105, the system control unit 1 clears the call counter CNCL to 0 (processing 106).
), whether communication to the destination has ended or whether communication to a backup destination has ended.5. The state of the preliminary destination communication flag FRTX for identifying the destination is checked (decision 107).

At this time, the preliminary destination communication flag FRTX is turned off and the result of the first judgment 107 is No, so the system control unit 1 selects the shortened communication flag FRTX held at that time. ,
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The preliminary destination number RC in the telephone directory table TNN is checked (decision 108).

If no backup destination has been set (decision 108)
If the result of 108 is NO), the transmission operation is terminated at that point, and if it has been set (the result of judgment 108 is YES).

From the backup destination table TRC, a telephone number is read from the backup destination telephone number TN stored corresponding to the backup destination number RN having the same value as the backup destination number RC, and the phone number is transferred to the communication control unit 6 as destination information. Then, the process 109) sets the backup destination as the calling destination, turns on the backup destination communication flag FRTX (process 110), and returns to process +01.

When the transmission of the image information to this preliminary destination ends normally, the result of judgment 104 becomes YES, and the transmission operation ends at that point. If the transmission does not end normally, the loop of judgment 105 is completed. Execute. If the image information cannot be transmitted normally even in this loop of judgment 105, the process proceeds to process 106 and judgment 107 in the same way as described above, but at this time, the backup destination communication flag FRTX is on, so judgment 107 is performed. The result is YES. Therefore, process 11
1 and turns off the preliminary destination communication flag FRTX, and then ends the transmission operation.

In this way, if image information cannot be transmitted to a destination, the image information is transmitted to a backup destination of that destination, thereby improving the reliability of image information transmission. In addition, since offices other than relatively small offices are generally equipped with multiple facsimile machines, it is often possible to set up a backup destination.
It can be said that the present invention is effective.

Incidentally, in the above-described embodiment, a case was explained in which one backup destination was specified, but it is also possible to set a plurality of backup destinations. In that case, it is necessary to set priorities among the backup destinations. Alternatively, the transmission completion state may be kept as a history, and transmissions may be sequentially performed to backup destinations while referring to the history information.

Furthermore, when the operator specifies a transmission destination, it is also possible to specify a backup destination.

Furthermore, columns for storing destination names, etc. are added to the telephone directory table TTN and the preliminary destination table TRC.

The destination to which the data is being transmitted may also be displayed.

Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied when the sequential reporting mode is set. In that case, for example, when broadcasting to three destinations in sequence, instead of immediately transitioning to transmission to a backup destination when there is a destination that could not be sent, the moment when transmission to each destination is finished. It is desirable to determine whether there is a destination to which transmission could not be made based on the history information remaining at that time, and to execute transmission for that destination to a backup destination.

Note that the present invention is not limited to facsimile machines, but can also be applied to other communication terminal devices.

Furthermore, different types of communication terminal devices can be set as backup destinations. For example, a personal computer capable of receiving facsimile information may be set as a backup destination.

[Effect] As explained above, according to the present invention, for one communication terminal device having the same destination and including a plurality of communication terminal devices, another communication terminal device can be designated as a backup destination communication terminal device. When the information cannot be transmitted to the communication terminal device, the information is transmitted to the backup destination communication terminal device, so that the reliability of information transmission to the destination is greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a signal arrangement diagram showing an example of a telephone directory table, and FIG. 3 is a signal arrangement diagram showing an example of a preliminary destination table. 4 are flowcharts showing an example of control executed by the system control unit. 1... System control section, 2... Operation display section.・〜ノFigure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] For one communication terminal device with the same destination that is equipped with multiple communication terminal devices, if another communication terminal device is designated as a backup destination communication terminal device, and information cannot be transmitted to the communication terminal device, the A communication method characterized in that the above information is transmitted to a backup destination communication terminal device.