JP2746995B2 - Image communication apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an integrated digital network (ISDN: Integrated Services).
The present invention relates to a communication device connected to a line such as a digital network, and more particularly to a communication device having a relay function.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, image information is transmitted from one facsimile apparatus to another facsimile apparatus via a line, and image information received from another facsimile apparatus to another facsimile apparatus is transmitted. The relay communication is widely practiced. In such relay communication, the relay instruction request is notified when the transmission / reception capability of the transmission / reception facsimile apparatus is negotiated after the line between one transmission-side facsimile apparatus and another reception-side facsimile apparatus is connected. Was.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For this reason, in the above-described conventional example, a request for a relay function from the transmission-side facsimile apparatus to the reception-side facsimile apparatus is made after the line is connected, so the relay communication is performed by the reception-side facsimile apparatus. There was a problem that extra charges would be incurred when it was not possible.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and in response to an incoming call even though relay communication is not possible, it is possible to prevent extra charges from being applied to the calling side and to make a call when the incoming call is not accepted. An object of the present invention is to be able to notify a calling operator that a receiving device has refused a call.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image communication device capable of relaying image information received using an ISDN line, and receiving incoming information indicating an incoming call notification sent via the ISDN line. Receiving means; detecting means for detecting relay instruction information for instructing relay communication included in the incoming information received by the receiving means; and detecting the relay instruction information when the detecting means detects the relay instruction information. Executing a process for returning an incoming call rejection signal for rejecting an incoming call in response to the incoming call notification or a process for receiving an instruction for relay communication in response to the analysis by the analyzing device. An image communication apparatus comprising: an execution unit; and a control unit that controls to execute the relay communication when the instruction of the relay communication is received by the execution unit. To.

Further, the image communication device has a memory unit for storing image information, and a check unit for checking the remaining memory of the memory unit when the relay instruction information is detected by the detection unit, The image communication apparatus is characterized in that the execution means executes the processing according to the result of the check means.

A method for controlling an image communication device capable of relaying image information received using an ISDN line, comprising: a receiving step of receiving incoming information indicating an incoming call transmitted via the ISDN line. Detecting a relay instruction information for instructing a relay communication included in the incoming call information received in the receiving step, and analyzing the relay instruction information when the relay instruction information is detected in the detection step. An execution step of executing a process for returning an incoming call rejection signal for rejecting an incoming call in response to the incoming call notification or a process for receiving an instruction for relay communication in response to the analysis by the analyzing process. And a control step of performing a control for performing the relay communication when the processing for receiving the instruction of the relay communication is performed by the execution step. It provides a method of controlling an image communication apparatus.

Further, when the relay instruction information is detected by the detection step, the method further includes a check step of checking a remaining memory capacity of a memory for storing image information, and the execution step includes:
A control method for an image communication apparatus, characterized in that the processing is executed according to a check result of the check step.

[Operation] In the above configuration, the relay instruction information for instructing the relay communication included in the incoming signal is detected, and the call rejection signal is returned or the relay communication instruction is received. Can be avoided.

Further, when the incoming call is not accepted, the incoming call rejection signal is returned, so that the calling operator can be notified that the receiving device has rejected the incoming call.

Furthermore, since the remaining amount of memory for storing image information is checked, and a rejection signal is received or a relay instruction is received according to the result, relay communication can be performed but relay image communication cannot be performed when image information cannot be stored. Will not be accepted.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Facsimile Apparatus (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a connection diagram showing a state in which a facsimile apparatus which is one embodiment of a communication apparatus according to the present invention is connected to an ISDN network which is a line. .

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an operation panel unit on which dials and switches operated by an operator are arranged, 2 denotes a reading unit (reader unit) that photoelectrically scans a document to be transmitted to form an image signal, and 3 denotes a laser, for example. This is a printer unit composed of a dot printer such as a beam printer (LBP) or a thermal transfer printer, which converts a received signal sent via a line into a dot pattern on a recording sheet and records it. Reference numeral 4 denotes a storage unit including a nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk or a floppy disk.

5 is an operation panel control unit for controlling the operation panel unit 1;
Is a reader control unit for controlling the reader unit 2, and 7 is a reader unit 2
OCR recognition unit that recognizes characters from information read by
Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer control unit for controlling the printer 3, reference numeral 9 denotes an OCR output control unit for recording characters corresponding to character codes sent from the line by the printer unit, and reference numeral 10 denotes storage for controlling the storage unit 4. It is a control unit.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a microprocessor unit for controlling the entire operation of the facsimile apparatus, including a ROM for storing a control program shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 described later, a RAM for temporarily storing various information, and the like. I have.

12 is a number table storage unit that stores information indicating a relay destination, 13 is a buffer memory that stores image information to be relayed sent from the line, and 14 is a unit that encodes and compresses image data read by the reader unit 2. Or an encoding / decoding unit for expanding compressed image data sent from an ISDN (line).

A communication control unit 15 controls communication between the facsimile apparatus and a plurality of other facsimile apparatuses (not shown) connected to the ISDN line 18 (the configuration is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 1). Is an automatic dial unit for automatically sending a dial signal, 17 is a network control unit (NCU), and BL is a bus line. As shown in the figure, each component is connected to each other via the bus line.

Next, the operation of the communication device shown in the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of a facsimile apparatus which is a communication apparatus on the transmission side connected to ISDN.

A call request generated when the operator operates the operation panel to instruct transmission, or a call request generated when the communication device on the transmission side detects that the specified time set by the operator through the operation panel has been reached. In step S20, it is determined whether or not a request for a relay instruction is included. If the call request does not include the relay instruction request, normal call communication processing is performed in step S21. if,
If it is a relay instruction request, in step S22, relay instruction information is added to the subaddress and a call request is made to the network 18. That is, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 4, the relay instruction information data indicating the destination required to have the destination facsimile relay the information, the information indicating the length of the relay instruction information data, and the relay instruction After adding information such as an identifier indicating that information data exists to the subaddress,
A call is made to the network 18.

Since a response signal from the facsimile apparatus which has requested the relay for such a call is transmitted via the network, the response signal returned in step S23 is received. Next, in step S24, the response signal is determined to determine whether the facsimile machine of the transmission destination has accepted or rejected the reception (calling). When it is determined that the incoming call has been rejected by the facsimile machine of the transmission destination, it is determined that the relay instruction request has been rejected, and step S26 is performed.
To end.

If it is determined by the destination facsimile apparatus that the incoming call has been accepted, an image to be relayed is transmitted in step S25. Note that this image transmission processing is the same as the conventional image transmission, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of a facsimile apparatus which is a communication apparatus on the receiving side connected to ISDN.

In step S30, the reception side communication device receives the call request from the transmission side communication device via the network, and in step S31, relay instruction information data is added to the subaddress included in the call reception request command. Is identified by the presence of the identifier. If it is determined that the identifier does not exist and the relay is not requested, a conventionally known communication process is performed in step S32.

If an identifier indicating the existence of the relay instruction information data exists in the sub-address, in step S33, the relay instruction information data is analyzed and the relay instruction is given to the relay destination registration table stored in the number table storage unit 12. Compare with the number. As a result, if there is a defect, step
In S34, the call is rejected.

If there is no problem, the process proceeds to step S35, where the remaining amount of the buffer memory 13 for storing images for relaying is checked. If there is not enough remaining amount, the process proceeds to step S34 to reject the incoming call. If there is a sufficient remaining amount, a signal permitting the incoming call is sent to the network in step S36. As a result, as described above, image transmission is performed in step S25 of the communication device on the transmission side. Thus, the transmitted image is received in step S36, and the received image information is stored in the buffer memory 13.

If the incoming call is rejected in step S34, an incoming call rejection signal is sent from the receiving communication device to the transmitting communication device via the network. Thus, the communication device on the transmitting side determines the rejection of the incoming call in step S24, and ends the processing without transmitting the image.

In this manner, the image information for relay received by the communication device on the receiving side is relayed and transmitted by a conventionally known method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an ISDN number used in the present embodiment. A1 indicates an ISDN number, B1 indicates a line type identifier indicating a type of line, and B2 indicates a number given to a subscriber who has joined ISDN in Japan. The domestic subscriber number is the number that is assigned.

B3 is a sub address, and A2 shows a data configuration of the sub address B3. B4 is an identifier for identifying the sub-address data, B5 is a data length area indicating the length of the sub-address data, B6 is the sub-address data, B7 is an identifier indicating the relay instruction information used in the present embodiment, and B8 is the present embodiment. B9 is data indicating the length of the relay instruction information used in this embodiment, and the relay instruction information used in the present embodiment stores the number of the relay destination facsimile apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by providing the relay instruction information to the sub-address and performing communication, when the relay cannot be executed, the relay can be rejected without connecting the line, so that there is an effect that unnecessary charge is not charged. .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, relay instruction information for instructing relay communication included in an incoming signal is detected,
Since the reply of the incoming call rejection signal or the reception of the relay communication instruction is performed, it is possible to prevent the calling party from being charged extra.

Further, when the incoming call is not accepted, the incoming call rejection signal is returned, so that the calling operator can be notified that the receiving device has rejected the incoming call.

Furthermore, since the remaining capacity of the memory for storing image information is checked, a call rejection signal is returned or a relay instruction is received in accordance with the result, so that relay communication can be performed but relay image communication cannot be performed when image information cannot be stored. Will not be accepted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a communication device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of calling in the communication device of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of the communication device of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an operation at the time of an incoming call, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of an ISDN number used in the embodiment. In the figure, 1 ... operation panel section, 2 ... leader section, 3 ... printer, 4 ... storage section, 5 ... operation panel control section, 6 ... reader control section, 7 ... OCR recognition section, 8 ... printer control section, 9 ... OCR output control unit, 10: storage control unit, 11: microprocessor unit, 12: number table storage unit, 13: buffer memory, 14
.., Code decoder, 16 automatic dial unit, 17 NCU, 18 line.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image communication device capable of relaying image information received using an ISDN line, comprising: receiving means for receiving incoming information indicating an incoming call notification transmitted via the ISDN line; Detecting means for detecting relay instruction information for instructing relay communication included in the incoming information received by the receiving means, and when the relay instruction information is detected by the detecting means,
Analysis means for analyzing the relay instruction information, and processing for returning an incoming call rejection signal for rejecting an incoming call in response to the incoming call notification or for receiving an instruction for relay communication in accordance with the analysis by the analyzing means. An image communication apparatus, comprising: an execution unit that executes a process; and a control unit that controls so as to perform the relay communication when an instruction of the relay communication is received by the execution unit. 2. An image communication apparatus comprising: a memory unit for storing image information; and the relay instruction information is detected by the detection unit.
2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a check unit for checking a remaining amount of memory in said memory unit, wherein said execution unit executes said processing according to a result of said check unit. 3. A method for controlling an image communication apparatus capable of relaying image information received using an ISDN line, the method comprising receiving incoming information indicating an incoming call transmitted via the ISDN line. A receiving step, a detecting step of detecting relay instruction information for instructing relay communication included in the incoming call information received by the receiving step, and when the relay instruction information is detected by the detecting step,
An analysis step of analyzing the relay instruction information, and a processing for returning an incoming call rejection signal for rejecting an incoming call in response to the incoming call notification or an instruction for relay communication in accordance with the analysis by the analyzing step. An image communication device comprising: an execution step of executing a process; and a control step of performing control for performing the relay communication when the process for receiving the relay communication instruction is executed by the execution step. Control method. 4. The control method for an image communication device according to claim 3, wherein the relay instruction information is detected in the detecting step.
An image communication apparatus comprising: a check step of checking a remaining amount of memory of a memory for storing image information; and the execution step executes the processing according to a check result of the check step. Control method.