JP2002111948A - Gateway unit and facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile system that can easily utilize real-time Internet facsimile communication. SOLUTION: A gateway unit 2 has a conversion table on which the toll numbers of the telephone numbers of destinations and the IP addresses of the gateway units corresponding to the toll numbers are registered. When one set of facsimile equipment 1 makes facsimile transmission to another set of facsimile equipment 6, the equipment 1 informs the gateway unit 2 of the telephone number of the equipment 6 after a line is connected to the unit 2. The unit 2 acquires the IP address of another gateway unit 4 from the toll number of the telephone number of the destination of the facsimile transmission by using the conversion table and transfers the telephone number of the destination to the gateway unit 4. The unit 4 calls the equipment 6 based on the received telephone number. Consequently, real-time Internet facsimile communication becomes possible between the two sets of facsimile equipment 1 and 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a facsimile system for performing real-time facsimile communication using the Internet and a gateway device for relaying such real-time Internet facsimile communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, facsimile communication has been performed between a facsimile apparatus connected via a public line or a dedicated line. 30 using a facsimile protocol. In recent years, the Internet has been used as a part of a communication path to reduce long-distance call charges.

In the conventional facsimile communication using the Internet, for example, transmission of a facsimile image as mail has been considered, but recently, real-time Internet facsimile communication for transmitting a facsimile image in real time has been developed. .

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a conventional real-time Internet facsimile. In the figure, 2
1 and 27 are facsimile machines, 22 and 26 are public lines,
23 and 25 are gateway devices, and 24 is the Internet. As shown in FIG. 6, in order to use the Internet 24, a gateway device is used at a connection point with the Internet 24. Then, ordinary public lines 22, 26 (including dedicated lines and extensions; the same applies hereinafter) are used between the facsimile device 21 and the gateway device 23 and between the facsimile device 27 and the gateway device 25. The communication between the facsimile machine 21 and the gateway device 23 and the communication between the facsimile machine 27 and the gateway device 25 are based on T.30. A facsimile communication protocol such as 30 is used. The communication between the gateway device 23 and the gateway device 25 using the Internet 24 is based on T.A. A real-time internet facsimile protocol such as 38 is used. The gateway devices 23 and 25 use, for example, a T.40 using the public line in this way. Facsimile communication protocol such as T.30 and T.30 using the Internet 24, for example. For example, one that supports both real-time Internet facsimile protocols such as 38 is used.

In a system having such a configuration, when transmitting a facsimile image from the facsimile apparatus 21 to the facsimile apparatus 27 in real time using, for example, the Internet 24, the facsimile apparatus 21 first connects to the gateway apparatus 23 through the public line 22. I do. At this time, the address (IP address or the like) of the receiving-side gateway device 25 to which the gateway device 23 connects via the Internet 24 and the telephone number of the receiving-side facsimile device 27 to be called by the receiving-side gateway device 25 are entered. Notify the gateway device 23.

[0006] The gateway device 23 communicates with the gateway device 25 via the Internet 24 using the address of the gateway device 25 on the receiving side notified from the facsimile device 21. At this time, the gateway device 23 transmits the telephone number of the facsimile device 27 on the receiving side to the gateway device 25 on the receiving side. The receiving-side gateway device 25 makes a call to the facsimile device 27 through the public line 26 based on the destination telephone number received from the transmitting-side gateway device 23, and connects to the facsimile device 27. In this way, the communication path from the facsimile machine 21 to the facsimile machine 27 is connected.

[0007] Facsimile communication is performed according to a protocol between the respective devices, and a facsimile image transmitted from the facsimile device 21 is transmitted to the gateway device 2.
3. Facsimile machine 2 via gateway device 25
7 in real time.

As described above, when using real-time Internet facsimile communication, it is necessary to specify the address of the gateway device on the receiving side as well as the telephone number of the facsimile device on the receiving side from the facsimile device on the transmitting side. Therefore, it cannot be used unless the address of the gateway device on the receiving side is known, and cannot be used for facsimile communication with an arbitrary destination. Also, even if you know the address of the receiving gateway device,
In addition to the telephone number of the destination, the address of the gateway device on the receiving side must be set, and a complicated operation is required.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a facsimile system that can easily use real-time Internet facsimile communication, and a gateway that can be used in such a facsimile system. It is intended to provide a device.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a gateway device for communicating via the Internet.
Communication means for performing communication via a public line, and specifying the address of the receiving-side gateway device by using a part of the destination telephone number from the second communication means, The communication device further comprises control means for relaying facsimile communication from the communication means to the receiving-side gateway device. For example, the control means can be configured to specify the address of the receiving-side gateway device using the area code of the destination telephone number.

With the gateway device having such a configuration, it is possible to specify the address of the gateway device on the receiving side from the destination telephone number received from the facsimile device on the transmitting side. Therefore, real-time facsimile communication using the Internet can be used without sending the address of the gateway device on the receiving side from the facsimile device on the transmitting side, and the use is easy.

The present invention also provides a facsimile system capable of real-time facsimile communication from a receiving-side gateway device to a receiving-side facsimile device using the Internet from a transmitting-side facsimile device via a transmitting-side gateway device. Upon receiving the call from the transmitting facsimile machine, the transmitting gateway apparatus
The address of the gateway device on the receiving side is specified using a part of the destination telephone number from the facsimile device on the transmitting side, and the facsimile from the facsimile device on the transmitting side is sent to the gateway device on the receiving side via the Internet. It is characterized by relaying communication.

With the facsimile system having such a configuration, the transmitting-side gateway device specifies the address of the receiving-side gateway device from the destination telephone number received from the transmitting-side facsimile device. Therefore, real-time facsimile communication using the Internet can be used without sending the address of the gateway device on the receiving side from the facsimile device on the transmitting side, and the use is easy.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile system according to the present invention, and FIG.
1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a gateway device according to the present invention.
In the figure, 1, 6 to 9 are facsimile machines, 2, 4, and 5 are gateway devices, 3 is the Internet, 11 is a controller,
12 is an Internet communication unit, 13 is a public line communication unit,
14 is a storage unit, and 15 is a conversion table. In the facsimile system shown in FIG.
5 are connected by the Internet 3. Of course, various devices can be connected via the Internet 3, and more gateway devices may be connected.

The gateway devices 2, 4, and 5 are connected to the Internet 3 and a public line, and are connected between a facsimile device connected via the public line and a receiving-side gateway device connected via the Internet 3. Relay facsimile communication. In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, the facsimile device 1 is connected to the gateway device 2, the facsimile devices 6 and 7 are connected to the gateway device 4, and the facsimile devices 8 and 9 are connected to the gateway device 5 via a public line. It shall be possible.

As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the gateway devices 2, 4, and 5 include a control unit 11 and an Internet communication unit 1.
2, a public line communication unit 13, a storage unit 14, and the like. The Internet communication unit 12 communicates with another Internet device using the Internet 3. Particularly, here, communication is performed with another gateway device. The public line communication unit 13 includes, for example, a modem, an NCU, and the like, and performs communication with a facsimile apparatus or the like using a public line (including a dedicated line and an extension).

The control section 11 performs various controls for relaying real-time Internet facsimile communication using the Internet 3 in particular. That is, for example, T.50 communication with a facsimile apparatus via a public line using the public line communication unit 13 is performed. Facsimile communication is performed by a facsimile communication protocol such as 30. In addition, for example, the T.300 communicates with another gateway device via the Internet 3 using the Internet communication unit 12. Communication using a real-time Internet facsimile protocol such as 38 is performed. The facsimile communication is relayed by the communication between the two.

When the facsimile device connected via the public line intends to perform facsimile transmission, the control unit 11 uses the conversion table 15 described later to transmit the telephone number of the destination transmitted from the facsimile device. Has the function of specifying the address of the gateway device on the receiving side from a part of the gateway device. When specifying the address of the gateway device on the receiving side, for example, the area code of the destination telephone number can be used. Of course, the address of the gateway device on the receiving side may be specified by using a part of the area code or a part or all of the area code and the city code. With this function, it is possible to automatically specify the address of the gateway device on the receiving side without connecting the address of the gateway device on the receiving side from the facsimile device, and to connect to the gateway device on the receiving side via the Internet 3. . Of course, this function only needs to be provided in the gateway device that receives a call from the facsimile device. For example, when the facsimile apparatus 1 calls in FIG. 1, the gateway apparatus 2 only needs to have this function.

The storage unit 14 can store information to be transferred and various types of information. Particularly, in this example, the conversion table 15 is stored. This conversion table 15 associates a part of the telephone number of the destination received when receiving a call from the facsimile machine with the address of the gateway device on the receiving side. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the conversion table. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the area code is used as a part of the destination telephone number, and the area code is associated with the IP address of the corresponding gateway device. For example, if the area code of the destination telephone number received by the gateway apparatus from the transmitting facsimile apparatus is “075”, the IP address “200.
1.3.1.1 "is performed. In FIG. 3, the area code "092"
It is also possible to set a plurality of IP addresses, such as a primary address and a secondary address, such as an IP address corresponding to. Of course, the same IP address may be set for a plurality of area codes.

In the example of the conversion table 15 shown in FIG. 3, an example is shown in which the area code is associated with the IP address of the gateway device. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, only a part of the area code may be used, such as “09” indicating the Kyushu-Okinawa region. Alternatively, when the area can be limited by the local area code (or a part thereof), the area code and the local area number (or a part thereof) may be used.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation of the facsimile system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the facsimile system including the gateway device of the present invention as described above, the operation when performing real-time Internet facsimile communication will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the facsimile apparatus 1 performs facsimile transmission. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, each of the facsimile apparatuses 6 to 9 is “075-XXX-YY”.
YY "," 075-XXX-ZZZZ "," 092-M
MM-PPPP "and" 092-NNN-QQQQ ". Furthermore, the gateway devices 4 and 5 respectively have the IP address “200.1.31.
1 "and" 200.1.3.2.5 ", and the conversion table shown in FIG.

For example, when facsimile transmission is performed in real time from the facsimile apparatus 1 to the facsimile apparatus 6 using the Internet 3, the facsimile apparatus 1 calls the gateway apparatus 2 through a public line.
When the line is connected, the facsimile apparatus 1 sends the destination telephone number “075-X” to the gateway apparatus 2.
XX-YYYY ". In the present invention, there is no need to transmit the address of the gateway device on the receiving side at this time.

The gateway apparatus 2 searches the conversion table 15 based on the destination telephone number received from the facsimile apparatus 1, and finds the address of the gateway apparatus corresponding to a part of the destination telephone number (here, the area code). To get. When the conversion table 15 is as shown in FIG. 3, the telephone number “075-XXX-YYYY” of the received address is received.
Of the gateway device corresponding to the area code "075"
The P address “200.1.3.1.1” is acquired. Then, the gateway device 2 transmits the I
The communication with the gateway device 4 having the P address “200.1.31.3” is started. At this time, the telephone number of the destination received from the facsimile machine 1 is transferred to the gateway device 4.

The gateway device 4 uses the public line to make a call based on the telephone number of the destination received from the gateway device 2 and connects the facsimile device 6 to the line. In this way, the facsimile device 1, the gateway device 2, the gateway device 4, and the facsimile device 6 can communicate. Thereafter, in a public line, for example, According to a facsimile communication protocol such as T.30, and in the Internet 3, for example, T.30. Communication can be performed in accordance with a real-time Internet facsimile protocol such as 38, and an image can be transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 1 to the facsimile apparatus 6 in real time.

When the facsimile machine 1 sends "092-NNN-QQQQ" as the destination telephone number to the gateway 2, the gateway 2
Acquires “200.1.3.2.5” as the IP address of the gateway device on the receiving side from the conversion table 15 based on the area code “092” of the received destination telephone number. Since this IP address corresponds to the gateway device 5, the gateway device 2 and the gateway device 5 communicate in this case. The gateway device 2 sends the destination telephone number “09” to the gateway device 5.
2-NNN-QQQQ "is transmitted. Then, using the telephone number of the destination received by the gateway device 5, a call is made to the facsimile device 9 via a public line to connect the line. In this way, the facsimile machine 1, the gateway 2, the gateway 5, and the facsimile 9 can communicate. Thereafter, an image is transmitted from the facsimile machine 1 to the facsimile machine 6 in real time. Of course, the same applies to the case where facsimile transmission is performed from the facsimile apparatus 1 to the facsimile apparatus 7 or the facsimile apparatus 8.

As described above, according to the present invention, the facsimile apparatus on the transmitting side only transmits the telephone number of the destination, and does not transmit the IP address of the gateway apparatus on the receiving side. You can send. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the facsimile transmission from the facsimile apparatus via the Internet in real time, and the facsimile transmission using the Internet can be performed without knowing the IP address of the gateway apparatus on the receiving side.

In the above description, an example in which the conversion table 15 is held in the transmitting-side gateway device (for example, the gateway device 2) has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the conversion table 15 is held in another device, and when the destination telephone number is received from the facsimile device on the transmission side, the IP address of the gateway device corresponding to the destination telephone number is inquired. Such a configuration is also possible. An example is shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing a modification of the embodiment of the facsimile system of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a gateway server. In this example, a gateway server 10 is connected to the Internet 3. The gateway server 10 holds, for example, the above-described conversion table 15 shown in FIG. 3 or corresponding data similar thereto, and returns an IP address of a gateway device corresponding to a part of a telephone number in response to a request.

For example, the facsimile apparatus 1 sends the destination telephone number “075-XXX-YY” to the gateway apparatus 2.
Sending “YY”, the gateway device 2 transmits the received telephone number or a part thereof to the gateway server 1.
0 to request the IP address of the corresponding gateway device. When, for example, correspondence data as shown in FIG. 3 is registered in the gateway server 10, the gateway server 10 responds to a request from the gateway device 2 and transmits the IP address of the gateway device corresponding to the destination telephone number or a part thereof. The address “200.1.31.31” is returned to the gateway device 2. The gateway device 2 receives the IP address from the gateway server 10 and communicates with the gateway device having the IP address via the Internet. Subsequent operations are the same as in the above-described example.

As described above, even when the gateway device on the transmitting side does not hold the correspondence data between the telephone number of the destination and the address of the gateway device, by inquiring of the gateway server 10, the receiving side corresponding to the telephone number of the destination can be obtained. Of the gateway device of the receiving side, and communication with the gateway device on the receiving side can be performed.
Of course, besides this, for example, when the gateway device on the transmission side is connected to a LAN or the like, and the server connected to the LAN also stores data corresponding to the telephone number of the destination and the address of the gateway device. In various configurations, it is possible to obtain the address of the gateway device on the receiving side by the same operation.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, there is no need to specify the address of the gateway device on the receiving side with the facsimile device on the transmitting side, so that real-time Internet facsimile communication can be easily performed. Can be. In addition, there is an effect that real-time facsimile communication using the Internet becomes possible even when the address of the gateway device on the receiving side is not known.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a gateway device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a conversion table.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an operation in the facsimile system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing a modification of the facsimile system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a conventional real-time Internet facsimile.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 6-9: Facsimile machine, 2, 4, 5: Gateway device, 3: Internet, 10: Gateway server, 11: Control unit, 12: Internet communication unit, 1
3 Public line communication unit, 14 Storage unit, 15 Conversion table, 21, 27 Facsimile machine, 22, 26 Public line, 23, 25 Gateway device, 24 Internet.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 3/00 H04L 11/20 B 11/00 302 101B H04N 1/32 F-term (Reference) 5C062 AA02 AA22 AA29 AA30 AF02 AF03 5C075 AB90 CD01 FF09 5K030 GA17 HA08 HC01 HD03 HD05 KA05 KA13 LB02 5K051 AA00 BB03 CC01 CC04 DD01 DD12 DD13 EE01 EE02 FF16 GG03 JJ02 JJ04 JJ12 JJ14 KK10 NN18 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first method for communicating via the Internet.
Communication means for performing communication via a public line, and specifying the address of the receiving-side gateway device by using a part of the destination telephone number from the second communication means, A gateway device comprising control means for relaying facsimile communication from communication means to the receiving gateway device. 2. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit specifies an address of the receiving-side gateway device using an area code of the destination telephone number. 3. A facsimile system capable of real-time facsimile communication from a receiving-side gateway device to a receiving-side facsimile device using the Internet from a transmitting-side facsimile device via a transmitting-side gateway device. The transmission-side gateway device that has received the call from the facsimile device specifies the address of the reception-side gateway device using a part of the destination telephone number from the transmission-side facsimile device, and A facsimile system, wherein facsimile communication from the facsimile device on the transmission side is relayed to a gateway device on the reception side.