JP3325031B2 - Information transfer method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information transfer system for transferring information from one center to a large number of terminals, such as simultaneous broadcast transfer, in which the number of lines on the center side is reduced .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this type of conventional information transfer method, a terminal is called one by one from a center via a telephone line, and information is transferred on a one-to-one basis by polling from the center.

[0003] For example, as shown in FIG.
When a plurality of telephone lines 1A, 1B,... Are accommodated, a plurality of terminals TA1, TA2,.
TAN, TB1, TB2,..., TBN,.
When data is transferred from the center 11 to the plurality of terminals, a plurality of terminals assigned to each line are sequentially called to transfer the information. For example, line 1A
In the case of, the terminal 11 is sequentially called one by one from the terminal TA1 to the terminal TAN via the line 1A from the center 11,
Information transfer is performed sequentially.

In this case, the information transfer from the center 11 to the terminals can be performed in parallel on a plurality of lines. Therefore, when information is transmitted from all the lines of the center 11 almost at the same time, the information is transmitted to all the terminals. The time required to complete the transfer is equal to the time required to complete the transfer to all of the assigned terminals on the line to which the most terminals are allocated.

Namely, the transfer time from the center 11 to one terminal, for example, the t minutes, the line most frequently the terminal is assigned, if the N terminal is connected, from the center 11 It takes at least Nt minutes to transfer to all terminals. Therefore, for example, if the total number of terminals connected to the center 11 is 100 and t = 1
Minutes, the number of lines in the center 11 is 10, 1,
If ten terminals are connected to one line, information can be transferred from the center 11 to all 100 terminals within 10 minutes.

[0006]

As described above THE INVENTION An object you try solving], the conventional transfer method, from the center 11 to all the terminals that are assigned to each line of the center 11, over the call in through the line, Since information is transferred, there is a disadvantage that the number of lines must be increased in order to increase the number of terminals without increasing the time required to complete the transfer to all terminals. That is, in the case of the above example, in order to increase the number of terminals from 100 to 200 in a state where the condition of transfer within 10 minutes is secured, the number of lines had to be increased to 20 lines.

In view of the above, the present invention can reduce the number of lines accommodated in the center when transferring information from a center to a large number of terminals, and can transfer information to all terminals in a short time. An object is to provide a possible information transfer method.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information transfer system according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a plurality of information transfer systems, which correspond to reference numerals in the embodiments described later, from a center 10 via a telephone line. A method for transferring information to a terminal, in which a plurality of terminals assigned to one telephone line are
A plurality of groups G composed of a sequentially smaller number of terminals
1, G2, together with divided into ..., the transfer function is applied to each terminal, the center 10 with respect to the plurality of groups
Then , information is sequentially transferred to only one terminal of each group in the order of the group having the largest number of terminals , and within each group, information is transferred from the terminal that has received the information from the center 10 to the next.
The information is sequentially transferred to the next terminal by inter-terminal transfer.

[0009]

[Action] through the center 10 one telephone line, one first group of terminals that are assigned to that line
When information is transferred to one terminal (leading terminal), the leading terminal transfers information from the center 10 to the next terminal via the telephone line to which the terminal has joined. Do
Hereinafter, inter-terminal transfer is sequentially performed to the next terminal.

When the transfer of the information to the first terminal of the first group is completed, the center 10 transfers the information to one terminal (the first terminal) of the next group via the telephone line. Also in this group, terminal transfer is sequentially performed from the first terminal to the next terminal.

If the time for the transfer between the center 10 and the terminals and the transfer between the terminals are t, if the number of terminals included in the first group is N, the information is transferred to the last terminal of the group. It takes Nt time to perform.
However, in the meantime, in the next group, the transfer ends up to the (N-1) th terminal. In the next group, the transfer ends up to the (N-2) th terminal.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, by increasing the number of terminals by increasing the number of groups without increasing the number of lines, the total number of terminals capable of completing transfer within a certain time period Can be increased.

Further, the time required to transfer information to all terminals assigned to one line of the center 10 can be greatly reduced as compared with the number of terminals times t. For this reason, if the number of terminals to be transferred is the same as before, the transfer time will be shorter than before, and if the time required to transfer information to all terminals is the same as before, one The number of terminals that can be transferred from a line can be increased.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the information transfer system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an information transfer method according to the present invention.
A plurality of telephone lines 1, 2,..., N are accommodated. These telephone lines 1, 2,..., N are connected to a central office exchange.

Each of a large number of terminals receiving information transferred from the center 10 is also connected to a central office exchange via a telephone line. In this case, a large number of terminals are divided into the number of lines of the center 10 and assigned to each line. In this example, a plurality of terminals assigned to each line are divided as necessary. It is divided into multiple groups.

For example, to explain a plurality of terminals assigned to the line 1, n terminals T11, T12,..., T1n as a first group G1 and n terminals as a second group
, T2 (n-1) are assigned to a plurality of terminals Tn1, Tn2, ..., Tn (Nn) as an N-th group. In this case, each terminal Tij (i is a group number, j is a terminal number in the group) is configured to have a function of transferring between terminals via a telephone line.

An example of the transfer method according to the present invention will be described below, taking transfer of information from the center 10 to the terminal Tij assigned to the line 1 as an example.

[0018] First, the first terminal T11 of the first group G1 is called from the center 10, and information is sent from the center 10 to this terminal T11. . The terminal T11 receives the information from the center 10,
The next terminal T12 is called, and the information from the center 10 is transferred to this terminal T12. . Hereinafter, the terminal that has received the transfer from the upper terminal transfers the information to the next terminal.

[0019] On the other hand, when the transfer of the information to the terminal T11 of the first group G1 is completed, the center 10 transfers the information to the first terminal T21 of the second group G2. . In the second group G2, information is sequentially transferred from the first terminal T21 to the next terminal in the same manner as in the group G1.

[0020] When there is a next group, the center 10 transfers the information to the first terminal of the next group after the transfer of the information to the first terminal of the previous group is completed. Even within that group, information transfer is performed sequentially to the next terminal from the first terminal by inter- terminal transfer.

[0021] When the transfer is performed to the last terminal in the group, the last terminal returns the transfer status of the group to the center 10 to the center 10. Thereby, the center 10 can grasp the transfer status of each group.

[0022] The center 10 verifies the transfer status of the returned terminals of the group, and re-transfers the information to terminals whose information has not yet been properly transferred.

As described above, the information transfer from the center 10 to all the terminals Tij assigned to the line 1 is performed. In FIG. 1, a mark ● indicates a terminal to which information is sent from the center 10, a mark ○ indicates a terminal to which information is transferred between the terminals, and a mark Δ indicates the transfer status within the group to the center 10. Shows the last terminal in the group.

Next, a specific example for realizing the above-described information transfer method will be further described. In this case,
The information transferred from the center 10 to the first terminal in the group includes not only the application message but also the information shown in FIG.
And a telephone number of the center 10 used for returning information from the terminal.

The terminal information is set for each group G1, G2,. That is, for example, in the case of the group G1, as shown in FIG. 2, the terminal information includes, for each of the terminals T11, T12,..., T1n in the group G1, a terminal ID for identifying the terminal, It consists of a table consisting of the telephone number of the terminal and the answer area for the terminal. In the case of the group G2, the same table as in FIG. 2 is used as the terminal information for the terminals T21, T22,... In the group. And in this example, the terminal ID
Is the order of transfer between terminals.

Next, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of one terminal, which is a case where the terminal is constituted by a computer.

That is, 21 is a CPU, 22 is its program ROM, 23 is a work area RAM, and 24 is a data bus. 25, 26, 27 and 28 are input / output ports.

Reference numerals 31 and 32 denote line connection terminals to which a telephone line accommodated in the terminal is connected. The line connection terminals 31 and 32 are connected to a coupling transformer 34 via a switch 33. This transformer 34 is connected to an interface 35 for transmission and reception. The interface 35 is connected to a transmitting unit 36 and to a receiving unit 37. The switch 33 is an input / output port 2
7 is turned on / off by a control signal from the terminal 7 and is turned on when information is received at this terminal and when information is transmitted from this terminal.

The transmitting unit 36 is connected to the input / output port 25
Is connected to the data bus 24 via the
Is transmitted to the telephone line via the interface 35. The receiving section 37 is connected to the data bus 24 via the input / output port 26 and receives via the interface 35 received information transmitted via the line. Then, the data received from the receiving unit 37 is transferred to the data bus 24 via the input / output port 26.

The line connection terminals 31 and 32 are also connected to a call signal detector 38. When the received signal includes the identification signal of the terminal, that is, the terminal ID, in the received signal, the paging signal detection unit 38 detects the signal and transfers the detection output to the data bus 24 via the input / output port 28.

The center 10 has basically the same configuration as that of FIG. However, the center 10 simultaneously sends the same application information to be transferred to all terminals to a plurality of lines 1, 2,.
Information transfer can be performed in parallel to terminals assigned to 2,..., N.

In the ROM 22 of each terminal, a program for receiving information from the center 10 or another terminal and a transmission program for transferring between terminals and returning to the center 10 are written. The center 10 is also provided with a program for transmitting to the first terminal of each group and a program for receiving information on the transfer status of the group from the last terminal of each group.

[Flow chart of transmission of center 10]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart corresponding to a transmission program of the center 10 for a terminal connected to one line. In this case, in the center 10, a group of terminals assigned to each line and a table of terminals included in each group are registered, and from the registration information, the terminal information as shown in FIG. Formed and retained. The center 10 sequentially transfers information to the head terminal of the group with reference to the table registered in the center 10.

That is, in step 101, the center 10 automatically dials the first terminal of the first group among the group of terminals assigned to the line. Then, the process proceeds to step 102, where it is determined whether or not there is a response from the dialed terminal. If there is a response, the process proceeds to step 103 to transmit the terminal information of the group as shown in FIG. 2, and then, in step 104, the telephone number of the center 10 is transmitted. Send the desired application information.

Then, in step 106, it is determined whether or not the communication has been correctly performed by receiving, for example, a communication OK / NG message from the partner terminal. If it is determined that the communication has been correctly performed, the process proceeds from step 106 to step 107 to release the line.

Thereafter, the routine proceeds to step 108, where it is determined whether or not there is a next group. If there is a next group, the process proceeds to step 109 to automatically dial the first terminal of the next group, and then returns to step 102 to repeat the above calling steps.

If it is determined in step 108 that there is no next group, the transmission from the center 10 on the line is terminated.

If it is determined in step 102 that there is no response from the head terminal of the other party, the process proceeds to step 111, where "no response" is returned to the answer area of the terminal in the terminal information table of the group stored in the center 10. Write a message. Next, the process proceeds to step 112, where it is determined whether or not the next terminal exists in the group.

If it is determined in step 112 that there is a next terminal, the process proceeds from step 112 to step 11
Proceed to 3 to automatically dial the next terminal. Then, the process proceeds from step 113 to step 114 to determine whether there is a response from the terminal. If it is determined in step 114 that there was a response, step 1
From step 14, the process jumps to step 103.
Repeat 3 and below. If it is determined in step 114 that there is no response, the process returns to step 111 and steps 111 to 114 are repeated.

If it is determined in step 112 that there is no next terminal, steps 112 to 109
Then, as described above, the process proceeds to the step of transmitting to the next group.

If it is determined in step 106 that the communication has not been performed correctly,
To write a "communication error" message into the answer area of the terminal in the terminal information table of the group stored in the center 10. And step 11
The process proceeds to step 2 and the flow proceeds to the transfer to the next terminal in the group.

[Flowchart of Reception and Transmission of Terminal]
In the case of this example, each terminal receives the transmission information from the center 10 or another terminal according to the reception and transmission flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 and performs transmission. Hereinafter, the flowchart of reception and transmission will be described with reference to the configuration diagram of the terminal in FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is an incoming call at the terminal, in step 201, the terminal automatically responds to the incoming call. That is, in FIG. 3, when a call signal is detected by the call signal detection unit 38, the detection signal is transferred to the data bus 24 via the input / output port 28. The CPU 21 receives this and sends a control signal via the input / output port 27 to the switch 33.
To turn on the switch 33 to automatically respond.

In response, the terminal information, the telephone number of the center 10 and the application information are sent from the center 10 or another terminal, and the terminal receives these information in steps 202, 203 and 204. The data is received by the unit 37 and transferred to the data bus 24 via the input / output port 26. The CPU 21 stores these information in R
Import to AM23.

Then, in step 205, it is determined whether or not the information has been correctly captured. If it is determined that the information has been correctly captured, the process proceeds to step 206, where the terminal information written in the RAM 23 is stored. Write a communication OK message to the answer area. Then, the communication OK message is returned to the other party that has sent the information, and the process proceeds to step 207, where the switch 33 is turned off.
Release the line.

Thereafter, the flow advances to step 208 to determine whether or not there is a next terminal with reference to the received terminal information. If there is a next terminal, the process shifts to the transmission flowchart. If there is no next terminal, that is, if the terminal is the last terminal of the group, step 2
In step 09, the telephone number of the center 10 written in the RAM 23 is read, and the center 10 is automatically dialed.
Then, the process proceeds to step 210 to return the terminal information to the center 10.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 205 that the information could not be correctly taken in, the process proceeds to step 211 to open the line as it is.

It should be noted that the terminal that has successfully taken in the information performs a process according to the taken-in application information under the control of the CPU 21.

Next, FIG. 6 shows an example of a flow chart of the transmission of the terminal. That is, as described above, when there is a next-level terminal, the terminal executes the transmission flowchart.

First, in step 301, the other party terminal is automatically dialed. That is, prior to the transmission, the CPU
The switch 21 supplies a control signal to the switch 33 via the input / output port 27 to turn on the switch 33. And R
With reference to the terminal information written in AM23, the telephone number of the next partner terminal that has not yet transferred information is read out,
Automatically dial the other party's terminal.

Next, the routine proceeds to step 302, where it is determined whether or not there is a response from the dialed terminal. If there is a response, the process proceeds to step 303, and the terminal information stored in the RAM 23 is transmitted to the partner terminal. Next, step 3
In step 04, the telephone number of the center 10 is read from the RAM 23 and transmitted to the partner terminal.
The application information for transfer is read from the AM 23 and transmitted to the partner terminal.

Then, in step 306, it is determined whether or not the communication has been correctly performed by receiving, for example, a message of communication OK / NG from the partner terminal. If it is determined that the communication has been correctly performed, the process proceeds from step 306 to step 307 to open the line and terminate the transmission from the terminal.

If it is determined in step 302 that there is no response from the partner terminal, the process proceeds to step 308, in which the terminal responds to the answer area of the terminal in the terminal information table of the group written in the RAM 23 of the terminal. Write a message. Next, proceeding to step 310, it is determined whether or not there is a next-level terminal to which information has not been transferred in the group.

If it is determined in step 306 that the communication has not been correctly performed, step 309 is executed.
To write a "communication error" message in the answer area of the terminal in the terminal information table of the group written in the terminal. Then, the process proceeds to step 310.

If it is determined in step 310 that there is another next terminal to which information is to be transferred, the process returns from step 310 to step 301, where the next terminal is automatically dialed. repeat.

If it is determined in step 310 that there is no further next terminal to which information is to be transferred, that is, if the terminal is the last terminal of the group, the process proceeds to step 311 to write the information to the RAM 23. The telephone number of the inserted center 10 is read out, and the center 10 is automatically dialed. Then, proceeding to step 312, the center 1
Return terminal information to 0.

At this time, the groups G1, G2, G3,.
FIG. 7 shows a time chart of the transfer. In FIG.
Each group G1, G2, G3... Head terminals T11, T21,
Information is transferred from the center 10 to T31..., And information is transferred to terminals subsequent to these head terminals by terminal-to-terminal transfer.

The center 10 refers to the answer area of the returned terminal information, and if there is a terminal of “no response” or “communication error”, the terminal separately transfers information from the center 10 again. I do. Note that within the group,
The transfer between the terminals may be performed until there is no longer the terminal of “no response” and “communication error”.

As described above, application information from the center can be transferred to all terminals. In this case, for example, the first group is n terminals, the second group is
Group is n-1 terminals, the third group is n-2 terminals,..., Etc. If the lower group is reduced by one terminal at a time, other groups are not transferred until the transfer to the last terminal of the first group is completed. The transfer to all terminals in the group ends.

Accordingly, when the transfer time to one terminal is 1 minute, the required number of lines with respect to the number of terminals in the case of transferring data to all terminals within 10 minutes is as follows. Since the number of terminals that can be handled by is up to 45 terminals, it becomes as shown in FIG.

As is apparent from FIG. 8, the center has a smaller number of lines than the conventional case where information is transferred from the center to the terminal by one-to-one polling.
Information can be transferred to more terminals within a short transfer time.

[0062]

As described in the foregoing, according to the invention, as well as grouping a plurality of terminals connected to a single line, each terminal has the function of transfer between terminals,
From the center, information is transferred to only one terminal in the group, and within each group, information is transferred from terminal to terminal sequentially from the center, so information from the center is transferred to many terminals. In this case, the number of lines on the center side can be reduced, and information can be transferred in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an information transfer method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a part of information transferred in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a terminal used in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of transmission from a center to a terminal in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of reception at a terminal in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of a call originating at a terminal in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a time chart of transfer in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a relationship between the total number of terminals capable of transferring information from the center within a predetermined time and the number of lines of the center in the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a conventional information transfer method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 center 1-N telephone line T11-T1n terminal of first group T21-T2n terminal of second group G1-Gn first-nth group

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-109853 (JP, A) JP-A-58-14654 (JP, A) JP-A-61-73476 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for transferring information from a center to a plurality of terminals via a telephone line, wherein a plurality of terminals assigned to one telephone line are sequentially transmitted.
With divided into a plurality of groups consisting of number of terminals smaller in the transfer function is applied to each terminal, the center, to the plurality of groups, the number of terminals
Sequentially only to one terminal of each group in a lot of group order
In each group, the information is sequentially transferred from the terminal that has received the information from the center to the next terminal by terminal-to-terminal transfer. Information transfer method. 2. The information transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the center is provided to one terminal of each group.
And the terminal within the group together with the information to be transferred.
In addition to indicating the order of transfer between
With an answer area to write the transfer result of
Table information , and the table information is sequentially transmitted in the terminal-to-terminal transfer.
Transfer to the next terminal, and each terminal is unresponsive to the next terminal that attempted to transfer the information.
Answer, the order of transfer of the table information between terminals
Refer to and transfer information to the next terminal.
And the own terminal in the answer area of the table information.
Transfer result or transfer result of transfer destination terminal
And the last terminal of the information transfer in each group is
An information transfer method , wherein table information is returned to the center . 3. The information transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the center has information on the order of the inter-terminal transfer for the plurality of terminals for each of the groups, and the sensor includes: For each of the groups, when the one terminal that has attempted to transfer information does not respond, the information is transferred to the next terminal with reference to the information on the order of the inter-terminal transfer. An information transfer method characterized by: 4. The information transfer method according to claim 1 , wherein the center is provided to one terminal of each group.
And the terminal within the group together with the information to be transferred.
The terminals also transfer the information on the order of transfer between the terminals , and each terminal sequentially transfers the information on the order of transfer between the terminals together with the information to be transferred, and the next terminal that attempted to transfer the information does not respond. In the information transfer method, the information is transferred to the next terminal with reference to the information on the order of the inter-terminal transfer.