JPS6390945A - Controlling method for communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exactly call an opposite equipment by varying a time interval of a calling operation in accordance with a repeated frequency of the calling operation. CONSTITUTION:A selecting signal is sent out in order to call the opposite equipment, and thereafter, whether a busy tone has been answered from an exchange or not is judged by an output signal of a tone detecting part 65. In case when the busy tone has been detected, since the opposite equipment is executing communication by using a line, an on-hook relay 62 is reset to a telephone terminal side, and whether a value of a counter N has exceeded 5 being a limit value of a recall frequency or not is checked. In case its result is NO, an added value of a reference value 2 (minute) of a time interval and the counter N is put in the place of a variable W for storing a time interval until the next call is executed, and queuing is executed by the time (the unit is a minute) of a value of its variable W. Thereafter, when the queuing time has elapsed, the line is switched to a facsimile equipment side from the telephone terminal by switching the on-hook relay 62 again in a state that the value of the counter N has been increased by one.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a method of controlling a communication device that uses a telephone line as a transmission line.

[Prior art] As a communication device that uses a telephone line network as a transmission line,
For example, there are a variety of devices such as facsimile devices, and some of these devices are equipped with automatic call/receive functions.

In this way, in a communication device equipped with an automatic call making/receiving function, when making a call to the other party's device, if connection cannot be established the first time, the calling operation is repeated up to a predetermined number of times at regular time intervals. A call can be made when communication with the other party's device is completed.

However, conventionally, for example, if the other party's device is transmitting or receiving a time-consuming message and remains busy for a long time, the other party's device cannot be called even if the calling operation is repeated a predetermined number of times. It was causing inconvenience.

Note that if you increase the time interval between calling operations, you may be able to make a call to the destination even if the other party's device is busy for a long time.
It is not preferable if the busy state of the other party's device ends in a short period of time, since this increases the waiting time for communication. Furthermore, if the transmission information is stored in a memory or the like, there is a problem in that the memory usage efficiency is reduced.

[Objective] The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a control method for a communication device that can accurately make a call to a partner device.

[Configuration] The present invention varies the time interval between calling operations depending on the number of times the calling operation is repeated, and thereby lengthens the time interval between calling operations when the waiting time is likely to be long. This allows for appropriate calls to be made to the other party's 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.

In the figure, a scanner 1 reads an image of a transmitted document at a predetermined resolution, a plotter 2 records and outputs a received image at a predetermined resolution, and a control section 3 controls the entire facsimile machine. It also executes predetermined transmission control with the other device.

The operation display section 4 includes various operation keys and a display with a large degree of display flexibility for displaying operation guidance information, etc., and is used by an operator to operate the facsimile apparatus.

The modem 5 modulates and demodulates digital data so that an analog network such as a public telephone line can be used as a transmission line, and the network control device 6 is for connecting a facsimile device to the public telephone line. be. Note that this network control device 6 is equipped with an automatic call originating and receiving function.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the network control device 6.

In the figure, an incoming call detection section 61 detects an incoming call from an exchange of a telephone line network, and an on-hook relay 62 switches the first line to either a telephone terminal (the path shown) or this facsimile machine. The dial pulse generator 63 sends a dial pulse as a selection signal to the line, and the DTMF signal generation section 63 sends out a dial pulse as a selection signal to the line 64.
The tone detection unit 65 detects various tone signals responded from the exchange and a CHD signal responded to immediately after the facsimile machine makes a call.

The detection signal of the incoming call detection section 61 and the detection signal of the tone detection section 65 are applied to the control section 3, and the on-hook relay 62,
The operations of the dial pulse generator 63 and the DTMF signal generator 64 are controlled by the controller 3, respectively.

Further, the transformer 66 is for separating the telephone line and the facsimile machine in terms of direct current.

With the above configuration, when transmitting image information using this facsimile machine, the operator first sets the original to be transmitted on the scanner 1 and uses the operation display section 4 to set various transmission conditions (for example, resolution, reading density, etc.). etc.), enter the phone number of the other device, and turn on the start key.

Thereby, the control section 3 stores the telephone number input from the operation display section 4, executes the process shown in FIG. 3, and calls the other party's device.

That is, first, the counter N for storing the number of re-calls is cleared to O (101), and the on-hook relay 6
2 to the opposite side from the state shown in FIG. 1, and the line is switched from the telephone terminal to the facsimile machine (processing 102).
. In addition, in the standby state for transmission and reception, the on-hook relay 62
is controlled to switch to the telephone terminal side, that is, the state shown in FIG.

Now, check whether you have detected a dial tone from the telephone network switch when the line is switched from on-book to off-hook.

Judgment is made based on the output signal of the tone detection section 65 (judgment 1
03).

If the dial tone is answered and the line is connected to the exchange to which the own terminal is connected (the result of judgment 103 is Y)
ES), the control section 3 sequentially sends numerical information of each digit of the stored telephone number to the dial pulse generation section 63 or the DTM.
The F signal is generated and the other party's device is called (process 104). Note that when the line to which the own terminal is connected accepts a dial pulse as a selection signal, the dial pulse generator 63 is used, and when the line to which the own terminal is connected accepts a DTMF signal, the DTMF signal generation section 64 is used. however,
It has priority over the 64 pulse generator 63 in generating the DTMF signal.

After transmitting the selection signal to call the destination device in this way, it is determined whether or not a busy tone is responded from the exchange based on the output signal of the tone detection section 65 (determination 105).

Here, if a busy tone is detected, the other device is communicating using the line, so the on-hook relay 62 is returned to the telephone terminal side (106), and the value of the counter N is the limit value for the number of re-calls. It is checked whether the number is 5 or more (determination 107).

If the result of judgment 107 is NO, process 1 is performed to substitute the reference value 2 (minutes) of the time interval and the added value of the counter N into the variable W that stores the time interval until the next call is executed.
08), wait for the time (in minutes) of the value of that variable (
Processing 109).

In this manner, when the waiting time has elapsed, the process returns to process 102 with the value of counter N incremented by one (process 110).

Further, when the dial tone cannot be detected and the result of judgment 103 is NO, the line is not connected to the exchange to which the own terminal is connected and image information transmission with the other party's device cannot be executed, so process 104 and judgment 105 are performed. The process 106 and subsequent processes are omitted.

Further, if the value of the counter N becomes 5 or more after repeated re-calls, the result of judgment 107 becomes YES, and as a result,
The control unit 3 displays the transmission failure on the operation display unit 4 and ends the transmission process. In other words, image information is not transmitted.

On the other hand, when the result of judgment 105 is NO, the line with the other device has been established, so the T1 timer is started (processing 112), and the CHD signal is responded from the other device before the T1 timer overflows. (Judgments 113, 114).

If the CHD signal can be detected within that time, the T1 timer is stopped (process 115), and a predetermined transmission process 116 is executed.

In this transmission process 116, a predetermined transmission procedure is executed, and the image of the transmission document set in the scanner 1 at that time is transmitted to the other party's device.

In addition, if the Tl timer overflows, the transmission procedure with the other device could not be performed properly, so processing 1
Execute the process from 06 onwards and call again.

In this way, each time one call is repeated, the time interval until the next call operation is performed is increased by one minute, so the other party's device may send or receive a long message (image information). When the other party's device is connected, the re-calling time interval becomes longer, so re-calling can be repeated until the other party's transmission/reception is completed.
Even in such a case, it is possible to appropriately call the other party's device.

In addition, when the other party's device is transmitting and receiving relatively short image information, it is possible to connect to the other party's device when making a call with a short re-calling time interval, so the waiting time does not become long.

By the way, in this embodiment, the standard value of the time interval until the first call is executed is set to 2 minutes, and the next call is executed by directly adding the counter N, which is the number of re-calls, to the standard value. However, the size of the reference value and the step amount by which the time interval is increased each time a re-call is repeated are not limited to this.

Further, the reference value of the call interval time and the size of its step amount can also be set to values corresponding to the partner device. In that case, a history of the number of calls made until a connection is established when calling each partner device is stored, and a telephone number for specifying the partner device is input from the operation display section 4. When calling a partner device that has made many calls, the reference value of the call interval time and the size of the step amount may be increased.

Further, it is preferable to set in advance the reference value of the call interval time and its step amount to be used when calling a partner device for which history information is not stored.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the apparatus of the above-described embodiment, but can be similarly applied to a facsimile apparatus having an accumulation function for accumulating images.

Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to facsimile devices but also to other communication devices.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, the time interval of the calling operation is varied depending on the number of times the calling operation is repeated. Since the time interval between call operations is lengthened so that the other device can be appropriately called, an advantage is obtained in that the other device can be appropriately called.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of a network control device, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of call processing. 3... Control unit, 4... Operation display unit, 6... Network control device, 65... Tone detection unit. , (≧, Agent Patent Attorney Crest 1) Makoto 1゛・-ノ'' Figure 1 M

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a method of controlling a communication device that uses a telephone line as a transmission line and repeats a calling operation a predetermined number of times until a line is established with the other party's device, the time interval of the calling operation is varied according to the number of times the calling operation is repeated. A method for controlling a communication device, characterized in that: