JP3025522B2 - Transmission control method for facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention calls an ISDN facsimile apparatus having a group 3 facsimile transmission function connected to an ISDN from a group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a public telephone line network. In addition, the present invention relates to a transmission control method of a facsimile apparatus for transmitting data from a group 3 facsimile apparatus to an ISDN facsimile apparatus.

[Prior Art] In recent years, the network is being developed, and the ISDN is provided with an inter-network connection function with a public telephone line network so that data can be exchanged with a terminal device connected to the existing public telephone line network. I have.

Therefore, among facsimile apparatuses connected to ISDN, those provided with a group 3 facsimile transmission function so as to perform data transmission with a group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a public telephone line network are in practical use.

On the other hand, in ISDN, since many types of data terminals are connected, the possibility of connection between the data terminals connected via ISDN can be checked during the call setup procedure.
The signals that are exchanged between ISDN and the terminal during call setup include:
An information element indicating the transmission function of the data terminal is included.

Many applications have been devised for executing various specific services on the called terminal side by using information elements included in the call setting signal.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to the existing public telephone network is connected to an ISDN facsimile apparatus having a group 3 facsimile transmission function and image information transmission. It can be performed.

However, since a public telephone line network cannot send an ISDN call setting signal to the ISDN side, a situation has arisen in which the service function provided in the ISDN facsimile apparatus cannot be used.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has made it possible to use a service function of an ISDN facsimile apparatus connected to ISDN from a group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a public telephone line network. An object of the present invention is to provide a transmission control method for a facsimile machine.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, a group 3 facsimile apparatus includes operation means for operating and inputting additional information to be notified to an ISDN facsimile apparatus. When the operation is input, the additional information is added to the transmission procedure signal and transmitted to the ISDN facsimile apparatus. The ISDN facsimile apparatus calls the group 3 facsimile apparatus and adds the additional information to the transmission procedure signal received on the information channel. Is added, the transmission function according to the additional information is executed.

[Operation] Therefore, since additional information for executing the service function can be transmitted from the group 3 facsimile apparatus to the ISDN facsimile apparatus, the group 3 facsimile apparatus uses the service function provided in the ISDN facsimile apparatus. be able to.

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

FIG. 1 shows a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a control unit 1 performs a control process of each unit of the facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure process. A system memory 2 stores a control processing program and a processing program executed by the control unit 1. In addition to storing various data and the like necessary when executing the processing, the work area of the control unit 1 is configured.
The parameter memory 3 stores various information unique to the group 3 facsimile apparatus.

The scanner 4 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 5 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 6 is for operating this facsimile machine. It consists of various operation keys and various indicators.

The encoding / decoding section 7 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. The image storage device 8 encodes and compresses the image signal. This is for storing a large number of image information in the state of being closed.

The group 3 facsimile modem 9 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21) for exchanging transmission procedure signals.
Modem) and a high-speed modem function (V.29 modem, V.27ter modem) for mainly exchanging image information.

The network control device 10 is for connecting the facsimile device to a public telephone line network and has an automatic transmission / reception function.

These are a control unit 1, a system memory 2, a parameter memory 3, a scanner 4, a plotter 5, an operation display unit 6, an encoding / decoding unit 7, an image storage device 8, a group 3 facsimile modem 9, and a network control device 10. Is the system bus
The data is exchanged between these elements mainly through the system bus 11.

Data exchange between the network controller 10 and the group 3 facsimile modem 9 is directly performed.

FIG. 2 shows an ISDN facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. This ISDN facsimile machine is
In addition to using the DN as a transmission path, it has a group 3 facsimile machine function, a group 4 facsimile machine function, and a call function.

In the figure, a control unit 21 performs an operation control process of the facsimile apparatus, a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure process,
It executes group 4 facsimile transmission procedure processing and call procedure processing of the upper layer, and the system memory 22 stores a processing program executed by the control unit 21 and various data necessary for executing the processing program. In addition, it constitutes a work area of the control unit 21.

The parameter memory 23 is for storing various kinds of information unique to the facsimile apparatus. The parameter memory 23 is provided from a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device such as a battery-backed SRAM (static random access memory) which can rewrite data. Become.

The clock circuit 24 is for obtaining current time information, the scanner 25 is for reading an original image at the resolution set in the group 4 facsimile apparatus, and the plotter 26 is for reading the image in the group 4 facsimile apparatus. It is to record and output at the resolution set in the device.

The operation display unit 27 is used to operate the facsimile machine, and includes various operation keys and various display devices such as a liquid crystal display for displaying guidance information to an operator.

The encoding / decoding unit 28 encodes and compresses the image signal by a predetermined encoding method and decodes the image information in the encoded and compressed state into the original image signal. The unit 29 is for converting the pixel densities of the images of the scanner 25 and the plotter 26 to each other when the pixel densities of the images that can be transmitted by the other terminal device are different from each other.

The image storage device 30 is for storing various information such as a transmission image signal, transmission image information, reception image information, and reception image signal.

The ISDN interface circuit 31 is for physically connecting to the ISDN, and the layer 1 signal control unit 32 includes a signal processing function for the ISDN layer 1 and a D channel (signal channel) signal and two B channels (signals). (Information channel) signal integration / separation function.

The D channel transmission control unit 33 uses the D channel to
The CODEC 34 is for performing analog signal / digital data signal conversion processing for transmitting analog signals using the ISDN B channel. is there.

The B channel transmission control unit 35 is for performing layer 2, 3, 4, and 5 transmission control processing in group 4 facsimile transmission control processing using the ISDN B channel (information channel).

The group 3 facsimile modem 36 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21) for exchanging transmission procedure signals.
Modem) and a high-speed modem function (V.29 modem, V.27ter modem) for mainly exchanging image information.

The switch 37 is for switching and connecting the CODEC 34 to any one of a group 3 facsimile modem 36, a handset 38 for a telephone call, and a speaker 39 for outputting a ring tone or the like.

Control unit 21, system memory 22, parameter memory 23,
Clock circuit 24, scanner 25, plotter 26, operation display unit 27,
Encoding / decoding unit 28, pixel density conversion unit 29, image storage device 3
0, layer 1 signal control unit 32, D channel transmission control unit 33, C
The ODEC 34, the B channel transmission control unit 35, the group 3 facsimile modem 36, and the switch 37 are connected to the internal bus 40, and exchange of various information between these elements is mainly performed through the internal bus 40. It is done.
A hook signal FS indicating a hook state of the handset 38 is applied to the control unit 21 via the internal bus 40.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a transmission procedure of the group 3 facsimile apparatus.

First, when the transmitting side calls the receiving side and the receiving side answers the incoming call, the receiving side sends out the called station identification signal CED for indicating that the own terminal is a non-voice terminal, and the receiving terminal is equipped with the called terminal identification signal CED. The non-standard identification signal NSF for notifying the non-standard transmission function and the digital identification signal DIS for notifying the standard transmission function provided in the terminal are sequentially transmitted.

The transmission side determines the transmission function to be used at that time based on the transmission function set by the operator and the received non-standard identification signal NSF and digital identification signal DIS, and notifies the determined transmission function contents. A non-standard function setting signal NSS is sent to the receiving side, and a training check signal is sent at the modem speed set at that time.
Send TCF.

When receiving the non-standard function setting signal NSS, the receiving side analyzes the contents thereof, sets the transmission function to each element in the device, and receives the training check signal TCF. Then, when the reception result of the training check signal TCF is good, the reception preparation confirmation signal CFR is transmitted.

Upon receiving the reception preparation confirmation signal CFR, the transmission side reads the image of the transmission original by the scanner 4 and encodes and compresses the obtained image signal by the encoding / decoding unit 7 to form image information PIX. The image information PIX is transmitted to the receiving side.
When the transmission of the image information PIX is completed, a procedure end signal EOP is transmitted.

Upon receiving the image information PIX, the receiving side decodes the image information PIX into the original image signal by the encoding / decoding unit 7, transfers the image signal to the plotter 5, and records and outputs the received image. At the same time, an error detection operation is performed, and the image information PIX
Is normally received, a message confirmation signal MCF is returned to the transmitting side.

Upon receiving the message confirmation signal MCF, the transmitting side sends a disconnection command signal DCN to restore the line, and the receiving side
When the disconnection command signal DCN is received, the line is restored.

In the transmission procedure of this group 3 facsimile apparatus, procedure signals such as the non-standard function identification signal DIS
It is exchanged using the TT Recommendation V.21 modem function. Also,
FIG. 4 (a) shows the signal format of the procedure signal.

Basically, it has a frame format of HDLC procedure,
In the information field I, facsimile control data FCD for identifying each procedure signal is arranged. Also,
Like a non-standard function identification signal NSF and a non-standard function setting signal NSS, a facsimile control data FCD is added to a procedure signal requiring a parameter, followed by a facsimile information field FIF in which the parameter is arranged.

In the present embodiment, when the ISDN facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is to perform a specific service function, additional information for requesting execution of the service function is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the non-standard function setting signal NS
It is added to the facsimile information field FIF of S.

An example of the signal format of this additional information is shown in FIG.
In this case, the additional information is an additional information identification code for indicating that the information is not transmission function information but additional information, additional information content length information indicating the length of the additional information,
Further, an additional information body representing the additional information itself is sequentially arranged.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a call control procedure in a circuit switching mode performed by a terminal device connected to ISDN with ISDN.

That is, the calling terminal first sets the circuit switching mode as the transfer mode, sends a call setup message SETUP specifying the destination terminal to the ISDN, and requests a call setup with the destination terminal, and the ISDN A call setup message SETUP is sent to the called terminal to make a call. In addition, ISDN includes a call setting acceptance message CALL_PRO for notifying the call setting status.
Send C to the calling terminal.

Upon detecting an incoming call, the called terminal sends out a calling message ALERT to ISDN continuously at a predetermined interval when the own terminal is in a state where it can receive a call.
T is transmitted to the calling terminal to notify that calling of the called terminal has started.

When the called terminal answers the incoming call, the response message CONN is sent to ISDN.
ISDN sends a response message CONN to the calling terminal to notify that the called terminal has accepted the call.

Also, ISDN sends a response confirmation message CONN_ACK to the called terminal.
To confirm the response of the called terminal, at which point an information channel (B channel) for data transmission is established between the calling terminal and the called terminal.

Thus, data transmission using the information channel is performed between the calling terminal and the called terminal according to the transmission control procedure set for the transmission function of each terminal.

When the data transmission is completed, the originating terminal sends a disconnection message DISC to the ISDN to request release of the information channel, and the ISDN sends a disconnection message DISC to the destination terminal to notify the destination of the restoration of the information channel.

As a result, when the destination terminal responds to the ISDN with a release message REL for notifying the completion of the channel disconnection, the release message REL is transmitted from the ISDN to the calling terminal. When the channel release is completed, the calling terminal sends a release complete message REL_COMP to the IS.
The ISDN sends a release completion message REL_COMP to the destination terminal to notify that fact, and the release of the information channel is established, and the information set between the source terminal and the destination terminal is transmitted. The channel is completely released.

In this way, an information channel is set between the calling terminal and the called terminal, data transmission is performed, and when the data transmission ends, the information channel is released.

Also, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), each message for ISDN call setting is a protocol identifier for identifying a protocol use (format, sequence, etc.) for designating a layer 3 call control message, and the message Call number to identify which call is involved in the message, message type to identify the content of each message, required information elements that are always added to each message, and required for each message And an additional information element added according to. Note that 0, 1, or a plurality of essential information elements are set according to the message type, and 0, 1, or a plurality of additional information elements are arranged according to the situation.

The call setup message SETUP has "transmission capability" as an essential information element as shown in FIG. 2B, and additional information elements include, for example, "calling number", "calling subaddress", "calling number", "Destination subaddress", "lower layer compatibility", "higher layer compatibility", and "user
It has an information element such as "user".

 The outline of these information elements will be described.

The "transmission capability" information element uses an information transfer capability indicating whether the content of information to be transmitted is voice, unrestricted digital information, restricted digital information, 3.1KHz audio, 7KHz audio, or video. The switching function includes a transfer mode indicating whether the switching function is a circuit switching or a packet switching, an information transfer speed indicating an information transfer speed, information indicating an information transfer mode, and information indicating a user information protocol.

The "calling number" information element indicates the ISDN number of the calling terminal, and the "calling number" information element indicates the ISDN number of the called terminal. The "calling subaddress" information element and the "calling subaddress" information element are used to identify the intended one of up to eight terminals connected to the same home wiring (passive bus) on the calling side or called side. It is.

The “lower layer compatibility” information element is used for a communication possibility check with the partner terminal, and has the same basic content as the “transmission capability” information element. Further, the "lower layer consistency" information element includes more detailed contents.

The “higher layer compatibility” information element is for use in a consistency check with a partner terminal, and includes, for example, a group
2 / Group 3 facsimile, Group 4 facsimile,
It indicates which terminal function among the terminal functions such as the mixed mode, teletex, videotex, telex, and message handling system is provided.

The “user / user” information element is used for transmitting information between users, and this “user / user”
The content of the information element is transmitted transparently without being interpreted by ISDN and transmitted to the other user.

Here, as the signal format of the sub-address, although the number of digits is limited, any signal format can be used for the user. You can specify that a function be performed. In this case, the “destination subaddress” information element corresponds to the additional information described above.

Therefore, when the group 3 facsimile apparatus intends to cause the ISDN facsimile apparatus to perform a specific service function, the same content as the information content set in the "destination subaddress" information element may be set as the additional information.

However, depending on the content of the service function, the calling terminal may be notified of the execution result of the service function or the service function may request the “calling number” information element.
It is necessary to further add the same content as that of the “calling number” information element to ISDN as additional information.

FIG. 7 shows an example of processing at the time of transmission by the group 3 facsimile apparatus.

When a transmission original is set on the scanner 4, a list of additional information is displayed on the operation display unit 6, and an additional information input guidance message for inquiring whether to input additional information is displayed (Process 101). Then, the operator is prompted to input additional information corresponding to the service function to be executed by the partner terminal.

When the operator selects any item (judgment 10
If the result of step 2 is YES), the contents of the selected item are entered and stored as additional information (step 103).

Next, other transmission operation inputs are performed until the transmission start is commanded (NO loop of processing 104 and decision 105). When the transmission start is commanded and the result of decision 105 becomes YES, the designated destination is issued. During the call (process 106), the reception of the called station identification signal CED from the partner terminal is monitored until the predetermined time has elapsed (NO group of determinations 107 and 108).

If the called station identification signal CED is received from the partner terminal before the predetermined time elapses after the call is made, and if the result of determination 108 is YES, the non-standard function identification signal transmitted from the partner terminal Upon receiving the NSF and the digital identification signal DIS (process 109), the transmission function to be used is set (process 11).
0).

Then, it is determined whether or not additional information has been input by the operator (decision 111).
In the case of, the non-standard function setting signal NSS in which the input information is added to the transmission function information indicating the transmission function set at that time in the above-described signal format is formed and transmitted (process 112).

If the result of the determination 111 is NO, a non-standard function setting signal NSS in which the set transmission function is set is formed and transmitted (process 113).

When the setting and notification of the transmission function are completed in this way, the modem training procedure is executed (step 114),
The image information for one page is formed and transmitted to the partner terminal (process 115).

Next, it is checked whether or not there is a document to be transmitted on the next page (decision 116). If the result of decision 116 is YES,
In order to transmit a multi-page signal MPS notifying that there is a subsequent page as a post-message signal (process 117), and to receive a response signal from the partner terminal (process 118), to transmit image information of the next page Then, the process proceeds to step 115.

When the image information transmission of all the transmitted originals is completed and the result of the determination 116 becomes YES, a procedure end signal EOP is sent as a post-message signal (process 119), and after receiving a response signal from the partner terminal, (Process 120) A disconnect command signal DCN is transmitted (process 121), and the line is restored (process 122).

In addition, during the period from the time the call is made until the predetermined time elapses,
When the called station identification signal CED is not received from the other terminal,
When the result of the determination 107 is YES, the process immediately proceeds to a process 122 to restore the line and terminate the transmission operation.

FIG. 8 shows an example of processing executed when the ISDN facsimile apparatus receives the call setup message SETUP from ISDN.

First, the contents of the received call setup message SETUP are analyzed (processing 201), and it is checked whether the transmission function of the partner terminal is a group 3 facsimile apparatus, a group 4 facsimile apparatus, or a telephone (decisions 202, 203, 204). ),
In any case, when the result of the determination 204 is NO, the call is ignored (process 205).

In the case of the group 4 facsimile machine, the judgment 203
When the result of the above is YES, and when making a telephone call, 204
When the result is YES, the procedure shifts to the group 4 facsimile transmission procedure and the telephone procedure, respectively.

If the other terminal is a group 3 facsimile terminal and the result of determination 202 is YES, a call setup procedure is executed with ISDN (process 206) to establish an information channel (process 207).

Then, the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure is executed using the information channel.

That is, first, the called station identification signal CED, the non-standard function identification signal NSF and the digital identification signal DIS are sequentially transmitted (processing 208), and the non-standard function setting signal NSS from the calling terminal is received (processing 209).

It is checked whether or not the non-standard function setting signal NSS contains additional information (decision 210), and the result of decision 210 is YES
, The additional information is stored (processing 21
1).

Then, the transmission function is set for each corresponding internal element (process 212), and after executing the modem training procedure (process 213), the image information for one page is received, and the encoding / decoding unit 28 , And transfers it to the plotter 26 to record and output the received image (process 214).

Next, a post-message signal is received (process 215) and it is checked whether it is a multi-page signal MPS (decision 216).

If the result of decision 216 is YES, after sending a response signal indicating the result received at that time (step 21
7) Return to the process 214 to receive the image information of the subsequent page.

The post-message signal is the procedure end signal EOP, and the decision 216
When the result is NO, a response signal indicating the reception result is transmitted (processing 218), and after receiving the disconnection command signal DCN (processing 219), a predetermined call release procedure is executed (processing 2).
20) Release the call.

Next, it is checked whether or not the additional information is stored at that time (decision 221). When the result of the decision 221 is YES, a service function corresponding to the content of the additional information is executed (process 222). The process ends.

As the service function, for example, there is a reception result notifying function of notifying the receiving terminal of the reception result by transmitting image information for displaying the content. In this case, as the additional information, two information elements, a “calling number” information element and a “destination subaddress” information element, are used.

In this manner, in this embodiment, the ISDN facsimile apparatus is notified of the information requested to execute the service function specified by the operator of the group 3 facsimile apparatus at the time of the transmission operation, and the service function is executed. Even a group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a network can utilize the service function of the ISDN facsimile apparatus.

The additional information may be other than that of the above-described embodiment, and the service function is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to transmit additional information for executing a service function from a group 3 facsimile apparatus to an ISDN facsimile apparatus. The effect is obtained that the service function of the ISDN facsimile apparatus can be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a group 3 facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an ISDN facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an example of a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure, FIG. 4 (a) is a schematic diagram illustrating the signal format of a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure signal, and FIG. 4 (b) is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram showing the information elements of the non-standard function setting signal, FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram showing the contents of the information elements of the additional information, and FIG. FIG. 6 (a) is a schematic diagram illustrating a signal format of a call setup signal, FIG. 6 (b) is a schematic diagram showing an example of information elements of a call setup message, and FIG. 7 is a group 3 facsimile. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of processing at the time of transmission of the apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of processing at the time of reception of an ISDN facsimile apparatus.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a public telephone line network is connected to ISDN, calls an ISDN facsimile apparatus having a group 3 facsimile transmission function, and transmits data from the group 3 facsimile apparatus to the ISDN facsimile apparatus. In the facsimile apparatus transmission control method, the group 3 facsimile apparatus includes operation means for operating and inputting additional information to be notified to the ISDN facsimile apparatus, and the group 3 facsimile apparatus is added from the operation means at the time of transmission. When the information is operated and input, the additional information is added to the transmission procedure signal and transmitted to the ISDN facsimile apparatus. The ISDN facsimile apparatus originates a call from the group 3 facsimile apparatus and receives the transmission on the information channel. When the above additional information is added to the procedure signal The transmission control method of a facsimile apparatus and executes the transmission function in accordance with the additional information.