JP2776611B2 - Facsimile storage and switching equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a facsimile storage and exchange device,
The present invention relates to a facsimile storage and switching device capable of performing a process of setting communication processing parameters suitable for use in a facsimile communication system including a facsimile terminal, a circuit switch, and a facsimile storage and switching device.

[Prior Art] As a conventional technique relating to a facsimile storage and exchange device,
For example, a technique described in JP-A-62-274952 is known. In this prior art, since communication processing parameters such as the number of recalls are fixed values for each device, it is impossible for a user to select various communication parameters, and various The request could not be met.

For example, if you send a fax and the other party is busy, the delivery time of the fax may be
Some people want to send an AX, and if the other party is busy, immediately stop sending the fax and send another medium, such as a phone,
Some people want to convey messages to others via a route using a personal computer.

Also, if an extremely important number is written on the document to be sent and an error occurs even on one line, fax
Some users prefer to send documents to other media than others, while others say that even a small number of line errors can make no difference at all.

For these various users, a device according to the prior art, which uses the same device-fixed communication processing parameters and uses the same busy retry interval, the number of times, the same error line allowable value, and the like, is extremely user-friendly. It is a device that ignores convenience, and it must be said that it is a system.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the related art, communication processing parameters required for transmission and reception of messages in the storage and exchange device are uniquely determined by the device, and the parameters match the intentions of various users. However, there is a problem that such a process cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to make the value of a communication processing parameter necessary for transmission and reception of a message in store-and-forward variable, so that a fine-grained application for a user can be achieved. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile storage and exchange device capable of providing a simple facsimile storage and exchange service.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, there is provided a facsimile communication system including a facsimile terminal, a circuit switch, and a facsimile storage and exchange device, wherein the facsimile storage and exchange device has an error line number threshold value. A plurality of processing class tables storing a combination of communication processing parameters based on the number of busy talk retries during delivery and the busy talk retry interval, and responds when the above-mentioned processing class is specified from the facsimile terminal on the transmission side. This is achieved by transmitting facsimile data to the receiving-side facsimile terminal using the communication processing parameters in the processing class table.

Further, the object is that the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus stores a plurality of processing class tables storing a combination of communication processing parameters based on the number of error lines, the number of retries during delivery, and the retry interval during delivery.
A terminal facsimile terminal number and a processing class table storing the correspondence between the processing class and the destination facsimile terminal number, and when the destination facsimile terminal number is transmitted from the transmitting facsimile terminal, the terminal number and the processing class table are used. This is achieved by obtaining a processing class and transmitting facsimile data to a receiving-side facsimile terminal using communication processing parameters in a processing class table corresponding to the obtained processing class.

Further, the above object is to provide a facsimile storage and exchange device,
Equipped with a plurality of processing class tables storing combinations of communication processing parameters based on the number of error line thresholds, the number of busy talk retries during delivery, and the busy talk retry interval, and currently transmits facsimile data to the delivery destination facsimile terminal This is achieved by transmitting facsimile data to a facsimile terminal on the receiving side using communication processing parameters in a processing class table corresponding to a processing class predetermined according to whether or not the time is in the working hours.

[Operation] The communication processing parameters include the number of redistribution retries when the other terminal is busy, the redistribution retry interval value, the number of allowable error lines when receiving a fax, and the like. In the present invention, a communication process is executed by a group of programs for setting these parameters and a group of programs to be referred to.

That is, the program that sets these communication processing parameters determines these parameter values based on some criterion and sets them as program delivery information. On the other hand, redelivery processing, a timer management program that determines the interval, a fax data reception program, etc.
With reference to the inter-program delivery information in which the communication processing parameters are written, parameters such as the number of redistributions, the interval value thereof, and the number of allowable error lines at the time of FAX data reception are determined, and based on these parameters. Perform processing.

The communication processing parameters may be given by the user, or a combination of communication processing parameters may be prepared in advance, and the combination may be designated by the user.

Further, the communication processing parameter may be determined based on a communication time zone with the facsimile terminal, or may be determined based on a delivery source ID and a delivery destination ID of the facsimile data.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a facsimile storage and exchange apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an exchange network provided with an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an inter-program delivery information table, and FIGS. 3 and 8 designate a time and perform a delivery request. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a service procedure in a case, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a table in which communication processing parameters are combined using a processing class as a key, and FIG. 5 is a common table of detailed information of a processing class input as a service order. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining creation of a common table, FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an operation when changing communication processing parameters according to the current time, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining a terminal number table. Illustration to explain,
FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the creation of the communication processing parameter common table. In FIG. 1, 1 is an exchange, 2 'is a facsimile terminal, 3 and 3' are push-button telephones, 4 is a facsimile storage and switching device, 11 is a network controller (hereinafter referred to as NCU), and 12 is a PB signal. Receiver, 13
Is a facsimile interface, 14 is a CPU, 15 is a memory, 16 is a disk controller, and 17 is a disk device.

In an exchange network having a facsimile storage and exchange service function shown in FIG. 1, an exchange 1 for performing exchange connection between arbitrary terminal devices includes a facsimile terminal 2,
2 'and push-button telephones 3, 3' corresponding to these terminals are connected respectively. The exchange 1 connects each of these terminals to a line circuit (not shown) and connects a central office line or the like via a trunk circuit. The switching circuit 1 controls a switch circuit under the control of a processor that performs overall call processing. Switching and controlling exchange connection between arbitrary terminal devices.

The exchange 1 is connected to a facsimile storage and exchange device 4. This facsimile storage and exchange device 4 is an NC
U11, PB signal receiver 12, facsimile interface 13
The NCU 11 controls outgoing and incoming calls to the exchange 1, and receives a service order such as a destination telephone number and a facsimile delivery time by a PB signal receiver 12 and encodes the received data by a facsimile interface 11. The obtained image data is stored in the memory 15, the disk device 17, and the like.

The facsimile storage and exchange device 4 extracts the image data information at an arbitrary timing under the control of the CPU 14, and transmits the image data information to the terminal device that has accessed the image data or the terminal device designated as the facsimile output. I do.

Note that the disk controller 16 is a disk
Perform 17 interfaces.

Next, the operation when the facsimile storage and exchange service is performed in the system configured as described above will be described.

Now, the facsimile sender who owns the facsimile terminal 2 specifies, for example, the time and the facsimile terminal 2 '.
Send facsimile data to the message recipient that owns

In this case, the sender first uses the telephone 3
The facsimile storage and exchange device 4 is called via the exchange 1, and after the facsimile storage and exchange device 4 responds, the PB of the telephone 3 is
Using a signal, a service order such as a destination telephone number and a designated time is input. After the input of the service order, the facsimile terminal 2 transmits transmission data to the facsimile storage and exchange 4.

On the other hand, the facsimile storage exchange 4 responds to the incoming call by the NCU 11, and the telephone 3 and the facsimile storage exchange 4
After the path is created, the PB signal receiver 12 receives the service order from the telephone 3, analyzes the service order in the CPU 14, and transmits the encoded image data from the facsimile terminal 2 to the facsimile interface. The data is received by the ace 13, decoded, or stored in the memory 15 and the disk 17 together with the facsimile storage data management information such as the service order input by the PB signal in the form as it is encoded by the facsimile terminal 2.

Then, the facsimile storage and exchange device, as described above,
At the specified time entered as a service order,
The facsimile storage data management information and the image data are read out from the disk 17, and a call is made to the destination telephone set 3 'using the NCU 11, and a call is made between the facsimile storage exchange 4 and the telephone set 3'. After the path is created, the image data read from the disk device 17 is encoded by the facsimile interface 13,
Alternatively, the data is sent to the facsimile terminal 2 'in the same format.

By the operation described above, the facsimile storage and exchange device 4
Can perform a facsimile communication service in a specified form at a specified time from a facsimile sender who owns the telephone 3 and the facsimile 2 to a facsimile receiver who owns the telephone 3 'and the facsimile 2'.

When the facsimile storage and switching service as described above is performed, various processing parameters are required. For example, from the facsimile terminal 2 to the facsimile storage and exchange 4
When the image data is transmitted to the system, the error check is typically performed by checking the number of dots per line. When the number of lines determined to be erroneous by this error check system exceeds a certain threshold, Similarly, a method for determining that facsimile image data during communication cannot be received is also standard.

In the device according to the prior art, the threshold value of the number of error lines is a fixed value determined by the device, and as described in the section of the prior art, this threshold value is set to a value that requires extremely high accuracy in facsimile transmission. The manuscript and the facsimile manuscript that does not require any precision are treated as the same, and cannot reflect the user's will.

Accordingly, in the present invention, a program for controlling a PB signal receiver that has received a service order of a facsimile storage and exchange service is prepared by creating a program transfer information table in the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus as shown in FIG. The original program) processes the transaction ID of the table shown in FIG. 2 and the threshold value of the number of error lines into a program for receiving and analyzing facsimile image data transmitted from the facsimile terminal 2 (transfer destination program). Set as parameters, handover,
Further, the facsimile image data reception analysis program uses this processing parameter as a threshold value of the number of error lines. Thus, the threshold value of the number of error lines can be made variable.

Further, the present invention sets the threshold of the number of error lines as
By allowing the user to specify the service order from the user of this apparatus and specifying not only the threshold value of the number of error lines but also other communication processing parameters as the service order, It is possible to provide a detailed facsimile storage and exchange service according to the will.

In this case, since there are a plurality of communication processing parameters specified by the user, a combination of a plurality of communication processing parameters is determined in advance on the device side, and the user specifies a combination of the parameters. Thereby, the operability of the user can be improved.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention in such a case will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an operation sequence when the facsimile terminal 2 requests the facsimile storage and exchange device 4 to deliver the facsimile data by specifying the time.

In this case, first, a call is made from the telephone 3 connected to the facsimile terminal 2, and the facsimile storage and exchange device 4 is called. The called facsimile storage and exchange device 4
Responds to the call and prompts the PB telephone 3 to input a service order. Using the PB signal of the PB telephone 3, the user can use his / her own terminal number as the calling terminal ID, a service number indicating that the service is a time designation service, the partner terminal number as the called terminal ID, and the designated delivery time. , And a service order such as a processing class is input to the facsimile storage and switching apparatus 4.

At this time, there is no need for a response from the facsimile storage and switching apparatus 4 every time each service order is input, and in this case, the above-mentioned service orders are collectively input. Also, when there is a response, the response may be a guidance sound for prompting the next input or a response with a simple signal sound.

On the other hand, the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 4 receives these service orders using the PB signal receiver 12, encodes the received service orders with a program for controlling the PB signal receiver 12, and generates facsimile storage data management information as The data is stored in the memory 15 and the disk device 17 together with the next received facsimile image data.

In the above description, the service order described as the processing class is based on the threshold of the number of error lines used by the facsimile interface control program, the number of retries when delivery to the facsimile terminal 2 ′ is impossible due to busy, etc. This number indicates a combination of retry interval values and the like, and is prepared in advance in the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an example of a table showing the contents of this processing class.

As can be seen from FIG. 4, for example, when the processing class “0” is input in the service order, the control program of the facsimile interface 13 sets the threshold of the number of error lines at the time of facsimile image data reception to 4 lines, When the designated time arrives, the number of delivery retries when the call cannot be made from the facsimile storage and exchange device 4 to the telephone 3 'when the call is delivered to the facsimile terminal 2' is twice and the interval time is 2 minutes. Controls the transmission of facsimile data.

As described above, when there are a plurality of processing parameters, if those processing parameters are transferred by the inter-program transfer information as shown in FIG. 2, the number of message transmissions and receptions between the programs increases, and the processing performance of the apparatus is degraded. It becomes a factor.

For this reason, in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, a parameter table for communication processing using a transaction ID (for example, a facsimile data reception serial number) as a key is provided in the apparatus as a common table. The program can be made to refer to the transaction ID as a key.

Next, the operation of creating such a common table will be described in the sixth.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

(1) First, the input PB code is loaded, and the process branches according to the current service order acceptance mode (step
600, 601).

(2) If the branch mode in step 601 is the processing class reception mode, the value of the previously loaded PB code is determined (steps 602, 606, and 610).

(3) In accordance with the values determined in steps 602, 606 and 610, refer to the processing class table shown in FIG.
A communication processing parameter table is created for each transaction ID as shown in the figure (steps 604, 608, 61).
2, 614).

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, since parameters for communication processing can be specified by a user of the apparatus according to the present invention, a detailed facsimile storage and exchange service that matches the convenience and will of the user is provided. be able to.

In addition, since each communication processing parameter is stored in a common table and can be referred to from any program, the number of unnecessary inter-program communications is reduced, and the load on the processing capacity of the system can be reduced.

Furthermore, since a set of these communication processing parameters is sub-set and provided to the user, the user only has to input one set of the sub-set as a processing class, and the operation of the user is simple. is there.

In addition, since the PB signal of the telephone is used as a means for inputting these communication processing parameters to the facsimile storage and exchange device, there is no need to prepare new hardware for inputting parameters. It can be used as is and is very economical.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the communication processing parameter
Although the setting was made by the user for each call, the present invention sets the communication processing parameter instead of the instruction from the user,
It can also be configured to change dynamically within the device.

First, as one example of dynamically changing communication processing parameters in the apparatus, an example in which these communication processing parameters are variable depending on the communication time zone between the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus and the facsimile terminal will be described with reference to the flow shown in FIG. explain.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, the operation when the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus which has received facsimile data and received the delivery request actually performs the delivery is shown by a processing function block.

(1) First, the current time is read from the OS or hardware to know the current time (step 700).

(2) Next, classification is performed as to whether the current delivery time is a normal working time zone or other times (lunch break, night time) (steps 702 and 70).
Four).

(3) If the current delivery time is in the working hours, it is expected that the delivery destination facsimile terminal will be used frequently, and the number of retry calls will be increased, and the interval value will be set longer. In the illustrated example, the number of retries for recall is seven times, and the interval value is five minutes. This setting may be performed on the communication processing parameter table corresponding to the transaction ID shown in FIG.

(4) If the current delivery time is during the lunch break, at night, or the like, the frequency of use of the delivery destination facsimile terminal is expected to be low, the number of retry calls is reduced, the interval value is set short, and facsimile storage is performed. Minimize the accumulation of unnecessary data in the device. In the illustrated example, the number of retries for recall is set to two and the interval value is set to one minute (step 708).

(5) Thereafter, the facsimile data to be delivered is taken out from the disk device 17 shown in FIG. 1, a call is made to the delivery destination using the NCU 11, and the facsimile data is output by the facsimile interface 13 (steps 710 to 710). 71
6).

In the above-described embodiment, the communication processing parameters are changed in the time zone of one day. However, this period is considered in the range of one month and one year. If the use frequency is expected to be high near the end of the month, the number of recalls is large as described above,
The interval can be set longer.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, in accordance with the frequency of use of the delivery destination facsimile terminal, it is possible to make outgoing calls and re-calls, thereby preventing undelivered calls due to the high use frequency of the delivery destination facsimile terminal, It is possible to improve the throughput by preventing unnecessary delivery calls from staying in the device due to the low frequency of use of the delivery destination facsimile terminal, thereby providing a convenient and economical facsimile storage and switching device.

The example shown in FIG. 8 is an example in which the parameters for communication processing are variable depending on the user or the delivery destination who requests facsimile data delivery. This will be described below.

The example shown in FIG. 8 is an operation sequence in the case where the facsimile terminal sends a request for delivery of facsimile data by specifying the time from the facsimile terminal to the facsimile storage and exchange device as in the case of FIG. In addition, the input operation of the processing class is eliminated, and the operation of the user as a whole can be reduced by one time.

In this example, instead of changing the communication processing parameters by the input of the processing class from the user, the own terminal number as the caller terminal ID (this is the partner terminal Busy
This is necessary when a non-delivery notification is output to the originating terminal when delivery cannot be made to the other party due to the above, or the like, or the communication processing parameter is changed using the other party terminal number as a key.

Generally, a facsimile storage and switching device is mostly constructed as a component of a corporate network. In this case, a logical number assigned to each facsimile terminal to be used as a local terminal number and a destination terminal number is used. Terminal numbers and actual telephone numbers (physical terminal numbers) are registered in advance in the facsimile storage and switching apparatus. These registrations are performed by creating a table by linking a logical terminal number (logical terminal number), an actual telephone number (physical terminal number), and a processing class, as shown in FIG.

Thereby, the facsimile storage and exchange device can, for example,
By inputting the partner terminal number, the processing class at the time of performing the service can be known from the table as shown in FIG. 9, and the table shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. , Communication processing parameters can be determined.

FIG. 10 shows a processing flow when the communication processing parameter is changed by the partner terminal, which will be described below.

(1) First, the input PB code is loaded, and the process branches according to the current service order reception mode (step 10).
(0, 102) (2) In the branching process of step 102, in the partner terminal number reception mode, the value of the PB code loaded earlier, that is, the partner terminal number and the terminal number table shown in FIG. The logical terminal number is compared with the logical terminal number, and the logical terminal number in the table that matches the partner terminal number is searched (step
104, 106, 108, 110).

(3) If a match is obtained in step 108, the processing class linked to the relevant logical terminal number is loaded, and the respective communication processing parameters of the processing class are loaded according to the processing table shown in FIG. A communication processing parameter table shown in FIG. 5 is created for each transaction ID (steps 112, 114, and 118).

(4) In step 108, when the search of the table is completed without finding the logical terminal number corresponding to the partner terminal number in the terminal number table shown in FIG. 9, the default communication processing parameters are loaded. Thus, the communication processing parameter table shown in FIG. 5 is created (steps 116 and 118).

According to the above-described method, the parameters can be changed and determined depending on the delivery destination. For example, the communication processing parameter is set as the processing class of the terminal number addressed to the executive of the company, such as a factory manager or a department manager. By setting the received data error line allowable value to be small and the number of recalls to be large, for example, facsimile data addressed to the executive can be delivered with less errors, with higher accuracy, and with less failure to deliver.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the processing class using the own terminal number as a key instead of the partner terminal number,
In this case, for example, it is possible to reduce the number of errors in facsimile data transmitted from a department that handles numbers such as the accounting department, as compared to facsimile data such as text having fixed contents such as notification of participation in a meeting.

In the above-described embodiment, since the processing class is determined on the device side, it is unclear to the user, especially the delivery requester, which processing class the delivery request was made. Therefore,
The present invention provides a response to the last service order input,
It is also possible to output a sound such as "accept in the processing class OO" or the like to clarify the processing class to the user.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, since the communication processing parameters are determined without specifying the user depending on the delivery destination and the delivery source of the facsimile data, a very easy-to-operate and detailed facsimile storage. Exchange service can be provided.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, communication processing parameters in a facsimile storage and exchange service can be made variable for each service, so that common software can be used for various users. Thus, it is possible to standardize software, and it is possible to obtain an effect that it is not necessary to individually correspond communication processing parameters.

Further, according to the present invention, the communication processing parameters in the facsimile storage and exchange service can be designated according to the user's intention, so that it is possible to provide a detailed service suitable for the user's convenience.

Further, according to the present invention, rather than prompting the user to input each of these communication processing parameters, the apparatus prepares a combination of each parameter in advance and allows the user to input the combination. It is only necessary to select and input only the set, and a highly operable system can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an exchange network provided with an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an inter-program delivery information table, and FIGS. 3 and 8 designate a time and perform a delivery request. For explaining the service procedure in the case, FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a table in which communication processing parameters are combined using a processing class as a key. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a common table of detailed information of a processing class input as a service order. FIG. 6 is a common table. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an operation when changing communication processing parameters according to the current time, FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a terminal number table, and FIG.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the creation of a communication processing parameter common table. 1... Exchange, 2, 2 '... facsimile terminal, 3,
3 '... push-button telephone, 4 ... facsimile storage and exchange, 11 ... network control unit (NCU), 12 ... PB signal receiver, 13 ... facsimile interface, 14 ... CP
U, 15 ... memory, 16 ... disk controller, 17 ...
... Disk devices.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 12 / 54,12 / 58 H04N 1 / 00,1 / 32

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] In a facsimile communication system comprising a facsimile terminal, a circuit switch, and a facsimile storage and exchange device, the facsimile storage and exchange device has a threshold value for the number of error lines, a delivery retry count and a delivery retry count. A plurality of processing class tables storing combinations of communication processing parameters according to intervals are provided, and when the processing class is specified from the facsimile terminal on the transmission side, the communication processing parameters in the corresponding processing class table are used. A facsimile storage and switching device for transmitting facsimile data to a facsimile terminal on the receiving side. 2. A facsimile communication system comprising a facsimile terminal, a circuit exchange, and a facsimile storage and exchange device, wherein the facsimile storage and exchange device has a threshold value of an error line number, a number of retries during delivery, and a retry during delivery. A plurality of processing class tables storing a combination of communication processing parameters according to intervals, and a terminal number / processing class table storing correspondence between a delivery destination facsimile terminal number and the processing class, are provided from a facsimile terminal on the transmission side. When the delivery destination facsimile terminal number is transmitted, a processing class is obtained from the terminal number / processing class table, and a facsimile terminal on the receiving side is used by using a communication processing parameter in the processing class table corresponding to the obtained processing class. Send facsimile data to Facsimile store and forward apparatus according to claim and. 3. A facsimile communication system comprising a facsimile terminal, a circuit switch, and a facsimile storage and exchange device, wherein the facsimile storage and exchange device has a threshold value for the number of error lines, the number of retries during delivery and the number of retries during delivery. A plurality of processing class tables storing combinations of communication processing parameters according to intervals, and processing corresponding to a processing class predetermined according to whether or not the current time at which facsimile data is transmitted to a delivery destination facsimile terminal is in a working time zone. A facsimile storage and switching device for transmitting facsimile data to a receiving-side facsimile terminal using a communication processing parameter in a class table.