JP2003037727A - Facsimile transmission controller and program recording medium therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select a FAX communication port, suited to the request of a user among a plurality of FAX communication ports each time, when a FAX transmission request is received by having only to optionally designate, in advance an assignment condition, for assignment of a FAX transmission request, to any of a plurality of the FAX communication ports. SOLUTION: A CPU 1 connects a communication line to a FAX communication port, in response to a FAX transmission request to conduct data transmission. A transmission execution control section 9 is provided corresponding to a plurality of FAX transmission ports P, the facsimile transmission controller references the assignment condition optionally designated by the user to decide the FAX communication port, according to the assignment of the FAX communication port in accordance with the FAX transmission request from the CPU 1 and transmits data to the decided FAX transmission port P by connecting a communication line thereto.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention connects to a communication line in response to a FAX (facsimile) transmission request, and
The present invention relates to a facsimile transmission control device for transmitting data through the communication line and its program recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, FAX communication software has been incorporated in a data processing apparatus such as a personal computer, and an input / created document is called to call a FAX modem (FA).
X is transmitted to the destination facsimile machine through the X communication port). At this time, if a plurality of FAX transmission jobs are waiting for transmission to one FAX communication port, When the transmission is completed,
The next job in the queue (the job with the highest priority in the queue) is sequentially specified and transmitted one by one. Here, the completion of transmission of one job means that the data transmission to the partner is normally completed, or the job ends in error after exceeding the preset number of error retries, whichever state is set. Then, the next job is specified and transmission is started.

[0003]

However, as described above, the transmission of one job is completed (normal end / abnormal end) and then the transmission of the next job is started. Until the time set as the retry interval, for example 180 seconds, elapses,
Even if there is the next waiting job, the job is in a waiting state until the previous transmission is completed, and there is a wasteful idle time, which is a factor that deteriorates the transmission efficiency. In particular, when the number of pages to be transmitted is huge and an error occurs during the transmission, the transmission is restarted from the first page at the time of error retry, so that it takes more time to complete the transmission. Further, in the case of having a plurality of FAX communication ports, the switching of the port according to the current situation, such as switching the job to the current free port, is performed manually each time. In this case, the operator needs to check the current situation and select the port that can transmit the data most efficiently, but it is extremely difficult to determine which port is the most efficient, and it depends on the current situation. Each time you switch ports,
There is a problem that the manual work puts a heavy burden on the operator. Further, since data transmission is performed in the order in which the FAX transmission request is made, the same destination (same FAX
If multiple fax transmission requests for (X number) are shifted in time, the communication line is disconnected once, and after a while, auto dialing is performed again to connect to the same partner. The disconnection causes an increase in communication cost, and if the other party's line is used during the time before redialing, a connection error will occur during redialing. In order to prevent this, you can manually change the job waiting order. However, searching the queue for fax transmission requests with the same fax number and combining them together When there are many numbers, it becomes a very difficult task.

An object of the first invention is to specify a plurality of FAX communication requests to any one of a plurality of FAX communication ports in advance by simply arbitrarily specifying an allocation condition for allocating a FAX transmission request. The FAX communication port can be selected from among the FAX communication ports according to the user's request. A second object of the present invention is to automatically select from among a plurality of FAX communication ports based on the transmission states of a plurality of FAX communication ports when a FAX transmission request is accepted, even if the operator is not particularly aware of it. By selecting an optimum FAX communication port for assigning a FAX transmission request, it is possible to expect a great improvement in transmission efficiency.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In a facsimile transmission control device that connects a communication line to a FAX communication port according to a FAX transmission request and performs FAX transmission through the communication line, assigning conditions for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX communication ports. Every time a FAX transmission request is received, a designation unit arbitrarily designated and an F that matches the allocation condition designated by the designation unit from a plurality of FAX communication ports
It is characterized by further comprising: selecting means for selecting an AX communication port; and transmission control means for allocating the FAX transmission request to the FAX communication port selected by the selecting means. Further, the computer is provided with a program for realizing the main functions shown in the invention described in claim 1 described above (the invention described in claim 7).

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a communication line is connected to the FAX communication port in response to a FAX transmission request, and
In a facsimile transmission control device that transmits data through the communication line, when a FAX transmission request is accepted, an allocation condition for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX communication ports and a transmission state of each FAX communication port. And a transmission control unit for allocating the FAX transmission request to the FAX communication port selected by the selection unit. Further, the computer is provided with a program for realizing the main functions shown in the invention described in claim 4 described above (the invention described in claim 8).

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a data processing device such as a personal computer in which FAX communication software is incorporated. This data processing device calls an input created document and sends it to a facsimile machine of a destination through a FAX modem (FAX communication port), and auto dials in response to a FAX transmission request.
A communication line is connected to the FAX communication port and data is transmitted through the communication line. Here, in this embodiment, each FAX has a plurality of FAX communication ports.
When a plurality of FAX transmission jobs are waiting to be transmitted for each X communication port, it is determined which port the FAX transmission job accepted this time is assigned to, and various controls are performed according to an error that occurred during FAX transmission. I'm trying to do. Here, the port allocation is determined by referring to the allocation conditions arbitrarily designated by the user in advance. It should be noted that this data processing device is not limited to FAX transmission but can of course be FAX reception, but in the following, only FAX transmission will be described and various device names will also be described for FAX transmission.

The CPU 1 is a central processing unit that controls the overall operation of the data processing device according to the operating system and various application software in the storage device 2. The storage device 2 includes an operating system, various application software, a database,
It has a storage medium in which character fonts are stored and its drive system. The storage medium 3 is fixedly provided or detachably attachable, and is composed of a magnetic / optical recording medium such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, a RAM card, and a semiconductor memory. The programs and data in the recording medium 3 are loaded into the RAM (static RAM or the like) 4 under the control of the CPU 1 as needed. Further, the CPU 1 receives a program or data transmitted from another device side via a communication line or the like and stores the program or data in the recording medium 3 or a program stored in a recording medium provided in the other device side. Or data can be accessed and used via a communication line or the like. Further, an input device 5 which is an input / output peripheral device, a display device 6, a printing device 7, a timer control unit 8 and a transmission execution control unit 9 are connected to the CPU 1 via a bus line, and the CPU 1 operates according to an input / output program. Control their behavior.

The input device 5 has a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs character string data and various commands.
Enter the FAX transmission port allocation condition that determines to which port the job requested for transmission is allocated. Here, the port allocation condition arbitrarily input and designated by the user in advance is set and stored in the storage device 2, and until the setting contents are changed, every time there is a FAX transmission request, A process of selecting and determining a port according to the allocation condition is performed. In addition to the method of directly designating a desired port, there are “designation by the number of jobs”, “designation by the number of pages”, and “designation by continuous transmission / combined transmission of the same FAX number”, which will be described later. ,
A desired determination method is selected and designated from among them.

The display device 6 is a liquid crystal, CRT or plasma display device, and the printing device 7 is a non-impact printer such as a thermal transfer printer or an inkjet printer or a dot impact printer. The timer control unit 8 gives an interrupt signal to the CPU 1 at regular intervals. The CPU 1 monitors the FAX job currently waiting for transmission according to this timer event, and if there is a job at the transmission timing, executes the transmission. FAX to control unit 9
Send request. The transmission execution control unit 9 is provided corresponding to a plurality of FAX transmission ports P, performs auto dialing in response to a FAX transmission request from the CPU 1, and connects a communication line to the corresponding FAX transmission port P. , Performs a FAX transmission operation for transmitting data through the communication line, and notifies the CPU 1 of various events.

FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing the relationship between the CPU 1, the timer controller 8, the transmission execution controller 9, and the FAX transmission port P. CPU1 is F from general application
When the FAX transmission request event is accepted, FAX transmission request processing is executed and the FAX transmission request is assigned.
When the transmission port P is determined and a timer event is accepted from the timer control unit 8 at regular intervals, the waiting job monitoring process is executed and the FAX transmission request for the job at the transmission timing is determined and the transmission corresponding to the port is executed. It is given to the control unit 9. Here, the CPU 1 causes the transmission execution control unit 9 to perform F
When the AX transmission request is given, the event from the transmission execution control unit 9 can be accepted. Further, each transmission execution control unit 9 corresponding to the plurality of FAX transmission ports P outputs a 1-page transmission end event, an error end event, and an all-page normal end event according to the FAX transmission operation, and notifies the CPU 1. Further, the transmission waiting job storage unit M as a spool file provided between the CPU 1 and the transmission execution control unit 9 is F
The AX transmission port P is provided in a one-to-one correspondence.
This transmission waiting job storage unit M stores each FAX transmission port P
It stores the queue of multiple jobs waiting for transmission for each job, and the job whose transmission timing is reached is read out from that queue, and the job transmission data is
It is written to the corresponding transmission data buffer B. At this time, the transmission execution control unit 9 automatically dials the designated destination FAX number, reads the contents of the transmission data buffer B page by page, and causes the corresponding FAX transmission port P to transmit. Note that, as described above, the CPU 1 only requests the transmission execution control unit 9 to execute the FAX transmission, and a plurality of FAs are transmitted.
Even if the X transmission request comes, the FAX transmission request can be simultaneously received asynchronously with the FAX transmission.

FIG. 3 shows the FA stored in the storage device 2.
In the figure showing the data structure of the X port management information A, the "number of FAX transmission ports" is stored in the header section, and the FAX control information is stored for each port subsequently. Here, the FAX control information for one port is, as shown in the figure, "FAX transmission port ID", "status identifier", "total number of jobs", "pointer to job information" ...
It consists of and. "FAX transmission port ID" is FA
Device identification data for the X driver, etc., and "state identifier"
Indicates the current status of the FAX transmission port P, that is, whether it is being transmitted or not, "total number of jobs" indicates the number of jobs currently queued for transmission, and "pointer to job information" Is an address pointer for accessing the job control information B stored and managed in units of jobs. The job control information B is stored and managed for each job.
D "," job data identifier "," destination FAX number "," pointer to transmission data combination information C "," job status identifier "," transmission start date "," total number of pages "," current transmission page number " , “Maximum number of retries”, “retry interval”, “current number of retries”, “job name”, “priority order” ,.

Here, the "job ID" is data for identifying the FAX transmission job, and the "job data identifier" is the name of the data file to be transmitted. The "destination FAX number" is the telephone number of the transmission destination, and the "pointer to the transmission data combination information C" defines the combination relationship when multiple jobs having the same FAX number are combined as one job. It is an address pointer for accessing the job control information B to be executed. Note that the combination of multiple jobs will be described later. Further, the “job status identifier” indicates the job status as “currently transmitting”, “waiting for transmission”, or “transmission completed” as the current status. The "transmission start date and time" indicates a date and time designated in advance as the transmission start timing, and the job is in a standby state until the "transmission start date and time" is reached. The “total number of pages” indicates the total number of pages to be transmitted, and the “currently transmitted page number” indicates up to which page the transmission is currently completed.

At this time, if a transmission error occurs before the transmission of the "total number of pages" is terminated and the transmission is interrupted and then retransmitted, the "currently transmitted page number" is called and the transmission is stopped. I am trying to send from the page. The "maximum number of retries" indicates the maximum number of times of retransmission when a connection error on a communication line or a transmission error on data transmission occurs. “Retry interval” indicates the waiting time before re-sending. If a connection error on the communication line or a sending error during data transmission occurs, the “sending start date and time” is set after the waiting time for this “retry interval”. I am trying to update. In this case, if there is a job waiting to be sent to that port, the job is sent using the retry time interval. “Current number of retries” indicates the number of retries up to the present time until the maximum number of retries is reached.
"Job name" indicates the job title to be sent,
The "priority" indicates the priority of interruption in the job queue.

The transmission data combination information C is configured to store and manage the first to Nth job IDs having a connection relationship with the number of combined jobs as shown in the figure. As a result, a combination relationship for combining a plurality of jobs having the same FAX number as one job is defined. In this case, a plurality of jobs that have been combined are put together as one job, and by referring to this transmission data combination information C, fax transmission is performed with one line connection. In addition, such a transmission will be
Although referred to as “combined transmission”, in this embodiment, as a special transmission method, a plurality of jobs having the same FAX number are continuously made in the same port, and a line connection is made for each job to perform FAX transmission. Although there is a method of transmission, such transmission is hereinafter referred to as "continuous transmission".

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. Here, the program for realizing each function described in these flowcharts is stored in the storage medium 3 in the form of a readable program code, and is stored in the CPU.
1 sequentially executes operations according to this program code. Note that this also applies to other embodiments described later.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart which is started every time a FAX transmission request event is received from a general application. First, the CPU 1 creates new job control information B on the basis of the FAX transmission request information (step A1), and sets "current retry count =" 0 "" and "job status identifier" as initial values of the job control information B. = “Waiting for transmission”, “current transmission page number =“ 1 ””, and “combined information =“ none ”” are set (step A2). And
A port determination process is performed to select one of the plurality of FAX transmission ports P to which the current FAX transmission request is assigned (steps A1 to A12).
That is, the port determination process is performed by referring to the output port allocation condition that has been arbitrarily designated by the user in advance, that is, the port determination method. Here, in the step, it is discriminated whether or not the output port determination method has been designated by the user in advance (step A3), and if not designated, the port searched first among the plurality of FAX transmission ports P is to be assigned. Is selected and determined (step A4). Further, when the output port determination method is designated and it is the one that “directly designates” the specific port (step A5), the designated port is directly selected and determined as the allocation target (step A6).

On the other hand, if the designation of the output port determination method is "designation by the number of jobs" (step A7), the FAX port management information A for each port is referred to and the "total number of jobs" is compared. The port with the smallest number of jobs waiting to be transmitted is selected and determined as the allocation target (step A8). If the designation is based on the number of pages (step A9), the port having the smallest number of untransmitted pages is determined. That is, referring to the FAX port management information A, the control information of each job waiting to be transmitted is designated for each port, and the total number of "total pages" for each job is accumulated. The cumulative value of the values obtained by subtracting the "currently transmitted page number" from the "number" is calculated, and the cumulative value calculated for each port is compared to select and determine the port with the smallest value as the allocation target (step A10). Further, if the designation of the output port determination method is “designation of continuous transmission / combined transmission of the same FAX number” (step A11), the process proceeds to step A12 in FIG. Referring to the control information of each job, compare the [destination FAX number] with the “destination FAX number” of the FAX transmission request accepted this time, and assign the port to which the job with the same number is assigned Select and decide as.

When the port to which the FAX transmission request of this time is assigned is determined in this way, a transmission order process for deciding where to add the FAX transmission request in the queue is performed in the determined port. That is, when the output port determination method is not designated (step A3), when the output port determination method is "direct designation" (step A3)
5) In the case of “designation by the number of jobs” (step A
7) In the case of "designation by number of pages" (step A9), the process proceeds to step A19 in FIG. 5 and "priority" is designated in the job control information B created based on the FAX transmission request designated this time. To see if it has been done. As a result, if the "priority" is not designated, the transmission waiting job storage unit M corresponding to the selected and selected port is accessed and the current job is added to the end (step A2).
0) If specified, a job having the same priority is searched in the transmission waiting job storage unit M corresponding to the selected and determined port, and the current job is interrupted at the end (step A21). FIG. 11 shows a queue (queue) of FAX transmission request jobs, and the "priority order" is A> B.
Assuming that there is a relationship of> C ..., As shown in (B), if the "priority order" is not specified in the FAX transmission request job this time, it is added to the end of the FAX transmission port P2.

On the other hand, the method of determining the output port is "same FA".
In the case of designation of continuous transmission / combined transmission by X number (step A11), one port having a job with the same FAX number is selected and determined as described above (step A12). In this case, this port is selected. The transmission waiting job storage unit M corresponding to is accessed, the job having the same FAX number is searched, and the current job is interrupted at the end (step A13). Then, in this case, it is further checked whether "combined transmission is designated" (step A14), and if it is designated as combined, it is further examined whether the transmission data combination information is already stored and managed (step A15). Here, if there are two or more jobs with the same FAX number in the same port, the job is created when the second job is additionally registered, but if there is no transmission data combination information C now. , It is created, and the address is set in the "pointer to combined information" of the job of the combination source (first) (step A
16). Then, the transmission data combination information C already created or this time is accessed to additionally register the current job ID (step A17). FIG. 11A shows the case of “designation of continuous transmission”, and FIG. 11B shows the case of “designation of combined transmission”.
Regardless of whether or not the "priority order" is specified, the FAX transmission request job of this time is added to the end of the jobs having a continuous / joining relationship with them.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a waiting job monitoring process which is started in accordance with a timer event output from the timer control unit 8 at regular intervals. First, the first FAX control information is designated from the FAX port management information A and called (step B1), and the "state identifier" is referred to check "in use" (transmission) (step B2). If it is being used, the process proceeds to step B13 to check if there is another unprocessed (selected) port.
If there is, the process returns to step B1, and the next FAX control information is designated and called. In this way, a free port that is not being transmitted is searched for. As a result, when a free port is searched, the first job control information B of the port is designated and called (step B3), and it is checked whether the "job status identifier" is "waiting for transmission" (step B4). . If the transmission is in progress or the transmission is completed, the process returns to step B3,
The next job control information B is designated and called, and the "job status identifier" is determined. In this way, you can search for jobs waiting to be sent, acquire the "sending start date and time",
Determine whether the transmission timing has been reached (Step B
5) If the transmission timing has been reached, the job is selected as a transmission target (step B6).

Then, by referring to the job control information associated with the selected job, the data after the "current transmission page number" is read and written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port (step B7). ), "Sending" the "status identifier" of the selected job
Is set (step B8). In this case, if the selected job is to be newly transmitted this time, the "currently transmitted page number" is normally set to "1", so that all the pages for the "total number of pages" from the first page The data is read and written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port. On the other hand, if the selected job was interrupted due to a transmission error at the previous transmission and the job is retransmitted after the retry interval has elapsed, the current transmission page number of the job will be
Since the page number that can be normally transmitted before the transmission error occurs is set, the data written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port this time is
Data after the middle page, that is, the "currently transmitted page number"
All data for the "total number of pages" from the next page onward will be included.

Next, referring to the transmission data combination information C indicated by the "pointer to the combination information" of the selected job,
An unprocessed combined job is selected (step B9), and if there is a combined job (step B10), the job control information B indicated by the job ID is selected and acquired (step B1).
1) At the same time, the data after the "current transmission page number" of the combined job is written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port (step B7), and the "status identifier" of the selected job is set to "transmitting" ( Step B8). The above operation is repeated every time a combined job is detected. As a result, the transmission data for a plurality of jobs having a connection relationship is continuously written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port in accordance with the connection relationship of the plurality of jobs defined in the transmission data connection information C. FIG. 12 shows the state in this case, where the data of the FAX transmission request job and the data of the FAX transmission request job are put together into one and written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port. Here, the FAX transmission request job is interrupted due to a transmission error in the previous transmission, and is retransmitted after the lapse of the retry interval, until the transmission error occurs in the "current transmission page number" last time. This is a case where "2" is set as the page number that could be normally transmitted in the meantime. In such a case, all the data from page 3 of the fax transmission request job and the data of all pages of the fax transmission request job are 1
They are put together into one and written in the transmission data buffer B of the selected port.

When the processing for writing the data in the transmission data buffer B for one port is completed in this way, a FAX transmission request is sent to the transmission execution control section 9 corresponding to the selected port (step B12), and " The "state identifier" is set to "in use" (step B13). Then, it is checked whether there is another unprocessed port (step B1.
4) If there is, return to step B1 and repeat the above operation. In this way, the port that is transmitting is skipped, and if there is a free port, specify it one by one sequentially,
A job at the transmission timing is detected in the queue of the vacant port, the data of the job is read and written in the transmission data buffer B of the port, and a FAX transmission request is given to the transmission execution control unit 9.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the transmission execution control unit 9 which is started when a FAX transmission request is received from the CPU 1. First, the transmission execution control unit 9 acquires the destination FAX number included in the FAX transmission request information, connects to the communication line of the FAX number partner by auto dialing (step C1), and checks whether the connection is normal. (Step C2). Here, when a connection error is detected because the communication partner is in a call, the connection of the communication line is interrupted, and an error end event is generated and given to the CPU 1 (step C3).
On the other hand, when it is confirmed that the connection is normal, the value of the counter N (not shown) for monitoring the page being transmitted is initialized to "1" (step C4), and the value of this counter N is displayed. The data of the Nth page to be read is read from the corresponding transmission data buffer B and transmitted from the FAX transmission port P (step C5). The data read from the transmission data buffer B is modulated through the FAX transmission port P as usual.

Then, it is checked whether or not there is a page transmission error (step C6), and if a transmission error occurs during data transmission for one page, the connection of the communication line is interrupted as in the case of the above-mentioned connection error. At the same time, an error end event is generated and given to the CPU 1 (step C3), but if the data for one page can be normally transmitted, a one page transmission end event is generated and the CPU 1 is notified. (Step C7), "1" is added to the counter N and the value is updated (step C8). Then, it is checked whether the data of the Nth page indicated by the counter N exists in the transmission data buffer B, that is, whether the transmission of all the pages in the transmission data buffer B has been completed (step C9), and the transmission of all the pages is performed. The process returns to step C5 until the above is finished, and the above operation is repeated page by page. As a result, when all pages have been sent,
The CPU sends an event indicating that the transmission of all pages has ended to that effect.
1 is notified (step C10).

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU 1 which is started when a one-page transmission end event is received from the transmission execution control section 9. First, the FA that has completed data transmission for one page based on the one-page transmission end event
The X transmission port P is specified, and its FAX transmission port ID is acquired (step D1), and the job ID for which one page transmission is completed is acquired (step D2). Then, the FAX port management information A is referred to based on the acquired FAX transmission port ID and job ID, and the corresponding job control information B is acquired (step D3). The "currently transmitted page number" in this job control information B is compared with the "total number of pages" (step D4). If "currently transmitted page number">"total page number" is not satisfied, that is, all of the jobs. If the transmission of all pages has not been completed, "1" is added to this "currently transmitted page number" to update the value (step D5). on the other hand,
When “currently transmitted page number”> “total number of pages” is satisfied and it is detected that transmission of all pages of the job is completed (step D4), the “job status identifier”
Is set to "Complete" (step D6). Then, an unprocessed combined job is selected by referring to the transmission data combination information C indicated by the "pointer to combined information" (step D7), and if there is a combined job (step D8), the combined job ID is used. The job control information B shown is acquired (step D9), and the "current transmission page number" and the "total page number" in the job control information B are compared (step D4). As a result, if all the pages of this combined job have not been transmitted, processing for updating the value of this "currently transmitted page number" is performed (step D5).

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU 1 which is started when an error end event is received from the transmission execution control unit 9. First, the FAX transmission port P that ended in error is specified based on the error end event, and the "state identifier" corresponding to the FAX transmission port is set to "
Set it to "vacant" (step E1).
Acquire the AX transmission port ID (step E
2) Obtain the job ID that ended in error (step E3). Then, the FAX port management information A is referred to based on the acquired FAX transmission port ID and job ID, and the corresponding job control information B is acquired (step E).
4). “Current retry count” in this job control information B
Is incremented by 1 (step E5), and the "current retry count" is compared with the "maximum retry count" (step E5).
6). As a result, if "current retry count">"maximum retry count", it is processed as a fax transmission job error end (step E9), but if the "current retry count" is equal to or smaller than "maximum retry count", the job is processed. The "retry interval time" is added to the "transmission start date and time" to update the "transmission start date and time" (step E7), and the "job status identifier" is set to "waiting for transmission" (step E8). .

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU 1 which is started to be executed when an all-page normal end event is received from the transmission execution control section 9. First, the data transmission for all pages is completed based on the all-page transmission end event.
AX transmission port P is specified and its FAX transmission port ID
Is acquired (step F1), and the job ID for which transmission of all pages has been completed is acquired (step F2). Then, the FAX port management information A is referred to based on the acquired FAX transmission port ID and job ID, the corresponding job control information B is acquired (step F3), and the “total” in the corresponding FAX port management information A is acquired. The number of jobs is subtracted by "1" (step F4). Then, the transmission data combination information C indicated by the "pointer to the combination information"
Select an unprocessed combined job by referring to (Step F
5) If there is a combined job (step F6), the process of subtracting "1" from the "total number of jobs" (step F4) while acquiring the job control information B indicated by the combined job ID (step F7). Repeat for the number of combined jobs. In addition to the one or more job control information B acquired in this way, all the transmission data combination information C linked to it is deleted (step F8), and the "status identifier" of the FAX transmission port P is set to "vacant". Set to "(step F9).

As described above, in the first embodiment, when the connection error during the communication line or the transmission error during the data transmission is detected, the connection with the communication line is interrupted and interrupted. A certain retry time interval is set for the FAX transmission request job, and if there is another FAX transmission request job waiting for transmission, this job is interrupted to start the FAX transmission, and then it is interrupted. When the retry time set for a job has elapsed, the FAX transmission for that job is restarted, so even if it is during the retry time of the job that was interrupted when the error occurred, it is waiting for transmission. Other jobs can be interrupted and sent, making it possible to effectively utilize the retry interval, which was previously a wasted free time, and the communication effect is that much. It is possible to improve the.

When a transmission error is detected during the transmission of data for a plurality of pages and the connection to the communication line is interrupted, the mid-transmission page at the time of the error is stored and held as the "current transmission page number". In addition, when the FAX transmission for the interrupted job is restarted, the data transmission is performed from the page in the middle of the transmission, so that the duplicate transmission of the same page can be avoided and the transmission time and the communication cost can be reduced. It is possible to reduce paper waste at the other party and prevent misidentification of pages due to duplicate transmission of the same page.

If one or more allocation methods for allocating a FAX transmission request to any of a plurality of FAX transmission ports are arbitrarily designated, a plurality of FAX transmission ports are received each time a FAX transmission request is accepted. Select the transmission port according to the specified allocation method from among the above, and determine the transmission order of the FAX transmission request, so by simply specifying an arbitrary allocation method in advance, the user's request It is possible to select a suitable transmission port, and it is possible to effectively use a plurality of ports according to the method used by the user. Here, a plurality of FAX transmission request jobs having the same FAX number of the transmission destination are assigned to the same F.
When "continuous transmission" to be continuously transmitted from the FAX transmission port is designated by the user, the same FAX number is selected from a plurality of FAX transmission ports based on the FAX number each time a FAX transmission request is accepted. When selecting the port where the job exists and assigning the FAX transmission request this time to this selected port, the transmission order is controlled so that multiple jobs with the same FAX number are transmitted consecutively. The occupancy rate of the destination facsimile machine is increased, and it becomes possible to preferentially transmit a plurality of jobs, and line connection errors can be reduced.

When "combined transmission" is designated by the user, each time a FAX transmission request is received, the FAX is transmitted.
The same F from among multiple FAX transmission ports based on the number
When selecting the port where the job with the AX number exists and assigning the FAX transmission request this time to this selected port,
The transmission order is controlled so that multiple jobs with the same number are transmitted consecutively, and when faxing, the data for the multiple jobs is combined into one and the communication line is cut off for each of the multiple jobs. Without sending the data, all the data collected into one is sent by connecting to the communication line once. Therefore, the error occurrence at the time of line connection is reduced, and the communication time and communication cost are greatly reduced. Reduction is possible.

In the first embodiment described above,
"Send other job during error retry", "Retry send from transmission error page", "Send multiple jobs with same fax number", "Send one job by combining multiple jobs with same fax number" However, it is also possible to set a condition that one of the above-described transmissions is not applied to the job designated in advance. Further, the designation for applying any of the above-described transmissions may be made for each FAX transmission request.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the "continuous transmission" and the "combined transmission" are performed, the condition is that the FAX numbers are the same.
In the case of having an X number, "continuous transmission" or "combined transmission" may be performed if it corresponds to any of the FAX numbers. In this case, it is possible to prepare an index table in which the destination party and a plurality of FAX numbers held by the party are associated with each other, and refer to the index table to determine whether the destination party is the same destination party. Also, when performing "send other job during error retry", the next job waiting to be sent at that port was specified and sent, but if the number of pages in that job is large and it takes time to send Alternatively, another job having a small number of pages may be designated and transmitted regardless of the transmission waiting order. Also,
When performing "retry transmission from the transmission error page",
Data indicating that the transmission is from the middle page may be transmitted at the start of the retry.

(Second Embodiment) The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the first embodiment described above, one or more allocation methods for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX transmission ports and the control of the transmission order are arbitrarily designated. In the second embodiment, even if the user does not specify the allocation method and the transmission order in advance, the output port and the transmission order optimal for the transmission efficiency are automatically determined. In this case, there is a mode switching button (not shown) for arbitrarily switching and designating the automatic mode for designating the automatic determination process of the output port / transmission order and the manual mode designated by the user. Here, basically the same components in both embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the characteristic part of the second embodiment will be mainly described below.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a characteristic part of the automatic determination processing for automatically determining the optimum output port and transmission order in terms of transmission efficiency. Others are the same as those in the above-mentioned first embodiment. The description is omitted. here,
When the FAX transmission request is received, the execution of the flowchart of FIG. 13 is started on condition that the above-mentioned automatic mode is designated. First, based on the FAX number of the other party for which the FAX transmission is requested, all the FAX transmission ports P in which a job having the same FAX number is waiting for transmission are selected (step G1), and it is checked whether or not there is a corresponding port. , (Step G2), if there is one, the selected port is checked (step G3). If two or more ports are selected, the port with the smallest number of jobs waiting to be sent is selected from the selected ports (step G4), and it is checked whether or not there is one selected port ( In step G5), if two or more ports are selected, the "total number of pages" of the number of jobs waiting to be transmitted among the selected ports is further accumulated in order to further narrow down the selection candidates. One port with the smallest value is selected (step G6). The selected port thus selected is assigned, and the current FAX transmission request job is added to the end of the jobs having the same FAX number of the port (step G7).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step G2 that there is no corresponding job having the same FAX number, the process proceeds to step G8, and of all the ports, the port with the smallest number of jobs waiting for transmission is selected. select. As a result, it is determined whether or not the number of jobs is narrowed down to one port (step G9). If the number of relevant ports is two or more, the number of jobs waiting to be transmitted among the selected ports is further reduced in order to narrow down the selection candidates. One port having the smallest total value of the "total number of pages" is selected (step G10). The decision port selected and decided in this way is to be assigned. In this case, it is checked whether or not there is a "priority designation" in the current fax transmission request (step G11). The current FAX transmission request job is added to the end of the jobs of the same priority in the queue (step G12). If the priority order is not specified in the FAX transmission request of this time, the FAX transmission request job of this time is added to the last job of the determined port (step G1).
3).

As described above, in the second embodiment, when a FAX transmission request is accepted, a plurality of allocation conditions for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX transmission ports and the respective FAX transmission ports. The optimum port for transmission efficiency is selected based on the current status, and the FAX transmission request this time is assigned to the selected port, and the F
Since the transmission order of AX transmission requests is determined, the optimum port is automatically selected and the FAX transmission request is assigned to the port or the transmission order is determined without the operator having to pay special attention. Therefore, it is possible to expect a significant improvement in transmission efficiency.

In the second embodiment described above,
When deciding a port, first select the port that has the least number of jobs waiting to be sent, and if the number of applicable ports is 2 or more as a result, to further narrow down the selection candidates, select each selected port. Among them, the port with the smallest total value of the "total number of pages" of the number of jobs waiting to be sent was selected. However, selection is not performed by the number of jobs, but only by the cumulative page value. The port may be selected. In addition, when automatic port allocation is performed, the transmission mode after continuous allocation of the same FAX number as described in the first embodiment, that is, “continuous transmission”,
It is the same as in the first embodiment described above that it is necessary for the user to arbitrarily specify in advance which of the “combined transmissions” should be executed. In this case, if the "continuous transmission" is not performed and only the "combined transmission" is performed, the designation is of course unnecessary.

[0041]

According to the first and seventh aspects of the present invention, the FAX transmission can be performed only by arbitrarily designating an allocation condition for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX communication ports in advance. Multiple F's each time a request is accepted
Since the FAX communication port that meets the user's request is automatically selected from the AX communication ports, it is possible to effectively use the plurality of FAX communication ports by a method according to the usage of the user. According to the invention described in claim 4 and claim 8, even if the operator does not have to pay special attention, when a fax transmission request is accepted, the fax transmission request is automatically assigned from a plurality of fax communication ports. Since the optimum FAX communication port in terms of transmission efficiency is selected as the FAX communication port for this purpose, a great improvement in transmission efficiency can be expected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a data processing device having a FAX transmission function.

FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing the relationship between a CPU 1, a timer control unit 8, a transmission execution control unit 9, and a FAX transmission port P.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of FAX port management information A, job control information B linked to it, and transmission data combination information C.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing FAX transmission request processing that is started each time a FAX transmission request event is received from a general application.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a FAX transmission request process following FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a waiting job monitoring process which is started according to a timer event output from the timer control unit 8 at regular intervals.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of a transmission execution control unit 9 which is started when a FAX transmission request is received from the CPU 1.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the CPU 1 which is started when a one-page transmission end event is received from the transmission execution control unit 9.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the CPU 1 that is started when an error end event is received from the transmission execution control unit 9.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the CPU 1 which is started when an all-page normal end event is received from the transmission execution control unit 9.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a queue of jobs waiting to be transmitted corresponding to each FAX transmission port P and explaining to which port the present FAX transmission request is assigned.

FIG. 12 shows the same FA when “combined transmission” is specified.
The figure which showed that the data of the fax transmission request job of X number were put together into one, and are written in the transmission data buffer B.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a characteristic part of automatic determination processing for automatically determining the optimum output port and transmission order in terms of transmission efficiency in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 storage devices 3 storage media 8 Timer control unit 9 Transmission execution control unit P FAX transmission port M Transmission waiting job storage section A FAX part management information B job control information C Transmission data combination information

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Eiji Hatano             2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo             Shio Computer Co., Ltd. Tokyo office (72) Inventor Naoki Fukumoto             2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo             Shio Computer Co., Ltd. Tokyo office (72) Inventor Makoto Tsurumi             2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo             Shio Computer Co., Ltd. Tokyo office F-term (reference) 5C075 AB08 BA03 FF02

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A communication line is connected to a FAX communication port in response to a FAX transmission request, and F is transmitted through the communication line.
In a facsimile transmission control device that performs an AX transmission, a specifying unit that arbitrarily specifies an allocation condition for allocating a FAX transmission request to any of the plurality of FAX communication ports, and a plurality of FAX communication ports each time the FAX transmission request is received Selecting means for selecting a FAX communication port that matches the allocation condition specified by the specifying means, and a transmission control means for allocating the FAX transmission request to the FAX communication port selected by the selecting means. A facsimile transmission control device characterized by the above. 2. When the allocation condition designated by the designating means indicates that a plurality of FAX transmission requests having the same destination are continuously transmitted from the same FAX communication port, the selecting means, Each time a FAX transmission request is accepted, another FAX transmission request of the same transmission destination exists from a plurality of FAX communication ports based on the transmission destination.
When a communication port is selected, and the transmission control unit assigns the current FAX transmission request to the FAX communication port selected by the selection unit, the data for the FAX transmission request continues to the data for the other FAX transmission request. 2. The facsimile transmission control device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission order is controlled so that the facsimile transmission is performed. 3. The transmission control means, when continuously transmitting a plurality of FAX transmission requests having the same transmission destination from the same FAX communication port, combines the data for the plurality of FAX transmission requests, and 2. The facsimile transmission control device according to claim 1, wherein data for a plurality of combined fax transmission requests is transmitted through one communication connection to the communication line. 4. A facsimile transmission control device for connecting a communication line to a FAX communication port according to a FAX transmission request and transmitting data through the communication line, when a FAX transmission request is accepted, a plurality of FAX communication ports are received. F based on the allocation condition for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of the above and the transmission state of each FAX communication port.
A facsimile transmission control apparatus comprising: a selection unit for selecting an AX communication port; and a transmission control unit for allocating the FAX transmission request to the FAX communication port selected by the selection unit. 5. The selecting means, each time a fax transmission request is accepted, selects a fax communication port having another fax transmission request of the same destination from among a plurality of fax communication ports based on the destination. , The transmission control means selects the F selected by the selection means.
When assigning the FAX transmission request this time to the AX communication port, the data corresponding to the FAX transmission request is transmitted to the other FA.
5. The facsimile transmission control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the transmission order is controlled so that the data corresponding to the X transmission request is transmitted continuously. 6. The transmission control means, when continuously transmitting a plurality of FAX transmission requests having the same destination from the same FAX communication port, combines the data corresponding to the plurality of FAX transmission requests, 5. The facsimile transmission control device according to claim 4, wherein data for a plurality of combined fax transmission requests is transmitted by one communication connection to the communication line. 7. A recording medium having a computer-readable program code, which allows a computer-readable program code to arbitrarily specify an assignment condition for assigning a FAX transmission request to any of a plurality of FAX communication ports. And a computer-readable program code for selecting a FAX communication port that matches the allocation condition designated by the designating unit from a plurality of FAX communication ports each time a FAX transmission request is received, and the selected FAX. A recording medium having a computer-readable program code for assigning the FAX transmission request to a communication port. 8. A recording medium having a computer-readable program code, wherein when a FAX transmission request is accepted, an allocation condition for allocating the FAX transmission request to any of a plurality of FAX communication ports and each FAX. F based on the transmission status of the communication port
A recording medium having: a computer-readable program code for selecting an AX communication port; and a computer-readable program code for allocating the FAX transmission request to the selected FAX communication port.