JP2000165537A - Communication terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the chances of connection of a call in a busy state by performing the second call at a time interval shorter than a prescribed time if a dial-up call cannot be connected due to a busy state. SOLUTION: A network controller 117, etc., of a facsimile equipment reads out the dial-up interval that is previously set and starts the dial-up processing if a period set after the preceding dial-up processing passed. Then the telephone number of a registered dial-up server is read out, the calling processing is carried out, a transmitting mail is sent to an SMTP server and a receiving mail is received from a POP server. The received mail is automatically outputted. The calling processing is carried out again if the dial-up server is busy. When the dial-up processing succeeds, a long time, e.g. one hour is set for the second calling processing. Meanwhile, a short time, e.g. 5 minutes is set in a busy state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a function for calling a dial-up server through a public telephone line and establishing an environment similar to that of connecting to a local area network (LAN) line after connection (hereinafter referred to as a "LAN connection"). , Referred to as a dial-up function).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art To solve the problem of how to avoid useless calls when a LAN is busy, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-177181 discloses a LAN and a public network as a facsimile server. When data is transmitted from a terminal on the public network to a terminal on the LAN in a network connected via the
Is busy, the facsimile server keeps the data in the storage memory and the LAN terminal is busy instead of repeating the call repeatedly until the terminal of the transmission source releases the busy state of the LAN. After the state is resolved, a method of transferring the request to the terminal receiving the transmission request is adopted.
That is, it is characterized in that it has an interface device provided with a data communication unit that can execute a through mode communication procedure.

[0003] However, devices capable of connecting the above-mentioned LAN and the public network are capable of executing a through mode communication procedure.
Multiple facsimile servers are required, and a new problem remains where the increase in service functions is not as expected as the equipment becomes larger.

[0004]

The automatic dial-up calling interval is usually spaced to some extent. For example, after one hour, the next call is made. However, in the case of a busy state, if an interval is similarly provided, transmission / reception of mail cannot be performed until the next call. That is, in the example where the interval is one hour, there is no transmission / reception of mail for two hours. In the present invention, the calling interval is changed according to the situation.

[0005] When the login fails during dial-up, there is a concern that the failure will occur again unless the dial-up setting is changed. If an automatic call is made, only a telephone charge is imposed. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the automatic call and eliminate unnecessary calls. If the dial-up setting is changed, it is expected that the setting will be checked for correctness. Therefore, this check is performed automatically, and the operation by the user is unnecessary.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a communication terminal device having a dial-up function, in which a dial-up call cannot be connected in a busy state. In this case, a call is made again at a time interval shorter than a predetermined time. Thus, in the present invention according to claim 1,
By shortening (changing) the calling interval according to the situation, the chances of connection in a busy state are increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus of the first aspect is replaced with a communication control method. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, if a connection cannot be established at the time of login after dial-up calling, the subsequent automatic calling is suspended until the setting is changed. With this invention,
It is possible to eliminate useless calls caused by login failure. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus of the third aspect is replaced with a communication control method. The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that the "automatic call interval" and the "set validity period" are set in advance, the memory is built in, and the automatic call interval changes in conjunction with a clock. And

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus of the fifth aspect is replaced with a communication control method. According to the invention of claim 7, when the dial-up setting is changed, it is expected to check whether the setting is correct. Therefore, a function that automatically performs this check and eliminates the need for user operation is provided. It is the one that was given.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the facsimile apparatus of the seventh aspect is replaced with a communication control method.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a document sensor for detecting whether or not there is a document, and checking a document JAM and the like. Reference numeral 102 denotes a sheet sensor for checking the position of a sheet in the apparatus and checking the sheet JAM and the like. Reference numeral 103 denotes a battery for backing up a RAM for storing a telephone number, a name of a destination, and the like. 10
Reference numeral 4 denotes a scanner for reading a document image and extracting image information, and reference numeral 105 denotes a plotter for recording image information. An operation display unit 106 displays the state of the apparatus and the out-of-operation dance, and performs various operations on the apparatus. An image memory 107 is used to store image data. Reference numeral 108 denotes a parameter memory for storing parameters such as telephone numbers. Reference numeral 109 denotes a clock circuit used for transmission and the like. A communication control unit 110 controls the network control device and the modem to perform facsimile communication according to a predetermined transmission control procedure. 111 is information encoding;
An encoding / decoding unit that decodes a received document. 1
Reference numeral 12 denotes a CPU that controls each unit to execute a predetermined operation of the facsimile machine. A ROM 113 stores a program necessary for the operation of the facsimile apparatus.
Reference numeral 114 denotes a RAM for storing data necessary for operating the program. Reference numeral 115 denotes a character generator that stores character font data such as English / number / kana / symbols and kanji. 116 transmits and modulates / demodulates image information and transmits various procedure signals in a transmission control procedure. It is a modem. Reference numeral 117 denotes a network control device that performs a predetermined calling operation and a receiving operation by capturing a line, transmitting a selection signal as a destination telephone number, detecting an incoming call, and the like. A control device 118 communicates with the LAN.

The operation of claim 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The "dial-up interval" set in advance is read out, and if the set period has elapsed since the last dial-up, the dial-up processing is started. The telephone number of the registered dial-up server is read, and a calling process is performed. After connection, access is made with a preset login and password, sending mail is sent to the SMTP server, and receiving mail is received from the POP server. The received mail is automatically output (it is also possible to output at the time of a request from the user). If the dial-up server is in a busy state, the re-call processing is started. When the dial-up is successful, a long time such as one hour is set for the re-call processing, and a short time such as five minutes is set in the busy state. By setting a short time, the spooling time of sending and receiving mail can be reduced.

A second aspect of the present invention is a method claim of the first aspect of the present invention, and the operation flow is the same as that of FIG.
Read the set “Dial-up interval”,
If the period has elapsed, dial-up processing is started. If an error occurs while the dial-up server is busy, control is performed to shorten the next recall interval. The operation of claim 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. If the preset "dial-up interval" has elapsed, the telephone number of the dial-up server is read and a call is made. If the login fails during this dial-up process, the automatic calling of the system is prohibited. When the dial-up setting is changed from the function, the automatic call is permitted and dial-up is performed with the new setting. If an error occurs due to login failure, it is expected that an error will occur even if you continue dialing up without changing the settings. If the automatic dial-up setting is set, a telephone charge is required. Therefore, according to the present invention, when it is predicted that an error will occur, a call is not performed, so that a useless telephone charge is not required.

Claim 4 corresponds to the method claim of claim 3, and the operation flow is the same as that of FIG. Perform dial-up and disable automatic calling when login fails. When the dial-up setting is changed, control is performed to permit automatic calling. The operation of claim 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The current time is read, and the "call interval" at that time is read from the "time" registered in advance by the function. FIG. 5 illustrates the contents of the registration. In the registered contents, it is necessary to register at least a "start time", an "end time", and a "call interval" at which the set call interval is valid.
If the calling time for which the current time is set has elapsed, dial-up processing is performed. The function reads out the telephone number of the dial-up server registered in advance from the function and makes a call. As described above, if the calling interval can be changed depending on the time, a dial-up operation can be performed only during a time period when the telephone charge is low, or a dial-up operation can be performed only during a daytime operation period.

The operation of claim 6 is the method claim of claim 5, and the operation flow is the same as that of FIG. It has means for reading out the call interval at a time registered from the current time and determining the call interval. At the time, a dial-up operation is automatically performed and mail reception and mail transmission are performed. The operation of claim 7 will be described with reference to FIG. When it is recognized that the dial-up setting has been changed by the function, an e-mail transmission format is created. Reads out the phone number of the registered dial-up server and dials up. Send the format you just created to yourself. After waiting for a certain time, dial up again and check whether there is any received mail.
(In the example of FIG. 6, the line is disconnected once, but there is no problem even if the line is connected and waiting. In this case, the second dial-up operation of the operation flow is unnecessary.) Output the contents received. If not, an error is displayed. FIG. 7 shows an example of a format for transmission by e-mail. The report contains the details of the dial-up, but this way you can also check the settings. FIG. 8 shows a display example when an error occurs.

When the dial-up setting has been changed, the user should recognize whether or not the setting has been correctly performed. Therefore, by automatically performing the test operation, the user operation can be reduced. Claim 8 is a method claim for claim 7, and the operation flow is the same as that in FIG. When the dial-up setting is changed, an e-mail is automatically transmitted to the user, so that the user can recognize whether the setting is correct.

[0017]

According to the facsimile apparatus of the first aspect, when the dial-up server is busy, the recall interval is set short, so that the mail on the server can be checked quickly. The e-mail to be sent can be sent promptly. The control method of claim 2 has the same effect as that of claim 1.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the automatic calling is prohibited when the login fails during dial-up, so that the wasteful repetition of the automatic calling with the same setting can be avoided. The control method of claim 4 has the same effect as that of claim 3. Claim 5 changes the automatic call-up interval of dial-up depending on the time zone.
For example, it is possible to respond to a user's request such as concentrating dial-up on a time zone where telephone charges are low or focusing only on a time zone where information is required.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the control method has the same effect as the fifth aspect. According to the seventh aspect, when the dial-up setting is changed, the test is automatically performed, so that the user does not have to perform the test operation, and it is automatically determined whether the setting is incorrect. An eighth aspect is a control method, and has the same effect as the seventh aspect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an operation flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an operation flow according to claims 1 and 2;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation flow according to claims 3 and 4;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation flow according to claim 5;

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing registered contents of claim 6;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an operation flow according to claim 7;

FIG. 7 is an example of a format at the time of test mail according to claim 7;

FIG. 8 is an example of an error display according to claim 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Document sensor 102 Paper sensor 103 Battery 104 Scanner 105 Plotter 106 Operation display unit 107 Image memory 108 Parameter memory 109 Clock circuit 110 Communication control unit 111 Encoding / decoding unit 112 CPU 113 ROM 114 RAM 115 Character generator 116 Modem 117 Network controller 118 LAN

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C075 BA03 BA13 CE15 5K030 GA01 GA17 HA06 HC02 HD03 JT05 KA04 LA12 LB02 LD18 LD20 MB16 MC03 MD04 5K101 KK01 MM04 MM05 MM06 NN22 PP03 PP05 PP08 QQ09 RR14 RR27 TT05 UT04 CC04 001 JJ12 JJ14 JJ27 KK42

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for a communication terminal apparatus having a dial-up function, wherein when a dial-up call cannot be established due to a busy state, the call is re-issued at a time interval shorter than a predetermined time. . 2. In a communication terminal apparatus having a dial-up function, if a dial-up call cannot be established due to a busy state, a call is re-issued at a time interval shorter than a predetermined time. Method. 3. A facsimile apparatus wherein if a failure occurs at the time of login after dial-up calling, subsequent automatic calling is stopped until the setting is changed. 4. A communication control method characterized in that if a connection cannot be established at the time of login after dial-up calling, subsequent automatic calling is stopped until the setting is changed. 5. An automatic calling interval and its set validity period are preset and stored therein, and the automatic calling interval changes in conjunction with a clock. Facsimile machine. 6. An automatic calling interval and its set validity period are preset and stored therein, and the automatic calling interval changes in conjunction with a clock. Communication control method. 7. When a dial-up setting is changed,
A facsimile machine characterized in that a test mode is automatically activated to check whether settings are correct. 8. When the dial-up setting is changed,
A communication control method characterized in that a test mode is automatically operated to check whether settings are correct.